#but they're going to be different fuck ups

[vampire-eros]

here's an idea that i'm just throwing out there, and feel free to ignore it: what if, sometimes, anime can be appealing to trans women through the isekai? that you can suddenly wake up in another world in a different form than your current one, or something magically happens to you that can alter your body after you are transported to such world? it would be more of an escapism and fantasy than the perceived, but false, answer, that all these women are getting their impression of womanhood from japanese cartoons.

isn't there the whole terf conspiracy theory that men who are into anime are brainwashing themselves into thinking they're women because of their severe anime girl obsession. are trans women get preached like "you won't look like anime girl" based on that?!

[scribesynnox]

Ooooohohohohohoho!!! Man oh man oh man oh MAN!!!!! I have!! SO!!! Many ideas on mer culture but no where to publish them UNTIL NOW!!! With @keferon's mer au!!!

I just have so many thoughts!!!!

Different kinds of culture in different regions! Merfolk who live in rivers and lakes and near the shores, vs those who live out in the open ocean near the surface vs those who live in the abyss zone vs those who live near the ice caps. Religions centered around moon and stars and the rise and fall of the ocean as she breathes.

So like, this is more of a worldbuilding post than apocalyptic ponyo post but whatever, we ball.

merfolk who live in colder waters like the deep sea or near ice caps have antifreeze proteins in their tissues so they don't freeze

hey, a tf thought here: Skyfire being a big giant marshmallow of a mer, chilling in the north and just minding his own business, doing some research on the magnetic fields in the poles, but gets bothered by this tiny screaming little creature. He's pretty sure that's a human, but he's also pretty sure that humans aren't supposed to be this far north. Maybe it's lost? Poor thing. Meanwhile, researcher Starscream is screaming at whatever giant stupid fish keeps fucking up his readings and it's cold as SHIT out here and god DAMN it, he just needs ONE GOOD READING before he can go back, BUT THE STUPID- oh fuck that's a giant human-fish-mer thing actually. Oh shit.

counterpoint: skinny ass mer starscream doing research in the north who befriends the weird human that also lives here (though he didn't befriend Skyfire initially cuz the whole POINT of moving out here is so that he didn't HAVE to deal with the weird nosy uncanny things that have two weird arm things instead of a tail. But Skyfire wore him down and now they're buddies :) Skyfire is all bundled up in his arctic gear and Starscream is just out here like the temperatures here aren't cold enough to kill a man.)

Also, this means that Starscream has to worry SO much about Skyfire freezing to death, oops :)

and they were BOTH researchers! :D

merfolk who live near the hydrothermal vents being more poison resistant cuz of all the toxic metals there.

Much like how humans fucked around and found out with fire and electricity, merfolk fucked around with currents, thermal energy, stupid amounts of pressure, and magnetic fields. Those are their main power sources, depending on the area, like how humans primarily use electricity.

Hey hey hey, who wants to talk about eels for this tf mer au? Because i wanna talk about the idea of electricity being a relatively new power source for merfolk, that used to be a less common thing. Like, it was definitely used before for a LONG time, but it used to just not be feasible to have on a wide scale, and limited to just areas that have eels. And with transformers in the mix, combining mechs and eels and electricity, i don’t know what to do with it man, but the potential for something fun is there.

Ooooooo, prosthetics and cyborgs and mechanical enhancements maybe? I don’t know, I’ll have to get back to this later.

FUCK MAN, THINK ABOUT THE WHALE FALLS. Some regions who see it as a gift from above, other seeing it as just another part of the cycle of life, part of the ebb and flow of the ocean, life dying and feeding many others, and other regions just seeing it as a tragedy, a great majestic creature dying and lost to the deep abyss below.

I spend a lot of time on how people will have different philosophies based on the world around them and the ocean is a very different world indeed.

Speaking of religion, what about Drift? What would his religion be if he was a merman? I don't know enough about Drift to say what sort of philosophies and ideals he would have as a mer, but it would be so fun to think about.

Red is one of the first colors to go the deeper you get into the ocean. Many fish that deep down there flat out can't see the color red cuz they never had to. Ergo, red reading as caution or danger or scared or sneaky, etc, to any merfolk that come from the deep, because red is used as camouflage at those levels.

BIOLUMINESCENCE. Oh my FUCK can we talk about bioluminescence? Because ooooooo pretty shiny lights that flash and flicker go brrrrrrrrrr.

You know that moment in ponyo where they communicated via flashing lights? That morse code bit? Yeah, that but for merfolk. Flashing lights at each other so they don't have to whistle so loud, or in closer conversations, biolights just being used as a mood indicator, like posture and body language.

Also! Speaking of all those different mer cultures in different regions and zones, the TRADE!! The travel and trade between these regions and zones! Deep sea folk swimming upwards and having to squint from the bright lights, needing sunglasses. Surface layer merfolk swimming downwards and having to use specialized sonars or red light flashlights, like glowing red rocks or torches or something, in order to being to see their surroundings.

I have! More to say! But I am eepy and if I don't post this bit now, I never will, so out this goes, hit post.

[delaware-lemme-smash]

Sfw and nsfw HCs Poly relationship of Bakugou and Kirishima with their female reader?

An explosive combination!

Characters: Bakugou Katsuki/DynaMight, Kirishima Eijirou/Red Riot

Contents: poly!relationship, feminine pet names, afab reader, nsfw, oral, biting,

Bakugou Katsuki/DynaMight & Kirishima Eijirou/Red Riot

SFW

I'm going to go ahead and give Kirishima the credit for getting this little throuple together, because there's no damn way it was Bakugou. He's too hot-headed and there are too many feelings involved in the whole thing for him to sit down and think it through. Especially if there's been some jealousy and some miscommunications in the run-up to The Discussion.

So it was basically you and Kirishima who approached Bakugou and suggested giving the whole polyamory thing a try.

For a few minutes he just squints at the two of you, trying to work out if he should be pissed off or not. You wanna date him and Kirishima. What the hell, are you trying to say he's not enough for you?! Wait, but doesn't this mean he gets what he wants and he doesn't have to watch Kirishima mope around like some kind of boulder puppy?

Once he's done working through the Five Stages of Whatever, he turns a wicked grin on you.

"You think you need two guys to keep you satisfied? We'll see about that. Don't you dare underestimate me!"

"Dude, chill, it's not a contest," Kirishima says, trying to calm him down.

"Yeah? Sounds like loser talk to me."

And that was how your relationship started.

Given their busy schedules as Pro Heroes, it's likely you all live together to split the household chores and just to get an opportunity to see each other between missions and patrols. Bakugou had the nicest, largest place (and probably Kirishima already as a roommate), so it made sense for you to all move into his apartment. Something he bitched uproariously about, even though he knew it was logical and he actually wanted it too. Being pissy is like a reflex for him.

You got a nice big bed for the three of you. Bakugou rigidly enforces "his side", even if he's out on a night patrol. He grouches that your big head has deflated his pillow if you slept on his side. (And proceeds to shove his face in said pillow the next time he sleeps, 'cause it smells like you now.) You don't get a "side" per se, because your place is in the middle, the filling in the muscle sandwich.

Kirishima's the biggest cuddler, but don't let Bakugou convince you he's not almost as bad. He is, and he'll get moody if you point it out. Let him keep his delusions.

Kirishima wants you to wear his clothes. Those cute sleep sets you keep buying? Mysteriously disappeared (hidden in the linen closet). In their place? A bunch of oversized, faded Crimson Riot or "manly" t-shirts for you to wear to bed. Bakugou might get in on the action and chuck in some of his skull or Deep Dope shirts. Take the hint.

Bakugou's standard of cleanliness is higher than yours or Kirishima's. He's not the type to set up a cleaning rota and shifts though (Iida-like behaviour). He just blows a fuse and attacks it all at once. You'll come home to a spotless apartment and a fuming Bakugou in the kitchen, scrubbing the dishes. Picture Explosion Murder God: DynaMight in a pair of yellow rubber gloves.

He has different reactions to mess for you or Kirishima. If he finds Kirishima's socks on the bedroom floor, he'll ball them up and toss them as his friend's head. "Pick up after yourself, rockbrain." If they're yours, he'll still throw them at Kirishima's head, but address you instead: "Don't be so fucking lazy, babe."

I'd say all of you are fairly decent in the cooking department, but Bakugou's irrepressible competitive streak always gives him the edge. The stuff he cooks always looks the best, but he leans into his spices a little too much. A little too hot saucy. Kirishima can only really do basic stuff, but he knows all the good takeout places in the city—Fatgum showed him.

Movie nights are usually action movies. Wanna watch something different for once? Yell louder than the boys.

When it comes to gifts, Kirishima's are the cute and heartfelt, whereas Bakugou's tend to be cool, flashy, and expensive.

There's fitness equipment cluttering up what used to be Kirishima's room, and loads of tubs of whey protein and bulking powder in the kitchen. The guys are fitness freaks.

You're definitely a little spoiled. You just have to even vaguely move in the direction of the couch and there'll be someone grabbing your hips, pulling you down into their lap. It's a rare occasion when you sit on an actual chair.

NSFW

Oh, boy.

Let's begin by stating that, yes, your sex life is off-the-charts amazing. Bakugou and Kirishima are both young, strong, red-blooded guys with big personalities and dangerous jobs. There's a lot of testosterone, a lot of adrenaline, and a lot of man to go around. Their libidos are insane.

At the start of the relationship, sex tends to be a one-on-one kind of thing. You and Bakugou. You and Kirishima. But one thing led to another, and... Well, actually, Bakugou heard all those cute little noises Kirishima was drawing out of you in the bedroom, and he didn't feel like sitting in the living room playing video games anymore. Bakugou stalked into the bedroom, stripping off his shirt and growling that he wasn't gonna sit there like a cuck. It tends to be a group activity now.

You get groped. A lot.

As aforementioned, you'll be sitting on Bakugou or Kirishima's lap, and their hand will slide up to get a soft handful of titty, massaging it lightly through the fabric of your shirt. Bakugou in particular likes to slide one of his hands into your panties and just let it rest there, his calloused fingertip playing idly with your clit while he's watching a movie or an All Might documentary. When you start squeaking, it's time to hit pause, toss you over his shoulder, and take you to the bedroom, Kirishima whistling casually as he follows.

Trying to get from the bathroom to the bedroom after a shower is like running a gauntlet. When you're warm and dewy and smelling all fruity, it's like catnip to your boyfriends. You dodge Bakugou's casual swipe from the couch, gripping your towel as you almost make it to the bedroom. Only for Kirishima to block the doorway, grinning like a shark.

"Heeey, babe. Goin' somewhere?"

When you step back, you bump up against Bakugou's chest, who has silently crept up behind you. Great, now you're gonna need another shower by the time they're done.

Kirishima likes to bite. He's extra careful 'cause of his sharp teeth, but he likes to leave imprints on the fat of your inner thighs, biting down just enough to give you an exciting little pinch.

Bakugou's big on oral. He likes clamping your thighs around his head, his pulse racing in his ears while he lashes your clit with his tongue, sucking aggressively. He makes a lot of aggressive grunts and growls when he goes down on you, sounding like he's actually hungry. He doesn't stop until you're slippery wet after a couple orgasms, and he emerges wild-eyed, panting, his mouth and chin dripping with you.

Kirishima's a bit more versatile in bed. He can do the fun, loud sex that has you bouncing on the mattress, or the slow, intense, romantic sex where you're staring into each other's eyes.

Bakugou fucks. He bends you like a pretzel, hitting it hard and deep, his hands curled into fists either side of your head so he doesn't accidentally set off any explosions. Sex with him is hot, hard, sweaty, and primal. He's the one that gets you screaming (along with the ensuing noise complaints), biting, and clawing. He wears your nail drag marks with smug pride.

I hope you guys got that bed on a warranty, because their competitive streak follows you into the bedroom too. They keep a tally of who made you come and how many times before you tap out.

[nikjima]

Bit of a question, if you're open to it. You discovered the Wedding Chapel. What do you guess it was supposed to be used for?

The Chaphael, my font of madness. 😔

Thanks for the ask! It's hard to guess, really, but going over what I know about it:

It has the CTY prefix, not the BGO or GLO prefixes, which is what the rest of the HoH has, so I don't believe it was part of the House of Hope.

Only a small part of it is actually walkable, and parts of the wall are not 'solid', and can be walked through, so from my experience of other scene behaviours It was most likely intended for a cutscene.

The background sound when in the area is also one of the default dungeon environment sounds, not Raphael's theme or any music from the HoH.

It is very incomplete, there are gaps between the wall pieces, the floor is uneven, there are almost no 'triggers' in place, such as those for cameras or lighting, and it's very sparsely decorated, so whatever it was for seems to have been abandoned early, though there is evidence in the game files that suggest it was looked at as late on in development as patch 5.

My delulu theory is, of course, that it was made specifically for the player character to marry Raphael in, after giving him the crown and him making them his consort. I want it to be that so very badly it hurts.

What I think it's more likely to be is either:

a - a spot in the city we could visit to trade with Raphael for rare items using soul coins, as we've been told in the past that Raphael was at one point going to be a trader who we could barter with using soul coins. (as an aside, there's some info in the game files that indicates Raphael would have been able to assist us as a summoned ally, there's a spell named "Diabolical Ally" with the text "Summon the crafty devil Raphael to fight alongside you." The spell summon data contains the UUID for a character that doesn't exist, sadly, so I have no way of knowing what form he would have taken. It isn't set up the way the endgame allies for the final battles are, so maybe it'd have been attached to something you could barter from him? 'Use this ring to call upon my aid once per day' kinda deal. Fun idea) This one is unlikely if it really is a cutscene area, of course, though it could have been a case of 'enter building, cutscene begins, complete trade in cutscene, exit'.

b - a scene where we'd see some kind of cult of Raphael scenario going on, post-epilogue. (Archdevils have cults after all, so surely the Archdevil Supreme would have a real fancy one). Perhaps he chose to desecrate a wedding chapel for his cult base because doing such a thing amused him, all the pomp and ceremony of weddings would obviously appeal to him, and corrupting the location a religious ceremony would be held would be extra delicious. Maybe Hope really liked weddings so it was an extra little 'fuck you' to the cleric who denied him, too. There's an unfinished 'Raphael Punished' area, presumably where we'd witness Mephistopheles eating him, so why not have a counter version for those of us who side with him where we see the fruits of his labour?

c - Raphael actually does take the player character as his consort, binding them to him for eternity as a sort of trophy (I rule the hells and have the Hero of Faerun who slew the Absolute in my retinue, in your face dad, your dragon ain't shit), and being the ostentatious so-and-so he is, decided to have a full ceremony to announce it. It probably lasted 9 days and involved 666 different poems about how great he is. He wrote the vows, and once the player character recites all those infernal words it means they're his possession entirely.

Okay, that last one was veering wildly back into the delulu realm. Let me dream. 🥺

Thank you again for the ask, people rarely ask my thoughts on things, it was fun to go back over the Chapel again. I only spent like 4 hours poring over it this time, not 2 days. Improvement! 🙌

To have and to mould into whatever my heart desires. In your sickness and my health. Not even death shall part us, Little Mouse.

[revcleo]

Something which I also think would be useful for people to understand is that they have to strategise their speech.

Right wing people know this, because they speak differently among themselves than they do on social media and such because they want to appear reasonable in their use of dog whistles and such, that make people who know what they're talking about either seem crazy or unable to remove their schostastic terrorism or such.

But what I think a lot of left wing people think is that being correct and on the good side of history etc means that people will always agree with them, or be evil. Never mind that there's the stereotype of leftist infighting, a lot of people seem to be either ashamed of their past and less informed behaviour, or copy the behaviour of their favourite posters (who are usually irony poisoned and sarcastic at the least, and angry warriors of truth otherwise).

The things you've got to do when you come across someone who you disagree with is first think: What do I want out of this encounter?

Do you want to change how anyone thinks?

This can be no, if you just want to let off steam or shout at people, instead think "Is this the right person to shout at?" Will you make yourself look like an idiot?

Shouting at someone can be fine, like shouting is used to either get people in line or get people to fuck off.

Shouting works when it's either someone you largely agree with who is doing something fucked up and you go "what the fuck?" and talk to them, but mass shouting when it's someone you largely agree with does not work in that way. I've never seen a lot of people shouting at someone who they agree with 99% on things, ending up productive. It just creates divides and ends up as a form of harassment.

If you want to shout at someone for catharsis, the best way to do this is to do a sort of preaching to the choir about something fucked up you've seen, or shouting at an in person protest.

Since this is also an option for if you don't want to change someone's mind, if you find someone so entrenched and fucked up in their beliefs that they are unlikely to change, so long as you aren't going to repost their beliefs to shout at them, then shouting at them can be a way to let off steam. It won't do anything else, and may make you more angry, but it's an option.

But what if you want to change someone's mind?

First like, who are you talking to? Let's put them in a few groups:

Fellow leftist, problematic liberal, typical conservative, outright fascist

Starting from the fascist: You will not be able to change their mind and make them realise the folly of their ways.

They can change their own minds, but arguing with them will not do that. It's a special job to deradicalise fascists. The best things you can do are either:

A. bait them into saying something which they can be reported for/look into their blogs to see if they have anything reportable

B. block them, spreading their hate speech just to debunk it is still spreading their hate speech, you can debunk things without sharing the original

C. humiliate them. What you do is you need to make them look stupid by baiting them into showing their ass while you just show calm facts and logic. They often rely on appearing to be the sensible and calm one to appeal to people who are less fascist than they are, because they are irritating and cherry-pick facts it can be easy to get angry, so if you get too pissed off to do this then just block them.

Now on the typical conservative, sometimes they can be the fascist sort, where they're too deep in whatever hole, and you can just treat them as above, but if you learn to tell the difference between people who are just out to waste your time and people who are actually curious and have just picked up fucked up information (such as the example above) then if you just take your time and target your speech to align with some of their preconcieved ideas, you may be able to get them to doubt themselves on something.

You will not be able to make them suddenly a leftist, you also will probably not be able to make them even centrist, but pushing seeds of doubt is fine. Just don't spend too long, and make sure you're definitely able to tell if someone has curiousity or not. People who lack curiosity are often time wasters and will not care at all about what you're saying.

It can also be useful to get a bunch of responses to their thought terminating clichés and channel your inner MCU or something, such as "I thought the left was supposed to be tolerant" "you're confusing tolerant with a doormat/no that's the liberals/of what? assholes?"

With problematic liberals, they may be generally nice people who just say something a bit fucked up, or might just not know about something. Like let's say there's a link you post with saying "White people should read this." and they respond defensively with "Why do I need to read that?" the wrong response would be "Are you some sort of racist or something?" which is starting a fight. Whether they're a racist or not, they are less likely to engage with the information. Instead it's possible to just answer the question, which might be something like "It might be some interesting information you've never thought of before, which can help you treat other people better."

Some people can just be very annoying, feel free to block whoever whenever, and sometimes the way people brains work are different, so you can't figure out what each other means, feel free to say "Sorry, this is just frustrating and I don't think we're going to resolve anything." but someone not being as left as you doesn't mean they are inherently going to go rightwards. You can help them on a journey by giving them suggestions and telling them facts that they might not know.

Saying things like "just fucking google it" really doesn't work nowadays especially, since google is so full of shit. So having a bunch of useful bookmarks might be an idea if you want to try and convince people who are almost leftists to give it a go, rather than telling them to fuck off.

Liberals are much more appreciative of a bit of truth and facts and maybe a podcast recommendation than many leftists think. There's even many liberals who you might talk to when you are out and about IRL, you can convince them of things like sensible nuclear policy and how more bike lanes are good for everyone.

With fellow leftists, there are many different but similar sorts of arguments. Maybe someone is having a bad day and is fighty, maybe someone is just an asshole who loves to pick fights, maybe you have the same thing but from different angles and just need to work out where it is, maybe someone is just frustrated with the way how they feel powerless and has found one thing they can shout about which is unfortunately wrong but makes them feel good about themselves.

You gotta see where people are coming from on things, sometimes you just gotta block people, not that they're even bad, but just like you know fundamentally you're going to find some of the ways they think to be really irritating, or some of their comparatively harmless jokes just piss you off and it's not worth fighting about.

With leftists, sometimes taking the argument on head on is not the best way to go about things, the best thing to do is try and find where the argument comes from. Check in with your comrades, see how they're doing. Try and keep things in plain language if jargon seems to obfuscate your meanings, and try and rephrase things and see if the other person is willing to also rephrase things. Try and reach a stage where you both understand the other person's argument. Maybe you can reconcile?

Also maybe the other person just doesn't know about some information you have as well? Try keeping things cheerful. If someone really is a dickhead then you can just block them.

And one thing I've gotta say with all of this:

If you don't feel up to it, then don't do it, but don't make it worse. If you don't want to talk to someone, then don't. Also don't take this as tone policing, if someone demands politeness when they've not given it, they can fuck off.

Might I give some advice:

Not everyone has (or needs to have) the energy to thoughtfully respond to republicans on the Internet. You do not have to do that.

But some people do, and can. And I think we gotta let them.

An example:

I have a former teacher, I'll call her Grace, who is an incredibly kind woman in her 70s. Devout catholic, had voted for various parties over the years, but has been pretty strictly democrat over the past 15-20 because that aligns with her values of kindness and service.

She shared a post about the pope's recent letter and expressed that she agreed with his concerns about how trump is treating immigrants. A friend of hers commented a long paragraph basically saying "dear Grace I care for you but I don't understand how you can be a Christian and a democrat. Blah blah abortion blah blah gender blah blah drugs."

Grace replied "I'm very busy right now but I am going to respond to you soon with my thoughts". When she did it was an incredibly generous, rational monologue that connected with this person's humanity, their shared religious values, and made a beautiful case for why she supports who she does. I didn't agree with a good half of what she said as I am not a Christian, but the result was an expression of values that I think put her on the side of justice and compassion.

The person replied and thanked her and said she had a lot to think about. It was probably the best case scenario for a Facebook politics conversation

You know what came very close to ruining it? A bunch of (mostly younger) people piling on with "fuck you you racist maga pos" and "no one has to explain anything to you, go to hell" etc etc. Even after Grace wrote that she intended to reply herself.

I watched this republican respond to all the easy, quick insults by saying "this is why I don't think any democrats can be Christian, this is how you all speak to me." If Grace hadn't put so much work into writing her response in a way that was tailored to fit this person, I would not be surprised if that person left Facebook doubly certain that Christian nationalism is the way to go.

I'm not saying we can't cuss out jackasses. I'm not saying everyone needs to respond to bad faith arguments like Grace did or use their time like she did.

But this was on Grace's Facebook page, and interrupted the work she already volunteered to do. Just so these individuals could feel like they "did something" and got a shot off at an enemy.

I think that's selfish and childish and unproductive. They could have said anything they wanted in their own space, but they made grace's job harder for no fuckin reason. And then "loved" her reply and said "that was beautiful Grace, thank you for sharing your thoughts"

Like... Buddies. Pals. If someone volunteers to scrub the toilet fucking let them.

[the-kr8tor]

Can you pretty please write a bdas one where r gathers the crew up and shows them how to sew a wound the same way she showed Hobie on the island? I think it'd be funny to know the different reactions.

Like, some would be concerned that r js dragged her blade through her palm, some would think r turned crazy, and some would think r's badass. The reasoning for her teaching would be that she realized the crew would be dropping left and right without her. With the fact that they're too reckless sometimes.

Please and thanks Katy!! Love your writing so much and I hope you're doing well 💕💗💜

I miss writing for the pirate sillies 🥹 I hope you like it! ❤️

Pairing: Pirate! Hobie Brown x fem! Reader

Word count: 1.1k

Tags: No use of Y/N, so specific physical description of the reader, pirate AU, reader is a medical professional don't worry, set in my BDAS series. Between the devil and the sea AU, CW blood and injury, spider trio cameo, fluff.

Navigation

“Why do we have to go through this again?” Gwen groans as you push her towards the infirmary of the ship.

“Because you're all too reckless and I keep stitching you all up more than a seamstress stitches clothes!” You exclaim as you and Gwen enter the room.

The two of you are met with rambunctious laughter and chatter. A few of the members play around on the surgery table, playing around it and pretending they're doing surgery on Miles, who's laying still on the table. You cringe at the fact that they're holding your precious instruments with their bare hands that still stinks of gunpowder and wood. Hobie, your captain that's supposed to be a role model, chases Pavitr around with a jar of a specimen floating around in fluid. Pav screams, running all over the already small infirmary.

As if things couldn't be worse, James looks through the medicine cabinet while Yuri urges him to drink a mysterious vial that would definitely kill a grown elephant.

You let go of Gwen and shut the door with a resounding slam. It doesn't take much for them to quiet down after seeing the stern look on your face.

Hobie freezes in place, mid chase as he holds the jar above his head. Clearing his throat, he gently places the jar down on the shelf and gestures for everyone to stand to one side of the room. All the while smiling sheepishly at you like a child caught with his hand inside the cookie jar. Or in this case, inside a dead frog floating in amber fluid.

Miles almost staggers as he jumps off the table because of the gauze sticking on his eyelids. Gwen stifles a laugh, heading towards him with a helping hand and tugging the bandage off. You and Hobie share a look from their interaction. Smiling softly at the two lovebirds.

“Right,” you sigh out when everyone is standing to one side of the table while you're on the other end. “I called you in here because— Yuri.” Turning towards the raven haired, you open your palm out to her.

“What?” She says innocently.

You only give her a look, brow raised and fingers opening and closing.

With a sigh and a disgruntled groan, she takes a vial out of her pocket and hands it to you before returning back into the line.

“Good, as I was saying, I called you all in here today to teach you the basics of treating an injured crew member.”

James raises his hand.

“What is it James?”

“We can only treat fellow crew members?” He asks, scratching his cheek.

“No, anyone you want to help, I guess.”

Yuri raises her hand.

“Yes, Yuri?”

“What if I don't want to help them and they're actually a prick?”

You sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose. “I don't know, Yuri, it depends on who you're talking about.”

James raises his hand again, side eyeing Yuri.

You groan, “yes, James?”

“I think she was talking about me.” He points at Yuri accusingly.

“Then she has to help you—”

Hobie raises his hand, smiling from ear to ear.

“Yes, captain?” You warn him with your tone.

“I need to go to the loo.” A resounding guffaw echoes out.

“Oh for fucks sake!” You unsheathe your dagger, showing off the newly sharpened metal.

“Shit, love!” Hobie yelps in shock, but his smile says he's impressed and even proud.

The crew members gasp, some in a panic and some in amusement. Pav was the former, almost looking like he's about to cry at the sight of you holding your dagger right above the back of your hand.

“What're you doin'?” Hobie has his hand reaching towards you, feet slowly inching to your side. “C’mon, love, we were just jokin’”

“Oh, I know. Don't do this on your own.” You shrug as you cut deeply at the back of your hand, wincing at the pain as Hobie rushes to your side and takes the dagger away from you and then grabs your bleeding hand.

“Fuck! Why'd you do that?!” Hobie panics, while the other crew members scream at the blood dripping from your hand down to the floorboards.

“Fucking badass.” Yuri nods in approval together with James who is in awe of the deep cut.

“As a demonstration.” You say calmly, but with the way your jaw tightens, you're in pain. “What—” you hiss as Hobie grips the cut, trying to stop the bleeding. “What are you going to do in this situation?”

“What?!” Gwen bolts over to your shelves to find a clean cloth. “You're fucking bleeding!”

“Exactly,” You say in between clenched teeth. Hobie's petting your hand and murmuring apologies against it. “Hobie, I'm fine.”

“I can see through your hand!” He cries out, eyes glimmering as the ship rocks against the waves.

“Yeah and you're doing great at trying to stop the bleeding.” You praise him, only to be met with a confused look. Turning towards the bewildered crew members and to Pav, who's being held up by Miles lest he falls on his knees. “You're going to need some clean cloth to stop it, or else you're increasing my chance of getting infected.”

“Scuttlebutt, I love you, but what the fuck?” He whisper yells as if he's about to lose his voice.

“I love you too, remember what I taught you back on the island.” You beam at him, kissing the tip of his nose briefly.

Hobie inhales and straightens up like the real captain that he is. “Gwen, the cloth is on your right, inside the top drawer.” Gwen does what she's told, frantically ripping out clean fabric. “Yuri, grab the antiseptic inside that shelf, it's the green jar.” Yuri mocks a salute and then heads towards the shelf. “James, the suture kit is on that table, you can't miss it.”

James rushes to get the needle and thread as Gwen packs your wound with the cloth. “Good on you, Gwen.”

“Don't fucking do that again.” She points at you as Hobie tightens his hold on your wound, effectively stopping the bleeding. You could only smile at her.

“Miles—” Hobie calls for him, only to find that he's holding onto an unconscious Pav whilst fanning his face. “Uh, take care of Pav.”

The captain meets with your eyes as you grin at him. “What's next, captain?”

“Scuttle work for you next week once you're healed.” He threatens, worry still etched on his face as he checks if the blood has stopped flowing out.

“Aww, that's not part of it though.” His grey eyes narrow, a smile curling at the corner of his lips. “I love you, good job.” You say with a lilt, eyes shining bright and alert, a good sign for Hobie.

He clicks his tongue in reply, but he still places a quick kiss on your wrist before laying your hand on the table to continue treating you and in turn teaching the crew. The scuttle work will be worth it now that you have taught them all a valuable lesson that might save someone's life in the future.

If you liked this please check out my pirate au series! 🩵

[balrogballs]

Wait so the Hugo Weaving fucking thing isn’t a bit?

If you are talking about my specific carnal adoration of Hugo!Elrond, it absolutely is not a bit. I hand on heart swear that I think he is the most attractive thing in every single scrap of Tolkien media.

The guy took 👹 Film Elrond 👹 and turned him into 👿🍆🥺 Film Elrond 🥺🍆👿.

Whatever the fuck he did with his face in the coronation scene probably deserves an Oscar on its own. I have never seen a man go through six thousand emotions in 30 seconds until that moment. I have never seen anyone smile like they want to jump off a fucking cliff. I should have been there on that afternoon. I would have cheered him up. I would have cheered him up from within, with my kegel exercises.

I am truly into widows peaks. They're sexy. I have on multiple occasions said that I would like to be an insect living in it. I would cling for so long that I develop a lifelong tolerance to most lice-repellent-shampoos. I would live in his ear if I need to. I would build myself a small kingdom (queendom? idk if lice live in a patriarchal society or if they're like wingless bees).

He has aged like fine wine. The Hobbit films are far from my favourite pieces of media in the world but I can and will struggle through them to witness his transformation from empty-nest mcgee to thunder-thighs lindirfucker. Guy had the same armour in two different colours. I have the same miniskirt in four different patterns. He is just like me fr.

All this is to say that people should be glad I was a very small child when the films came out. If I was the Balls you know now, I would have been on the frontlines. I would be personally sending hate mail to everyone I saw complaining about his appearance. Forget Figwit, I would have been Sir Cumwit, Hugorond's strongest and sexiest soldier.

Please note this isn't even general actor appreciation or anything as classy as that: i'm sure he's a good actor and all but I have not seen anything else with him except Matrix and Priscilla and frankly idc. So you can be assured that my Hugofucker™️ status is specific to Hugorond, rather than being a cinema connoisseur's learned perspective.

[ominous-faechild]

Hilariously, this all feels a LOT like Rising From The Ashes lmao

Caron (the headmaster of Lotus) and Guqayya (his most advanced healer as well as Sammy's direct mentor) are DEEP in a criminal conspiracy that they're actively hiding not only from the MCs, but a majority of the academy.

A huge part of the first book is literally Caron going "listen, I can't tell you why I think {xyz}, but keep an eye out for it. Here's what you do in the seemingly HIGHLY UNLIKELY scenario xyz happens."

The MCs—legit all of them at different points in the story lmao—legit just be like "okay, weird but sure, bro."

Guess what happens.

Almost every. single. time.

Kieva: "okay, Dad, what in Existence is Strauss's deal?"

Sammy: "okay, listen. I appreciate your help. I really do. But how the FUCK did you know they were going to try to kidnap me!?"

Carmin: "... please... please just... explain what's GOING ON!?"

And guess where it goes?

Kieva:

Sammy: [stretches out his arms to crack his knuckles, giving an obnoxious, over-dramatic wink. Jokingly) "well! Guess it's about time we all officially get added to 'Kihroin's Most Wanted' list, yeah?" 😉

Carmin: [heavy sigh] "You know, if you told me only a year ago that you were going to convince me that treason against the crown was actually the right thing to do, I would've laughed in your face." Carmin: [pauses] Carmin: [unable help a small, bitter grin; darkly) "I still kinda want to. So maybe it's time to go before I chicken out of this, yeah?" ;'D

Legit something that'll probably happen at some point or another:

Guqayya: "so, my protégé. How do you feel about treason?" >;D Sammy: [gives an overdramatic, heavy sigh, crossing his arms and tilting his head to the side as he looks up at her disapprovingly] Sammy: (disappointedly) "Grandma, I think you've finally lost it." Guqayya: [quirks an eyebrow at him, looking at him doubtfully. Knows he's going somewhere with this] Sammy: [disapproving look quickly disappears for a wide, cocky grin] Sammy: (amusedly) "you know treason is my favorite pastime!" >;D Guqayya: [scoffs, rolling her eyes—and fighting a laugh—before smacking him upside the head] Sammy: [snickers to himself, lazily ducking and swatting her hand away] "awe, c'mon! You really think I needed influence to commit crimes?" >;DDDD Sammy: [did.]

romance is lame and overrated i love mentor/mentee relationships in fiction and especially when theyre sort of fucked up

[systlin]

Picking a Gor book at random: Marauders of Gor!

OH THIS IS THE SHITTY FAKE VIKING KNOCK OFF BOOK

SO. We open with Cow of House Cow, formerly known as Tarl Cabot. He got poisoned at the end of the last book and this paralyzed him. Should have upped the dose and killed him

(Bosk. He took the name Bosk because in book five he got taken slave by a lady who mean dommed him once and it fundamentally rewired his brain chemistry. He spends the rest of the books...all TWENTY SEVEN MORE OF THEM...going by the name Kind Mistress gave her pretty slave.)

ANYWAY. There's some dumb bullshit about a plot by the Kurii to conquer Gor. The Kurii are giant werewolf aliens who eat people, and I think Tarl bottomed for one once but that's a different book. They're the enemy of the Priest Kings.

Tarl then fixes the depression he's sunk into because he is Utterly Useless And Pathetic since his legs don't work. This somehow also fixes his legs? Who the fuck knows. He decides to go investigate. This whole baffling intro takes seventy pages.

Anyway.

This takes him to the north, where we find him in a Not!Catholic church. As in, it is exactly like a catholic church except it's to the PK's and not God. The head priest is the most overblown caricature of a greedy evil priest ever set to paper. Calling him one dimensional would be adding a dimension.

Naturally, the Shitty Terrible Vikings attack and loot the place.

Now, they don't attack at FIRST. Norm, thinking himself terribly clever, rips off a move from a saga written by actual good writers and steals the 'smuggle weapons into a church in a coffin with a viking leader who is totally dead you guys, we pinky promise' scheme. Our co hero with Tarl for the book, Ivar Forkbeard, is naturally not dead.

Ivar and his crew promptly loot the place, and also take slave all the pretty women they can find. Tarl, of course, impresses Ivar with his immense fighting ability (dodges a thrown spear) and Ivar decides to take him along with his crew, because Tarl has the thickest plot armor ever seen. They burn the church down and fuck off with their loot. We find out here that the Shit Vikings still follow their gods. Odin and Thor are the only two mentioned. They use a salute that would be very familiar to anyone who has watched WW2 documentaries or, more recently, Elon Musk.

On the longship, we learn a few things. One, that John Norman doesn't know shit about longships, because he gives them rigged sails. Two, that the shitty vikings eat snails raw out of the bilges, which seems like it would give you ten different diseases. Three, that they break slaves by tying them to the oars and dunking them into the north sea repeatedly for several hours, in a move that would totally not kill someone.

At Ivar's holdings, we see more slaves, and the new slaves are branded. Norm spends an immense amount of time and loving detail on this. Tarl is still having a great time. He happily feasts and drinks and rapes...his words, not mine...slaves left and right.

At one point, to discipline a woman, Ivar has her tied naked to a block of ice. For hours. This somehow doesn't kill her, and yet we are told women are weak.

They capture the daughter of a Jarl and enslave her, because she told Ivar to fuck off once and Norm is convinced that this means a woman is burning with a secret passion to literally lick a man's feet. Seriously. There's so much foot licking. In every book. It's in every book. Naturally she falls in love with Ivar and becomes his happy slave. This takes hundreds of pages and it's all horrible. All the poor women get names like Honey Cake, Pudding, ect.

Tarl and his new bestie and their slaves go to what is clearly an Althing, except worse. Ivar is an outlaw, see, and he wants to shove his dick in people's faces that he raised enough money to pay his fine but isn't gonna pay it anyway, because Real Men Don't Do Shit Like Participate Constructively In Society. Norm is INTENSELY culturally WASP, even though he claims to be an atheist. The whole rugged individualism he admires more than anything oozes like slime off most of these books. No, Ivar is clearly supposed to be someone we should aspire to be like, As Men, and Tarl has a huge crush on him I'm pretty sure. And he's a total piece of rat shit.

Ivar and Tarl win a bunch of contests because of course they do, and we see Free Women being unpleasant as Norm writes all free women. Namely, not taking any shit and talking back to men, which Norm calls 'haughty arrogance'. Ivar shows he has the cash to pay his fine, but refuses to. This amuses everyone enough though that they lift his sentence rather than just chucking him off a cliff for some reason.

The head of the Kurii on Gor comes to treat with the jarls. They all decide clearly this is a trick, because of course it is it's not subtle. The Kurii say that they have an army and will take Shitty Viking Land and also the south of Gor. The Shitty Vikings are like fuckit let's fight.

They do. It's somehow boring, in a way that vikings fighting space werewolves should actually find impossible to be. The vikings win by stampeding a herd of cattle over the space werewolves and also maybe some 800 year old legendary figure shows up?

Tarl, having reassured himself that he is a True Man, heads back to Port Kar.

The end.

[theallianceofcelestials]

Would sea or mirror sun adopt a dazzle too, because for that universe it would not be surprising if a murdered child possessed a decommissioned animatronic. If so how do you think that would go and how would the family act around the new, actual child, member of the family? You don't gotta answer if you don't wanna

-🩸

Dw, I always answer these

And yeah, they probably would! Though not because they were attached to the human child Evelyn from before, but simply because cute deer daughter, and then they'd be like: ah, so you're a human, I mean that's fine, nobody's perfect

And the family would mostly be accepting in SEA, and then the whole dead kid thing would get out and Eclipse is having an existensial crisis in the corner, Bloodmoon's kind of just thinking back to if they ever ate a child, and Moon's trying to figure out how to get her a different body, one that wouldn't let her human soul out, because human souls are weak and are likely to fade because of some dumb thing or another. But other than that, they're fine with her, and would take her into the family pretty quick

Mirror SEA would be a bit more of a mess, simply because Moon would not be cool with it. His precious brother's time is more divided now, and he can accept Solar, because the kid is a fellow sun basically and he likes him, but some random deer? No! Even bigger no when it comes out she's a dead human child (as shitty as that sounds, but he's pretty shitty so-). He would be mean, and everyone else would have to reassure Dazzle that it's nothing wrong with her, he's just... like that. Solar would have to tell her he's so screwed in the head he thinks violence can be a form of affection (only towards certain people *cough* *cough* Solar *cough* tho. He only thinks it's affection with him) so that she can feel slightly better.

Sun would eventually snap though and tell him to go fuck himself, which'd cause him to spiral a bit because Sunny is ignoring him, and he's ultimately end up apologising and doing stuff with her like a proper uncle. He still doesn't really like her though

[eldritch-spouse]

I wanna go on an rpg style quest where either Livius, Mooncalf or Vinnel is my silly sidekick

To make it even better they only do the weird shit when my back is conveniently turned

You can recruit them if you fulfill their side quests... Or, you just have to deal with them.

Livius attaches to you if you have so much as one empty party space. If not, he'll consistently somehow appear in various scenarios and convince you that he'd be much more useful than any of your dumb, fragile little buddies. There's a big bad up ahead, you know he can take them, right? The more you deny him, the more Livius seethes- Until he himself becomes a boss fight.

Livius' stats are very good, but he's high-maintenance and won't shut the fuck up. He'll butcher other party members if he feels you're giving them more time/better equipment. Intimidation bonus in battles.

Vinnel can be found early on. He targets you to put on a gory display, but if you manage to impress him, the slime actually requests to accompany you in this strange journey. He'll be in the same place if you reject him, though he'll be a lot meaner to you if you come crawling back. He'll also feature in at least one circus event.

Vinnel's stats are pretty decent, but his real talent is providing you luck bonuses in mini-games and looting opportunities. He's only a little high-maintenance, in the sense that you should let him torment your allies a little lest he get bored and leave. Torment may give them a small negative status effect.

Mooncalf is your usual "self-aware and boundary-breaking" NPC. Predictably you need to go looking for him specifically, as well as solve a few riddles. Only then is he sufficiently amused to follow you around. He doesn't take up party space, being more of a bonus than anything. There's also a chance that he can leave the party without input, only to return with some type of loot later.

His stats morph along the game, but they're pretty good. However, loot drops are now randomized, he always has different attacks, and sometimes he just chooses not to fight. Not very high-maintenance.

Recruit all three of them and you get the "Chuckle town" achievement, as well as an optional main character cosmetic that gives you clown hair and a painted face.

[marcussour]

EXU Divergence E02 random thoughts and bits

Liam's Time Cop's back again

Time Regulation 420.69 NICE

STR 21 at LVL 0, damn

Also, is just, here's a vestige, thanks Stormlord

Crokas just entered, fullthrotle, into the CR Pantheon of fav characters

"I was foolish enough to believe I understood this world"

How on earth both Liam and Jasmine manage to repeat their rolls, and these are nat 1 and 2

3 Nat 1s Liam, come on

"You succeed and do not die"

Seriously, coming out of a campaign that ended with literal legends like VM and M9 at lvl 20 fighting massive world ending threats and Bells Hells at a really high level fighting a literal god eater, and also how both Calamity and Downfall went, the fact that here, like Brennan said, a hike through the woods (and massive rainfall and ash, and the risk of starvation) might as well caused a TPK if it wasn't for some good rolls now and then, that's a change of pace if I've ever seen one

We love 2 lesbian matriarchs (halfling and goblin) who run a woodland community

Fiedra, the original elf on a shelf (or halfling in this case, but y'all get it)

Crokas my beloved, you absolute legend

Garen using all that dwarven know how to find the best booze, I feel seen

Incredible find by Garen

I said it before, in a Candela Obscura maybe, but they really should adopt the closeups for personal 1 on 1 conversations for the main campaign. I know it's way more people on the table and maybe that makes it more technically difficult, but I think it really adds more depth, especially when it's people on oposite sides of the table

Congratulations, heroes of the Divergence. Loved that D20 like interjection before the time skip towards the next day.

Fiedra one day: almost dies. Fiedra the next day: back into mischief. What an icon.

It tells a lot about Fiedra that she tries to keep Crokas kinda a bit at arms lenght with the whole "bodyguard". Like, babe, those are attachment and trust issues from *gestures everywhere*, I get it, and its really interesting

Great to see that the Roaches survived... also Keph, what the actual fuck

Oh, who's gonna be the one to take out Marlath eventually, because there's no way that piece of shit's gonna survive the campaign. Look, I'm a lawyer, I've seen motherfuckers like him for years, no loss there

Hey look, a tiefling, long time we haven't seen one -not counting Jester-.

A cleric named Luz, again, not subtle, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Was it Snowvale or Snowgrave pass?

What's a bureaucrat without a bureaucracy.

This whole little vignette of the construction of the wall and the bridge, and the difference between a ruler and a leader? incredible

I can imagine that the soldiers are actually like, level 1 or 2, maybe 3 or 4 the leader, but since our PC's are level 0, I can imagine what a challenge this will be

Great move by Erro

Love the excitement of everyone seeing their minis. I wish they would've shown them more on camera

Wonder if the exhaustion points are gonna matter in this battle or not

Oh no, just 1 point of damage for everyone

So that's were the title of the episode came from

They're so fragile at lvl 0, a couple of hits and Erro's already down

That kenku's another certified Brennan's little guys

Love that we already entered into "Seven Samurai" territory

Crokas becomes a storm avatar??!!!! Again, what a legend, going full Godzilla against the Strife Emperor's soldiers

RIP Luz (or maybe not?)

"To respect the free will of all beings means to respect when one has made themselves an obstacle to a kinder world"

WAY TO GO NIA! LVL 1 MOONWEAVER CLERIC!

There's my zoom for the minis!

"Change is coming... AND I AM CHANGE"

Both dragonborns are down now

FIRST LEVEL ROGUE!

Nice detail the portraits of the characters gaining color the moment they level up

Crokas with a nat 20 on the death saving throw, see, already a CR legend

Oh, interesting, Crokas is a monk, I though it was gonna be some kind of barbarian (also, he's level 1 and already doing badass monk shit)

Also, from the way they all reacted to Alex not remembering that Crokas was a monk, I assume that all of them settled for a class before the whole being level 0

Brennan and his love for British Bake Off

And Erro's a ranger (which I guess now makes sense of Brennan saying at the beginning of the battle that Erro approached the soldiers like a ranger)

Poor Garen, the only one that didn't level up

Oh, so that's why Matt's reacted with a "WHAT???" to that Nat 20 by Alex

Look at those babies calming Crokas

I know that it's just how the dice rolls, but the fact that it's Nia the one that has lost people dear to her in both episodes.

Oh, Fiedra making an appointment behind Torm's Hill in the forest, I think she's really gonna kill Marlath.

Fiedra raised Crokas? wow

Now it's Snowgrace pass

GIGANTIC MONK SHIT

Marlath's not only a bureaucrat and the worst kind of layer, he's also a fucking capitalist

"You have to beat a 6", "That's a 23"

Oh, that's amazing, I thought that they were gonna kill him, but they "just" cut his tongue.

So interesting that Matt took the option of not gaining a level.

Well, we're halfway through the story, and it's a clean break as any, even though we have the goal of finding Nia's family. Wonder how things will continue.

[pleasantspark]

Hot take, if you can't read properly and skim through an ENTIRE post just because of something you saw you don't like and harass the person, then you deserve to be yelled at.

I hate hate HATE how people endlessly read a title or a paragraph and immediately settle on reblogging/replying/inboxing/dming the person on how "THEY'RE WRONG" and "THAT HAZBIN SHOULD BE KINK FRIENDLY." once they started to get yelled at they want to cry that "PEOPLE ARE SO MNEAAAN" I mean sorry honey if you can't dish out what you just gave then fuck off.

I am tired of allowing criticism on shit that I specified in my posts only for people to ignore the disclaimers, why should I specifically listen to you if you don't listen to me? I doubt they read my full post and they dodge the question of "Did you see I said Viv isn't a Neo Nazi she MIGHT be one. Clear difference." and they just dodge it.

I take that as you didn't read everything, you just wanna falsely accuse someone of spreading false allegations, which is rich coming from the person I "Accused" doing these things, being called a Pedo is worse than being called anything else.

Stop being impulsive, stop responding and shitting up comment threads, and learn to sage your fucking comments, I KNOW you have time to reply to the correct comment thread you just typing up a response because I told you off for not reading properly.

If you can't read, then how are you able to understand? (Not going for the blind people, they have a reason to how they are able to read. Regular people in general don't.)

Next time you post crazy shit on my blog I will answer with a crazy response. Same with stupid questions.

[scribesynnox]

Ooooo, you know what? Another idea, another idea. I'm on a roll.

@keferon and everyone else here. That's right, another apocalyptic ponyo au idea.

If humans are taking merfolk and putting them in aquariums or rehabilitating them and all that, then merfolk are absolutely doing the same thing.

I present to you, the human zoo!

Like, people are still going out in the oceans, and sometimes, ships sink, or a plane can crash into the ocean. There are storms, there bad weathers, there are people getting marooned, there are people falling into the ocean, etc etc.

And sometimes, there are merfolk nearby who rescue the humans and take them back to be rehabilitated.

"Then why haven't these humans told everyone that merfolk are sentinent?" Because no one will BELIEVE them. Because everyone keeps saying they're traumatized and that they're personifying animals/projecting human behaviors onto a creature that is NOT human. It's understandable of course, but you must be realistic.

"No, no, I'm TELLING you, this mer was DIFFERENT, the one that saved me could TALK, they had thoughts and emotions and a CULTURE. We're wrong about merfolk, they're people!"

Those poor survivors. They're so traumatized.

And the humans that get rehabilitated aren't brought into the inner cities. Humans don't fare very well with rapid changes in pressure or frigid waters, so they're always treated closer to human territories. Which means their facilities aren't as fancy, but it is still unmistakenably a FACILITY with medicines and tools and TECHNOLOGY.

But they get the same spiel of "oh, you imagined all that up. We've searched that area but we didn't see any "facilities" there" (This is because the facilities are portable. They have to be if they want to make sure they can bring the facility with them whenever humans are in danger, and humans go EVERYWHERE. Disaster can strike at any time.)

And sometimes, the human is too injured. One of their limbs has to be amputated, or they lose their vision in the accident or something.

Well in that case, the merfolk can't release the human back into the wild. They would never survive! So they take the human back to their cities -carefully!- and keep them alive in a zoo instead.

And hey, sometimes it's NOT altruistic. Humans are exotic! They're strange funny cute little things, with their funny little noises and clumsy little movements. There is ABSOLUTELY a market for illegal human pet stores. Humans mysteriously going missing out at sea because oops, they got yoinked by a siren who's looking to make some easy money. Humans being paraded around as pets, trapped underwater. Human kids being snatched at a young age because "oh humans are just SO cute and so docile if you raise them at a young age!" Humans being put into pit fights because humans are ALSO known for being dangerous and vicious and violence sells, baby. Rich merfolk who want a human so they can brag about "taming" the dangerous creature.

Hmmmmm. Ooooo, what if it's the combaticons who kidnap humans, but like, not the full set of combaticons, cuz they kidnap a human who is that missing member of the combaticons. Except then they get ATTACHED to the merchandise and fine, fuck it. The merchandise becomes the group mascot.

Then they're like oh shit, wait, I think it's a PERSON actually.

Hmmm, but who gets kidnapped, who gets kidnapped~? There's so many good combinations (HAHA, get it?).

Like, for one, we could have Vortex being the kidnapped human, and he's so feral and bitey that none of their usual clients want the bitey human, while the rest of the combaticons start getting endeared by the volatile human. Hehe, and what if they get so attached, they pull a The Mandalorian and instead of selling him, decide to keep him but now they need to go on the run or something.

Hey wait, going back to the "raised from young" bit, what if there's ACTUALLY a human kid who is raised as a baby and they're like, a beloved family pet and they GREW up like this, they literally don't know better. I KNOW there's a transformer with this exact story, they were like, raised on another planet, their memories erased and stuff, so they don't know any better, they just know they're different and they grew up to be a knight or something? I don't remember, I'm going off tangent, just. What if there's this human who gets raised as a beloved family pet and THIS is the world they live in. They don't know any better.

Haha, oooo, what if Rung is like, a leading scientist in merfolk biology, but before he can reveal evidence that they were wrong this whole time about merfolk, and merpeople ARE intelligent, he gets marooned in a horrible storm or lost in sea by a terrible "accident" and he loses his memories?

Or hey, fuck it, even better: what if we made him Mer God? What if we made him The Man In The Moon? What if the Man In The Moon came down to Earth and then lost his memory? What then?

[decepti-thots]

☕ i vaguely remember a meta post of yours mentioning that point one percenters were a useless concept and that it also messes up megs' narrative, i'd love to read the full version of that take!

You are remembering this post, which covers the basic reasons I feel like IDW Megatron specifically does not work as a point one percenter!

More broadly, I have two big problems with the concept existing in a general sense. The first one is that it's simply ill-defined in a way where it simultaneously is not clear what it even means and yet that ambiguity is not taken advantage of for storytelling purposes the way that, say, the nebulous idea of what an outlier is gets used. Outliers don't have a clear definition, in the story- but the basic concept of 'some of these robots can do weird superpower shit outside the norm, and they are recognised as being a kind of weird group everyone sort of side-eyes suspiciously' is easy to understand as a reader and by keeping it vague, it can be used to explain quite a wide variety of character abilities without running into too much nitpicky 'hey, but that ability doesn't really match what we know about outliers, so...' stuff. It's also presented pretty value neutrally a lot of the time; Skywarp and Thundercracker aren't like, Special Chosen Ones because they can do a couple weird tricks other characters can't, they're just sort of anomalies with a couple useful abilities up their metaphorical sleeves, yknow.

Compare that to a 'point one percenter'. What is the one-sentence elevator pitch for this concept? That their sparks are... stronger, somehow. (Higher energy? More resilient? Harder to snuff out?) Okay, and what does that mean for the characters, what does that do? Well. Maybe it's why Megatron is Just That Strong, apparently. MTMTE also says this, not being an outlier, is why Minimus can wear external armour without issue- but also it's not like every point one percenter can necessarily do this, so I guess it's different depending on the mech? Or maybe they can all do it and just don't. Who Knows. I guess it's why Overlord survived becoming a phase sixer- but it's not what makes him Just That Strong. But also I guess Megatron could beat him in hand to hand combat at some point. Magnus can't though, and he's ostensibly a point one percenter? Basically, there's never really even that very broad line drawn around what the hell it means or why anyone cares someone has an extra-radioactive green spark.

And I think the point there is that like... most of the fandom just assumes Minimus' ability is being an outlier, right? And for a good reason: a ton of the stuff point one percenters can potentially do is better explained by them simply being outliers! And there we hav a problem. Having these two unrelated groups of mechs that are nebulously Different And Special to explain certain things they can do that other characters can't is just confusing when really, one would realistically do, and the reason I think it's the point one percent concept that ought to go and not the outlier concept is that the latter just raises a lot less questions.

Questions like, you know, hey, why the entire hell does this comic need an objectively measurable way to tell if someone's soul is somehow just inherently kind of "superior by" some metric. That's such a bizarre fucking thing to introduce into a narrative trying to do what MTMTE is doing; if the forged/cold construct divide brings a lot of baggage into MTMTE's themes, the point one percent stuff is just a total albatross around its neck, IMO. All point one percenters have forged souls (even Megatron, that being the twist of EC), and point one percenters are all these big important genuinely Just Plain Better characters like Megatron and Optimus and so on where the reader is clearly supposed to have this feeling of like, 'oh of course those guys are the special ones'.

If there was some attempt to explore how like, being a point one percenter just meant you could lift real good or whatever and wasn't actually meaningful in any other way but became unfairly treated as a sign of greater "superiority" nonetheless, I might see a clearer goal to the concept being introduced; you could maybe do something with "this thing that is actually very small and arbitrary is fluffed up by the powers that be as way more than it actually is". But like... all the named point one percenters we ever see outside a couple cons Megatron made bigshots in the army are genuinely these people who outside just being physically very strong, are on a narrative level understood to be the sorts of characters one might call 'destined for inherent greatness', or something. Right? There's no random nobody never-did-anything-special Lost Light background character who turns out to be a point one percenter who's just Some Guy, or anything. They're all iconic named high command type characters with Epic Fates and shit, lmao.

(Minimus could have been that character, even as a protagonist, because of the conceit of his arc in MTMTE- but they really never manage it with him either, tbh. And again, it really feels like that was much more in line with the outlier concept, and fits better there anyway.)

There's just a lot of 'have your cake and eat it too' with this whole barely-touched plotline in MTMTE, for basically no payoff that couldn't be achieved another way. Where Roberts falters with character writing is IMO when he's writing characters he is kind of precious about due to being a longterm, hardcore fan with nostalgia- you see a lot of that sentimentality at points when he's writing these characters from his childhood like Optimus or Megatron. A sort of elevation of these characters due to their metatextual status as iconic and narratively important that other characters (including, notably, Rodimus) benefit from not being subject to. And the point one percenter idea is, ultimately, a way to try and make that an objective fact in universe, it feels to me. Some of these characters just are better in a special, vague, you-know-why way. But like. MTMTE is a story that wants to talk about how presenting certain kinds of people as Just Better is wrong and cruel, too- and that tension doesn't wind up being used for anything productive. So if there's one single piece of worldbuilding I would fully remove wholesale from the comic, it would probably be this one. More than just being largely narratively irrelevant, it's also genuinely something of a problem for the comic's attempted themes.

[merchantziro]

Reality Shifting would be a wild concept if it were real because this raises the ambiguity in what would happen when you leave your body behind? I heard you leave behind a clone but that raises several questions if we're talking about it being real.

Like I personally understand the idea of sending your consciousness to another world to inhabit a you from that you universe as a result similar to mental time travel. Sending your consciousness back in time and your minds merge as it's like your past self gaining all these new memories of the future while present you are adjusting to the younger body before after a moment you become one and the same. So I understand Reality Shifting most likely plays by the same rules (or at least that's my personal understanding)

However with the clone, does that mean the clone is left behind believing they never shifted? Are they aware they're a clone at all?

Or alternatively is it like your body is just left on autopilot 24/7 as a walking corpse without any proper consciousness dealing with life (Me too buddy, me too. ...wait...)

Either raises like further questions because what are the rules damn it!? What am I leaving my former vessel to do while I'm in a different me's body as we're off hunting Draco for sport with a musket like the founding fathers intended?

Lastly, can you even shift back??? Like sure I get not everyone would want to return to this reality but it's also home regardless and people would probably only do it as a joke and not intend for it to work. Are they just... Stuck?

Like if I tried to debunk it by doing it myself by shifting to like a doomed universe where like Squid People have conquered the Earth, am I just going to have to go fuck myself because this is my life now?

I mean logically you can shift in any reality but can I return home at all or will I just end up in a vaguely similar universe but certain details are just... Off, like an entire dimension is just a few inches to the left?

Now obviously Reality Shifting isn't real and I'm reading too deep into what's obviously just an attempt at escapism... but in the hypothetical scenario that IT WAS real, you can't tell me this shit would not raise so many moral questions on what you do when you leave your life behind and the question if you could ever return properly?

I’m glad ppl on tiktok are doing ok