#They both bond over being experimented on

[tomboy014]

Tamaranean Siblings, Part 2!

After the Body Swap incident, Phantom and Starfire get close.  Really close.  Turns out swapping bodies breaks down a lot of boundaries, and unlike Raven, the two have bonded.  Starfire has always been a hugger, and she’s taken to carrying Phantom around like a teddy bear. Phantom is used to having a red-headed big sister, and ever since his parents worked the ecto-deflectors into their jumpsuits, he might maybe be a teensy bit touch starved.  He loves to sprawl over Starfire whenever they hang out together.

It’s driving Robin up the wall.  Phantom knows he’s been crushing on Starfire for a while, and he goes and does this?!  He can’t help but get more brusque with Phantom, to the point it starts to interfere with group dynamics, and it prompts even Starfire to tell him off for it.

Danny confronts Dick privately to tell him off for being a total dingus.  As far as the two of them are concerned, Kor’i and Danny are basically siblings now.  He’s knows Dick has a crush on her;  that’s why Danny has been trying to talk him up to Kor’i so she’ll give him a chance, and his attitude is not helping.  Dick needs to CHILL OUT!

Robin: … Who?

Phantom: You live with her for pete’s sake! How do you not know her first name?!

This is also where it comes to light that Robin/Dick doesn’t actually have any dating experience.

Robin is a super popular super hero, leader of his team, and supposedly smooth and charismatic.  Dick Grayson is the adopted son of Bruce frickin’ Wayne and beloved by the public. Danny’s at the bottom of the social ladder and he still got a date with the most popular girl in school. Twice!  How are you this bad at girls? 

Either way, things with Robin start to calm down and the group dynamic returns to normal (though Danny will never let him live down his lack of love life).  But things in the training room start to heat up. 

Starfire and Phantom now have a much better understanding of each other’s limits, and the gloves are off.  The whole tower shakes whenever the two of them spar together, and they’re both experimenting with new ways to use their energy powers after seeing how the other uses theirs.  Phantom even manages to give Starfire a black eye for the first time, and she’s ecstatic! It’s a Tamaranean thing.  In their culture, it’s an accomplishment when a younger sibling to visibly injures the elder sibling for the first time.  It shows how much the younger has grown and how well the elder has taught them.  Starfire is super proud and posts it all over SpaceBook.

But Phantom has ulterior motives for pushing Starfire the way he has been.  No one knows his strengths like Starfire does.  More importantly, no one knows his weaknesses the way she does.  If there’s anyone who’d know how to stop him…

Phantom asks Starfire to be his contingency plan, and explains everything that happened in The Ultimate Enemy, about his future self, what he did, and how terrified he is if he one day becomes that.  If that ever happens, he wants her to be the one to take him out.

Don’t try to talk him out of it.  He already gets it enough from his friends and sister that it won’t happen.  That he’s a good person.  He doesn’t need to worry about that, etc.  He’s heard it all before, but… None of them have actually agreed or promised to end him if it does happen.  And if it does… his friends are only human, and they couldn’t stop him before.

Starfire agrees.  She can see how important this is to him, and she won’t lose Danny to a dark path the same way she lost her sister.  The wave of relief that washes over him breaks Starfire’s heart.  These must be the horrible feelings that led him to develop the Ghostly Wail.

Still, she is confident that this future won’t come to pass because he chooses not to let it happen.  She, too, has been flung forward into a bleak future, but she knows nothing in the past, present or future is set in stone.  She fought and changed the future with her own two hands.  She’s knows Phantom is strong enough to do the same. 

While Dick and Danny were never really good at staying in contact with each other, Kor’i is and keeps up her relationship with Danny even after he “retires.”  She knew months before Dick of Jason did that he took the job at Arkham and is happy for him.  It may not be the career path he wanted, but he found a good job and a way to still help people without his powers. 

<<Prev

[teotheratking]

ABOUT JEAN: The monthly discourse

Damn and I thought we were past monthly Jean discourse, y'all are quite off schedule this time.

I do think it's funny how Jean-Heron Vicquemare continues to be The Public Enigma with what could be equivalent of 5 minutes of screen time. All of his appearances can be put into 3 groups: worrying/searching for Harry, watching over Harry, spending 45 minutes on insulting him. So it only makes sense how his discourse as well is surrounded by conversation, what is his relationship with Harry? Him being Harry's Satellite officer is like another added layer to how his whole existence seems in a constant orbit around the center of the Earth - Harrier Du Bois.

When discussing both of these characters I think it is crucial to strip them down layer by layer. When we're doing this Harry and Jean, I think we see far too quickly, how similar they are even with many differences: both are addicts, depressed, having facial scarrings and, of course, both are cops.

When looking at them from purely 'superior and subordinate perspective, they remind me of Robert Eggers script from The Lighthouse (2019) particularly this bit:

The Lighthouse explores the themes of capitalism and perpetual cycles of new and old generations: Young and Old.

We can see similar themes explored in DE as well. The game isn't afraid of constantly putting the players head into the mud, saying: "Yeah, it is that shit." RCM is a constantly moving system that lures people in with the promise of help for community and spits out a hollow husk of their former selves. Though I would say it doesnt do that either as most of them die before ever reaching retirement age.

Harry is surrounded by old dog imagery.

Particularly dogs that are about to be put down or are already dead. I particularly love this segment of the game with Joyce - it is clear that in this segment the black dog licking his wound is Harry, who's getting put down by the system he works in. But what I think makes the scene even better is what follows it:

Every officer's fate in RCM is the same.

It's the years of violence, brutality, system that eats those, who help and enables those, who hurt. It's speed, alcohol, never ending poverty, and as years go by another officer is closer and closer to finally pull the trigger on the old dog that you have become.

One final act in the Disco Inferno.

And there's inescapable horror in all of this: seeing what you will become, what you're bound to become. Looking in the mirror and staring at your partner's reflection - ever present reminder: "This will be you in 10 years to come."

When Jean says "trying," what he actually means is "functional." Having context of RCM system and inherent ableism of it, I think it's safe to say, that "to try" means "to succeed."

Jean isn't anymore functional than Harry as he is simply younger. Harry through entirety of the game is experiencing raining bonefire of decades of drug abuse and effects of poverty and long lasting emotional physical abuse. Meanwhile, Jean is yet to experience the crashing sun. He has 10 years to do so.

In perpetual vortex that is this sinking ship, partnership and comradery, become essentials for survival. Harry and Jean form particularly tight bond, tight enough that both can't evade speculations about their sexuality or type of relationship they have, thus "hetero-sexual life partners" are born.

I see a lot of people insisting, that those two relationship, that they had is what we can see right now in the game: partnership that feels more like a race of self destruction, while putting sticks in each other's metaphorical bicycles. To see which one falls first. But I feel this is complete controdictory to what we hear from the game:

"Trouble in paradise" - I wouldn't use those words if my two coworkers, who try to sabotage each other on the daily would finally get into all consuming fight. Though what do I know about male-centric workplace humour.

No matter, which way you choose to look at it, at the events of Disco Elysium, Jean's and Harry's relationship is at their absolute worst. Rock bottom. Maybe even beyond it, though that depends how one evaluates forgetting 44 years of your life except lost ex goes into equation. What we see is culmination of their every moment together - good and bad, which erupts into terrible earthquake.

Finally, what we see of Jean and Harry's relationship is supposed to be merely introduction, or at least was (Kurwitz pls, let me read the scripts). By small bits and pieces Luiga has decided to reveal to the public is that Jean is supposed to be one of main partners of the second game featuring The Return.

This doesn't deny Jean's role as The Jury or The Executioner in the Final Tribunal. He represents RCM's bigotry, ableism and hypocrisy of it all - a broken system of a destructive cycle - ouroboros eating it's own tail. However at the end of the day he's as much a person as any other in Elysium - full of complexity and nuance, the verdict of we simply do not have enough information of.

Finally at the end of this... I don't know what to even call this, I have no idea how one would arrive to concrete conclusion, that is either: "Jean good' or "Jean bad." All game's characters are some kind of moraly grey - this isn't a MARVEL movie or a fairy tale that people want it to be. It is a commentary of cultures that we all have grown up in. For me DE really resonates from Baltic States history and culture context, because this is all I've ever known.

[karanseraph]

Here's how *I* write the robot romance and sex in 2024 (many but not all of these may be pre-existing fandom or sci-fi terms):

"Choose Your Gear" is the (tentative) tag I use for the specific version of robot sex I am currently writing.

Frame/chassis - the bot's whole body and/or body-type

Hook(ing) up - slang-ish term for connecting via wires and/or cables. Not inherently romantic or sexual but can be used for such. The "plug n play"

SCREW, Standard Cybertronian Realtime Electronic Workspace, Cyber Space - the virtual 'space' which may be perceived by bots when they "hook-up" or "go virtual" or "space" together.

Spacing - hanging out together connected and in virtual reality; for many bots implied low situaltional awareness of material world.

Diving - a specific type of hooking up or spacing without rendered cyberspace in which the bot experiences the other's system on a data level.

Spark - the glowing cluster of positrons (in positive universes at least) that is functionally a bot's life(force).

Spark stuff - slang-ish term for romantic or recreational interfacing with sparks.

Attune, attunement, being attuned - when bots are accustomed to each other's presence, spark, or energy field and able to subconsciously recognize each other; not a permanent bond, but considered alike to a temporary bond.

Sparkbond - a (pretty much) permanent entanglement between two or more sparks. Not necessarily sexual or romantic, could be familial or friendship based, but is also typical of sparkmates or conjunxes.

Energy, energy field, EM signature - energies that radiate or spin off of a bot's spark which may be sensed by other bots or beings sensitive to such energies.

Field interaction - the sense of two or more fields colliding and interacting in a shared space. Bots may be more or less sensitive to this and have differing beliefs or abilities with "reading" EM emissions. Some may perceive colors or emotions, while others rarely sense anything.

Field expansion, field contraction - the expansion or contraction of a bot's field in spatial dimensions. Some bots have conscious control over this, while others may not. May also happen unintentionally due to changes in mood, injury, or power level.

Polite distance - the distance at which a bot determines their own field will not interact with that of another bot and thus they are not imposing their energy on another.

Gear or Equipment- slang-ish terms for robot genitalia-analogous parts in general

Form(s) - the specific genitalia-analogous part(s) selected

Interface array - the internal part of the robot body/frame/chassis that is typically covered by a retractable panel and which generates the "gear" of selected "forms" that bots choose to "interface" with. Standard, upgrade, modded, and custom versions can exist, depending somewhat on whether a bot was forged or constructed with one or later had one installed, or changed out their existing array for another model.

CySI, Cybertronian Standard Interface array - A specific and common model of interface array which typically has one convex slot above one concave slot and as many as three alignment nodes.

Interface - in this context, the recreational and non-reproductive interplay of parts

Concave slot(s) - the section(s) of an array capable of generating concave forms, like a stator (clinical), valve, port, slot etc. (confusingly there's "slot" in this sense of expansion slot, but also a specific concave form called a "slot" which bots may wish some other forms or part to enter.)

Calipers - some concave forms may include internal calipers that both sense and may contract against entering parts/forms.

Mesh, valve mesh - (not in this sense mech-flesh) internal woven wire mesh that functions as walls of some concave forms.

Flaps, lips - external parts generating around and with a form, most typical of, but not necessarily exclusive to, the area around concave forms. Available in various shapes and arrangements.

Rollers, wheels, casters, bearings - the tiny rolling parts inside some "analogue" types of concave forms (in place of or instead of a mesh) that mechanically move under traction from entering parts and help in building charge.

Convex slot(s) - the section(s) of an array capable of generating convex forms, like a rotor (clinical), spike, stick, button, etc.

Node, alignment node - part(s) of the array along with any of the concave or convex forms. typically they glow and may have haptic feedback of some sort. Where a bot has more than one, specific nodes may be designated as anterior/posterior, upper/mid/lower, etc.

Compatibility mode - software associated with the interface array hardware that enables a bot to run in an interface mode even more compatible with a specific known and/or scanned alien species, but which may have some minor side-effects as the bot's array attempts to emulate another species organs/parts and approximate their function

Dialing up, Dialing down - a bot changing the overall scale/size of their "gear" to obtain desired fit with a partner significantly larger or smaller. Though bots have a range of sizes proportionate to their frame, there can be physical limits to that range.

Scanning - in this context, scanning another's gear or other organs/parts to obtain measurements to inform fit and compatibility.

Charge - slang-ish for the energy generated through interfacing

Magnetic flux - the differential in magnetic fields that is caused by the movement of metal parts with or within magnetic fields during interfacing. Perceived as pleasurable and energetic.

Chasing the flux - slang-ish way to say working to build charge in order to overload

Overload - generating enough charge, in this context through interfacing, such that circuit capacity is over-loaded. Perceived as high-energy and/or fullness. A bot's systems may attempt to expel excess energy in their overload state, activating systems and abilities to put the energy to use.

Bare metal - 1. slang-ish term for a bot's thinner (non-armor) dermal plating which may or may not actually show their native alloys they were forged/constructed with, often in the sense of scraping or getting down to this layer. 2. A specific brief appearance of liquid metal during the process of generating a form from the interface array. Considered taboo to touch this.

Glossa, sensor nodule - a tongue-analagous part for licking, tasting, or chemically sampling.

Gloss - 1. to speak or understand a meaning 2. to lick in such a way as to shine with oral lubricants

Binomial Data Transfer - a method of transmitting short bursts of data from bot-to-bot via a dedicated port located beneath the base of the sensor nodule in the mouth. Often perceived as a means of transmitting end-of-life or emergency plans in a goodbye kiss.

There's probably more and I didn't cover general body parts or curses, but I need to go do my actual fic writing for the day.

Transformers Fanfic Terms 101

So @novelty-spark was asking about a masterpost for those sorts of things, I thought I’d throw down the terms i’ve used in my seasoned time as a TF fic writer. Shoutout to my bae @guttermech for helping with some of these tooooo

So for those who don’t know there’s actually a ton of strange inner-fandom terms and shorthand that’s used in fanfic/general discussions, and can also be used for tags on art. 

First off there’s the different types of TF porn/fic. 

Sticky and PnP/Wireplay are the most common, less common is Sparkplay/Sparkbonding There’s also a now-unheard of fourth type called Tactile/EM fieldplay.

Sticky: Sticky is organic-based sexual organs, with organic genitals. Usually it’s a set of a penis/vagina combo, but there’s lots of different versions. One thing is for sure; it’s messy, it’s slippery, and it’s the most common type of TF porn you’ll find. 

PnP: Short for Plug-N-Play, it’s also sometimes called wireplay, is the counter to Sticky. It’s more based on the passing of electrical currents and information between two cybertronians to bring pleasure to both parties. The fact that it’s also a common phrase for electronics is a hilarious bonus for when you find that shit in public and can laugh about it. 

Sparksex/Sparkplay/Sparkbonding: This is a fairly well recognized but not always utilized form of cybertronian coupling that involves direct interaction between two or more party’s sparks. It’s usually coupled with them becoming bondmates which is a term i’ll cover below in more detail. 

Tactile/EMfieldplay: This is from the olden days, I’ve not seen any content made of this forgotten type in years and years, but now’s a good a time as any for a resurgance. EMfield stands for Electromagnetic Field, which is the sensory net that surrounds a cybertronian. Long ago [before time began…] it was very common for fics to include the fields as a form of close-contact, a field that would become meshed with others when cybertronians were near each other. This type of porn was more closely related to foreplay, though climax could easily be reached by the two [or more!] fields interacting. This one’s pretty complex to explain here, but I think I’ve got the gist of it down. 

Here’s a list of some terms, not all are inherently sexual but are useful to know for the flow of things/knowing the name of some parts of the anatomy and terms: 

Interfacing is sex. It’s just what sex is called, pretty basic. 

cable/cord/plug are the words for a robot penis, however a lot of people call them ‘spikes’ too, which is uncomfortable sounding as hell! Let’s normalize cord/cable/plug =u= I’ve also seen 

Valve is the term used for a penetrable hole, a vagina or butthole or whateverthefuck, it’s also sometimes called a port. 

Anterior/Outer node is a term used for a clitoris, and 

Calipers are the internal structure of a valve/port, similar to the muscle structure inside organic holes to clench/cause a milking action. 

Overload is what an orgasm is called. 

Transfluid is cybertronian ejaculate/jizz. Most artistic renderings have it be glowing like Energon but it can be just about anything you want, I used to write it as silver or different colors, they’re robots, go wild. Glowy jizz or metallic jizz or black inky jizz or just white jizz, who cares! It’s jizz! Have fun! 

CNA  is sometimes used as a version of DNA, often used for when baby Cybertronians are talked about being made through sexual reproduction. On that note- 

Sparklings, are baby cybertronians. Sometimes they’re also called protoforms but more often than not Sparklings is the most accurate way to get it. Protoforms are also a canon material so I don’t know if anyone uses it anymore. I'm not going over different methods of sexual and asexual cybertronian reproduction because that honestly deserves a post all it’s own. 

Glossa is what tongues are called, while 

Coolant is often used as their version of saliva 

servo is used interchangeably for any moving part w/ a joint- legs, arms, fingers, etc [for fingers i would suggest ‘digits’ too ] 

Vents are used to describe air flow and to emulate panting/heavy breathing, often used for when a cybertronian starts to get heated and their vents will turn on, expelling hot air. 

Pedes are words used instead of 'feet’

Chevron is the shape that’s on many Cybertronian’s heads, [examples: prowl, ratchet] 

Headfins are another helmet shape, often described as sensitive or an erogenous zone. [examples: sunstreaker, fort max]

Kibble is the name of anything that is not a vital part of the cybertronian’s anatomy but is needed in order to form their alt mode. Examples include tires, headlights, car doors on arms/back. 

Door-wings are pretty self-explanatory, but they are a specific anatomy belonging to the likes of Prowl, Jazz, TFP/Bayverse/RID2015 Bumblebee; they are the doors for their car mode that are perched between the shoulders like wings. 

Audials are used instead of 'ears’, while 

Finials describe a more protruding shape of 'ears’, such as those on Shockwave, Drift, and Wing. 

And as a special added note, here are some Cybertronian curse words often used in fics:

Dross [Damn]

Frag [fuck] fragger, fragging, etc

Scrap [shit]

Slag[aggressive derogatory term, means to call someone scum or garbage]

Feel free to add things! I hope this helps! 8U 

[nightlyrequiem]

valeria giving & receiving aftercare headcanons? pretty please 🙏🏾

So polite! Of course!

Valeria is either the queen of aftercare or she doesn’t do it. There’s no in between.

A is For Affercare

Giving- When Valeria gives aftercare she goes all in. She has to actually care about you to do it unfortunately. So if you’re just some one night stand… well….

Anyway. let’s just say Valeria was really rough in bed. Whoever she slept with is sore and maybe covered in bruises. Once she’s done she’s grabbing a nice cool cloth to wipe her partner clean. Being gently as she does. She’ll kiss their bruises better get them some water and maybe even a protein bar. She’ll also help them to the bathroom. You should always pee after sex! Nobody wants a UTI.

If she made you bleed, accidentally or on purpose, she’ll tend to your wounds with care. Gently disinfecting them even if it’s just a scratch.

If neither of you fall asleep after that then you get to experience her just holding you and talking. Some nice emotional bonding! Maybe she’ll even feed you some fruit. Stroke your arms or legs, face, head, anywhere really. Holding you close and letting you come down for the high.

And if she was gentle, she does the same anyway. Cleaning and holding you.

Receiving- Valeria is in an environment where after care isn’t really a thing. Sex is quick and about chasing pleasure, no need to get attached, after care isn’t necessary. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t like it. I headcanon Valeria as dominate most of the time. She’s in charge of what’s in bed and she’s in charge of what happens after but I think she deserves some care too. #aftercare4doms

The first time someone else doted over her she didn’t really know what to do. She felt a little wierd about being gently cleaned and kissed. She liked it though.

Aftercare for Valeria is being able to just fall asleep with her partner. Or alternatively, a nice warm shower. You’re both still naked and touching each other but this time it’s not sexual. She’s kind of a defensive person. Leave them before they leave you kind of thing. So it’s really nice when the people she’s with make an effort for her.

She especially likes it when she’s cuddling with her partner and they ask her about her tattoos or scars. Or for stories about her time in the cartel. Nothing better than sex and bragging about your achievements as far as she’s concerned.

[rendoa-blog]

Ghosts of the past!

Pssst, you can ignore this, but I wanna share it with you guys because I think you might enjoy it @ancha-aus @spotaus

Also, @mortallydarkbird , get your ass in here. You're reading this whether you like it or not.

"Nightmare, King of Negativity, Rulers of Emotion (mind the plural), is a prominent figure in the multiverse. He and his group are not... feared? They are respected and work under... a merciful deity. Huh. That seems... wrong, somehow. Ink truly does not understand why it feels that way. With the information he has been provided with, nothing about this looks off. So... what is making it feel like this???"

OR

I, Myeba, share the great ideas of my mind! So! Because I don't know how to word this properly other than BadSans(+Dream)-centric! Let's just go and list some facts about this!

So, what's wrong here?

Dream! Dream is what's wrong here!

This Nightmare is haunted by the undead spirit of his petrified twin!

Dream never got out of stone, his petrified body, overgrown with moss and greenery in some spots, stays in Nightmares private garden with their dead mother. (The castle is built atop the apple hill in Dreamtale, the destroyed, deserted village of their youth rebuilt and repopulated under their rule.)

Nightmares garden isn't the only area of the castle blocked off to everyone else. Every single room with a window that has a view into it is also forbidden, together with their connecting corridors. Dream stays there during the day.

Dream is, and will stay, a child. He lacks a physical form he can use due to being petrified, and because of it, Nightmare is forced to be a voice for both of them. That is also the reason for the title of Rulers of Emotion being plural, even if there is no one, but these two, who knows why it's like that. Dream is still the one who decides on things regarding positivity as he stays by Nightmare during any meeting that could require his presence.

When Nightmare goes to sleep, his spirit leaves his body while it rests. This spirit is also 6 years old and lacks half his skull. Nightmare did grow up naturally, though, even if he still looks like a child as a spirit due to unfortunate circumstances (cough basically death). Nightmare and Dream walk around the castle and cause slight shenanigans during this. They're mostly Dreams fault.

Dust can see ghosts and spirits occasionally, but they have not figured out how it happens. He has seen Dream and Nightmare running around the castle during his first few weeks when Nightmare didn't know about that. Dust is aware that something there is haunted and he thinks it's the castle itself, since he's never seen the spirits outside. He stopped seeing Nightmare entirely (because Nightmare is avoiding him), but still catches glints of Dream every once in a while when Nightmare isn't with him.

Killer and Horror know about the children as well because Dust has told them about them. They also know that Nightmare knows something, but they have been unsuccessful in getting the answers.

Cross is also there, but he's been in the group for far shorter so he doesn't know about Dream yet.

...They call the kids Yellow and Purple because they have no other way of addressing them. Dust has tried to communicate multiple times but Dream runs away every time due to being noticed.

Dream wants to befriend the group and spend time with them, especially when Dust shows up and actually sees him. Nightmare doesn't trust them enough for that.

The group has something akin to familial bonds, but Nightmare strictly excludes himself from it. He tries to be cold and distant. They know its a mask though. ...not Cross though. Cross doesn't and fully believes it because of past experiences.

Ink and Error are just 2 toddlers fighting over who gets to play with the pretty glittery pony, except the pony is attention and it usually ends with casualties. That is literally all I have about them.

Swap never left home! He's happily in his AU and while yeees he does know who Ink is and what the AUs are because the squid crash landed in his timeline one time (...or multiple times...many, many times.) he is not involved in anything concerning the multiverse.

Nightmare just collects unfortunate souls that remind him a bit too much of himself, victims of circumstance that didn't get a different choice if they wanted to survive.

The castle itself has many floral and nature inspired patterns in the stone. It is also heavily covered by plants anywhere that aren't accessible to those who don't live there, with some exceptions where it would make the room useless. Many corridors have vine ceilings or plants on the wall, but the kitchen, for example, only has a few controlled herbs in specific spots on and in the walls. The flora also doesn't even try to reach into private areas such as their bedrooms unless specifically encouraged to do so. (ex. Nightmares room) The group mostly doesn't want the plants there, though.

The entire group was pretty surprised when they moved in, because this was not what they expected, especially Cross who was very used to the formal and perfect visual that the part of the castle accessible to guests showed.

[inkcoffinz]

A brief (yes, this is brief) collection of my thoughts about Scotland- Or Alasdair Kirkland: his motivations, backstory, personality, and all that jazz! I will be taking from both a historical and comic canonical aspects mixed with my own headcanons and interpretations.

Enjoy the read~

Starting off strong with a basic understanding of Alasdair’s personality. While he doesn’t have a lot of screen time, we have enough to gather a basic understanding of what he is like. On the surface, Alasdair is a seemingly stoic individual, often carrying a neutral face and reacting to things with an impassive demeanor. This is only really half true though, as a lot of the times we see these kinds of reactions are almost always strictly with his brothers alone. When he is around people he’s less comfortable with, especially one’s he desires a bond with, Alasdair takes on both a more outwardly aloof personality, but also a noticeably more stressed one.

This leads me to my assumption that Alasdair likely has some sort of social awkwardness or social anxiety. It’s likely that he doesn’t interact with other nations outside of his brothers (especially since England is the only one of the four who go to world meetings). This leaves him with a sort of stunted social understanding and a struggle to be in control of his emotions in situations that he is unfamiliar with.

Alasdair is also likely autistic. Not only does he have this struggle with his emotions and anxiety around situations he has less experience with, but he also shows a lack of understanding of social cues on a few occasions. A good example is when Macawn (wales) starts proudly talking about King Arthur and his pride with how he was welsh and Alasdair interrupts him with an article of how King Arthur was actually Scottish. He continues talking about it even with Macawn being visibly upset at the thought and having such an attachment to King Arthur. You can see in Alasdair’s expression and mannerisms that he truly meant no harm sharing the information but didn’t notice the cues around him to not bring up such a sore subject around his brother. This is also more evidence on Alasdair’s struggle with social interaction.

Against popular belief (and fanon headcanon), Alasdair is a very sweet and loving man, caring for others outside of himself- especially his brothers. While, yes, he does pick on Arthur (England), he honestly has very good reason to. In fact, Alasdair loves his brothers so much that he actively gives up his own desires and wellbeing for their happiness and safety. In the Brexit arc, Alasdair wants to leave the uk because being in it is actively hurting him, yet he gives that idea up when faced with the thoughts of what his younger brothers would do without him.

He loves his brothers more than anything- even if he lovingly makes fun of them from time to time. (But who doesn’t do that with their siblings.)*

*this is especially why I hate the fanon idea that Scotland is some sort of abuser- especially toward England- because in actuality he is the complete opposite.

((I will be getting more in detail about Alasdair and Arthur’s relationship later))

I will now shift my thoughts over to his backstory and how Alasdair’s childhood- teen years helped shape him into the man he is today.

Alasdair is a really interesting dude in the fact that, similar to Scottish history itself, he’s full of contradictions. He was raised practically in war- being likely born during the Roman invasion of Britannia, his teenage years being filled with Viking raids, and his adulthood of wars against England (and to an extent- internal disputes). To put it simply, he was raised a soldier. From the way that he acts in the comics- being very quick to act for the group’s self interest rather than self preservation and the fact he is prone to quick violent defense when threatened, it’s likely he still keeps a lot of the mindset that he would’ve had on the battlefield with him. He yearns for his freedom from his brothers and is aware of how much it hurts him staying with them, yet at the same time doesn’t want to leave them to fend for themselves and takes their happiness and safety into his own hands.

Canonically, he is the eldest. He was the one who had to help raise his brothers and watch what they all grew into with his own eyes. With this intense desire to keep them safe, I think he carries quite a lot of unshown guilt over a lot of things. I see a few people writing Alasdair like he is in denial of the monster Arthur became and doesn’t want to see the truth, which I think is actually the opposite of what’s likely happening. Alasdair out of any of them would be the most aware of Arthur’s descent and likely have a lot of guilt over it that he tries not to dwell on. I think his bullying of Arthur is both as an act of defiance to him and also an outlet for him to relieve his anger about how things turned out. He can turn that guilt into anger and direct it at England.

On the topic of his relationship with Arthur, combined with the topic of Alasdair’s contradictions, we come to the British empire. Do I think Alasdair hated what Arthur and the British empire were doing? Yes, do I think he was lowkey a coward and never really stood in true defiance against him? Also, yes. When it comes down to it, Scotland benefitted from the British empire- they helped create it and Scottish people also caused a lot of colonization by their hands (Northern Ireland being a good example) Alasdair wanted to stand up to Arthur.. but why didn’t he? I think to an extent he did.. but I think that lowkey.. Alasdair is just a pushover. I think he is. We can even see it in the brexit arc- he was very outwardly against the idea until they all said they wanted to and he went along with it because he didn’t want to split up the family. He loves his brothers to the point where he inadvertently ignores their mistakes and atrocities because he doesn’t want to truly hurt the only people he calls his family. His cowardice is also important because along with it comes his denial of that aspect of himself. He doesn’t want to be a pushover and a coward- he wants to be the strong warrior that he wanted to be when he was younger and had to fight for himself. He wants to protect people and the ones he loves and hates how easily he folds into negativity.

A really important relationship that I want to bring attention to (and often do a lot on my page) is Scotland’s relationship with Northern Ireland. A really interesting thing about Alasdair is his implied affinity for Logan (Northern Ireland ). I have a few explanations for this- an obvious one being that Northern Ireland was mostly settled and colonized by lowland Scots so ofc he has affection towards him, BUT I like to take another approach with the fact that Northern Ireland is likely the one brother that Alasdair really has a connection with. Arthur and Macawn are obviously quite close and are often seen agreeing with eachother or having a general connection that you don’t really see with Scotland. Alasdair is lowkey the outlier of the family and likely clings to Logan cause he’s the other ‘weird’ one.

Tldr- Alasdair is lonely. I really think he is. Even amongst his brothers, he has a loneliness that he can’t really fill. I think this is why he tries so hard to make friends in the story and why it lowkey upsets him so much when it fails

It is 3 in the morning currently so I will end this here, but I will likely have more soon. Thanks for reading!

[disco-wyrm]

Honestly, only @cipherbunz would know who any of these OCs are, but it looked fun to do :P if you wanna know more about them, feel free to ask, i will gladly wordvomit about them <3

tw: torture, physical & emotional ab*se, mental health issues and death.

1. I don't really have one in particular for this one? If I had to choose, it'd probably be Swan. She's a tough lady, but she's just not built for deserts and hot environments.

2. Nobu, the man doesn't really even notice most of them anyway. Could definitely see him with a couple injuries he hasn't even noticed/doesn't think they're that much of an issue. Downsides of a really good pain tolerance, I guess?

3. Maverick. Hands down, that poor bastard's been through so much lol. His fiancée gets killed by his own father, his clan is destroyed, he gets dragged into TWO wars, experimented on, and then isolates himself because he's afraid of entering cities for reasons he can't even remember. Oh, and Death won't let him die bc Fate told them to for the plot and didn't elaborate on why so he's stuck surviving all of it.

4. Onyx, by his own adopted brother at that. Arcus didn't really take Onyx's (percieved) abandonment of him very well. Both of them need therapy, yeesh...

5. Leo and his crew. They're my world-hopping pirates, and definitely not of their own choice. Leo has sworn to kill whatever fate or god has damned them to getting yoinked into different dimensions, so I should probably watch my back lol

6. Alexei. Man has a while doomed yaoi thing going on with his ex/bestie for the past millennia or so. I guess both being vampires from Shakespearean times in a cyberpunk future equals some kind of trauma bonding? They don't even realize they're still flirting, it's painful to watch, really.

7. Onyx, he's one of my oldest ocs and i love putting my lil guy in Situations.

8. Leo and his crew again, for obvious reasons

9. Aster, by a young water spirit. She healed him, and he helped care for her in return. She then taught him alchemy, something her species knows instinctively via generational memories. He's now one of the best alchemists in the region.

10. Onyx and Maverick. Both killed by family and revived for different reasons. Maverick was bc of the plot, while Onyx was revived bc his s/o made a deal with Death for him. Maverick is in denial about his immortality, while Onyx is completely unaware that he actually died.

11. Winter/Winniel. Poor guy's scared of being even slightly out of line due to the tyrant king of his homeland. And as the royal alchemist, he's pretty close to the king. The king has convinced him so much of his weakness that he doesn't dare consider rebellion, convinced that he stands no chance even though physically he could definitely take him in a fight.

12. Kipp has compartmentalized his trauma and stress from his work, putting on a cheery and almost innocent persona to put his loved ones (and himself) at ease. At this point, he's not really sure which "him" is the real him anymore.

13. Acheron, constantly. It's technically magic tears that leak out no matter what he tries, and occasionally they form into little blob crows. They are his babies and he loves them dearly.

14. I'll pick Juno for this one. He's stuck in a control spell by an evil sorceress, and she usually gets him to kill people she wants to get rid of, or sometimes even people he comes across. He hates the lack of choice, so often he makes the choice to attack them on his own. Not healthy at all, and he'd rather not, but it's the only way he knows to exert control over his life.

15. Usually "comfort after a nightmare" scenarios are my favorite. Once they're calm(er), it's usually a pretty sweet moment. Easily turns to fluff afterwards.

Torturing your ocs ask game :)

(Delightful, I know. But we all do it sometimes)

1. Which of your ocs do you most often imagine sick? In what ways?

2. Which of them do you most imagine injured in other ways?

3. Who do you put through the most emotional turmoil?

4. Which oc has been tortured? Through what means?

5. Which of them has the worst luck?

6. Who goes through the most relationship conflicts? (applies to any relationships)

7. Who do you put most into stressful situations or other drama?

8. Who ends up in survival situations the most? How do they fair in them?

9. Has any of them had to be saved from the brink of death? Were there any consequences after?

10. Has any of them had to be revived / brought back to life? How did this affect them?

11. Who is afraid the most? How does this effect them?

12. What kind of health repercussions has your oc experienced through intense stress? How do they manage them?

13. Who cries the most often? What are the usual causes?

14. How does your oc cope?

15. To cap off what kind of hurt/comfort scenarios do you put your oc in?

This can be about canon story events or simply rotating scenarios for fun!

[antleredweirdo]

A Blue man and a Ghost meet in a church…

((Just an idea as I’m having brainrott))

Danny, with his horrific injuries from being ‘caught’, somehow escapes to his friends before retreating into his core. His friends take his core into the ghost zone, trying to get to Frostbite, but are stopped by (either Fenton parents or GIW agents) flooding into the ghost zone after them.

Tuck and Sam are panicking and so they wrap Danny’s core into Tuck’s beanie and Sam’s jacket before tossing him onto one of the flouting platforms and leading the ghost hunters away…they didn’t expect Danny to be sucked into one of the natural portals along the way down…

Danny wakes up in Germany of all places, alone, with pieces of his best friend’s clothing splayed over him… He takes this with surprising grace (not) and deals with his newfound homelessness in a foreign country as well as he can. At least his King status allows him to be a polyglot…

Meanwhile, Kurt Wagner had returned church that had raised him, planing on pay respects (again) to the Priest that had sheltered him. It wasn’t the same church, as that one has burned down far long ago, but there had been a new church built in its place. This new church had been abandoned soon after its construction, too many people saying that it was haunted with angry ghosts and feeling too anxious to worship within such a building.

Kurt had thought they had been silly, thinking like that and leaving the building to rot. Through, that was before he, himself, had caught sight of a ghost dwelling inside inside. Wait, no. This was still a living child. A boy sat in one of the pews and stared at him with wary curiosity. Through he was so washed out and in such a sorry state that…Well, Kurt believes he could be forgiven for mistaking the boy for the dead.

In the dim morning glow flooding through the stained glass, his eyes reflected and glowed in the shadows. Which was…huh. Seems Kurt has stumbled upon not just a squatter, but a mutant squatter at that.

[worstloki]

love the idea of the Avengers adding new members but being stingy about rooms so the OG Avengers each get their own but Bucky and Loki are forced to share one under the guise of it being 'healthy interaction'

[da-janela-lateral]

And You and I

[worldisahouseonfire]

This really helps to read. There's a lot of pressure in institutions and congregate living situations to make friends with the other people there. But I don't do well with this sort of nonconsensual setup, where I can't actually get away from the would-be friends if I need a break from them to evaluate how I'm feeling about an interaction or connection.

Reminds me of something from a RealSocialSkills post called 'Autism awareness for aides,' something like "honest loneliness is better than being surrounded by people who everyone says are nice but don't treat you well or think you are real."

And something Terry Pratchett wrote in 'I Shall Wear Midnight,' about how sometimes two people are both outcasts but come to find out, painfully, that they're not outcasts in the same/compatible ways.

In my experience Autistics can be way more different to each other than non-Autistics are to each other. All of us being outcasts, or treated as 'weird' by normative society, does not necessarily mean that we have anything in common other than our exclusion. And that by itself can be a very painful thing to bond over. Especially in the absence of any independent enjoyment of spending time with one another.

But it still hurts and feels extra-isolating to be in congregate settings with other socially rejected people, and see that they are able to make friends and connections with one another. Especially with the overwhelming (sometimes unspoken) narrative that the whole reason we're isolated and stuck in these places is some lack of arbitrary and universal 'social skills,' so failure to get along with people who have been arbitrarily thrown together with me feels like a sort of universal social death sentence. Like I will always be surrounded by people I don't want as friends, and this social failure will be All My Fault.

This is why, though, I am so glad that most of my life I have had a computer and reached out online for social connection. My closest friends are sometimes two or three timezones away, or even on the other side of the world, but they remind me that with the right people, I'm not a total social failure. And that spending time with other people doesn't have to feel like being in a car wreck -- uncertain what happened, afraid it was somehow my fault, wondering what lengthy consequences I might be facing, not even sure if I'm hurt or how badly.

My friends far away show me how it feels to be myself with people, to let the soft animal of my body rest in the (virtual) presence of others. And we do more for each other than anyone I know in meatspace, not because we feel obliged to, but because it makes sense.

Without my laptop, I would not survive congregate and institutional living situations. I would not keep fighting and striving to get out and stay out, and support my friends in all their efforts to break free and stay free from coercive shared living situations.

It makes sense to not always be able to make friends in settings and places not of our choosing. Where the only thing we may have in common with others there is our inability to leave, to make different choices who we spend our days with. In school, in employment, in families, in neighborhoods and sometimes housing, we often have limited pools of people with whom we interact. The chances of them being My/Your/Our People are ludicrously small.

I think it's okay for it to be harder to find friends. Especially as an adult, and especially when going through rough times. It's okay to not make friends with people you have to spend a lot of time around.

(I hope so, anyway. 'Cause where I'm living, and who I'm living with right now, is *not at all* where I want to be.)

“Because I could see that all these kids were weird and even they didn’t accept me, I knew I was the strangest one of all.”

—

Sean Barron, There’s A Boy In Here

Describing what happened to him in institutions.  I once attempted to describe this phenomenon in a book review of someone autistic who’d managed to make a lot of friends in institutions.  I was trying to just say our experiences had been different, but he somehow managed to take it as an insult, and to get his blog followers to write about how wonderful he was for being able to do something I hadn’t been able to do.  Which, of course, made me feel even worse: Other autistic people were able to make friends in institutions, so why were such experiences so few and far between for me? Was I defective somehow, even for an autistic person?  Was I showing how i wasn’t the right kind of autistic person, the kind who in their teens could somehow manage to make friends because they were so sweet and nice? 

I wasn’t sweet and nice, I was weird and strange and sticking out in all the wrong directions.  And many times, I would come to a mental institution and within seconds everyone would judge me to be the ward outcast.  I’ve talked to lots of autistic people who had this experience.  It turns out it’s not rare after all, and it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with us, it just means we’re not among the rare autistic people who do manage to make lots of friends in such places.  And they aren’t better than us, and we aren’t better than them, we’re just different.  But it took me a long time to be able to see this, especially with grown parents of autistic children, who should’ve known better, harping on a very young adult autistic person for saying hir experiences were different than someone else’s.

(via autiequotes)

[greendest1ny]

my lloyd and garmadon brainrot is back, but honestly it never leaves. they haunt me /pos

expect multiple fics to come

[lala-blahblah]

I will never make this because it would be for an audience of one (me) but ever since reading "If we Were Villains" (story about serious drama kids in college who perform shakespeare and deal with a murder) I have been entertaining the thought of a crack fic crossover with High School Musical The Musical The Series where the staff decides they will no longer put on shakespeare after the tragic accident that happened at Thanksgiving, because Shakespeare plays would only increase the tension and drama. So they hire Ms. Jen who decides their spring play will actually be High School Musical (which exists in the 90s in this universe) and it ruins the vibe so much that everyone gives up on being dark and mysterious because they're universally pissed at Ms Jen for making them learn choreoraphed basketball dancing.

[romanticatheartt]

If I had the ability to led on a grown ass man (without even doing much) for 5 centuries I'd be proud as fuck, lemme tell ya...

Mor probably...

[shoezuki]

one thing that has stuck with me from the latest kerfuffle i got into on twitter is like. there was one person arguin w one the homies that my bio stating i was white isnt accurate because white people cant be people of colour or a poc so putting 'white' in my bio was the reason people wouldnt acknoweldge Im mixed. and like. that shit has stuck w me

cuz to me that seems fucked up towards mixed ppl like me who have that white background mixed with some non-white identity. but thinking about it i can ABSOLUTELY understand the idea of it due to the notion that white people cannot be poc. cuz that sentence in itself is SENSIBLE. like oh Obviously white people cannot be in the non-white community, so therefore mixed people 'cannot' identify as white????

but i keep thinking about it cuz. wow that shit really pointed out an issue that is so obviously present when it comes to recognizing and acknowledging mixed people like me. Because regardless of how much of a Person Of Colour i am or how much aboriginal background i got, i look very white. I have possibly more typically white experiences than typically aboriginal ones. I have blue eyes as when i was a kid I had naturally blonde hair and there was the joke that i was the whitest in my family because of it. which despite the joke is pretty damn true. people dont see me on the street and say oh thats an indigenous person, and the extremely rare times someone sees me as non-white its usually another indigenous person yknow.

I think its like. its kinda led to this revelation of mine i suppose. On one hand i've come to terms with the idea that i am Aboriginal AND white in the sense that i cant just pick either or as both aspects of me have influenced my entire existence as a mixed person. but its really hit home on why i've struggled so much with seeing myself as being in the non-white community or recognizing myself as a person of colour. because the only 'requirement' of being a poc is Not being white. but does that instantly eliminate all mixed white and non-white people like me from being anything other than white? does that not just further the notion that mixed ppl have to just 'pick a side'? Wouldnt decrying my white identity to be a poc then just diminish my own experiences with white privilege and passing as white?

[salsa-di-pomodoro]

Alright. Guess the submas tag is still full of angst 👍🏼