#but i'm curious to see what the general trend is

[msviolacea]

A conversation I had earlier this week, plus a couple of random unrelated comments I read on the internet, have me curious about this.

A couple of definitions for the poll:

"personally know" = you could call, text, or otherwise privately message that person right now to have a casual conversation, or you could do so at some point in the past. For this purpose, "they follow me on social media somewhere" is not sufficient.

"relatively famous or powerful" - the person is at least somewhat well known in their industry, either by the public or by other professionals in the industry. i.e., for movies/TV, this can range from "is a famous actor" to "is an experienced costumer who has worked on a bunch of major movies or TV shows" and anything related or in between.

"entertainment industry" - seems self explanatory, but in general this means any industry that produces movies, TV shows, cartoons, books, plays, podcasts, games, music, etc etc. The size of the industry is fluid - mostly I'd say if it's something where you could find a fairly sizeable group of people talking about it on the internet, it counts, be it Taylor Swift or the podcasts on MaxFun or an indie game with a thousand passionate people subbed to its subreddit.

The conversation was about whether it's more common now, with the internet, to know someone vaguely famous or not, and how the definitions of such have changed. And part of me wanted to make internet versus offline a criteria here, but this is simpler.

[dedalvs]

I was studying up on SLIPA and I'm kind of curious how one would go about performing sound changes (hand position changes?) with a signed language? Do the concepts translate over to SLs similarly? Like, how would you express assimilation or metathesis or umlaut through a SL? Or do they just have their own completely unique set of changes separate from spoken languages?

Remember that when we write things like C[-cont] > [+voice] / V_V that these are shorthands for descriptions, and they're not necessarily consistent across the discipline. There are absolutely changes that occur in sign languages—both synchronically and diachronically—and there are linguists who have studied them. For example, in the history of ASL, signs that were signed in the periphery have moved closer to the center; signs where two hands were doing non-parallel actions have switched to parallel; and two handed signs have shifted to one handed signs. These are long-term, general trends, but there'es plenty of assimilation that's quite explicable.

For example, consider the verb TEACH, signed up at the top of the forehead. In TEACHER, where TEACH is followe dby the two hand PERSON suffix, the hands rarely get so high as the top of the forehead. This makes sense, as the place of the TEACH sign is farther from the usual place where the PERSON suffix happens, and so its shift to be closer to the place of PERSON is a kind of anticipatory assimilation, akin to nasal place assimilation. You could describe this with SLIPA, or you could describe it in words, as I've just done, or you can describe it with video augmented by words, etc. The concepts are the same; only the articulators are different.

A lot of sound changes (synchronic or diachronic) boil down to two major factors:

While it is possible for human beings to be precise in their actions (to say the same word the same way every single time; to sign the same thing the same way every single time), it's not convenient, and so humans take shortcuts, where they can (i.e. where they can get away with it without sacrificing the whole enterprise, i.e. conveying a message).

While it is possible for humans to pay careful attention and decode a message precisely as it was intended—and even to inquire when there is confusion—it's not convenient. We will often make false assumptions about what we see and hear. Furthermore, we will often assume that when what we perceive doesn't square with what we expect, it is our expectations that were incorrect, not the sender of the message. If in replicating the error the message doesn't suffer, the error may propagate, leading to change (i.e. errors in perception that don't interfere with the transmission of a message can be replicated and become largescale language changes).

These two factors account for the majority of sound changes (not ALL of them, of course, but the lion's share). Notice that neither of them require that the language be either spoken or signed, because they deal exclusively with transmission and reception. Only the details are different when the medium changes. For example, there's nothing similar to a velum and how it works in sign languages. It's too specific an organ with too specific a function in spoken language. But that doesn't meant that some of what it's involved with (e.g. various assimilations, blocking, etc.) won't have analogs in manual languages.

To offer a more concrete analogy, I was born with six fingers and no thumbs (two index fingers on each hand). I had surgeries to turn one index finger on each hand into something that approximates a thumb, and it functions fairly well most of the time. When I learned ASL, I discovered there were certain things I simply could not do. In signing numbers, for example, 6 and 7 are very hard to form on my right hand, and impossible on my left. My new thumbs simply don't connect that way, and furthermore, there's some connection to my other fingers when I try to move the thumb, and so I can't raise my other fingers while I'm trying to make that connection. This is what the number 6 is supposed to look like (signed with my right hand):

You can see my thumb is making contact with my pinky with the other three fingers extended upward.

Now this is what happens when I try to make that sign with my left hand:

You can see my hand is basically forming a claw. If I thought about it, I could extend my index and middle fingers, but I cannot continue to stretch my thumb to my pinky while extending my ring finger. Furthermore, that is the very furthest I can stretch my thumb. It simply will not extend anymore. i can use my other hand and push it, but what I'm doing is pushing my pinky closer. That's the furthest my thumb will go.

As a result of this, the way I sign is always noticeably distinct. There are things I simply cannot do that the majority of signers accomplish with ease.

Even so, the way my hands are does not and has never interfered with my ability to speak any oral language. Why would it? It's not relevant to speech.

Having said that, what if instead of hands it were my tongue? Or velum? Or lips? Or teeth? If I'd been born without front teeth, for example, it would impact the way I sounded when I spoke English. Consider that [f], [v], [θ], and [ð] all crucially involve the front teeth.

So back to the original question, there is no direct analog for the way my hands work to speech, in that my hands will affect a sign language in the same way that some change in the mouth will affect an oral language. But the CONCEPT! That is analogous. That is, a change in your physiology can affect your ability to produce an oral language int he same way your physiology can affect your ability to produce a signed language. The concept is the same; the instantations will differ. That means the specifics will crucially differ, as well.

In other words, yes, sign languages do have their own specific sets of changes, but, no, the basic concepts are the same as spoken languages, because both of them are nothing more than human patterns of production and perception.

[lover-of-mine]

Hello and welcome to me being crazy about colors in media. Again. I feel like during season 7 there was the whole blue and yellow thing going around Buck and Eddie and I offered the theory that it could be like the blue and green thing, but for queer couples, since the show tends to use that color combo with Hen and Karen (here's that post if you want to see it), until @stagefoureddiediaz told me about a trend in media as a whole to use those two colors for queer coding, she mentioned red, white and royal blue and heartstopper as more recent examples but that this has been going on for a while. I'm gonna be honest, I don't watch a lot of movies, but the other day tiktok started to show me clips of Crush, it's a queer high school romcom, I had it on streaming, I was bored, I sat down to watch it, the movie is ridiculously blue and yellow, like, it's almost funny, I'm not gonna write a meta on that, if you get curious and watch the movie, there are blue and yellow elements to pretty much every scene, just pay attention lol. But that got stuck in my head and I was thinking about Love, Simon, and well, that movie also uses blue and yellow elements, in a more subtle manner, but it's there, rwrb also has details, like the lighting or color of ties, the same way they hide pride flags with elements of the scene. I never watched heartstopper, so I can't comment on that one.

Why am I telling you this? Well, if this is a pattern in media in general, then we have ourselves a solid theory. Crush and rwrb are more recent movies, crush is from 2022, rwrb is from 2023, but Love, Simon came out at the beginning of 2018. This makes the choice of making henren scenes blue and yellow very interesting.

You know me, I'm the blue and green person (extremely detailed meta on the blue and green), but I turned off the blue and green switch in my head and was going around wondering what counts as yellow. Because if we count warn lighting in general, the way it reflects in the background, Buck and Eddie are constantly surrounded by blue and yellow elements. There's a lot during under pressure, including the way the dialogue during the ambulance is "Practice rounds have blue caps, gold caps are live." while we have blue and yellow lights in the ambulance ceiling.

The blue and yellow elements are real, but while making my buddie in every episode series, I was watching season 3 with the blue and yellow goggles on, and I realized the lights behind Eddie during the tsunami are very much yellow, along with the blue tents and Eddie's uniform.

And once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it.

They even have blue and yellow beers.

So the blue and yellow during season 7, has to mean something. For both of them.

And with the way that Buck, Bothered and Bewildered is a blue and yellow episode, I kinda wanna say that the blue and yellow IS about queer themes.

But the reason I'm making this post is actually more insane than just making this point again. Buck and Eddie have 2 undeniably blue and yellow scenes before season 7. Scenes where they are dressed in blue and yellow. And those are very important scenes in my humble opinion. Because the first one is the will reveal.

This scene is one of the most important buddie scenes. And that makes the colors here very interesting if we add things like the way they wanted to make Buck bi in season 4 but fox didn't let them, and this scene reads as a love confession anyway. Having Eddie in blue and Buck in yellow could very much have been the way they found to add more significance to the scene.

But there's also the way that Eddie's shirt is to yellow the same way Buck's is to blue during the presentation of the couch theory (rip you will always be famous), which is, again, a choice, we also have the notepads Eddie and Chris are playing with are yellow and the beers are also yellow, and the way Chris is a blue element.

Everything here keeps getting me more and more convinced that they will go canon while in blue and yellow, not blue and green like other couples, because green is both their breakup colors, if we count the conversation with Kim as a breakup.

And personally, I think we can, because by my own standards, their first conversation is blue and green.

So buddie going canon in a blue and yellow scene makes more sense because it would be unique to them.

This is a very long way to say, let's be on the lookout for both of them wearing blue and yellow lol.

That's all for today, if you reached this, I love you 💜

[cirusthecitrus]

People of the Galactic Horde (the OGs)

Since I'm working on a Horde Prime origin story, it was inevitable that one day I would have to come up with designs for his species aka the original spacebats. And well, it was a fun challenge!

(click/tap to have a better look!) My first attempt at drawing other bats was with the High Priests of the Four Temples - the most influential and powerful people on the planet, also known as Anillis'/Prime's teachers :)

See that last guy? That's the emperor of the original Galactic Horde! Though after his unexpected early death his wife had to become the new Prime. Gladly, Horde World was not left without a future heir to the throne^^

Fun thing is, I never planned on making designs for Anillis' parents, since they never appear in the actual story + even the twins don't remember what they looked like. But idc making fanparents is fun! (In my vision Horde Prime inherited the death stare from his mother and the sly misleading smile from his father >:} )

(I talk more about the characters and worldbuliding in my fic "Violent Youth". U can find the link in my pinned post)

I also had to design tons, and I mean tons of episodic characters of all ages, genders and backgrounds. Now after all this training I'm ready to fill the backgrounds with bats :3

Some general notes on the people of the Horde under the cut

Every spacebat is born with a white face. Any deviations were rare and considered a type of skin condition

Facial markings slowly appear once baby bats hit puberty. When spacebats' white faces were seen as blank canvases, the facial markings were their life journey drawn on said canvases. The markings were seen as the real window to the soul. Having no marks as an adult was simply outlandish, people of Krytis even had a belief that such bats "had nothing behind their soul" and thus could not be trustworthy

Facial markings (as well as ears) came in many forms. In ancient times one could tell in which of the four original provinces a person was born by simply looking at their faces. Nowadays it became nearly impossible to guess someone's homeland this way (mostly everyone are people of mixed descent), but to those curious this is how bats used to distinguish one another by their markings:

North - straight lines across/all over the face (e.g. the emperor)

South - wavy lines across/all over the face e.g. (the High Priestess of the Southern temple)

West - straight minimalistic lines (e.g. horde clones)

East - wavy minimalistic lines (e.g. the empress)

Hair never held much cultural significance on Krytis, so the styling was only a question of one's personal preference and fashion trends. Some bats (mainly from the south) saw no point in having hair whatsoever - those would choose to go bald or shave parts of the head to better show off their markings

Everyone had one set of eyes. Only local deities were sometimes depicted having 3 and more eyes. And yes, their eyes and teeth do glow in the dark

I wanted to make colorful bats to futher emphasise their whimsical and peaceful nature :) Well, if u think about it many poisonous creatures are colorful too...

I wouldn't be myself if I didn't say anything about local fashion. I don't have my own concepts at hand sadly, just references, but my main inspiration for the fashion of Krytis are late 90s-early 00s futurism and cyber aesthetic. Here and there u will also see smth similar to mall goth or streetwear style, but it's mostly something what young blood were into

Some bats like the royal family and council members would wear more classy and regal clothes but still more or less modern looking. Such choice of attire was espeically important to the empress, who, unlike her late husband, stayed far away from religion and magic and made it the main goal of her campaign to weaken the influence of the religious community and push for scientific and socio-cultural progress

If you have any questions about the people of the Horde/Krytis, feel free to ask! I'm always happy to talk more about this AU!

[ramoth13]

Interesting Trends and Voices in the Silmarillion Fandom

~

Although I have been a lover of Tolkien since the earliest days of my youth and have been a Tolkien Scholar for over a decade, I have not made too many forays into the Silm fandom other than when I was younger and more recently a few years ago. Thus, I was rather surprised by the trends that seem to be mainstays of the Fandom and which ones I've seen big shifts in. I'll mention them briefly, but please note, although I may share differences of opinion regarding these characters or themes, we all share a deep love of the source material and that makes us fellow Enthusiasts. Whatever our differences, we have more in common with what we love than that which we do not.

With that said,

A "newer" trend I've noticed is the number of Fëanorian apologists, which is rather surprising, especially given their vocality. Some of the more common trends in this vein:

~A general indifference towards Fingolfin apart from a "if he had been through what Fëanor had, he would have been that way too" kind of approach, etc.

~All of Fëanor's sons (but especially Maedhros) are often given the best possible excuse for every action and bad decision. Others like Thingol or Elwing, less so.

~Finarfin and his children are generally regarded as boring, except for Galadriel who is either, loved as being awesome, wild, and wise or slightly disliked for having ill-opinions of Fëanor or some combination of the two.

~Fingolfin's line is seen as either goody-two-shoes or full of themselves, with the exception of Fingon who is close friends with Maedhros.

~The Valar are often illustrated to be antagonists, especially when in opposition to the Fëanorians.

~In the same light, I've seen a few posts that portray Luthien as being somehow problematic, seemingly to balance out the negative Fëanorian interactions she endures.

~One of the more sad effects of this apologist line of thinking is the Denegration of Elrond and Elros' parents. In order for Maedhros and Maglor to be considered "good" their actual parents are seen as "bad" despite little evidence of that being the case.

~ It seems Fëanor and sons have become the golden child of the Silm fandom, a spot once reserved for Sauron and Morgoth, if memory serves.

NOTES:

These are all fairly intriguing lines of discourse and I understand that they are tied up in and often heavily influenced by the fan-fictions and fannons. Still, it does make me wonder, with how vocal the Fëanorians are (especially on tumblr), how many Nolofinweans are in the Fandom? How many fans of Finarfin's cohort (or as one Tumblr user once called them), the blondes?

Some older trends that continue:

~Thingol still sucks (at least by common thought). It is interesting that despite all of the love of the Noldorin lines given their proclivity towards violence and bad decisions, the fandom still has not been able to lend some compassion towards the reigning Sindarin Monarch.

~Celeborn somehow ending up with Galadriel is still a big mystery (I do love this one).

~Sauron is still seen as Morgoth's boyfriend/lover/etc.

~The Valar are antagonists (before this was due to the Sauron/Morgoth apologists, and now it seems to stem more from a Fëanorian view)

~Turin and Beleg are still a ship (I am pleased).

~Halls of Mandos Reunions (always a classic).

~Gimli/Legolas ship.

Some older trends I don't see as much:

~Fingolfin/Fëanor ship (I'm not upset that this one is scarce. Even in Fantasy, incest isn't my thing).

~Fingon/Maedhros ship (see above note)

~Celebrimbor is the greatest elf of all time.

~Melkor/Manwe/Varda and/or Sauron love triangles.

I'm curious to see what others think of these trends. I'll be the first to admit, I have always had a fondness for the Nolofinweans, but it is interesting to see the growth of the Fëanorian fans and how quickly their voice has grown into one of the primary topics of fandom discourse (which is good, I love the discussions!).

~ Ramoth13

[lynxnothinks2]

FR Fanart Stats

Have you ever wondered which FR dragons are the most popular to draw? No? Well clearly you're not a university student with looming deadlines, a severe procrastination problem and unlimited access to research grade statistics software let's dive in

Originally I was doing this to see which dragons I'd drawn the most for commissions over the years, but then I got curious generally about if the popularity of dragon breeds correlated with the amount of fanart produced. We artists are always fighting algorithms and trends, so this info may be useful to those of us looking to utilise them!

A brief intro/some disclaimers to the data:

I've only included modern breeds as they are more numerous than ancients on-site, have been around for less time (excl. Obelisks) and Excel was already protesting with what I had so I saved myself the headache. Look forward to the ancient breed sequel ahahahah :P that's a joke i'm not doing this again

For my 'tumblr popularity' data, I counted the breed of dragon of the first 100 featured in the '#flight rising art' tag. I excluded ancients and any unidentifiable breeds. Each individual dragon was counted in multi-image posts, unless if the dragon(s) in question were in a comic, series etc. in which case each unique dragon was counted once.

Assuming my personal commission stats are the least interesting to most people, but I'll give some background. I started doing comms in mid-2018, producing art at a relatively impressive volume (rip my time and motivation.) I do a lot less FR art now, but if we assume breed popularity has stayed consistent since then the only breed this should really effect are Obelisks as the newbies.

And then finally, on-site breed popularity. I used the dragon search feature on FR to identify the number of named, active dragons for each breed. Total dragons as of 27/01/24, if you were curious: 12,924,070! That's a lot of guys!!

I threw everything into percentages, then made a graph. it's got issues probably but my degree isn't in niche pixel dragon info and i was getting bored at this point

I ran some stuff through statistical tests but they don't show anything remarkable that you can't see in the graph. Rstudio claimed a few more years from my lifespan for naught

Conclusions:

Skydancers and Imperials are crazy popular in all categories, but SDs are Tumblr's favourite

Obelisks and Ridgebacks do disproportionately well on Tumblr compared to their site popularity

Snappers and Bogsneaks are pretty unpopular across the board. I've never drawn either! But at least snaps are getting a bit of love on here

The popularity of Faes and Guardians on-site is not significantly reflected in fanart (excl. Guardian comms for me which is? an odd outlier??)

Mirrors and Nocturnes are not popular on Tumblr - found the latter interesting as I thought there may be lingering bias from NotN, but apparently not

Coatls, Pearlcatchers, Spirals and Tundras are pretty consistent between categories. Nothing really of note for these guys except for less people wanting me to draw spirals (good they're complicated)

I could draw a Wildclaw with my eyes closed and although that will not make me popular, it can make me money

Well that was a good use of 4 hours I'm going to write my essay now

and if you'd like to show your support for this cool art stats guy check out my main @lynxnothinks commissions are open thank you byeee

[toxicroyjamie]

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this specific trend I've noticed for Jamie-centric angst fics that really rubs me the wrong way. It's the type of fic where Jamie gets triggered by Roy yelling? And usually ends with Roy having to apologize for shouting and then the story like narratively implies that it's Roy's moral imperative that he should never yell at/around Jamie ever again because of his trauma with his dad. And this headcannon just annoys me because CANONICALLY Jamie has never backed down from a fight with Roy?? Or even seemed really cowed by him?? So I just don't see how Roy yelling would be a trigger for him. Obviously, to each their own, but I think it would be more intriguing to approach this idea from a different angle, meaning after Roy learns more about Jamie's situation with his dad, he ASSUMES that his yelling would be triggering and so tries to censor himself around Jamie and this backfires since Jamie gets pissed off that he's getting the kidde glove treatment. I dunno, I just think there's a tendency to woobify Jamie in angst fic that simultaneously demonises Roy and it just gets on my nerves a bit.

Thoughts ⬇️

For me sort of depends on the specific fic and the execution of the idea (like it definitely CAN be woobifying), but I don't dislike it broadly and would even say I enjoy it most of the time, because I do think some of Roy's behavior towards Jamie is realistically inappropriate given what he knows about Jamie's background and I wish that had been a consideration onscreen even a little bit at all.

I don't think these fics come out of a desire to woobify Jamie (again that's speaking to the concept as a whole because I've definitely read individual fics like this where he IS woobified) so much as to authentically explore Jamie's C-PTSD, which was lent very little consideration or realism on the show. Realistically, I do think some of Roy's behavior would trigger a person who had been physically abused for years, and I don't think it's inherently infantilizing to explore that in a more true-to-life way.

I wouldn't say that it's inherently "demonizing" of Roy, either, because ime most of these fics are very generous and empathetic to Roy and don't portray any kind of negative intention on his part. He typically takes on the role of a very understanding and supportive partner who is willing to change his behavior, and I don't think that recognizing a *behavior* as negative is painting a *person* in a negative light.

On that note I also don't think it's an unfair or unreasonable ask that Roy stop yelling at his friend/partner with PTSD so much. Jamie wouldn't be in the wrong to expect that. Roy is an adult who should be able regulate his emotions, and there's really no need for him to lash out the way he does. Jamie had to make a lot of changes to his behavior out of consideration for other people, because part of being an adult in society is thinking about your actions and not just doing whatever you want - I don't really see why Roy shouldn't be asked to do the same and kind of wish he had been 🤷🏼‍♀️

Imo if it's out of character for Jamie to be triggered by Roy's behavior because that scenario wasn't explicitly shown onscreen, it's equally out of character for Roy to be concerned about how his aggression would affect Jamie, because he never seemed to really think about that. So personally I don't honestly see the scenario you described as any more true to canon than the other angle - I think both are equally valid explorations of something that canon neglected!

I will say that I personally think the yelling would be less of an issue than how physical Roy can be, because yelling (as you said) doesn't seem to typically bother him, but Jamie was clearly triggered by Ted yelling at him and started crying when Roy was yelling at him in Mom City, so I can see how yelling would affect him when he's already in a fragile state

TL;DR I actually am fond of the concept so I'm going to agree to disagree, but I do think your thoughts are also valid!!

[shepherds-of-haven]

hi i hope you're having a good day! this may be quite silly but i'm curious, what are some typical dances for the peoples of blest?

Hi there! This was actually sent in for the Patreon Q&A in April, but something horrible has happened to Patreon's site in the last several months, where after a certain amount of text, the text editor becomes horrifically laggy and crashes constantly, meaning I did all the work (i.e. watching so many medieval and ancient dancing videos and reading all about various cultures and their dances) to answer this question, but the website stubbornly would not let me type up my answer in the existing Q&A post... 🥹 So I kept losing all my progress on this one and ultimately ended up giving up, but I still wanted to answer it, so I hope it's okay that I answer here!

The short answer: the typical dances for the people of Blest obviously are going to vary widely between cultures as well as classes within those cultures. People from the southern isles dance quite differently from people in the Eastern Continent, who in turn dance differently from people in Jalis. I'm not going to cover too much of the kinds of dancing that we don't see much of in the game, though I will note that Ket and Hunter cultures tend to favor dancing more as a form of story-telling or individual expression (often seen in plays or festival rituals where specialized dancers are playing specific roles or parts), with elaborate costumes and dance techniques being employed in each culture (some traditional Ket dancers use fans and masks, Hunter dancers often dress in swirling costumes with rattling beads and employ hand-drums), rather than the communal dancing we might envision in, like, ballrooms or barnyard line-dancing. The Elves have a mix of both, with dance as "performance" as well as dance as "socializing" utilized in equal measure, and performative dancing is seen as a high art form that deeply utilizes perfectly synchronized music, color coordination, and movement to create mesmerizing group displays, almost like synchronized swimming or Cirque de Soleil type experiences. Mage culture, in general, doesn't put a lot of emphasis on dancing, as many Mages tend to trend introverted, solitary, or unathletic, so as a society it's not viewed as a really vital skill or even a part of their larger culture outside of the usual school/festival dancing, which isn't so much taught as it is just stumbled into.

Anyway, the two primary forms of dancing we seen in the game are what the nobles do and what the commonfolk do. I imagine dancing among aristocrats (formal balls, the Trade Minister's gala, parties at the Sun Court) to be pretty similar to what you'd see in Regency-Era dancing, with waltzes, quadrilles, and cotillons being the most common style.

However, it should be noted that the "English country dance" that was typical of the Regency era (where men and women form two lines, facing across from their partner, and are not permitted to dance alone as a couple, but side-by-side alongside others) is not something that is present in Blest. If you've seen any Austenian movies like P&P 2005, you know what I mean.

^ So not this!

It may factor into a dance a noble has to do once or twice in their lifetime, but it's pretty unusual, and a guest without a noble background (like Riel or the Shepherds at the Trade Minister's gala) wouldn't be expected to know it.

Among the commonfolk, dancing typically takes place during festivals and holidays, in the streets or on the village green or town square, not within a formal venue such as a ball. As such, there are really no formal moves or styles ascribed to this kind of dancing--it's primarily dictated by what kind of music is playing, and you basically just jam out to it however you want, in a group, couple, or as an individual--but the closest real-world equivalents I could liken it to would be the medieval carole or free-style polka. But there are no formalized rules other than basic proprietary/decency, and even then that can be pretty lax once the drink is flowing.

However, while I don't have any formal name for it, mostly I just imagine the dance scene from A Knight's Tale. :)

[velnna]

Since you probably use more social media than most people, I was curious on what you think of the ones u use, especially now that blue sky is open to the public

Eh, I'm not super well versed on them these days because I mostly use them to respond to notifications, post and disappear, plus I have notifications filtered everywhere so I don't keep track of engagement. ESPECIALLY with bluesky, I've never even opened the general timeline there 😅

Twitter is still my favourite social media and the one I use more seamlessly. I think I see value in it because it's not primarily meant for visual posts and there's people from a bunch of different fields and industries engaging with whatever all at once, plus the line between commenting on a post and making a post yourself is blurred which gives for some funny interactions. It used to intimidate me but now I'm just chilling.

Bluesky I guess is supposed to be the same thing? But I can't bring myself to engage with it idk. Back when it started I could see that the most active people there were the ones actively hating twitter, while.. doing the exact same things on bluesky they did on twitter 🤷‍♂️ so I think Elon Musk aside it's basically the same thing with less users.

I used to be big on instagram but basically stopped using it when they introduced reels, now I just post and disappear. I hate that they couldn't just leave it simple and uncluttered and the fact that reels became so popular pissed me off lmao.

Tiktok is a tricky one for me because I go "viral" easily there and it's my biggest platform BUT it's very addicting and you sorta have to scroll through the main page to find content to make + a lot of the time you need to make content specifically for it. Which is a time sink for me in a lot of ways :') I tend to open it every other month to maybe post something then ghost again

Tumblr is... fine? Idk tumblr definitely feels like both the most useless and the easiest social media to use. Useless in the sense that I never expect anything that happens on tumblr to materialise into anything outside of it. Easiest in the sense that it's just chill for me to post and engage with what people send me without needing to think about it too hard. Trying to get original content to take off here was in vain but fanart does particularly well as expected.. which means it only started being fun for me when I got into BG3 as I'd never been in a fandom before lmao. I like that, just like twitter, it's not only for visual posts, but get overwhelmed at the idea of blogs and formatting and sorting posts, so I only use it barebones and tend to not engage with the main page/timeline either

Engagement-wise, I honestly couldn't tell ya. I think that comes down to you paying attention to each social media's trends and how people interact with it. Personally I'm (very luckily) at a stage where 99% of the time I don't care about whether a post makes numbers or flops, and my platforms are big enough that if I REALLY needed something to do well I could probably find a way to make it loud enough so yknow

Hope this answers your question :'D

[whoishotteranimepolls]

Poll analysis part 4

I normally don't do these so soon, but since I started doing the duo and the trio polls that really brought out some interesting trends

Naruto, I know I've called you guy my problem child fandom just because of how you engage with me. But you guys can't seem to catch a break unless it's Kakashi or Madara. You think one of the most popular animes of all time would at least be able to win something. But no. You're coming in dead last in the Battle Royals. Even just the regular polls with your characters have extremely low engagement. With the only exception being Kakashi or Madara. I have my theories on why this might be happening but I want to observe some more because there are so many more Naruto Polls in the queue before I put anything in writing publicly

Sailor Moon oh boy, did you guys come out to support your lesbians. I was not expecting so much support for those characters, I think I threw them in as a last minute I need an all girl Duo and you guys turned out. I'm curious to see if this continues with all the Sailor Moon characters

Samurai Champloo these characters get mentioned so many times in the comments. Like where are these characters why aren't they in the swordsmen or trio Battle Royale and no one shows up to support them. Why is this? I know Samurai Champloo is iconic but you all are pulling an Attack on Titan. I think the fandom is comatose and the characters only get mentioned out of respect for its iconic status

JoJo's apparently has characters that are trying to give Senshi a run for his money when it comes to panty shots or booty shots. Those polls have been funny. I'll give you that. And it somehow feels appropriate for the JoJo's fandom to do everything for the meme and submit those polls with those specific photos

Berserk you guys only show up to support Griffith and Casca. There is very little love for Guts that might be due to his opponents most the time, but I think that is somehow thematically appropriate

Fullmetal Alchemist I thought you guys only showed up for general Armstrong when I paired up Hawkeye and Mustang as a Duo. You all show up in droves to show your support.

Castlevania You guys show up pretty consistently no matter the character, it's been entertaining because you all can put some interesting things in the tags

One Piece is trying to submit the most obscure characters in that show and then put the most ridiculous tags on it so I have to add them to that already ridiculously long post. At least that's what it feels like because it feels very deliberate.

Cowboy Bebop you exist and your characters are hot. They're even hotter together. That's all I can really say

Bleach You exist. Your characters are mostly hot and Yoruichi is top tier waifu that sweeps in basically every poll she's in

Well that's all for this update There again will be another one. Don't know when but there will be one

[the-nysh]

Webigaza isn't a character that stands out for me at least, but I'm very curious about her manga debut. We know she's supossed to be pretty (and that she won't escape "Murata's female treatment" lol) but I hope her face screams "uncanny valley", more like a doll than a human being

I’ve been holding onto this ask til she finally showed up and….

…let’s just say from the raws she almost passed me by - if it weren’t for Suiryu’s reaction and the telltale panels of her guzzling down a gallon of water for her overheating symptoms, I might’ve otherwise missed her without doubling back to check. Like oh wait a sec, is that her??? Almost mistaking her for just another quirky news reporter or a newbie streaming attention-grabby v-tuber. Where at this (early?) stage, it’s not obvious at all (from her looks) that she’s someone who went through extensive bodily modifications to obtain cyborg + superhuman psychic powers (we do see her fly away like Tatsumaki though), but otherwise these few pages feel like just a tease without actually seeing her in action yet.

I think, if there’s anything I might have expected, it would be her overall *~radiant~* pixie magical girl vibe. Cause what was most striking and standout to me about ONE’s design for her, was her 1000yrd stare eyes, full of resolute determination without regrets, framed in all the gratuitous frills and fanciest fluffiest lashes imaginable. Uncannily doll-like (with an underlying crazed desperation) would be apt. Yet she had a mysterious—and quite literal spark, or aura to her that I just don’t feel from Murata’s. (Speculation: perhaps her manga demeanor might change once Sweet Mask’s identity gets outed and she resigns herself to her life’s choices.)

For reference, here’s how she looked in the webcomic (of which her line about ‘being on hiatus’ is ironically the same, but she rushes off to fight giving us a demonstration of her powers all at once, whereas in the manga it’s offscreened till we see her again):

Comparatively in Murata’s style, perhaps she comes off rather same-facey much like how he draws most of his other typical youthful women. If I look reeeally close I can see some of the same iris sparkle-dots in her eyes like ONE’s, but…the lashes. I wish were much more flamboyant. (Like think about invisible girl’s face reveal in bn/ha - biggest flashy fluffy lashes in all their sparkly rainbow light-refraction magic glory~ So mayhaps I expected some of that pretty eye-stopping glamor for her from Murata.)

And yet thinking about it more….I realized that since Webigaza’s character is one who follows trends to compete, her manga debut reminds me of Tatsumaki’s ai-doctored hero commercial, where she looks like an (ooc) uwu-waifu’d up poster girl (much to Tatsu’s rage) for the HA, and here we see Webigaza promo shooting for the Neo Heroes in much the same way. Essentially, she’s dolled up and cutesy gesturing like how others expect her to look like (aka like an ai-mishmash of generic idol trends), rather than going ham individualizing herself as a manic pixie dream girl psychic cyborg….YET. Meaning perhaps we’ll see more of her human appearance chafe away as her cyborgification desperation (as another extreme foil to Genos) intensifies.

[boopysnoop]

Submas Pokemon Ramble

I've been thinking about their Pokemon as a reflection of themselves because I think Pokemon add to a trainer's personality. I'm pretty sure they share Pokemon, but who they really belong to has me curious.

Rambling under the cut!

From my understanding, Emmet has a penchant for Electric and Bug Pokemon. Or Pokemon that have yellow in their color schemes or are seen as weak/ glass canons. Electric types fit with his outgoing and bold personality. As for Bug, there's been a trend for trainers that specialize in this type to be creative. (Burgh, Viola, Katy, Guzma since he created a gang from nothing.)This extends to Emmet for his love of double battles and the different combinations in battle. The highest form of creativity in battling IMO. (Don't let this man find out about Tera types lol).

Boldore breaks this idea but shhhh. However! It is found in Chargestone Cave... an electric cave.... Also, I'm 50% sure it glows when it attacks but don't quote me on that. Archeops breaks this idea as well but it fits into the glass canon aspect.

The bottom line is the man likes Electric and Bug Pokemon.

But what about Ingo's preference? His team is more diverse in typing since he runs the Singles Line. But the only semblance I can think of is the Pokemon he chooses are stronger/scary-looking. Or the fact they all have a frown like him. In PokeMas, the Karrablast, which has a frown, belonged to him before trading with Emmet. The other explanation is what he represents, i.e. ideals and the need to continuously strive forward. This extends to his ability to train a variety of Pokemon to be the strongest they can be.

The trend sort of follows in PLA but I see his team as a reflection of his subconscious and lost memories. Or just with Emmet in general.

Gliscor - who smiles like Emmet

Magnezone - reminds him of modern technology etc. He's familiar with electric types bc of his brother.

Probopass - which originally was a Nosepass is found in the Coronet Highlands. Its entry states it always faces North which fits his motto of always moving forward

Machamp - The dex entry from Pearl states it can knock a train with a punch. But other than that, with all its limbs, I see it resembling Emmet as well because of his open body language and tendency to swing his arms in the manga.

Tangrowth and Alakazam are a bit harder to place. Alakazam and its line are found in the Icelands, and I think he had just caught the Tangela when we first battled him.

His Alpha team mirrors his past life as well

Kleavor - Bug/Rock = Crustle

Wyrdeer looks like Drayden to me I'm sorry lol (Or he uses it to ride around like the player)

Basulegion - Water/Ghost contrasting Chandelure Fire/Ghost

I'm just thinking about this and I'm sure this has been thought of before but this is just my take on their teams!

Edit 1: I just realized Archen/ Archeops reflects Emmet being the representation of Reshiram/realism/truth. Opelucid City changes depending if you play White or Black. But in White’s version the city has rustic architecture. Along with the existence of White Forest instead of the futuristic Black City. Archen/Archeops are fossil Pokémon. They’re prehistoric Pokémon who were revived to the modern day. By who? Emmet of course!

TL;DR I'm reaching like crazy and coming up with reasons Game Freak never thought of haha.

[candycandy00]

Trending Topics - A Dabi x Reader Fanfic

I intended to post this on Saturday in honor of Dabi's Dance being animated but I finished it earlier than expected and I have no patience so I'm unleashing it to the world now, a few hours early lol. I hope everyone enjoys!

Smut. 18+. Rough sex. Creampie. Probably some other stuff I'm forgetting. Oh yeah, spoilers for Dabi's Dance!

Dabi leans back on the couch and holds his phone up to his face. “Let’s see what everyone has to say about my old man now,” he mutters, opening various social media apps to see what the general public’s reaction to his shocking video was. He could already imagine the outrage over the abuse allegations, the anger over the number one hero raising a violent murderer. He could also imagine the fanboys who would defend Endeavor no matter what, who would go to online war with the detractors who were horrified by Dabi’s video. All of it would be amusing to read through. Dabi will enjoy the online chaos. So he grins wickedly as he opens Twitter.

The names Dabi, Endeavor, and Todoroki Touya are already trending. Naturally. But then Dabi notices a few other “trending topics” that catch his eye. “#Dabisofine”, “#Touyasohot”, and “#SteponmeDabi” are all trending. Surprised and curious, Dabi begins clicking through some of the posts. After a few minutes, he sits up from the couch and stares at the screen incredulously. The tweets flashing by his eyes are definitely not what he expected the result of his video to be.

“OMG Dabi is so fucking hot! How have I never seen this guy before?”

“Okay Touya is definitely the sexiest Todoroki. Just look at him!”

“All I can say is, Dabi can light a fire in my panties any day!”

“Y’all… the things I would let Todoroki Touya do to me…”

“I want Dabi to rail me until I can’t walk.”

Dabi isn’t sure what to think about this. On one hand, he’s a little mad that his big dramatic reveal has been overtaken by posts like this. There’s even a long thread of posts and replies arguing over whether or not his dick has staples in it (it does, and the urge to tell them so wells up within him for a brief moment before dying away). But on the other hand, he feels… flattered? He’s never once thought of himself as sexy or even remotely good looking. All that scarring, all those burns… he felt like Frankenstein’s monster.

Years ago, he’d pretty much resigned himself to never having a lover. Who would want to even touch someone who looked like him? But it didn’t bother him all that much. After all, he was so focused on his revenge, he didn’t really have time for romance anyway. He’d shoved any thoughts of sex or love far away into the back of his mind. Of course he has hormones. He’s human, after all. Occasionally he even has urges, but he takes care of those himself.

Now though, reading through these tweets, those urges he’d shoved down are resurfacing. Out of curiosity, he clicks on the profile of the person who made that last tweet about wanting him to “rail” them. There are pictures of a very pretty young woman who looks to be in her early twenties. He also finds more posts about him.

“God, Dabi is so fine. Those scars really do it for me.”

“I wish I could feel that skin. All over me. I don’t care if he’s a villain.”

“Endeavor is a fucking monster. How could anyone treat such a beautiful person so badly?!”

Then more pictures of the woman. One of them in particular catches Dabi’s attention. It looks like she’s standing on the balcony of an apartment. In the background, he can see a restaurant sign straight across from her that he recognizes. Also in the background are several plants in colorful pots, sitting around her balcony.

Dabi rereads her tweets, then comes to a decision. He grins as he heads out the door.

*****

You hum to yourself as you water your potted plants on your balcony, then check your phone. There are tons of notifications from Twitter. Your posts about Dabi, Todoroki Touya, are getting a lot of likes. They’re also getting the attention of some seriously pathetic Endeavor fans who are trying, and failing, to justify the hero’s behavior. Some of them are just outright saying it’s all a lie, that Dabi’s video is just a phony hit piece. You can’t believe how naive they are, or maybe they’re just willfully ignorant. Either way, you’re already running through arguments and points in your mind that you can shoot back with as you step back into your apartment, leaving the glass door to your balcony open.

You step over to the sink and pour yourself a glass of water, still scrolling through replies with one hand, completely absorbed in your phone. A sudden sound, like a heavy thud, comes from your balcony as you’re walking back toward the door, about halfway through your small living room.

You look up from your phone and see Dabi himself standing just inside the door. He gives you a grin and says, “What was it you want me to do again? Rail you until you can’t walk?”

The glass of water slips from your hand and crashes on the floor. You don’t even look down at it. Your eyes are glued to this extremely sexy villain standing in your living room. One who has apparently read all the pervy tweets you made about him. Your mouth falls open, but you have no idea what to say.

He takes one step closer. “Or did you want to feel my skin all over you? Well, here I am.”

“Oh my God,” you finally manage to say, still staring at him. “Is this really happening?”

He tilts his head to the side, his hair falling over one bright blue eye. “That’s up to you.”

You slowly step closer to him, as if he’ll disappear if you approach too quickly. He’s gorgeous, but he’s still a villain. You don’t want to upset him. But damn, you really want to touch him. Maybe just ask for permission?

“Can I… touch you?” you ask.

“That’s what I’m here for,” he says, his grin showing his teeth.

You take one more step, effectively closing the distance between you and him. You reach out one hand and gently touch the side of his face, feeling the spaces where the scarring and healthy skin meet, your fingers grazing over the staples and piercings. You watch his expression, but it remains unchanged. Clearly, he’s not bothered by this.

“You’re so beautiful,” you say in a quiet voice, the words slipping out before you think them through.

Something shifts in his eyes. For a split second, the playful deviance vanishes and something else, something heartbreaking, takes its place. But then he grins again and says, “Look who’s talking.”

Does that mean he thinks you’re beautiful too? You feel a blush creep into your face. “Are you really here to rail me?” you ask.

“Do you really want me to?” he shoots back.

When you answer, your voice is more breathless than you expected. “More than anything.”

He reaches behind him and pulls the door shut, then follows you to your bedroom. As soon as you enter the room, you begin pulling your clothes off. Dabi watches you, not yet taking any of his clothing off. You feel like you’re doing a strip tease, with his eyes following your every move. It’s making heat spread through your body.

When you’re completely naked, you approach him and tug at his jacket. He lets you slide it off his shoulders and drop it on the floor, then he pulls his shirt over his head. You’ve seen him shirtless in the video, but nothing compares to seeing that lovely two-tone skin in person. Dabi’s eyes shift to the floor for a moment. Is he self-conscious about the scars? It seems ludicrous to you, especially since he was willing to show them off to the world in the video. But maybe showing them to someone in person is different.

You can’t help yourself, you have to touch him. You press both hands to his chest and slide them down, gingerly feeling the staples and the different textures of his skin. “It’s amazing,” you whisper.

His eyes shift back to you, and there’s an unreadable expression on his face. Not exactly embarrassed. Not exactly proud. It’s something like surprise, like no one has ever touched him before. “You have a scar fetish or something?” he asks, the playful tone seeming like a mask for whatever he’s actually feeling.

“I don’t know if I’d call it a fetish. I do like scars though. They’re unique to the person who carries them. They tell a story.”

He’s looking into your eyes now as your hands slide down to unbutton his pants. “And what story do mine tell?”

You meet his gaze and say, “One that’s very painful, I can imagine. I’d love to know the whole story someday. For now, I just think they’re mesmerizing to look at, and they feel incredible to the touch.” By this point you’ve pushed his pants down to his ankles, and he steps out of them. He’s not wearing underwear, and you can see all the glorious lines of scarring and staples across his thighs and hips. His cock is unscarred, but there are a few staples in it. You wonder about their purpose, but don’t ask.

Your hands run down his body, over his abdomen, moving around him to brush over his well-toned ass, and then you take his cock into one of your hands and lightly stroke it. It’s been growing harder by the moment, and the motion of your hand is speeding that process up.

Dabi sucks in air through his teeth, his eyes closing and opening slowly like a cat’s. Once he’s fully erect, he reaches down and pulls your hand away. “You’ve been looking me over this whole time. I think I should get a turn.”

With that, he suddenly picks you up and carries you to the bed. The feel of his bare skin on yours sends shivers through your body, and you miss the feel of it when he sits you down on the mattress. You scoot back to give him room, and he gently pushes your legs apart. He hovers over you, his eyes moving all over you, his hands finally reaching out to grope your breasts. His hands are firm and warm as they knead the plump mounds, then he scoots back slightly and leans forward, so that his head is positioned close to your groin.

Dabi uses his fingers to spread open your flesh and look at what’s inside. Then he leans even closer and runs his tongue along the inner folds, tasting your arousal. When his tongue hits your clit, you arch your back and moan. Dabi looks up at you with that unreadable expression again, like he’s just now understanding how much you really want him.

Then he grins again, because he’s discovered your weak spot. His tongue traces circles around your clit, making you squirm beneath him, wanting him to hit the bullseye again. He finally has mercy on you and closes his lips around the sensitive nub, sucking on it before running his tongue over it again. He even lightly grazes it with his teeth.

You cry out in pleasure, running one hand through his soft white hair and using the other to grip the sheets beside you. What name should you call out? Dabi? Touya? You’re not sure, so you so you stick to moans and wordless cries as he absolutely devours you. When you cum, it’s like a tsunami has hit your body, rocking it with wave after wave of rippling pleasure. Your whole body tenses up, your toes curl, and your hand in his hair tightens.

After a few seconds, your body relaxes, and Dabi pulls away, licking his lips. You feel weak, but you see the raging erection between his legs and know you can’t rest yet. He still hasn’t done what he came here to do. You reach for him, placing your hands on his scarred shoulders and pulling him toward you. You want, no need, him inside you. It’s an ache you felt the moment his video started. When you saw that body, those glowing blue eyes, that expression of carefully contained rage and pain… you wanted him like nothing before.

He lingers on top of you, not doing anything, just watching your face. Why is he hesitating? You try to pull him closer, but he’s not budging.

“Please,” you whimper, spreading your legs further apart, giving him the easiest access you can, “do it!”

Desire and lust seem to flame in his eyes. He wants to, you know it. But he waits. “Tell me exactly what you want me to do,” he says, his voice husky and low. Oh, now you see. He wants you to beg for it. Well, you can certainly do that.

You raise your hips from the bed and rub you drenched pussy across the underside of his cock. “Please, I want you inside me! Please fuck me!”

That seemed to do the trick. He smiles as he positions himself just right, then shoves his cock all the way in. He’s so much bigger than you expected, filling you up completely. As he pulls out a few inches, the staples scrape your insides in such a delicious way, you can’t help moaning again. He begins a rhythm of thrusting in and out, slowly at first and then picking up speed. You look up at him, and he’s thrown his head back, his eyes closed, his hands gripping your thighs.

He’s definitely railing you now, but it’s not enough. You might be able to walk tomorrow. In a panting voice, you cry out, “Harder!”

He opens his eyes and looks at your face, sees the lusty desperation there, and suddenly thrusts in so hard that you imagine his cock has entered your womb. His hands move to your waist, where he holds you steady as he pounds you into the mattress, every thrust feeling like it might just break your bones.

You love it. This is what you wanted. This man, this gorgeous, pained, scarred, unique person, being so deep inside you. One of his hands moves to your breast, where he roughly squeezes it. You’re going to be covered in bruises when this is over, but you’ll look at each one with joy.

Your hands are above your head, holding onto the brass headboard for dear life. Dabi moves his hand from your breast down to your clit, where he rubs it, hard enough to make you wince. You were already so sensitive from the earlier action, you cum again on the spot, your body convulsing with your orgasm.

Dabi doesn’t let up, continuing to fuck you as hard as he can as you tremble under him, tears falling from your eyes. You let go of the headboard and lift your weak, shaky arms to wrap them around his neck. To your surprise, he moves his hand from your sore clit and uses it to hold your head up, closer to him, his fingers intertwining with your hair in a gentle fashion. It’s an intimate gesture you didn’t expect from him, even as he rails you as promised. Finally, he cums inside you, filling you with hot sticky fluid, his grip on your waist tightening but the hand in your hair remaining soft. When he’s done, he pulls out and falls onto the bed beside you. You want to cuddle up to him, but you’re not sure how he would react to that. You just met. It’s not like you’re in a relationship.

After a few minutes, your naked body has cooled slightly, so you pull a sheet over the both of you. You reach over to the nightstand to get your phone and ask, “Would you mind if I take a picture of us?”

He looks over at you and says, “What, as a souvenir?”

You blush a little as you answer. “Yeah.”

He scoots closer to you and says, “Sure.”

You hold the phone up, pointing the camera at your faces. It’s obvious the two of you are topless, but you make sure the bottom of the image cuts off just before your tits are shown. You snap the picture and smile as you look at it. “Thanks,” you say.

Dabi gets out of bed and begins putting his clothes back on. “Are you gonna post it?”

You look up at him. “Hmm?”

“The picture. Are you gonna post it on Twitter?”

“Do you mind if I do?”

He shrugs. “Doesn’t bother me.”

You smile and open Twitter, add some comments and hashtags, and post the photo. Dabi pulls on his boots and says, “I better go. If I found your place from looking at your pictures, I’m sure the heroes can too.”

You suddenly regret posting it. “Wait, does that mean you can’t come back here?”

He looks at you with that unreadable expression again. “Do you want me to come back?”

“Of course I do!”

There’s a small notebook and a pen lying on your nightstand. Dabi picks them up and writes something down. “Here’s my number. Call me and we can meet up somewhere.”

You feel an incredible sense of relief. You can still see him. You can call him, maybe even get to know him for real. You take the notebook in your hands and cradle it, as if it’s a treasure. “Thanks,” you say.

Dabi shrugs again, rubbing the back of his head casually. “No problem,” he says back, seeming just a little awkward about it. “See you around then.”

He leaves through the balcony door, and you start humming happily to yourself again as you head for the shower.

*****

Once Dabi gets back to the hideout, he pulls out his phone and checks Twitter. There’s a new post by his new favorite user. There’s the picture of the two of you. Beneath it is a caption, as well as some hashtags. As he reads it, a grin spreads across his face, and then he breaks out into laughter.

“Got railed by the hottest Todoroki! Best day ever! #Dabisofine #Yesithasstaples #Villainsdoitbetter #EatshitEndeavor”

[japhugmafia]

Are large scale 'epic' narratives incompatible with trying to avoid Great Men narratives.

I'm curious, since I've not really explored much literature beyond what I've read. Are there examples of fantasy set in a large-scale setting that do not play into Great Men narratives of history? It seems that most of the stuff I've read are based on the narratives that individual person(s) can change the course of history without the repercussions of trends and shifts of society.

Of course, the general hero's journey relies on a person or a group being chosen ones that inevitably changes the tides of the stati quo; but this problem seems to also be a thing in fantasy stories that I've read that try to subvert the 'chosen one' stories. ASOIAF, for example, rely on Great Men that still come from interconnected noble families, which is still a top-down view of how history usually works.

I've been writing short stories set in my world for a while now, but haven't really gotten that far wrt to the grand narrative in the setting. I'm just confused on how to exactly execute it. I have tried to incorporate the elements that I've read from the anthropology and history academic books that I've read, but it still doesn't click for me. Mostly from this large roadblock that seems to be an innate feature of the narrative vs what I'm trying to accomplish.

I'm an anthropology and linguistics student so I might be coming from a very different demographic, and that my line of work is very niche. It's definitely not mainstream by any definition, and I'm trying to explore themes that personally align with the stuff that I want to tell. Being a fan of fantasy but also wanting to see the flaws of the narrative of individuals being the force that changes history irks me a bit, so I'm trying to find a way to tell a story without playing too much into it. I realize that what people write doesn't really reflect their ideologies, but still, is this method of narrative incompatible with what I'm trying to achieve? Just trying to avoid running a fool's errand since I've been stuck on this for months now

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Malleus's enchantment on Lilia's gag glasses definitely wouldn't work on his own grandmother, would it? XD

Maleficia "There you are, Lilia. I was only just conversing with your human child on your whereabouts. It has been long since I have last seen you, my most trusted— What... are you wearing?"

[Referencing this fic!]

If Malleus could easily wave off Vil’s magic, then Maleficia can do the same for Malleus’s magic 😂

There's a part in this interaction where Maleficia switches from using "I" to "we"--that's the English royal "we" (pluralis majestatis). Historically, it's been used to invoke the divine right of rulers to speak for their state. I wanted to use it for a brief line to emphasize her serious tone.

***Note: foreshadowing for book 7 (so there are spoilers!!)***

Family means Nobody is Left Behind or Forgotten.

"So good to see you, your majesty." Lilia bowed to the woman in regal black robes. His tone was lighthearted, even as he addressed the queen of his country. "You've spoken with Silver? I do hope he was on his best behavior."

"As always." Maleficia allowed herself a smile. To most, it would make their skin crawl with discomfort. To Lilia, it was the grace of a close companion. "It has been long since I have last seen you, my most trusted—"

She slightly startled when he lifted his head. Her mouth twitching, pupils dilating, as the rest of her face remained unchanged. "What... are you wearing?"

"Oh? You're curious about these?" Lilia fiddled with his frames. He was careful to not entirely remove them from his face, lest he cast off his magical disguise. The faux hairs that made up a pair of bushy eyebrows and a mustache tickled his skin, the big rubber nose flopping about.

"Surely it's not a human fashion statement," Maleficia said with the lift of an arched brow, "though you have always been one to experiment with your appearance. Why, I still remember how you wore your hair back in the day. Long, with stripes as red as blood."

"That was quite a while ago." It was the look most iconic to his oldest friends—and his oldest enemies. Memories that tasted of both sugar and salt churned in his mind. "No, this isn't a new fashion trend, just a little something Malleus whipped up for me so that I could attend Family Day with everyone."

"Malleus did? I knew the magic felt familiar," Maleficia chuckled. Tendrils of the enchantment bounced harmlessly off her, illusive wisps flickering between her fingers. "My grandson still has much to learn in the way of spellcasting before he can pull one over my eyes. He chose such a humorous item to enchant as well."

"The choice was mine. We share the blame for the spell's design. Ah, but isn't it odd? Despite these odd circumstances, we still find ourselves making many happy memories."

"How kind of Malleus to grant you a blessing that brings such good fortune. You won't have to sit out on the festivities this year."

"He has a big heart, that boy. He didn't wish for me to be by my lonesome—and I'm eternally grateful for it. Thanks to Malleus, I can be with Silver on this momentous occasion.

"Someday soon, the day will come where I can no longer be by his side." Lilia clasped both hands over his heart. The joy in his voice was undeniably touched with sorrow. "This time we have together now, as father and son... it's something I'll always treasure."

Maleficia frowned. "Lilia, you don't mean to say..."

"You know what I speak of, yes? The time that comes for us all eventually."

She solemnly nodded. "I did not think it would be so soon. Before long, the sun will set on our time, and it will rise again at the dawn of a new era, one led by the next generation. Our legacies, paving the future of Briar Valley.

“Malleus will succeed me. Your child will age, perhaps have children of his own. Baul's grandchildren too."

Lilia laughed--soft and bittersweet. "They grow up so fast, don't they?"

"Extremely."

"Fufu, you must be so excited to see how Malleus has grown then."

"I am, however..." Maleficia's brows suddenly furrowed. "I must confess, I did not visit today only to see my grandson. I also wished to personally inquire about your health while I had the opportunity.”

The question threw Lilia off his tempo. He flinched, then hurried to find his footing again. His cheer, a mask.

"Come now, I know I may be getting up there in age, but I'm not quite senile yet—nor am I chomping at the bit for retirement. I'm as spry as I ever was." He hopped a few steps ahead, back to her. “You see? I’m…”

"Lilia," Maleficia said patiently, her words warning. "You are deliberately avoiding my question. As our vassal, we command you to answer us. How does your magic fare?”

To this, Lilia hesitated, biting his lower lip. "I don’t want to lie to you, but… I also don’t want to tell the whole truth. It is not within a warrior’s spirit to show their weaknesses, not even to friends and family.”

“You needn’t pretend with me.”

“I know. I know, and that is exactly why I can’t bring myself to face you. Not in the state I’m in.” The wind extended a cool hand to caress Lilia’s cheek. He looked into the horizon, at the outline of Night Raven’s main building reaching up high to pierce the clouds. “The last thing I wish for in this world is to be the cause of sadness for my loved ones.”

“Do they know?”

Lilia shook his head. “Not yet. I plan to when we third years meet to discuss internships. The longer I stay, the harder it will be to let go. I must cut the cord then and there. Until then…”

He turned to the side, his profile outlined by the rays of the sun. Hope seeping through the darkness that had eclipsed his face. “I’ll enjoy the life I have left here to its fullest. I ask that you recognize this as my final wish, your ma… no, Maleficia.”

“Lilia…”

“Please.”

"... By the Seven,” the queen sighed, “I shall never become accustomed to those silly spectacles on you. To wear such a dress while making a request to a higher authority… that is something only you would dare to do, Lilia.”

She folded her arms, her long sleeves falling into place with the motion. “You have loyally served your country as both a skilled general and as a wise advisor. You are a dear friend, an irreplaceable individual, yet it is also you who would be so audacious as to deny me the truth I seek.

“… So be it. By the powers vested in me as Queen of Briar Valley, it shall be done.” Maleficia lifted a hand, as if imbibing her decree with power. “You secret will be safe with me.”

He hurriedly glanced away, blinking back tears. Happiness? Sadness? He didn’t know from where they came.

“Thank you.” Lilia choked on his words. He tried again. “Thank you for understanding.”

Her reply came as dry teasing.

“No tears. If they flow, you’ll have to remove those spectacles to mop up, and your disguise will be dispelled.” Maleficia’s eyes crinkled with quiet laughter.

“Today is a celebration of family. Let us put aside our woes for the future and unusual eyewear, and relish in the present with our cherished children. That is a direct order from me to you, Lilia. I won’t have my subject’s smile wavering in my presence.”

He chortled. The small sound evolved, shaping itself into an awkward laugh. Fully formed, but still shaky at its edges.

Lilia faced the queen, dropping to a kneel. His head lowered, he played out the role of a faithful knight reporting to his sovereign.

“Yes, your majesty! As you command.”

[voxofthevoid]

I have not tagged top/bottom for anything since 2018, and I won't be doing it again. The intent is to actively drive away people who need top/bottom, regardless of the dynamic, tagged. <- Can I ask what you mean by this? (different, curious anon)

Y'know, I had a feeling soon after replying to that anon that someone would ask about this 😂

Short version:

Hypocrisy and unreasonable expectations about tagging top/bottom caused me to stop the whole practice. I started using "Choose Not to Warn" and stopped taking tag suggestions for similar reasons. What you see is what you get, and I'm entirely content with people who want more specific tags or warnings giving my fics a pass.

Long version:

When I started writing and posting porn (Hannibal fandom circa 2014), I tagged top/bottom roles because most of my favorite authors did, and I figured that's the common practice. I also wrote switching then, less because of genuine interest and more because the dominant discourse was that it's the "right" way to write gay sex. I was personally inexperienced at the time and uncertain about my own sexuality; I was more scared about writing sex "wrong" than anything else.

From 2014 to 2018, I was in three major fandoms, one after the other: Hannibal, Attack on Titan, and Yuri on Ice. All three had raging top/bottom discourse, but if you've seen this shit, you know that there's no variety in it—if you've seen one of them, you've seen them all (though the YoI top/bottom discourse came with a generous helping of racism too). You had two loud camps:

Those insisting the bigger, older, meaner, stronger, and/or more dominant (personality wise) person should top; nothing else makes sense.

Same-sex couples, especially men, had to switch. Anything else is heteronormative and fetishizing.

Both stances are, of course, fucking bullshit. People fuck in whatever ways they want, and neither appearance nor personality determines whether you're a top or bottom (or anything on the BDSM end either).

But the discourse hasn't gone anywhere. You still get people trying to justify the sexual dynamics they prefer with one or the other of these arguments, and while #1 is typically used by diehard stans of the predominant dynamic, you also often get the opposite crowd trying to "prove" that X is actually a bottom because [insert reasons that almost always come down to bottom=more feminine].

On top of this, there's another prevalent trend. The predominant dynamic (top Gojou in the case of goyuu) is considered the "natural" option. It's the default. If you click on an explicit goyuu fic, that's what should be there. Anything else—be it switching or top Yuuji—needs a "warning" because heaven forbid anything other than the norm be written without neon keep-away signs slapped on it.

As my tone and all the scare quotes may indicate, I have no patience—but do have an abundance of rage—for any of this shit. I reached my boiling point toward the end of my YoI days, which was also incidentally when I started to fuck and my own tastes (IRL and fictional) solidified.

My porn fics are all rated explicit, and 99% of the time, there's a tag for anal sex. There's also a marked absence of top/bottom tags to go with these. Readers can do the mental math and choose whether or not to click in. If their assumptions make asses out of them, that's not my problem—except when they try to make it so.