#both in person and online

[that1notetaker]

I don't know How To People. Please someone tell me How To People

[sagehaubitze]

sometimes I wonder and get a little scared that if I fell off the face of the internet, no one would think about me, I'd cease to exist. the internet is bad about having no object permanence after all (not just the internet, but in-person communities too in my experience)

but then I remember that I wonder about people I used to talk to on AIM, yahoo messenger, beseen chatrooms, in the 90s.. I think about them all the time and hope they're still out there doing okay.

[rheakira]

I've come to temporarily break my hiatus to bring up something deeply important. Because after a recent event, if I have to go another day without talking about it, I don't know what I'll do.

Fandoms have an enormous issue when it comes to bigotry and people feeling comfortable enough to be openly bigoted.

And I want to make it clear: everyone is capable of it. In fact, most people do it more often than they don't. But because this strange myth has been built up that if you aren't "blatantly saying slurs" or "killing others" it can't possibly be bigotry, we have done nothing but become dangerous behind closed doors.

If your friend has odd beef with a person of color in the fandom and holds them to standards they don't hold their white friends to, that is bigotry. If your friend feels some sort of way about the trans person in your friend group and tries to come up with reasons for why they specifically can't stay, that is also bigotry. If your group insists that a person with a personality disorder is making it up just for attention and uses that as a reason for why they can't be around them, that is bigotry as well.

I've never been upfront about it because... why do I, as a human being, need to be upfront about my identity when people randomly decide what I am? But I am in fact a person of color who is queer and disabled. Whenever I join a fandom group that is mostly white people, I am liked until this is discovered. And then I watch as people get brutal about things I do or say. Things that they don't do to other people in the group, and I also watch as they take my words and either twist them for convenience or ruin my reputation for it.

As a marginalized person, both in fandom and out, you are held to a unique standard that does not apply to other human beings around you. It makes doing what you love very difficult, because unfortunately as a marginalized person, people will always subconsciously side with the person trying to oppress or attack you. This has happened to me my entire life, from school to work spaces to even internet spaces claiming to be safe places.

People will say that they care about you and like you and even form a friendly bond with you, but the moment a person of privilege decides they do not like you very much, they can and will side with the other person even without proof of their issues with you. It's exhausting and ruins lives in places that should be fun and safe.

I am on my umpteenth experience with this exact cycle and I would be lying if I said it didn't make me feel like I couldn't live or breath in places I should be allowed to be involved in. It's a very real problem that refuses to end because no one has the courage to challenge it. I am speaking not only on my own experiences, but for the many other people of color or queers or disabled people who simply cannot join these so called "safe spaces" because of our identities conflicting with people who have been taught that we are lesser and not worth love or care.

If this is a problem you face, please know that I see you and I love you. It's hard to keep surviving in a world that wants to hurt you and leaves you abandoned and alone. I want you to know that the world is scary, but we all exist. You should be allowed to experience joy and fun without feeling like you're being suffocated and wanting to die.

You matter. The people around you that make you feel like you don't are nothing by comparison. You matter and I truly hope that we'll one day find each other and become the safe space that we deserve.

The marginalized people in your fandom are more important than your fictional characters and plotlines that you put above us. We're here and we're not leaving. Learn to live with us and protect us.

If we're truly your friends, you would care when your privileged "friends" want to remove us.

Additionally, please do not take this rant and make it only about white people who are part of these marginalized categories. This is a post about EVERYONE. Including the people of color around you. Do not remove us from this conversation. Care about ALL OF US if you support this at all. Thank you.

[jasperthejester]

me: finally accepting theres a good chance im autistic and starting to work up the courage to ask my parents to see if i could get a diagnoses but being scared to

my mom: do you ever think you have adhd? if you want to do a screening for add next time your at the doctors you can

me:

[clownsuu]

Small detour of what I usually post, but I absolutely wish (other) clown the best of luck during these confusing and almost hopeless times- nobody knows how to deal with such amount of attention in such short amount of time- a blessing and a curse to behold

[jakeperalta]

taylor calling out a nyt article about her sexuality is cool good for her I guess but I am begging her and her people to stop throwing "this wouldn't happen to a man" at literally everything... like sometimes that is.. not the point

[froggiethelesbian]

There’s something so intimate with seeing another disabled person in public. I was walking down the street with a friend to a cafe, my red cane in hand. Coming down from the opposite street was a young women with her friend. I saw her bedazzled cane, covered in stickers and art then looked up to her eyes. She had been looking at my cane, covered head to toe in stickers, before looking up to me. We both smiled and kept walking.But with no words spoken there was a message.

“You’re just like me. We are both here, living our lives, walking with a friend like everyone else. We exist, not just online but here in person, we are not alone.”

[barghest-land]

just wanted to say thank you to everyone for support, nice comments and interest in what i do! my life has been extremely shitty for the past few years and still is, so i appreciate all the attention to me and my works. sorry if i don't respond here and there, i don't have much energy to reply to all things, but i see and appreciate them. thank u 💙

[randomnameless]

Why do we still have in 2024 stupid takes like Rhea created and enforces the crest system?

Bcs Rhea BaD anon.

More seriously,

FE Fodlan is one of one of the most divorced FE verses from its fantasy elements (see : Nabateans being as important as Ignatz's leather shoes) : Tellius has the Laguz existing, Archanea/Ylisse has manaketes hanging around and being a core point in FE Archanea, Elibe has its entire history involving dragons and the best ending finally be about acceptance between the two races, Magvel has zombies, Valentia has terrors and in SoV we have dragons and magic dragon blood, Fates has dragons (and laguz-like!) and even Jugdral have people with magic dragon blood.

(i ranted and ranted and ranted under the cut, so it's a bit long)

Unlike Fodlan, Jugdral's "people with magic dragon blood" are a key element to the story told at large, and it bleeds through the mechanics used to tell that story. FE4 wise, toddler!Seliph has a S rank in swords when Beowulf, even if he trains his entire life, will never achieve A rank in swords. Base!Julia with her holy weapon can smack Loptyr, when max!invested (at least lore wise) Forseti!Ced will never be able to kill him.

It's unfair for Beo and Ced, but that is how the verse works because, in that verse, some people are mc guffins or "the only ones" who are able to do something, or even, straight out, stronger/have more talent than others.

In traditional fantasy settings we have the "same" sort of rules, you have elves who do X and Y, humans won't can't, dwarves who can't either but they can do W, orc who can do J, etc etc.

Even for all of the "deconstruction of the genre!" gimmick ASOIAF has, according to some people, Dany is fire-proof and Jon most likely survives after being assassinated because he is a Stark and can use his doggo as a back up save, both things Edmure Tully will never be able to achieve.

Tolkien has Numenoreans being straight up blessed by the Valar/stronger/longer lived/etc etc than middle-earth humans, on top of also having elves, dwarves and ents.

Ergo : power inbalance is baked in the fantasy genre.

And yet, the writers often manage to tell some version of "the ones who have less power are no less important", like with Tolkien, it's a bunch of hobbits who manage to take down the greatest "evil" of their era, or some message like "having more power/being more important means you are bound to help the ones who have none" thingie.

In Fodlan, the "beings who have more power" than humans are the Nabateans (+ Sothis herself!). Sothis can create life, her daughter - through unknown means - can create artifical beings, one her children can control weather (the one who was turned in a milkshake for Charon!), one of them has monstruous strength (the one turned in a milkshake for Blaiddyd), one of them could communicate with animals (Timotheos iirc - if we assume he was a Nabatean or got his powers from his crest), her granddaughter can set up an AOE to heal what would otherwise be fatal wounds (it's heavily implied this is what Flayn did when she overused her power and went comatose) etc etc.

This is the original power inbalance in Fodlan.

Then some humans "stole" this power from Nabateans, and got a share of it themselves, which is what is later called "crest" : aka, some humans got a part of the super/magic powers that Nabateans originally had and thus, because, for all intents and purposes, "super-humans".

Now, Fodlan discourse started with FE16 being released in 2019, not that long after GoT's ending - which was trash - and in an era where fandom turned from "harmless fun" to "something that looks like activism and earns you point if you manage to use it to express your real life opinions".

In 2019, after Dumb and Dumber tanked GoT and removed most of ASOIAF fantasy parts to deliver "sex that sells" with a moldy plot, some part of the fandom started to conflate and harass people over what they like, and how it, apparently, reflected on their real life opinions ("if you hate this female character it means you hate women!"/"if you think X becoming king is a good ending, you don't value democracy!").

So, we have this fantasy setting with its inherent power inbalance... that quickly became something that is/was unacceptable, because IRL, power inbalance is based on bullshit and something everyone decries - so if your beloved media reflects on what you like IRL, you can't like a setting with an objective power inbalance, even if is justified by magic which doesn't exist irl like shooting eyebeams or some people being more "special than others" who can live up to 1500 years old.

Fodlan's power inbalance, for some parts of the fandom 2019, cannot be justified by traditional fantasy settings so, those settings/fantasy elements are straight out ignored.

Thus the "crests"' magic effects/powers are ignored, and dumbed down to, roughly, what a middle school student would think "nobility" is/was in the Middle Ages/Renaissance.

Jean-François Marie Pierre de Bourbon isn't inherently better at smashing things with a sword than Bob, or at healing than Roger, any "advantage" Jean-François Marie Pierre de Bourbon has over them is, maybe, that he started training earlier.

In Fodlan?

If Jean-François Marie Pierre de Charon has a major Charon crest, he can dance and clap in his hands to summon rain. Bob and Roger, no matter how hard they train, will never be able to do that. Jean-François Marie Pierre de Charon will thus be seen as having higher "value" or being straight up "better" than Bob or Roger, because as long as he is here, your crops will never suffer from drought.

But... we can't have that, because if you confuse fandom and real life opinions and aspirations, you cannot admit that some people in Fodlan are inherently "better" at something, only because of their blood, otherwise, what would it translate to IRL?

This is why, imo, part of the fandom (and the game sure doesn't help! Fodlan is no Jugdral and its gameplay lacks coherence regarding the in-game lore! Remember how Raphael can use a relic and only loses 10HP, when Miklan, plot wise, was turned in a demonic beast?) that loves this take, arguably, reduces crests to a title and family name.

Why should the Bourbon family rule over us, when they're no better than Roger or Bob? Isn't it unfair the Bourbons are still valued nowadays when the only thing to their fame is their name, and not what they are actually doing?

The game plays coy about crests - we know each of them has a specific power - but it never reveals what are those powers (lore wise!) save for 2 of them. So are crests superpowers, or just a family name with a particle, or both? Is the "system" (a friend made a post debunking any idea of "systemic" application of this notion in the three countries) based on bullshit, or on, objective superpowers?

Dimitri tries to tackle the issue, but only around relic usage : the Gautiers are valued if they have a crest because they can use their superweapon to protect the border. But what about valuing House Charon's ability to bring rain and guarantee good harvests? What is the other superpower tied to the crest of Gautier that isn't "use a femur and wreck havoc with it"?

If Marianne's ability to talk to animals is tied to her crest, why isn't it more developed? Instead of having useless shit like talking and befriending horses like a Disney princess, we could have Maurice-blooded people be masters of counter-intelligence, imagine if they can talk to birds/rodents and ask them to scout various areas or spy/ask them what they saw ! Hell, we could have had a situation where in a fog of war map, where Marianne, if, idk, through Billy fed enough animals in the monastery, would have a better field of vision than anyone else, with some blurb/one-line about her relying on the animals around to know and see what is going on! Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

FE16 eludes the question, because the character who "questions" a world centered around "crests" is the marketable asset of the game, and cannot be challenged in any meaningful capacity v- she feels it's unfair that her crest seemingly dictate her life, and only in the gacha game with ery serious writing like the Heavy Plate Corps or Sniddies, does she get a modicum of self-reflection - or at least someone challenging her - where she is told that she could use the superpowers she has to help people instead of blaming the world for getting one.

In a traditional FE setting, where some Lords question why they were born with power/or are in powerful positions, the answer is always that no matter what they were born with (or without in Leif's case!) what is more important is what they decide to do with that power. Elincia never wanted to become Queen? She will still fight and protect Crimea and its people. Marth is the last hope of Altea, even if it means leaving Elice behind. Seliph doesn't want to fight in Thracia anymore or feels like he's a fraud? He can turn tail and return home, while the world around him falls apart. Leif also feels like a fraud because he doesn't have superpowers like his cousin? Does that mean he should turn his thumbs and watch as his people are being caught/enslaved/sacrificed?

In Fodlan you have no reflection like this : Linhardt is, imo, the best example.

Dude hates blood and has a crest (aka magic powers) geared towards healing, you could make a case that for someone who has hematophobia, being a healer is difficult and this would be the reason why he refuses to heal/use his powers to help people around him... but no. Lin's laziness is played for laughs, and his refusal to do anything not related to his topic of interest is never questioned/analysed under the angle of, say, a head nurse who has no crest and laments that she couldn't save everyone who was hurt during an assault, who snaps at him for having the "gift" he has and not using it for the sake of people around him.

"What Lin decides to do with his power?" : Well, nothing.

Instead we have a reflection on his bright mind going to waste if he lazes all day long, culminating in his Supreme support where an Imperial facility is created specifically to cater to his tastes, that will enable him to research crests as much as he wants...

But still, nothing about his innate "healing" power!

In the end, it's no surprise that part of the fandom latched on that "crest = nobility title" because the Fodlan verse refuses to develop anything about its fantasy elements (hell, iirc Nopes swaps "crests" for "blood" and "titles" in its Supreme route ?).

"Sure, but where does Rhea fit in this nonsense?"

Rhea is, in this vision, the ultimate target !

For all of the "I ignore fantasy elements", Rhea is always (in FE16 at least!) turning into a dragon : no matter how hard you want to ignore fantasy, she's here to remind you tht, in this verse, dragons exist.

But most importantly, as Fodlan must be analysed through an IRL lens otherwise modern fandom cannot engage with it, Rhea, by virtue of being the lady in charge of a religious organisation called "Church", is also seen through a lens : Rhea BaD bcs Religion BaD and Catholic Church BaD.

FWIW, thanks to the five years of discourse we had, I learnt more about cultural values and differences existings between, here and the rest of the world - especially a place that is overepresented on fandom spaces - on organised religions especially the catholic church. Of course this bled on fandom takes and analysis, which projected some users' irl bias against the Catholic Church on the fandom organisation and entity that is the Church of Seiros. Combine this with secularism being now weaponised and used to ridicule people in spaces like r/atheism and you have a perfect recipe for "Religion BaD = Catholic Church BaD = fictional organised religion with a catholic flair BaD".

Granted, given how a certain loLcalisation team also originates from this place, it's no surprise that some "creative liberties" they took tried to hammer even more, let it be in the script or the fucking "what is this game about?" page on their website, how this fictional organisation is basically a squenix trope of "evil cult manipulating everything in the shadows and sekritly controlling the world".

Besides, the main heroine of the game (even if that comes with a twist!) opposes this faction (CoS and especially its leader!) and, by the way those games are built, as seen earlier, they cannot disavow her too much, else the entire gut-punch the devs were gunning for (you are betrayed by your beloved character! But unlike what happens in Baten Kaitos, you only are attached to her because she is your avatar's simp) will fall apart. So she must be, somehow, right and not motivated by more personal and heinous reasons, like not accepting "non-humans" to have powers over humans, or thinking the world is not a place for them (this was carefully scrubbed out in Nopes, btw!).

If Supreme Leader, who we are supposed to root for and whom the game ultimately rewards because "reforms" happen in the endings, says that the CoS is the reason why humans value superpowers, she must be right, or at least, not completely wrong???

Which raises the final point on this topic : FE16 came in 2019, which was election year in the US, and we all know that election time in the US means the rest of the world is also affected, even if the rest of the world, well, isn't the US. As I mentionned, the US is over-represented in fandom spaces, and fandom is far from being a safehaven from all the mayhem and passion that always boil during election time and its immediate following.

Coupled with the "my fandom faves define my real life opinions" thingie I already wrote about, and we had an explosive cocktail for bad takes, needless aggressivity, ridiculing people with dissident opinions because they are seen as "wrong", etc etc. And let it be something trendy or not, especially when (young?) people are arguing about "politics" in online spaces, but it always boils down to gross simplification of various complex issues and/or using catchphrases or "shock-value" words to win over whoever is reading/listening.

(et je ne dis pas ça parce que certains de nos politiques font des "immigrés clandestins ou pas" la source de tous les maux, ou le fait que nos députés font la même chose en ce moment, Jonluk et Marine main dans la main, pour paralyser l'Etat afin de pousser Manu à la démission et éviter la case prison pour Marine)

I always thought the "CEO of racism" was a meme, but through Fodlan discourse, I started to wonder if it was something started seriously by someone who really thought that "racism" is caused by one person.

And we finally get to the point : somehow, somewhat, Rhea is supposed to be responsible for people/humans valuing superpowers.

Forget that the same "quest to obtain those superpowers" led to the extermination of her kin, or how the devs themselves explained that people - at least in their setting - always want more power :

As a result, what would happen to humans who gained power... they would want even more power, and find a dragon much stronger to beat in order to collect materials forcefully, in order to make even more powerful weapons... and so that was the cycle that was born. And that was the birth of Fodlan's Ten Elites

Wait, kill that, those superpowers don't exist since the game and the characters (bar Catherine, but I agree with @9thwither here, Cat is one of the most overlooked characters in this fandom!) never talk about them, so they don't exist...

Rhea is thus the reason why people value bloodlines - especially since those bloodlines don't come out with superpowers.

It sounds better and closer to what you could "hear" irl, from someone who's discoursing on the internet to explain "why" some people are more valued than other, it's because of religion and the Pope! It cannot be because of, well, human greed or just the need to have more power (for good or wrong reasons), no.

"But random, the Church most likely promotes a "divine right to rule" doctrine and let the 10 Elites' families rule over their clans in Faerghus thus gain nobility!"

Sure, but everything is moot if you consider this : to make this take viable, we ignore the game and consider that crests are just bloodlines, and not, objective sources of superpowers.

So why are we, discussing about this hypothesis/theory, even arguing about what the game says and/or does?

Bob Blaiddyd can kill a giant lion/wolf with his fists at base level, is it because of a supposed doctrine that people rally and want to be in Bob's graces, or because Bob has the power to protect them all? Karen Charon can summon rain, are people siding with her because Rhea told them to, or because Karen can make crops grow?

In conclusion : why people are still, in 2024, sprouting those takes?

1- Because they refuse to engage with the game and realise that it is a fantasy game belonging to a very specific genre

2- Because fandom opinions reflect on your real life opinions and likes : so they must find a reason to oppose what their perceive as an unacceptable power inbalance otherwise it means that they support the various inequalities that exist IRL

3- Because Religion BaD and bar the "projected takes from transposing feelings about an IRL church on a fantasy one" more and more people tend to prefer an "easy to proceed" solution than think about multi-causal issues and find solutions that might not.

Of course, I can already guess that some people might argue that they don't "refuse to engage with the game" since this take is more a less a condensed version of the Supreme spiel, and as developed above, the game does - willingly - a shit job at demonstrating that her spiel is nonsense (they had to add the "greed" part in an interview released after the game and its only and final DLC!), just like her sockpuppet who supposedly learns how misguided he was in certain routes... only to end with the same ice cream, albeit with a different topping.

However, Dimitri and Sylvain mention how crestless children are disowned in Faerghus... when Dimitri's own uncle is ruling over a domain himself, Ingrid's brothers exist in the background and Gustave is still Baron Dominic's brother, on top of having been the royal master at arms for at least, depending on the route, 3 generations of Faerghan kings.

In a game where Dorothea can blame the Goddess for fighting in a war her bestie started - without anyone pointing this out - it's obvious this verse has unreliable narrators, but after 5 years and having played all routes in both games + a DLC + a dev interview explaining how and why some humans acquired crests...

Tl;Dr :

Reason 1- is most likely the most prevalent why this take exists anon, "because some people refuse to engage with the game" with the added topping of "save for what Supreme Leader and her sockpuppet say that I can use to demonise the characters I don't like".

[vulpixisananimal]

(Siffrin) {Mal Du Pays} <Null> |Asterion| [Loop] [(Saffron)]

[A:3 C:56]

[TWs: Medical check up. Needles. SH Scars]

"Thanks for coming by, Siffrin, Isabeau." (Dr. Gina Joy took a seat at his desk. You and your emotional support Isabeau were sitting across from him on a nice couch.)

"Well uh, thanks for having me. Haha" (You rub the back of your neck.) "I-I, uh. . . I'm, just a bit, nervous?"

(The three of you were in one of the medhouse's cosy exam rooms. There was a small desk, the couch where you sat, a few paintings, a bookshelf, and a drawer with medical stuff on it. At the back there was a raised bed as well.)

"That's fine!" (Gina responded with a smile.) "Today's really open for me so we can take our time, alright?"

"T-thanks."

(Isabeau squeezes your hand.) ". . . Uh, is it alright if I stay for this?"

"That's up to Siffrin, he's the patient."

"P-pleasestay." (You look up at him, pleading.)

[Stars ABOVE Siffrin!!]

(You shrink down a bit as Isa responds.) "O-of course! Doctor visits can be very scary!"

"Don't worry, I don't bite." (Gina chuckles.) "So, ready?"

[Absolutely not.]

{No.}

(You nod.) "N-no, but, gotta start sometime." (Cue nervous laughter.)

"That's the spirit!" (Gina clapped his hands together.) "So! First, I want you to know that no matter what you tell me, I will treat it with utmost seriousness, and I will not tell anyone outside this room about what you tell me. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Alright." (He opens a notebook and clicks a pen.) "Second off, when was the last time you had a checkup?"

". . . . . . . . . " (Uh. . . It was. . . When?)

[No idea~]

{The answer might be never.}

(But, that's not true, what about. . .) "Uh, didn't a doctor visit me in Jouvente?"

"No, that was just to check your craft exhaustion." (Isa responds.)

"Uhm, what about in Dormont-"

"Same reason then too."

"But what about-"

"That was to patch your eye up."

"Uh, and, before that. . . ?"

"Nope." (Isabeau shakes his head.) "Never had the chance when we were saving the world!"

"F-fair." (You sink down into your cloak.) "S-so, uh, never?"

"No shame in that." (He writes something down.) "It happens. Well, what kind of conditions do you know you have?"

"Well, eye don't know about that~" (You stick out your tongue.)[Ugh.]{. . .}

"Pfft-" (Gina shakes his head, grinning.) "Fair enough. So are you missing your eye? Or is it just blind."

"Oh it's long gone." (You laugh a little.) "I took a hit meant for Bonnie, and my eye was the price." (But you'd do it again. Every-)

[Single-]

{Time.}

"I see." (Gina nods.) "I think it goes without saying but, thanks for that. Y'know, saving the country. Anything else?"

"Well. . ." (You tug on your cloak.) ". . . I have, a lotta scars."

"That's okay." (Gina writes something, then pauses.) ". . . No matter how you got them."

{. . .}

". . . Anything else?"

"U-uh. . . I, have, some weird, weird body stuff? Privates, stuff."

"No shame in that."

[Pineapples, stardust~] "O-oh! Right! I'm allergic to pineapples."

"Oh? How severe?"

"Deadly." (You give Isa a smug smile. He just put a hand on his forehead.)

"A-and, uh. . ." (. . . You, don't know if. . .)

[. . . Later.]

{Once we know the doctor better.}

(Okay.) ". . T-there's. . . Something else but, I'm, not comfortable saying it yet."

"Take your time." (He looks up and moves some hair out of his face.) "Alright then! If that's all, could you just sit over at the bed so I can get started?"

"O-okay!" (You let go of Isas hand and hop up. You walk over to the bed at the back, slowing down a little, hesitating. . .)

[. . .]

"Should, s-should I take my cloak off?" (You say. If you're already going all in. . .)

"Please, shoes too."

"A-alright." (You hesitate, reach to the pins of your cloak, and undo them. You, take off your cloak. Isabeau's at your side, you give him your cloak. You kick your shoes off. You don't look at Gina.)

". . . Like I said, no matter how you got them." (He talked in a supportive tone.)

(Your skin tingles. You shuffle over to the bed and hop up, you take a shaky breath in, and out.) ". . . . . . T-thankyou."

"No need to thank me, Siffrin." (You finally look up at Gina. He was beaming, Isabeau was giving a double thumbs up from behind him.) "Let's get started."

(Gina got to work, checking all over your body, writing down your results. It was, a lot at once, woah.)

(Gina put a band around your arm, it constricted slightly.) ". . . 128 over 71, blood pressure's a little high."

(Gina put a stick in your mouth.) "36.8C Perfectly average."

{He was changing gloves and washing hands periodically.}

(He looked in your ears with some sort of light that looked like a pen.) "Looks nice and clear."

"Open your mouth and stick out your tongue, please." (You do, he puts a popsicle stick on your tongue and looks down your throat with that same light.)

". . . ." (He stares for a second.) ". . . It looks like you have scarring back there, similar to your friend, actually."

"Ohhuua?" (You try and say.)

(Gina takes the stick out.) "Do you know what that's about? There's no record of what causes it."

"O-oh, uh. . ." (You rub your shoulder. You, right, it was-)

{The island, and saying its name.}

(R-right.) "Do you, know about the island north of Vaugarde?"

"Uh. . . Uhm. . ." (He taps his chin.) ". . . Yeah wait, isn't, that the island that just, disappeared a few years ago?"

"That's the one." (You clear your throat. Just, relax.) "A, a long story short. No matter what you do, you can't remember it anymore. Or anything relating to it. A-and, if you try saying the island's name, well. . ." (You tap your throat.)

". . . I see!" (Gina went and wrote all that down.) "I'll, ask for more details after we're done here if that's alright."

"Fine by me."

(He finishes writing that down and walks back to you.) "Good! Oh! Apart from that your mouth looks good, but I'm no dentist. Alright, so, let's get to the obvious."

"Look directly up, please, but don't move your head." (He gets that light again and points at the bottom of your eyeball as you look up.) "Hmm, looks good from here!"

"At least I have one that works." (You try and joke.)

"True enough! Let's keep it that way. Now, may I?" (He asks, gesturing to your eyepatch. You nod.)

(He takes the eyepatch off for you, and looks around your damaged eye.) ". . . Lots of scarring. That glass eye is some good craftsmanship, but a bit worn. Does your other one look the same?"

(You exchange a look with Isa.) ". . . Other, one?"

". . You don't have a spare?" (He stands up.) "Wait, you do take it out to clean it right?"

(You glance to the side.) ". . . I, didn't know you needed to?"

". . . Got it!" (He shakes his head, smiling.) "I know a glassblower in town, I'll write you a prescription for them to make you another one. And I'll get you info on taking care of an empty eye socket."

"Although." (He looks at the eyepatch.) ". . . A craft to help keep dust and such out. Where'd you get this eyepatch?"

"I made it!" (Isa raised his hand.) "I can show you how I did it if you want!"

"Please!" (Gina chuckles.) "It's really good work!"

(Back to it, Gina grabbed his stethoscope and put it to your chest.) "Juuust breathe naturally."

(He puts his stethoscope to multiple parts of your chest, then your back, then your chest again. He's making an, annoyed face? He stops using the stethoscope, and gently grabs your wrist, mouthing something to himself as he presses on an artery.)

[Stardust, how did you mess up BREATHING!]

(I didn't-! He goes and gets a different stethoscope and does the same.)

". . . Try. . . . . . Holding your breath?"

(You do so, and wait. seven, ten, thirteen, twenty seconds. He presses the stethoscope to multiple parts, and listens. . . Eventually he steps back.) "Okay, that's enough."

(You take a few breaths.) "Uh. . . All, all good?"

". . . I'll be honest, Siffrin. I have no idea what the fuck is going on with your heart."

"UH-" (Isabeau shared your worried look.)

"It's, well! Your heart is beating, I can tell that from your radial artery. But when I try to listen to it there's just this. . . Buzzing?"

". . . O-okay!" (You laugh nervously.)

[?!?!?!?!?!!? JUST, OKAY?!?! STARDUST?!??!?]

{Hmm. Strange. Concerning.}

"I've. . . . Never heard of anything like it!" (Gina tapped his foot, thinking.) "Have you had heart problems before?"

"Not, really?"

"Siffrin you had a heart attack!" (Isabeau interjects.)

"O-oh, oh yeah. From the craft exhaustion." [STARS!! You are a mess, Stardust.]

". . . O-kay." (Gina goes back to his notebook and writes a few things down.) "From what I can tell your heart is working fine for now, but without something more invasive that buzzing is making it hard to listen."

"For, for now?!?"

"A heart attack can damage the heart and cause even more heart problems." (He finishes writing and walks back over to you.) "I can get you some medicine that can restart your heart in a pinch. Just in case."

"That'll be a relief." (Isabeau sighed.)

(He continued with the check-up. Getting a small rubber mallet and gently tapping your knee.) ". . . Very good reaction time."

(Next, a needle.) "Just a blood draw, want me to count down? No? Alright." (He looks for a good artery, then goes in with the needle. You didn't even flinch.)

(Gina took the needle back, and put a cute smiley bandaid over the wound.) "Okay, so, I need to be thorough and do a full body examination, and that means being nude. Is that alright? I could send Isa out."

"I-I--" (You bite your lip and look at Isa. He's looking away, flushed.)

[S-stars above-]

{It's a doctor visit. Get over it. You nod, Siffrin relays your words.} "It's fine, for both."

"Alright. In your own time." (Gina goes to one wall and reaches above a cabinet and flips a hidden switch, a pole with a curtain leaned down and he pulled it across. Privacy.)

(You gulp down your anxiety, and, with a shaky hand, take off your, shirt, first. Oh s-starsabove you didn't think this would, w-would-)

[Well you're here NOW! UGH! Who planned this again?!?]

{Asterion.}

[WHY!?!? Blinding- None of you have even MET Asterion!! And he's here just making decisions!!!]

(. . . It's, not a bad one though, is it?)

[Well. . .]

{It's not. You finish getting undressed. If you can't trust a doctor who can you trust.} "Done."

{If you two can't behave, I'll keep us on a lead. Gina retracts the curtain and starts the examination.}

". . . I, take it you've talked to those close to you about these scars?" {Gina asks, looking over your arms.}

"Yeah." (You nod.) "I, I'm, trying, not to."

"That's alright. As long as you're trying, and I can tell none of them are fresh." {He pauses at the large scars on your torso.} "What I'm more curious about are these. They look like, large stab wound scars."

"U-uh-" (You make a face.) ". . . It, was, a giant knife?"

"Well, with whatever you guys went through I'll believe it." {He smiles. You hated the touch, but, you glanced at Isabeau. He doesn't look worried.}

[Mal. He's a FLUSTERED MESS!!]

"Top surgery?" {Gina asks, examining the two chest scars.} "It's a sloppy job. Was body craft not an option?"

"N-no it wasn't. My extended family didn't like how I was born, but I couldn't use wish craft to change it." {You.} (speak.) "You're supposed to make a wish to change your body instead of using body craft, but kids aren't allowed to use wish craft. So, my parents had to. . . . . . agree. . . . . To. . . . . . . . ."

(You feel dizzy. You stumble back, sitting down on the bed again. Gina handed you some water, Isa was staring at you, before getting up and getting a pen.)

"Uh, do you have a spare piece of paper?"

"O-oh sure! Here, why?"

"It's, Sif sometimes gets moments where he remembers so I gotta write it down before I forget."

"Ah- right okay. I have, a lot to read up on don't I."

"Yeah-"

"What're we talking about?" (You shake your head and look up.) "Sorry I just, zoned out."

"I-it, was about those scars. On your chest." (Gina replied, getting back over to you.) "Have you always had memory issues?"

"Kinda?" (You shrug.) "I don't think it's that bad."

(You hear Isa choking a little across the room.) "Siffrin, your memory is a sieve with a cannon hole in it!"

(You reach for your cloak- RIGHT. NUDE.) "C-canwecontinue-"

"Of course, Sif!" (Gina says in that calm tone of his. He gets back to it.) "Hmm, it looks like you need to eat more, but you're definitely getting enough exercise. May I. . ? Thank you. . . Yep, looks perfectly healthy down there!"

(Your heart skips a beat.) "I-I, what?"

"What." (Gina looks up at you.) "Did you expect something different?"

"W-well, it's, y'know. . ." (You look away, uncertainty plaguing your face.) "Not, normal. At all. Down there."

"Just because it's not normal doesn't mean it's not perfectly fine and healthy." (He stands up and pats you on the shoulder.) "Intersexism is fine. There's studies tying some health problems later in life to it, so make sure to check up again."

"O-okay-" (You squeak.)

"Oh! And have you been intimately active? Experienced Vaugardian culture, as it were?"

(Huh? What does that. . . . .UHM- YOU COVER YOUR FACE.)

[. . Well!]

{No? The answer is no, isn't it?}

(. . . . . .)

{. . . Siffrin. What did you-}

(You. Let out a mumble.) ". . . H-heyIsa-?"

". . . . . Y-yeahSif?" (His voice was very normal.)

". . . Can you. Plug your ears and hum to yourself please?"

"O-OKAY-!" (A second later you hear Isabeau humming softly as you whisper the answer to Gina.)

". . . Okaydone-"

"MNFSBHNDSDBNM" (Isabeau groans into his hands.) "Idunnowhatitwasbutwecantalkaboutthatlaterifyouwant-"

"Okaythankyou--"

(There's a bit of a silence as the two of you silently die inside. Gina breaks it.) ". . . . Wwwweeeeeellllllll that's the physical all done. Uh. I'll give you a second to get dressed."

(You're covered by the curtain again.)

[Stardust~]

(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!)

{Siffrin.}

(LALALALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUu finish getting dressed and not thinking about that at all.) "All done!"

"Oki Doki!" (Gina puts the curtain back.) "The last physical thing I wanted to ask about was that craft exhaustion. Like I said last time, once you get it once it'll be easier to get it subsequent times. What craft were you overusing?"

". . . . Uh." (You make a face.) ". . . Time craft?"

". . ."

"I-I'm serious!"

"I. . . Okay! If the King could do it then so can you. Okay." (He sits down and thinks for a minute.) ". . . I ask because if you get craft exhaustion that means you'll be affected by craft overuse, too."

"Craft whatnow?" (You tilt your head.)

"If you use crafts too much without a break it'll start to affect your body." (He spins in his chair and grabs a book off the shelf. He opened it to a page and showed it to you.) "Here."

(The book had a picture of four hands. One was normal, the other three, well, Gina explained.) "The first is a normal hand. The second one with calluses is from rock craft overuse. The third thin looking one is from scissors overuse, and the fourth one with thin pale skin is from paper overuse."

". . . Huh! I've, never heard of that!"

"Me neither." (Isabeau adds.) "I've never seen anything like that before."

"It's hard to overuse the three basic crafts." (He looks through the book.) "And the only entry for time craft overuse says you just die. With a little smile face in the small print. Funny."

"Very funny." (You grumble.) "I uh. . . I'll admit I, do, overuse time craft. A lot. I can't say how, for, reasons."

"I'll trust you." (He looks at the book intensely for a few more minutes.) ". . . . Okay, theory time. If time craft is linked to transportation craft, similar to how time and space are linked, then there's a good chance their craft exhaustions are linked too."

"Transportation craft is difficult, but not impossible. We have records of its overuse and effects; it completely ruins your sense of direction and balance. It's like you lose place of your location in space."

"Oh! So!" (Isabeau jumps in.) "For time it must be losing your sense of passing time! That makes total sense!"

"Does it?" (You scratch your head.) "I don't think that's happened at all though."

"How long have we been here, Sif?"

". . . 3 hours?"

"30 minutes."

"H-HUH?!?!?" (You look around for a clock.) "That, what?!?"

"Fascinating!" (Gina is writing faster than Odile.) "Hmm. . . Well, I'll just play it safe and assume that's true. There's a clockmaker in town, I'll get them to make you a pocket watch that can chime periodically."

"Uh. . . Thanks?" (You rub your head.) "Sorry I'm just, surprised?"

"So am I." (Gina gestured back to the couch.) "You can get comfortable again, I just have one last thing I want to go through."

(You get up and go to the couch; cloak and shoes back in place. You looked at Isabeau next to you, he was smiling, but still had a hint of a blush on his face. You reach your hand out, he takes it.)

". . Y-you okay, Sif?" (He leans down and whispers.)

"Y-yeah." (You nod.) "Just, yeah."

"I love you."

"I love you too." (You take a second, then look up at Dr. Gina.) "S-so."

"So!" (He finishes his writing, then gets out a clipboard with some papers on it.) "I have a few things I'd like you to fill out, if that's alright. I promise not to judge, okay?"

(He hands you the clipboard and a pen. Looking over the first page, it's, questions. "How often are you distracted by noises around you?" "How often do you interrupt others.")

["Do you have fears about harming yourself or others." "Fear of saying certain things" "Often find yourself lost in thought."]

{"Do you have excessive concern about animals." "Fear of accidentally stealing things." "Have trouble remembering things."}

(. . . . . .)

{You. . . . Take your time.}

{. . . . A lot of these questions take a while. You have to be honest with yourself. You glance at Isabeau. He's looking away, giving you privacy.}

{. . . . . . . . . . .}

(You hand it back. Gina takes it and starts looking over your answers. You look away.)

"It's alright, this'll just take a minute."

{You tuck your legs up inside your cloak and hold them close. Fear bubbling in your gut. This. . . Wasn't a bad idea. But you hate it.}

[You, couldn't agree more.]

(It feels like forever. You lean on Isa, he puts an arm around you. Stars, maybe you are loosing your sense of time. . . Finally, Gina speaks up again.)

". . . So! This questionnaire was to help me get a better idea of your mental health." (He taps his pen.) "There's a good chance you have a form of autism or ADHD, or both. And I'm positive you have anxiety and depression. I could get you some medication for that, but again, you'll need to see a specialist."

"ADHD?" (You tilt your head.) "What's that?"

"Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It's an inability to control what you focus on." (He continues.) "You're also definitely suffering from PTSD, I'm not really surprised considering all you've been through. You've both been through."

"And lastly, you may have some form of DiD, Dissociative Identity Disorder. Although again, you'd need to see a specialist for that."

"Huh?" (Why does that sound familiar?) "And what's that mean?"

"Well." (Gina put his hands together.) "It's, having dissociative episodes and essentially having multiple personalities, or identities, in one body. Does that sound familiar?"

". . . . I-" (Oh stars, oh stars oh stars oh stars oh stars oh stars oh stars oh stars oh stars-)

[C-calm, calm down Siffrin, you, we, aha-]

{You turn to Isa and tug on his arm, eye wide. His face looked some mix of, proud? Excited? You couldn't tell. He smiled and nodded, putting an arm around you.}

(You, wait like that for a few seconds, breathing, you're okay, it's okay.) ". . I, I guessed as much, h-haha."

"Yeah?" (Gina tilted his head.)

"S-sorry, just." (You hold closer to Isabeau.) "I, I knew I had, something like that, I even met someone who also has it, gave me advice. B-but. . ."

"It's different having a doctor say it, right?"

"Y-yeah. . ."

"I know the feeling." (He's talking so softly. You hear the scribble of his pen.) "I'll make a note here for that, alright? But you'll need a psychiatrist for much more, alright?"

<Ugh.>

[Problem?]

<No.>

[You're a bad liar~] "Thank you so much, Gina. . ."

"No problem!" (Gina clicks his pen and puts it to the side.) "That's pretty much everything! I have a lot to write up, and I'll have to check your blood but that'll tay a few days."

"So. . . . We're, done?"

"That's all!" (He beams at you.) "Once I get you that medical plan, you're free to go!"

"Absolute lifesaver." (Isa chuckled.) "Thank you so much, Gina!"

"No problem! You can wait in the lobby if you want." (He gathers the papers and puts them together.) "Who knows! By the time I'm done, Boniface might be walking home with you!"

(That's. . .)

(. . . That's good to hear.)

[protagonist-art]

um doomed yuri ocs? yes pls !!!

this is post is Carrie focused! she's fucked up and evil and like rlly short...

[hplonesomeart]

Hey. Sorry about the inactivity, but pretty sure no one cared that much anyways lol. Been a looooong time since I kept that distant from Tumblr…at least now I know I’m able to survive without checking posts every day/being chronically online! I’ve got an intense love-hate relationship with this lifestyle I’ve dug myself into. Think I’m getting a little bit better with the balance even if school isn’t really giving me an option. Got a load of work I need to keep catching up on if I don’t want to disappoint my professors. We’ll survive somehow. Here take a quick batch of Puzzle doodles k bye

[accio-victuuri]

i don’t know whether to laugh or cry cause both so/o sides are accusing the other of dating their female manager. like. what. i normally dismiss their tantrums, but i read this post below and i totally agree. 💯

they are too dumb to notice they are being used by other people. the same ones their faves are suing — they are helping them out. how ironic. and it just makes xz and wyb look bad. the two of them are busy working but majority of the fans are busy ruining their name.

[sanderssideswriting]

Yeah the ts crit community really is mostly on tumblr. If any crit on twitter is brave enough to call out thomas or even just ask a SIMPLE INNOCUOUS question like ‘hey whens the next sanders sides coming out’ they get dog-piled by his followers. Just now my twitter tl algorithm made some posts pop up from ppl I don’t even follow and they’re just defending thomas + his patreon and saying that we’re just angry jealous ppl who don’t understand what goes on behind the scenes for him (as if THEY do?).

I swear, the die-hard fans that are still left, I’m sorry, they’re not a fandom. They’re a cult. A cult of personality centered around one man, purely there to keep stroking and defending his fragile ego. They’re no better than the sw*fties or any other group of ppl driven by blind devotion, obsession and white knighthood.

Oh 100%, there's next to no ts crit community on twitter, I got curious and checked a few days ago, searching stuff like Thomas Sanders Critisism, TSS Criticism, TSS critical, stuff that's used over here and the only thing that got anything was the first, but then it was just showing stuff with "Thomas Sanders" or even just "Sanders" in the post. So it's hard to organize that kind of community, plus the die hards and Thomas being on there.

I'd say the only place the fandom is pretty active is on Twitter, and that's soley because of Thomas, because he interacts with the fans and makes it so that there's motivation to make tss stuff. You know there's a community on there for it and if you're lucky Thomas will see it and retweet it. Otherwise it's kind of a joke that the fandom is dead until it's breifly revived whenever a new episode comes out. Which then leads to parasocial relationships and the idea that somehow continues to persist that Thomas is a poor boy who can do no wrong and if he did do wrong he didn't actually know any better. Never mind he's thirty-fucking-4. And his fans are half his age.

One this I do kinda disagree with is the idea that all his die hards and current fans are like 14, which I just don't think is true, I think they were like 14 when the last proper episode came out, and are now more along the lines of like 18 or around there. He's got a lot of patrons, including 17 people who paying $125 a month, that money has to come from somewhere and I doubt it's all from allowances.

[hegodamask]

Doing tumblr stats when you've had the same blog since 2011 is a real eye opener into how active this site used to be 10+ years ago.

I know my blog isn't representitive for the whole of tumbr, but look at the number of notes I was getting 2012-2017 compared to...now lol. The massive uptake in 2015 is down to The Force Awakens releasing that year and hype being at an all time high. My most popular post on this blog ever is a screenshot of John Boyega's tweets. I was running a Star Wars sideblog at the time which shot up with even more followers and notes than this. Really shows you how active the fandom was on here back then.

And despite consistently using tumblr for 14 years, the number of original posts I've made myself has gone down a lot. In 2012, I made 2513 original posts, in 2024 as of right now I've made 159. That's the lowest number in my whole 14 years of being on here 😐

Some of this is down to me personally (I'm 14 years older, life gets in the way, my relationship with Star Wars has changed etc.) But we also can't deny the lack of activity on here, plus people (myself included 😔) becoming more passive consumers on social media is a major factor too.

It's far from perfect, but I still love tumblr so much. I have friends on here going way back to 2012 and I'm still making friends on here in 2024! Plus, it's still a huge creative and fandom outlet for me. In a year where every other social media site felt like it was draining the life out of me, I'd really hate to lose the one platform I still genuinely enjoy being on. I really hope tumblr as we know it can weather the storm of whatever the internet will become by the end of this decade, but idk if it will.

Originally, I joined tumblr as a new years resolution. Perhaps my resolution this year should be to put more effort into being active on social media in a positive way. To push myself to make things I enjoy and actively celebrate the things others create too. Even if tumblr doesn't last the next 10+ years, maybe that attitude is the only way to stay happy and sane online these days.

[ebonytails]

maybe im just dumb but what is the difference between kris p and kris t?

TL;DR - They are Kris Dreemurr fictives and we needed a way to differentiate them

Oh you're not dumb, don't worry! It really is a little confusing because we haven't talked about who they or we are in a very long time. I'm going to talk a lot here so you have all the context you might need! If it''s too long,, the TL;DR above is the gist of it.

For context, we are a system! You can read about it a little in our FAQ

Kris T and Kris P are TWO Kris introjects/fictives of Kris Dreemurr from Deltarune in our system.

Originally we just had Kris T who split in Dec 2018, and then when Chapter 2 came out, Kris P came into our system after that. Of course at first, Kris T. was just "Kris", but since we had a double now, we had to figure out how to differentiate between the two. We knew another Kris fictive from a different system at this time who was nicknamed P. Kris by Susie in our system, and susie wanted to emphasize who she was talking about.

SO. As a small nod to that, everyone decided to nickname Kris P as Kris P, as an inverse of P. Kris.

A little convoluted, I know!

Besides being Kris introjects/fictives though, they also look different! I made some new drawings to try and showcase their differences if that helps :3?

Their dark world forms also look different. Kris T's is simpler, with a shiny soft cape, while Kris P's is more complicated with a hooded cape, which is also described as "very comfortable"

Here's a whole Toyhouse of images of how Kris T. looks like right now! There's also his reference ! vvv

Sorry if you weren't interested in our "life story"! They're not just random characterizations (they are alters), so I wasn't sure how to answer w/o giving you some sort of explanation.

They have their own sideblogs, so if you have specific questions directed towards them, you can always ask here because we'll see it better, or you can send them an ask in their own blogs. Kris T's is @kristalpepsi, and Kris P's is @itswhattheycallyou