#but. a cookie is not an inherently bad thing?

[quibbs126]

Dark choco cookie x milk cookie fan kid plz

This is like my 2nd oldest unfinished request by now, over a year old, but I got it done finally, this is Choco Milk Cookie

So to be honest, I’m not sure what gender Choco Milk is. They started out as a guy, but as it went on and as I look at the final product, I’m not so sure anymore. I’m making them nonbinary then

Anyways, so Choco Milk lives in the Milk Village, and they work in building construction, in part due to their incredible strength (and because they want to help people by giving them homes). They do work outside of the village and help around any parts of the kingdom, whoever needs it

They’re a very calm individual, not having much of a temper. They also don’t fight, though they can throw a punch if needed

While they like chocolate milk, their favorite food is the hot cheese soup from the Milk Village, which they are enjoying in the sketch. They enjoy cheese in general, they say it goes very well with chocolate

Choco Milk was supposed to have a twin, named Milk Choco, but I didn’t end up making them, I could only think of stuff for Choco Milk. Though maybe one day I’ll draw Milk Choco, I’m not opposed to Chilk still having a twin

The names Choco Milk and Milk Choco came from the fact that both can come from a combination of milk and chocolate. There’s no real elaborate thought to their ingredients

Chocolate milk:

So I recognize that Choco Milk’s colors, on the surface, aren’t the most similar to their parents, with the light brown hair and eyes. I was mostly basing their color scheme on Milk’s chocolate costume in Kingdom. And I made their eyes like that because they’re a milk Cookie, even if they’re also chocolate. Tried to give them a more red tint though

I also added in those white streaks to reference Dark Choco. I think it works as a pop of bright color

The hair was giving me trouble at the front, but I think I got something all right out of it? The back of their hair is supposed to be a mullet, sort of like what Brock Samson has

I also made Choco Milk’s outfit brown instead of the blue/white of the Milk Tribe, but it works with them being chocolate. Probably makes them stand out in the village though

I do wonder if their outfit looks too similar to White Velvet. Whom I now realize I never fully finished or posted. Should go back and do that. But I bring it up since they both have the poncho and live in the Milk Village. And are both supposed to have the milk eyes. Maybe I should change that on White Velvet, not sure

But anyways, I think that’s about it on Choco Milk. I think they turned out pretty all right

And yeah, hope you like them!

[vodid]

ok i keep seeing awfully targeted vagueposts about me pertaining to my silly idw-exclusionary prowlsweep campaign — which i didn't expect to have gained so much traction and negative reactions — so, while yes, i understand lighthearted jokes may still hit home a little too closely, i'm not responsible for your feelings /neu. but i get it. we're protective of our blorbos and i have a hard time with the jokes too. especially about prowl and especially especially about idw prowl, believe it or not. i do get upset over them, which i suppose was why i ran my campaign like that. many of the polls (from what i could see, i probably missed a lot) were just "my blorbo is so sweet he deserves to win" but swervesweep was solidly "do not vote for prowl he is a shit man" you can't tell me there wasn't some sort of bias because of idw prowl. there's a difference between lifting up a contender and slandering another so horribly. voting because you hate, not because you love.

so yeah, just like some had gotten upset over my campaign (even if it was a joke), i got upset upon seeing all the negative tags (even if they were jokes). i admit to getting defensive and decided to run a funny campaign focused on g1 and tfa, because there was more love for them and i wanted to try to make something a little silly but positive out of it. like "hey, ignore idw for just a second because i promise there are husband-material prowls." i do admit i may have let my saltiness show through that campaign too much, so this is a bit hypocritical of me and i fully acknowledge that.

i got more to say tho shdfdsfs this got long and messy, sorry. i'll put it under a cut. i don't usually talk this in depth about my opinion of idw prowl (or just. any opinion.) ironically for this exact reason but,,

i so desperately want to like idw prowl. i really do. and in some way, i do like him (surprising, i know). but i can't look past the way the writers and the fandom treat him. that's what i truly hate. he gets insanely (and imo undeserved) bad rep and i was just sick and tired of seeing all the unreasonable hate for him from cherrypickers. so if idw prowl is going to severely /neg affect people's opinions of prowl as a whole, then i'd prefer he didn't exist. that's my harsh and albeit a bit childish truth but i'm not sorry for it.

i dislike his portrayal for a number of reasons in that it's just not him to me. i can certainly acknowledge a character doesn't have to be consistently the same every time, and that idw was meant to be an expansion of these characters and what they can be. but it doesn't mean i like the direction they took with him. what they did to him/had him do. it was like they took his core being, what made his character solidly his, threw it at the mirror to reverse it and wondered why it shattered.

if it weren't prowl, i wouldn't have as much of a problem with his character in idw. but unfortunately, he is. in concept, he is a very interesting character with a beautifully tragic story and maybe i would've liked his skrunkly ass /affectionate. but he's just not my rodrick.

also i can't get past the ableism of his portrayal 🫶 that's not a page in my book i'd like to add besties. and not a page i'm getting into in this post.

it goes so much deeper than "wahh big titty cop man is so mean" like cmoooon. i'm not a coward for asking people to look past his wrongdoings in idw they unequivocally hate him for when literally everybody else in idw has in some way done equally bad or worse things ...but are still unconditionally loved? nah. if they can stop their bias for one (1) second, maybe they could see more. thus, idw-exclusionary campaign. in an attempt to get people to stop seeing every prowl as bad. because like i said, idw taints the fuck out of non-idw prowls. how is that any fair? (and how are we prowl lovers supposed to feel seeing all that?)

these are entirely my opinions. i'm entitled to mine just as you are yours, and i am entitled to spin the campaign in any way i want. idw-exclusionary, pro-jazzprowl, boob-loving 💖, what have you. if you didn't like it, then you were more than welcome to start your own campaign alongside me! you didn't have to leave it to me. should i have maybe tried to convince people why idw prowl's wrongdoings don't make him deserving of such hatred? sure, that'd been nice. but i'm not well enough equipped for that. you can do that tho, i'd love to see it

i can't stop you from vagueposting and i won't tell you your opinions are invalid. but if you get to share your thoughts, i'd like to as well. we can both be critical of these topics in our own way and it'd be nice to come to an understanding instead of having to resort to blocking and vagueposting. (me? the coward? /j) you have every right to do that though, especially if its for your own comfort, and i really can't stop you. but it'd be real nice if we didn't outright attack the person and call them names. this problem is bigger than me. i just happened to speak on it.

all in all, it's not that serious of a situation — or rather, i wish it wasn't and i'm upset that i'm even writing this. i shouldn't have to write this, but you guys cannot for the life of yourselves understand the basic reason behind the campaign. or do you just refuse to? did you think to ask why?

we're both protective of prowl. idw or not. we were on the same team and it's not an awful thing to want to encourage people to consider other prowls before idw. i want them to see he can be good! i want them to see what i see in him. he's just a little blorbo man and it's funny in a bit of a sad way that i'm getting so heated over a fictional character and a silly poll.

sorry to poll ops. i didn't want it to spiral like that. i truly did have a lot of fun running my little campaign, even if it looked a bit (lightheartedly) aggressive. i just wanted my blorbo to win fandom favor for once 💔 jazz vs prowl would have been absolutely hilarious too. even as a non-j/p shipper, i hope you'll agree it'd have been funny to see us losing our minds over having to choose but that's besides the point!

in the end (it didn't even matter) we're all robot lovers. and it's sad we tend to have such a difficult time getting along. i'm here to make art and it's all supposed to be fun and games.

sorry to my many new followers too, this isn't the best first impression. i try to keep this stuff off my blog. i hope u like my art and thanks for sticking around — yes, even u swervesweepers (you absolute TRAITORS /lh /lh 💕)

take care of yourselves

[whimsyprinx]

i feel like at this point the only problem in my life is me

[tojisun]

biker simon who picks you up and drops you off to uni im js dizzy at the thought of it 😵‍💫

yeahhhhhHHHHHH

you signed up for that year-long discounted parking in campus and gave simon the little tag for when he picks you up. he teased when you gave it to him, saying that this whole backpack thing was just a one-time ride, but you and him both know that he’s just joking. hell, he won’t even make you take the commute to home because of how tedious it is, saying things like he’ll always pick you up so you better hang on tight.

which is why you just rolled your eyes at his drawled tease before waltzing away because your class is about to start.

thinking about how simon’s got his rucksack packed with essentials—extra protective gear from the jacket to the helmet, then some snacks like cookies and gummies. he’s even got a travel-sized tube of lotion just in case you forgot yours.

and it’s sweet, yes, but just the inherent softness in being picked up and dropped off without hesitation nor prompting. how he follows your schedule, easily taking in the change of routine just so he can be with you.

you told him that he didn’t have to, but he’s insistent. excited for it, even. so you fall into the idea of being pampered; getting used to being his backpack to the point that you’ve even began getting to know his biker gang—his usual friends, kyle and johnny and mr. price—but also those he just met in meets—konig and ajax.

it’s exhilarating.

every ride fills you up with giddiness, triumphing over all your worries and problems because, well, in the dead of the early morning or late night, as the city becomes a blur in your cruising journey, you feel suspended with just simon there for you.

he’s always been there for you; always caring for you; always protective of you. and every time, even with the silence, you feel the tension seep out of your body. then, you’re looking forward to the next day again, even if it’s just so you can reunite with simon when the afternoon bleeds into the sky.

.

there’s a certain curl in your shoulders that lets him know that you’ve had a bad day. he wants to ask, to comfort you, but you’re already snagging the helmet from inside of his bag with your lips jutted out just for the smallest of frowns. he bites the desire to croon and instead reaches forward to take the helmet away from you. you let him do so, huffing quietly, but turning to present your face to him because this—simon helping you with putting on the helmet—has become a tradition of some sorts now.

with him, tugging at the straps and then tapping at the casing when he’s done, and you, waiting with infinite patience because you know he loves doing last minute pokes. like today, he shakes your head as an extra step, and basked in the sound of your surprised giggles.

with your laughter petering out, simon reaches forward to cup your jaw. “ready?”

“yup!” you reply, popping the ‘p.’ you’re bouncing on your spot, eyes shining with excitement, and simon almost laughs because he knows. he gets it.

he gets the way you look forward to the thrill of a ride; of feeling the warm air turn into whipping wind; of going great speeds and dancing between traffic. of feeling like you’re untouchable (ironically, this is the most you will be vulnerable while you’re on the road, but simon has always been extra vigilant; never one to trust the dead silence of intersections or often unused roads because he knows how difficult it can be when one tests fate.)

but on its own, in its entirety, the ride is truly a unique experience, one that simon’s glad he gets to sure with you.

the travel back home is longer tonight, and that’s alright. you know that simon took the longer route back, anyway. that he purposefully took the wrong exit just so he can loop back in and extend your time together. you couldn’t thank him enough because this, just like this, you feel like things would end up turning for the better.

biker!simon mlist

[art-of-the-sea]

Hello!! what are the other ancients dynamics with their respective beasts like? Are they also learning to get along or is that unique to SM and PV?

Hi, thank you so much for the ask!! Since we don't know much at all about the other Beasts, it's hard to determine what their relationships with the other Ancients would be like. However, there're some light predictions that can be made!

- Hollyberry cookie, holder of the Light of Passion, is likely trying to befriend Eternal Sugar cookie, but Eternal Sugar goads her into giving in to her indulgences such as berry juice, hoping to get Holly to turn to Sloth as well. After all, they both represent Happiness. Hollyberry honestly believes she can turn the other back, however, an admirable belief that Pure Vanilla picked up on when deciding how to treat Shadow Milk cookie.

- Mystic Flour cookie and Dark Cacao both respresent Volition- however, due to Mystic Flour's apathetic disposition, the two clash very often, and they're very against any change or compromise. Dark Cacao sees Mystic Flour's apathy as an inherent betrayal of the kingdom's subjects and refuses to listen.

- Burning Spice cookie and Golden Cheese would likely see eye to eye at first, both being super driven and representative of Change. However, Golden Cheese is driven to Abundance, desiring only the best for themselves and others, but Burning Spice only wants to destroy and raze. They would likely get into arguments often, only working together in desperation.

- White Lily has the most complicated and unpleasant lot of the bunch, unfortunately. She not only has to contain Silent Salt cookie, but she has also been reunited with her other Self steeped in destruction, Dark Enchantress cookie. Due to her multiple bad experiences with corrupted reflections of herself, she's the most resistant to any sort of idea of redemption for the Beasts than the other Ancients. Thankfully, she's also the least likely to be corrupted- Dark Enchantress is incapable of using the Light of Freedom, and Silent Salt has taken to, well... Silently brooding and ominously watching over things, for the most part. While all three fall under the overarching virtue of Change, she's the most resistant to a different mindset. White Lily is rather fearful of any corruption happening again, which is why she's also rather scared & resistant to Pure Vanilla's comparatively casual relationship with Shadow Milk cookie. Even seeing him simply humoring him terrifies her; she cares deeply about him and doesn't want him to be harmed by the other's lies, an understandable position considering everything.

[chaoscharme]

Self Care Activities that Actually Help

My list of practical, achievable and useful self care tips that will actually improve your mood instead of enabling you to wallow.

Reply to your correspondence

Often if we feel low or our motivation is down, we find it tricky to respond to messages and calls from others. This allows unopened messages to pile up which creates stress and even panic. Instead of trying to ignore this problem, set a timer for 15 minutes. Then give yourself those 15 minutes to respond to as many of those messages as possible, starting with the most urgent messages first. If you cannot complete all the messages, take a minute to reevaluate. Can you give yourself another 15 minutes to finish the task today? If not, that’s fine. Assign the task for tomorrow, and repeat the process when you feel refreshed. If you are not able to give a thorough response to all of your contacts, I recommend drafting a universal message to send, stating that you are currently occupied and you hope to offer them a more appropriate message over the coming days. You can tailor this message to suit your needs and circumstances, and it reduces the amount of pressure on you to offer explanations for your absences.

Wash your clothes

Take the clothes you are wearing off. All of them. Strip your bed. Gather up any towels or tea cloths you can find. Wash them all. I cannot overstate the benefit of living in a clean environment, and wearing clean clothes. Even if you can’t wash everything, wash the essentials, and make sure you are wearing fresh clothes from head to toe. You can swap pyjamas out for more pyjamas, what you wear doesn’t matter. Just make sure they’re clean.

Water

Drink a pint of water with nothing added, no fruit, no cordial, nothing. Just drink a pint of water in one sitting. You are almost definitely dehydrated, just like everyone else. Hydration provides mental clarity, energy, and even relives stress. It reduces pains and aches in the body. It helps quell nausea and heartburn. Water is the quickest and easiest way to reduce physical pain or discomfort throughout the day. By keeping hydrated, you’re improving your quality of life almost instantly.

Stretch in bed or on the sofa

The last thing most of us want to do when we feel low or unmotivated is going for a run, or working out at the gym. Instead of pushing yourself to get a serious or intense workout in, try some stretches you can do from the comfort of your bed or sofa. Stretches will help relieve tension in the body and can increase your energy throughout the day. You don’t have to do anything crazy, just a couple of simple, effective stretches will do the trick.

Eat a “healthy” carb

People so often try to avoid eating carbs as they think carbohydrates are inherently unhealthy. This is simply not the case. While carbohydrates are often used in the production of unhealthy treats such as cakes, cookies and pies, they are not fundamentally bad for you. Carbs are our main source of energy, and if you’re feeling low energy is exactly what you need. Try eating a healthier alternative to those instant sugar rush carbs, such as rice, wholemeal pastas or breads, potatoes or oats. You can add other ingredients to these meals, such as berries to oats or some veg to pasta, to make a more filling meal. Everyone eats differently, but we all need carbohydrates in our diet to provide energy and nutrition, alongside other food groups. Creating a balanced diet is much more important than eating “healthy” all the time. Respect your body by fuelling it appropriately and regularly.

Clean yourself as best you can

Have a shower. Take your makeup off. Brush your hair. Clip your nails. Put deodorant on. Brush your teeth. Wash your hands. You might not have the energy for a full “everything shower” but you can probably do one of the things listed above to make yourself feel better about yourself and your hygiene. Don’t berate yourself if you’ve gone a while without practicing any of these for a while, life can be pretty difficult. Just accept your current situation and try to better it as best you can with the energy you now have.

Please reach out to a trusted person or a qualified professional if you feel you need extra support for any reason. You are not alone and you do not need to suffer in silence. Support is there.

Mwah, Chaoscharme

[therealieblog]

A big part of Intuitive Eating involves the de-stigmatizing of food. How do we de-stigmatize food? By not assigning it moral qualities, and by not using derogatory, negative language when we talk about food.

Examples of moralizing, derogatory and negative language we, under diet culture, still use regularly when talking about food:

"Sinful"

"Fattening"

"Unhealthy"

"Deadly"

"Bad for you"

"Clean"

"Pure"

"Healthy"

"Good" "

Junk/Junk food"

"Crap/Crappy"

Words to use instead of: Instead of "Sinful", or "Fattening", use "Decadent", "Rich" or "Delicious". Avocados and dark chocolate and many organic, "healthy" foods will make you fatter if you eat them often enough. Is this really about health? Or is it about fatphobia?

Instead of "Unhealthy", you can just say what it is about the food that impairs your health. "It hurts my stomach," "It makes my skin greasy/makes me break out", "I'm allergic to it" "I feel nauseous when I eat that." That at least is honest. Saying any food that isn't on some diet culture list of approved foods is "unhealthy" is just not scientifically accurate or backed by anything other than fear mongering.

Yes, eating foods high in fat and salt and sugar in large enough quantities, for long enough periods of time can negatively affect your health, but the vast majority of studies done on exactly how it affects your health, do not control for participants' smoking, drinking, drug use, genetic predispositions (genetics makes up a significant portion of health by the way), sedentary lifestyle, exposure to chemicals in the environment, mental health status, or literally anything outside of what they eat, so... yeah... f@ck that.

Ditto with "Bad for you." It's just so formless and un-researched and based in fatphobia. What does that even mean? In what amount is it "bad for you?" would it be equally bad for anyone to eat "unhealthy" foods at any time? Is there a magic threshold past which one's donut consumption goes from infrequent to "bad for you" levels? Or, are human beings a wildly diverse group of people, who all have very different bodies, metabolisms, genetics, tolerances, tastes and needs.

"Clean" is just as bad as "Bad For You", only worse, because it's so moralistic. If food is made out of animals, plants and grains, and is considered edible by human beings, it's fucking clean. Now if you're talking about gross things falling into the food by accident during the process of making it, or if you're talking about pesticides being used on your fruit and vegetables, then I get wanting to make sure the food is "clean". But if you're putting food on some sort of angelic pedestal for being free from sugar, or saturated fats, or carbohydrates, then you are still stuck in diet culture.

Instead of "Junk food", which implies that the food itself is garbage, which is honestly just a horrifying way to think about and talk about food, you could say "play food", "fun food", "snack food". These foods: chips, chocolate, cookies etc. aren't meant to fulfill your nutritional needs. We eat them for enjoyment, or to pick us up when we're blue, to calm us when we're stressed, or just because it tastes good and we like eating it. I think gentle nutrition is important, and paying attention to how food makes you feel is obviously important, but the way we perceive food and talk about food, reinforces what we think of ourselves when we eat it. If we are eating "bad" and "unhealthy" foods, then we are bad and unhealthy people, and that is a mind-fuck, believe me.

I've performed a 25 year longitudinal dieting study on myself. I know what it feels like to absolutely hate myself for what my body tells me it wants to eat. Not fun. So please have a care with the way you speak about food, and the way you look at yourself in relation to food. Food is sustenance and life. It is meant to be enjoyed, not feared. Lets not talk about food as if the thing meant to connect us to life also makes us inherently morally deviant.

[shepherds-of-haven]

What are the ROs' comfort foods?

Blade: there's a specific meal in Ygrath literally called "soldier's meal" that they would prepare both for the trainees in boot camp (or the Ket equivalent) and that mothers would traditionally prepare for their children when they returned home from war: it basically consists of grilled fish over rice, accompanied by sauteed dark mushrooms, a mountain herbal tea, salted cucumber and radish, and clear "earth-broth" with onions, mushrooms, grains of barley, and a miso-like paste. That's his comfort meal!

Trouble: his answer would be a nice steak, crispy potatoes cooked in duck fat, a beer, and a heaping bowl of honey pudding to follow, but I actually think his real comfort food is a sandwich. sometimes when he's upset, you can observe him going straight to the kitchen and eating his feelings with a massive sandwich. doesn't really matter what's in it, so long as it's on nice slabs of bread and has a bit of nice cheese, lettuce, and tomato!

Tallys: peya, the Elvish stuffed hand bread with nuts and cheese and wrapped in a leaf and drizzled with honey, is definitely one of her biggest comfort foods, but cheese in general is secretly a key ingredient for her too! She just likes nibbling on a little bit of cheese when she's anxious about something. Make her a cheese plate with some fruit and honey (though that part's optional) and she'll be happy!

Shery: definitely baked sweets! Everything she bakes for other people is her comfort food, lol. Sugar and flour and very soft, fluffy textures all the way baby! She tends to like strawberries and cream or angel food cake or fruit tart type sweets rather than really decadent chocolate or extravagant fudgey things, but she'll make whatever! Baking it is as much her comfort as eating it!

Riel: his are definitely sweets, too! Having a tray of little sweets (petit fours, little cookies, little bites of cheesecake) paired with extremely bitter khav or tea are divine ambrosia for him. It's extremely unhealthy but when he's at his peak workaholic stress, you'll often see him working at his desk with only a platter of sweets to graze on, it's so bad...

Chase: he doesn't really derive comfort from food... he has other vices... but if I had to guess, any kind of soup or chowder would inherently be comforting to him, especially since he had a lot of that growing up! He's particularly partial to a pumpkin-eel soup and corn and seafood chowder!

Red: I think he finds bread, particularly soft, slightly sweet bread, inherently comforting, and it's his go-to late-night snack when he's accidentally skipped dinner and doesn't want to fuss with a whole meal but has to eat something. Think of him walking around with half of a brioche roll in his mouth or something! Sticky buns and sweet milk bread was what was usually served for breakfast at the Circle, so it subconsciously brings him back to the days of being a student, having a routine, having the whole day to look forward to, etc.!

Ayla: most meals where there's too much to finish in one sitting are inherently comforting to her... she gets stressed about scarcity of food, so a big cauldron of vegetable soup (until that gets ruined, thanks Halek) or a big heaping pile of really anything where she can just mindlessly eat and process her feelings is comforting to her! This isn't quite a thing in Blest, but one of those huge grazing tables would be a delight for her!

Briony: with her amnesia, I don't think she's discovered yet what is a "comfort food" for her versus just foods she really really likes; she's more in a phase of life where she's trying as many new foods as possible rather than discerning which ones inspire particular emotions in her! I think she hasn't developed enough memories around food (which is sometimes what comfort food entails, that association to a particular experience or emotion) to gravitate towards a particular comfort food yet... but if I had to guess, I think she's drawn towards fried foods or little dumplings and tartlets, like a crab and cheese tartlet that's basically a crab rangoon or something like that! In a modern AU I could also see her being a big ice cream/milkshake/boba consumer!

Lavinet: she's not a big eater, so drinks are more comforting to her than food. When she's had a stressful day, she instinctively unwinds with a nice glass of wine, a cup of hot chocolate, a mug of warm tea, or what have you, rather than seeks out any particular meal or dish! She doesn't really have emotions around specific food like that!

Halek: he finds most foods he grew up with the opposite of comforting, as he thinks most Hunter food is bland and monotonous! (Not everything thinks that, he was just sick to death of growing up in the Reach and having the same-old same-old all the time.) His comfort food is some kind of cheesy pasta: it's simplistic in terms of his cooking aspirations, but there's just something about it that he finds inherently comforting! A nice gnocchi-style dish with a bunch of cheese sauce, toasted breadcrumbs, and broiled under an oven is his favorite!

Mimir: uncertainty

Caine: our boy loves cookies and fruit pies with a tall glass of milk!!

[artmunstudios]

Lies of P Character Analysis: P and Carlo

Spoilers for the ending of the game lie ahead under the cut!

I have been seeing a lot of people refer to P as Carlo, specifically in the Rise of P ending, and I think it is very important to think about this fact, because it kind of goes hand in hand with the themes of the game overall. And on top of that, it's important for when making theories too!

P isn’t Carlo—he never was, and won’t ever be no matter what ending you get. Not even the Nameless Puppet is really Carlo. (His corpse maybe which is,,,,, so fucked)

I'm kinda driving this home, because I think it is really important to understand the difference between P and Carlo, because despite Geppetto claiming that P inherited his personality instead of the memories, they clearly are very different people, and that is solely because of their environments.

He’s much more like a reflection of Carlo, if he was raised in a more loving/nurturing environment. P is a Carlo that isn’t solely filled with nothing but spite and anger towards his father that literally abandoned and clearly even resented him. Compare this to the people around P at the home he knew, Hotel Krat.

Sofia— Never once really says a bad word to P. Not even in the bad ending. She is that gentle guide that, despite claiming to have awakened P for selfish reasons, acts entirely selfless and is willing for her freedom to be put on hold to help P in aiding in lessening the damage in Krat. She compliments him, gives encouraging words, and I would even dare to say she teaches P the value of life.

Antonia— Grandma. Of. The Year. Can we please give this classy lady of all sass and glory more than a peaceful death? Like???? I dunno, sneak her a bottle of that good wine, Tipple Lady seemed to really dig it. If she wasn't so sick I am more than certain that she would have been doting on P more than just verbally. I'm talking that kind of grandma, and you know exactly what I mean. This lady would somehow find a way for there to be ingredients for cookies because goddammit, she may be classy but I bet you any money she makes the best goddamn peanut butter cookies and YOU CANNOT TELL ME OTHERWISE. Every time P would come back all dirty, he would get the scolding of a lifetime because how many times does she have to tell him to leave that dirty coat and boots at the entry and let Polendina get them for a wash— And finally, if she were well enough you know damn well P would have been even more classy than he already was with those outfits. She would spend an entire day going through wardrobes and having P try each outfit on to see what looks good, because no grandson of hers is going out in drabs she will not have it— Ahem. Er. ANywayyy...that grandma. she would be that grandma. And still kind of is, she just couldn't do much being so ill. And, kind of on the flipside, I think Antonia in a way taught P the importance of death, and how it can be drawing near, but you can still be full of hope like she was.

Polendina and Pulcinella — These two taught P a very important lesson, and even taught it to him fairly early on! Puppets are not inherently evil; in fact, they can be just as alive as any human. They both love the ones they take care of, and provide that sense of kinship that P really needed. In a way, P is biracial (racial....or...????bispecies???? I????? I don't know what to call it?????) so seeing both sides of each half in him is such a great influence, and helps him realize that he may be different to both, he can belong in both worlds.

Eugenie— Sweetie. Babygirl. Bestie. She was thrown into the position of big sister so fast she didn't even realize it until like. The end of the game, I think. That conversation about her big brother seemed to make her realize that she was a big sister to P in a way, I think. Which is why the realization about her own older sibling made things much harder, I think.

Lorenzini— An eccentric, but genuinely kind hearted man. A human, that despite everything, still treats the puppets as family. Hell, he doesn't even convinced that they are the villains, and he is the one to actually initiate the whole path to when the group discovers that Geppetto is the one behind the frenzy. 1000/10, coolest uncle; he probably will buy P so many ridiculous things the moment things have calmed down in Krat. What's that? Oh, yes you need a place to stay--HAVE A HOUSE. DO YOU WANT THE BLOCK I CAN BUY YOU A BLOCK-- (Pulcinella has to withhold finances because Lorenzini will NOT stop buying P shit, and the poor lad doesn't really have a concept of money so of course he's gonna accept it all and just say yes!) .... (The realization of P not really having a concept of currency suddenly startles me. WHAT IS HE GONNA DO WHEN KRAT IS RESTORED??? POLENDINA WHY DID YOU RESET HE NEEDS FUCKIN HELP— )

Geppetto— Ah. Yes. Rat bastard (derogatory). Deadbeat dad. Control freak. YOU. I will. Give him this, and I do genuinely mean this; despite everything he has done, and how manipulative he is, he, ironically, gave P exactly what he needed from a father in some ways. Specifically, Geppetto always reminded P that he was precious and important to him, and that he genuinely did not like sending him out into dangerous situations. Even though, it was for different reasons, and the majority of us were suspicious from the start, we have to think about it from P's perspective. Think about all the things he said to him, until the end at least. P had legitimately no reason to suspect Geppetto. In many ways, as far as P could tell, he was perfect. Encouraging, gentle, he made sure P was always in tip-top shape, and he told him that he was proud to see him fight the King of Puppets (yes it's fucked up knowing it was Romeo, Carlo's possible only friend, but again, P doesn't know that until the very end). In a way, he taught P his own worth, to the point that he valued his own individuality, and refused to give up his sense of self. And in the very end, I think Geppetto realized that P was not Carlo, but he loved him like a father, despite everything.

Gemini (I FORGOT GEMINI AND HAD TO EDIT TO ADD HIM IN CAST ME INTO THE FUCKIN FIRE I AM A FAKE PINOCCHIO LORE FANATIC) - Gemini, in my opinion, in this iteration is less of a conscious and more of a??? He's kinda like Romeo's replacement, in a way; he's P's best friend. He kinda also teaches P humor as well, which is honestly a take on the talking Cricket that is so unique. He's like that awkward teacher that is young but still a little out of touch with the generation he's teaching that it's like the equivalent of hearing your 30 something professor tell a fucking dad pun. Speaking of teaching, he teaches P a lot! Especially history, and cultural stuff for Krat; and I think that's also really important for development! And it is really sweet how he still, despite Krat being in disarray, tries to kinda give the city that sense of wonder and joy for P that maybe other tourists would have.

Now, contrast that with Carlo's life:

His father drops him off randomly at a place he doesn't know (a fucking orphanage dude, you couldn't even be fucked to ship him to a proper private school at least Geppetto?) at we can assume age 10-12, without even bothering to tell him when or if he would come back, based on that first memory we see. How many more sleeps until daddy comes back? Geppetto couldn't even be bothered to see his graduation, and he claims that he would not care if he just dropped over dead. And, I'm gonna be real, just based on the line delivery, as well as some personal experiences (get into that a little later with some dissection) I fully believe he means it. I'm gonna be real, the people who say stuff like that, specifically older kids edging adulthood, most of the time they really mean that shit. And, to make matters worse, it's not even just Geppetto that brushes him off, even people that you could argue are supposed to be mentor figures, brush him off. But we don't know enough yet about the Stalker Woman, so I won't go too deep into that. Right to his death (which we have to assume was homicide) it seemed like the entire world, but Romeo, rejected him.

In a way, it makes sense that the Nameless Puppet is just a rage-filled, calculating, killing machine when it gets P's heart. It doesn't inherit the personality, just the memories. And that, with the kind of life Carlo lived, makes for a very dangerous being.

Let's also think about what Giangio said, too. He calls P a new kind of human. P doesn't just magically get human guts and whatnot. He's not human, he's a cyborg, I suppose, but even that doesn't seem entirely right. It's just kinda as Giangio calls him; a new kind of human. I guess, if we want to get cheeky, P is a Legion Human. Carlo was human, and that's just how it was. Carlo never comes back, but the memory of him does seem to live on in P. He's like??? He starts off as a reflection, and ends up becoming a legacy to Carlo, in a way.

But there is one huge indicator yet that shows that P and Carlo are separate people.

I'm gonna be honest, and say potentially a bold take, but I genuinely don't think Carlo would have cried if he were there when Geppetto dies, I really don't. Just speaking from personal experience (yet again), I have an absentee parent that, the older I get, I kind of realized was never really in my life. Similar to Geppetto in a way, too, in the concept of wanting more of a concept rather than actually being a parent. So, just speaking from that perspective, if my absentee father who never bothered to get to know me or even cared about who I was as a person died in such a way (lowkey from his own hubris) I can't say it's realistic to think that someone with that kind of relationship would cry for that parent. Feel sad? Absolutely, it's not like you are heartless and just lose all sense of apathy for that person. But it's hard to really mourn for a stranger at worst, and a associate at best.

However, P does cry. More than that, when you see him curl over Geppetto's body in the true end, that right there, is fucking despair. Again, just kind of speaking from experience, your body does some weird shit to cope when you are upset over a death. You kinda revert back to that state of being a kid, wanting to coddle your precious thing because when you were at that age, you believed that things could be fixed with stuff like a hug, or cradling, etc. It's not a conscious thought, but that is part of the reflex. P holds Geppetto, the man that he genuinely sees as his father, close; because it's the only thing he knows what to do in that moment. If we think about Carlo and Geppetto's relationship, can we really see Carlo holding his father close like that?

TLDR: P and Carlo are two entirely different people; and it is almost solely because of the environments they were in.

[lych33dragoncookie]

Oh yeah, that last ask reminded me of something. I'm currently on a trip so I can't get as intricate and decorative with posting as usual, but...

Regarding the question of what could have happened to Shadow Milk to make him this horrendous, if he was always like this, I think I wanna throw in my two cents.

Personally; I don't think he was like this from the start. Not entirely, anyways. The Beasts were born into power, not having achieved it the way the Ancients did. They were made to be "good", in a sense, and Shadow Milk being terrible from the start is hard to believe considering we've seen his radically different pre-corruption design.

But I still think he's different. I feel like even from the start, he was by far the likeliest to turn. Not driven to madness, but predisposed to it. Something about his inherent nature, what drives him, that would inevitably lead to him hungering for more, more, to not just be exceptional, but at the top of the world, to rebuild it as he sees fit, to make it all his stage, and his alone. The only one holding the strings. No witches, no wizards, not even cookies, only him, the one who knows how to twist the truth and the knowledge gained from it in just the right way to do whatever the hell he wants.

I really, really hope the dreamcatcher relic's description is about him, in some way. To have him be so selfishly and pettily motivated, driven by nothing more than cold, uncaring, insatiable personal need, would be honestly incredible.

So, I don't think he was like this day 1, but there was, most likely, something rotten in there from the start, as a result of holding so much power and knowing so much, something that would eventually grow, infest the whole, and course through every little part of it. It's still undeniably him, but every little bad thing about him became worse, by a thousandfold.

That's what I get from him, anyways.

[gregorygerwitz]

eddie cannot live with marisol but the second buck mentions he cannot afford his place anymore and has to move out eddie offers for him to crash at his place until he finds a new apartment (and they were roommates)

Okay, okay, okay, I have so many thoughts about this. In two different contexts! (also I love the theory/idea/whatever we're calling it that Buck is struggling financially because it makes a weird amount of sense and I'm fascinated by it)

(hi, nonny, you've activated my trap card, I'm so sorry)

First of all, the obvious: friends to lovers roommates AU

Because yeah, it would start with Buck staying on the couch (because it's just temporary, until he can find a place he can actually afford, and then he'll be out of their hair and not a bother anymore), and yeah, his back hurts and it makes his bad leg act up more often, but it's nothing he can't deal with. It won't be for more than like a month, tops, right?

But then he has a bad pain day, and Eddie offers to let him use his bed for a night or two so he's not in constant pain for the rest of his life, and yeah, Buck takes the offer because he has a few apartments he likes and he's going to apply to, so it'll only be a few nights. He won't be there forever. He won't always be in the way.

And then a few nights in the bed becomes a week, and Eddie points out that there's more than enough room for the two of them (he knows this from when Christopher used to get nightmares and take up more than half the bed, Eddie can absolutely adapt to another body, even Buck's) and then they just...

idk, I love the cliche of them waking up spooning and not wanting to move because they're warm and comfortable and why would they want to change that???

Option 2: platonic Buddie my beloved

As an aroace person, who lives with my platonic partner, and our dog...

Buck and Eddie coparenting and moving around each other while living parallel lives and carpooling to work (Buck already helps Chris make cookies for his school events, that is canon), and existing together in this super strong relationship that's not inherently romantic or sexual.

It's just this unbreakable bond, and they share responsibilities, and they're each other's emergency contacts, and Buck is on the list of people allowed to pick up Christopher from school and, and, and!

Just... the more intense focus on their friendship and how important they are to each other outside the idea of a romantic ship? 10/10, it's my favorite thing in the whole world.

[quibbs126]

I feel like it’s a problem that we as a fandom genuinely cannot agree on how long ago events happened or what ages characters are in Kingdom (by which I don’t mean the “are they a child or an adult” mess, I mean characters like the Ancients, their kids/descendants, Red Velvet)

And the fact that the reason we can’t agree is because the in game information is so inconsistent and confusing, you kind of just have to pick and choose what evidence you see as canon and what isn’t. It’s not a problem with the fans, it’s a problem with the game

[nostalgiclittlespace]

Hiding Little Gear

For closeted regressors, hiding their gear is as important as it is stressful.  And, unfortunately, I can’t give a cookie-cutter answer of ‘this is how to hide your gear, foolproof,’ as we all having very different living situations and families.  However, I still hope to give some ideas and guidelines on how to best hide your stuff.

Consider if it would be best to hide all your stuff in one place, or to scatter it around.   If you have family members who snoop through your belongings, it would probably be better to find the most secure possible hiding place, and put everything there.  However, if you’re fairly private, then hiding things individually might not be a bad idea either.  It’s a lot easier to explain a singular kid item than a whole bunch of them if they happen to be found.

If you keep all your things in a bag or box, make it as inconspicuous as possible.  While it would be super fun to have a childishly decorated box or themed backpack to hold your things, these might attract attention.  Stashing them in an unmarked box/bag might be less suspicious.

Have a response prepared in case you are caught.  Be prepared, especially if you have little privacy, a high chance of having your gear discovered, and/or you want to remain closeted.  Keeping your cool with a scripted response will certainly help with these.  (I’ll be making a list of suggestions for these another time!)

Be open when you can.  I don’t mean shouting that you’re a regressor from the rooftops, but hiding things in plain sight that aren’t suspicious is one of the best ways to not get caught.  Casually using a coloring book, keeping a stuffed animal on your bed, etc, doesn’t have to be a big deal, and it might not even be questioned.

Keep things themed as something you enjoy in your Big Headspace too/aren’t inherently for kids.  Having something like Sonic the Hedgehog stickers, kawaii notebook, a cool plush, a Disney T-shirt, etc can be for adults and kids.  Things that for any age are perfect because even if they’re found, they aren’t weird to have/can be explained easily.

Places to consider stashing your gear:

Under your mattress

In an old backpack

In clothes’ pockets

A random box in your closet, hidden by other boxes, clothes, etc

Inside a pillowcase 

Keep things like your journal and coloring pages digital if you don’t want them snooped through

Find a stuffed animal with an open-able back, and hide things inside.  Some weighted plushies have their weights removable through a velcro or zipper opening, and these are perfect for hiding things like pacifiers

Make one of those fake books with a secret compartment (I think there are tutorials on YouTube)

A jewelry box with a lock

In a storage bin of your childhood things; I have a box of old things like baby clothes, a favorite plushie of when I was a baby, etc—anything found in there won’t be questioned

That’s all for now! If you have any more suggestions, please share them! Happy regressing, everyone!

-Marty 👻

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

You mentioned in a recent post that you don't like having snakes around while cooking. I completely understand why. But would baking be any different? My mom loves to have Booki (who is now around a meter long and is chonking up nicely) hanging around her shoulders while she makes stuff like cookie dough or cake batter.

I do a lot of baking and I'm 100% guilty for hanging out with my snakes while I'm doing it, too! I don't think I've ever made a loaf of bread without a little helper.

You want to be absolutely positive your snake is just going to chill out on your shoulders or arms while you're doing it, because the last thing you want is a snake getting into your ingedients (just bad for all parties there), but the biggest risk with having a snake around while cooking is that they'll get steam/smoke in their lungs and that's a much smaller concern with baking, especially if you're just doing something like mixing dough or batter. You couldn't pay me to try to multitask handling a colubrid while baking (they would make it their life's goal to get into the batter), but as long as your snake is just hangin' out on you and you're making sure they can't get into anything, I think it's the same as handling your snakes while doing any other chores. Just be mindful, be smart about it, and of course keep food safety in mind, but it's not inherently dangerous to your snake the way cooking can be.

An important thing to keep in mind is it's not really safe to go right from touching a snake to touching food. I only ever like doing anything food-related when I'm hanging out with a snake who I know I'm not going to have to re-adjust. Miriam is great because she just goes to sleep on my shirt collar or wrapped around my arm, and my solomon island boa Merlin likes to nap in my shirt pockets. Perfect baking buddies!

I like baking more than cooking because there's less risk of accidental exposure to hot stuff, too. I wouldn't have a snake on my arms while taking hot trays out of the oven, but otherwise baking is a pretty risk-free activity in my opinion.

[snowpoff]

have I talked about this before? yes? well I'm doing it again

here's my personal take on lorule's triforce that I've had since the game came out over a decade ago. time flies! see the explanation below:

TENACITY -- the quality or fact of being very determined; determination.

this is the piece I assigned yuga. like the wriggling worm he loves to accuse others of being, yuga is very good at his job of being a nuisance. unlike ganondorf, he lacks raw power and strength, instead relying on his guile and wits to see his visions through. he was the one who found the crack on the slate in the sacred realm. he was the one who went through to, I assume, gather information on hyrule and its triforce. he boldly traveled through unknown territory, at the behest of his princess, to collect... objects of import to their mission in order to gain the power to achieve his goals. how... courageous of him. and quite familiar.

ACUITY -- keenness or acuteness, esp in vision or thought.

this is the piece I assigned ravio. from both his time as a merchant and as his time as... whatever his occupation in the castle was, ravio's regularly observed being a very smart cookie. he is the type to think first, act later, and by act I mean larp as a salesman while he continues to cook up contingency plans in the background. furthermore, he was the one who attempted to convince hilda her plot was utterly insane and, when that failed, knew what he had to do next-- and boy, was it something truly out of the box. instead of cowering in lorule waiting for the world to end, he snuck away to hyrule to find someone more capable than himself to stop both hilda and yuga. he's later seen subtly guiding link along his path, giving him advice on where to go and who to speak with next. and at the end of it all, he reveals himself as well as his master plan, which surprises literally everyone in the room. he's both a wiseass and wise as all hell.

CAPACITY -- an individual's mental or physical ability.

this is the piece I assigned hilda. from jump street we are aware of two things: hilda's raw magical power, and her unyielding love for her people. the two of these combined created what is akin to mustard gas in a windowless room. that is to say, a recipe for destruction untold. despite that, these qualities are not inherently bad. they were misused, and she herself was manipulated. alas, hilda is not the wisest of the bunch, and lacked the ability to see the holes in her plans. she was blinded by her desire to help her people and, later, her desire for power. hilda is capable of so, so much-- most of which is pretty neutral. but things like love and magic are just as easy to mangle and twist as they are to embrace and use for the greater good. at the end of the day, hilda is a powerful sorcerer who has the ability to change the world around her for weal or for woe.

[homestuckreplay]

Cursed By Zazzerpan To Take Webcomics Too Seriously

(page 472-483)

8/14/2009 Wheel Spin: Captchalogue Lore Verdict: Just Captchalogue, No Lore

8/15/2009 Wheel Spin: being silly :3c Verdict: Slimer Pogo Ride – Inherently Silly

The imps have STOLEN John’s clever disguise. >:( How could they do this. Aren’t their jester hats costume enough. When John says ‘they’re mucking up all my cool stuff!’ he is right and justified in being mad. What little control John ever had over his living environment has now been completely obliterated, the imps (and Rose) running rampant and using his home as their own personal playground.

Speaking of Rose, I was deeply struck by her total lack of regard for the monetary worth of a piano. Those things are expensive, and they’re not a standard thing for a house to have either! But this is not the first time Rose has thrown an expensive musical instrument around, as shown by her violin antics (p.236, 395) being more of an annoyance than a risk to a delicate possession. Knowing how rich her family is really explains why her response to destroying John’s house is a casual ‘Oops.’

We also get another moment of Rose dismissing John’s problems as not especially serious on p.478, when John says he was ‘hoping to avoid nanna and her spooky ghost cookies’ and Rose says ‘that does sound dumb.’ I know that Rose is speaking from her personal experience, but from an external reader’s perspective, if I am going to take it seriously that Rose’s mom might be an alcoholic and that Dave’s brother might be psychologically tormenting him with puppet tricks, then I am also going to take it seriously that John could have genuine trauma surrounding food. If he’s been forced to eat beyond his limits or eat food he doesn’t like all his life, that could definitely lead to a negative relationship with food, even if John’s dad and nanna are baking for him as an act of care.

EB: i'm not sure what came over me there, i was acting really crazy for some reason. EB: but my head feels like it's clearing up, i think i'm alright now.

This is the line that’s had me scratching my head and clenching my fists all of yesterday and today. I’m truly not sure what the intended tone is – if this is meant to be a joke, or a leading question about how exactly the control panels and possible time loops work, or a setup for a possible future where John does something really bad while being mind controlled by the Vagabond, or just a way for the author to justify any potential future out of character moments. I think I am biased towards reading this story in a serious and realistic way, and I think there’s lots of other valid ways it can be read, but from my personal reading this is existential horror, and more affirmations of John’s complete lack of free will and – importantly – his steadily growing awareness of this. I think a big part of his character progression so far is going from the vague and uncertain ‘something feels missing from your life’ to slowly being able to put words to his problems.

We actually learn a fair bit more about the rules, game logic and progression of Sburb in these pages, which I’m planning to lay out in its own post in the next few days. In contrast, we get no new information about the captchalogue and strife systems – it really feels like John’s passed that level now, and is able to do these things in the background without it interrupting the narrative. The same thing will probably happen with the imps after he’s got a few more kills.

I can’t figure out how to score points in the game on p.476 where we do sick pogo ride tricks as an imp (my high score is 551?) but I love it narratively. In the game we are definitely controlling the imp directly – there’s no indication that John or Rose have any hand in the imp’s antics - but in the text below, John is still addressed as the second-person ‘you’ and the line focuses on John’s own history with the ride. I like the suggestion that the imp is doing the same dangerous stunts that John once did, and the idea that there’s some parallels between John and the imp – both low level entities who are fundamentally at the mercy of the greater forces of Sburb, both clowns wearing disguises through circumstance instead of choice.

Anyway I am politely requesting that John check out the punch designix for real now.