#a system others might find weird if he applied to other things

[jor-elsemissary]

What is a habit Lionel has, which they consider perfectly normal, but others think is weird?

“It’s not weird,” he says defensively and suddenly becomes self conscious of what he is doing right now. He resists the desperate need to appear in control and normal, and erase his progress. Instead Lionel purses his lips and writes down letters and numbers before tacking a screw with putty just underneath them.

He has a couple sheets of paper spread out already with similar parts tacked and cataloged. In front of him is a children’s toy, an RC controller truck that had seen better days and which he is clearly trying to repair.

“Look, it helps me keep parts organized and from scattering. See here,” he points to a short screw that has FMBPp2 written on it. “This is front, middle, back plate position two.” He holds up the back plate from another paper that also has an alphanumerical assignment. “It goes here.”

He huffs indignantly and goes back to his work. Frowns when he notices something wrong and looks back at the paper he had been using, “Now you’ve caused me to forget where I got this!”

[thecoolerliauditore]

Hi. I'll bite. What's the Jimmy ecosystem?

(completely genuine, feel free to direct me to an older post if there is one, i just didn't find it)

oh my goodness, an excuse to explain one of my strange pidgin language-esque terms of convenience that I'm not quite sure anyone understands outside of one or two people. that tubbytarchia guy put it into words pretty well if you're looking for the short version.

long version below:

"jimmy ecosystem" is more or less a shorthand I started saying to refer to the social system that keeps jimmy in his role of being "the worst one" (the butt of the joke, the one who goes out first, the obstacle to be surmounted, so on and so forth).

on the CC side of things, I think the imp and skizz podcast episode with joel put it best on how this came to be: jimmy is good at the youtube thing, and happy to be mocked or humiliated for the sake of making content. He's your guy for any gag, there's no wonder why he plays the goofy antagonist for so many of the POVs in esmp2.

but this creates a. very strange and sad effect when you look in from the perspective of character interpretation. esmp2 jimmy, for example, by being the bad guy in so many people's stories (especially when he really hasn't done much at all to earn the mockery he gets) feels more upsetting when you're watching his POV and it seems like no matter where he goes he gets mocked and bullied.

it carries over to almost every series: life series jimmy specifically gets this very clearly shown through his knack for being out first.

in a way I almost see the ecosystem and its effect on Jimmy (and Jimmy's performance) as an alternative school of thought to the canary curse. Both are concepts that explore Jimmy's "badness" being something forced upon him rather than something innate or entirely his failings as a player/person. Except while the canary curse ascribes the blame to nebulous concepts like The Watchers, the ecosystem puts the blame squarely on the people surrounding Jimmy who work at keeping him down. (<-- not that people can't like both ofc)

I used the term "ecosystem" because 1. it sounded funny and 2. it was what I felt like was the most fitting term, since the ecosystem especially when applied to the life series isn't so much people poking jimmy for fun but rather that and using it directly to their advantage to life themselves up. If Jimmy isn't out first, someone else will be, it might even be you, and you wouldn't want that so it is genuinely incentivized for you to keep Jimmy down as much as possible. This part has always been a bit heavy on the headcanon territory since historically the worse performing players are the ones much kinder to Jimmy, but it's definitely something to look at case-by-case.

Outside of literally his performance in the life series, I and others have also used The Ecosystem quite a lot to refer to Jimmy's relationships, mostly those with other men. Since Jimmy loves to do flirty bits, it spawns a lot of romantic plotlines, and when conjoined with the aforementioned inescapable bullying bit it gets... Weird, when you write about the characters.

With the exception of Tango, all of Jimmy's popular ship partners frequently hit, berate, mock and humiliate him, but all in their own special and unique ways. But one thing that tends to stay the same is that their relationships are nearly always more built on what the partner desires to get out of Jimmy.

I could go on but essentially: the ecosystem acts to me as an exploration of the intersection of skill at the game and worth as a person, as well as the themes of masculinity and gayness that I've found tend to pop up again and again in Jimmy's story. If you choose to read it as a story, of course.

Those initiated into the Ecosystem (Joel, Scott, Martyn, Grian, Fwhip, Sausage) have an understanding that Jimmy plays a certain lowest rung role in their social order and work to maintain that order for their own benefit (NUANCE button may be pressed here especially re: those first three). Those outside of the Ecosystem view it as a natural order they shouldn't disturb, sometimes even catching onto certain beliefs, e.g. "Jimmy is worse than everyone else" and internalizing them (Etho is a good example with how he was more or less Jimmy-neutral at the start of the life series and by the time SL/WL was happening he very casually says stuff like "oh, it's just Jimmy,"), few are completely oblivious to it and the fact that bullying Jimmy is what they Should Do socially but still will join in when prompted (Tango and Scar are very good examples).

If you've noticed that I've only listed male players, that is very much on purpose since even though there are women very much aware and participating in the ecosystem -- lizzie being the biggest example -- their involvement is, at least to me, noticeably a different flavour compared to the guys. Which I suppose makes enough sense with how much of it feels like a pseudoscientific wolf pack macho dynamic (and it probably doesn't help that they are entirely immune to the gay bits). Women in the Jimmy ecosystem is probably an entire post on its own, Lizzie alone could probably get quite a few paragraphs out of me.

anyway. very funny also to me to imagine jimmy as some sort of amoeba.

[meanbossart]

Hey! I was thinking of trying to write something for you about DU Drow but after a trying to gather stuff about him via your page I’m struggling to get something substantial for his personality- like I get it mostly (I think?) but it’s hard to put into words (which makes it easier for me) so if it’s not too much to ask; how would you explain DU Drows personality and maybe some of his values? - if you don’t mind! I love your art BTW!

Man, this is a tough ask and I MADE the guy. The fic is definitely the best place to see his personality in action, but it is also 20 chapters long so far - and I'm a fairly reasonable man.

Before I get to any descriptions, there's two important things to note: A) Overwhelmingly, his looks do not match his demeanor. and B) DU drow is extremely hedonistic in practice. He might claim to have certain beliefs or standards but hardly ever practices them.

Anyways, I present to you: The guy, more-or-less summarized to the best of my abilities.

BEHAVIOR: Purposefully standoffish. He wants to be noticed, but he does not want to be bothered. He's a little bit stiff with his body language and mostly makes use of head/neck gestures to assert his sentences and signal his level of interest. On that note, me makes it extremely obvious for the socially-versed individual to tell what he thinks of them - he hardly ever tries to hide if he's disinterested, annoyed, or having a laugh at your expense. He expresses emotion through his face a normal amount, but his default look is eerily bland, and subtle emotions might go unnoticed because of his eye-color and thin brows.

As it is with most people, the more uncomfortable he is with a situation the more stiff and inexpressive he becomes, and vice versa.

SPEECH: DU drow is very much well spoken, and simultaneously very blunt. He abides by most conversational formalities (definitely more formal than you would assume him to be) and basic etiquette. He will greet you and he will say please and thank you even if clearly not meaning it or feeling like you're unworthy of the gesture. Sometimes, he does it just to be patronizing.

With all of that in mind, he has a tendency to use violent turns of phrase and analogies to express himself, this applies to both negative and positive feelings. That being said he's aware of social norma and knows full well when things are or aren't appropriate, even if sometimes he chooses to ignore that and be weird anyway - usually with the purpose of intimidation.

He is the most earnest and sincere with very close friends (quite literally only Astarion and Shadowheart) and rather curt with everyone else unless you catch him in a particularly good mood. He's a little chummier with dwarves and duergar (he finds them amusing and fun to hang out with) and reserves a slight bit more tenderness and kindness for children and mothers, especially if they're elves. He's also fond of animals. He is dismissive of gnomes, goblins, bugbears, half/full orcs and hobgoblins. He despises githyanki and drow. He treats humans fairly respectfully but thinks they are a far lesser race than pretty much all others.

He has a very dark/offensive sense of humor and a tendency to make well crafted, but cruel jokes or quips about sensitive topics. This goes for everybody, including people he's on good terms with.

VALUES: Here's where things get tricky. DU drow is both a hypocrite and a unreliable narrator of his own story, not to mention deeply unfamiliar with his own inner-workings and feelings. Politically, he would be the guy who doesn't vote, doesn't want to pay taxes and dreams of living off the grid, who thinks everybody should pull themselves up by the bootstraps and that it's a dog-eats-dog world. He hates systems of government, authority figures, hierarchical structures and archaic customs. He believes it would a chaotic but functional world if people governed themselves.

In practice, he doesn't stand for anything and gladly overlooks injustices and things that don't align with his supposed values as long as they favor him, or just don't get in his way, and easily makes exceptions for things on a whim. He's indifferent to slavery; unless it's Astarion's. - He thinks humans are a worthless pet-race, except for his dearest and nearest friend, the half-elf Shadowheart. He thinks Half-orcs are intellectually inferior, but he will gladly be chummy with them if they amuse him and make for good-company during a night-out.

INNER WORLD AND INTIMACY: DU drow is extremely unfamiliar with his own emotions and very often comes up empty when he has to justify or explain anything that is based on feeling, while simultaneously operating on impulse and instinct for the vast majority of the time. He is subject to fear, resentment, and insecurity as much as anyone else, but carries a deep shame in acknowledging his own vulnerability at all. He is very intense when it comes to love, however, and shows no reluctance in expressing it through his words and actions towards the people he cares about. He does care for the levels of comfort of those dearest to him though, and doesn't bombard them with it unless the moment is right, or if overwhelmed into doing so. The same applies to physical affection - he's extremely comfortable with it, but cares deeply for respecting the boundaries of his loved ones. When it comes to strangers, he only touches them outside of combat if there is some kind of power-game at play.

A couple of other things that might be of note:

-He likes creature comforts, but is also fine with going without them and won't ever complain about having to live, sleep, or survive in less-than-ideal circumstances as long as he feels in control of the situation. -He can be enticed by valuables and gold because they make the immediate future easier, but he doesn't seek a life of vast riches. -He is not an alcoholic but probably has a binge-drinking problem. -While he is fond and respectful of animals, he has no issues killing them if the situation calls for it. -He pretty much always believes himself to be the most impressive person in the room. -He is not a vain man, but very much likes the way that he looks and to have it be acknowledged by his partner. -He believes faith, religion, and gods to be a waste of time.

[stoic--rose]

over the last two weeks or so ive played through earthbound two and a half times, and mother 1 three times. replaying both back to back repeatedly has made me realize a lot of things

1.) mother 1 is a LOT more open in what it lets you do, where it lets you go, and when. once you open up the train tracks, you're free to go do the rest of the game in pretty much any order you want. hell, you can make it all the way to R7038xx without ever getting a single melody, which i find to be pretty interesting. not only that, but you dont even need to get most of the party members. strictly speaking, the only one you truly need to get is Loid, and that's just to get rid of the rock on the train tracks. and even then, with the use of an exploit i found out about only a few days ago, you can get rid of him and go fight giygas by yourself, which is pretty funny.

2.) mother 1+2 is like, wicked impressive. nevermind the fact that they crammed earthbound onto the gba, they also packaged it with mother 1 as well, and they're both the full games. it ain't no rayman advance kinda deal either where it's a super botched port, like it's a perfectly valid way to play both games, and some people even prefer the gba version of mother 1 since it makes a couple of quality of life improvements. not to mention, they rebuilt both games from the ground up, it's not like they could emulate snes on gba. (i mean, you can emulate NES apparently, since there's that nes classic line of games for the gba, but... this is cooler.) the sound department could... definitely use some work, and the colors look pretty washed out, but there are patches to fix the colors, and if you're playing the game on a real gameboy, i think the sound is the last thing you'd be concerned about. also, apparently some people took the time to apply the earthbound script to the mother 2 half of mother 1+2, and even reprogrammed the text system to have the original fonts and make it non-monospace, which is SUPER impressive. for my second playthrough of earthbound i played it with the new fantran patch, and it's pretty damn slick.

3.) man, fuck the sword of kings. i realized very recently that i'd never fully committed to the sword of kings grind, and decided that this would finally be the time i claim my birth right as a mother fan and do it. and like, it SUCKS. i mean, to begin, yes it's annoying that it's a 1/128 chance, but it goes deeper than that. the fact that it's only dropped by an enemy that you can potentially never see again, and it's the ONLY item poo can equip as a weapon is pretty fucked up. not to mention, the other enemies that they put in the starman base just absolutely suck, i hate the nuclear power robots so much. they made the grind WAY more painful than it already would have been otherwise. at the very least, i find it to be very gracious that jeff's spy command has the secondary effect of letting you steal whatever item an enemy would have dropped mid battle, just so it doesn't get overwritten by another enemy drop, which by the way YES that can happen, and YES i had it happen to me. it sucks ass. and the worst part is, the sword of kings isn't even that good!! and neither is poo on a gameplay level! you get the guy way later than any other party member, he has all these little catches like not being able to eat american food or equip anything but the kingly items, he gets taken away from you almost immediately after you get him, he just feels really weird. starstorm is pretty cool, but you only get the omega version right before the final area, and you can only use it on the handful of encounters you get there since you can't really use it in the final boss. (i mean technically you can use it in the first phase, if you want to get a biblical reflected beatdown when it hits both pokey and giygas) idk, the guy just isn't all that useful, and it's unfortunate since i really like him on a design level.

i have more words i want to say but honestly i might save them for an entry on my website instead since im very close to the tumblr word limit rn

[bimbombimbo]

thistook like way too long it was supposed to be a doodle

anyways uhhh kid sniper and his trapinch!!! + grown up.. and flygon.. i have been rotating tf2 pokemon in my brain !!

You guys wanna listen to me ramble about tf2 Pokemon so baaad.. go on.. click on the read more thing...

OKAY SO i need to get this out of my system

It's probably obvious that Mick had been a difficult kid (of course, given that he was an outcast probably: the slim, small, weird kid with no body hair) and very much without friends. He'd have been the object of, mockery and nasty jokes and things like that; school sucks buddy!

Applying that into a Pokemon world: Mick would have definitely wanted a huge, strong pokemon. Probably to be able to properly defend himself, one like Kangaskhan, or a Zangoose or a Seviper (or even better, a Charizard just like he'd seen on TV!). Of course, having a strong pokemon would require years of training (and bonding too!), something that required a level of patience little Mick hadn't built yet. So, knowing his way into the woods due to always hanging around there by himself (comfort? escape? who knows), he goes deeper and deeper. Yeah, he tries to catch creatures he deems "strong", and horribly fails, again and again.

During one of these awful attempts, he returns home, frustrated and tired. However, the constant trips to this unknown part of the outback (and, of course, making a lot of noise) had attracted a teeny tiny creature: a Trapinch! The weak link of his group, low level, weak thing (but fierce and with a high defense), its presence isn't recognized until Ms. Mundy finds a lot of her crops missing and others bitten.

Of course, Mick finds the plague and brings it back to the outdoors, away from home. But it refused!Going back to the little boy's house each time it is taken away. Catching it on a small trap, Mick is willing to exterminate it, but something talks to him. Maybe he saw himself in the eyes of that tiny critter (who was struggling in a cage that wasn't made for it), or maybe he learned some empathy from his mother, or maybe he just wanted to contradict his dad. So, he keeps it in the end.

Clearly, the kid doesn't expect much from this, little creature that fits in his backpack (bad idea: he shouldn't have brought it with him to school, now he's also the weird pokemon kid). But still, he feeds it, he brings it with him everywhere (can't trust his dad enough), and slowly gets used to its presence.

The Trapinch soon tags along Mick into his hunting trips. The kid trains his precision with the bow and, in a couple of years later, his dad's rifle. Understands his companion's hunting method too, and slowly begins to train and teach new moves to it. A bond is forming! Through the years, Mick starts seeing the Trapinch as a pet (not that his family didn't had pets, but this one? it was his. the connection was visible between them)

The bullying problem doesn't stop though. Mick learns to avoid it, and avoid telling his parents about it (given that he already defends himself, and he doesn't want to make a fuss out of it). He drops school around his last years, dedicating himself to only hunting for some time, taking about a sixteen/seventeen year-old guy probably.

And wahoo! Word gets around about the quiet guy that headshots all the bunnies and deers and just like that he gets his first actually sniper job. (Not really going into that, let's focus on the pokemon aspect instead)

Trapinch probably evolves around this time. Not an extremely incredible event (some evolutions are televised) but Sniper might have not expected a Big Dragon-Fly. Vibrava is such a cool pokemon tho, it gets a while for Sniper to get used to the new name.

- Fun idea a friend of mine commented: "Vibrava can get him his jars to pee. It can also work as a bomb helicopter or smth: it grabs the jarate, flies above the enemy and drops it in their head"

However I do think they wouldn't have gone in much sniping jobs together, given a feral Vibrava's nature of, uh, the ultrasonic waves thing. It probably goes away a lot, into the outback all by itself. That's fine, but Sniper can't stop thinking his pokemon is going to leave and not come back some day.

Around this time, Sniper gets his contract at RED, travelling to Americs (probably around, 23 years old?) Forgive me for I don't know much about dates and ages! I headcannon Sniper to be in his mid 30's during the comic (Even though I'm pretty sure he's canonically 26, I'm sorry, I can't imagine him being younger than 30)

Sniper brings Vibrava with him into his (recently obtained) van, close to RED headquarters. For obvious reasons, it is not taken into the matches, but it's left out of its pokeball to explore around. At first, it doesn't return to sleep one night. Then it happens more often.

And it finally happens. Vibrava doesn't come back for a day, two days, a week. Of course, Sniper feels devastated, thinking it's gone for good (but leaving his window open everyday, just in case...)

He wakes up one day (or is it night? probably too early to notice), having heard a strong wind move his van. Groggy, goes outside to check if a storm of some kind is approaching, and he'd greeted by an enormous, dragon-bug thing that grabs him by the arms and lifts him up in the sky.

Flygon is way stronger than Vibrava. Bigger, of course, and more active. But still playfully bites at his hands, and still lays on its back demanding belly rubs like a dog (just like it used to do when it was a Trapinch). They go on camping trips together a lot. Sniper could technically go on its back, but he doesn't want to leave the van alone.

Sniper probably looks back to when he was a kid and is glad to not have uh, eliminated the pokemon when he had a chance.

FUCK THAT'S A LOT? i ain't reading allat 😂 if you're here thanks for reading i love you

[urbancripple]

Originally wrote this for disability awareness month but since this is apparently disability pride month, I feel like applies:

It’s Disability Awareness Month. The time of year where corporations post about all the ways they support the disabled community while fighting legal action against their inaccessible website. Where people talk about how much they support their disabled relatives while actively voting against their interests and well‐being.

All of that shit aside, I can’t deny how much laws like the ADA have had a positive impact on my life and how much disability representation and media has improved since I was a kid. But, as a wheelchair user, there’s one question I just can’t seem to answer: if we’ve made so much progress, where the fuck is everybody?

Everywhere I go, every store I enter, every bus I ride, every job I’ve had—why am I the only person (below retirement age and that isn’t homeless) in a wheelchair in the whole fucking place? Where the fuck is everybody?

I mean, can you imagine how weird that feels? Imagine if everywhere you went, you were the only man in the place. Seriously, think about it. Go to the gym? No guys. Grocery store? Ladies as far as the eye can see. Job interviews? Bus rides? Swimming pools? Every once and a while you’ll be at a bar and someone will come up to you and say something like “Hey! My cousin’s a man! Do you guys know each other? Yeah, they got in an accident when he was 20. Drunk driver dude‐ed them from the waste down. Crazy stuff.”

It gets so bad that you can put “look for the man” in the delivery instructions when you order pizza at the bar and they always find you. And when you do actually see another man in public, it’s so shocking that you can’t help but stare. What impact would that have on how you perceive yourself? How would you feel whenever you went out in public? Would you feel welcome? Accepted? Safe?

999 out of a 1000 times I go out, I am literally the only person in a wheelchair that doesn’t have a “spare any change?” sign in front of them. It’s boggles my mind how people can talk about “disability awareness” when no one seems to notice that a huge group of disabled people seem to have gone missing from daily public life!

Here’s what I think happened: laws like the ADA made things accessible but they never really made things equitable. It’s like how you can call a chicken “cage free” if you let it walk around, but still keep it indoors. Grab bars, IEPs, and elevators don’t change the job market in a small town. No amount of accessibility is going to cut the price of getting a car modified. If the cheapest apartments in town are too small or too old for a wheelchair user to live in, they might as well not exist.

Ramps and wide doors won’t fix an economic system designed to exclude anyone who doesn’t have access to 5 senses and four limbs. Until we start focusing on economic accessibility instead of just physical accessibility, a large portion of disabled folk are going to remain missing.

[soupthatistohot]

What is absurdism/the philosophy of the absurd?

I talk a lot about absurdism and how BSD can be read as an absurdist text, but I recognize that not everyone fully knows what absurdism as a philosophical principle or literary device actually is. So rather than explaining it every single time I bring it up, I figured I'd write a brief overview!

Note: for a while I worked with an inaccurate definition of absurdism that was closer to a definition for existentialism, but have since updated this definition. My main mistake was thinking that absurdism seeks to make meaning when it does not. Posts regarding absurdist analyses before June 2024 might be operating with this incorrect framework.

People often assume that when we talk about something being "absurd," that we're referring to the most commonly used definition of this word: "ridiculously unreasonable, unsound, or incongruous." While this certainly applies to a certain extent, the more accurate defintion of the adjective in the context I talk about it is this: "having no rational or orderly relationship to human life: meaningless." In this case, I find the the noun definition to be most precise: "the state or condition in which human beings exist in an irrational and meaningless universe and in which human life has no ultimate meaning" (all definitions from Merriam-Webster).

Put simply: when I talk about the absurd and absurdism, I'm not simply referring to the fact that things are crazy or weird, but rather to the fact that they are nonsensical in relation to life and life's meaning. This is what is at the core of absurdism.

So what is absurdism, exactly? Merriam-Webster defines it as "a philosophy based on the belief that the universe is irrational and meaningless and that the search for order brings the individual into conflict with the universe."

Existentialism contends that humans are responsible for creating their own meaning, absurdism is a branch of this school of thought that argues that there is no meaning at all, and that the act of continuing to live regardless is a rebellion against the absurd.

Albert Camus was a French philosopher and author who is often considered the father of absurdism as a philosophical principle. In his essay The Myth of Sisyphus, he compared human life to the greek myth of Sisyphus, a man who was cursed to roll a boulder up a mountain only for it to roll back down once he reached the peak, forcing him to start over -- a cycle that goes on for eternity. Sisyphus' mere existence is seemingly meaningless, but Camus argued that there is value in Sisyphus’ continual act of struggle -- his choice to continue pushing the boulder despite the circumstances is better than him giving up entirely, because he is rebelling against the absurd circumstances forced upon him.

Rebellion and revolt are at the forefront of absurdism, as the other options offered are incapable of giving life meaning, according to Camus. If one simply gives in to life's absurdity, becoming a part of the system rather than challenging it, then this accomplishes nothing and means you have trapped yourself within absurdity. The other option is suicide, which Camus also views as "giving in" to absurdity, since the individual succumbs to the idea that life has no worth. Acts of rebellion, on the other hand, have value because it pushes you to keep living regardless of absurdity.

Often, the mode of rebellion assumed by the absurdist is more absurd than the world itself. This is a really niche example, but I think it explains this well: During the communist regime in the then Czech Republic, revolutionary Vaclav Havel was followed by police when he was on vacation, constantly being spied on and sometimes attacked for no reason. Havel's response? He invited his stalkers in for tea.

What an absurd reaction to an absurd situation! But nevertheless it was an act of resistance, because Havel was directly acknowledging that he was being constantly spied on by the corrupt government for no good reason, breaking the unspoken rule of not acknowledging those spying on you. He knew that there was no point in trying to avoid them (doing so would only arouse more suspicion of him), so instead he embraced the absurdity of his situation. Often, an act of revolt entails doing just this.

In literature, whether the absurdist protagonist succeeds in their rebellion often depends on how pessimistic the author is. Franz Kafka, for example, ended most of his narratives in his main character dying in their act of rebellion, mirroring how in the real world things aren't always fair (an absurdity within itself). Camus was a bit more hopeful, his protagonists often surviving, but not always happily. Even in the case of death, though, it is implied that there is more meaning in having rebelled and died, than having continued living complicit to the absurd world.

Additionally, I want to briefly highlight that bureaucracy a big, fat absurdity that authors tend to critique. "The powers that be" often do not make sense and have priorities that don't align with commonly accepted human morals. Capitalism, government, military, police, and law are various institutions/ideas that are often criticized by absurdist authors for this reason. Franz Kafka wrote the story of a man sentenced to death without trial for a crime never detailed to him. Camus wrote the story of a doctor dealing with a plague outbreak that happened because officials didn't want to name the disease as plague and scare the public. These are just a few examples of many from the absurdist authors I am familiar with.

So, that's my brief overview of absurdity! I think it tends to pop up in a lot of fiction nowadays because of the relatable idea that things feel senseless paired with the hope that there's meaning in the act of pushing back against such things -- it makes for a good story!

I didn't cover everything here because I wanted to be concise, but I think this is a good foundational understanding of the principle to move forward with. Who knows, you might start recognizing the absurd in your favorite piece of fiction... or even in real life!

[oddballwriter]

Last Warning

Summary: Steven wasn't usually a brat when it came to sex. But sometimes he really acted like one. So sometimes you need to put him back in his place. 

Warnings: Sub!Steven with Dom!Reader. Brat taming and brat behavior. Implied pegging (via strap-on) at the end, the reader's gender is never actually said and there is no mention of their pronouns either so you can apply whatever gender you want or as you identify as. Oral and deep throating (reader receiving). Hair pulling. Manhandling. Steven lowkey being slutted out. This is Steven-centric but the rest of the system gets mentioned and the reader and all three are already in a relationship.

Author’s Snip: I was going to write a whole smut that involved pegging but I lost my momentum and could find it. this fic has been sitting in my head and drafts for a while too and I thought it was so great even without the full idea, so I'm posting it now. The end might be a bit wonky so forgive me for that. Listen I worked hard on this lol. I still put my guy pussy in this and I'll be damned if I don't write it.

Note: I didn't fully proof read this. I just kind of brushed through it once so please do your best to ignore any typos or weird grammar.

If I find underage blogs interacting if this blog then I will not hesitate to instantly block with no buts. I do check. So this is your one and ONLY warning

I’ll shut up now. Enjoy! And don’t be afraid to request!

"What's taking so long?" Steven complained from the bed, almost completely naked say for his pair of briefs that you told him to keep on. He propped himself on his elbows and looked towards the bed post where you stood.

"I'm fixing the strap." you answer chuckling at his impatience. "Why'd you even take it apart in the first place?" Steven asked, still having the same dissatisfied tone. "I wanted to clean the dildo, sweetheart. You can't be mad at me for practicing good sex toy hygiene." you answer again with a slightly more stern tone, "Just be a good boy for me and wait." you promise.

You already knew that the boys had different things that they were into after a while of being together. As it turns out, Steven, although he did enjoy being submissive and doing whatever you wanted, can be quite the brat, if he's antsy enough. Which he was right now. He had made it not so subtle that he wanted you to fuck him, and you were perfectly fine with giving it to him. But you found it a bit funny that he was acting like he was the one in charge with his little complaints. Usually you were able to talk in a stern tone to up him back in his place.

Usually.

"Well it seems like with how long this is taking, I'll have to be railed up again once you're done fixing it all back in place." Steven grumbled under his breath.

Oh?

So he does want to actually play that game now, does he?

"Steven," you say looking directly at him and creating an even sterner voice, "This is your last warning. If you keep being a brat then you're going to get treated like one." you threaten.

Steven heeds the warning and lays back down completely again as he waits. You could still sense that he wanted his desire to be satisfied now but didn't do anything other than wait for you to give it to him since your dynamic was that he needed to ask and have you satisfy him rather than doing it himself or take whatever you gave him to do such. You were glad that Steven wasn't willing to be a big enough brat to start touching himself without asking.

"There!" you announce, finally having gotten the whole strap on fixed on properly. You were about to give Steven exactly what he wanted until you heard him mumble "About time.", most likely talking to himself and only meaning for it to be heard by himself, but you still managed to hear it. You said it was his last warning.

Steven seemed to notice that you heard him and his face immediately became flushed. "I didn't mean it, love. I swear. I'll behave now." he stammered out as you made your way to where he was on the bed. He tried to scoot away from the edge of the bed where you stood yourself, but you manage to catch his ankle and pull him back towards you.

"Off the bed and on your knees." is all you said to him as you brought him to the edge of the bed with you, "I'll remind you exactly why I clean the parts of my straps." you say as you guide Steven into the position you ordered. Steven lets you manhandle him but continues to talk, "No, please. I wasn't that bad that I have to you use my saliva as lub-" Steven begs. "You'll get your lube." you tell him.

"I just want to put that pretty little mouth to better use since all you want to do with it is give me attitude like you weren't begging me to fuck you ten minutes ago." you explain before firmly grabbing his jaw, putting enough pressure on a specific spot to have you be able to manipulate it's movements, "Now open up." you demand as you guide his face towards your groan by pushing the back of his head. Steven does as he's told and timidly opens his mouth and darting out his tongue like he usually does when you have him give oral to your strap.

Steven wraps his lips around the tip of the dildo with the occasional licks. He gives you little glances up, clearly giving you puppy eyes. But it's not working on you tonight. "Quit being shy with it. We both know you can do better than that. I said use your mouth." you instruct as you push his head closer to you, making more of the dildo attached to the strap go farther into Steven's mouth. Steven lets out a whine before, again, doing as told.

You might not be able to actually feel the sensation of Steven, or any of other boys's mouth, around the dildo but you did get something out of watching them doing it. Like the attempt to do it right and keep a pace, or handle the pace you were making them go at via you grabbing their hair and making them move. Steven was cute, in a way. Sure, making him blow your strap would lead to him making that sort of nasty gawking sound and have drool run down his face and maybe drip. But he made these whining noises that just did something to you on top of the fact that he'd keep his hands both to himself, and off himself, and put them on his lap instead.

After a while of letting Steven go at it you push him away saying "Alright, that's enough.". Upon Steven and the dildo separating, a string of drool sticks to the edge of it and Steven's lips which curl into a little smile as he looks back up at you.

You know he thinks that the punishment and lesson learning is over, which really is a poor sense of judgment since he should also know better on that and that it's usually not that easy. So you decide to be a bit evil by not saying anything other than a simple "get on the bed for me." and nothing else.

Steven gets back on his spot laid out on your shared bed, on his back. But you quickly flip him over onto his stomach and grab a handful of his curly hair to make him lean backwards, keeping him from putting anything other than his hands and knees on the bed.

Steven lets out another whiny moan trying to voice his displeasure without getting himself into more trouble with you. "None of that." you say in a stern voice again but this time with a smile on your face. "I told you you were going to be treated like a brat. You thought that I was just going to give you what you originally wanted after just making you use your mouth?" you ask. You shake your head, "No. You're not getting the pillow prince treatment. If you had just behaved then you would have but not anymore." you scold as you let go of his hair to pull off down his briefs. You move away for a bit with a bottle of lube, "You're lucky I'm giving you this." you say as you come back. "If it were Jake then the spit is all you would be getting." you claim as you lather the dildo part of the strap-on. "But I guess you were good enough taking a strap down your throat. So be thankful for that." you say as you draw near to let the fun really begin.

[rocketturtle4]

So I started Not Me... (IT'S SO GOOD)

(@wen-kexing-apologist It took longer than planned but I have begun)

I am watching SLOW with people in rather different timezones from me and I had planned to wait till after OF (cause how much First can I cope with yk) but then @anon451 sent me this gif...

...and did I really have a choice?

I just finished Ep 5, I watched Ep 1 three weeks ago, waiting is torturous but I am excercising patience.

SO while I have been thoroughly distracted by how much I am enjoying this show (It's so ENGAGING), have some notes so far.

THOUGHTS

...uuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh

Why is everyone so pretty in this show for reals????

ANYWAY

Oh My God I LOVE IT SO MUCH

Young boy seperated from half his family takes on his twin brothers persona to find out who tried to have him murdered honestly DOES NOT sound like my thing...and yet...

...I'm starting to think I'm wrong about what my thing is.

Young man goes on journey of self-discovery and exploration where he is exposed to his own privellege and confronts both the extremism that it can forge but also his own self and views and how he is benefiting from the system and how he can fight it...(from the outside? from within?). Told through his own thoughts, his growing relationships with the "friends" of his twin brother and the contrasting conversations with said friends and his father...

I JUST LOVE IT SO MUCH OKAY

AND we have this story explored in a different thread of "rebelling from within" in our newly discovered cop/artist storyline, cannot wait for that to pan out more!!

(Hey Gawin is totally in this picture okay??)

I never really thought friends were the one's who beat Black up so if that ends up being the case I WILL be shocked

EP 5

This ep however I started to feel uneasy about Todd...

(OMG seriously what's with the PRETTY did they put something in everyone's water??)

We got two different convos which seemed a bit more interogatery than I'd like, maybe he just really wants to know who hurt Black, or maybe he's using White to figure out what the friends are up too...

He IS being presented as very rich and privilegedin this show, in ways that the show is making a point of pointing out problems with (mostly in regard to Black/White's privilege but this also applies to our very rich Todd I would think...)

So is Todd being a good friend?

...idk

Is he Blacks emergency contact? I mean he must be if the hospital called him? or was he there for the beat down and then took Black to the hospital and that's why he was there?

What about the mum, what happened with her? Does she know Black nearly died? (discussed more in a mo)

Todd was the one the hospital called when Black nearly flatlined...

Also the beat down happening so soon after White arriving from Russia...did Todd know he had returned?

Also the ENTIRE car convo felt weird

W: Have you talked to my mum? She might be able to help

T: I reached out, she said she would leave it to the authorities. She wan't no involvement

(How bad was this falling out? Does she know White's back?...or is Tod lying??)

W: Todd, should I go see her?

T: You can but I don't think it'll help. The fight between Black and her was huge. It was so bad they decided to cut each other off. You know that Black got involved in some unlawful business, and your mother is a judge. They're on different sides.

(Todd casually starts prying for more info without pause...(left out B's answers))

T: When you said you'd quit, what did those guys say?

T: Do they want to keep going?

T: Do you know what they're next move is? Is it about Tawi?

T: If you're to do something you must learn all about their plan, it's too risky otherwise

T: Are you going to stop them?

It...it just feels like a lot, although given the nuance of the show so far I don't necessarily think they'll go with Rich = Bad so maybe I am reading too much into this.

I certainly WANT him to only be motivated by helping Black and White get to the bottom of whatever is going on.

I mean obvious answer is Tawi sent people to beat up Black, but why Black specifically? did they know he was the ring leader? Have our gang damaged Tawi's properties before?

We also have Eugene the girlfriend, who Eugene thought Black had broken up with...

Plus whatever maybe feelings are going on/have been going on here

(So is White's theory that Eugene made that but never gave it right...or did Black actually give it to Eugene??)

(Also I know they won't but can I at least get one kiss?? Look at this chemistry ugh please please??)

Although this IS working for me too, which I was a bit worried about, OffGun are not really a couple I've responded too before. But I am enjoying their dynamic in this a lot

Summary

I love the visuals, I love the characters, I love the story, I love the growth, (I keep getting distracted...)

Can't wait till next time!!

@plantsarepeopletoo @shouldiusemyname

Don't know when the next update will be...let me know if you want/don't want to be tagged!

Also I know I asked questions but I don't want answers!!

[the-haven-keepers-collective]

Intro post 2.0

If you're coming from our main blog/What this blog is:

Welcome to our strange little closet we yell from every once in a while! This is a blog for more personal topics, and just general ramblings! Here we'll be posting more about our plurality that doesn't have to do with witchcraft, general interests, Alterhumanity, etc. This is both a place for memes and goofing around, and a place we intend to use as a journal of sorts. We want to share our experiences for the sake of getting it out of our brain and into words, as well as so anyone who relates knows they're not alone. Or hell, if someone who doesn't relate finds this educational or something, then good for them!

Oh, also here we're open about our sources as fictives depending on individual comfort levels. And for those of you who don't know, our main blog is @tadpoles-and-daydreams where we scream about witchcraft and spirituality.

Who is "we?"

We call ourselves the The Haven Keepers Collective. Feel free to ask any questions about us/our system in particular, but that applies to any topic we post about! We are collectively auDHD and 21 years old. (Ages for anyone other than Frog are fuzzy at best. Somewhere around our body's age age. Except the immortals, because uh.... immortal.)

Frog: He/it, Identity host but not a frequent fronter currently. An amphithere, AKA a sea serpent/dragon with feathered wings!

Ranboo/Rayne: He/they/it, local Enderfolk. Wants to write about his canon more so you may see some of that. He thinks it's HILAROUS that he basically named himself "acid that kills me" btw. He thinks he's a comedic genius.

Malaika: She/her but not a woman, has SO much whimsy. Likes colors more than anyone should. Not a fictive but considers herself to have a source, is a fantasy witch of sorts.

Techno: He/him, Piglin, also divinekin. I have no idea what to put for him whoops.

Phil/Crow: He/it, merely a corvid your honor. Likes trinkets. A god within his canon, might post about that. Just imagine if God capital G got put in time out in the mortal realm and became a cryptid. Then somehow the most dad to ever dad. That's him.

Jasper: He/him but likely to change. Coastal + forest vibes. Token human, but acknowledes "it's only because I look human and idk what else I'd be, but uh... what I feel when I think about forest cryptids is not normal."

Pyre: He/him, local goth/punk who took "be gay do crime" a bit too literally.

There's more, but I don't want to do a billion intros and this will eventually get trimmed down to frequent fronters once we have any idea who those are.

Names you will also see: Kip, Kokichi, Trixie. There's more but these are the people off the top of my head who've already posted.

DNI:

We have no DNI, but please know we: Don't tolerate transphobia or queerphobia of ANY kind, believe systems regardless of origin, will block bigots, believe closed practices absolutely should be respected, respect Alterhumanity, respect "weird" spiritual practices including pop culture witchcraft, aren't very educated on radqueers but don't feel like it's a good thing, etc. and are anti-harassment over fiction. Basically we don't give a single fuck as long as it isn't hurting anyone. If you say you're experiencing something spiritual, or your identity is xyz, etc. we believe you. Good for you. We won't always get it but it's not our identity so we don't need to get it to respect it. We also block freely, even simply for things like "That's not my vibe I don't want to see that," so don't take it personally! It may not be anything more than me not wanting something on our dash. If you feel you need to ask our opinion on anything to feel safe on this blog, feel free to do so.

Navigation/Tags:

The Haven's Archive: Any journaling.

post log: Literally any original post from here on out.

sysquotes: Exactly what it says, just random shit that's been said from anyone in our lives. Headmates, deities, friends/family, etc.

Tags to be added as needed. All original posts will be signed off with a name and a corresponding emoji or two in the tags, according to everyone's comfort levels.

[tanadrin]

...what exactly is the correct, good faith description of how common law constitutional systems work, then? i had conservative parents where extremely literal interpretation of the constitution was always assumed - never really got any perspective on living constitutionalism than that it was always just vague hogwash to justify doing whatever the speaker's exact policy preferences are. i understand that originalism/textualism as used are exactly the same, sure, but that's why i thought the only recourse was to dispense with constitutionalism and even the idea of "rights" altogether and go with a hobbes/schmitt (yes i know he's a nazi) bent. this isolates me from most other politics people on the internet a great deal, obviously! but if there's actually a case for living constitutionalism that doesn't reduce to "everything i want is always mandatory, everything my opponents want is always illegal" that can convince me that'd be great!

Originalism and textualism are not the same thing.

Originalism is the legal philosophy that the meaning of a law is based on the intent of the drafters of the law. In the U.S., this is actually not so hard a problem, because the Constitution was drafted in the 1780s, there was a big ratification debate which involved a lot of the people who participated in the drafting, and they made their own understanding of the text quite clear. Subsequent amendments were drafted even later, and like laws drafted by Congress, there are records of congressional debates and the like in which lawmakers lay out their stances very clearly.

Now, the problem with originalism as a legal philosophy is that you have to actually be good at historical research to apply it correctly. And if you are any good at historical research, and do not arbitrarily cherry-pick citations, you will unfortunately find that a lot of the dogmas of the conservative legal movement are actually not in evidence in the historical debates around the Constitution, its amendments, and significant U.S. statute laws. For this reason, among others, later conservative legal scholars have tried to make textualism a thing.

Textualism is the legal philosophy that the meaning of a law is based on the commonly understood meaning of the law at the time it was adopted. This is a weird approach! Like, I don't know much about (say) customs law, which is a complicated subject; if I tried to apply a customs law adopted in 2024 I would very probably fuck it up at some point. Even a highly trained criminal attorney or intellectual property lawyer might easily do so--the legal profession is big, and requires a lot of specialization! So why do non-expert opinions matter? And if expert opinions are what we are after, who is a better authority than the people who actually drafted a law?

Nonetheless, textualism is a highly motivated approach at avoiding the limits of originalism, and the key to applying textualism is to do your historical research even worse than if you were trying to do originalism. For example, D.C. v Heller (2008) found that the 2nd amendment protected an individual right to bear arms; but this is a terrible decision from both an originalist point of view and a textualist point of view, because we have lots of gun control legislation from much closer to the time the 2nd amendment was adopted in 1791 that would violate the 2nd amendment as interpreted in 2008; it is clear that the 2nd amendment was certainly not commonly understood at the time of its adoption to protect an individual right to bear arms, but was more about protecting the rights of states to raise and arm militias--which also happens to be consonant with a lot of the other historical evidence we have around why the 2nd amendment was adopted, and what the purpose of the Bill of Rights was, vis a vis the restraint of federal power against the states (cf. the Federalist Papers).

A big problem for any attempt at a purely deterministic, mechanistic application of law is that law is not a magical or mathematical formula with a single unambiguous meaning, because we create law through language, and that's not how human language works. Human language is not infinitely flexible, but it is equally not perfectly precise; it frequently admits ambiguity. And how we understand texts, and the values that are key to interpreting those texts, evolve over time: the U.S. Constitution clearly forbids "cruel and unusual punishment," but what is considered "cruel and unusual" in 2024 is very different from what was "cruel and unusual" in 1791. Should the literal meaning of 1791 prevail--in which case the law can only possibly regulate things which actually existed in 1791, and it's perfectly OK for the Feds to ransack your email without a warrant because it's not within your 'houses, papers, and effects'--or should the general principle which is shared between 1791 and 2024 prevail--in which case it's not insane to read the prohibition on "cruel and unusual punishment" as a prohibition on the death penalty if we come to understand the death penalty as cruel or unusual?

All texts require us to negotiate their meaning. This does not mean communication is impossible, or that a text can say anything you want it to mean. What it means is that ambiguity in communication is unavoidable. Law is an effective tool because it is a Schelling point for cooperation, which is what lets us build peaceful and ordered societies, and allows us to do politics without killing each other. Textualism and originalism not only deny the very inarguable fact of ambiguity in language, I think they work pretty hard against law being an actually useful Schelling point, and attempt to turn it into a brute exercise of power. Which is not good if you want a society to actually function!

Outside of originalism and textualism there are lots of different views on legal philosophy and they are complicated. Legal realism and legal positivism are two historically popular schools of thought. The general question of legal philosophy is called "jurisprudence," which is both thinking about what the law is and what it should be; there are literally whole textbooks on the subject. Law is complicated! There is a reason you can get advanced degrees in this stuff!

[raccoonfallsharder]

idk if u remember string cheese anon but hi, it's me

honestly I might just send asks occasionally when I do mundane things that I think rocket would have interesting reactions to because I'm bored :P

I think he'd find coloring books really weird at first but then secretly do urs when u aren't looking (and if he's anything like me, he would see one of those "adult" ones that's needlessly complicated with the patterns and despise it for doing too much, but maybe he wants it to be complicated. it's overwhelming for me tho lmao)

ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ STRING CHEESE NONNIE. how could i possibly forget you? please. you inspired some of my most delightful imaginings in the last few weeks and i am grateful for your presence in my asks!

no pressure but if you DO decide to send mundane things you think rocket would have an interest in, i would be eternally delighted

as you know, of course, rocket didn't really get a childhood. even the lovely memories he might've had playing tag with lylla & teefs & floor are more bittersweet than nostalgic. so when you tell him that coloring is relaxing and meditative and that it reminds you of being a little kid, he just blinks at you, and scoffs, and goes about his day.

but he pays attention. he watches you. and you seem to really enjoy it. and rocket doesn't like to miss out, so after you go to bed one night, he flips through your coloring book and opens your box of crayons.

they smell weird. waxy. he likes the feel of the fibrous paper wrappers under his fingers, though.

maybe if he had torn out the pages he'd ended up coloring, you wouldn't have noticed his additions so quickly. or if he'd just been more normal about his coloring. but rocket's style is too meticulous. unique. the colors he chooses don't always make sense - how d'you know? you ain't been around the universe long enough yet to say what's weird an' what's not, he reminds you smugly when you confront him. on the other hand, you realize that you have no idea what the high evolutionary did to his eyes. maybe he still can't see red - or maybe he sees more colors than a terran human like yourself could even dream of. either way, each stroke of color is deliberately applied. in fact, rocket's probably one of those people who adds more detail into the pictures: makes the boring humans look like other lifeforms he met once, or changes their clothes to reflect something he saw one time on a space station out in the lumyra system. i imagine he's actually really good at drawing in a particular, precise sort of way - he maybe hasn't consumed a lot of narrative or conceptual art, but he can glance at a mechanical diagram and flawlessly recreate it years later.

in any case, he's realized you're right. there's something relaxing about it - pulling color out across a soft sheet of paper. changing it. making something of it. it's liberating. it's freeing. he can do whatever he wants. go wherever he wants. he particularly likes it when you bring out older coloring books - the waxy smell has grown on him, combined with the scent of the shabby-soft, faded paper. he likes the simpler images over the more complex ones, too - but mostly because it leaves him more room to create what he wants on the page.

next time mantis stops by, she brings some coloring books that quill had sent along from terra. you and rocket pour over them, exploring each page. after he's done with captain-shit for the night, he takes a break from the new ship he's been building to sit with you and color in the common area.

it ain't like being a kid again, he tells you one night, thoughtfully.

you blink over at him. what?

coloring, he says. it ain't like being a kid again.

you wait, looking over at him while he thoughtfully selects another crayon.

being a kid was bein in a cage, he tells you quietly, turning his eyes back to his page and pressing the waxy tip into the paper. he doesn't look up.

this is like flyin.

[aconstantstateofbladerunner]

I would love to see more of The Buddy System thing, where bakugou thinks he has to basically babysit izuku; meanwhile, all he's doing is just talking over him and taking credit for everything.

Previous post: https://aconstantstateofbladerunner.tumblr.com/post/710108569392054272/if-youre-still-doing-the-ask-game-an-au-where#notes

My mind naturally drifted to a very Cain-like scenario so forgive me.

Izuku’s pre-ua training ends up very similar to Cain, with Katsuki tagging along and cleaning the beach alongside him. Difference is that he spends most of his time ‘babysitting’ Izuku, trying to cut him off when he tries to move something he doesn’t think he can handle, or generally trying to talk him out of the whole operation. He also has no idea that the weird skeleton man overseeing them is All Might so Katsuki isn’t trying to prove anything other than that Izuku is wasting his time. A quirkless person can’t be a hero, no matter how hard they train.

Katsuki does also try to separate izuku and all might via Inko, telling her some weirdo is making her son pick up trash. Yagi’s cover story is that he’s an old quirkless personal trainer that believes in Izuku’s ambition, but Bakugou assumes he’s a creep trying to take advantage of weak, gullible Izuku. She assumed Katsuki was Izuku’s only friend and that his quiet demeanor was a result of everyone else bullying him for being quirkless, Katsuki’s words of course. Words Izuku never refuted. However, Katsuki’s constant trying to insert himself into Midoriya business as if he has authority over him, not to mention how much more Izuku perks up when it’s just Yagi there, gets some gears turning in Inko’s head about what’s really been going on all these years.

Katsuki almost makes a scene at the entrance exams. He finds Aizawa looking over orientation and warns him that weakling Izuku will die if they let him try out. Katsuki also strong-armed Izuku into applying for gen-ed so he could still keep an eye on him at UA. He makes a scene for real when he doesn’t find Izuku waiting for him outside the front gates like he told him to after. He goes straight to the Midoriya apartment and demands to be let in, ranting at Inko about how stupid Deku ditched him and could have gotten attacked by a villain again without Katsuki to protect him. But Izuku isn’t there. He stayed at UA a little longer to get treatment for his injuries. Inko calmly but firmly asks him to leave, telling him that she plans to call him mother to make sure he goes home.

That doesn’t stop him from chewing a numb Izuku out when they go back to school. Double so when they get their acceptance letters. Katsuki runs the gambit of emotions, from rage that Izuku has been faking being quirkless all this time just to waste his time, to betrayal that he did the exam behind his back when Katsuki told him not to. Izuku finally asks for one good reason he should do what he says. Katsuki tries to argue that Izuku doesn’t know what’s good for him, to which Izuku counters that quirklessness isn’t tied to intelligence. But what about everything Katsuki has done for him? Like isolate him? Manipulate him? Call him worthless every day of the week like he’s doing him a favor? Izuku declares that he has someone who believes in him for real now, and that he doesn’t need Katsuki anymore. Not that he ever did. And Katsuki uses his quirk on Izuku for the first time since they were children, blasting him in the side of the head. Then he runs away.

In an unprecedented power move, Izuku, sporting a new haircut to get rid of the singed ends, pretends not to know Katsuki on the first day of class. It’s not a particularly convincing act, but it’s enough to set everyone else on edge about Katsuki’s attempts to reestablish their dynamic. When the other kids try and step in, he accuses him of replacing him. That shifts to yelling about how he could have gotten in to UA without a quirk. Everyone else that was in Izuku’s exam group act like Katsuki is that much crazier. When he finally sees Izuku’s new quirk for himself, he again shouts about being lied to for ten years. Izuku whispers that maybe he did.

[bizarre-blorbo-bracket]

Round 3 Poll 6: Leonardo the Robot from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology vs Casey Murphey from the 2019-2020 Florida Mock Trial case: “State of Florida v. Casey Murphy”

Propaganda:

Leonardo

Leonardo is a social robot who was created by MIT in the early 2000’s. He is designed to be accessible and user-friendly for people who want to work with robots but may be inexperienced. He can learn and perform tasks on par with what a toddler is capable of. He’s designed to be cute so you’ll want to bond with him. He has a whole visual tracking system to respond to emotional cues and even mimic expressions the same way a pet dog or cat might mirror you to bond with you. He can emote with a great deal of complexity while responding to human interaction and the stimuli around him. One day I was bored and thumbing through my college psych textbook that I way overpaid for because we barely used it. I ended up on a page about Leonardo, found him fascinating, and had to learn more. And then there was a sentence that absolutely floored me. It might be slightly inaccurate because this was years ago but in essence it said: “Leonardo will never know love.” Something in me died that day and I started crying over a robot. To be so complex, years ahead of its time for the advancement of technology and robotics in the early aughts. To be purposefully engineered to be endearing, and for humans to pack bond and want to form connections with it. To even be intelligent enough to distinguish between itself and other beings, to help humans with tasks while accounting for human error, and to even understand the difference between intention and action. Feats of engineering and innovation that remain impressive over 20 years after its creation. And yet. The soul-crushing pathos that Leonardo will never be able to give nor receive love. It’s a lot. It’s all deeply heavy, but also deeply fascinating. He’s definitely hit blorbo status for me, he’s such a little guy who I just have very intense emotions about.

Casey Murphey:

I have a lot of obscure mock trial blorbos but I’m going to start with Casey Murphy because I think they best encapsulate the depths of weirdness some of my blorbo relationships with these characters can get to. So to start, I have never been enrolled in a school in Florida. Or even anywhere near there. I visited a few times as a very little kid, but my schooling has been in the Midwest and the Northeast. I also was not remotely involved in high school mock trial in the 2019-2020 school year. I only know Casey Murphy because I used to be part of an online mock trial group that picked up the case a few years later. In fact, I took Casey as a witness as a joke because I had also been a defendant named Casey in the case we did before State v. Murphy. But Casey is my tragic scrungly. The autism took hold on them. BASICALLY they were a slightly “below average” kid grappling with the huge academic expectations their family had. Specifically, there was a college (Southern Coastal University) that their family had been going to for generations. But when Casey applied, they got waitlisted. They managed to make it in right before the school year started, but they were put on probation because of the short notice. A few weeks into the year, though, Casey was talking to their older brother Patrick (basically their closest friend) and they find out about a secret society called SCU Underground that their family has been in since it was founded. Originally called SCU for Change, it was a student activist group. They learn about some shady things happening at the school and how SCUU planned to combat it by holding a protest bonfire. Patrick invited Casey to the next meeting, and Casey was very excited to prove themself. Later psychological testing showed that Casey was among the most easily suggestible in society, so it’s clear that this was important to them. Here’s where things get unclear. All we know for certain is that Casey bought lighter fluid and vodka (likely using a fake ID considering they were only 18) from a liquor store. They brought those things, along with their laptop, in their backpack to the meeting. There was an argument which ended in someone named Cal Robbins storming out of the old student union building which the meeting was being held in. Then, the building burned down, and Casey came out later than everyone else before being arrested and confessing to burning down the building. The prosecution’s claim is that Casey brought the materials to burn down the building to prove their loyalty to the cause. They might have been influenced by Patrick to do it, but either way they actually committed the act. The defense’s claim, which I find more compelling as a story, is that the lighter fluid was to show that they were prepared for the bonfire, the vodka was as a peace offering considering that they were a new member, and the fire was caused by a projector overloading the old building’s power. Casey ran back in to get their laptop so they could continue their school work, and also didn’t know the layout as well as the returning members, so they came back out later than everyone else. Then they were arrested, treated poorly, and were coerced into a false confession because they were lead to believe Patrick would be found guilty if they didn’t. It’s all just so sad and angsty to me, especially seeing as they were found guilty at the trial I did so I always mentally fill in them being falsely imprisoned at the end. They just wanted to prove themself to their family, to step out of their brother’s shadow, and this is where it lead them. Also here’s my playlist lol https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2ccMwC9xV83ddZoANpejE1?si=nGtWp7MvS7WXJEWLMrBNVw Also also, like most mt witnesses, no canon gender or pronouns which is very cool of them

[sabraeal]

Remedial Lessons

[Read on AO3]

Written for @kaedix‘s birthday! Kimber has a gift for picking niche AUs, and this one she gave me a little unexpected challenge along with it: writing Obi as the meister and Shirayuki as his weapon. Not my natural inclination on a Soul Eater AU...but then it worked out SO much better than it could have the other way.

Blue flame licks up her fingers, pinched like a clothespin right on the tip of its comet tail. It struggles, a squiggling pendulum attempting one last heave toward freedom, but it’s no use; the thing might be all fire, but it’ll never burn that kid’s small hands.

“All right.” A real flame might dance that close to her sigh, like a birthday candle thinking about if it’d give up its wish, but this one doesn’t even flicker. Obi’ll never get used to that, no matter how many of these souls he sees. “Down the hatch, I guess.”

The kid’s jaw opens-- practically unhinges, really, like something you’d see on National Geographic, or maybe something drawn by Junji Ito-- and she wraps her mouth around it whole, slurping the thing up easy as soba. It’s weird to see, honestly; kid’s usually got silverware and napkin perfectly applied to every meal, as neat an eater as she is a note-taker, so when blue wisps out from the side of her mouth, caught by her tongue--

Ah, well, it does something for him. A little. Not because he’s got a thing about food or whatever; he doesn’t just watch videos of cute girls eating like that stupid monkey does, it’s just...her. He’s got a thing for her and, yeah, it’s starting to get real inconvenient. “Do those taste good?”

Shirayuki blinks up at him, everything about her completely normal in size, and swallows. “Excuse me?”

“The soul things.” He waves his fingers, trying to make them flicker the same way as her last meal. “I always thought they’d be spicy or something. Burn on the way down. But you can’t even handle a Red Hot Cheeto, so...”

Her mouth pulls thin. “That’s because they’re unpleasant. The, um, cheetos, I mean. Not the souls. Those are--” her head tilts, eyes drifting up like they might find the answer somewhere past her eyebrows-- “sweet. Or, well, not really. I’m not sure they really have a taste, but it’s like...eating your favorite meal until you’re full. Satisfying, I guess.”

“Oh.” He clears his throat, one hand creeping up to his shoulder just so he’ll have something to do. “Sounds...nice.”

“Mostly.” She grimaces. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the way they...squiggle when they go down.”

Obi’s eaten something like that; last time Zen took him overseas he’d paid a handful of yen to some guy with a bucket to try a tiny octopus on a stick. Its little suckers clung to his throat as he swallowed it down, and well--

Probably not the time to tell her he’d thought it was fun. “We should get headed back,” he says instead. “What was that? Eighty-eight? Ninety-one? Shidan’s gonna have something to say about it.”

Shirayuki hums, that face of her taking a worried bent. “I’m sure...”

“Ninety-seven.” There’s a pen between the professor’s fingers, the kind that usually has a little boat or a ski-lift inside, moving to and fro. This one’s got a small soul, traveling down the length of it to Death and his scythe before scurrying back across. “You’re at ninety-seven souls, Shirayuki.”

The guilty twist of her mouth says the kid knew the count too. Better than he did at least. “You’ve given us some very good opportunities over the last year.”

It’s a diplomatic answer, and by the way Shidan slumps behind his desk, it’s not the one he wants to hear. “Garak wanted you back at Shibusen at ninety. If you were so close, you should have said--”

“I don’t want to go yet.” It’s just like her to let the truth fly right out, landing with all the subtlety of a bomb. One that catches her in its blast by the way she pinks up, just a few shades lighter than her hair. “I mean, we’re not done here. We’ve only just scratched the surface of what the Olin Maris is, let alone what it means for our system of weapon classification, or whether there’s other mythic weapons we haven’t even considered because--”

“Shirayuki.” Obi’d thought Shidan was a bit of a scrub when they first met him, a scraggly excuse for a professor with even scragglier facial hair, but nothing makes a guy grim up faster than having a team of kids thrust upon him and told to keep them alive. Especially when one of those kids is Shirayuki. “I appreciate that this project has...meaning for you. I do. But I also know that if you guys fumble your last soul on my watch, Garak will wring my neck and serve me for dinner.”

That hauls the kid up short, all her passion careening into a pile-up. “Ah...”

Those big eyes roll his way, looking at him like he’s the one with all the experience of talking them into trouble and right back out again. “I dunno, kid. Master’s going to string me up too if we blow this smash and grab a second time.”

Her mouth bows into a frown cute enough to send a little thrill up his spine. “He doesn’t like it when you call him that.”

“And he can scold me about it straight to my face,” Obi says, grinning down into hers. “When we get shipped back to Death City.”

The determined jut of her jaw would like to argue, but before the kid can work herself up past, “No,” Shidan swings in with a weary, “You’re not ready to catch a witch soul.”

“That’s not true.” Shirayuki’s half out of her seat already, tiny hands braced on its arms, ready to spring. “Umihebi--”

“Umihebi is what you can expect from an experienced witch.” Shidan’s not the kind of guy who does resolution, let alone conflict, but he stands his ground, albeit with all the enthusiasm of a cliff face in a storm. “But not a powerful one. Garak hasn’t seen fit to furnish me with the details of that little excursion, but I doubt you’d manage much better if she took you on today.”

Technically, Obi agrees. Hell, that’s the meat of the argument he’d been trying to have only a few days ago, back when the kid had gone off and signed them up for this last glut of souls.

There’s going to be a witch to wipe the floor with us whether we get all our souls today or two years from now, he’d told her, flicking the end of her tiny ponytail. Not because it made his chest squeeze to see how long it had gotten since that raggedy boy cut, of course, but because it was there. No need to rush things. After all, who’s the meister here?

But he watches her face crinkle up, freckles disappearing into the peaks and valleys of her discontent, and-- and it’s stupid, but he can’t just stand around watching it happen.

“We’re stronger than we were then.” Big eyes turn toward him, shining and surprised and hopeful, and he can’t keep this up but he can’t look away either. “Better.”

It’s the truth, it is, but also: it’s a low bar to clear. He wasn’t a stranger to this whole weapon business, even wielded a few a time or two when the job called for it, but this kid was something else entirely. Not his style, for one, and for another, well--

Shirayuki wasn’t for the faint of heart, that’s for sure. He’d nearly passed out that first time she fell into his hands, and staring down Umihebi’s goon squad with her in them had his knees and heart weak.

“He’s right.” The kid quivers with conviction, the way dogs do at the end of their leash. “We’d hardly been partners more than a few weeks at that point, and now--”

“Right.” Shidan’s chair squeaks as he shifts, just as uncomfortable as its occupant. “But can you resonate?”

“ He’s right,” Ryuu says with his signature bluntness. “You can’t.”

“Well, sure. But...” It’s just like the Shirayuki to search for the silver lining in every cloud, but this one even makes her come back empty-handed. “Just because we haven’t managed it doesn’t mean we can’t be good collectors! I’m sure there’s plenty of weapons and meisters who can’t, they’re just--”

“Not Death Scythes?” Suzu offers.

“Thanks, Suzu,” Obi drawls. “Real helpful.”

“What? I’m not saying you’re not skilled.” Bony shoulders shrug, poking up through his jacket like a wire coat hanger. “Clearly you’re better than me and Yuzuri. But you can’t get into the upper ranks without having a Death Scythe, and you can’t get a Death Scythe without fighting a witch, and you can’t fight a witch without some serious firepower, and you can’t get serious firepower without--”

Obi waves his hand. “Soul Resonance, we get it. Trust me, we’ve gotten this talk before.”

“Then what’s the hold up?” Suzu finally looks up from his little science project, face all consternated, like it’s any of his business. “You guys are totally simpatico here. What’s going on in the field?”

Baggage, he doesn’t say, at the same time Ryuu observes, “I think it’s complicated.”

“Complicated?” It’s just his luck that Yuzuri’s halfway through sticking her neck in, drawn to gossip like a moth to a flame. If moths came naturally flame-retardant, that is. “Is there something going on between you two?”

“Ah, no!”  It’s unthinkable that there could be something, he knows, but it stings a little, how quick that scythe of his is to jump in. “It’s just-- there’s someone else who’s supposed to be my meister. But that’s...”

“Complicated,” Ryuu reminds them again.

She’s got the grace to flush. “There’s other duties he has to see to, important ones, and since I’m so new at this...”

“Oh.” Yuzuri snorts, unimpressed. “I see. The kind of guy who can only give you the time of day if you’re a Death Scythe.”

“No! Well, yes.” Her hands wave, as much of a jumble as this whole situation. “It’s not his fault. But Obi has experience with weapons, and he’s able to wield me, so we thought...”

One extremely judgemental eyebrow hikes up to Yuzuri’s hairline. “He might not be Mr. Right, but he’s Mr. Right Now?”

Hands clap to her cheeks, like it does anything to hide what’s going on underneath them. “Well, it sounds terrible when you put it like that! It’s not like-- we’re not-- plenty of weapons train with different meisters!”

“Right,” Suzu sniffs. “But they’re not making them do all the work.”

Obi holds up a hand. “It’d make more sense if you knew who it is. Trust me.”

That catches Yuzuri’s attention, quick. “Why? Is he important? Is it someone I’d know? You’d tell me if it was someone--”

“In any case,” Shirayuki says, pitching her voice to be heard over this mess. “Shidan told us there was someone who could help. A colleague of a colleague, I guess.”

Ryuu glances up. “Really? Who?”

“Some guy,” Obi grunts, right as the she replies, “Rata Forzeno.”

“Why is it that all these genius types always live out in the middle of nowhere?” His complaints mist into the air, blunted by the cold. “If they were so smart, wouldn’t they live somewhere with central heating? A grocery store within a twenty minute drive? Wifi?”

“Some people really enjoy their privacy,” the kid says, like that’s any sort of explanation at all for why they have to hike through this stupid forest.

“Most people just delete Twitter.” The snow’s high enough he’s got to lift his legs to clear the next step, and each time he puts his foot down, twigs crunch. Like a special surprise at the bottom of a shit sundae. “Wasn’t he supposed to be some important scholar? Don’t they all live in Death City, or something? Or at least keep a PO box?”

“He did once. Live in Death City, I mean.” Shirayuki grimaces as he helps her over a rocky outcropping hidden beneath the drifts. “There was some accident? Yuzuri didn’t know the details, but she thought it might have to do with some assistant of his.”

“Accident.” Just what he needs, another professor who thinks safety regulations are guidelines rather than prosecutable laws. “And this is the guy who’s gonna figure out what’s wrong with us.”

“There’s nothing wrong with us!” It’s cute how heated she gets, gripping him through their thick layers, all flushed. “Everyone has trouble resonating at some point!”

“Right, well, most of them are at Shibusen,” he grumbles, tugging her close enough to dodge the snow the tree beside them dumps. “And the ones that aren’t don’t go around collecting all those kishin souls, only to bungle the last one because of it.”

“We hadn’t been working together that long.” Her elbow pushes into his side, luring his gaze right down into the trap of her smile. “Did you tell Shidan we were stronger now? Better?”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t realize he was going to send us out to bumfuck to see some crazy hermit--”

“He’s not crazy.” It’s insane how calmly she can say that when her knees are soaked through with snow. He’s got to lift her up every other step to keep from losing her in it. If he thought she’d tolerate it, he would have called her weapon shape and carried her already. She’d be a hell of a lot lighter that way. “He’s just-- oof!”

It comes out of nowhere; one minute it’s snowy forest and then next the kid’s tripping over tumbled-down stone, a whole ruin jutting out of the snow like teeth in a kishin’s maw.

“Where did this all come from?” Shirayuki cranes her neck, like somehow an answer might pop out of the drifts if she looks hard enough. “A soul barrier, maybe? But to make this look like a forest instead of...?”

“Welp.” He pops the ‘p,’ plucking her attention away from the mystery. “I think we can say for sure that this guy is off his rocker.”

“Obi.”

“I appreciate how fair you’re being, kid, I really do, but normal people don’t just go around living in busted down temple stuff, throwing up barriers and--”

Snow splatters him, just the way solid things shouldn’t, cresting over him like a wave on a breakwater. It takes him a minute to blink, to clear the snow off his eyelashes enough to see a rock’s sitting between them, carving a crater out of the snow.

He leans closer, catching the way grooves are worn into it, images. No, not a rock. It’s a whole hunk of marble, with one sightless eye staring up at them, half a grimace stretched beneath it.

“Is that a statue?”

“No,” the kid murmurs, pale. “It’s a...a bas relief. That means they carved it straight into a block of stone, not--”

“Sure.” His lips are numb where he licks them. “But it got thrown at us, right?”

Her mouth rounds. “Ah--”

“You know.” A voice echoes through the ruins, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. “It’s not polite to wander into someone’s home and call them a crazy old hermit.”

Another hunk lands inches from Obi’s boots, and he stumbles back, hand outstretched. It’s enough to brush her, and that’s all the signal the kid needs, the metal heft of her shaft fitting into his hands like it was made for him. “You’re supposed to call ahead first, at least.”

“Call ahead?” Obi squawks, spinning Shirayuki to deflect the next chunk. “Like you get service out here?”

A man leaps down from a boulder-- no, another one of those frescoes or whatever, looking just as stressed as the face at their feet. It’s an older guy, slender enough that he shouldn’t be leaving the crater he does in that snow, a worn lab coat whipping around him.

“You’d be surprised.” Another hunk of marble breaks itself off; a screaming face, by the looks of it. “Now get off my ruin.”

Obi crouches, ready to deflect the next throw, but with a shout as sharp as her blade, the kid cries out, “Wait! Shidan sent us!”

“Shidan?” The man-- Forzeno blinks, not dropping the marble, but losing his menace. “Why would that idiot send you out here? Not on one of his hopeless quests, is he? That man is made for fool’s errands...”

“You used to be a teacher, didn’t you?” Shirayuki’s not a Death Scythe, not yet, so her transformation is all or nothing, scythe or girl, and for this, she finally decides on girl. “At Shibusen?”

“Yes.” The marble churns overhead as Rata adds, begrudgingly, “I had to be in order to use their facilities.”

“Right.” If Obi were her real meister, he’d be able to tell if that kid was really as confident as her words, but he can’t, so he’s stuck here, having to believe she can brazen it out, just like always. Just like she couldn’t with Umihebi. “Shiden told us that if we were looking to resonate, you were the one to ask.”

The jerk frowns. “That’s not under the purview of my research.”

“But you used to do it,” she presses. “Shidan said you used to be the best.”

“I was,” Rata agrees, like it’s fact. “But I wrote that paper.”

It’s too much. “Are you kidding me?” He can’t take these nerds and their stupid papers anymore. “We came all the way down here to talk to you, and you won’t even--?”

“Shidan told me that too,” the kid says, which is news to him. “You’re interested in mythic weapons now, aren’t you? In...Legendary Resonance?”

If anything, this makes the guy less comfortable. “Yes. Though I don’t see why he would waste his time telling that to a weapon that isn’t even--”

Shirayuki lets out a hiss through her teeth, loosening her jaw just enough to say, “My mother was Carnwennan.”

The marble drops. Just tips right over, inched from that guy’s heels. “Carnwennan? The dagger wielded by Arther himself? The sister to--?”

“Excalibur.” She grimaces. “Yes.”

He hesitates.

“Fine.” Forzeno turns his back to them, heading deeper into the ruins. “Come into my office.”

[doom-nerdo-666]

When thinking of writing a post about why people tend to dislike Midnight, i had a bit of a thought: Just like SgtMarkIV/Brutal Doom, the hate can come from people that are usually uninformed.

A way to see Midnight is that he's more of a "side effect" and represents things that aren't unique to him (Specially if you look at other Doom related channels and see similarities).

I've seen him compared to MrBossFTW as if Midnight is the Doom equivalent to that.

He seems like a clickbait channel trying to exploit people that know less about Doom than he already does.

A recent example being him doing a video about Lilith PK3 and how his observation (If it's legit) can be comparable to that of how game journos (The group that Doom fans supposedly hate) talk about Doom mods.

(Because i don't think he even knows about the weird drama about that mod at all)

It's why DoomKid making a video correcting Midnight was a bit of a shocker: Both could be seen as representing opposite sides related to "Doom fandom".

But in general, a way to better understand this is by looking at 3 big points:

The Doom community and its history

I already made certain points in different posts, like differences between older and newer fans or aspects of certain activities etc.

You can read some of it here:

Random observations about the Doom community.

A specific Brutal Doom post.

Things that may've not exist if not for the fans.

Nerd/geek/fandom/whatever-you-call-it culture

I'm sure people are aware of nerd stereotypes in pop culture: The smart but socially awkward skinny guy with glasses with weird speech patterns and interests in pop culture, that gets bullied.

While they are exaggerated, they do have some truth in them (To the point some even say this outcast nerd aspect is what inspired Peter Parker, Spiderman).

So the "Funko Pop crowd" image seems different from nerds that get picky over how their favorite media is handled.

Might come from a place of what if means to love something so much: 100% blind love that you like anything associated with it or wanting "the best" for it that you tend to have standards like a parent wishing their kids get a better future and don't throw it all away.

Of course, some nerds will still have silly complaints over stuff but it also seems like some people find it easier to be nerdy in the "blind loyalty" way than making interesting stuff out of their passion.

Some also argue whether or not "nerd culture" is that obscure because something like Star Wars was always massive.

But it's still interesting to learn how subcultures change because it's not just a matter of newcomers but even the old guard can change too.

Internet content

When people discuss why "content creator" is a bad term, they usually include the angle from the corporations: How they treat artists and their art.

Be it corporations labelling different art forms as "content" or treating it badly even if the art itself is good and gave them some revenue.

But there's at least 2 angles we shouldn't forget:

The "creators" themselves because for all the talented people that deserve better, there's always those with crappy stuff or zero talent that somehow get to win at times.

And the audiences because some people tend to have really bad taste and in massive scales.

Youtube is a good example when you look at its popular videos and "personalities": A bunch of people with no actual talent or charisma "gamefying"/taking advantage of a system and the clueless audiences that watch them because they don't know better.

It reminds me of why a medium like animation got less popular:

First, there's specific rules from Youtube such as the 10 minute mark and how it relates to income, which was something animators barely could handle.

Then there's the fact that people like to play videos while they do something else as if they're background noise (This doesn't apply to just podcasts or commentaries).

It's probably not a surprise that some people who worked on more creative mediums end up doing podcasts or LP channels.

And then you have smaller channels doing the "don't forget to like, subscribe and hit the bell" etc part because YT essentially became a race of success and less about passion or effort into quality content.

Some say YT became more about personalities than content but even then, you can tell that James Rolfe still has a more interesting personality than Logan Paul.

One can argue that some people do rely on YT for the sake of money so "clickbait is needed" but i also assume that anyone who's super into Doom could just discover content on their own.

Another thing about modern internet is chasing trends or when everyone has to talk about what's currently popular, leaving little room for novel topics or creativity.

Anyway

Each of these 3 sections could've been better but i brought up some points that serve as food for thought, so any more interesting observations/opinions/even trivia could be reached from reading this, hopefully.

I doubt Midnight would ever find this blog and read this post... but at least he'd have more interesting material to use for his videos i guess.