#from the young age to teens and then adults

[paintedcrows]

Trying to work out how I see these kids aging! (With some Grunkles for reference)

[fatfemmefreaquency]

it’s capitalism, yes.

but it’s not that kids don’t have money to spend: kids actually usually have more disposable money than adults do, and the purchasing preferences of kids have a huge impact on what parents spend money on

the purchasing habits kids establish in childhood will also likely be the same habits they have for life

the internet has to be sanitized for advertisers so advertisers can target children

if brands can establish brand recognition and loyalty with kids while they’re in their formative years, they’ll gain a customer for life

and various social media sites and other tech companies that sell advertising are actively counting on kids being on their platforms from a young age so they can build targeted ad profiles for people starting during these formative years (google, amazon, facebook/ meta, tiktok—they’re all collecting a ton of data on what gen alpha is buying already)

frankly, advertising to children should be illegal. it has a huge impact on their cognitive development, and we’re just now starting to learn that most of gen z can’t cognitively distinguish between advertising copy and factual information (like news stories or nonfiction), something that will likely be true of gen alpha also

advertising is engineered to be extremely manipulative—and it’s absolutely being targeted at kids because kids are uniquely vulnerable to that manipulation

anyways capitalism directly targets children because things sold & marketed to kids have some of the highest profit margins of any product. demand is high and standards for quality or expensive materials are relatively low

parents will spend more money on things their kids want than what they themselves want

and inundating a kid with ads for your products (whether they’re products that are only targeted for children OR if they are targeted to all ages) is a surefire way to build a customer base that will last for almost a century from today

is the rise of the “sephora kid” an accident? was the obvious marketing of vapes to teens an accident? no. major corporations know that kids have a lot of purchasing power and are uniquely susceptible to marketing & advertising

i make a lot of posts to the tune of "you're allowed to be horny btw" because it's becoming increasingly clear that adults being sexual in (clearly marked and blockable!) spaces is being stamped out and made out to be evil both legislatively and in the moral zeitgeist, especially among younger folks. not even in the "wait to be a horny adult online when you're An Adult" way, just an ingrained puritanical outrage response to *anything* that isn't chaste wholesome perfect all-ages allowed. it's unnerving and scary.

[brotherwtf]

Okay so I read thought your Clegan Age Gap AU and I am ENTRANCED like I am soooo down for it and let me make sure I get this straight but after they first kiss and admit their feelings for each other they start living together but they still don’t do anything sexual for a whole year because John thinks Gale is too young and doesn’t want to take advantage of him?

I’m just imagining the absolute TORTURE this had to have been for John especially with Gale constantly teasing him and trying to get him to give in, throwing himself all over John, rutting up against him while they kiss, undressing in front of him, climbing into bed with him on top of him and straddling him, literally BEGGING John to fuck him. That man was so strong I don’t know how he did it 😩

oh man, thank you anon!! honestly i recently did a reread of all of my age gap stuff because they have such a vice grip on me, those fucking boys I swear to fucking god I will never know peace

some small timeline stuff just to clear up some things: Gale meets John in like January or February before he turns 20, just after he turned 19, and they don't start dating until maybe October or November, close enough to when Gale turns twenty but still too long to go without being depraved

in this au I'm making Gale a virgin, he hasn't experienced anything other than kissing and so when John finds this out he's a little spooked, doesn't want to take advantage of Gale before they're sure their relationship is going to stick. He's afraid Gale wouldn't want to do it with someone so much older than him, doesn't even know why Gale wants to be with him in the first place, so he wants to make it extra special for him. He's also a little spooked by the "teen" in Gale's age, he can make a perfectly fine excuse for dating him and kissing him but he's not entirely comfortable having sex with someone so young

Gale of course doesn't give a flying fuck about John's age. He's a consenting adult who finds John insanely attractive and wants to have sex with him, he's desperately trying to get John to touch him and be a little rougher with him, but John won't budge, promises he'll do it on Gale's birthday and make it extra special for him, which only makes Gale pout even more

that doesn't stop John from being turned on by Gale though, oh no, Gale is purposefully being a dickhead and trying to get John to overcome his silly little deadline by wearing slutty tops and tight jeans, picks the perfect clothing to drive John absolutely insane, and John just grits his teeth and clenches his fist because he has morals, he will not fall to the whim of Gale, no matter how hard he tries

they settle for insane make out sessions, one's where they're basically dry humping each other into the couch and where they're basically swapping spit, mouths open and groans deep and heavy, Gale sat in John's lap with John's arm around his waist, and maybe Gale can handle this, just until his twentieth birthday at least

and you know John's gonna make their first time the absolute sweetest thing on planet earth, but I shant discuss it here, full fic coming around during christmastime :))

[hms-no-fun]

Oh yeah the big pickups to work in an office job infuriate me to no end. A whole parking lot full of death machines that have never known the touch of a gravel road or hauled anything larger than a big Costco run. I have a nice lil electric hatchback tho.

the thing is, i always wanted a car. my parents took me on a lot of road trips when i was growing up (i remember a couple years before he died, my dad told me he was very proud to have shown me so much of the country when he himself had grown up poor and could only travel as far as the next job took him), so of course i have in me that quintessential American longing for The Road. in high school, i fantasized about getting into a car and disappearing into traffic, traveling to some distant corner where nobody lived and finding a situation to occupy. god help me, as a teen i bemoaned being born too late and longed for the naive vision of the 60s i'd received from my parents and pop culture and the rusted-over kitsch that dotted the remains of Route 66 (which my dad loved to talk about).

i hate car culture in part because i used to love car culture. it's a microcosm of indoctrinated American patriotism in general. they sell you on the dream, right? the freedom of travel, of expression. i wanted to be the millennial Jack Kerouac, whose work i did not actually read because i was young and dumb and drowning in dysphoria. but as i got older i saw how quickly little bumps and scratches can turn into massive financial burdens, to say nothing of cracked windshields or flat tires. then my mom died and i was given the responsibility of handling her car, a silver scion xb. i was 19, i did not have a license and had next to zero experience driving, nor had i ever had a job before. when i say "given the responsibility to handle her car" instead of "given her car," i mean that i didn't just get her car. like, i had it, i had the keys and no one was around to tell me not to drive it. but in order to get the title signed over to me, i had to go through an insane bureaucratic process of proving that my mom was dead, and that i was her kid, and that i should have the title to the car. this took months of back and forth miscommunication as dated notices were sent and bills piled up. because it wasn't just the car i got, but the debt as well. some $30,000 of it left unpaid by mom, which i was now expected to pay in her stead. my first job was working night shifts at a wal mart stocking the frozen food department, and that was the job where i rode my bike on the highway to get to work. i didn't drive because i didn't have a license, didn't have experience, was terrified of highway drivers, and knew very distinctly that if anything went wrong i'd instantly be in so much more debt (monetary and bureaucratic) than i already was. eventually my sister, a career nurse with three kids and a house, took over the car from me.

nobody understood why i didn't drive that car more. even my mom, when she was still alive, she said "when i was your age, i was dying to get out of the house." i was too! but for all that cars culturally represented freedom, in practice what they came to represent to me was the expected cost of participating in society. i was already sensitive to adults sneering at me for my perceived immaturity (the joys of being a millennial), which only compounded on learning that i didn't have a car or license, that i wasn't proactively joining Clubs or Organizations, that i wanted to pursue the arts of all things, that i wasn't Christian, etc etc etc. i never got out to see live music because i didn't have a car and didn't have money. i didn't get my first smart phone until late 2015. i spent a lot of my college years feeling alienated because i was at least two years older than everyone else (i already didn't want to go to college straight out of high school even before my mom died), still used a flip phone, and didn't have a car. which is to say i was a working class person trying to get by in a middle class institution. and i only got in because i was very good at peddling my sob story for sympathy points. FAFSA loves to finance the odd tragedy, i'm telling you (don't worry, i still had to take on a ton of student loan debt). when i expressed to family that i didn't want a car because i didn't feel safe as a driver, and felt that i shouldn't need to have a car in order to participate in society, they said "everyone feels that way at first, but you just have to get over it. or move to a big city. good luck affording that!" as a related aside, when i told those same people that i liked being in college for the pursuit of knowledge and wanted to graduate towards being a sort of generalist, they flatly insisted that that's not how college works anymore, and that i should instead put my energies towards a Useful Degree that would Get Me A Good Job.

of course they were sympathetic, at least on the surface. they told me these things in a kind tone, the way adults always do when what they're saying boils down to "it's not fair, but life ain't fair." and i've just never been able to accept that. before i knew anything about socialism or communism or materialist dialectics, when i was still very much under the thrall of post-Clinton liberalism, i still felt this deep-rooted conviction that when people said "life isn't fair," they were giving up something. that it was an excuse, an appeal to a higher power, a resignation to the status quo. my experience with cars, by the time i hit 25, was that you bought them for the freedom they promised, and then spent of your life driving that car between one of maybe five locations on the regular and doing very little else. the only time i ever felt free in a car was on a road trip, which happened with vanishing irregularity as all the associated costs skyrocketed in the 2000s. all the other time was spent driving in circles looking for parking, only to balk at how expensive it was. spent stuck in traffic for hours, amid concrete dunes of overpasses tangled with one another like a four-year-old's first try at tying their own shoes. spent angrily judging the poor driving conduct of other people, spent resenting anyone and everyone who inconvenienced their drive, spent rubbernecking at horrific accidents on the side of the road, spent worrying about car payments and insurance payments and how much it's gonna cost to get a tune-up, and then someone breaks in and steals all your stuff and your insurance doesn't want to pay for it, and then you get into an accident and you spend months haggling with your insurance and their insurance in the hopes that someone will maybe pay for the debt you've had to take on in getting your car repaired, because of course professional life doesn't take a break just because your mode of transportation got totaled.

and if i was applying for a job and the employer found out i didn't have a car, i was denied on the spot. i learned very quickly to lie about such things as often as possible. but i also learned that i could only bluff for so long before the lack of a car became a genuinely insurmountable hurdle. which fucked me up tremendously because at no point in my adult life, to this day, can i ever imagine being able to afford all the associated costs of having a car. in many respects, not having a car was the only reason i was able to survive the way i did. it meant i could work part-time while i was in school (with student loans making up the shortfall), share an apartment with two or three or four other people, and just barely have enough to eat the bare minimum and go see a movie sometimes. of course i wanted the freedom all my car-owning friends had, but mostly i wanted it so i could drive out into the middle of nowhere at night and be truly alone. i wanted a car so that i could escape from the frictional sandpaper bureaucracy of american existence... and i knew from experience by then that that's simply not how the world works.

it took me until 2020 to finally move to seattle, one of those mythical Big Cities with Actually Existing Public Transit. and holy shit, it's a revelation! i have better access the place where i live now than i ever have, and it's a freedom that costs SO MUCH LESS than the same would've cost me back home. but i've also lived here long enough now to see all the ways in which our transit system here is deeply flawed and run by the wrong people. i see many of the same forces at play here as i did back home. i see now how car owners and allies to the car dealership fiefdoms of the nation utilize car ownership and road maintenance as a tremendous lever of power. they've deliberately trapped us in this cycle of poverty and personal transportation reliance, and used the money they got from us buying their cars to then buy politicians so that they defund public transit and oppose any urbanist reforms. did you know that much of america used to be covered by street cars and rail lines? if you live in the midwest or on the west coast, your town very likely only exists the way it does because of mass public transit. they were necessary for bringing people into these remote places to create new markets for wealth extraction. once the population in those places was stable, and mass-produced personal vehicles became the norm, the capitalists of those areas deliberately allowed the transit networks to "go bankrupt" (ie they pretended transit is a business and not a utility that pretty much by definition can't turn a profit in a traditional manner) so they could be bought up and liquidated by future car dealers. this is what i think of when i remember my family telling me "that's just not the way the world works."

why? it used to be the way the world worked. why can't it be again? if the current status quo is the result of choices that created economic pressures which shaped the nature of society, why can't we do the same thing again but different? the way things are now is sick. it's unhealthy. the vast majority of microplastics come from car rubber, and what socioeconomic classes do you think are mostly likely to live close to high-traffic roads? it's not rich people, i'll tell you that. it's not the car dealers or the small city councils worried that a bus connection might bring the poors in. when i say "car owners need to be oppressed" i'm talking about these people. suburban supremacist dictators and their sycophantic liege lords whose biggest priorities in life are to keep gas prices low and to maintain their god-given right to never having to see a poor person. i hate these people because i've been sneered at by them my whole life, while they have been personally responsible for many of the same socioeconomic conditions which resulted in the deaths of both my parents, along with many other members of my extended family. i've long since stopped believing in the idea of "death by natural causes." only the rich live long enough to die old. the rest of us die by a thousand cuts borne of neglect. our healthcare is gatekept, our education is gatekept, our transportation is gatekept. freedom is a thing to be bought, and when you don't have money, the next best thing is your blood. you give it up for a piece of something and you convince yourself that it's enough for you. but it is only a piece, and its apportionment is the result of greed and avarice happening in broad daylight all around us. i fully believe that a genuine war will need to be waged against the car barons before this horrendous now can be toppled, and it will be a war because they are aligned with the cops and with capital. this, too, is a microcosm, and in it we see the nature of our struggle for socialism unburdened by neoliberal word salad.

people have made the world this way. and people will make it something else.

[whencyclopedia]

A Roman Boy's Rite of Passage

A Roman boy's rite of passage, a ceremony or ritual marking a transitional period in life from childhood to adulthood, was the assuming of the toga virilis, the adult toga. The ceremony usually took place sometime between the boy's 14th and 17th birthday; the decision was made by the boy's father or guardian.

Young Marcus Aurelius

Ramon van Opdorp (CC BY-NC-SA)

The ceremony is referenced widely across historical writings, biographies, letters, and speeches, however, the ancient primary sources available to us do not provide too many details. There is in general a scarcity of ancient material written about children, and we certainly have more information regarding the lives of the middle-class and elite families than we do of the lower classes, and a boy's rite of passage is no exception.

Timing

A boy's rite of passage would have corresponded with puberty, a time defined by some ancients as a period of 'ferocitas', that is, impetuosity or restlessness. The physical transition from a boy to a young man was marked by several features including the 'breaking' of his voice, which was known as 'gallulascere' (crowing), and by the growth of facial hair. At 14, a young boy may have had the first growth of a beard; this first growth was associated with adolescence and visually marked out the young boy from the adult male. This growth was allowed to become a full beard and was not shaved off until the boy was in his late teens to early twenties. When finally the shaving of the beard occurred, it was seen as the end of the wayward youth and a progression into a more adult life. The shaving of the beard could sometimes be carried out at a public festival known as the Iuvenali; at this festival, the young man's beard was dedicated to a god of his own choosing and kept in a small box in the sanctuary of the family's household gods.

A boy in his early teens was still under the supervision of his pedagogue, who would also have accompanied him outside of the home. Roman education for a youth from the affluent or elite society, would have included rhetorics, oratory, law, politics, astronomy, geography, law, literature, philosophy, and mythology. Some boys may have been considering leaving home to advance their education; there were Roman students in Athens and the other intellectual centres of the Eastern Mediteraneann. In many cases, they would have been accompanied abroad by their pedagogue.

By the time Roman boys had reached the age of 14, many fathers would have already been taking their sons to observe life in the Roman Forum, they would have attended public meetings and the Roman law courts, and sons would have been introduced to their father's friends and business acquaintances. The foundation for a boy's transition into adulthood and what it might entail was being laid. Young boys would have been under patria potestas and would have remained under the power of their fathers until their father's death; no coming of age or rite of passage liberated sons from this position.

Nevertheless, the ceremony of assuming the toga virilis was a defining moment in a boy's life. The decision of what age a boy was ready for the rite of passage and to be enrolled as a citizen was taken by his father or guardian, but the ceremony tended to happen between a boy's 14th and 17th birthday. The statesman, Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE), marked his coming of age at 16, his son Marcus at this age, too, while the first Roman emperor Augustus (l. 63 BCE to 14 CE), as a young Octavian was just 15 years old, and Emperor Marcus Aurelius (l. 121-180 CE) assumed his toga at 16. A popular day chosen for this significant event in the life of the boy and his family was the 17th of March, at the festival of Liber, although other dates were equally acceptable.

Continue reading...

[curly-my-beloved]

It still doesn't mean that you're gonna fucking entertain a pre pubescent individual,partaking in insanely inappropriate shit. You should either just ignore their asks completely or tell them to not engage with you/and or content like yours.

so they continue interacting with the content in secret, great idea, dude.

let me tell you how teens work, hm? in most cases, especially traumatized teens, if being told not to do something, will do it anyway, just in secret. this often results in them lying about their age and getting involved with creeps.

anon here has felt safe enough to say "hey, i'm very young". and when they revealed that, i informed them that this is an adult dominated space. they are aware of everything going on here and agreed to handle themself.

i would much rather have the kid here, where i am aware of their age and they are aware of how my blog is, than potentially getting in danger.

hiding porn from kids has been a thing for decades now. it never worked and only caused issues between the children and the adults.

teenagers will seek out sexual content, as shocking as it might be for you. and i would much rather offer a safe environment for them and have the children explore the twisted shit safely. because this way they are more likely trust me in case anything happens.

i would rather be a trusted adult to them than risk them getting in danger elsewhere. you can disagree with the way i approach the issue, in which case you're free to leave. but i'm not changing my mind on this.

[muchanmocha]

I love the point you brought up about his age and what stage of life he's at.

From personal experience and observations, the instinct to struggle and grow and take more control of your life and make your own decisions (which often creates friction with your parents/guardians) happens most commonly in your teens, which is probably why "teenage rebellion" (though not aptly named imo) is a whole acknowledged thing. Yet Luka is well into his adulthood now, on the brink of passing "young adulthood." It's painful to think about the extent of the damage his complete lack of autonomy has caused him in all aspects up to this point and especially at this point. To make use of a bad analogy—living in the cupboard under the stairs is bad enough as a child, but now you're still forced to live in that same cupboard as a fully grown adult.

This is particularly so when we know Heperu is an abnormality. Notably, no other guardian has been shown flexing anywhere near this level of control over their pet-humans. Heperu is a helicopter parent to the power of 10.

Nigeh actively neglects Sua. Urak's parenting amounts to physical punishment until the pet-human in question produces the results they want. Unsha prefers to let the leash slack and allow Ivan to prove himself to them, and ultimately Team Forma+9 has noted their parenting to also be a form of neglect. Shine prioritizes Mizi's wants above all, even supporting her entry into Alien Stage despite their own personal desire to keep Mizi safe and close. And Phan? Hyuna's guardian is the ultimate embodiment of "does not give a fk." Which is interesting... because it brings up the question of whether Heperu's attempt to be Phan's greatest rival and foil is why his behavior and methods are so extreme in the opposite direction.

-

On the topic of Luka working with Hyuna on some level or in some aspect to save contestants, I think it's a really cool concept to explore, especially in AUs and such, but considering there are Patreon posts noting that Hyuna saving Mizi was a personal impulse and not planned, and that Hyuna's R7 plan didn't involve saving Till because she knew it was impossible, that's unfortunately debunked in canon.

Luka Character Analysis

While all the characters in alien stage deal with some theme of control given the fact that they are literally pets I wanna explore how Luka deals with this theme specifically.

This is all my opinion and I would love to hear if u disagree or have anything to add cause I loveeee talking about this stuff. I’m probably just restating a bunch of stuff other ppl have said but I think I got some new stuff here… hopefully.

Main points

1) he’s a designer baby

2) his branding location

3) his heart

4) his age

5) his training

6) how this control leads to him manipulating others

7) other things

Luka is THE designer baby

Luka’s biology is not even something he can control. Even his genetics were designed by aliens showing how not even his nature and bodily functions is not something he has autonomy over.

Luka has surgery scars possibly from treatments done to benefit the aliens.

(From Luka’s bday post) Luka looks towards possible attempts to create him or recreate him IN HIS BIRTHDAY POST. This image always has an affect on me omg..

“Luka was born this way because I created him” (the guardian interview thing)

Luka’s Branding

All of the other main characters in alien stage have their brand either on their arms, neck, or shoulder area. This is why it’s odd that Luka’s branding is on his hip. This could mean a lot of things and probably does but my ongoing analysis is this. Brands are meant to be seen, they exist so people can look at them. Lukas is the only one with a brand in a place that stays hidden.

To me this is because the aliens like Luka because he appears to want to participate in Alien stage. He appears to enjoy being on stage and barely even wears a collar. In the same vain his brand is hidden as Heperu, his alien, doesn’t want other aliens to see Luka’s reluctance. He places his brand in a place inconspicuous so that the aliens can pretend Luka has control over himself. This is aided by the extent of Heperu’s control as it is so ingrained in Luka that even if it isn’t acknowledged Luka has no other choice but to obey. The fact that Luka can appear so willing is proof of just how much agency he lacks.

Another advantage of his branding placement is that while it remains hidden to other people it is obvious to Luka. It is very easy to see something on your hip when compared to you neck. The brand is to remind Luka he is under control while not reminding anyone else.

(Guys I couldn’t find the bigger version) when getting branded Luka lifts up his shirt while others seem unconscious or constrained. Showing just how deeply Luka is controlled that he willingly helps getting branded in order to give himself the illusion of a choice.

His Heart

Luka has immense control of his heartrate like his first song is literally called “ruler of my heart”. (For this section I assume the amount of purple on his finger correlates with the pumping of his heart.)

Luka was trained since birth to control his heart rate and fear. This reflects how even his most basic and unconscious actions are manipulated in order to benefit Heperu. It shows how collar or not he is under Heperu’s control.

An aspect of this can be seen in the flashbacks from All In when after the incident with Hyun Woo his finger tips turn purple. Whether Luka is surprised by this because it shows he was able to change his own heart-rate for the first time or because his heart-rate changed without him allowing it is ambiguous. Regardless it shows how even during important emotional situations Luka is always striving for more control over his heart just as Heperu had intended.

(Both images from the interview w Luka)

His Age

Luka is 30 years old. All the other competitors are in their early twenties, a time in your life when you are still not completely independent. Many people their age are in higher education and may still live with their parents. While other competitors should definitely have much more independence then they do they still are children in a way. Overall compared to the other contestants Luka is supposed to be in a stage of his life with much more autonomy. This further reflects his lack of control as he is at an age when he should be in control of himself and still has less freedom than a toddler.

Training

Growing up Luka has been under much more training than most. Heperu often trained him or outreached doctors and specialists to help make him into Heperu’s image. Heperu himself even notes it more extreme than what most aliens do showing how even compared to other humans Luka has very little agency as most other aliens simply enroll their humans into Anakt Garden.

(guardian interview)

(Interview with Luka)

Luka’s diet being monitored also shows how Heperu controls all aspects of Luka and how this harms Luka.

How this leads to Luka being manipulative.

This affects the way he interacts with the stage. I’ve seen many people say he manipulates his fellow competitors to survive and while I think this is in part the reason, given how his popularity already protects him I don’t think it’s the main one.

Luka controls his heart rate not only because he was so thoroughly taught to but because he wants to himself. Being able to have complete control over his body and actions brings him comfort as he has usually has none. His heart rate is something that only he can change which leads him to control it heavily and this pattern continues outside of his heart as well.

On the stage Luka does the same thing. He manipulates the performance and his performance mate for the sake of simply being able to. It’s clear his owner has no control over his performance. He seems shocked when Luka is beat up by Mizi while Luka clearly had pushed her to do so. The stage is the only place Luka is given autonomy and as such he wants control to the fullest extent pushing him to control every aspect of the stage, including others.

This is seen when Luka frowns as soon as Till notices Mizi as suddenly the round is out of Luka’s control.

In a way it’s a self fulfilling prophecy as his whole life Luka has been controlled to benefit Heperu and now the only way he can achieve any sort of control is by doing exactly what heperu wants. To gain control of his heart he has to give into his training. To gain control of the stage he has to win. Even the control Luka does have has little power. He can do what he wants but it changes none of the effects.

(Lukas interview) shows Luka is less focused on survival on stage and instead performance and control.

The whole comic where Hyuna describes singing as the one place she has control over herself to Luka describes this rlly well. Especially as when she does this the text is placed over Luka singing showing how he himself uses singing as his only pathway to freedom. This is even further explored in the last panel where Luka says that Hyuna is his. While interpreted as something sweet by Hyuna it definitely could have darker undertones when considering Luka’s tendencies to control anyone he can, or even foreshadow what happened to Hyun Woo.

Other stuff

Theory:

Now we’re getting into theory territory. The resistance has attempted twice to rescue someone. Both happen to be on Luka’s matches. Luka specifically led to Mizi’s ability to be rescued, directly pushing her to fight him which led to Hyuna having the chance to take her. It is possible Luka could be working with Hyuna.

With this theory you could also explain the moment where Luka gets upset when Till notices Mizi. If Luka is aware of Hyuna’s plan and Mizi being in the crowd ruined it, then it would be reasonable that he would accidentally break his mask by showing his distress at this.

This is definitely a reach of some sort but I think the concept could still be interesting as it implies Luka could’ve escaped with Hyuna but instead chose to stay to help others escape, or due to brainwashing. Possibly leading to Hyuna’s complicated feelings towards Luka. Overall though Hyuna and Luka’s relationship needs to explored a lot more before any of this could be close to true.

Character profile

Luka is the only character whose profile shows neither his likes nor dislikes, this could represent how due to the extreme control Heperu has over him he has been unable to form his own identity or express any of his opinions.

The end

Anyway that’s my rambling. Definitely missed some stuff but hoped you liked it. Thank you for reading this. All this is my opinion and I would love to hear critiques and other opinions please anything if it means more content.

[a-small-writer-in-a-big-world]

im FERAL about Childhood Best Friend!Soap thank u for planting that seed in my brain! now I can't stop thinking about young soap and reader doing all kinds of adorable friend stuff. Friendship bracelets? Exploring "the wilderness" together (except it's just a copse of trees behind one of their backyards)? Reader being allowed by their parents to invite 'anybody at all' to their birthday parties each year, but the only person who EVER gets an invitation is John? IM SOFT AND FULL OF THOUGHTS

No because you get it anon you don’t understand

You’re usually the one who comes up with the plans, Johnny just follows you like a sick puppy. He’s always by your side and he’s always doing something goofy to get you to laugh

He keep all of the bracelets you make together

He spends every weekend at your house, having sleepovers and watching Sunday cartoons with you. The two of you play video games and get so competitive that your mom has to turn it off to save herself a headache.

And sweet Johnny even at a younger age still coming to defend you from bullies. Getting into fights with boys who tease you and standing up against any girls who say something rude to you.

He’s your best friend. Always there for your birthday, bringing you the best gift you wanted.

God forbid you cry in front of him. He’s suddenly a comedian, saying the most outrageous things and doing the most to make you smile.

[softerhaze]

also i just reduced the YA lifestage in my game by 28 days, so ruthie and jay are about to age up too 😈

[beneathsilverstars]

idk it sounds reasonable to me for a teenager to run away bc they didn't want to eat their veggies!

one hopes that by the later stages of childhood a parent will have figured out which veggies and preparation styles work for the kid, and the kid will have resigned themself to what they do and don't have to eat according to their parents, and it's all settled into an equilibrium instead of a daily fight. and hopefully as a teen your palette is expanding and you're even willing to eat more veggies then you did as a child.

however, if the kid is extra picky and stubborn, and the parent is extra determined to make sure they eat a good variety (or just eat whatever the parent prepared no matter what it is), it could absolutely continue to be a regularly-repeated fight. and if something is a continued point of contention throughout childhood then it absolutely makes sense for a teen to go FUCK this, i am nearly an ADULT i am done being told to eat my veggies i am gonna prove my independence and make them realize i don't have to just sit there and let them boss me around!!

like, the childishness of the fight is exactly why a teen would run away about it.

[rouge-the-bat]

"i need to know if this character is an adult or not so i know if i can selfship with them!" ...my dude you clearly are already attracted to them ??? like. gurl theyre FICTIONAL. do whatever the fuck you want god damn.

self ship with them with them aged up. or with an imaginary version of you aged down. or just hc whatever gd age you want for them whether or not it ends up being canon (or its already stated in canon but doesnt match ur view of them). or selfship yourself with them through a character in canon. you can literally just see your fictional other as aging with you. who fucking cares. its fiction. the specifics of the relationship is whatever the hell you make it.

its literally so sad to see people being afraid to just SELF SHIP because they dont know if its potentially ~problematic~ depending on stuff they can easily just rule out of their own view of canon 💀 canon is your sandbox you can tear down the castle and build it anew however to your liking

[blackmosscupcakes]

I love Scotland sometimes. 🥹

[tskva-happens]

seems like so far the #1 enemy of the bg3 modding community has been... *checks note* age. just like... any signs of age whatsoever.

[sonknuxadow]

"SONIC CHARACTERS AGES DONT MAKE SENSE!!!" people when a franchise about talking animals with superpowers isnt 100 percent accurate to real life

[marcysten]

im like 90% sure silver wolf's meant to be a teenager. if you put her next to bronya rand, then the teen and adult bronya zaychiks, shes alot more teen than adult

Who tf is bronya zaychicks

[fairyhaos]

it’s a slightly more complicated issue than just young teens should not be on the internet and should just go talk to people irl— they may not have that option and online spaces may be the only source of social interaction they get (taken from someone who has experienced having no friends irl almost my entire life, also now a 20 yr old who was online talking to ppl older than me since i was a very young probably 12-14)

I’m not saying this to go against your guidelines for interaction at all, they are completely valid and I understand them— it’s your blog and you make the rules! but I do feel for the other person in the scenario. reading the tag saying shouldn’t you just go talk to people irl hit way too hard for someone who wanted to have that option and didn’t in the past

maybe! but still, like you said, it's my blog and what i feel most comfortable with. i still believe that it's most beneficial to try to connect with people of your own age outside of the internet rather than talking to literal adults when you're 11/12/13 etc but yes im sure it's hard for some people. doesn't mean i feel okay with the idea of it, though. especially not when it's to me.