#and it is like oh god but the subcategories

[gothprentiss]

hey. hey. i cannot make any inroads on your ethics but hey. hey listen. if you nod along with posts like this one

look into how this stuff is processed sometime 👍

i mean, full disclosure: i do genuinely think “i love animal products ❤️ they’re biodegradable” is kind of antivegan cope because, you know, no one ever seems to be talking about natural plant fibers versus synthetics in these contexts— despite the fact that, on average, they comprise significantly more of your wardrobe and significantly more of your short-term, short-life garments— but also, and more importantly: i do not know what kind of beautiful little production chain is being imagined here, but the idea that you go from sheep or cow or so on to your wardrobe to the compost heap to fresh soil in 5-15 years, zero environmental impact, is really out of touch with most factors of consumption. leather for example can be biodegradable, but a lot of processed leather takes significantly longer to decompose— not as long as pvc, but longer than you use it for— due to the nature of its treatment. if you buy leather goods you are virtually never buying untreated leather; tanning is a chemical process with pretty significant environmental consequences. if you are getting for example a wool coat, the odds that you can afford a 100% wool coat as opposed to a wool-synthetic blend are pretty low; same with sweaters. so maybe you thrift a leather jacket or a vintage 100% wool sweater and get some use out of it. you buy a pair of leather shoes and feel good about it. hey, their treatment and soles probably biodegrade too right? and without any lasting impacts on the environment? and maybe you overcorrect for “vegan item!!” fast fashion greenwashing and end up with items which are pretty much exactly as non-biodegradable as their plastic equivalents, and exactly as short-lived because the quality of low-budget manufacturing these days seems to be constantly getting worse.

i don’t mean to scaremonger or whatever— there really isn’t much of a way out of this unless you have some serious cash to spend. but the idea of a totemic Ecologically Good category of material is obviously out of touch with how most people in the world get their clothes and loudly praising a product which is not actually in practice guaranteed to be better than its plastic substitute is oddly common on this website. cmon there isn’t even a character limit. there’s space to actually say something useful

[trans-leek-cookie]

I'm going to burn my house down

[sunny-mercya]

Ordinary Godly

Apollo x Male Reader

Fandom -> Percy Jackson Series

Masterlist

Percy Jackson, who has fought a variety of Monsters and argued—even battled at some point—with the Godly deities of the mighty Olympus, had expected everything—when stepping into the home of Jason and Will, with the rest of his little friends troop—but nothing like this.

Seeing you, the deity of tranquility and slumber—another brother of Hypnos—for the very first time in actuality—was a weird experience of meeting for Percy.

»THERE YOU ARE! MY TWO PRECIOUS SUMMER BOYS! OH, NICO! I GREET YOU TOO, COME HERE!«

You had emerged from the Kitchen, baggy clothes—consisted of a large tee with the print of some band name and lyrics quote and pyjama pants—covered in what seemed to be flour and cocoa powder.

Your voice was loud, filled with thrilling excitement of joyfulness. Taking Jason and Will into your arms, hugging them tightly against you and giving each of them more than just a few kisses to the cheeks and head. Nico had been pulled into this as well, suffering through much affection as well.

You're radiating more hyperactivity energy and child like behaviour off, than the emotions you're meant to send out.

Walking into a home, in which Jason and Will had grown up with their two godly parents, which looked so damn mundane humane—that Percy had to take a double check on that Cookie Tin-can, filled with sewing stuff.

It confused him. If they all had learned one thing of being Demigods—half children of godly blessings, which sometimes could be seen as a curse though—that none of the gods and goddesses—their other parentally half—live like a ordinary human.

Always exotic enormously flashy, expensive, but never dare to boring and dull—than a god whose dull and pathetic unnoticeable, could not be worthy for eternity of mighty existence.

Yet, Percy thought, both the house and you are a stark contrast to what they have been told. Simple and ordinary.

»Are we sure this is really a deity?« asked Percy in a hushed whisper, leaning down to Annabeths ear and elbowing her in the side.

»I haven't seen Demosonos personally, but I highly doubt Jason and Will wouldn't recognised their parent.« she whispered back, keeping wary glances at them—some Gods can't be trusted.

Nico who had managed to free himself from the suffocating hug of love, stepped back to them and hissed in the same hushing voice of whispers;

»Do you two have any death wishes? Don't upset them.«

I mean, Percy thought—letting his gaze wander back to you—if we do so, what would happen? Ares, Zeus, Hades, Athena and his own father—Poseidon—are much more scarily and worthy of being called merciless fighters.

You on the other hand, looked—truthfully—weak. Percy could for sure, probably, take you down in seconds.

After all, from what he could gather, you're more than just a minor god—even less than minor, a subcategory inside a subcategory—unworthy to be mention with the same breath of saying Nxy, Hypnos and all the way to Morpheus.

Still, Percy is after all confused to why their Prophecy and Quest is, to seek you out and ask for your help.

Lesser Gods aren't helpful, they're more a nuisance.

~~~

»And this must be your other friends? Right? Perseus and Annabeth?« the question was more towards your sons.

You stepped towards the two teens, Will had already pulled Nico away to the Sofa and Jason had gone to the Kitchen, greeting loudly his other dad.

Percy and Annabeth felt both a bit uncomfortable with your vacant stare and the friendly smile on your lips.

»Uhh, It's Percy actually, I don't liked to be called Perseus« Percy didn't know, why of all the things he could say, decided to say this—but he did, mouth being faster than his brain again—and Annabeth elbowed him hard in the rips, a tiny gaps of breath intake left her lips.

The friendly smile never wavered from your lips, nodding at them—they couldn't tell if you had even listen properly, vacant glint still in your eyes—head dropping a bit to the side.

»Aah! You want some tea and Sweets? C'mon, c'mon, now don't be shy you two, take a seat. Will be a dear and help me« clapping your hands, you ushered the two teens to the Sofa, skipping already to the Kitchen.

»I will explain later a bit,« with that being said, Will stood up as well.

Neither of the three said anything, looking around the living room with more interest than addressing the current situation—or more issues perhaps?

»I thought you knew what he is like Nico....I mean with you being Wills boyfriend, you are prone to meet his parents«

»Hey hey, don't come at me now Chase. I only have met Mr. [Surname] like three times and that was in the city.«

»Small tip of advice, don't be so stiff. Relax a little or Pa's gonna worry again« they hadn't noticed Jason, who have come back from the kitchen with a tray of Tea cups and Kettle.

Will following soon after with a Tray of sweets and pastries, setting it down on the coffee table. They both getting comfortable on the sofas—Jason on the main big one, while Will had sat with Nico on the right mini sofa and Percy and Annabeth on the left—again.

Nico instantly following Jasons advice, relaxing his body and sliding just a bit down.

When Apollo had entered the living room, Annabeth and Percy gasped loudly in surprise. Standing up they bow their head or more like, Annabeth forced Percy to do as well.

»Lord Apollo!«

»Since when did you become a Lord? Aren't you a God?« you asked in amused surprise, taking a seat as well.

»Apparently just now, love« Apollo shrugged, Will started to laugh and Jason sighed in disappointment, shaking his head—so much for giving advice to his friend, to not be so formally stiff and causing tension.

~~~

The hours passed and Percy and Annabeth had relaxed over the times. Coming to the conclusion that you aren't one of the tricky gods—like Ares—who likes to use them as soldiers.

You asked them various questions, be it about the quest or some daily things; like what's your favourite TV-Show.

It wasn't long till you slumped, actually passing out from something akin to exhaustion and sleep, body leaning against Apollo—who had long wrapped an arm around you in a protective manner.

Jason stood up, taking your legs and moving them onto the couch. Getting a blanket from the footstool—where are tower of them was stacked—and covering you a bit to the hips with it.

Percy couldn't help himself but to stare at the marks—he first took notice of them when you handing him a gummy-bear—which covers your arms, starting from your wrist and ending somewhere at your neck or collarbone.

He had seen these types of Marks before. Racking his brain for the information he had read about or being told from.

Oh.

Percy jumped up, snapping his fingers and pointing—accusingly—at you. Head turning to Annabeth and again his mouth had been faster than his brain.

»That's THE DEMON OF OLYMPUS!« he had shouted it so loud, that your body jerked up—stirring awake is what you begun, already mumbling something sleepily out of context.

Apollo moved you quickly into his arms, shushing you gently back to the dreamlands and humming a little tune of it.

A mess had started to erupt between them all.

»I know! It's still highly disrespectful to point that out, seaweed brain!« Annabeth slapped him hard against the shoulder.

»Do you have a death wish, Jackson? Do you want us get killed?« hissed Nico, giving a glare, sitting uptight again and body going absolutely rigid stiff.

The worst part for Percy was probably the disbelieving disappointment frown on both, Jasons and Apollos—though his frown looked more like concealed bubbling anger—face.

Apollon stood up with you in his arms, ready to walk out. Will was about to stand up as well, wanting to go with his father.

»I'll take it from here boys. I expect from you two to inform your friends properly now, to ensure that such outrageous behaviour won't happen again.«

»Wow, way to go Percy. Upsetting one of the kinder gods in just one go.« Will wanted to laugh, to make it seem that it wasn't that bad, but his laugh came more like a strangled cry out.

»How many times did we, did I, told you to keep your mouth shut in more than just one occasion?!« chastised Annabeth, giving him another shoulder slap.

»No, honestly Percy, be fucking glad Pa had another slumber episode of his or you would....I don't know, but it wouldn't be nice.«

»But he's the Demon of Olympus! Isn't he not? The marks of Zeus's banning are a clear sign of it. I don't get why we need help from an evil deity who also deceives everyone to believe he's being known as a lesser god«

»Even for you Perseus, that's a new personal low! How dare you to say such horrible things about my Pa.« Jason stomped off, the anger radiating off and his face slightly red from it.

Will had decided to inform Percy properly about his dad's complete and historical story. He didn't want his parents to be offended—or feel upset and angered—after all they need their help and support for the upcoming—already starting—quest.

You're the brother, a child from Nyx, of Hypnos. It is true, your actual deity personality, form and power is akin to one of chaos—you're a personification of weather—raging storms to be exact—and a sneer of demonic vileness petty violence.

During a darker time in history, Zeus had strikes you with lightning—sealing your actuality, banning them for a balance—and splitting you into what you are now; god of tranquility and slumber.

The splitting had also caused a turn in personality itself. Making you more childish, airhead and forgetful. Kindness from you, comes not completely naturally—feeling more forced without meaning to, though you do love and this was a genuine one.

»Yeah okay, but why is Demosonos—uh, [Name], with your father, Will?«

»They're married?«

»Why?«

»You're officially demoted from Seaweed brain to dumbweed brain.« muttered Nico, pinching the bridge of his nose.

»They married for like years and that's because out of actual love and I'm not gonna tell you their sappy love story.«

»Still I don't get how like Lord Apollo, who blends like the sun, is being married freely to someone like him, a actual demonic person«

»I–oh my fucking god, Percy. My dads are married because they love one another, completely smitten they are, how hard is that to understand?!« Will groaned in desperation, taking a handful of biscuits again—had he almost eaten the whole bowl.

And Nico thought, how a great way to upset a God and already dooming their quest in the very beginning.

~~~

Jason felt hesitant, as if he were five again and didn't wanted to disrupt his parents sleeps because he had a nightmare, to step into the bedroom.

Respectfully he knocked a few times on the door, before opening it and stepping inside.

The bedroom was almost shrouded in complete darkness, except for the dimmed nightshade next to the bed.

Apollo had acknowledged his son, didn't say anything though—to occupied to lay in bed next to you, hand supporting his head as he drove his fingers through your hair.

A cooled washcloth was placed over your face. You hadn't started to sweat, sign of upcoming fever, but Apollon didn't wanted to risk it—doing a prevention beforehand.

What most, be it his own kind or humans, didn't know is that Zeus lightning strike to you has caused more than just a split personality—created a rift in your health, leaving you vulnerable and weak and prone to sickness.

Apollo couldn't do much about it. Not even with his powers of healing, leaving him a pit of despair and self-hatred whenever you got sick.

»Do you know the actual, not that stupidly outrageous idea of us gods being unfaithful, I mean some truly are, reason, why we have decided to let you and Will and all your other siblings been born from Humans?«

»No,« Jason shook his head, debating with himself if he should sit or lay down next to you, in the end he chose a mix of both.

Jason had sometimes wonders why it always had been that way—being born from humans and a deity—even though gods and goddesses could bear children just as well.

When he had been younger, wasn't all that long ago in his early teen years—memory still fresh in mind and sometimes upsetting him—he had accused his father, they had another argument that day, he never had loved dad in the beginning and being unfaithful to him—cheating with woman's and only seeing you as some kind of trophy.

That day was the only day and time where Jason had seen Apollo with actual anger on his face. The kind of anger which bubbles in you till it turns into hatred and pettiness.

»It's because your dad wouldn't survive the procedure of giving birth and I mind you, the whole explanatory of the aspect itself of how we gods and goddesses giving birth and the many various ways to do so, is chaotic complexing on its own.«

»You mean, dad would die? But you are immortals and immortals aren't meant to die«

»Yes and no. Even though we're immortals of eternity, there are still ways—ancient barbaric ones—to kills us or at least in a sense of us being dead. No, no, Jay, the reason isn't death, he just wouldn't survive.«

Jason furrowed his brows, not understanding what his father meant or trying to tell him.

»You well aware of what happened to your dad, his history. Zeus had strike him down, leaving him in the few hours of unconsciousness—which had caused a spurt of utterly violent storms throughout the land—vulnerable and unable to defend himself against any sort of danger and hostile.«

»Are you trying to tell me that, Zeus had, you know—with dad?«

»Dear lord! Jason! Absolutely not! Don't ever think of such disgusting scenarios and manners again.«

Apollo sighed deeply, not having expected his Son to come to such conclusions. You stirred again, your hand coming up to your face and taking the washcloth off.

Bleary you opened your eyes, trying to make out where you are and who you are.

Apollo, praying silent apologies already, leaning down to you—pressing a soft kiss onto your lips and with a quick whisper of humming lullaby, brought you back into the grips of slumber. Unconscious you rolled onto your side, over to him and into his arms.

»You put him into force sleep! Didn't you told us to never use our powers of sleep in such forceful ways? It's a rule number one!«

Apollo raised a brow at his son, who looked absolutely mortified for a good minute and turned into distasteful disappointment.

»Now now, my son, don't give me such gaze. I too am not proud of what I did, but it had to be done. It's still a sensitive topic and I don't want to cause a distress, disturbance or even distrust perhaps. Now, where was I? Aah yes—«

»So like I said, during the hours of unconsciousness, a wave of sickness rolled over—custody of Pandora's box being opened—and infected painfully your dad. Leaving him, once he had woke up, in a whimpering withering anxiety filled mess.«

»And that's how you meet Dad then, right?«

»That's a story for another, but yes. Anyways, to what I'm trying to say is, your dad is still too vulnerable and weak—sickness prone, to be able to handle the whole procedure of giving birth. I mean we tried it once and only, but.....let's just say, dad still has scars from it. And thus the reason why we and perhaps most of us gods, decided to let our children been born from humans.«

Jason gulped, trying to not choke on his tighten up throat. He hadn't been aware of it, how the true story had happened, but it all makes so much sense now.

The times you got so bedridden, unable to do anything but sleep, that Will cried for days and nights thinking you're about to die from incurable illness.

Or when Will had been still a child, having gotten a nasty flu and you had to take care of Will and him—Jason himself had been in some bad mood the whole week to even consider to help you out as he was the older brother after all—all on your own, because his father had been away for business trips—and you looked so exhausted and ready to pass out any minute, that Jason hadn't even question back then why you took pills after pills and chugged cups of coffee.

Jason understands so much better now, why you never got angry—like he had been, when founding out—when Apollo had intercourse with yet another woman.

He understood why you're so prone to sudden collapse of exhaustion and slumbering sleep during the day or in the middle of doing something.

And then he felt a rush of rage through his blood.

You didn't deserve to be treated like this, to be frowned upon down or with that false kindness the other deities treated you with.

You didn't deserve to either called a demonic being or naively dumbling of airy forgetfulness.

Jason hated it. Hated them, the ones above and those below. How dare they to make you feel so unwanted and filling you with seeds of self-hatred and anxiety—when you give nothing but pure love to him and his siblings.

Jason wasn't blind, his father neither—though the man chose to completely ignore it, when you once again had puffy red rimmed eyes—when you had cried in the bathroom during nights and mumbling things to yourself, Jason didn't want to repeat.

Jason decided, this prophecy wasn't worth it to bring you once again pain and remind you of the haunting past.

If it meant to sabotage the quest, he would do. After all his loyalty and love belongs to only you and not to the greater ones above, who hadn't even the slightest fuck to give about their children.

[ratective]

Have you seen the new tiktok from Rebecca Sugar?? Oh My God, Pearl was NOT okay.

YEAH MAN pearl needs her own separate subcategory of toxicity in the lesbian community she’s gaining ALL the mental illness points for this

but on a more serious note like. she really did think that she can just do this and say “hey i sing just like him, i can even look like him if you want me to, just please love me” and expect rose to??? ignore how fucked up that is? ignore how messed up pearls view of her own self worth is and just ride off with her into the sunset? oh my god

pearl messed rose up more than the other way around tbh

[shadowtraveled]

what TMA entities would you assign the dungeon lords, esp mithrun? was discussing this (bc marcille is sooo End) and consulting your Seminal Mithrun Meta when i remembered you also went here!

anon i want you to know i was thinking about this nonstop like two weeks ago oh my god. i’d love to hear your thoughts on this if you’re so inclined 👁‍🗨 (and wheeze thank you i don’t know about seminal but i’m glad it passed peer review)

putting a readmore here for spoilers

to preface this, i understand the fears aren’t really separate and it’s all just fear etc but they function as distinct in the way the demons do and in the sense that they each had to mark jon to come into the world. so. distinctive facets of a unified whole. anyway i have two criteria for assigning someone a tma entity: it has to be something they deeply fear, and it has to be something they choose anyway.

and with that being said, marcille is SO end-aligned in a very gentle and chill way i think fits the end so nicely… her intense fear of death is sort of a fear of loss, which would typically be considered the desolation’s domain, especially when coupled with her aptitude for explosion/fire magic and the part of her arc where she tries to expand the dungeon, but she wasn't choosing destruction or hopelessness in either of those cases—there’s something to be said for the carnage she was willing to leave in her wake, but at the end of the day she was trying to eliminate loss. she's fundamentally incompatible with the desolation because she continually rejects it, and the loss itself doesn't form the core of her fear. the inevitability of death, though, does, and she accepts it when she gives up the dungeon and lets falin go. absolutely the end.

i think thistle is another easy designation. he clings to control to the point it corrupts him, and he creates an environment that forbids death, but his desire is not for control and his fear is not of death or loss—those are delgal's. instead, his fear that he won't be able to measure up to the too-large too-heavy responsibility placed on his shoulders is what drives him, and because we know it drives him, we know that he takes it on anyway. he even brings melini underground. extremely the buried.

laios, meanwhile. is difficult for me to assign. his fears (rejection, ostracism, that he isn't able to connect with people, that he hates people) feel very lonely, and he does withdraw from people a fair amount, but he has connections he does not and would not choose to sever. you could make an argument for the hunt (he's drawn to not only monsters but the concept of the food chain itself and his place on it as a part of the natural world, and he ends the series with the object of his fascination out of his reach), but i don't think there's enough fear there. in laios' case, the lack of strict definition between fears and the idea that they're all just muddled subcategories of a singular thing is actually really helpful, because i think i'm assigning him to the vast. it was said at some point that the vast and the lonely aren't too dissimilar—you won't realize how alone you are without distance, and that sort of mental/emotional distance and disconnect is what has haunted laios his entire life. and i think that's, in part, what makes the cosmic insignificance of seeing yourself as just another part of your environment so comforting to him. his choices... definitely make him cosmically significant lmfao but even though he chooses to be the one to go up against Infinity Itself and its endless hunger and even though he chooses to be king, he fits himself right back into the position of being a single piece of a much larger puzzle. he became lord of the dungeon to become a part of the food chain that would stand a chance to preserve it (via eating the demon's hunger). he's king because there was a gap that needed to be filled. even then, he wants his body to be scattered after death, so that he can be devoured like any other living thing would be. god i love this manga. anyway, tentative but i think the vast is the only thing i can justify at this time. actually, accepting the hunger of the infinite could itself be seen as accepting the vast into himself…….

and finally, mithrun! surprising absolutely nobody given my take on his backstory, i'd give him to the lonely, with the caveat that he does eventually sever his connection to it. prior to becoming lord of a dungeon, we know he thought the worst of people (and again i think this was intentional of him), but we also know he put up a front that was undeniably kind. milsiril says that everyone loved him for the front, but its very existence acted as a barrier between himself and others: milsiril had no idea how miserable he was, and neither did anyone else. he'd already begun choosing isolation, and he chose it ultimately when he became lord of a dungeon, literally cutting himself off from everyone in a pocket dimension where he surrounded himself with facsimiles of people he loved until... they dwindled. and they did, until he was alone again, with only the demon and the unresponsive chimera construction of the person he considered to be the one he loved. after he was eaten, we see themes of emptiness typical of the lonely coupled with his disconnection from his team—in one of the extras it says they don't really know how to approach him, and i think it shows. so in a way, he ends up back where he started: surrounded by people who care about him and who he ostensibly cares about in return, but emotionally alone. as for fear, i think a lot of his are tied up in the concept of insignificance, but that insignificance isn't cosmic—it's personal. that's why watching himself be replaced was so unbearable for him and why the thought of being left unfinished was so horrific.

as an aside, i did also consider the corruption. the idea of leftovers abandoned carries the connotation of rot and i love the concept of 'the rot within you' etc. it gets me every time, and i think there's something to be said about that with regard to the way mithrun views the person he once was. furthermore, the... eating... scene... is framed as sexual and extremely invasive (and, as a result of the combination, is very evocative of disgust) in a way we see most often with the corruption (though imo tma would never see something like this as it toes the line of jonny's "no sexual trauma horror" rule too closely), and we have to remember that for all that it terrified mithrun, he was trying to get it to happen again. but i don't think disgust is enough of a factor for him. most of his disgust is aimed at himself, and while he doesn't shy away from it, he isn't really drawn to it either. rather, i think his dialogue in the extra comic in the complete edition of the adventurer's bible ("there's nothing so kind as a demon. suddenly losing that kind of love opens a hole in your heart[...]") goes a long way in terms of defining what being eaten meant to him. the corruption focuses on a feeling of belonging and community. mithrun wanted to disappear forever knowing that in the last moment he lived he was loved. ultimately, the fear of being abandoned coupled with his attraction to being unknown and eventually entirely gone read as lonely-aligned to me.

anyway i'd LOVE to hear where you're at with this please come chat literally whenever this is the most excited i’ve ever been about anything

[hellobitchlet]

Things from the beta/early on that I wish Genshin didn't forget about or retcon:

- pretty much every mystery and plot line that the Mondstadt cast was setting up. Not just Kaeya and the male 5 stars (but definitely including them bc. There's a lot of stuff) but also the 'smaller' stuff that never left 4 star character stories like Sucrose's species, Bennett's origins, and Amber's grandpa. And that's not even going into Lisa's Akademiya connections that made her look like she'd be important in Sumeru. Or Mona and Klee lore before astrology and elves were forgotten so much that Layla is treated like just another filler 4 star.

- the concept of a 'mutant' type of electro that is the same colour as the possible light element. And the concept of elements having subcategories in general.

- dendro being this pretty, darker shade and actually having stuff to do with plants, instead of this boring, neon green light that just makes pictures that sometimes looks like plants. I really like dendro slimes and the thorn wall attacks that the dendro samachurls have. Wtf is this dendro specter and these dendro mushrooms?

- this isn't quite an established thing, but speaking of dendro: I miss when it seemed like there was a point to not having dendro characters in the beginning. I miss when it seemed like dendro would be important at all. I miss when it seemed like Baizhu and Yaoyao would be important at all. I miss when it seemed like dendro not being available pre-Sumeru would be acknowledged in-story. And this is coming from someone who was barely around before Sumeru, who barely got a taste of Genshin before the racist dendro nation.

- the Abyss Order being equally (or even more) as important as the Fatui and not being so shafted by the writers that it's delegated to short, yearly quests and rare appearances in world quests. I mean, you would think that the antagonist group closely connected to the protagonist would be more important than the one that has nothing to do with them. Right?

- oceanids!!! Oh my god Genshin why did you expand on Oceanid lore through Idiya the update before Fontaine and then retcon it as soon as possible???? Idiya I'm so sorry bbg.

- the existence and importance of the afterlife? I mean, it was briefly mentioned in some Sumeru artifact description, but otherwise the afterlife has been completely forgotten about since Hu Tao's story quest. Which doesn't make any sense to me because without it, the archon war and the Chasm is the only significant thing about Liyue in the long term. Which is more than Fontaine, but the other nations have way more notable things about them. Liyue is seriously sustaining itself on Chinese culture and adding new stuff to it alone, huh.

-speaking of Liyue lore crumbs forgotten about in favor of focusing on the Adepti way too much, what was with Chongyun's yin imbalance? Is it really just a side effect of Hoyo throwing in bits of Chinese mythology that is disconnected from the rest of the lore? Really?

[laundrybiscuits]

(purify our misfit ways tag | AO3)

It’s so, so strange to realize that this is probably the best summer Robin’s had since she was a kid, and it’s barely July.

Oh sure, there’s plenty she still has to worry about—she’s still dead set on escaping Hawkins’ gravitational pull and becoming someone worth being, someone who has adventures and eats fancy cheese in Paris and maybe maybe even kisses a girl under the stars someday, and that means she has to work her ass off. 

If she wants even half a chance at any of that stuff, she’s got to pick up as many shifts as she can and work on her French for at least an hour every day and never ever lose sight of the goal. She can get out of here, and who knows, maybe she can even take Eddie with her. He’s bad at languages but she thinks he’d like Paris anyway, with her around to translate. She thinks it’d be fun, roaming the streets of Europe with someone who makes her laugh like Eddie does: someone she trusts more than she thought she’d ever trust anyone.

So she’s been working hard, definitely, but it wasn’t all that long ago that she’d been thinking of this chapter of her life as just something to get through with gritted teeth and grim determination. Now, she wakes up most days in the early summer sunshine and remembers that she’s scheduled with Steve, and that Eddie’ll swing by in the afternoon when he wakes up if he’s not too busy with his nerd shit, and she feels confusingly genuine happiness percolating through her. It feels like good things can exist in the present, not just the potential future. It feels soap-bubble iridescent and fragile.

A year ago, the thought of toiling in the Hawkins customer service trenches in the company of Steve “the Hair” Harrington and Eddie “the Freak” Munson would’ve sounded like a waking nightmare. Now, just the thought of Steve’s dumb jokes and Eddie’s wild dramatics is enough to tuck a smile into the corners of her mouth as she hurries to get ready, moving just a little faster to get her day started sooner.

Eddie’s managed to get over whatever weird homosexual paroxysm he was having, and acts mostly normal around Steve. Normal for Eddie, that is, which means that on one slow afternoon he sits cross-legged on a table and retells the story of Odysseus with the little red plastic sample spoons, doing progressively squeakier voices for each character; another time, he talks them into what he calls a Scoops Soup Showdown, where he mixes up three spoonfuls of ice cream until they’re basically one undifferentiated liquid and forces Steve and Robin to guess the original flavors.

Steve had been weirdly good at that one, and Robin’s still half-convinced he’d been cheating somehow despite his indignant denials. It had all ended when he’d guessed strawberry-butterscotch-vanilla before she’d even pulled the spoon out of her mouth, and she’d been forced to dip her finger in the gross goop and chase him around the back room, trying to give him a wet willy. Eddie had been cackling so hard he’d slid all the way under the table.

Robin’s not dumb, she knows high school friendships fall apart all the time, but god she hopes she gets to keep this.

That’s another thing: at this point, it’s getting kind of silly to pretend that Steve’s not actually sort of her friend too, bizarre as that would’ve seemed a few months ago. It’s a new and tentative thing, but she is provisionally willing to admit that it is in fact what scientists might classify as friendship, subcategory probational. Even when Eddie’s not around, she usually ends up having a pretty okay time just complaining about the mind-numbing drudgery with Steve.

It helps that Steve seems to have given up on the matchmaking, mostly. He hasn’t mentioned anything about Robin’s boyfriend-attracting qualities in at least a week now, though he still asks stuff about Eddie every so often in a way that makes Robin squint suspiciously.

“I think he might be, y’know, at a loose end,” is all Eddie says when she brings it up. “Harrington needs a hobby more than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s what happens when you eject the Hawkins jock from his natural habitat. He’ll find something new and shiny to distract him soon.”

Eddie’s usually right about this kind of thing, so Robin’s just been waiting it out, fielding all Eddie-related questions with the patience of a saint.

Today, when she rolls into Scoops, she feels about ready for canonization when Steve looks up and says, “Hey, Robin. Is Eddie coming by today?”

“Eddie is mysterious and unknowable,” Robin informs him. “His movements are like the flight of birds, or like the autumn wind through the trees.”

“Jesus christ, why are you guys so weird,” Steve sighs. “Is he gonna be here or not.”

Robin shrugs, pulling on her vest and donning the stupid sailor hat. “He said he’s gonna try to get his band together for a rehearsal or something. He’ll be here if that doesn’t work out.”

“Oh!” Steve points at her. “The, uh. Coffin guys, right? Do they even play in the summer?”

“Not normally, but the drummer guy knows someone who runs a bar in Indy or something like that, so Eddie wants to record a demo and try his luck. He’s been complaining non-stop about it, so maybe if he throws a big enough hissy fit, the boys will give in.”

Robin gets a secret little thrill at how cool and grown-up it sounds to say record a demo, like that’s just something she casually mentions all the time. Eddie is the biggest dork she knows and a total disaster of a human being, but whenever she talks about his life, it somehow ends up sounding amazing. There’s just something about him that’s too big and bright for Hawkins, and she loves how he’s just as hungry as she is to get out and start his life for real. She loves how when she says things like record a demo and bar in Indy, his future sounds close enough to touch, like maybe her own future’s not too far away either.

“Oh, that's kinda cool. What are the band guys like?” Steve asks. He hops up to perch on the counter in a way he definitely shouldn’t be, but it’s not like Robin’s going to rat him out to the Scoops Ahoy overlords.

She shrugs. “Quiet, I guess? Quieter than Eddie, anyway.” To be fair, she hasn’t spent a whole lot of time with them. She’s not a hundred percent sure she even remembers all their names. The impression she’s gotten is that they mostly just let Eddie boss them around because they don’t have anything better to do. They seem like basically okay people, but weirdly boring for being the crowd that Eddie spends the most time with aside from Robin. Even Steve is practically a gibbering eccentric in comparison.

Speaking of which—Steve’s eyes go wide at something behind Robin and he throws his arms in the air. “Henderson!” he yells, sounding happier than Robin’s maybe ever heard him. “He’s back!”

She’s not sure what she’s expecting to see when she turns around, but it’s not a curly-haired moppet grinning toothlessly at Steve and crowing, “I’m back!” She certainly isn’t expecting Steve to hop over the freaking counter and engage in some kind of elaborate handshake ritual complete with sound effects. The handshake goes on for a really, really long time.

It’s kind of hilarious seeing Steve act like a literal child, but that doesn’t mean Robin’s going to let him get away with this shit. Eddie would absolutely flip the fuck out if he were here to witness whatever this is.

“Exactly how many children are you friends with?” she drawls.

Steve just gives the moppet an exasperated look, gesturing to Robin like you see what I have to put up with?

“We’re gonna catch up, Robin. Can you handle the counter for a minute?”

Robin glances around at the total lack of mall denizens craving ice cream first thing in the morning. “I’ll try to survive the overwhelming pressure,” she says. “Don’t get into too much trouble, you wild and crazy kids.”

———

Gareth’s cousin’s roommate in Indianapolis is Eddie’s favorite person in the entire world, and the three numbskulls dithering over having one single solitary extended evening practice so they can actually record something worth hearing…well, they might be his least favorite people in the entire world right now.

“Hey!” he snaps. “Listen up, you goddamn malingering assholes. This, right here, is way more important than whatever you’re rushing home to jerk off to. This is our shot. This is our best chance at actually getting heard by someone who matters, someone who can get our stuff in front of other people.”

He prowls around, making eye contact with each one in turn. “I know you all wanna be rockstars. Well, gentlemen, this is where the rubber meets the road. This is where we get to see if we’re pathetic losers…or if we’ve got it in us to be heavy metal gods.”

Gareth��s the easiest to sway, Eddie can tell at a glance that he’s already hooked, but the other two still look hesitant.

Eddie isn’t completely delusional. Not about how this opportunity’s a long shot at best, and not about how none of the boys want it the way he does. None of them need it like he does. They’re smarter than he is, all of them, and they’re going places. Hell, Jeff’s already starting to look at colleges. His dad wants him to go somewhere in North Carolina, of all the damn states, and…yeah, he’s going places. Music isn’t the the beating heart of his world, the way it is for Eddie.

But there’s a reason they all came to Eddie in the first place: what they need is something to care about and somewhere to belong. If Eddie can just talk them into feeling like a part of this, getting swept up in all the hope and excitement, he just knows they’ll love it. They’ll look back on this as the best summer of their young lives, and he can make it all happen for them, for all of them, if they just fucking practice.

“Okay,” says Jeff. Fucking finally. “Sure. I guess we can stay late for the sake of being, you know…heavy metal gods.”

“That’s all I ask,” says Eddie. As he nods at Gareth to count them in, he sends a silent apology out to Robin and Steve, who must be almost closing up shop by now; they’ll understand that this was a way higher priority than Eddie swinging by to kill some time. It’s not like anything important ever really happens at Scoops Ahoy.

[theawkwarddeadgirl]

I’ve started playing(?) flight rising and I’m finding my favorite kinds of dragons tend to fall into two categories: “Dark Goth/Emo Kids” and “Oh God My Eyes.” The funniest part is that the “Oh God My Eyes” category has it’s own subcategories of “acid and neon bright colors that could appeal to some people but definitely will damage your retinas” and the other category which is just “that dragon is ugly as sin”

I feel like I’m about to become a collector of ugly dragons and I am content with this role that I must play in my fictional dragon society

[thewingedswine]

Can I ask what it is about this fandom you find unfriendly? I've been feeling the same a little and I've been feeling alone in this.

Long winded rant, hold onto your buttcheeks.

I’m going to put this out there for anyone who feels afraid to say it, and that’s only because this particular fandom is the ONLY fandom I’ve ever experienced this with. I’m a big fan of marvel and dc, sci-fi and fantasy, I show dogs, I train dogs, I make leather goods, and those are all cutthroat communities with their own problems but I’ve never felt uncomfortable in any of those the way I am in this one,

So here goes; I hope this helps some of the people like me, who really love Avatar, but don’t like the fandom environment.

I think the biggest problem is with the NeteyamxOC pairing niche- which seems to be the biggest subcategory in the fandom.

I’ve seen in the comments sections of several Instagram and tumblr posts(Neteyam pictured or written with oc’s, mostly) where a bunch of mean-girl antagonist harpies will emotionally body each other and the OP and claim Neteyam as if no one else has a right to pair an OC with them?

UM EW? SO WEIRD AND CULTY. thank god none of that happened on any of my posts or I would’ve had to slam my head in a door.

then there are the purists, who reprimand you if you change the traits of any of their favorite characters or portray them in a way they don’t approve of- this has happened to me several times, which, fair, I suppose. I did something heinous with a character in my story(he gets a redemption arc later but that’s not the point. I should be able to write anything I want, and while I value free speech, it’s like? Why are you getting so mad? He’s a fictional character, just DNR my fic and move on to something you like better, it’s not that serious)

There’s also people reposting artwork that I spent a lot of money on and not crediting the artists, but I feel worse for the artists because you can have all the money in the world but you will never get your time back, and I feel like it’s fucked up that they aren’t at least getting the recognition they deserve on those posts that these stupid poopybutthole assdicks are making.

That could go for any fandom, but I think it’s worth mentioning.

Lastly, both my direct and indirect interactions with a select few people who are VERY prominent in the community have just… left a slightly bad taste in my mouth…? Like nothing explicitly bad happened and if you ask all three of them they will probably go “oh no, me and that person don’t have a problem!” But just… if those three incidents were translated into equivalent in person interactions, I would’ve felt extremely bullied. You could call that me being sensitive, or a number of other things, but that’s just plain how I feel.

It’s a shame because I looooove love love all the fics people write in every aspect and pairing of the fandom, and can recommend you so many amazing fics that were written so much better than mine by such fucking nice and pleasant and humble people tbh, I legit would lick the bottom of their shoes if they asked me politely enough

It’s just those few hundred OTHER people that have made this a bad experience for me🤣

So there that is, this place and some of the hostile NPCs that inhabit it make me feel like I either need to curl into a fetal position to mourn the loss of common sense on the internet, or step into a rage room and never come out,

And the more I think about it, the more I feel like stepping away is a good decision for me.

Maybe when I come back people’s buttholes will have loosened up and I can walk around in the bountiful fields of Avatar/NeteyamxOC fanfiction again like a floppy golden retriever puppy without having to look over my shoulder for a poacher with a sledgehammer, but until THAT day,

(But not before I’ve made my last 2-3 posts by the end of the week)

I’m peacing out, buh-bye😂💕

[memoryoflife]

for the fanfic trope thing: dubious morality, body horror and came back wrong :)

Give me a fanfiction trope and I’ll grade it

"dubious morality" trope rating: A

listen... the fact that i had an entire subcategory of ocs in the past dubbed "dubiously blonde" is testament enough. oh my GOD. grey characters are my SHIT. dubious morality is a fucking a+, it's so BORING for it to be completely black and white! give me characters with complexity and dimensions, who do fucked up shit for fucked up or justified reasons! on the subject of dubious morality, i wind up thinking about the "villains" series by v.e. schwab — the vast majority of characters are extremely grey, having their own goals and motivations that are justified to them. and it makes it SUCH a wild fucking ride to get through that book. uh i can';t even say much else i jsut love it. I KNOW THIS IS A FANFIC TROPE GAME BUT I CAN'T THINK OF FANFIC EXAMPLES RN MY BRAIN IS FRIED IM SO SORRY

"body horror" trope rating: B

i! do like body horror a ton! but it's not something i usually go out of the way to get. but god, it slaps when done right. i'm a bitch ass pussy so i actually really like it in fanfic because if you SHOW me body horror in a visual medium, i scream and writhe and cry and die :') not much else to say here except i should probably give it a shot and write some someday!

"came back wrong" trope rating: A

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA OH MAN OKAY i wish i didn't scrap came back wrong off my bthbingo because MAN. MAN. IT'S JUST!! the absolute HORROR of knowing someone for who they were, only for them to come back as not someone, but something else... i can't speak of fanfics for this but i've thrown around ideas with a friend in discord dms (blows a kiss @ lettie) about the trope and it's just. so fucking good. the absolute agony, especially if the person who brought the other character back did it because they couldn't comprehend their passing, couldn't let them go!! (excellent fodder w lilia and silver ngl)

SO YEAH A GRADE A GRADE FUCKING EXCELLENT TROPE

[faerociousbeast]

i've decided to start categorizing yaois in a more accurate manner

school: school. they go to. the same school pretty self explanatory. can have variations such as oh damn i got isekaied. oh damn we're reincarnated. but generally straight forward. can be considered a subcategory as the schools can really be for anything. transfer students, roommates, childhood best friends, yknow how it be

woman treatment: they're usually just like... omg !! the two school princes look so KYUTE together >///< and sometimes there's like love triangles but. generally they just. do not exist ? idk if we're in all boys schools or what but. often has Younger Sisters. who ship. their brothers with whoever the hell. like alright i guess

celebrities: they are celebrities and for whatever reason, their fans have decided to ship them. rpf. awesome. also has variations such as esports gamers, singers, and or actors. honestly the reincarnated slash isekaied thing can be applied to any category so i'll stop mentioning that so much. some common tropes are one guy goes online, sees the ship content, and starts Thinking

woman treatment: pretty horrible! theres always a female fanbase that ships the guys really weirdly and all they do is go kyaa and god FORBID theres an actress coworker. of course she's trying to get your man and manipulate people and stuff

ceo: also self explanatory. my least favourite kind so honestly i havent read that much. ceo and employee. great. cool. anyway

woman treatment: again they don't really seem to exist which is. bad in itself why aren't you hiring women at your job being gay isn't an excuse. but sometimes! they will be horrible people bc love rival

historical: samurais and emperors you know the drill. often Wars and has the most Tenderly Bandaging Of Wounds. has a lot more isekaing proportionately than other categories. usually some royal guy and some commoner guy but can sometimes have two royal guys

woman treatment: also kinda bad. due to the nature of. arranged marriages, theres uuusssually some poor woman who's getting forced to marry the Prince of the two. or she's like. again manipulative and trying to get his money and stuff.

Powers: this is mostly a subcategory and the broadest bc there's not a lot to distinguish here. can vary greatly, from oh i read this book and woke up as the protagonist. this guy died and i somehow got sent into a different timeline / the past and i want to change his fate. *I* died and woke up as someone else again. i like these ones bc the powers can be cool but most of the time they completely forget about the plot in favour of being gay :( like i wanna figure out the powers and how they came to be here cmon man. still, most of my personal favourites are in this category

woman treatment: varies! since again this is SUPER broad. HOWEVER yeah some of the Powers focused ones have had the best female characters i've seen. shout out to my girl shen shu.

[pjsk-writin]

OH MAN FR THOUGH SEKAI AO3 STUFF IS EITHER A HIT OR A MISS and when it hits it HITS LIKE HELL but when it misses by god does it MISS

and there's like a random 2% subcategory of oneshots that are just like "? okay? i have no feelings" like that one fic i once found where tsukasa gave rui a tour of his room and rui's like "tsukasa I've been here before" and tsukasa's like "oh" and that's it. that was it. fic over. nothing left. go home

-💠

HDDNWLCJALJC HELP????

[butchviking]

No joke I saw two people having a discussion in Tiktok comments (I know, what do I expect) over whether Gerard Way was genderfluid or some other subcategory of nonbinary based on quotes from him. Like bro unless the quote is "I am genderfluid" what are you actually talking about. People are treating this whole living man like a poem to interpret. A third person just threw in a straight-up lie like "He identifies under the nonbinary umbrella." Like yeah according to you.

literally none of us even know the guy can everyone mind their damn business oh my god.. i did a quick search 2 see if i could find that tweet he made one time abt not labelling himself or smthn and i didn't find it and i can't b bothered looking properly but i DID find this. funny u never see this one passed around mcrblr 🤔

[mey-rin-is-fabulous]

Would it kill sites to just let you look at everything in a main category instead of having to pick a bunch of sub categories.

Like take Chapters((Indigo) it's basically the Canadian equivalent of Barnes & Noble started as just a book store but now has games and home goods) for example. I figured since I was already on the site to check the price of an item that I'd go check out what they have for manga.

Unfortunately I can only shop by new & trending, series or best selling or break it down into more subcategories. I could probably view everything if I just used the search bar.

And its oh my god I just want to browse I don't want anything in particular. Just show me everything. Like how when you go into a normal store when you want something but aren't sure what you just wander until something catches your interest.

[carnagechicken]

there are many benefits of being part of an autistic family that homeschooled,

my siblings and I will NEVER get sick of a joke. If it was funny the first time, it'll be funny the next 800 times too.

When I describe a sound as "hurting my brain" or "makes my brain angry" everyone is just like "yeah, I know what you mean"

If you yell "do you want to see a snail!?" everyone's coming over and everyone's gonna squee at its cuteness.

I get to hear my brother make the most interesting comments about music. Usually about its time signature.

My mum sometimes asks "do you want to sort these things and listen to a podcast with me?" (Perpetually yes)

We don't have all have our special interests line up but by god will we listen to each other ramble.

Grocery shopping is so much fucking fun when we do it together.

Barefoot life for the win! I didn't start wearing closed toe shoes until I got a job. Our shoe situation is: barefoot, crocs, work and winter. We have 5 pairs of crocs that are for anyone to use whenever they want.

Scrambled eggs have never been an issue because we've always had them "overcooked" That's how our mum made them and that's how we like them. (Whenever I see "properly" cooked scrambled eggs and omelets on cooking shows I'm grossed out. They're just so....slimy looking)

Hustle everywhere cause we fast walking through life.

The question "why?" was never considered back talk, instead it was just "oh, you don't understand? I'll explain it to you so that you do"

we have googly eyes on so many things in the house. Our modem has a face now. We put eyes on a couple leaves of one of our big plants so he can look out the window.

One summer we had so many inedible squash from our garden that we took turns hiding them around the house and trying to find them. All the squash had faces drawn on with sharpie.

If you put me and my siblings in a room with only a magazine for an hour and we'll spend the whole time counting all the ads in the magazine. Not only that, we'll come up with categories and subcategories for the ads (perfume, watch, watch but advertised with snowboarding, liquor, etc). I know because we've been in waiting rooms and done that exact thing.

[rakunoko]

you should tell us what kind of songs you like so we can hear them and think of you!

Oh man, that is a rather tricky thing to do, hahaha. My comfort artists are Imagine Dragons (I've been listening to them since they started all that time ago—not one song they don't have, I don't know about. My favorite albums are Night Visions and Smoke and Mirrors. Both bring me comfort and yet make me sad with nostalgia) and David Bowie. Recently, Wallows has become an artist I have come to love because the feeling their music gives me is a sort of melancholic coziness/nostalgia. I literally cannot get enough of their stuff. You also cannot go wrong with Depeche Mode, but it's hard to choose a fav of theirs. As for Queen, tho, my favorite song of theirs is 'Killer Queen' and 'Good Ol' Fashion Lover Boy.' Hell, even Nickleback is a good choice (Yes, I listen to them and have since I was young. I love them and wish to see them live, but all their shows are in Canada at the moment) As for actual songs, some of my favs (since there are too many and I am on the spot, so aaa) are: -As the World Falls Down -David Bowie (I am weak for this song. You have NO idea how bad it is. If you need a song to associate with me, it is this one) -Leon's Theme -from Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (Literally ANY Castlevania tune will be repeated, especially if it's from SOTN. Castlevania is my LIFE fr)-Merry Go Round of Life -Joe Hisaishi -These Days -Wallows -Sidelines -Wallows -Witch Image -Ghost -Rats -Ghost -Dense Macabre -Ghost -Round and Round -Imagine Dragons (Or really any song off the Delux Edition of Night Visions) -Good Grief -Bastille -Surfin' USA -Beach Boys -California Dreamin' -The Mamas and the Papas -Tough to be a God -El Dorado and the cover by Johnathan Young I also have a playlist of songs that make me cry from love because they make me think of my dad/found fam, which includes: -I'm Happy -Imagine Dragons -Deus in Absentia -Ghost -Instant Sunshine -Luke Million and LAU -Family -Mother Mother -You're My best friend -Queen -Friends -Band of Skulls Lately, my earworm has been Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go and Bad Medicine cuz UGHA so fucking good. Though TBF, my music taste is ALL over the place. I love listening to music from the 50s to the early/mid-2000s and sometimes video game music/scores, though I mainly enjoy 80s music. I love the rock there and all the yummy synth sounds they have, which is no surprise if you have seen my blog aesthetic or even my art over at @wonderlandjester (Sounds such as the sounds in We Built This City by Starships). But you can't ever go wrong with someone like Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash, Beach Boys, or even Dean Martin. (Which fun fact: the only thing to get me to stop fussing as a baby was Dean Martin's 'That's Amore' hehe) So yes, if you care, dearest anon, if you want to know my genre(s), mainly rock and all its subcategories: classic, Indie, Pop, and Punk. Because let's face it, punk rock is everything, hahaha. And Synth/Electronic. I eat that shit UPPP and keep a synth playlist saved on Spotify for a reason yahahaha. Sorry if I rambled, but I just enjoy music so much, and it's nice to share words about the kinds I like, even if I am a bit anxious to share them irl with people. DMS are open if you ever want me to share some songs, too!