#Space Whale (trope)

[nittroy]

When space whale design so good you can't just steal it to your own cosmoopera story so you have to draw your first fanart in years and revive your tumblr art blog to post it

[other version and image description under the cut!]

Ezra version ♡

[ID: A horizontal artwork showing Exra Bridger from season 2 of Star Wars: Rebels and the group of space whales, Purgil. The purgil are floating in space and one of them, closest to the viewing point, is positioned so that its eye coincides with one of Ezra's eyes. Their eyes are shining teal blue. Ezra is depicted in a somewhat abstract way, he stands waist high and the space behind him, but behind the whales.

In the second version of the image, Ezra is in the foreground, while the Purgil is only in the background. He is standing and holding his lightsaber, looking somewhat lost in thought. ]

[prokopetz]

"Why would anyone want to go into the atmospheres of gas giants in a space exploration game" because that's where the space whales live. Obviously.

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

It seems the people of England had no idea that they were literally keeping a space turtle hostage so they could continue to live above the Earth.

Except, of course, for Georgie 9, as king who was privy to what was actually going on the whole time, but chose to keep the space turtle’s status hidden until the Inspector revealed it.

[transit-fag]

Favorite tropes in no particular order:

Timeloop

Pocket dimension existing outside of time and space

Time travel where you create the conditions that cause you to time travel in the first place creating a self fulfilling prophecy

Space ship but it's just a boat

Space Whales

[all-about-kyu]

Summary: He already knocked you up, but that doesn’t mean a damn thing to him. Pairing: Dilf!Seonghwa x fem!reader Tropes: dilf au, established relationship au Genre: smut Rating: R 18+ Warnings: language, pregnancy, aged up!Seonghwa Smut Warning: unprotected sex, cream pie, pregnant sex, cumplay, clitoral stimulation, fingering, oral (f receive) Word Count: 1,174 Host Tag: @sanjoongie @thelargefrye February Filth Masterlist Before You Interact

Listen to ♡ 3D by Jungkook

Since that week, Seonghwa has had you locked up in your bedroom together. He’s been attached to your hip any chance he’s gotten. About a month after that week in the summer, you found out you were pregnant. Of course, Seonghwa was over the moon and wanted to tell his daughter, but you told him to hold off until you told her mother first. When you and Seonghwa met up with her to inform her of your pregnancy, she had her drawbacks. One, you were the nanny. As far as she knew, you weren’t dating. (Which had changed since the first time she met you). Two, you’re much younger than both of them are. Which isn’t her concern, but she still said it. Regardless, she knew now, which meant you could tell Seonghwa’s daughter. She was over the moon that she was getting a new baby. She was convinced she was getting a sister. She was right. 

Seonghwa was the one who was the most vocal about his excitement. It even went as far as a new kink discovery. You both knew about it, but now it was much more present. Since you told him, he’s had an obsession with cumming inside you and watching it drip out. Often times he’ll finger it back into you until you cum again. To say the least, he’s also really enjoying this libido spike induced by your pregnancy.

“Seonghwa,” you whine, nails gripping at his shoulder.

“I got you, love.” He moans in your ear, and out of the corner of your eye, you see the small bits of silver hair growing in by his temple.

You throw your head back against the pillow harder. Seonghwa starts lining small kisses along your neck and shoulder as his slow, smooth thrusts continue at the same pace. You’ve had him in so many different ways over the years of being with him, first as a quick release, then much more. The way he holds you gently and slowly helps an orgasm burn through you has to been one of your favorite ways to have him. 

“Such a pretty girl, fuck,” he groans, “You’re so tight and warm around me. Can’t believe I get to be the one who helps you become a mom.”

It’s a silly comment to say during sex, but it warms your heart still. You hold him tighter as if you could get any closer than skin-to-skin. Seonghwa pulls back slightly to capture your lips in a kiss that conveys a thousand emotions in one. 

“My pretty fiancée,” he sighs against your lips, “All mine.”

Soon enough, you feel that familiar heat bubbling in your stomach. You don’t need to tell your fiancé what’s impending. He already knows. His hand snakes between your bodies to toy with your clit in just the right way. Your legs wrap around his waist, trapping him there as you ride out your high. Seonghwa’s follows not long after. He cums inside you, making you whimper at the feeling of the warm ropes inside you as you come down from your own high. Seonghwa thrusts shallowly a few more times as he coasts through his high. He starts laughing airly as he comes down from his orgasmic high, still plugging his cum inside you.

“What are you laughing about?” You ask quietly.

He kisses your temple, “Soon enough, we won’t be able to fuck like this. Little Miss is still relatively tiny now, but give it a few months.”

You whine, “Don’t remind me, I’m gonna look like a whale.”

Seonghwa chuckles at you again before pulling back so there’s space between you, but he’s still inside you. You let out a broken, quiet gasp as he starts to pull out. The feeling of his cum trickling out of you is something you could always feel. Some people can’t stand the sensation. You can’t get enough of it. The moment he’s fully pulled out, you’re immediately met with the feeling of his fingers on your clit again.

“So damn pretty with my cum leaking out of you. I could look at your pretty pussy like this forever.”

“Hwa,” you whine, “‘M sensitive.”

“I know, my love. I know. You’re so good for me.”

You watch him and take in the absolute beauty that he is. He has small wrinkles on his eyes from smiling so much and very faint ones on his forehead. As much as he gets annoyed by the small lines, you absolutely adore them. The small pieces of silver hair growing in only add to his beauty in your eyes. You watch as he pushes his fingers into you, pushing his cum back into you. He leans down, eyes fixated on yours as his tongue comes out of his mouth and finds purchase on your abused clit. Your back arches off of the mattress at the sensation. He’ll never admit it out loud, but the taste of your arousal mixed with his cum is something he can’t get enough of, either. 

Your hands fly down to lace through his salt and pepper hair. Your engagement ring stands out against his mostly dark locks. It makes the entire situation that much more exhilarating. He’s yours. All yours. And you’re all his. He uses his fingers and tongue in the perfect way that takes you to your second orgasm of the afternoon. 

He kisses up your stomach, giving a few extra to your belly, before locking your lips together. You kiss for a while until the feeling of drying cum finally starts to get to you. Seonghwa steps into your en suite to get a damp cloth and clean you up before himself.

Collapsing in bed beside you, he pulls you close—your back against his chest. One hand runs gently over your baby bump while the other fiddles with your fingers and engagement ring. Neither of you speaks for a few moments; the comfortable envelopes you. The only sound that is heard is the sound of your heating system turning on and your breathing.

“Do you think she’ll be like Haeeun?” He mumbles, half asleep.

You smile and giggle lightly, “Maybe we’ll just need to wait a few more months to find out.”

“Four months, two weeks, and four days, to be exact.”

You snuggle closer. Just knowing he tracks your pregnancy as close as you are makes butterflies erupt in your stomach. Your doctor did say that the butterflies in your stomach randomly could very well be your daughter, too. 

“Daddy!” you hear Haeeun call.

Seonghwa chuckles, “She probably wants to cuddle. You get dressed and meet us on the couch, okay?”

“Movie time?” you smile. Seonghwa nods, “I’ll be right there.”

Seonghwa leans over and kisses your lips softly before climbing out of bed to get dressed. You follow right behind him, kissing his shoulder before he walks away.

“I love you, old man.” You tease.

“Watch it, my love.” He playfully chastises, “You may be carrying our baby, but I will still punish you for acting out.”

COPYRIGHT ALL-ABOUT-KYU 2024© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED — reposting/modifying any fic or piece of original writing posted on this blog is not allowed. Translations are not permitted. 

Neworks: @cultofdionysusnet @kwritersworld @k-vanity

Tag List: @bratty-tingz @yeosangiess @minjaeluver @abbietwilight @wooyoungmybelovedhusband

[kyunniebuns]

//Solo Leveling yume

Introducing: Geum Seul-ae!!! Jinwoo's silly mage girlfriend.

Trope: Strangers to Friends to Lovers.

About Seul-ae ୭ 🧷 ✧ ˚. ᵎᵎ 🎀

Age: Same age as Jinwoo

Height: 152cm/5'0

Birthday: 04/09

Mbti: Infp

Rank: A-rank (She Reawakens to S rank later on)

Affiliation: None

Type: Mage

Title: Lady of Bloodied Petals, Her Highness of the sea

Powers: Sacred Primordial Sea, Botanokinesis

Regression ୭ 🧷 ✧ ˚. ᵎᵎ 🎀

Job: Freelance Artist, youtube vlogger><

♡ Seul-ae is one of those cute cozy youtube vloggers who don't share their face and voice on the video. She often posts about her art process + daily diaries as well as showing off her cute outfits<3

♡ Her content is mostly: draw with me, ootd, mundane life things, cooking, walking in parks and taking pictures of flowers or anything she finds pretty

Personality ୭ 🧷 ✧ ˚. ᵎᵎ 🎀

♡ She's a very lovely and sweet girl, though she is very insecure and anxious. Seul-ae stutters in her words a lot and gets tired of conversations easily, leading her to tend to attempt ending conversations without the other person noticing. Of course, she is still polite and very attentive, she just gets drained very very fast.

♡ At first sight, people always mistake her as cold and distant but she is actually a sunshine type of girl. She just has a poker face most of the time^^;;

♡ Seul-ae often imitates people out of fear that she would offend them. She observes how the other people act and tries her best to blend in so that she won't be bullied. Her real personality is quite eccentric in a way that she can't talk about things she loves such as whales and sharks. She often suppresses that side of her so that she can avoid being an outcast. She used to be one of those weird kids who got bullied in elementary and got shaken to the point that she became a people-pleaser. Seul-ae is only comfortable with people she is close to and most especially Jinwoo. He is her safe space.

♡ Seul-ae is not an academic achiever, she is in fact very academically challenged and only has average grades of C and D minus her art subjects. She hates studying anything except for marine life in which she can get heavy detail in.

♡ In her hunter days, Seul-ae was known as one of the kindest and most warm hunters there is. She has fans whom she often interacts with kindly and respectfully. Though she doesn't work with any guild, high ranked hunters like Choi Jong-in often invite her to assist in their raids and she helps willingly even offers to not get paid^^.

Love Story with Jinwoo ୭ 🧷 ✧ ˚. ᵎᵎ 🎀

Their ties go way back to elementary. They have heard of each other but never really interacted. But from what Jinwoo knew, she was one of those eccentric and obnoxious girls who have such loud voices during recess. In middle school, she was known for her absolute avoidance of feminine things. In senior high where they officially meet as classmates, Jinwoo was shocked to find how much Seul-ae had changed in a not good way. She became a loner but was still polite and respectful. He even noticed her having anxious episodes and often avoided conversations with anyone. However, Seul-ae was well known for her artistic capabilities and often won in art contests, which she doesn't really seem to be proud of.

After graduating, they never met again until his E-ranked days. Seul-ae hasn't awakened yet, but when she saw how much Jinwoo suffers trying to work, she offered him what little money she had. Seul-ae often visits Jinwoo in his odd jobs outside of hunting and gives him free food to eat out of kindness. They lose touch for a bit since Jinwoo keeps disappearing. But after a year, Seul-ae became an S-ranker after experiencing double awakening who is also now well beloved, and Jinwoo followed right after her, ascending as shadow monarch this time.

Seul-ae was extremely happy to have met Jinwoo again and wouldn't stop talking to him enthusiastically which he found adorable. And eventually, the two started to date. They didn't really hide it nor did they announce it.

When Jinwoo regressed, he approached Seul-ae in senior high and courted her again before returning her memories with him.

Their trope is just sunshine x sunshine protector<3. I love this trope a lot heheh.

Their Emojis: 🐈‍⬛🪼

[googaloogagoog]

I have this COD au sorta thing floating in my head that started a little because of @girl-lostconnection s helldiver au. And @ghouljams cyberpunk au stuff. Also based on my favorite Milf/ my biggest hear me out, Moya from farscape, she is a living spaceship! Love her. Also inspired by that one episode of Dr who where humanity escaped earth on the back of a space whale and made a city on its back, but it was in constant pain, haven't actually seen the full episode, just clips.

So the idea is that reader, is a giant space alien, like the space whale just sorta swims though space, reader is caught and transformed into a space ship. Like she is still living, aware of everything in her body. She is of course PISSED about this. There is alot of lore to a lead up but she eventually acquires a human body. She is still connected to her original body, (body stealing was mutual dw) but she has more human emotions now. It has to be kept a secrete that she is the ship and that the ship is alive. In comes the 141 (when they first arrive her human body is somewhere else, she can still control and see though her original body tho) she dosnt like them at first, but an ai that has been attached to her makes it so she can't say anything or do anything to them. Price is the captian ofc, Gaz I think would be the pilot (up for debate) Ghost would be second in command and in charge of wepons, and Soap would be the mechanic. The trope is that soap talks to the ship like it's alive (it is but he dosnt know it yet) and worst of all, he flirts with the ship. And flirts with the others though flirting with the ship. So she starts to get a soft spot for this idiot. Something happens (spoilers if I decide to actually write this out) and she breaks though the ai holding her back and soap is the first one to notice how the ship seems to have more personality now, gaz notices the ai sounds less....ai like. They dock back at home base and after leave they come back to a woman now living in the ship. Laswell tells them that she is like a live in mechanic that she "knows the ship better than anyone" soap is ecstatic about "the Bonnie lass" who will be helping him out. Ghost is Ghost, price is apprehensive, gaz is neutral. Shenanigans ensue, reader trying to keep it a secret that she is the ship while having to deal with soap caressing her insides all gentle like and flirting, (it causes some bulbs to pop and pipes to burst lol) all of them bonding, attacks from enemies or pirates, reader trying to ignore when the 141 bang each other and stuff like that. There is an eventual reveal that she is, in fact, the ship and now that they know they have to go on the run, eventual smut that leads to the ship short circuiting (lol) weird living mechanics, and shit like that.

I don't know if I'm going to write this or not, I love the idea, and I have specific scenes in mind, but I don't know if I have the brain power or the motivation to write it.

[fire-700]

I've been on a "humans are space orcs" spree lately and I think the trope is kind of wrong, or not fully thought out.

Any kind of organism capable of achieving space travel should have experienced hardship, be it hunger, disease, predators and war, while also pushing their own limits, be it with competitions of strength or wits and even domesticating animals.

If the other species is a giant Ameoba, it would get sick due to invading beings, not to mention a pluricellular species, even AI could corrupt over time. Healing from injuries and fever wouldn't be that weird.

Most smart species would have some relation with the animals of their environment, at least like a honeybadger and the bird that follows it, but let's not forget ants have domesticated fungi, so that's a real example of agriculture and simbiosis with non-space traveling species. Imagine what something way more resourceful could do. It's not weird that Klargh finds a tarantula cute, it's basically a small elephant for his species. Same concept goes to murder lizards, space dragons and even other sentient species, someone in the crew will like it and try to domesticate it.

Brains must also be used, entertained, whales sing and elephants have their huge sense of family, a sapient species that used tools, created cities and managed to achieve order would also have music, painting or the at least dancing. Rage quitting, betting smoking, videogames, movies, entertainment of all kind wouldn't be that unique.

No species that violent or brute could achieve something so complex, even if the perfect species was born without predators, disease and are all working for the same cause, how does something so perfect ever have the need to expand? It would be more of a plague than a species.

What we do have is that we are the "space bards", with good senses, durability, adaptability and varied tastes within a same species (which could also happen in others) we swim a little with the aquatic species, go to Romulan movie night, join space sumo night, eat alien foods, smoke something with the tree octopi and discuss philosofy with a telepathic snail.

Humans are tough but that isn't the cool part about us, being human IS the cool part.

[bomberqueen17]

the gay dolphins are too powerful

yesterday i was facing the facts that i do need to actually work out the technical mcguffins in this novel. like, i have some vague notion that there's a problem with the radio network because of solar flares and our heroes are going to... somehow... fix it. idk.

plot and worldbuilding wittering behind the cut

this was the main plot in the solarpunk mammoths novel too, and i had a vague notion that a problem on such a global scale as that would need to like. it would need to be solved by more than one person. and so my nebulous notion is that possibly several sets of characters could work on it in these loosely-connected novels where really i'm just exploring different ecosystems.

idk i just-- y'all know about the Turkey City Lexicon right? I got it as a hand-out in college creative writing class and of course it reshaped my brain, but. one of the Tropes To Beware they've got is the Cozy Catastrophe, which is startlingly prevalent and once you see it you can't unsee-- "the world is ending! all of humanity will die! unless... Jeff and Suzy, you're our only hope!" and our two everyman protagonists somehow are the only resources the entire world can muster and honestly the entire world seems to consist of one American city block with about three hundred people in it at most. Hm.

so i was like yah this catastrophe is way too cozy.

meanwhile i forget how it came up but @sonnetsandsinging, helpfully spitballing, said something about space whales and i was like

OMG in a world with genetically-engineered mammoths with radio collars that translate their brain waves to allow them to speak in human language it is ABSURD that they are the only species of animal that has been given this treatment

so like. what other animals do we try to talk to all the time besides elephants?

DOLPHINS

so now this world has genetically-engineered dolphins with brainwaves-to-speech dorsal fin attachments. like duh of course it does. i can't believe I hadn't thought of that.

there should be other animals too but i can't decide which ones, currently taking submissions. What Else Should Slightly-Disconcertingly Speak.

(My criteria: should be an animal intelligent enough to have successful communication with humans already, something relatively long-lived, something that couldn't use sign language or other methods already. My concept, which is not scientific really, is that it's been well-studied that while many animals have complex communication systems, humans are the only ones whose brains are structured specifically for language, so the Magic Fictional Science here is that they've had that ability genetically-engineered in, but of course the physical production of human-intelligible language is beyond the physical structure of most animals, hence the brainwave-interface collars. which btw could also be used on profoundly disabled humans, and that might be a plot point at some point; i do have some disabled characters in this story. I know I researched those like, communication board things that nonverbal humans can use and I settled on Magical Radio-Networked Interfaces that speak out loud instead for the simple expedient of streamlining things because like how is a mammoth going to carry a communication board around that it can like get out and point at. how is a dolphin going to carry anything. so, this is just where I ended up.)

(I was thinking parrots but then parrots wouldn't need the collar because they can actually make human-speech noises on their own. so that's a fun variation. maybe in this world african grey parrots actually just talk.)

Anyway back when I first started the solarpunk mammoths novel I researched Asian elephants a lot and studied their social structures and read up on their physical abilities etc., so in between trying to find out how radio waves and semiconductors work (i get the radio waves thing & think i have my mcguffin sorted out but semiconductors made my eyes glaze over and then begin weeping so i gave up) (also supercapacitors i don't understand u sorry bye) (do i know any electronics engineers who want to explain this in normal languages? shit i do know a chemical engineer maybe she knows. heck) ... ok i wandered away from this post to text her and then forgot i was making it. i did not get a lot of sleep last night the amphetamines are not being kind this go-round but i must continue the experiment. uhhhhh where was i

GAY DOLPHINS

too powerful

Yeah so I started researching dolphins, because if I'm going to have named-and-speaking dolphin characters, I need to know a little bit about how they work.

Now I have a slight head-start on this, just as I did on mammoths. Mammoths, I've been obsessed with since I was a toddler. But dolphins. For a while I used to go to SCA camping events and there was this guy who used to be a Navy diver and then worked for Sea World and he. well he was really good at telling stories, was his deal. And he had Seen Some Shit, and some of that shit was about interacting with dolphins. And the thing about dolphins is that. Well, they're violent little chaos gremlins, and just in the course of going about their normal lives, one of the things they do to interact with the world is, well. they have sex with things.

when they do this to people it is generally not a positive experience for the person. but. so i knew that going in. and most of the information on the internet about dolphins is really like. earnest and loving and whatever, which is great. but the thing is that dolphins are chaos gremlins who will fuck anything they can't eat, eat anything they can't fuck, or sometimes do both to the same unfortunate object if it proves to be possible.

what i'm saying is, these are going to be really entertaining characters to work with. because elephants, conversely, do not have recreational sex. they do a lot of things, but they just don't really do that. so dolphins are like. inverse-elephants, culturally.

Elephants also tend to have a strong matriarch, strong bonds between females, and then the males tend to be largely solitary, but will congregate more loosely, often around an older male who will teach them manners. (A well-mannered bull is MUCH more likely to be allowed to mate with desirable females, who have little patience with male foibles.)

Dolphins have looser gender roles; on the whole, the females tend to loosely congregate, and pregnant females usually go back to their mother's pod to birth and raise young, not dissimilar to elephants, but the males--

male dolphins very, very frequently will pair-bond. Two males of similar age-- adult males have very little to do with juveniles of either sex, generally-- will pair-bond and will be inseparable for the rest of their lives. If one of them dies, the other will mourn-- mourning behavior is well-documented in dolphins-- and then will seek to pair off with another adult male, because male dolphins prefer to work in pairs, for survival and companionship. (Dolphin "pods" are also more loosely-organized than elephant herds; dolphins will have a couple of core companions, but then will freely associate and disassociate with other individuals and groups over short periods of time without much fuss, depending on the situation.)

The pair-bonded males are the ones who in the wild do the behavior you see in shows, where they do like synchronized jumps and very-close fast-precise swimming and such, which in the wild are apparently courtship or threat displays-- i.e. "look how tight we are, you can't fight us" or, alternately, "isn't that hot" because

yes that's often how they court females. The pair will corral a desirable female and herd her away from other dolphins so they can both mate with her, and keep her from mating with anybody else.

(other females have been observed collaborating to free a corralled female who did not want this to happen, so it's not quite as rapey as it sounds. though, i mean. dolphins. what can you do.)

anyway dolphin threesomes are canon. but that derailed the rest of my night and i was unable to concentrate on anything else because the gay-- I should say really bisexual dolphins are too powerful.

so anyway i wrote a test scene with a dolphin character, and i had my main character take his wife and baby down to the jetty to introduce them to his dolphin pals, and a bonded male pair he'd known for years showed up and immediately tried to steal the wife, and then expressed shock that he didn't have his male best friend with him, because in their experience breeding was THEE most important time to have your buddy with you. He explains that his buddy is off on a long-term work assignment, and they're like hmph next time you breed you MUST include him, it is so much easier trust us. and the wife is like hmmmmm!

henceforth i will refer to m/m/f threesomes as "dolphin style" you're welcome

[snackleggg]

I feel like a big part of Allura's character being done dirty and feeling inconsistent comes from the writers just not really being able to write female characters very well.

What do I mean?

Well, Voltron's cast has always been primarily male (which makes sense since the og show was from the 80s) but vld gives us quite a few "strong female characters". The problem comes when you notice most of those characters are minor like Krolia or Acxa or Veronica. This means the characters can be depicted as strong and badass with any more indepth characters moments being conveniently off screen (like Krolia & Keith's time on the space whale, Veronica's time worrying over Lance's disappearance & trying to protect earth, Acxa's redemption)

But there are still female characters within the main cast and the contrast between how they are written really gives an insight to the struggle the vld writers had. The contrast between how Pidge and Allura are written is alarming.

Pidge, even after her reveal, is still written in an androgynous masc-leaning way. The characters don't even refer to her with any pronouns for seasons after her "reveal", its only in the last few seasons that the writers seemingly remember Pidge is supposed to use she/her pronouns. This is probably a byproduct of the fact that the archetype Pidge fills (the smart guy) is commonly a masc one.

Meanwhile, Allura's characterisation is butchered because as the designated "main female character" the writers just threw every single character trope at her, probably trying to make her feel "deep" and multifaceted but just made her feel inconsistent, busy, and butchered instead.

She's "the leader" initially when the paladins are first starting out but Shiro fills that role quickly so she is put in a more "support" role. She seems to be some type of "chosen one" considering her ability to connect w/ the balmera, negate haggars magic, and her natural talent w/ alchemy (the explanation seems to be that it's because of her lineage, as Alfor was the best alchemist of his time, but we never seem/know enough about Alfor or his own abilities to get a tangible grasp of what Allura's capabilities are. It's just whatever is convenient to the plot like bringing Lance back to life). She falls into the "damsel in distress" trope at the end of season 1. She's made the center of a very disingenuous and forced feeling love triangle. They try to give her a racism arc??? But fail spectacularly bc they never have like a proper heartfelt conversation about her bias, where it comes from, her recognising the damaging affects it has (the conversation she has with Keith abt it at the end of season 2 feels very "You're one of the good ones" coded which is very icky) and then the writers seemingly forget it ever happened (also it lasts like 3 episodes and consists mainly of her just glaring vaguely in Keith's direction instead of any actual confrontation/conflict between them)

Her character is all over the place. One second she is being put in "traditional" female character tropes (which she as a princess trained in combat, diplomacy, and running an entire society of people, should not be put in/have trouble with) like the damsel in distress and the love triangle. The next, she is depicted as unstoppable and a fix-all maggufin like with her alchemy & connection to quintessence. Then they also try to have her work through personal issues/flaws (which I think is what her racism arc was supposed to be???) But they never go into detail & explore said personal issues (which btw were never really alluded to before hand, kind of came out of nowhere)

TLDR: Allura's character was butchered because the writers thought mashing together a bunch of random character tropes without any deeper thought/development = interesting characterisation when really it just made her inconsistent and confusing.

[insanityclause]

If you are going to have a major heartthrob in your show, you may as well tailor the show to the audience reaction to him. Easily done, fortunately, when your play is about some of the most egotistical lovers ever.

Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell as Benedick and Beatrice are the Basil and Sybil of their day, Tom and Jerry, always trying to one-up the other with badly concealed lust powering the engine.

Both on fine form, asides to the audience adding to the mischief and exposing their souls. Hiddleston’s early “thumbs up” acknowledgment of his sex appeal, Atwell’s heartfelt mouthed “bitch” as her own is later questioned. The chemistry is always foaming and frequently explosive. Unforgettable.

Mirroring them at junior level, Mara Huff and James Phoon as Hero and Claudio have their own romance derailed by machinations for fun. Building on their time together in “The Tempest” last month, the partnership reaches new heights as the trust between them is clear and the bond grows.

All four have a whale of a time ploughing through the pink confetti (Soutra Gilmour’s set, with a few chairs and a table added) to milk roars of laughter and sympathetic sighs from one of the most engaged audiences for Shakespeare the monkey has been lucky enough to encounter.

Director Jamie Lloyd relies on his usual tricks initially. Presenting Shakespeare as it would have been first done – actors in a line, speaking their lines – a trope he used for “The Seagull” and others. 

Fortunately, that slips away with far more animated direction incorporating fun choreography (Fabian Alois) and soaring vocals from Mason Alexander Park’s observant Margaret. 

With a nod to “The Masked Singer” for masquerade, a vibrant bunch of cats, dogs, Tweety Pie and a robot create far greater visual impact in the vast Drury Lane space than the monkey thought possible.

The large ensemble cast never fail to impress. Tim Steed as Don John should not remain lonesome for long, cutting a grounding figure in his key scene. Mika Onyx Johnson gets some redemption as Borachio, making a creep loveable.

Forbes Masson and Gerald Kyd as Leonato and Don Pedro are the seniors faced with the wild marriage machinations, exasperated fathers who know the joys and challenges the younger generation have ahead.

The production is not without faults. Lloyds old tropes aside, for some reason there is a drop-off in energy in the second to fourth scenes of act two, and the monkey cannot quite work out why.

A very odd decision by Soutra Gilmour also proves that an attractive person can make wearing a dustbin liner appealing. Quite why Gilmour does that to Atwell, the monkey is unsure. But it is both very weird and very, very unnecessary.

From the upbeat pre-show music (and dancing ushers holding the ‘no photography’ signs) to an impressively clear speaking of the text, so good that the youngsters in the audience were following enthralled, laughing in anticipation of the joke at times; a starry cast enhance their acting reputations as well as clearly relishing every second as a company. This is nothing but an ado to make much about.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[prima-materia-ttrpg]

Species Highlight - Sepia

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if cephalopods could live for more than 2 years? Perhaps even passing on generational knowledge? My mind wanders to this topic fairly often, the Sepia are a result of me following this line of questioning to its conclusion. I present to you, the Sepia.

The Sepia are Cephalopods, very similar to cuttlefish. They can mimic other objects and animals thanks to their ability to change the color and texture of their skin, as well as their very fine motor control over their arms. Sepia are also mildly telepathic, an ability that allows them to coordinate large shows of mimicry and move in tandem with any number of other Sepia involved in the show. They use this ability to mimic creatures that are much larger than they are, such as sharks, or sometimes to hypnotize larger animals by sending pulses of color through a wall of Sepia.

As Sepia are unable to make any useful sound underwater their languages are polyvisual; they incorporate multiple glyphs, colors, and textures into words and tonality which they display on their bodies. Some of these words are even animated to an extent. Despite the inherent complexity of their languages, Sepia conversations are very fast; ideas that would take a sentence to convey in most phonic languages are often condensed into a single specific word in Sepia languages.

Much like humans, what the Sepia lack in strength they tend to make up for with their ingenuity; and as a species that needs to navigate fully three dimensional spaces to survive, they're very sharp. They have domesticated many species of sea creatures for various purposes. They keep fish for food, blue sailsharks for herding fish, bio-luminescent remora for use as lighting, and many others. Many sedentary Sepia civilizations farm clams for food, and nomadic Sepia tend to keep small beds of poisonous clams for use in hunting.

Tagging along with Giants

Many Sepia are nomadic, having forged a mutually beneficial relationship with the Sophont whales on Patek. How this relationship started is lost in the fog of time; those who live in these communities say it has always been this way.

The Sepia act as hands for the whales, using their tools to take care of them and even help them with forms of self-expression through making tattoos, piercings, and other outward displays. In return, the whales carry their homes, cargo, and graves. The whales, blessed with two and a half century long life spans and nothing to manipulate objects with, also do the majority of the mental labor of lore keeping and social deliberation. This relationship is not generally seen as transactional, but rather as expected contributions to a community or family - the whales and Sepia often form multi-species family units, with whales in the family often carrying their family's home.

The religious beliefs of the nomads are very heterogeneous, but they share more in common than one might first expect as a result of meeting up every year for the Sophont's breeding season. The courtship rituals of Sophont whales; wooing potential partners, meeting the families to be joined together, and spending much-needed alone time once a partner and their family is chosen is very complex and takes several months. These social interactions often sweep up more romantic Sepia into the moment, and lots of cultural exchange happens as a result which leads to certain tropes appearing in most of the nomadic religions. The most important of these tropes is the idea of the three realms of existence. The realm of the living is full of fish to catch and life to live, where all your favorite things exist and unless you're very unlucky, where all your experiences have taken place. The parched realm, where the water is too thin to breathe and the weight of your own body can crush you; not to mention the horrible beaked demons that may pick you apart as soon as they see you. The gods often summon great storms, and Sepia of great folly can get caught in them and thrown wayward never to be seen again. Only whales can tolerate the parched realm, and only for a time, as they must draw life from emptiness itself. The third realm is the realm of the dead, far below the world and past a barrier of frigid water. Some wild whales are able to breach this barrier, and though they cannot be spoken to their scars tell stories well enough.

Whales, being the only creatures with a connection to all three of the realms of creation, are revered by many Sepia and have great religious significance. Some whales are happy to be the center of the nomadic spiritual life and are attended to by Sepia priests as they speak expansively on the metaphysicality of creation with their peers and share their wisdom with others. Other whales take on a more utilitarian roll with their spirituality, becoming graveyards for Sepia that have past. It is their job once they die to ferry all the Sepia souls that they carry into the realm of the dead so they don't get lost.

Natural entertainment in the pelagic zone is sparse, so the nomads come up with endless games and art forms to pass the time. The Sepia perform plays, re-enacting heroes and important religious and cultural events; Sophonts will come up with songs and tales, and tales in the form of song, and have a Sepia transcribe it. Children play with each other and their remora pets. Thinking puzzles, conundrums, and paradoxes are popular among most of the nomads, courtesy of the whales; many of which love to talk long-windedly on philosophical matters.

Not all nomadic groups interact with others outside their cultures, though after a particularly good hunting season, some will often take their surplus catch to their sedentary cousins who live on the reefs and seagrass meadows to trade for finished goods and luxuries.

Putting Down Roots

The vast majority of Sepia are sedentary, settling in coral reefs, seagrass meadows, and on the periphery of estuaries. Their towns range from small aquaculture villages that raise beds of clams, to large cities among the reefs that are host to thousands of Sepia kept fed by surrounding aquaculture villages. While there are some Sepia civilizations that have sprung up on seamounts or the shelves around islands, most of these civilizations are found along the coasts of continents, and as a result have much more interaction with other sapient species, especially Koura who live both in water and on land.

Most people know of the Sepia from stories Ternaki bring from Sifia, as the Ternaki have excellent trade relations with the Sepia off the Sifian coast. Sepia will trade food, finished goods, and raw minerals in exchange for metal products and other things they usually can't make themselves. Some of them have taken to training small hammerhead sharks to act as metal detectors to find silver and gold on the ocean floor for the express purpose of trading with land species.

Religion among the Sepia varies wildly among the sedentary civilizations, and often has influence from those they trade with. One belief, which varies in its interpretations, is that estuaries are gates to start on the journey to the afterlife. They are guarded by divine creatures with beaks that snatch anyone who would be so foolish to try and find what lies beyond, but tales of following the rivers and streams up to the mountains speak of untold beauty. Some Sepia believe that when they die, their spirit will be free from their body and they can physically follow the rivers to the mountains past the birds and unbreathable fresh water to see the heavens, and they aren't technically wrong. Spirits do exist, but that's a topic for another blog post.

In the modern day, the beaked creatures are known to be birds and many estuaries are made safe for Sepia to farm fish, shrimp, and mussels. As a result, most Sepia that have this belief, particularly ones that work in estuaries, don't interpret it literally. In addition, there are Sepia that have taken the first steps on land inside mechanical drysuits, designed by Sepia and aided in their manufacturing by the Ternaki.

Life on Land

The Sepia are an aquatic species, but they're also playable so I need them to be able to go on land. The answer, obviously, is mech suits.

Sepia drysuits are a relatively new phenomenon, a consequence of the industrial revolution allowing access to manufactured goods and other recent breakthroughs bringing technology and alchemy up to speed with the ideas some Sepia have been having for centuries. The first drysuits were little more than fishbowls on wheels, connecting pedals or other cranks to the wheels for locomotion. However, over the past twenty years drysuit technology has been drastically improved. Cockpits are now hermetically sealed and durable, with alchemical salt water recycling systems where oxygenated salt water is mixed in one or two canisters and pumped into the cockpit; the old water flushed out of the drysuit. Many drysuits are still utilitarian and use tracks for mobility, with the addition of graspers for manipulating objects. More complex drysuits also exist, including ones with humanoid plans that are piloted with levers, cranks, and quite a bit of pullies. Some more high-end ones use Hydraulics. Some Sepia have taken to pushing the limits of these kinds of suits, making names for themselves on land as skilled pilots able to make their suits do acrobatics.

On the mechanics side of things, I have some simple drysuits written that need to be playtested. Currently, they have a Strength (which is used in place of the Strength Attribute), Size, Speed, Fine Manipulators (number of hands), Armor, Durability (hitpoints based on materials used), and Cockpit Durability (Cockpit hitpoints). These are a way from being tested for the moment though, hopefully within a few weeks.

If you read this far, thank you very much! Also huge thanks to @donutboxers for the art in this post. The next Species Highlight will be the Possum, and the next mechanics post will be about Metaphysicalities.

[mephestopheles]

In my spelljammer campaign, I have sky whales and space whales. The planet the characters came from was nestled in a gassy nebula that was the main birthing pool for the space whales. It functioned as the calving planet, it had high magic resources, and was very plentiful in the atmosphere with several layers of fauna that existed in the various regions. Think plankton blooms that are carried along the jet stream. Similar to how microscopic dust and sand from the Sahara are carried over to the Amazon rainforest.

The sky whales are thought to be a sister species to the space whales, however this is false. sky whales are in fact space whale young. Calving times vary across the solar year so that no species risks another, with a few of the smaller astrocetations forming large herd like family groups consisting of four or more species.

All species have several things in common, they're birthed live, in low orbit, with maturing sky whales returning to the upper atmosphere during this time to usher the new borns into small family groups. Similarly, juvenile sky whales who have taken to skirting low orbit and have begun developing their secondary lungs for recycling Nebula gasses, are about to bridge the gap. Breaking atmosphere at this time is similar to a second birth, where the juvenile, who has spent maybe two decades on average in the relative safety of a planet must shed the last vestiges of childhood and take on the stars. Family groups welcome their new younger members back into their herds many of them spending several years trailing the gases to build up tolerance and reserves for the juveniles as they discover the next step in the journey.

Now to answer the actual question of food. Sky whales fit the various niches similar to how whales on earth fit, with large whales eating plankton as mentioned above. Others eat birds and stingrays and some of the larger cephalopods that have also taken to the sky. Some of those stay close to the constant thermal releases from.active volcanos, and as such the sky whales that feast upon them are often very heat resistant and have thicker skins and denser builds. Depending the species of space whale -there are several varieties that fit different ecological niches- their diets vary from deep space squid and large cephalopods, to the much smaller astroplankton that collect in the tails of comets. Some special variations have evolved to consume the trails of solar flares and there are rumours of incredibly giant whales called star eaters that consume the very stars.

The thing about fantasy worldbuilding is that verisimilitude and the rule of cool are not enemies. Someone who looks at a pod of flying whales and asks "what do they eat?" is not being a spoilsport – they're engaging with the premise. There are any number of much more serious objections to aerial megafauna than lack of any obvious role in a trophic web that could have been raised if they just wanted to shoot the idea down; a person who wants to know what the flying whales eat is all but explicitly yes-anding the idea. Sure, you might not have an answer at your fingertips, but acting like it's unimaginative for them to have asked is a really fucking weird way to react.

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

The programme loves to use creepy, if not downright scary, places

to set stories, especially ones with Aesop lessons to be taught.

[cometconmain]

EXTRAORDINARY ATTORNEY WOO

Cannot recommend this ^^^^ enough. I've only watched the first episode so far due to time constraints but my friend and I (both autistic) were so excited watching it because she (yes, SHE) is allowed to be MULTIPLE THINGS AT ONCE. She is allowed to be a savant AND disabled in complex ways you don't normally see. She is allowed to have special interests outside of the skills that make her a good lawyer (she LOVES whales!!) Discrimination against her is called out very quickly and one of the characters being shitty begins to pull himself up, apologise, change and give her space to talk through her process instead of shutting her down within the very first episode, after his boss chews him out for missing what was on the first page of her resume because he was too busy being shitty about the second page containing mention of her autism.

But most amazingly? IN THE VERY FIRST EPISODE SHE IS SHOWN AS HAVING EMPATHY FOR OTHERS. Her struggle is in IDENTIFYING, not in feeling or capability of comprehending how others work!!!! She has pictures on her wall at home of her father in different facial expressions with names of emotions underneath which she then practices showing on her own face in a mirror (I was taught this way too so it's highly relatable) and what's really amazing is that she is the only one who identifies that her client isn't guilty of attempted murder because SHE IDENTIFIES LOVE AND CARE IN THE DEFENDANT'S BEHAVIOUR TOWARD HER HUSBAND. In the FIRST EPISODE.

You know how frustrating it is that we're always portrayed as struggling to 'understand' social skills (ie: neutotypical social skills since we tend to understand each other just fine even if we don't actively always gel) and oh oh "they just don't have empathy/they have low empathy" etc. Extraordinary Attorney Woo takes that bullshit and IMMEDIATELY STOMPS ON IT. They also take her noticing her society considers her being Autistic/disabled as highly pitiable and actively and intentionally WEAPONISES IT AGAINST THE PROSECUTION. Uncomfortable? Yes. Empowering? Honestly also yes. Because nothing says "screw neurotypical assholes and their prejudices" quite so well as intentionally using it against them. XD

Yes it starts with a little kid who doesn't talk and how terrible that is oh oh what a tragedy my daughter is Autistic no that can't be, what a horror!! And yes she suddenly starts talking out of nowhere and everyone is so damn excited because we all know how important wagging your mouth is over anything else in the world. *eyeroll* And yes they're still doing the savant thing which is frustrating.

But this is also South Korea and the fact they outright call her Autistic from the getgo and it doesn't just disappear into the aether and are already smashing so many of the common Autistic character tropes Western media is dragging its feet on so damn much is amazing to me. Also she gets a clearly Autistic friend which is awesome because generally media seems to only be able to handle one Autistic character at a time (any others are temporary guests or villainous nemeses etc) and this show went "actually it's perfectly normal and common for Autistic ppl to have healthy fun happy relationships with other neurodivergent people. Suck on that."

I'm so excited to watch more. But yeah, you want a show about an Autistic character that so far has blown a LOT of (not all but a significant shakeup) typical problems out of the water?

Meet the actively Autistic-labelled SOUTH KOREAN WOMAN shoving all the white western usually-American autistic males out of the way to step forward as a full person with multiple interests and a combination of both skills and disabilities which are both part of who she is and who is perfectly capable of understanding and working with human emotions and needs outside of her own (she just has to practice to IDENTIFY them on the fly, which I relate to), intelligent and cool, and just generally downright awesome so far.

(Editing without making a new one so Scribeofpnakotis doesn't see it yet because I want it to be a surprise, but HDHKXJGGKXHKXKHCOCKHCLHXHOOOHDHLXLHXHLJCLCHLCJLCJLCLJFLJFJLLFLJJLJLBKVJLCJLCLJCJLLJCLJCLCHHFJLFJLLJLJ HOLY FUCKING SHIT THIS SHOW JUST BELTED OUT "QUEER RIGHTS" AND "FREEDOM OF RELIGION" AT THE TOP OF ITS LUNGS, GODDAMN!! I LOVE THIS SHOW!!)

[sp1derc1der]

am i going to show off some ultra beast fakemon i made? Of course i am!

Meet UB-11: Colour and UB-12: Trickery, aka Cetachroma and Grenardier!

Cetachroma: Spectral Colour Pokémon

Type: Ghost/Psychic

Ability: Beast Boost

“According to eyewitnesses, this Pokémon floats through the sky and swallows clouds. Its mouth is said to contain colours that we can’t comprehend.”

Design inspiration: Moby Dick, Migaloo (a famous white whale in Australia), the space whale trope, orcas (loosely), beluga whales, sperm whales, prisms, harpoons, the colour spectrum, and The Colour Out of Space by HP Lovecraft

Name origin: Cetacean, Cetus (a constellation), chromatic, and chroma (meaning colour)

Renardier: Playing Koi Pokémon

Type: Water/Fire

Ability: Beast Boost

“A sly kind of Ultra Beast, it’s said to casually boil any body of water it inhabits to an inhospitable degree, killing off Pokémon in the process. No one can agree which end is its real head.”

Design inspirations: the invasive European red fox (here in Australia), grenadier fish, catfish, kitsune (loosely), tailmaws, a bit of Kurama from Naruto (unintentional), foxfish, and a pun on Firefox

Name origin: Renard (fox in French), and grenadier (a species of fish)