#for a bit I thought I had figured it out

[dafodils-on-the-moon]

I honestly am terrible at small talk but I feel like I’ve gotten way better at it recently due to the “small talk” unit in duo lingo for the language im learning. Whoooole bunch of little scripts with variations to work with.

That being said though, I think that “small talk” is different in neurodivergent circles. Like we HAVE “small talk” in that we have ways of signaling “I am friendly and safe” verbally.

Saying something weird or asking about any kind of merch/crafty fashion/etc that could be related to a hyper fixation or SPIN, asking weird little icebreakers, referencing memes, complaining about poor accommodations or social rules, all signal “AYO IM NEURODIVERSE AND FRIENDLY AND SAFE, YOU COUDL DROP THE MASK IF YOU WANT.”

It’s like the “I like your hair/pins/patches/etc for queer people.”

One of the reasons I think what I perceive as neurotypical modes of small talk makes me uncomfortable is because cause to me it feels like a signal of “time to mask now, I’m not safe for you.” Or “I’m not comfortable unmasking around you yet.”

Maybe it’s just culture clash. Still don’t really know how to talk to people who aren’t neurodivergent without feeling anxious and out of place. I wanna find a way to meet in the middle, maybe we could both be comfortable or be uncomfortable together?

I know this is the Anti Small Talk Website but small talk is one of the most effective social glues out there for getting to know people and forming friendships with them.

When I was just starting out at a job right after college I had a coworker who I thought was the nicest person alive and after a few weeks I realized this was just because she consistently asked other people things like, "How ya doing? Whatcha having for lunch? Got any weekend plans? Seen any good movies lately?" instead of politely ignoring everyone around her.

[teaboot]

Ollie is 8 weeks old tomorrow and we have made an important discovery:

HIM LIKE BOWLING

[off-mozzarella]

(From the body swap AU)

Hii! I'm very happy to see that my body swap comic was so well received, so here's a little something as a thanks for all the support <3

I'm excited to keep sharing my drawings, I hope you like what I make!

[diospore]

I'm just saying if you're writing smut featuring trans people and you find yourself ONLY writing pre-op transmen as receiving penetration. ONLY writing your transmen as submissive.

You should really take a step back and think about why this is.

Also consider including trans people who have gotten bottom surgery. I'd like to see more of that. Or transmen using straps. That'd be cool too thanks.

[skitskatdacat63]

DTS S6E1 "Money Talks" - Fernando Alonso & Lance Stroll

[inumbrapugnabimus-maybe]

Four NO

From this post by @crazylittlejester

[dizzybevvie]

You're the sunflower/I think your love would be too much

[sainz100]

2024 Abu Dhabi GP

[pickgle]

[bhaalsdeepbat]

Lae'zel is like a play on the "I'm not other girls" thing, except she's trying SO hard to be like other Gith girls. She's trying to steel her heart and be a perfect soldier in the collective army serving beneath Vlaakith. No will of her own. Just blind servitude alongside the other Gith who are also denying their own individualism.

Rather than gutting the companions right then and there - as any other Githyanki would do - she joins them AND promises them a cure. A cure that was meant to be ONLY for Githyanki warriors. And she doesn't know about the lies or the fact that he cure is a death sentence, but she still extends that olive branch to the group. She'll speak up when she's grouchy and try to project a hard exterior, but she's SO secretly soft.

When you approach Rosymorn, she'll stay on that part of the map if you try to leave. Upon returning, you can make her admit she missed you.

You can make the strong Gith who was raised to pillage, kill, and conquer admit that she missed the player character.

Lae'zel isn't like other Gith Girls.

Her act two scene is trying to progress the romance as though it were between two Gith raised within that culture. It's a fight to prove your worth through your battle prowess, which makes only the best *warriors* worthy of companionship. However, it becomes clear that isn't want Lae'zel wants. If the player loses, and Bae'zel beats the fuck out of them, she becomes distraught because she doesn't WANT to fight her romantic partner.

She wants to mutually protect one another. She wants companionship with her partner. She wants to enjoy the sunrise with them, feel the tickle of the night breeze, see the Tears of Selune chase after the moon across the night sky, she wants to live and she wants to share those experiences with her love. She doesn't WANT to be the stone cold Gith that she was raised to be.

Lae'zel wasn't given any role to do with the eggs, but once the egg is in the party's possession, she's instantly drawn to it. When Xan hatches, she gives him a name to represent that he'll be raised to be free to be himself. He'll have the freedom to choose his own path, whatever that maybe. Xan DOESN'T have to be like the other Gith. He could be a scholar, an artist, a warrior, anything he wishes to be. It's his life and Lae'zel is just happy to see her little Xan be raised with the freedom she didn't realize she craved until she arrived on that silly little planet.

Lae'zel isn't like other Gith girls because no two people are the same, even if raised in the same circumstances and culture. Everyone is an individual, even when they serve a collective or are fighting alongside Allies with the same main goal.

Lae'zel isn't just a nameless, faceless soldier. She isn't interchangeable with other Gith. She isn't like the other Gith girlies.

[potatosaresweet]

They stayed like that for a long time, Xie Lian's face pressed against Hua Cheng's shoulder, arms wrapped around his back tightly as if he was afraid the Ghost King would vanish into thin air.

Which, to be fair, he already had. Twice.

Hua Cheng returned the embrace just as strongly, breathing in Xie Lian's scent, one hand slowly stroking his head. In this mountain, it was just the two of them embracing under the warm glow of the thousands of lanterns he'd released. He hadn't expected Xie Lian to find him in the middle of releasing them, but seeing his prince sprint towards him and cling onto him with such desperation and joy was enough to make up for messing up the surprise.

It seems Gege missed me, he was about to say, to lighten the mood, when he realised something was off.

Xie Lian was shaking, still holding onto Hua Cheng like a lifeline, his soft hands gripping onto the man's robes as if he thought he'd vanish as soon as he let go.

"..Dianxia?" Xie Lian's voice was muffled, as he refused to lift his face from where it was burried. "Never again."

"..Gege-"

"Never again, do you hear me? Never do anything like that again, I can't do this again, please San Lang, promise me you won't go away again because of m-"

Hua Cheng gently lifted his hands from where they were wrapped around Xie Lian's waist and placed them around his prince's face, softly craddling it. Beautiful golden eyes met his own. He could see his own reflection in them staring back at him.

I won't lie to him, he thought. If it's the only way to keep him safe I'd do it again and again, a hundrent times over. I don't regret it. To die for him is my greatest honour.

But when he gazed at those teary eyes, looking at him with such adoration and relief and grief and pain, when he thought of the small cottage Xie Lian had built just for the two of them and the way he run and fell in his arms merely a moment ago, the words wouldn't leave his mouth.

I shouldn't lie to him. If push comes to shove I will do it again to protect him. But.. I will make sure it never gets to that point again. I will not add to his misery, I will not leave him alone again.

"I will do my best not to, dianxia."

Xie Lian didn't seem quite satisfied with that answer. Still holding onto him, he said, more firmly than before, "No. Don't just try. Promise it won't happen again."

Hua Cheng smiled, wiping a tear off Xie Lian's face. "Doesn't gege already know i succeed at everything I try?" That earmed him a soft chuckle, and Hua Cheng thought that this sound alone made the past 800 years worth it.

"I promise."he whispered, and lowered his head, his lips finally meeting Xie Lian's.

They'd spent 800 years apart. They now had an eternity waiting ahead of them

[hoofpeet]

I'd probably have to read the printed version and web version back to back at some point to note all the differences but... ough

[cent-scratchnsniff]

just shy

[malk-with-tea]

Ocs/Descarn x Hollow Knight for the spooky season :D!!

[galactaknightyaoi]

When I first got into Kirby, I didn't expect to like, actually get into it. I thought it'd be like any other hyperfixation I'd had up to that point, that it would go away within a few months and I'd never think about it again.

Given I was so deeply in denial, I didn't care about being fully accurate and had some stuff that was really goofy and/or underdeveloped and unexplained. Stuff I'd made up to just work for the limited time I would be there.

Still, I came up with a few headcanons that I got attached to, and when I started realizing this was here to stay, I still chose to be stubborn and had to work backwards to keep these stupid headcanons, but adapt them into something a bit more fitting and polished.

It led to some cool stuff, like for example, my orbs aren't very magical, this was something I had settled on early on. But after I got invested, I had to think about what that actually meant and the implications of it like, how can they do this without magic? And what about that? What about this canon thing, how do I explain it?

I found decent enough explanations for all of these. But as a result of my unserious beginnings and continued stubborness, now I get really embarrassed at the time to actually talk about my headcanons and the stuff I've come up with.

Because what do you mean your Galacta Knight is half-dragon?

[puppppppppy]

its so hard to watch time pass when things like careers and assignments exist. what do you mean im supposed to take that seriously