#as long as it's realistic to the fictional world yknow

[liliewriter]

having the real world as the setting in all my wips is sometimes stressful bc what if i do a 'percy jackson st. louis arch' mistake and dont even notice

but at the same time im like... this is an alternate universe not a non-fiction account of the real world..... so i can change it around actually

[myfaveisfuckable]

Janeway:

- will literally martyr herself at the drop of a hat

- will kill you if she thinks it's what she needs to do for her crew

- will not kill you if she thinks you've got residue humanity after decades as a borg drone even though realistically she really should've (tho ofc we're all glad she didn't)

- will violate your personal rights if she thinks you're not "human" enough and also compare you to a replicator (yes I'm still salty about that. wait what was the question? right, i'll get back on track)

- will say absolutely deranged shit like "then be a good rat and find us the cheese" in the a tone that makes me lose my mind and basically give everyone a crush on her (and also mommy issues) if they spend too long in her vicinity, leading to a very loyal crew

- her solution to having a crush on a fictional character was to delete his wife (very relatable but also very not normal)

- she wanted to watch hot Q on Q sex (possibly for scientific reasons) and looked very disappointed when it was severely underwhelming

- WHO brings a bathtub on a spaceship???

- there's more but y'know

Dokja:

1. Introduced as a bland everyman only made exceptional by circumstance, slowly revealed to be the most batshit, suicidally depressed, bisexual maniac in existence. Uses self-sacrifice like a tool and is completely unaware of how beloved he is by the people he keeps pulling into his fold because he is so deeply and utterly convinced that he is fundamentally unlovable. He's like sixty foundational traumas stacked in a trench coat and he's always sixty steps ahead of everyone else and he loves the people he chooses so so dearly and people keep calling him ugly even though he's canonically pretty average and holy shit dude get some therapy please

2. do NOT let the pretty official art fool u. this is the most average 28 year old salaryman going through the absolute most in the apocalypse. ORV is a story about the most average man on earth with the most mundane, depressing life. and one story that he read to cope with it all. he's just some guy, but he is also the most beloved specialest guy. not because he had some hidden talent. just because he loved a story ferociously and also he likes getting in trouble on purpose. he is the most unreliable narrator you will ever find. every piece of the universe loves him for his average stupid self. you will understand when you read 👍

3. GHBJNKML i am praying someone has sent him in but. unreliable narrator the most ever and also i just. love him so much. orv in itself is such a goo dnovel but like. kim dokja is the definition of love and the most caring person but also he's suffered so much and while. yknow we're introduced to him as a kind of nerd but like. listen he's so fucked up juts LISTEN

4.He looks like a neet-pulled office worker. Spoilers:

turns out to be one of the oldest things in the world and the only being keeping it going and alive. He needs to be there to keep the world going. Also, he got like kind of adopted by Persephone and hades. Like his blorbo is real and in love with him. But this man looks so average that people call him ugly to his face just because he’s surrounded by absolute gorgeous people.

[coldresolve]

So I've read a lot of your posts and replies about torture apologia and I wanted to ask you what you think the best way to educate people is without throwing books at their faces and how best to signal to readers that you're writing unrealistic torture.

I'm asking this as someone who is moderately educated on torture and its effects. But I do enjoy reading and writing some of the more outlandish tropes like brainwashing in over-the-top settings for a variety of reasons I'm not going to mention here because explaining that would take ages and risk my anonymity.

Because there is a way to tell people that you're writing erotica that shouldn't be used as educational material for safe sex or bdsm etiquette (because its purpose is to be fantastical and unrealistic) and while it's going to be way harder with torture since people are less educated on it, there should be a way to go about it, right?

for the record i'd prefer the torture discussion sorts of questions to go over to @dark-audit, but im too tired to copy this over rn lol

i'll say this: if you're going to knowingly perpetuate myths and/or make themes that inadvertantly justify the use of torture, a good handful of which are so accepted in public discourse and fiction, a good portion of your audience believes they're factual long before they read a single thing you've written - you better make sure you signal that that's exactly what you're doing, and systematically shut down any suggestion that treats your depiction of torture as realistic, or, yknow, thematically moral in the context of real world politics. one thing is disclaimers, another is having regular conversations with your readers about how torture actually functions, which means you're gonna have to dip your toes into reading up on the topic. this is the bare minimum for handling this sort of thing responsibly imo. the current conventions for depictions of torture are misinformation and justifications. if you want to change that status quo while sticking to harmful narratives "for a variety of reasons I'm not going to mention", you're gonna have to put some serious effort in out-of-text. apologies but you dont get the good boy points for free lol

the better option would be to maybe perhaps not indulge the myths, no matter how compelling they are to you? it requires a bit of effort but if the alternative is turning a blind eye to apologia, maybe it's worth that effort. imo torture is an interesting and cathartic thing to write about even if you stick to depictions that are in line with reality. there are so many facets to it you could dive into, i don't really see the point in engaging with war on terror/reeducation rhetoric. but maybe thats just me

[spawnofthedivine]

oh jeez,, a sys blog we really liked is proship.. i know we are neutral/neither on the shipcourse topic but like. calling yourself either title is very uh. hmm.

big ass long rant about our shipcourse stance under the cut. in short: its complicated and varies a lot. we do not like the black/white views on proship/antiship stances, it is a giant grey area with a shit ton of shades in it. reminder that we are on neither side for a reason.

we have all proship dni because they are typically not following their own stance correctly and we dont want to interact w most comshippers (which.. technically we would fall under that title but . yknow. we are not into that label. and it implies we are on a specific side of the argument. plus a lot of them make us uncomfortable) and then our "violent antishippers" dni is when someone is actively supporting harassment over fictional topics.

we also fall under a lot of different parts of either side. our opinions throughout the system are different. spyte and pebbles r a lot more relaxed with "problematic" stuff (we hate that term), while some of us are more strict w it.

we absolutely go by "dont like, dont read. also tag your shit correctly". we do not harass people, we might not like the things theyre writing, we might think its disgusting and a red flag, but we are not going to click on it and make a comment about it or interact in any way. we will simply block and move on.

while we technically fall under the "comship" label: no, our fictional interests are not triggering nor does it impact our outside experiences. we are not "loli/shotacon". we enjoy genuine and realistic depictions of abuse, while keeping it interesting in a fictional standpoint (which makes it a little unrealistic like the limits of the human body. but the impact of abuse is realistic). it is mainly for the enjoyment of reading the story and/or enjoying the plot, or to vent if we're the ones writing it. we have never read anything fictional (that wasnt intended to be taken as a real, intentional opinion) that has severely impacted our world view. and i doubt it ever will.

fiction is able to be seperated from reality in specific topics. ex: abuse, even when "romanticized", can either be posted with a disclaimer of "i dont find this hot irl". or not, and you should assume they dont find it hot anyway. you should expect that person to not support genuine non consensual abuse unless there is evidence of the contrary (btw! having smth as a kink does not mean theyre into GENUINE non consensual things!! the fact that its labeled a kink strongly suggests that it is a consensual thing)

HOWEVER, when things are treated as they would in reality, ex: bigoted political comics, they are supposed to be taken as a reality equivalent!! they are trying to turn that comic into a real scenario! that is what they want! THAT is when fiction absolutely impacts reality!

now it gets a lot more complicated when it comes to stuff like COD or whatever other war/combat games like that, which can be taken as anti-military or pro-military. which.. it really depends on who youre taking to. which is the point. it gets complicated, it sometimes changes peoples opinions about reality, and sometimes it doesnt. should the intentions of the game be expressed explicitly, whether outside the game or not? yeah, probably. but it doesnt (to the majority of the public, at least). thats why its complicated. do violent video games inherently make people violent by exposure? no, of course they dont. CAN they impact someones world view, thus their morals and such? yes. they have before, and they always will. it gets complicated, like i said. its from person to person depending if other people were the reason, their environment, or simply the video game alone (which i dont believe is very common)

its all about intention and the way it is expressed. COD does not explicitly (to my knowledge) express its intentions, so people can take it any way they want. political comics are aiming for a specific opinion change, and is explicit about that (its a political comic). now: ao3 fics about sexualized domestic abuse? thats.. REALLY unlikely to be expressed in a way that means "yeah i like this irl when non consensual." if it is? they should probably be investigated for that behavior, that is obviously not fucking good. if it isnt? its just a sexualized abuse fic. who knows why theyre writing it. could be to cope, could be for fun, could be to get off on it, etc. people have always had "weird" kinks n shit like that. im not here to dictate censorship for others comfort or whatever.

cw on various things for this list but if ur curious about what "comship" stuff we like if its important to you: its mostly various types of abuse, yandere topics, "noncon", and teenage underage (which we generally do not read, though we have a few exceptions). the underage we do not find attractive or "hot" and it is ALWAYS for vent writing purposes and the underage character are typically self inserts. any character younger than 15 is repulsive to us to imagine writing about in a way that we would with the older teenagers. we have been writing about/making art of most of these topics since we were a little over 4 years old /serious

anyways uhhh yeah. shipcourse! fucking hate it! everything is black and white over here! where are the shades of grey!!! fuck !!!!!

[chaninfused]

inhales.

i hate tv/movie adaptations of books with passion.

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

i feel like ppl (izzy fans especially) rlly get hung up on the toe scene and seeing it like "what if this happened in real life??" or even just "what if this happened in a realistic show that placed moral judgement on characters for enacting physical violence??" and like YEAH in real life i think having your toe cut off and fed to you would be Pretty Fucking Traumatizing and you'd probably be the victim of the situation, not the guy feeding you your own toe. and in MOST shows, if someone's feeding ppl their own toes, that's probably a bad guy

but one of my favorite things abt ofmd is how it DOESNT make moral statements about physical violence. like, ever. this show never takes a stance on when it's okay to kill people, or how much violence you can do while still being a good person. because all the important characters are fucking pirates! if this show tried to take a realistic approach to the morality of physical violence it would get really hypocritical really, really fast!

what matters in ofmd isn't whether the characters are physically violent or not, it's how the characters feel about being the ones to enact violence.

buttons and roach both enjoy violence in a slapstick goofy way that's meant as comedic relief. jim clearly has no regrets about murdering the man who killed their family, but they're not that enthusiastic about going on a whole revenge killing spree and hunting down six (or five, now) other guys. stede at the beginning is somewhat afraid of violence, and is insecure about how afraid he is, but i do think his feelings about violence are changing and will continue to change in the next season(s).

izzy considers violence a requirement to be a real pirate (aka a Real Man) and is loyal to ed so long as he thinks ed is willing to use violence to maintain power and control

and ed. ed actually doesn't like physically hurting people! he's deeply traumatized by murdering his own father, so much so that he's made up weird rules about when someone's death is his fault as a way to distance himself from the violence that is necessitated by his profession! when those rules are called into question, and his responsibility in people's death scrutinized, he gets uncomfortable! all ed wants is to leave behind his violent lifestyle and go enjoy a hedonistic lifestyle for the rest of his life!!

but it's not that ofmd doesn't have a moral compass. in the fictional world of ofmd, "morality" (aka When Characters Are Rewarded/Punished By The Narrative) has two axes: colonialism and emotional vulnerability

the first one is pretty straight forward and has been talked abt a lot already so quick summary: in ofmd, when characters are explicitly and maliciously racist (british navy in e1, rich french people in e5) or side with european colonizers (izzy in e9), they face physical harm. british soldiers in e1 get beat up, the french ppl in e5 get their ship burnt down, and izzy nearly gets thrown overboard in e9, and in e10... yknow. toes.

as for Emotional Vulnerability, that's the whole fucking core of the show. people being their authentic selves, openly expressing their emotions and clearly stating their emotional needs, that's the end goal for every character who's gonna get a happy ending. characters denying parts of themselves, suppressing their desires and contorting themselves to fit into a certain box they feel obligated to get into—that's what our protagonists are trying to unlearn.

in e10, izzy is trying to force ed back into the blackbeard box. he demands ed return to the role that makes him unhappy, a role that requires physical violence to maintain. and ed goes, and we know, we are told, like, multiple fucking times before and after that this is not what ed wants to be doing. ed has stated, over and over again, that he's tired of being blackbeard, that he wants to pack it all in, that he wants to do the things that make ed happy. we learn in e6 that he's actually been traumatized by his OWN PHYSICAL VIOLENCE!!! and he even talks about feeding ppl their own toes as a fucking example of shit he Does Not Want To Do!!!! and the last fucking shot of him we have is him literally sobbing his eyes out!!!!!!!

yes, in real fucking life, and in almost any other story, izzy would be the victim of the toe scene

in the fictional world of ofmd, in the narrative of a slapstick pirate romcom that we're being told, ED IS THE PRIMARY VICTIM IN THE TOE SCENE. ED IS THE ONE WHO IS SUFFERS MORE IN THAT SCENE

[idiotic-genius]

Hello!! I was wondering if you have any tips or advice for how to write a good "insanity" arc? A character I have goes through one and I want to do it right, yknow? If not that's ok, thank you if you do do one though :]

TW: Mentions of suicide, talking about mental illnesses and insanity

Thank you for the request, it's such an interesting topic! I found that there isn't that much information on it, but I'm glad to say that I'm pretty confident in what I did find. Anyways, let's get to it ^^

How to write an insanity arc

1. What is an insanity arc?

The first step to writing something is to understand it, so here is a quick definition that explains insanity itself, taken from Oxford Languages: "the state of being seriously mentally ill; madness/extreme foolishness or irrationality". Therefore, an insanity arc means that a character changes throughout the course of the story, descending into madness and irrationality. Sometimes, insanity is equated to certain mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, but personally, I wouldn't define it like that, at least not in fiction, because it could be confusing and also build harmful representation. To sum it up: An insanity arc means that the character slowly spirals into madness until they are mostly unrecognizable.

2. Symptoms of insanity (sorted by possible appearance)

Confusion/irritabbility

Extreme moods

Excessive fear or anxiety

Social withdrawal

Drastical change of eating and sleeping habits

Anger issues

Delusions/Hallucinations

Unability to cope

Suicidal thoughts

Denial

Physical problems

Substance abuse

3. What's the reason?

Insanity can be caused by heavy abuse, trauma, corruption, and also by experiencing mental illnesses that gravely impact the person's daily life (it has been discussed whether or not genetics have an impact as well, like in Alzheimers etc., but theory is yet to be proven). So, with all those overlapping symptoms, you can basically choose any reason for the insanity arc to happen, as long as you make it seem reasonable. Typical examples in fictions are:

Getting kidnapped by villains and corrupted

Turning against the system the character has originally chose to support because of betrayal

"Yandere-Symptom"

Something that could be hard about choosing a reason is the fact that as an author, you're probably trying to make your characters feel complex and realistic to the reader. So, if you haven't chosen why a character has an insanity arc, you should think about what would break them. Sometimes, the process of becoming insane is the arc itself, but, especially when it's not the main character experiencing the arc, sometimes it's about the process of noticing. In that case, maybe the character already went insane, but nobody knows yet and only slowly realizes because of the symptoms mentioned above, which means that the character could have a snap-scenario instead of a "slow burn". What's important is the knowledge of Where does the character start? and Where does the character end up? because the point of an arc is some kind of character development. It really depends on whether your character is going to end up broken and pale-skinned in a prison cell, happy as a psychopathic mafia boss or dead as the new "crazy" villain.

4. Writing from the character's perspective

Even though it could get tricky to only drop hints in the beginning that get more and more, it would probably be real fun to hide those little details and confusing the reader, because in the beginning they won't realize what's going on until they notice that they are the ones going insane with how they see the world, because they only viewed it from the character's eyes. Also, speaking as a reader, there is little greater than re-reading a story and finally noticing all the red flags and small hints, realizing Oh, that's what it means! One big advantage it has to write from the perspective of the character that goes insane is the illusion of clarity, especially when the character has been a reliable narrator so far. If the reader trusts their perspective, they can easily fall victim to believing anything they read without second thought. They might even think that the other characters are going insane! A huge aspect of insanity is a delusional view on the world, causing the symptoms mentioned earlier. The character will keep thinking that they are perfectly fine, or at least they'll be unsuspecting of what's to come. Their overreactions will seem normal, whereas the other characters could be portrayed as unbothered and therefore "weird". Their actions have to seem reasonable in their own mind, even though they do not follow moral codes. For example: An insane character would kill someone for being suspicious and "planning to murder them"- when they were really just trying to to some small talk.

5. Writing from someone else's perspective

If your to-be-insane character is not the main character, you will have to turn the whole thing explained in 4. around. The main character may notice all the symptoms from 2., but the question is: How do they deal with that and how do they react? Just from the symptoms, your character will probably not know what exactly is going on with the other, they might even suspect other mental illnesses, depending on what caused the beginning of the insanity arc. But there's probably going to be a moment of realization at some point. It could be because someone else tells your character "Hey by the way your friend's kinda insane" (unlikely), or, and this is what is more realistic, the insane character does something so out of the ordinary that the main character notices- whether that's an evil speech declaring war to all morals or them showing up by the villain's side fully depends on the story. In that case, the main character will only consciously notice the insanity arc when it has almost fully reached it's end. However, they will probably notice some things before that- like, to keep the example, the insane character being a lot more murderous than before.

6. Things an insane character might be doing (sorted by "heaviness")

Not getting social cues they used to get

Not understanding jokes

Reacting heavily to minor news

Feeling uncomfortable or annoyed around their friends

Binging/Having no appetite at all

Not liking the food they used to

Have depressed phases

Sleeping/being tired all the time or not sleeping at all

Developing insomnia

Getting overwhelmed by things they were fine with before

Getting angry easily and letting it out on other

Develop unhealthy coping mechanisms

Thinking more black-and-white

Ignoring obvious problems / their own mental state

Feeling nauseous, getting a migraine etc. all the time

Being paranoid and untrusting

Ignoring morals / only following their own

Not caring about consequences of illegal actions

Mad at system -> mad at individuals and vice versa

Find relief and happiness in their (sometimes) horrible and weird actions

That's it for this post! I hope this helps, and good luck writing your arcs and stories!

[masterhandss]

Okay i know this is gonna sound weird but,is it weird i ship everyone(The main 7 that are interested in her) and katarina in a polyamory relationship?Like,it's just funny and sweet to think about l. 😄 It probably wouldn't work irl but,it's anime so,i think it would. Sorry if it's just random but,people keep making fun of me for shipping them in a polyamory relationship. I don't expect EVERYONE to agree with me but,i just like sharing my opinion. 😊

That’s okay! I’m honored that you you felt like sharing your opinion with me :DD 

I think it’s okay to be more imaginative when it comes to things like anime since they are fictional and doesn’t have to necessarily be in line with reality in every situation. When you think about it realistically and in-universe, polyamory relationships might be considered odd and weird, but if you’re personally invested in it as a concept/idea, as long as it’s not hurting anyone then it’s no problem :)) that’s what I think at least (to each their own, yknow)^^

I think I remembered this being mentioned in the Mother’s Basement video on hamefura, i’m not sure, but one of the greatest aspects of the series is the dynamics between the characters. You can pair any of the main characters up and they have possible chemistry with each other to some degree (not everyone though, and it only depends on the individual if they see it or not). Polyamory means that all parties are involved and accepting of the idea of being romantically involved with each other, after all. I think I can see where you are coming from with your opinion, because their group is just so tight and interesting. While their relationships outside of Katarina might not be fully elaborated, the series gives you an idea of what it’s like or where it can go, giving you the chance to either foresee it or to interpret your own. Something like that might be nice for exploring their feelings about each other outside of the main focus of their affection, so I can’t blame for wanting to see that outside just being able to legally share Katarina. 

If you’re talking about polyamory as a means to share Katarina, I think the idea might not be so bad, as long as all parties agree (I don’t know what anyone could ever say to convince Geordo and Mary to share Katarina though lol). I think I remember there being a fic with that ending actually. Katarina already likes all of her friends anyways so that type of relationship would be for their benefit. Katarina doesn’t know about the catfight between her friends for her hand, so she already thinks everyone is very good friends (/in love with each other if you consider Alan and Mary or Maria with any of the boys), so if the harem members came to such a conclusion, Katarina probably wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference. It does give everyone else a peace of mind, in a way so that’s to their benefit. Though if the circumstances were like that, even if they can all say that Katarina is “theirs”, there would probably still be some internal fighting among the characters (since such a title would demolish the dominance that Geordo has over Katarina by being her fiance, so the others would definitely wipe that fact all over his face). 

TLDR, don’t mind if your friends don’t see it the same way you do, they are all just fictional characters after all, so you don’t have to limit yourself to what’s realistic since the point of the creation of these characters is to explore new worlds, relationships, characters and other possibilities. I’m not sure if this was the answer you wanted to hear, but thank you for the ask :DD

[svankmajerbaby]

5,8, 11,12,13, 23 & 25 ?? :P

thanks for the ask! sorry for taking so long to answer, i was on mobile :^(

5. character you were most surprised to end up writing? the toy story characters, to be quite honest. i have always loved the franchise but i never really thought i had much to write about it... i didn’t even question much the whole “who’s andy’s father??” thing i think a lot of people in the toy story fandom wonder a lot. but when toy story 4 came out i felt like there were a lot of stories i wanted to know. of course, i needed to know what had happened to bo peep, and how her relationship with woody would have changed after so long of being apart; that led me to reexamine their relationship based on who they were as characters, and go on a whole character analysis of both woody and bo as what they had probably gone through and which were their formative experiences... and after that i just needed to start writing down everything i had in my head. 8. favorite genre to write? i think i’m on the fence between family drama/romance and horror, with a bit of science fiction sprinkled in. the thing is, while family drama, romance and horror come easy more or less, i always get carried away with sci fi, needing to plan the new futuristic worlds, how it is different from tthe present, how characters interact with this world, etc. 11. what aspect of your writing do you think has improved the most since you started writing? definitely dialogues!! if there’s something i’m proud of (more or less) is how far i’ve come when writing dialogues. now i feel they’re a lot more natural and realistic, though just how good they are at communicating vital info is anyone’s guess really...

12. your weakness as an author fsghsdjhsdgdj i really don’t know, it’s going to be just my assessment of what i think i should improve on... i think i’m not too good at rhythm and flow, like i feel my stories aren’t very well organized and can feel boring at times or stilted, in a way. when i reread my finished stories/completed chapters i often find myself wanting to skip over scenes i feel are dull to get to the more fun stuff :^/ i do that with a lot of books tho, especially on the second or third read tho, so idk 13. your strengths as an author i think i’ve improved a lot on my dialogues?? i think. i used to hate it, because it always felt like such a chore while i enjoyed much more writing lush descriptions of environments and places and emotions and memories... but now i can spend pages and pages in a free flow of consciousness while inhabiting these characters and arguing from their points of view. this can become a weakness tho -im kind of feeling lately that i’m relying too much on dialogue instead of just... yknow, actions. which are hard to write too. 23. any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing? i don’t really know what “obscure life experiences” mean, but i’ve done things like trekking a mountain and walked through a forest and taken piano lessons and been in a car crash and seen an armed robbery and had regular anxiety attacks so i feel i can describe all of these more or less accurately... apart from that, there’s a lot of things i have to rely on other people’s experiences or accounts to write them properly, so i do a lot of research in general. im sorry im not sure what to answer fdsgfsgh i don’t really get this question 25. copy/paste a few sentences or a paragraph youre particularly proud of i’m still of the mind that The Best Thing I’ve Written So Far is a frankenstein/barbie fanfic that i feel is just... exactly what i wanted it to be, and tbh i don’t see any changes i would do to it, it’s both what i wanted to read and what i wanted other people to see. it’s a fanfic, so it’s not at all original, and i’ve borrowed quite a few words from the original (excellent) text, but i think i’ve added some ideas of my own... idk im just really really proud of it.

“It’s alive,” she whispered to Willard, or perhaps to herself.

But Vivianna was not overjoyed. She was not proud. And she was not happy at all. As soon as she could see what she had done, what she had brought to life, she recoiled in disgust and withdrew the light from it, as if, in darkness, it would disappear like a child’s nightmare.

Vivianna had attempted to make her creature in her image: she sought, as she was brought up, only the most delicate and striking beauty. She saw no reason as to give life to a being devoid of pleasant features, of perfectly shaped limbs, of the most perfect pieces she could manage to get her hands on. And so, Vivianna had fished her parts from very select places: the most cared-for, elite parts of the cemetery, where models and actresses were buried as they left too soon, too young; the dumpsters of shopping malls and large stores, where the broken mannequins were disposed of, but which could still be of use. She had washed everything so meticulously, taking the grime and the blood from nails, from crevices, better than the most professional mortician. Vivianna had used her sewing skills to attach the disparate limbs, to select and put together those fingers she found the nimblest, the lips she found the fullest, the feet she found the daintiest. When good parts were not available, that’s when the mannequins came of aid. She used heat to melt the plastic of the mannequin parts into the flesh, to attach everything neatly, cleanly, perfectly. Perfectly. Vivianna had never worked on anything as much, with as much attention to detail, with so much effort and hope. In her mind, the creature –her very own doll –would be perfect.

Perfect! Her own creation, perfect! As the heat of life animated the body, the seams became evident, the lines between skin and plastic. The scars of the stitching, that which Vivianna had done by hand, had not healed as well as she had expected; a newly beating heart pounded blood into the veins, and that blood leaked and dripped slowly through the badly sealed holes of the doll’s body. And beyond the skin… Vivianna felt sick to her stomach. She had attempted, in her pursuit of perfection, to copy herself –but even better, even more beautiful, with all those features Vivianna wished would be enhanced. But in her pursuit, the body’s proportions were extreme and deeply uncanny. It was all about small, off measurements: the bust, slightly too big for any human; the waist, just a bit too small, small enough to be wasp-like; the length of the legs, leaning toward the monstrous. And the features –the huge, blue, glassy eyes, surrounded by long, full lashes; the full, reddened, vein-crossed lips, which the doll could barely open in a forced pout; the tiny, thin nose, through which the doll tried its best to breathe; and the full head of blonde hair which, in the process had burned in places, or had become dirty and frizzy and greasy and stringy. Perhaps, Vivianna managed to think, it was what the magic of animation did to her creature: as a still figure, much like a mannequin, it could be slightly unsettling but, all things considered, a thing of beauty; but in the flesh, moving like –or how it imagined like –a person would move –something was so terribly off in how it moved, in how the body reacted to the movement, in how everything was placed and tried to place itself in the space.

[doctorwhos]

And I want Dr who fic recs with 10!! I have been having a hard time finding ones that are decent and where the author does a good job with rose. Do you have a list?

oh gosh uh. i can definitely put one together. i have to be a little garbage gremlin and admit that the majority of fics ive been reading recently have been azcrow, with the occasional zimbits thrown in for good measure because sometimes you want your stupid yearning to be canon. (also some parksborn or spideytorch bc i. peter parker?) while writing this up i realized how many fucking aus there are of family of blood, and how long people liked to write them. i tried to do a variation of length, but all of these fics are completed, bc im not a daft person who enjoys reading in progress fics. finished or nothing, im impatient. i also realized how horny people are for tenrose, which can be exhausting when all u wanna read is fluffy soulmate aus bc ur lonely. i think only two fics have a nsfw part, and i noted it in their descriptions, so this rec list is minor friendly ! sorry for so many au’s, i enjoy them too much. 

under my skin by hiddentreasures

a very short, really cute soulmate one shot with human!ten. im a sucker for soulmate aus, and this one was just. really cute. also had donna as tens cousin which i could get behind.

connect-the-dots by fingersfallingupwards

i know you said 10/rose fics but this one. is too much of a classic to not list. it has 10/rose. thats the majority of it tbh. but this one is really good. like above, im a giant fucking sucker for soulmate aus. that shits my bread and butter babey. give me a million of them and id never get bored. and i do love bad wolf rose, and i do love me some donna noble. this one gets pretty angsty in the middle, but its doctor who angsty so its just him pining over rose for a hundred-odd years like a knob.

a shop girl with a broken fob watch by licieoic

an au of the family of blood where its rose instead of martha bc she never got stuck in the parallel universe, and instead of racist old fart teacher john smith, hes alec hardy from broadchurch, because why the fuck not. its really cute, and i enjoyed it probably too much for someone whos never seen a second of broadchurch. there are two nsfw moments, which startled me bc there are Zero tags for it, so watch out. but its very cute, very fun, and alec is a grumpy fart. 

sad, beautiful, tragic (aka me, you, and us). by michellejjones

this one is more a meta on 10/rose than it is actually a fic about them but it was so. sadly beautiful i cant NOT rec it. like. heart wrenching sad yearning my dudes. the doctors love for rose really can be felt across all of his generations.

a thousand languages by mad_lori

this is from 2011, so its before we even like. really knew matt smith as eleven. but its cute !! its also super angsty, but its not that long so it doesnt hurt that much. a fun kinda character analysis on who rose would be if she was consistent through all his regenerations past 9. written really beautifully. surprisingly, rose is more in character than ten is, lmao. hes a bit too grumpy for ten, but too happy for nine. a weirdo combo of the two, but its still fun.

friends with (cuddling) benefits by lostinfic

humannn au !!!!!!! babee !! rose and ten share a flat and the doctor is his radio dj persona. its very soft. its all dumb mutual pining and stupid jokes that actual ten and rose have but like. more human. yknow? feels a bit more realistic. they still have their grand adventures, but less about saving people and more getting trapped in monkey enclosures. 

a way with words by hiddentreasures

hi my name is atlas neilgaimananti and i have a thing for both human aus AND soulmate aus, APPARENTLY ! this one is short and sweet and straight to the point. but i sure do love ten being a science fiction author.. its such a dorky thing for him to do it make sense. and also very much chaotic idiot representation here.

never ever by itooktheonelesstraveled

doomsday fix? dont mind if i do ! this one a huge comedy, tbh. a lot of switching up companions from different points, just to make sure that rose doesnt fall into the parallel world and donna doesnt marry lance. theres a nsfw scene between eleven and rose, but its more funny than anything else.

no rose without a thorn by morningsound15

this one is actually tentoo/rose, but its.. really cute. apparently im a sucker for rose being in love with all of the doctors regenerations, bc ive kept on reading them. tentoo regenerates whenever the doctor does in his world, but also like, keeps aging with rose. kinda complicated, but it does bring up a lot of questions abt their relationship, and also tentoo and how they view the doctor. the same but separate. its. a good fic, and a good character study on tentoo. 

its complicated series by tardisistheonlywaytotravel

atlas back with another au? ur right weary traveler, and buckle up, cause this ones hilarious. thats all im saying about it. it has a happy ending where rose snogs nine in front of ten to spite him, and the two of them are married, to everyone elses annoyance, bc theyre in love and gross. how is it an au? youll see.

blinded by the light by hiddentreasures

wow atlas another fic by hiddentreasures? ANOTHER human soulmate au? yes leave me alone this is my own rec list, i can do what i want. and i love when writers make ten and donna cousins. its so funny to me. a fucking king, international superstar james noble. 

ive been working on this rec list for like TWO DAYS now and its 3am and i just wnana go to bed, so this is it ! i think its a decent list --- sorry the majority of them are one shots i have teh attention span of a toddler. if you want more recs, let me know !! if u give me more specifics, like aus or doomsday fixes and stuff, i could probably give u a much neater list lmao. 

[starsailorstories]

basilean mass media

I’m planning to have a much more in depth think about this once I’ve cleared my head a bit on all the technology involved, but here’s some of the types of media that are available in the SC setting, most of which you’ve heard about in the short stories or world info material but not all of which have been fully explained therein yet (they’ll probably get quick descriptions/explanations from Rin’s and Mari’s POV in vol. 2) :

Speakerlens broadcasts are basically recorded audiovisual data sent to multiple large public screens (they call them “lenses” because they are like big adjustable convex panes of glass, presumably something like the principle of a cathode ray tube is involved but honestly this is a thing where the image came to me first and I thought it was cool and I’m still working on a precise in-world justification). They’re used for news and for the imperial court to address the public and they’re big, not the kind of thing you could have in your house realistically. It’s mass one-way communication but it’s closer to a town crier than a television set.

Solar printing is a source of mass-market books and pamphlets, as well as monochrome photography. It’s a technological modification behind the basic principle of a solar print you’d make by, yknow, setting leaves out on photo-blue paper for a day or two, that allows it to be done faster and with plasma obtained from animal products or one’s own light concentrated through a lens. It’s cheaper and faster than movable type printing (which does still exist) and a lot of peasant/working-class people have managed to start getting by with little solar print shops, sponsored by their local nobility, that put out almanacs and local newspapers and reprints of popular fiction or sometimes even stuff by authors in town.

“Legitimate” print shops are often subject to censorship as the long arms of the empire try to preserve order and loyalty, but there are also many underground presses, particularly in the intellectual quarters of Ovaiakon, Hyporadrang, and Solrega Nova, where the aula’s influence is less immediate than in the Rings. 

Another platform for the masses is Radio, which they use as an umbrella term for everything from good old terrestrial short-wave to audio broadcasts on the satellite-based interstellar signal network. Being extremely accessible in terms of materials cost and something that anyone, even the illiterate, can do, radio in Andromeda is a bit like the pre-social-media internet in all its negative and positive aspects--anything you’re willing to say out loud goes, everything gets an equal platform, and everything is kind of in its own niche regulated only by a vaguely measurable consensus. 

I’ve brought up projection performances before. They involve astraeas manipulating the beams of their lights to create shapes and pictures, live in front of an audience. If I had to make a comparison to something on earth I’d say that it combines the art forms of animation and theatre, and has as many possible genres and applications as both of those, from abstract visual accompaniments for music to detailed film-like undertakings with a large group each performing a small part of each scene and the most skilled animators and actors doing the actual characters. Street musicians who sing and play and project for either Cadrian ingots or ferry tokens are a common sight in spaceports.

They also have a number of things that exist here like normal theatre, local radio stations playing music and news, and fashion magazines, but most are stylistically very different from their earth (particularly their American) counterparts because Basilean aesthetics just value different things

[deadaccsorry]

Tag game time :)

@alittlegoblinwrites tagged me for this! Thanks!

1. What genres do you write? Mainly just plain old comedic fiction, but I LOVE high fantasy. Most of my ideas can be fit into two groups: ridiculous comedy in a weird, not well explained, ficitonal world OR serious dystopian story that is more realistic

2. What’s on your reading wishlist? Honestly I’m having trouble finding stuff I want to read, which sucks :( Currently I’m just eating up books about World War One

3. Who is your favorite character from your current WIP? Sean from Stumbling Through the Afterlife! He’s a complete dumbass and they’re always very fun to write, imo. He’s just a very pure character who doesn’t know wtf he’s doing and that’s why I love him. Also Alex, who accompanies him and actually has a brain. It always amuses me when I look at her canonical list of skills, which is about half a page long.

4. Writing tropes you like? Oooooooo I’m not even sure. I love sarcastic villains to death but it has to be done a particular way. Honestly villains almost always end up being my favorite character because they’re usually pretty well written. Also, if it’s in a musical context, they get all the fun songs! I love playing villains in musicals :)

5. Story behind your WIP’s name? Stumbling Through the Afterlife is called that because.. well.. that’s basically what Sean and Alex are doing. They both have no clue how to navigate and are just trying their best :”)

6. Are you a pantser or a plotter? Every story I’ve tried to write with a plot makes me want to explode- I’m kind of writing for myself more than anyone else, and plotting it out before writing it ruins all the surprise. I come up with my best plot points while I’m in the middle of writing! Though for some things I am a plantser. I just don’t plot often. It does make my writing a little rushed sometimes though.

7. Do you post your work anywhere? I might once I actually review what I’ve written! I typically finish like 5 chapters and then review them. Before I post anything anywhere I want to make sure it’s actually good, yknow?

8. Do you read/write fan fiction? If yes, what genres? I don’t do either right now but I used to do both!

9. Your favorite dessert because why not? :) Cheesecake! Absolutely! It’s my favorite food and I suspect it always will be.

@quill-of-doom @fierywords @quilloftheclouds @monstrouswrites @lookslikechill @livingdeadwriteblr @nemowritesstuff

[taz-writes]

WIP questions tag

i got tagged by @eff-writes and I haven’t actually participated in a tag game in like 10 years, so here we go!

1. What is the working title of your book?

Book 1 is called The Beginning. Boring, I know... The series as a whole is called Feilan! It used to be The Feilan Chronicles but then I decided that was stupid. 

(book 2 is The Queen of Feilan, book 3 is Storm and Shadow, book 4 is Liaea. 2 and 4 are literally perfect but 3 is Bad and needs replacing when I finish the manuscript.) 

2. Where did the idea for your book come from?

It’s based on a recess game I used to play with friends in elementary school. You know how basically everyone was involved in that stupid Boys Versus Girls war in first and/or second grade? I was the leader of my school’s stupid Boys Versus Girls war, it was centered around “Fairyland,” and my friends and I all had these overly complicated self insert characters that we LARPed as during recess. Over the years, the boys vs girls thing faded away, but we kept playing fairies and developing the ~lore.~ When I got to sixth grade, I decided to write it all down for posterity, and that’s when the first concept of Feilan came into being. I wrote the first legitimate draft in 9th grade, after spending a few years developing the characters and world into something that could exist without relying on bad self insert Mary Sue logic. 

There were a couple specific scenarios that we always wound up playing, and those are what the books’ core plots are about. Book 1 is the game we played at my house in the woods, usually searching for treasure. Book 2 is the ice skating rink game where we rescue Violet from the Frozen Isles, fused with the swimming pool game where we turn into mermaids. Book 3 is the one we played at my friend Emily’s house, where we built couch fort “prisons” and tried to escape without making enough noise to bother her dad. If we knocked too much stuff over, he’d come up and lecture us for interrupting his Warcraft game, so avoiding him became part of the LARP. Just typing this is bringing up vivid flashback-style memories. 

3. What genre is your current work in progress?

High/heroic fantasy, with a drop of genre de/reconstruction added in for fun :)

4. Choose the actors for your movie rendition.

Lucy Liu has to play Lilac Ravenhart. I don’t care about anything else but she has to be Lilac, it’s perfect. 

Honestly, if I got a movie, I’d want Sayara to be played by a total unknown because I feel like it fits her place in the story. She wants to be known as Sayara, the actor should want to be known as Sayara and not as whatever their last major role was. Plus I can’t think of any actresses who are short and buff enough. 

5. Give a one-sentence synopsis of your book. 

An ambitious illegitimate princess stumbles into a civil war and somehow manages to make herself a ~new legendary hero~, much to everyone else’s chagrin. 

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agent?

I’m not sure yet! It would be awesome to have an agent and be published with a legit publishing house, but self-publishing is faster and easier. Considering that I’ll be trying to market a debut novel with niche appeal and no romantic subplot to speak of, which also has three sequels.... self-pub seems more likely right now. 

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft?

The first first draft? I plugged that baby out in six months back in high school, because I didn’t have anything else to do with my life. It added up to over 150,000 words, so that was no small feat. It’s taken progressively longer to finish every new draft since. 

8. What other books would you compare your story to?

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (frantic googling sounds) 

Honestly, I have no clue. I’ve read lots of books with similar concepts or characters, but I’ve never read another book that was enough like mine for me to want to make a comparison. I’ve taken some inspo from Game of Thrones, but deep worldbuilding lore and too many characters isn’t enough similarity to make a good comparison. Most of the fantasy I’ve read lately has been in a very different vein from what I write, because I’m trying to push my boundaries. 

9. Who or what inspired you to write the book?

I got into this a little with the “where’d the idea come from” question! But mostly, my inspiration was spite. 

The reason for making this particular recess game into a novel was, simply, that I couldn’t find a single book in YA fantasy that gave me what I wanted out of a story. I wanted strong female leads, who didn’t fall in love or have a LI, who saved the world without being questioned because of their gender or being outshone at the final hour by random boys. Do yall know how rare books like that were (and are) in YA fantasy? Full respect to paranormal romance writers, but your genre was the bane of my existence in high school, because the library would always label it as fantasy, and they always stocked twice as much of it as they did the actual fucking fantasy. Poor little naive Taz would pick up book after book about cool monsters and seemingly-intriguing plots, only for it to devolve into Edgy Boy Love Triangles. I didn’t care about the sexy demon/angel/whateverthefuck boys! I wanted to know how the girl who was supposedly the protagonist was gonna save the world! 

Also, I was really into fairies, but the only YA-ish author I could find who wrote about them was Holly Black. Who is a talented writer and I envy and respect her success, but that just wasn’t the kind of story I wanted to read, yknow? She’s too edgy, and the love interests are... that. 

I’d sat on “the fairy story” for years at that point, but this powerful rage was the kicker to actually get me started. I was bitter and salty and figured that if nobody would give me what I wanted then I’d just have to make it myself.  I already had this source material that was funny and weird and deep and (as far as I could tell) totally unique, so I took it and ran with it! My friends gave me a lot of inspiration, because a few of them still remembered the fairy game, and they wanted to know when their characters would show up. So I’d send them chapters as I finished them, and we’d all get excited about stupid inside jokes and goofy names. 

10. What else about your book might pique a reader’s interest?

I think the deconstructive elements are the core appeal in Feilan. I have a lot of the trappings of standard high fantasy--the lost princess, the return of the evil, the big war, the chosen one--but they’re used with the intent of picking them apart to see what makes them tick. None of the elements listed are played entirely straight. 

The main cast is made up of mostly royalty, and their positions have Actual Responsibilities that motivate the plot and their character development instead of just being set dressing.

Female friendships and relationships are really important to the story, no boys will ever appear to derail character arcs at any point. 

One of the main characters (Violet) is a trans girl and I know people appreciate queer content

(most of the main characters are actually under the queer umbrella but it doesn’t really come up in canon since i have a lot of plot to deal with)

Sayara is a relatively unconventional character type (especially for a female protagonist), she’s ambitious and mostly confident in herself, and her conflict comes from the way other people treat her more than how she treats other people. She’s not forced to learn “humility,” she’s not forced to give up on what she wants. Instead she learns how to handle responsibility and move past naivety to realistic optimism, and how to achieve her goals without hurting other people by it. I feel like that’s a theme that should be way more common in YA fiction than it is right now. teenage girls are right about things sometimes!

i have Deep Worldbuilding(tm)

The magic system has categories and you can sort yourself. because we all know what’s really important here. 

I’m not going to tag anyone new in this, because I’m tired and I don’t have the energy, but if you want to pass on the challenge then feel free to say I tagged you! :)

[mechawolfie]

i’m sorry this is going to be umm kind of disjointed my brain is like a hive of panicked bees

ok ok so basically my thoughts are ��AAAAAAA FUCK FUCK FUCK WOW WOW WOW WOW HELL YEA” but to translate: i didn’t seriously get into videogames until VERY recently when i took an interest in worldbuilding & was curious abt the different ways one could present a fictional world, & i think videogames r just such a cool way to do that, & basically this game is my favorite thing ever. its just so intriguing!!!!

i’m not very politically versed so i can’t talk on that aspect but i will say that it’s a big reason why i love the game so much. like… just getting to talk to these characters and learn about their beliefs, how they see the world & how they’ve chosen to live in it etc etc etc??? brilliant amazing genius i love that shit SO MUCH. and like some ppl will think ‘oh i need to think of Every Single Aspect of my world & i need to show off Every Single Bit of it’ but what i love abt de’s worldbuilding is that you know about as much about everything as it’s residents do - which is very little (depending on who they are)! which is realistic! and just a very interesting way to present your world! i love it!!!!

then theres the ART. GOD. i haven’t seen the art book yet but man i cant wait to look bc this game is freaking Gorgeous. im not sure what the name of this style would be but it reminds me of things like transistor or dishonored. like it feels it takes insp from old art movements. & the fact that the game’s map is also stylized - how everything looks like a painting??? chefs kiss. i mean it made it kindof difficult to navigate at times but its sooo pretty so i dont even care. discovering a new part of the map felt like opening a christmas present like every time i thought i’d seen everything i realized there was a new place i didnt explore and i just. man. the church. THE CHURCH. god. going into that area for the first time was CHILLING, the atmosphere is soooo good its insane!! i kind of felt bad bringing the rave kids in bc that just haunting quiet.. the soft singing.. beautiful truly honestly beautiful

and the soundtrack is so perfect. it just. ok when ur walking out into rue de saint-ghislaine and u hear that horn come in??? there’s this feeling that’s like… it just says “this is home. this is all we have. time to keep living”. it’s nostalgic it’s kindof sad it’s accepting it’s fate. does that make any sense.

basically the art direction is just so good, everything comes together so well to create this very specific atmosphere. and it can change so swiftly but its a smooth change. im thinking abt the climax of the game - its so panicky so on edge (was LITERALLY shaking & crying then lmao 🙃), and then its just. over. but it feels natural. again, that feeling of “time to keep living”. what else can you do but that?

i think one reason everything flows so well is the narration? it kind of.. spreads things out, putting what’s happening into words. helps you process it better. or maybe i just have adhd & having things narrated helps me understand wtf is going on lmao

also ok. the characters. god. i think if i tried talking abt the characters this’ll get too long so abridged version: FUCK cops but harry is my pathetic little meow meow, im disappointed i havent seen more ppl get into who kim is as a person (bc theres SO MUCH to him!! i think he’s the most fleshed out character in this game honestly) but im glad we’ve all decided he is Definitely autistic, & i like that this game while having characters who are shit ppl/have shit takes (& doesn’t try to excuse them for it!!) they’re still human first & foremost. it rly just - again, the atmosphere. the vibes. this is a home. this is a world we’re getting a glimpse into. it just feels.. real. despite yknow. the pale.

oh my god the pale. the fucking pale. the insulindian phasmid. SHIVERS. i have to fucking stop. i haveto stop or this is just going to keep going oh my god im so sorry. but listen the pale is so cool & interesting right??? its so fucking c- oh my god

ok hold on 1 more thing. 1 thing i couldn’t get past: the fatphobia. u go this whole game where the bigoted language is obviously coming from the characters’ own biases, but w the fat characters it’s not just how the other characters talk abt them, it’s how they’re portrayed. does that make sense? anyway that honestly made me like the game less

and… ok thats all. i mean its not, but this is already long enough ahaha

HI OKAY so i know we've literally never spoken before but. PLEASE tell me your thoughts on disco elysium ive been going insane about it since i played it in january and i think my friends are tired of me infodumping about it lol

hi hello hihi. ok hold on I need a moment

[tumblunni]

A random thought that just came to me: why do fantasy animals not have milk/wool/eggs/whatever?

Like.. I mean.. often in farming games you can have a pet cow or chicken but you can’t produce food or linen from your pet monster. Even when its a cow or chicken monster! Like, i was actually REALLY SURPRISED that Rune Factory 4 had your giant monster cow give you giant monster milk. Thank you, only productive doomcow in all of fantasy fiction! i think in that game tho its just cos you cant buy a regular cow. But then its still kind of Weird how every other monster in that game only gives like.. the same stuff you get from killing it in the wild. you only get raw unrefined parts like claws or tails or ‘elemental stone’ or whatever. never any other foods, never anything that’s then further craftable into some form of useful material. Instead theyre ONLY useful for adventuring-related stuff like infusing swords with magic by throwing entire dragon teeth into the furnace.

I dunno if I’m explaining this well but like.. I think its a huge missed opportunity for speculative fiction? Cos, when you think about it, its not like milk is a very intuitive or sane thing. Its only common sense now cos we have millenia of it as a primary food. How did the first human make the connection that that weird thing on a cow’s underside was the equivelant of the things on a human’s chest, and that there was a way to steal the cow’s milk, and that this milk is a type of milk that adult humans can drink. And then also who discovered the first way to make milk selectively rot without developing mould, and then who was insane enough to predict it’d be edible when sliced on bread??? How did we figure out how to spin cotton into yarn, even??? You never think about it, but a lot of inventiveness must have gone into it! So it seems silly to me that people look at like.. EVERY SINGLE FANTASY ANIMAL EVER, and don’t think it could ever be useful as a farm animal in this fantasy society unless it has some kind of feature also shared by existing farm animals

Like.. it doesn’t have to be a cow?? It doesn’t have to be a chicken??? Maybe this giant lizard also lays edible eggs! Maybe for some reason birds have milk! but ALSO wouldnt it be SO MUCH MORE FUN to imagine completely new and ridiculous ways that humans could get a profitable industry from these creatures? Maybe unicorns grow tails of ironlike material that intertwines in beautiful braids, and then humans collect them when they shed them and melt them down into swords, and thats where mythril comes from. Maybe milk doesn’t exist in this world and like.. instead everyone drinks this weird fruit juice produced by giant bees that ferment berries in their left knee somehow. You can say anything, and as long as it’s well developed into your fictional society then people will totally roll with it. And probably find it a lot more immersive if this place isnt 100% similar to real world farming

Also that raises another question that always bugs me: why do humans just arbitrarily decide some versions of animal products are for food and others are gross? I mean.. you look at caviar, and like.. bug eggs look like that. Who decided one day that weird squishy tiny eggs are edible only if they come from the sea animals? And caviar is still seen as super gross in some countries, and in others its like a super common food instead. Fish roe on sushi isn’t for rich people only, its not considered a strange novelty. And then dogs are eaten for meat in some countries, horses are, monkeys are, even insects. A lot of stuff that’s considered gross in our country isn’t a universal gross of all humankind. And like.. cows and occasionally goats are the only acceptable milk animals in the whole world of animals that make milk. And its funny how we think about it, yknow? i can understand being gross out by (for example) possum milk or something. Imagining sucking on a possum is a horrible mental image! But its funny how like.. dude.. if someone sold possum milk it’d be in a goddamn glass. You probably couldnt tell the difference until you tasted it. And we never think about how gross it is to suck on a cow, or how dirty those animals are! If anything cows should be THE GROSSEST milk-giving animal, floppy udders are a bizarre mutation in the cosmic scale of things.

So I mean i can understand someone in universe is like ‘eww but monster cow milk is gross’ even if its a thing that could hypothetically exist. Though also i feel its kinda lazy to do that, to just assume that in a world where these animals are everywhere they’d naturally have exactly the same perception of what’s gross or not. i mean, again, dogs are just a mildly uncommon food animal in some countries. Places where they’re not very popular or nor very accessable as pets, or just dont have a centuries old history of being pets. it’d be funny to imagine a fantasy world where like.. basilisks are a common farm animal and chickens are the scary gross thing that lives in dungeons

Oh and also randomly I liked how the game Jade Cocoon actually did add little details like this! Cocoon Masters capture monsters in cocoons, and then those cocoons can actually be spun into special silk that imbues their magic into the clothes it makes. this is a common industry for villages like this, the economy revolves around the catchable monsters in a rather realistic and interesting way. Or, i mean, you could just keep the monster and love and raise it. It was kinda messed up how selling monsters is explicitely said to be killing them to turn them into cloth :(

[lilacponds]

Pearl, shells, storm, boardwalk, siren, tempest, shoreline and hurricane?

thanks for sending me stuff!! ♡♡♡pearl: if you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?hmmm, thats a hard one to choose! japan would be pretty to see, but i also always wanted to take a trip to england.oh, but i think id go to america. a lot of my friends live there and id be really really nice to get to meet them!!shells: would you prefer to be a vampire or a werewolf?hmmm, i dunno. i mean, cool powers come with being a vampire, but also id have to drink blood.a werewolf seems pretty cool. as long as i can be in control of myself and not kill people, then yeah, werewolf it is!storm: do you like piercings and tattoos? Why or why not?yeah!!! theyre pretty darn cool man, plus its really amazing that people would suffer thru the pain of the process to get them, esp when theres ppl that do that multiple times.i wouldnt get a piercing myself because im not interested in having one, but id love to have a tattoo someday. i mean, whats not to like about tattoos?? theyre art on your body???boardwalk: who is your favourite fictional couple?hmmm. im trying to think of a canon couple that particularly stands out to me but my brains drawing a blank.so ill go for not canon. kenhina, from haikyuu!!.i once spent two hours replying to someone asking me why i like the ship.i have a problem.siren: in a fantasy setting, would you be a warrior, rogue or mage?as in, who i would realistically be myself as a person, probably none, maybe a mage because its more of a ranged thing and also spells so i can get be helpful to others and thats always niceas what id choose, then rogue, bc i love rogues and sneaking and all that fun stuff man. i really like roguestempest: your favourite Pokemon?eevee!!!!!! i like all eeveelutions too but eevee is my absolute fave like i love him so much??? one day ill get myself an eevee plushie and ill cryshoreline: if you could become fluent in another language, which would you pick and why?hmmmm. theres a lot of languages in the world, so thats a bit hard to do, yknow? itd be interesting to learn them all, altho my brain would probably overload and hate me if i somehow got to do that.maybe japanese. ive always been interested in it ever since i was little, altho because of anime, and i think it would be pretty interesting. itd also require me to learn new alphabets and i think theyre pretty damn cool man.hurricane: describe a strange habit of yours.uhhhhh lets see. im not exactly aware of my habits much, nor would i know whats strange. hmmm. i mean, i pick on my psoriasis a lot? does that count as a habit?thanks again for sending some in! ♡