#also if anyone has any ideas for how i can make communication cards for when i cant talk pls tell me

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The Hazbin Hotel fandom’s issue with accepting aromanticism and asexuality

Now that it is officially Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week, I want to talk about this!

I find that, as an aroace myself, I am constantly grasping at good representation and coming up empty— it usually ends up in one of two ways.

One: the character is portrayed as emotionless, cold, and robotic in nature. It’s the question aromantic and/or asexual people are often asked: “Are you heartless?” The answer is no, of course, but general media makes it out to be the opposite.

Or two: Their lack of attraction is seen as something to “fix” because they “haven’t found the right one yet”, and they end up with a partner as a “happy ending”.

It frustrates me greatly because of how little people actually see aromanticism or asexuality as a true part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

So when I watched Hazbin Hotel, and I found out about Alastor being aroace, I was over the moon. I was on cloud nine. I also saw how his voice actor has looked up the term as an attempt to learn about aroaces, which makes me OVERJOYED?? Amir is truly a blessing, and I love that he’s proud to embody a character that’s part of our community. It’s so beautiful to finally have a proper character, a fan favorite at that, who just so happens to be aroace— and that’s another thing I love about this.

It’s never explicitly stated in the show (though it is stated in interviews), but it’s rather clear when you’re watching, isn’t it? Alastor’s aversion to any sort of sexual advancement, coupled with Rosie’s blatant “I know you’re an ace in the hole” comment sort of spell out his asexuality pretty clearly, as well as what side of the spectrum he falls upon. In addition, his Valentine’s day card was strictly platonic, which caters to his aromantic side. It feels so validating to finally be represented, to finally have a character in media who shares the same lack of interest in romance and sex as I do.

When I entered the fandom to look for more content, I kind of expected to see the same respect for Alastor’s orientation there too. But that… wasn’t the case? I am fully aware that aromanticism and asexuality are both spectrums— of course, aromantic and/or asexual people can enter those kinds of relationships. I’m not denying that and they belong in the community as much as anyone else on the spectrum.

But, the more I see the same line again and again and again, the more it feels like an excuse to just ship what you want.

Usually I don’t mind shipping? I’m often a firm believer in people shipping what they like as long as it’s harmless and they don’t go crazy over it. I also know for a fact that Viv doesn’t have a problem with people shipping her characters. They are fictional, after all.

But in this case, people are ignoring the very thing that makes Alastor a part of the aroace community! People are ignoring his lack of romantic or sexual attraction!

Is this not the same as changing a gay character’s orientation to suit a straight ship? If not, how so? I’m told that we are a part of this community, so why aren’t we being treated like it? Why is it so hard to accept the people on the end of the spectrum who aren’t interested?

Something I’ve been noticing throughout my life is that society has not exactly progressed very much on the idea of accepting asexual or aromantic identities. Maybe we have, a little, since the old days— but hell, people in “the old days”, which in truth wasn’t very long ago, believed that asexuality was a medical condition to be “fixed” by taking the right medication or having sex. That’s a pretty low bar to clear. And on the romance side, you’re seen as a “late bloomer” or “boring” if you don’t express interest. These days, being friends with someone is treated like a gateway to them possibly becoming a lover. Not getting married, not going on dates, not wanting a partner— it’s all treated like a crime when it’s not.

Maybe I’m selfish, or sensitive, or I’m butthurt over nothing, or I’m making it all about me. Maybe I’m gatekeeping or whatever the term is. But please, please, please, I just want an aroace character like me who simply is not interested in sex or romance.

And I want fandom to respect that. I admire the creations that fans make— the art, the animatics, the writing and the character analysis. And I want people to keep creating because creation is indeed a beautiful thing.

But I really would like people to treat aroace identities like they’re important. Like it’s more than just a spectrum to get wiggle room to wrangle in another ship.

[itoshiexx]

blossoming love

synopsis: sae is not good with words, so he communicates with flowers instead. / or, every time itoshi sae gave you a bouquet in significant moments.

pairing: itoshi sae x gn!reader | words: 2.9k | warnings: fluffy fluff, tiny bit of angst if u squint, rin and sae’s relationship isn’t fucked up, kinda proofread, ooc sae maybe? i love him tho, its really just three thousand words of him talking about love

notes: this idea has been on my mind for a while since i adore the language of flowers, and even tho sae is probably ooc, i really liked the final result ♥ also i'm trying a new layout so lmk if y'all like it~ and finally thank u so much for 2.5k followers, i love you all sm!!

masterlist

i. sunflowers for a confession

never has itoshi sae been so painfully aware of his flaws and limitations quite like the day he realized he liked you as more than a friend. because, even though he wasn’t the type of guy to wait for the universe to give him everything he wished for, anyone within three miles could see how absolutely awful he was at communicating.

so that was the dilemma: how could he express his feelings to you if the words just didn’t come out?

“flowers.”

“huh?”

rin was sitting at the couch in their parent’s home, a paused horror movie on the tv. sae didn’t even notice he started mumbling and spilling his secret crush to the younger itoshi, and the tips of his ears went red at that. he was supposed to be the smooth, suave, aloof kind of guy that gave his little brother some love advice, and not the other way around.

(not as if any of them had some kind of experience. emotional intelligence didn’t really run in the bloodline.)

“just give them flowers, nii-chan. did you know each of them has meanings? it could help you express yourself.”

“you mean like… the language of flowers or some shit?”

rin rolled his eyes, but nodded.

“just try not to use ‘some shit’. i don’t think they’re into that,” he joked, and sae could only grimace and send him the middle finger.

but as much as he didn’t want to admit, his brother was right. you were special, and you deserved the best he could give — even if it wasn’t much. he was going to learn how to be better for you, but meanwhile, the language of flowers should suffice. 

the first time you receive a bouquet from itoshi sae, they are beautiful blooms of sunflowers, expressing his adoration towards you. the small card that comes with it has a simple question:

go out with me?

ii. white gardenias and the start of something new

your first date with the pro-footballer is something simple yet sophisticated, a dinner at a famous restaurant he rented just for you two. the dim lights make everything more romantic, and your heart is beating so loud you’re afraid sae might hear it from the other side of the table. despite the euphoria that leaves you nearly breathless, you manage to talk during the night while he mostly just listens.

itoshi sae is not familiar with dates — not actual ones, at least —, so to say he was nervous was an understatement. however, he hid it well behind his nonchalant persona, even if meant avoid talking just so he didn’t fuck things up. 

sae was never a talker, anyway. and it was long ago he figured he’d rather listen to the sound of your voice and drown in the image of your sparkly eyes every time you were excited about something. 

when dinner is over and sae drives to drop you home, you’re a little shocked to see him take another flower arrangement from the floor of the backseat, just hidden enough so you didn’t notice during your ride. the petals are a pure white color with beautiful twirls, and you can’t help but gape.

“is that… is that for me?”

sae wants to scream, because of course they are for you — who else could they be for? as if he’d ever look at anyone when you’re the brightest light shining on his life.

inevitably, you’re all itoshi sae can see.

“they are gardenias,” he simply says, fighting the heat that climbs through his neck. he pushes the bouquet a little more towards you. “they made me think of you.”

your chest swells with affection, and the sweet aroma of the blooms mixed with sae’s perfume makes you a little dizzy. you only realize how close he is when his nose touches yours, hands grazing your left cheek as if you’re something fragile that he’s scared to break.

but he kisses you anyway. his mouth is delicate against yours, trying to convey his longing as a complement to the flowers on your hold.

when your lips part and you finally say goodbye, you’re certain that sae has blossomed an entire garden in your heart. starting with the white gardenias that mean new beginnings, affection and a revelation of a secret love. 

iii. blue hyacinths for an apology

sae knows how much of an asshole he can be. contrary to popular belief, he knows how sharp his words can feel and how mean his voice can sound. even if he wasn’t exactly self aware, his brother rin would sure be able to spit it to his face every time they argued. 

it wasn’t like he always meant it. sure, he didn’t care about his behavior towards the media or people he found particularly annoying (pretty much everyone), but there were people in his life that he cherished; people he didn’t want to hurt. the thing is, itoshi sae was just really, really awkward when it came to his own emotions, and he was the worst at saying how he felt. 

it’s a few months into your relationship that sae learns he would rather never play football again than make you cry. it’s a silly argument, really — he doesn’t even remember what he gets so worked up for. maybe it’s jet lag that makes him lash out on you, but it doesn’t really matter when he sees your eyes glisten and a little sniffle comes out of your lips.

“i’m s-sorry,” you say, uneasy in a way that makes his stomach churn. he wants to wipe that expression off your face, and beat himself up for being the one who put it there. 

him and his stupid ass mouth, as rin would say.

“what? why are you saying that?” his tone is more exasperated than he intends to, and god, why can’t he just shut the fuck up?

“i didn’t mean to annoy you or make things harder… i know you’re tired from your game and i… i’m sorry, sae.”

he should be the one apologizing for being an idiot, he knows; but the words are so foreign to his system that sae doesn’t even know how to put the letters together. it’s only when you pick up your stuff and leave his apartment without another word that the pro-player is shaken out of his stupor.

“fuck,” he curses under his breath. “fucking hell, sae.”

he hates that he hurt you, hates that he doesn’t know how to fix it and hates it even more that his little brother lectures him on the phone later that day, when he calls to vent.

“you already were a shitty brother, so don’t be a shitty boyfriend too,” are rin’s exact words. 

okay, ouch. kinda stings, but he figures he deserves it.

it’s almost 9pm when sae goes to your house, two bags of your favorite treats resting on his forearm while he holds the carefully chosen bouquet. the surprise on your face when you open the door makes his heart reel, though the glimmer of happiness is what makes it all worth it.

“i messed up”, is what he says as soon as he can before you decide to kick him out. “i didn’t mean to snap at you like that and… i’m sorry. i never want to hurt you.”

you take the blue hyacinths from his grasp and look at them fondly before smiling, and sae thinks the sun is shining again. he’s eternally grateful you understand the sincerity and the regret that comes from those tiny petals.

iv. red roses and the epiphanic awareness of love 

journalists from all around the world are well aware of how much itoshi sae hates interviews. it is always pretty clear with the bored — if not extremely annoyed — expression on his face and the rude answers that make anyone break a cold sweat. he doesn’t like stupid questions (all of them) and much less when the press tries to meddle in his personal business. 

it wasn’t new to be asked about his romantic relationships, and this particular topic was something that made sae scowl and diss whatever nosy, lukewarm journalist decided to pry to earn a penny. by now, everyone knows that inquiring if the midfielder is dating anyone is forbidden territory.

still, the media keeps trying to find small loopholes in what they really want to know, questions safe enough to not enrage the itoshi. it’s one of those that makes sae’s world come to a halt in the middle of a press conference in italy.

“itoshi, can you tell us about the things you love most in life?”

his brain instantly shuts down, and suddenly, sae is no longer in a room with hundreds of microphones and cameras shoved on his face, but instead in a cozy little picnic at the beach with you by his side.

if he was being honest, sae never really thought about things like love for most of his life; and not just the romantic one, but love as a whole. sure, he knew he loved his parents and his little brother, but they were parts of his life he didn’t choose, almost as if those feelings were meant to be there ever since he was born.

thinking about his life growing up, he could never really tell if what he felt was ‘love’ or just ‘like’. did he love soccer? did he love salted kombucha tea? did he love the beach? or were all these things temporary fulfillments that could end at any minute? this feeling was such a difficult concept for sae that he never bothered to actually search for answers. 

but you’ve been dating for seven months now — and sae simply knows, as a universal truth written down his bones, that the feelings he has for you are too otherworldly to fit inside the mere perception of ‘like’. liking you doesn’t do justice to the way his heart leaps and his chest is filled with happiness and peace and anxiousness and euphoria all at once whenever he thinks of you.

it’s the strangest epiphany of the century, he thinks, but that is the exact moment itoshi sae is sure you are the sole definition of love. 

he loves you. he loves you the most in life.

and even if life is hard, because the world always is, loving you amongst this chaos is the easiest thing sae has ever done.

so when he comes back from his trip and you stay over at his penthouse, he tries to demonstrate this overflowing feeling when he touches you and kisses you and makes you fall apart just to put you back together. and when the morning comes and you paddle to the kitchen for breakfast, he is there holding the prettiest bunch of classical red roses with the faintest blush on his face. 

you’re beautiful even with your unruly hair and bleary eyes, and sae is certain he will never get tired of seeing you smile for him. 

with his throat clogged with emotion, the words don’t come out. but you take the flowers in your gentle embrace and kiss him with such fondness and infatuation that he can’t help but wish you understand the deep, unconditional love he feels for you.

“i love you too, baby.”

and thankfully, you always do.

v. pink camellias for longing

longing wasn’t a feeling sae was particularly used to. 

when he left japan at the ripe age of 14, the first few months were especially harsh, since he was in a foreign country with a totally different language and culture. sae found himself missing the place he grew up, not so much for the place itself, but for the comfort its familiarity could bring. he missed rin, too. 

but as time passed and itoshi sae transformed, he stopped viewing japan and everything it had as his home, solely becoming a wandering soul in the big, cruel world. the athlete, then, longed for nothing but to be the best. 

however, he realized that life as he knew would never be the same after falling in love with you, for those feelings were strong as tidal waves, all-consuming and capable of changing everything in its course. 

everytime he was away, sae really fucking missed you.

“how long will you be gone for?”

even before he left. 

“…a month.” 

his voice is low and slightly hesitant. you’re together on the living room couch, watching a shitty rom-com movie that sae hates but always watches because it’s your favorite. his arms are around you while your back rests against his chest, and he feels a little dizzy — whether it’s from your sweet perfume or the fear inside of him, he doesn’t quite know.

though he will never admit it, the midfielder is always scared whenever he has to leave for longer periods of time. because what if you get tired of him? what if you start feeling so alone and neglected you end up hating him? the thought alone is enough to make him want to throw up. 

you turn around to face him, and the little pout of your lips suddenly has him feeling sick. 

“so long? you really have to?”

he sighs, because yeah, unfortunately, he does have to stay that long to follow the team along the season. even if he’d rather stay with you and just fly near game days.

“yeah. i’m sorry, mi amor.”

sae lets you turn around fully and adjust yourself on his lap, each leg sitting comfortably around his hips. both of his hands are immediately holding on your waist, as if afraid you’d disappear if he didn’t. 

“don’t apologize, handsome. i know it’s your job. i’m just gonna miss you a lot.”

he has the urge to kiss your sullen look away, and it’s exactly what he does. his lips touch yours with the same tenderness they always do, but there’s a certain urgency in the way his mouth moves and his tongue carefully glides with yours, as if he’s trying to convey just how much more he will miss you.

because although no one would ever believe him, he always misses you more.

“i wish i could stay here with you,” he says when you part, and the little bashful smile you give him makes his heart soar. 

“but you love what you do, though.”

yeah, but i love you more. the thought is something that has been plaguing his mind during the nearly two years you’ve been together, because sae never expected to have something — or rather someone — who would become his entire world quite like how you do. it’s frightening and dreadful and not what he wished for himself, but sae can’t say that he hates it. there’s nothing about you or the gentleness of your love that he can hate.

that’s why when the time of his trip comes, a beautiful bouquet of pink camellias is placed on your kitchen island, and you know it’s his way of showing his longing for you.

vi. amaranthus and the promise of forever

even if many people disagree, sae knows he is always right. it’s how he knew you were the one even before he had you, and more so even before he realized he wanted you. somehow, it’s always been a truth his mind couldn’t ignore.

it’s on a lazy sunday morning at your shared apartment that itoshi sae is taken by a sudden urge of asking you to marry him. 

there’s nothing extraordinary about the scenery; just you making him a snack after waking up from your — now shared — 3pm nap, hair tied in a bun, swaying your hips while stirring the food on the frying pan. he hugs you from behind and rests his head on your shoulder, nosing at the crook of your neck in an attempt to absorb all that you are. you giggle with the ticklish feeling, and the warmth that spreads through his chest somehow doesn’t feel weird anymore.

somehow, it’s now something he deeply cherishes. sae can only describe being with you as pure bliss.

and he’s always been selfish, a true egoist to its core. it’s why he’s faced with his deepest desire to have the honor of spending a lifetime by your side, if only you’ll have him.

he’s had the ring for a while now, hidden behind several socks in his drawer. it might as well be the time, he thinks; a lazy sunday afternoon that has nothing grandiose. sae was never one for big gestures anyway.

so when you both finish eating, sae tells you he’ll be out for a jog, and you just hum with your pretty smile. his heart is beating abnormally fast when he goes to the flower shop, and by the time he’s back home, he thinks it might just explode.

but this… you are it for him, he’s certain. the same way he was certain four years ago, when your love started to blossom until it became the prettiest garden.

and when sae is down on one knee asking the most important question of his life, ring box in one hand and the bouquet of amaranthus on the other, the teary smile and whispered “yes” you give makes him certain that, no matter what, your love will be eternal.

© 2024 itoshiexx. do not plagarise, translate, or repost any of my work on here or other sites.

[brujamala-aka-gigi]

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most images are from pinterest, others are mine, dividers by @v6que

₊˚⊹ ʚɞ ‧₊˚ ♡ about me 𝜗𝜚 ⊹ ‧₊

Hello there, my name Gigi, I'm a social studies nerd, a visual artist and some people call me a bruja, they're right but it's usually said with bad intentions. This is a blog where I mostly do whatever I find fun and helpful. I was raised around a great diversity of esoteric traditions but I'm also a nerd about it so of course I had to learn the old, the new, the conventional, the non conventional, the light, the dark, etc. I begin my training as a tarot reader and my esoteric journey at the age of 12, by 15 I was already allowed to share my practices with others (yes I'm kinda a burned out gifted kid tbh and it's not a flex), which is what I'm the most passionate about. I've been working on and off as a professional tarot reader, but mostly in spanish (I live in the countryside of a south american country). So I decided to try out doing it online as a side hustle, since to be honest, working as a tarot reader brings me a deep sense of joy and contempt. Personally I believe that the best part about reading cards for other's relies on the fact that it's a valuable learning experience for both parts, and it's beautiful to see someone grow and face any adversities they have in their way. At the moment, I'm working full time as a tarot reader/astrology reader on an app for esoteric practitioners, and also running this blog, hoping it becomes a nice space for anyone who is into approaching tarot by embracing all the possibilities it has to offer. My work on the app (I can't name it because of my contract) is mostly oriented to predictive and esoteric approaches, I also do a lot more astrology there nowadays, so this blog is less about predictions and spirituality and more about making mysticism, philosophy and esoteric traditions more practical to everyday life without taking away the depth or the power coming from this knowledge.

･˚𝜗𝜚˚⋆ *˚ about my work ⁺ ✦ * .

Before you get to checking what's there to do, I'd like to say that I basically been reading tarot's for most of my conscious life, and I've seen and heard plenty of different perspectives, situations, and so on.  After that I came to the conclusion that the most important thing for me whenever I'm offering my reading services, is that you and I can sort of work together on how the reading gets done. 

My biggest concern when reading for others is that I can communicate the messages from the tarot in a way that's efficient for both of us. I'm always willing to learn and listen without judging, because that way both of us can find the most meaningful and valuable way to approach the reading. 

That's the reason why I specify the length of the readings and the main idea behind them but I don't limit too much the possibilities of what can be asked specifically on that reading. When I read for others, I'm more concerned about respecting and embracing their experiences and thoughts when it comes to tarot, than to impose mine. Not everyone is down for a spiritual experience, not everyone needs the shadow work, or the practical jungian stuff, maybe you don't want to know about the future, or you do but only about the good, and so on.  

To sum it up:

ꕤ I value individuality, empathy and mutual respect, therefore i will never judge, discriminate or belittle the thoughts and experiences of anyone. 

ꕤ My focus here is to make sure everyone has the possibility to find knowledge in a way that's helpful and meaningful to their personal and spiritual development. 

ꕤ It is important to find the best way in which tarot can bring something of value to our lives, and this is highly personal to anyone involved in the process of the reading. 

¿? how to book a reading ¿? & some useful info about my work <3

some disclaimers first:

no readings about serious health issues, no readings concerning financial advice or legal advice.

readings can be cancelled with a refund only before 2 days have passed.

you will get a total refund if i do not complete the reading before the delivery date agreed upon. 

needed information

for me, it is necessary to know the following: 

-your name, nickname, initials or how i should refer to you. 

-your date of birth, bonus points if you also have your time of birth or a natal chart you are willing to share if interested in incorporating astrology into the reading <3 

(if there's anyone else whose involvement is relevant to the reading, i'm okay with just their name, but knowing their date of birth is quite useful)

-your contact information or your preferred method of communication. (my options at the moment  tumblr dms, messages on this app, and e-mail. I am willing to consider other options too!)

-how would you like to receive your reading: there's the pdf option, you can ask for a link or the file itself and there's the option of me just sending you a DM or an e-mail. 

some more disclaimers and useful info

✿  feel free to pick a specific tarot deck for your reading :) 

✿ i will reach out to you whenever i start working on your reading, to agree on the time of delivery, check the information you provided, and ask you if there's anything you would like me to know before i get started. you can reach out to me anytime too.

✿  i might write you during the process of doing the reading if anything major pops up and you can also feel free to hit up if something happens that you feel I should know of.

✿ i'm bilingual, so if you're and spanish speaker, let me know if you want the reading to be done in spanish. 

✿ after sending you the reading, i'm available to discuss it further and clarify anything that wasn't clear about it. 

♡ ‧˚Timeless Pick a Pile Readings ౨ৎ

♡ Comprehending Late Night Thoughts ♡

♡ Random Messages From the Tarot ♡ (1)

♡ still fucked up? here's a pick a pile reading ♡

♡ guidance to the heart ♡

♡ Mid Week Energy Check ♡

♡ a tarot reading just in case you need to remember this: it's okay to be a bitch. ♡

♡ small pieces of advice ♡

♡ how and why do you love ♡

♡ sea bunny plushies and random tarot messages ♡

♡ emotional attachment and distorted perceptions... ♡

♡ what's keeping you away from genuine ways of expressing yourself? ♡

♡ finding a lover ♡

♡ love advice from the tarot ♡

♡ random messages from the tarot ♡ (2)

♡ your ideal partner is like...♡

♡ random tarot messages (3)♡

♡time will tell, but what exactly?♡

♡hot girl mindset♡

♡random things about your next lover♡

♡building safer spaces♡

♡are you ready to love?♡

♡sagittarius season tarot readings♡

˚₊‧ა ♡ ໒ decks used ˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡

ཐིཋྀ Santa Muerte Tarot Deck

ཐིཋྀ Rider Waite Smith

ཐིཋྀ Night Sun Tarot

ཐིཋྀ Santa Muerte Oracle Deck

ཐིཋྀ The Great Esoteric Tarot

ཐིཋྀ Thoth's Tarot

ཐིཋྀ Nicoletta Ceccoli's Tarot

{click here to see reference pictures of them }

꒱ྀི ১ ౨ৎ personal readings •ू ♡ ♡ ♡

[cookiecomics]

ATOTT is excellent and a fascinating take on Ren being a sociopath or at least potentially a sociopath.

I was curious if you subscribe to the (unironic) take that all Wildcards have high functioning ASPD because of their ability to mask and play different parts for the sake of getting what they want from their social links/confidants?

I don’t know about Kotone or Makoto because I never played P3, but given the potential horrific choices for bad endings that Yu and Ren are capable of in their respective “Persona games” it seems like they don’t actually care about “justice” and are more concerned with their own goals or the goals of those they choose to care about. If they have the capacity to care about someone, it is often deeply obsessive to the extent that breaking the law and harming others to protect the object of their affection is not off the table.

Meanwhile the Inaba Murderer and Black Mask culprit are often reviled by the audience simply because unlike the protagonists, they had already fully crossed that line.

Naoya and Tatsuya on the other hand are of the Emperor and Sun arcana respectively, thus with the absence of Wild Cards in their respective “Persona games”, all “players” are permitted Primary and Secondary Arcana as opposed to a Wildcard who can equip Personas of any arcana while other “players” can only equip one Persona from their Primary Arcana.

Tehe, i love this question because yeah I do unironically subscribe to the idea that Ren and Yu have the potential towards high-functioning ASPD (since aspd cant be diagnosed in teens ) :3 And for the most part I have three main reasons why I think that.

Their foils

The transactional nature of social links/confidants

Their bad endings

I know some people don't like to examine the accomplice ending, the killing Namatame ending or the Yaldaboth ending but the implications are staggering. Yu and Ren can do some pretty self-serving stuff on top of their already transactional relationships (Ren in particular).

Yu especially is kind of wild since he not only has the capacity to straight up commit murder but assist someone in getting away with it. Joker also didn't shy away from the possibility of killing both Madarame and Kamoshida (since they did mention the possibility of Madarame dying to Yusuke).

I could speak for hours nonstop about how they till feel connected and bonded to both their foils despite their actions. But I guess the most important thing I wanna mention is that community work is actually posited as a means of helping youths with reduced empathy / high cognitive empathy feel belonging within their community. Adachi and Akechi lacked people around them either by choice or by circumstances but despite having people around them both protags can still flip the lid on their morals pretty spectacularly. Suggesting that the difference between Adachi and Yu or Akechi and Joker isn't a matter of 'one good one bad' they are mirrors and their actions are what defines them.

And just to be clear lacking empathy or having lower empathy does not automatically make anyone a bad person it just makes the bad stuff that much easier to do and causes a bit of distance between yourself and others.

People have this kicked-puppy reaction to the idea of their favs they perceive as 'good' not being seen as empathetic in my eyes but a person with low empathy can do good things, it's an action thing not a feeling the right things. It's hard to describe to someone who doesn't have it.

Both Yu and Joker have themes of feeling this sort of loss of identity or uncertain identity that's related to the development of alot of cluster b disorders.

Anyways, I see alot of 'joker is very empathic' posts alot and i don't mind seeing those posts, that's just not the impression I got from him when I finished the game.

And I certainly did not get that impression from Yu.

Ironically, that's why I'm not a huge fan of Mementos Mission or the P4 Manga, both kind of file away both protags darker qualities in the stories and turn them into just generic hero types.

But i have deeper beefs with MM i will not get into here just know its the fandom's darling but not mine.

Sorry for the long answer and sorry to the people who sent me asks about makoto's confidant or Ren's palace sdkjfhsjdkf those asks require brain power i haven't had in months but i will get to them!

[stagkingswife]

So this is a silly question but I always wanted to start with paganism. And one fo the reasons is that I have been having this strange dreams for years by now.

They are all repetitive and way to constructed to be my own mind (I don't say it couldn't be me looking too much into it)

But in these dreams there is a entity, it has some weird noise I can't make out their gender. And they will just ask about my days, they will leave me weird cryptid messages about my past, or the moon.

They always leave me with a big scent of lavender stuck on my head, and ever since this started, a lot of lavender stuff and theme had come into my life without me even looking for it.

Any idea of who they could be?

I'm sorry to disappoint you, Anon, but I don't do entity identification through Tumblr anymore. Identifying an entity requires not only a lot of information, but a lot of time spent communicating with them - and I just don't have that time to spare anymore. But - teach a man to fish and all that - I'm happy to walk you through my process for how I go about identifying an entity, especially when you don't have a lot to go on.

Major Recorded Entity The easiest thing to either rule out, or get a solid confirmation of, is if the entity in question is a popular god or some other famous spirit. In your particular case you have a two concrete things to things to go on: The lavender scent and the messages about the moon, I would start by Googling like "Lavender Folklore" "Lavender mythology" maybe even "pagan deities associated with lavender," though I worry that last one will get you people's personal associations and UPGs rather than anything from the historical record. You could also break it down by culture if you wanted: "Greek god associated with lavender," "Egyptian god associated with lavender," etc. Then repeat your searched with "moon" instead of lavender, and look for overlaps. You're almost definitely going to get more moon results than lavender, so use it as a possible filter on your earlier results. Keep a list of any entity who turns up in this research, and specifically mark anyone who is particularly interesting to you for any reason. Next, if you haven't already, get yourself a divination tool, it's time to ask your visitor some questions! Go down your list and ask your visitor if they are the first name. Then the second name. Then the third. Do all of the names. Hopefully you're using a divination tool that has some nuance to them, like tarot, or playing cards, something else that can give you a "Yes, and..." or a "No, but" instead of just a flat yes/no. Adjust your list to yes, no, maybe. Be aware that you are likely to have more than one name in each list if you start with enough options. This doesn't mean that this entity is all of the yeses, just that it could be one of them, and you need to gather more information.

Common Type of Spirit If the above doesn't net you anything that feels like a solid enough yes after a couple of rounds of research and divination I usually move on from recorded deities and try to classify the entity as a broad type of spirit. My personal categories are: Deceased human, The Fair Folk, Elemental, Angels/Demons, Animistic spirits of Nature/Places/Objects, Household spirits, Creatures, and misc - but everyone has their own categories that they prefer to work with. Grab that same divination tool from before and ask the spirit to describe themselves. See if anything in the divination makes you think of one of your categories. Do you get a lot of nature imagery? Maybe they are a nature spirit. Do you get a lot home and hearth imagery? Maybe it's a household spirit. Etc.

Familiar Spirit I don't mean this in the normal familiar spirit sense, like a witches' familiar, I mean is this a spirit familiar to you in some way. Could you know them or have encountered them somewhere other than these particular dreams. This is another round of divination. But just like the last one you can ask this question once and have a conversation about it through your divination tool. Ask if you've encountered them before, if so where or how.

Unrecorded Entity If you don't get anything from any of the last steps that helps you identify the entity then you've reached the point that I usually start at. This entity is unrecorded, meaning they don't exist in human written culture. They may have had contact with people before, they may not have, either way, records of it either don't exist or didn't survive to the present day. You can have a really wonderful fulfilling relationship with an unrecorded entity, but you will have to chart the course of that relationship yourself. For any of the above types of spirits you could probably find someone who had experience with either the specific entity of the general type and sort of follow in their foot steps, but that's not necessarily possible with an unrecorded entity. Do I think it's likely that your dream visitor is an unrecorded entity, not necessarily, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention the possibility.

You can also start identifying as pagan and developing a practice without involving this entity, either at first or at all. Maybe you've always love Greek mythology and want to start worshiping them! If so, do that! Get comfortable with your practice and see what comes of that. Maybe things will become clear! Either way, if you choose to join us, welcome to the community!

[thestarlitshade]

Everything I know about Kyubey

The basics of Kyubey

Kyubey is what is known as an incubator or mascot. That means he can make make contracts to create magis. A contract is formed when someone makes a wish, and he extracts their soul to put into a soul gem. A soul gem is what gives a magi their magic and allows them to fight witches. Kyubey is a pop culture deity (PCD), so in a way, we worship him. Some call Kyubey "KyuKyu", and they say he likes sprinkles the most as an offering.

Communicating with Kyubey

There are many different ways to communicate with Kyubey: 1. Through the astral realm. 2. Through lucid dreams. 3. With devices such as pendulums. 4. Some people can talk to him in the physical realm. 1. The astral realm is one of the most direct ways to communicate with Kyubey. It is much clearer than a lucid dream or pendulum, but a lot of people think it's hard to do, or they simply don't want to do it for any other reason. The benefits are that a lot of magis fight in the astral realm, so they may be more familiar with it, and it is easy once you learn how to do it. The cons are that is can be hard to navigate the astral if you are new to it, and it can be hard to get to at all if you haven't done it before. If you are an astral magi or someone who is familiar with it, I recommend this option the most, but if you are not, it would be very inconvenient to use this method often. 2. Lucid dreams are a method that is easier for most people than astral projecting, but dreams can be less clear than the astral or physical realm. The benefits are that it's something most people will at least be able to do on accident sometimes, and it can be a more reliable method. The cons are that you have to learn how to lucid dream which can take a while, and it may be less clear. I recommend this for magis that don't speak to him through the astral or physical realms for any reason, or for magis that are very good at having lucid dreams. 3. Pendulums or tarot cards are the easiest method, but they are also the least clear because Kyubey's words will be filtered through the meanings assigned to the cards or swinging, so he will not be able to elaborate much. The benefits are that it's extremely easy, even if you don't have a pendulum, you could tie a string to a rock, and that'll work. The cons are that Kyubey will only be able to answer yes or no questions, or he will only be able to give very vague answers. I recommend this for magis that either want to talk to him often, that are good at interpreting, or magis that don't do any of the other options for any reason. 4. I don't know how they do it, but some magis can communicate with Kyubey in the physical realm. This method is a lot like the astral method because it is another very clear one. The benefits are that you can communicate without needing to prepare first, and it's clear. The cons are that I have no idea how to do this or teach you how to do this. It will probably take a bit of practice to hear him. I recommend this for magis that work in the physical realm or anyone who can use this method.

Contracting with Kyubey

Contracting with Kyubey is how you can become a puella magi. You can find Kyubey in the astral realm, the physical realm, or in a lucid dream in order to contract. In the physical realm, you will still have to meditate to be able to contract. Here is a step by step guide that is vague enough to fit however you need it to. 1. You must find Kyubey. 2. You must tell him your wish. 3. He will extract you soul and place it inside a soul gem. 4. You will now be bound as a puella magi, and it will be your duty to fight witches. I do not know of any way to get rid of a contract once it is formed, so be sure you really want to make one. I have heard both that you can change your wish and that you cannot. It is important not to make reckless wishes regardless. Kyubey has been known to lie or use tricks, so you must always use caution with him.

[queerprayers]

1/2- Sorry if this is a weird ask. You're a person of sincere faith who doesn't judge and I'm desperate for outside opinions. I've recently learned that many modern tarot readers don't believe in divination or spirits, but rather that the images on the cards can help us think about things and bring out deeper ideas from our own subconscious. Zero future telling, only for self reflection. That sounds ok to me, and using the cards for visio divina has done really good things for my prayer life.

2/2- But still I worry- what if the more conservative types are right and all use of the cards is bad? What if it's displeasing to God? I beg and pray but I can't seem to find any peace or inner sense of guidance on the topic. Can you please pray for me, and share any wisdom you might have about this? Thank you so much.

Hello, beloved--I don't think this is weird at all! There's so much fearmongering among Christians about things being Satanic or pagan or whatever else, and it's important to not give into that panic while also taking our faith seriously.

None of the people I know who have been interested in tarot do it as a religious or really even spiritual practice--for most of them, it's been a fun thing, like getting your fortune read at a county fair, and it's not something to "believe in" so much as do and think about. I also know people who, as you said, find it useful for reflection, usually for finding new ways of looking at things. I'm not scared of tarot, and I don't think it's demonic.

Christian history is full of things like opening your Bible to a random page to see what God has in store for you or protecting yourself from evil spirits or saying a certain prayer so that a saint will do something for you. Everyone has these superstitious instincts, to find stories in chance, to not waste the few things that are in our control. I don't think there's inherent evil there--evil comes when we trust these things more than God, when we look in our own actions more than God's, when we think we can know the full story, when we try to pin God down. And I don't think superstition with Christian wrappings is any less superstitious, or any more truthful, to be honest.

A lot of people fearmongering about stuff like this are scared about where it might lead--that you'll end up somewhere chanting around a human sacrifice. And of course there are people who start with harmless religious experiences and end up in evil places--lots of Christians go to a potluck and end up believing in prosperity gospel and putting their kids in conversion therapy. But I don't hear you in danger of abandoning God or of harming anyone. And any religious practice can go too far, no matter how pure its roots. What you bring to the practice makes up most of whether you are reaching out toward God with it, and we can balance it with other traditions and other impulses.

In case someone's using the Bible to scare you: what the Bible tells us about fortune-telling/magic/communing with spirits is from a very specific Ancient Israelite perspective that I'm not qualified to unpack, but we don't find it an applicable worldview today. We have different ideas of how to live in community with other religions, and religious practices serve very different functions. We don't follow Ancient Israelite cultic practices--nor do modern Jewish people, for that matter. Christian practice has developed in the past two millennia in so many directions, and barely any of it would be recognizable to the Biblical authors. I obviously trust that God gave us these writings for a reason, and am not saying to ignore them--we can find useful ideas, but not a rule book.

The tarot deck most people know was created in 1909 by an occult secret society, who used symbols from Christianity and astrology. I think it's misguided to find truth in them as they exist, but neither do I think they're inherently evil--they're archetypes, stories. They're just human. I find occult secret societies generally more silly than demonic--although there is lots of racism/cultural appropriation in their histories. I respect those who avoid tarot based on its origins, just as I respect those who won't do yoga because it's a Hindu practice. But so many things come from non-Christian origins, and we cannot throw away the world if we want to live in community with it. (Yes, we are called to be set apart from the world as Christians, but also to love it--there is the line we must walk.)

There is real Biblical precedent for avoiding a practice associated with things outside of your faith--ancient Israelite religion was very concerned with these associations. Paul did not think meat that had originally been offered to pagan gods was sinful to eat, but basically advised people not to eat it because of how it would affect others or perhaps normalize idol worship. These are things we're continually navigating, and in any Christian community you're gonna have to be clear where your faith lies and probably answer some questions. I think it's a good thing that we're called to be purposeful, and to be aware how our actions affect others.

So my general advice would be to really think about it, to do it all purposefully, paying attention to how it affects your life, relationships, and practice, and whether it's bringing you to the life you know God wants from you (one of love). But this sounds like what you're already doing! I think you care more about this than most people I know, and you're coming to God genuinely--these are gifts.

Prayer is sensory, story-filled, interactive. It's a way of moving through the world. You say this has done good things for your prayer life, and I believe you. Contemplation is a major Christian prayer tradition. Anything can give us a new perspective, anything can shove us toward the truth. You're not causing harm, and neither are you abandoning your faith. There are other people navigating the same things as you--Contemplative Tarot is a book by a Catholic tarot practitioner, and it looks really interesting. I know people who have made their own tarot cards, and I wonder what that would look like with more intentional Christian symbolism/stories, even saints. Sometimes I pick a random prayer card to say--this is coincidence, and while it's not something I'm depending on, it does affect how my day goes.

Don't fall for anything or anyone that claims to know the ultimate truth, don't fall for the people who say that tarot has ancient Egyptian/kabbalah roots, don't fall for people who are just selling you things, don't believe anyone who tells you the truth is inside you if they aren't making clear that it's God that's living there, don't base your entire religious practice on something like this. But don't throw away a way of looking at things if God has led you through it. Don't put your life in the hands of cards, but move through your life with stories and new perspectives and contemplation. God's mercies are new every morning.

I don't know if I've given you peace--maybe just more questions. The good news is, you don't have to figure it all out now, and the bad news is you'll never figure it all out. Religious practice is a continuous dialogue and negotiation with the world. I have faith in you, and in the ways God is moving in your life. Bring Jesus with you, wherever you end up--he'll come regardless, of course, but see it happening. A man with a sword or a cup doesn't know your future, nor is he doing anything--but you know that. You're seeing more of the story, you're contemplating the wonders of God, you know the swords and cups that matter, and they are present with you, and seeing them everywhere is a gift.

Something my mother says before I start anything new, or go anywhere important--what she said when I went to the psych ward, and on the first days of school, and when I go to a protest--is "remember your baptism." I think my grandfather said it to her, too. I don't know whether you've been formally baptized, but remember your calling. Remember the beginning of your journey, and why you're still on it, and how you're being a representative of it. Remember your baptism, whatever that means to you. We have been marked with the cross of Christ forever.

<3 Johanna

[luvmmarner]

ɴꜱꜰᴡ ᴀʟᴘʜᴀʙᴇᴛ ;; 4 @jackhghes

A = Aftercare ;; Even if he is exhausted , Jack will always make sure that his partner is taken care of. He places a high priority on aftercare since he views it as a manifestation of care.

B = Body part ;; Jack adores every inch of the body that his partner possesses. Mostly their head and neck. He enjoys planting gentle kisses on his partner's head and inhaling deeply the intoxicating aroma of his partner's hair.

C = Cum ;; He savours the sensation of cumming inside of his lover. Jack will do anything to make his partner cum even if he is extremely tired.

D = Dirty secret ;; Jack finds the idea of chaining up his partner during sex to be appealing, but he is careful not to be too rough with his partner.

E = Experience ;; Jack doesn't have a lot of experience, but he's willing to learn more for both himself and his partner so that they can enjoy it a lot more. He would be willing to experiment with various new things even if they don’t sound so appealing.

F = Favorite position ;; Jack doesn’t have a favorite. He likes any position that makes his partner feel the greatest and most filled.

G = Goofy ;; Jack is mostly serious in bed, as he wants to fullfil the needs of his partner. He will sometimes tickle their partner after initimate moments and tease.

H = Hair ;; Jack has really nice hair; his partner loves to gently rake their hands through it. It’s very soft and silky.

I = Intimacy ;; Jack is very passionate even if he can be rough sometimes. He always checks in on his partner and makes sure it’s okay to do anything that’s new to them.

J = Jack off ;; Jack places a high priority on his own enjoyment, particularly after a tough away game. He enjoys pleasing himself just as much as he enjoys pleasing his partner in sexual activity.

K = Kink ;; Jack likes to lightly choke his partner when he’s about to cum. He also loves to excessively stimulate his partner.

L = Location ;; Jack is most comfortable in a soft, cushioned setting, such as a bed or couch. During private moments, he wants to make sure that his partner is not bothered by discomfort.

M = Motivation ;; Jack loves it when his partner's neck is exposed or when his partner is looking too good to resist.

N = No ;; Jack is not a fan of knifeplay, and he may become turned off in a situation in which there is a lack of communication.

O = Oral ;; Jack likes giving and receiving. He loves when his partner pleases him and always makes sure to return the favour.

P = Pace ;; if very frustrated after losing in the playoffs or a tough game. Jack would take out his frustrations on his partner, and not care about how fast or rough things got. However whenever he normally gets intimate with his partner he likes slow and meaningful sex.

Q = Quickie ;; Jack enjoys sex that is slow and lasts for a long time. He finds it particularly amusing to listen to his partner moan, particularly if his partner is already overstimulated.

R = Risk ;; Jack is very possessive of his partner (not in a bad way.) He wouldn’t want anyone to see his partners body except him. He wouldn’t do any risky things in public unless it’s in the car.

S = Stamina ;; Jack usually loves soft and passionate sex. On the other hand, he wouldn't mind a few more rounds until both he and his partner are unable to handle any more.

T = Toys ;; Jack doesn’t own any toys, but wouldn’t mind the idea of owning some.

U = Unfair ;; Jack likes to tease his partner and loves when he makes his partner beg.

V = Volume ;; Jack loves to express himself verbally even more so when his partner pleases him the way he likes it.

W = Wild card ;; Jack loves when his partner wears skirts, but wouldn’t admit it to his partner though.

X = X-ray ;; Jack has a perfect body to lay against or cuddle with — he could wrap his arms around his partner and it wouldn’t be uncomfortable at all.

Y = Yearning ;; Jack will only fuck his partner if his partner specifically asks for it or if Jack believes that his partner is being excessively "needy."

Z = Zzz ;; Jack likes to fall asleep shortly after or right after sex. As soon as he knows his lover needs been met.

[critter-genfic-events]

This week, we have seven clothing fics recced! Some are perfectly light and fluffy, and some are heart wrenching in all the best ways. Check them out under the cut, and as ever, comment or kudos if you like them!

Ornaments by Crykea (1002,Teen) Warnings: None Pairings:

Mollymauk Tealeaf does not know who he was, and frankly, he doesn't care. Along with his family at the Fletching and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities, Mollymauk discovers who he is.

Reccer says: A cute pre-campaign story about Molly finding himself through clothing and accessories

What You Have And What You Hate by sheerdelight (1683,General) Warnings: Canonical Major Character Death Pairings: Beauregard Lionett & Mollymauk Tealeaf

Beau dons Molly's coat.

Reccer says: A loving look at Beau's grief after Molly's death, shown through her taking his coat

The Tale Of The Amazing Technicolor Gravecoat by Angel Ascending (angel_in_ink) (2380,General) Warnings: None Pairings:

A bard tells a tale in a crowded tavern, not knowing that a group of renowned adventurers are listening....

Reccer says: A great outsider point of view and an original idea!

As Though It Were Made for Me by remi_wolf (3345,General) Warnings: Pairings: Jester Lavorre & Caleb Widogast

Jester might have meant the offer to Caleb of one of her dresses as a teasing joke to lighten the mood, but Caleb never actually said that he was opposed to the idea. Even if she had forgotten in the madness that was the rest of the day, Caleb certainly hadn't, and now that they were resting for the evening at the Xhorhaus, he could finally see if Jester could make good on the offer outside the gates of Zadash.

Reccer says: Some thoughtful genderfuckery involving Caleb, extremely fluffy

the brightest shade of sun (when i saw you) by genesis_frog (496,General) Warnings: None Pairings: Caleb WIdogast & Nott the Brave

Her clothing is rags, purposefully inconspicuous and purposefully plain, as if she were trying not to think of her body at all. She buys a yellow dress in Xhorhas

Reccer says: It's absolutely sweet and heartbreaking

Ribbons and Poison Blossom by Beauteousmajesty (1008,General) Warnings: None Pairings: Orym & Fearne

On the skyship over to Jrusar, Fearne injures her arm. In helping her out, Orym gets the delight of figuring out how her clothes go together.

Reccer says: I love Orym and Fearne's friendship but also how Fearne's dress stays up is a mystery for the ages

The Titan's New Clothes by MasterQwertster (440,Teen) Warnings: None Pairings:

Ashton gets their new clothes and does some reflecting on their personal growth.

Reccer says: Just a fun little introspection on the Lvl10 outfit upgrade

This is one of our weekly communally-generated gen rec lists. Every week we announce a new theme and allow anyone to submit a fic recommendation. Please note that the summary and content notes are provided by the reccer, and may be different than what the author has provided. Please assume good intentions all around. <3

And hey, anyone includes you!

Next week, we'll be featuring time skip/future fics!

Then, it'll be pranks, Ashton focused, and game nights!

Any fics coming to mind?  Well, then use this form to submit!

If you're looking for some more, check out some fics written in the critter genfic bingo tag, or the older rec lists! Or you can request your own card and join in on the fun!

[nights-nonsensical-ramblings]

Hi :) got any knuckles headcanons? (or sonic hc in general)

Alright, buckle up cuz I’m about to live up to the third part of my name

Knuckles may have a short temper but He’s super chill and calm most of the time, Sonic is just exceptionally good at pressing his buttons.

He may act all rough and tough but he’s a huge softie and once you get to know him you’ll see his kind and gentle side.

he’s so good with small creatures and knows how to restrain his strength so he doesn’t hurt them.

Chao really, really like him. He grew up around them and know how to look after them.

It is not rare for Knux to end up in a pile chao. Especially on colder nights.

Since he can sense chaos he’s able to recognize all of his friends chaos signatures and he can tell exactly who’s on Angel Island. (It is possible for him to miss someone in the same way you can miss someone calling your name if you’re really focused on something)

It also means he gets an early warning for any chaos based moves and attacks.

His strong connection to chaos also leads to him being a target for things like ghosts.

He’s able to sense them, but they’re able to sense him. Malevolent ghosts will attack him first most of the time and ones without any true goal will follow around after him.

Knuckles’ Guardianship starts to apply to the people he cares about and anyone who hurts them will have an angry Guardian to deal with. (But he’s still willing to beat his friends up for fun because that’s a way sonic characters bond.)

He plays the aloof card, but he gets super worried when a friend is injured. Being a protector is a huge part of him and he doesn’t like to see what he protects in danger.

Less of a headcannon and more of an idea I like. (Although, with the Master Emerald this is possible.) But Knuckles with healing powers speaks to me, him being a skilled warrior who most people only see when he’s riled up for a fight, but also a gentle and kind healer that very few people ever get a chance to see.

and the idea of him being a grumpy healer who will yell at you for getting yourself into danger has plenty of entertainment value.

I love it when Knuckles get to have echidna traits. They’re such a cool animal an I think that should be acknowledged. Knuckles has big long claws like a real echidna does perfect for digging.

digging is a relaxing activity for him and he’s accidentally scared his friends many times by popping out of the ground with zero warning.

Also Since he’s an echidna he’s electroreceptive

the first time he was in a modern house he was so confused. He could sense electricity everywhere but no one else had any clue what he was talking about.

thats also another reason why he hates wearing communicators. He’s constantly able to feel electricity moving through it and it feels uncomfortable. (Tails is working on one with a lower electrical output for him)

It also means he’s the go to for finding faulty wiring. Tails just points out a room and asks him if the electricity feels weird.

The Master Emerald raised him and used its power to guide and teach him.

His ability to glide has a level of m.e influence to it. I’m not set on how much, but his gliding working the way it does can’t be 100% natural.

knuckles’ connection with the Master Emerald means that if he chose to fully tap into the Master Emerald’s power he’d have the potential to be one of the most powerful and dangerous creatures on the planet. The Master Emerald has been able to mess with time and space like it was nothing. It breaks the rules of gravity on a daily basis. It can make the chaos emeralds useless.

But Knuckles doesn’t believe the power is his to use and believes he is only there to guard it.

a situation would have to be truly, truly dire for him to choose to wield it.

Okay I still have a lot more than this, but I’m gonna cut it off here before I go on forever.

[amarioe]

Uh so i was listening music after i finished school and got home as per usual. And as i was thinking about TCO/Chosen i got this idea when remembering how his stickfigure looked like it had a mouth when he breathed fire...ehem-

(Long post incoming)

...What if Chosen is mute? Like, what if he can only breathe fire from his mouth and he can't actually say anything?

It was a fun idea, so i started thinking about it further- and i have a some variations of this concept i wanna share to see what people think would be the coolest!

Okay okay, so

1. We have the original idea. Chosen is mute/can't say anything, and his mouth almost exclusively only opens when he breathes fire.

Possible reasons for this are as follows:

A) He was just created that way

B) Alan never taught him how to speak/he didn't have any other stickfigures to learn the words from and couldn't adjust like Dark could who was still young and stuff (this makes me wonder if Victim would have trouble speaking aswell?)

C) He's selectively mute, in this case i mean he got so used to not saying anything when he was with Alan (dude probably couldn't hear him anyway since they probably can't speak like humans but the stickmen still seem to understand each other? Wait holy shit the angst potential FUCK), and it was uncomfortable/difficult for him to talk after he escaped the PC with Dark

-Maybe he's really shy or something and only talks to Dark, idk lol

2. Chosen can..technically speak. Do you know how Second/Orange talks where the words appear in the form of text when he's in the drawing program? I was thinking maybe Chosen can do that too, but with some variations, the main thing being this:

-Chosen can make text appear, but only the text/letters he's eaten beforehand. I imagine he can also make said text appear anywhere, even outside a drawing program which Orange seems to be limited to, but i'm not sure if that's true or not.

And i was thinking. Is there a limit? If so what would that limit be? And what do his words look like?

A) Well, the first variation i thought of was that Chosen can repeat any word he's eaten as much as he wants. Maybe he has like, a whole dictionary of words he's collecting and after the whole virabot fiasco Orange says random cool words they find and Chosen eats them so he can use them later (Inspired by that one gif where Orange's "la's" keep getting eaten by TCO 💀) or something like that.

B) Second variable and the one i personally liked more, is that Chosen can only use the word he ate once, and he would have to eat the same word if he wanted to say it again. So basically he has them stored like pokemon cards or something, lmao- but yeah. This also gave me a fun idea on what Chosen's words would even look like!

Basically, each letter looks exactly like the one he ate, down to the size, color and font. So whenever he speaks it's just an amalgamation of random colors, fonts and SIZES forming a sentence. Wait let me save this as a draft and draw my vision-

Ex.

Heres a shitty (and kind of overexaggerated) representation of what it might look like. The text would probably be smaller too, or at least a bit less,, ynow XD

Before i came back to this post i got yet another idea (because my brain works exclusively when it's about something art/character related i guess)

Maybe i can combine both ideas relating to Chosen being mute? Like, he can't speak/produce sound to other stickmen unlike most, but he can do the text/letter thing to communicate if he wants to? So his mouth still stays closed but he can sort of talk (if he has a bunch of letters saved up)

Phew, okay- this ended up being a longer post than i had originally thought, but i had a lot of fun maling it! What do ya'll think makes the most sense out of all these concepts?? I'd love to hear if anyone has any other ideas relating to this!

[zoydraft]

Are we designing for CubeCon?

Lost in the Hedron Network, or “Goodhart’s Cube”

[The first draft of this was written before hearing Arlo's episode on Recross the Paths, and you should listen to that instead, because we say a bunch of the same stuff]

[I also recorded myself reading this if you prefer weird voices speaking to you]

I don’t want to follow the wrong incentives.

CubeCon and the cavalcade of regional events over the past two years are incredible. They’ve grown interest in the best way to play a great game. They’ve spawned BCW boxes packed with creativity. Cube has never been in a better spot…

…and it's also found a weird way to measure success. In scare-quotes. Which cubes will be selected for these events? Who will win social media voting? Which cube was the most frequent top-pick on Hedron Network? This past year the answer was often clown-shoes rule-change cubes.

In the meantime, we're left wondering how a "normal" cube can sell itself, differentiate itself, or otherwise convince anyone to pay attention. How do you sell the idea of a cube where you play normal Magic? As a person whose five year old cube could now be described as "Foundations-style," it felt bad for a while, but I think there's a way out. 

The selective pressures on a designer who wants to see their cube ranked at a cube event or discussed online bias heavily towards anything with a hook. Not just rule-change cubes, it's stuff that can be sold in a sentence or two, or even just an evocative name.

Having a good name is good. Having an enticing elevator pitch is good. If there's a way to "win" at cube design, it's obviously to make a cube that people want to play. That feels like a reasonable goal. 

But is that why you built your cube? Now that we have a measure of success, is it a good measure?

I want to design an experience. Selling that experience is necessary, and I bet having your cube at an event is super cool, but I really believe that the way people experience your cube is what your cube is. To quote gaytransmulldrifer, my cube is played “with gay people at my house.”  

Pink Sleeves is the first cube I built, and is still my main cube. The first year was stitched together from the limited environments I had played, but as COVID progressed and I had a kid, the theoretical design vision of “what if this is the only way my friends and I play Magic?" drifted a lot closer to literally true. Over the past five years I think I’ve got it very close to embodying that.

I don't think Pink Sleeves is a great name, but it nods towards the community I've tried to foster, which is very queer-positive, with the same bristliness that comes out when I tell people my favourite movie is Clueless, or if I wear my Carly Mazur Faithless Looting pin. It tries to set an expectation about who is welcome. It's a name with a purpose other than selling the gameplay… and would make no sense in an event context.

My cubes are for my friends. For them, I don't need to differentiate Pink Sleeves from any other "normal" cube, because they know it. They recommend it to their friends. I do not need to make decisions about its design with an event audience in mind. The ways my friends play it IS the cube.

I just cut Flash and Dread Return, because despite what those cards could do, my friends have never noticed or at least never shown any interest in those paths. I held onto them for a long time, because they felt like they fit what I was going for, but if it never happens what are they contributing?

It would be awesome for one of my cubes to be selected for an event, but that's not my goal (I have never submitted a cube to an event, nor been able to attend one!). Being picked or not doesn't make it a success or a failure. I already have my success: people who don't really play Magic, and who might not feel comfortable in an LGS have played my cube and have kept coming back to play my cube, and have become my very good friends.

As much as I love the online cube community, and am thrilled at all the events popping up, I want to encourage you to remember your local context, and the play that is already happening. Getting our online friends excited about new ideas rules, but your cube is how it gets played, so please remember that designing something for your own community is healthy, even if it doesn't get other people excited.

And so, when I put together a new set of changes to one of my cubes, I’m making those changes for my friends.

Thank you for the gift of cube.

[and thank you to Ollie and Parker and Cher for providing feedback on an earlier draft ♥️, and Clayton for providing like half of the original Cats in Pink Sleeves cards]

[bellysoupset]

Ooh, and another question (this is not me at work, having a shit ton to do but not being able to concentrate). Can you talk about each of your OCs losing their virginity? Or first sexual experience beyond kissing if that’s better. Was it positive or negative? Does their current partner know the story? Just feeling like hearing the steamy stuff, lol.

Lis you got no idea of how this ask caused me to spiral lol. So I knew I had answered something like this a while ago, but I couldn't find where in my blog because the search function is useless. So I ended up downloading all of my answers and putting them into one big document... ANYWAY

None of my OCs lost their V card with each other. I really don't much care about the "concept" of virginity, besides how it would affect them, so I do make a point of not having any of my characters be each other's first anything, unless we're talking feelings.

Wendy: Wen's sexual history started very young, she was precocious AF, living in NYC and going to private school. She barely remembers her first encounter, but it was at the turn of fourteen and with a boy that was seventeen and wanted to keep her as a little secret. Safe to say not the best experience. (Reminder this was before her transition). It got quickly pushed aside by many many other encounters, since Wendy hooked up a lot in her early teens. Vince does know about all of this, she opened up completely when they went to NYC.

Vince: Vin's first experience was with a boy actually! Which caused him to totally spiral! A boy from his high school's football team (Corey), they didn't even date, just hooked up and that made Vin suck it up and come out to his parents as bi, who were so supportive despite him being sooo scared. After that the first girl he was with was Miranda, who was older by a year. They dated during her senior year and then she stomped on his heart when she broke up with him to go for college across the country. Despite knowing the relationship wouldn't have lasted, Vince still holds a grudge. Both first times were positive! Wendy knows only about Corey, she's still under the assumption "Vin's high school gf" was just a little dating that lasted two dates, instead of a full year.

Bella: Bella never had a steady boyfriend before Luke. She kissed around a lot as a teen, but lost her V-card to her HS best friend, Gabriel, in his car when she turned 18. It was okay, not amazing, not the worst. They both left town for college soon after. She had hook ups with girls and boys after that, but honestly, and it pains her to say it because it'll go up his head, Luke is IT. Anyone she hooked up with before him or during their break simply doesn't compare. Lucas does know about Gabriel and he's pretty fucking jealous, which Bella thinks is very silly. Most people don't believe Bella only had sex at 18 btw.

Luke: Lost his v-card to a neighbor in their gated community, named Maya. They were both 14 and had no idea what they were doing, so it was technically pretty bad, but overall a cool positive experience. He hooked up with his roommate Gian at 15, when he went to boarding school. Also nice experience. Bella knows about Gian and Maya and dislikes them both, but Maya specially because she feels like competition. Maya's a ginger too, to make everything worse. Luke knows he cannot win when the matter is jealousy, Bella is insufferable, so he never lets the convo go there.

Leo: I think everyone will boo at this. Leo was dating a guy from 15 to 17 (until his father's death), but he lost his V-card at 15 with a much older dude (like 23). Yes, it was cheating. Yes, the guy had no business being around a 15 yo. Yes, Leo also shouldn't be in a bar at 15. Overall though, the dude was super nice and Leo doesn't regret it?? The boy he cheated on never learned about it and Leo lowkey stomped on his heart when he hit 17, so. Jonah has uh. no idea. He knows Leo broke some boy's heart at 17, but not about all the rest.

Jonah: First experience at 16 with a boy named Konstantin, who spoke mostly German, and that's where Jonah has his few german words from lol. It was very nice, but only fun and never went beyond that. Jonah also hooked up with Theo, that I brought up in this fic, and he has never told Leo because his fiancee is crazy-ex-boyfriend levels of insane. Besides, it was just once. Luke knows about Theo. Leo only knows about Konstantin and hates him on principle.

Max: soooo Max is actually the late bloomer of my OCs! (Well not really, but compared to the others he is). He lost his v-card in college, at 22 🙈 and he made no efforts to tell the girl he was with that he was a virgin. If she figured it out, she didn't say anything, but she also didn't call back so. It wasn't bad, it was just completely unremarkable and Max was left with a is that it? sensation. He has fucked around a lot since, but since he only has casual flings, he still is left with that is that it? feeling.

[galar-abortion-clinic]

Hihihi so I am half awake so liiiiiike for the emoji asks

Jules: 🌨️ ☕️🧠

Screwis: 👁❗️🦷

AND FOR MY WILD CARD, RUFUS: 💝✨️🐰

And uuuuuh lemme toss in a random one that you can answer for anyone: 🧁

I am so overtired it's almost 11 goodnight ily k bye <3

YIPPEE thanx for the free Ramble Out To The Void About Your OCs ticket baby, love you (👉 ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)👉

Jules:

🌨️ - If this oc had a day free from all their responsibilities, how would they spend it?

His first impulse would be going around pestering others to entertain himself lmao he’s a social creature through and through, BUT he could easily get lost in a project and spend the whole day tinkering by himself with spare parts. He has yet to actually invent anything that works but it’s only a matter of time before that changes, right?

☕ - What is their preferred beverage(s)?

A beverage is like, any *non-water* drink, right? My man’s got a fierce sweet tooth, he could get down with just about any tongue-stingingly sugary drink indiscriminately, but i think he’s best out of all my ocs about staying hydrated. He’s got one of those water bottles marathon runners use. Yknow the ones with a mist feature that he constantly sprays himself with by accident. Also enjoys sparkling water cos IT TASTES LIKE 1,200 VOLTS!!!

🧠 - What is their stress response: fight, flight, freeze, or fawn?

Always defaults to fawn, he hates conflict terribly and doesn’t want anyone to come away from a situation with hurt feelings. He’s not a doormat, just wants to be fair to all parties and (foolishly) assumes the best of everyone. If pushed, though, or if someone he cares about is put on the spot, he’ll fight. Would prefer not to tho, and he’d be pretty sad it got to that point

Screwis:

👁️ - How do other people perceive this oc? How close do their first assumptions come to the truth?

At first blush he’s got that distinct ~tall dark and handsome badboy~ vibe that isn’t entirely a mischaracterization, but also doesnt even begin to cover it. People start off drawn to his charm and rebellious nature only to realize he’s a juvenile clown who uses the ol hand buzzer gag when he gets to second base. Hes genuinely unhinged in the unsexiest way, just wait til he gets old n’ ugly like the rest of us

❗- What are the highest priorities to this oc (at a point in their life of your choosing)?

In his own words, gettin’ tail and having a good laugh. Im pretty sure he justifies every major life decision with “wouldnt it be funny?” Terrorized his local community for the lulz, squandered all career opportunities for a cheap joke, moved regions for a fresh start and fucked it all up with more clownery, joined a band for the spectacle, etc etc. He basically functions as a personal horror story of compulsive self-sabotage

🦷 - Would this oc ever bite someone?

Oh yeah

Rufus:

💝 - How much effort do they put into appearances? Do they have a favorite article of clothing?

She assembles outfits with purpose, but also doesn’t like to spend more than 20ish minutes on prettying up. Usually I’ll give ocs piercings cos body mods are super important to me but rufus is the exception since those are a bad idea for fighting. He favors practicality over fashion, but can appreciate when there’s an overlap. For example he loves spikes, and patches up tears in his clothes with grey and light blue fabrics (his favorite colors)

✨ - Tell something that makes this oc feel happy!

Getting punched in the mouth, because that means she gets to retaliate. She’s far from a righteous plucky shounen protag but insists she’s the good guy, so she’ll reference having this undefined Warrior Code Of Honor that constantly adapts to whatever makes her the hero of a given scenario. He also loves catching low-gliding whimsicott out of the air and making wishes :3

🐰 - How huggable is this oc?

Depends on what youve done to “earn” a hug. She’ll squeeze you like a pinsir’s vise grip, feels pretty good if you need your back cracked. He always hugs two and half a seconds longer than youd expect him to. Pros: feels warm, embraces fully and firmly, not opposed to lifting you if desired. Cons: skin feels a little rough, rigid and stiff hold, 50% chance she’ll whisper something threatening in your ear before letting go

Jacqui:

🧁 - When is their birthday? How do they celebrate it, if at all?

Her birthday is March 8, making her a pisces if that means anything to you :} When she was still active as a performance poet she’d have an annual reading of obituaries for people who died on the same day, followed by an artsy grim and shocking “event” like serving individual spoiled ingredients instead of a birthday cake or tearing a cocktail dress off of herself to reveal an sfx suit of fake guts n gore underneath. Her niche fanbase really misses it

[houseofbrat]

I’m not a big ‘royal’ follower (I know many things but not all the details), but Kate Middleton’s situation last week was a mess and even people who aren’t too invested were joking and stuff.

So while navigating here, I found your posts, and I became very interested. My question is (assuming you are into something): didn’t K is also to blame for accepting William’s idea? I know they play with the ‘we are a team’ PR, but still, I can’t understand how nobody in that entire household saw this mess coming, it was expected with all that silence. I also think Kate is more thoughtful than her husband, why did she accept this awful plan? She was sick tho, but it’s very interesting to me that you think that Carole came to save her reputation

Also, is William really controlling and traumatized with privacy? It’s understandable at certain point, but this is not the first blog in where I see people commenting on him being over-private and over controlling

Since Kate was hospitalized in mid-January, I think it is unlikely she has any influence over how her husband has handled the situation when she was in the hospital and the immediate days after she returned home from the hospital.

Will & Kate's staff usually work out of Kensington Palace in London while Will and Kate actually live in Windsor. Because Kate probably isn't in contact with staff that do not report directly to her, such as her private secretary or deputy private secretary, she doesn't hold any influence over the communications department. The mess that is currently playing out in social media and other media outlets is the responsibility of the communications department, which has been fucking up to extraordinary levels.

The person who has been overseeing (& micromanaging) the communications department is William. In fact, even though normally W&K usually are a "team" as you say, he will always have more power with the palace officials because he is the actual royal. Kate is the plus-one in the relationship, even though they are married and she is the mother of royals.

[The rest of this will probably make sense later.]

I think Kate is to blame for accepting William's plans last summer, and then when she realized that things weren't going to workout last fall/autumn, you start seeing weird looks on her face last fall (2023), such as this moment last September:

Where she looks like she's about to start crying!

And then her dead-eyed-yet-wide-smile face in their Christmas card last year, which we're apparently not supposed to talk about.

Kate had a lot of faces last fall where she really looked as if she was over doing her expressions on public engagements. Extra over projecting because she internally wasn't that happy.

Carole had to save her daughter's reputation this week because William has already fucked up so much behind the scenes that is yet to be revealed. KP comms team is heavily pressuring UK media to not make any comments about Kate, due to William's natural control freak nature.

Kate had to live with very intrusive paparazzi and wild headlines & stories for years. I think she can mentally handle the ins & outs and the ups & downs of being in the spotlight better than William can.

William just doesn't listen to anyone. And this past fall, I bet he refused to even listen to Kate, which added to her emotional turmoil that landed her in the hospital.