#i dont like when people talk about evolution and life in such a way. as if talking about winners and rulers

[theropoda]

watching life on our planet and im not even halfway into the first ep and i already feel like this

[ooglywooglies]

husband trying to explain to me how lucid dreaming works and accidentally mentioned that scientists dont really know "why we dream" and i had to go on a tirade about how there is no "why" we dream, only that we do. there is no biological function we have that exists for any purpose, it simply exists and has side effects which may or may not prolong our lives

i know that immediately sounds pretentious but i think its if not a helpful framework to approach topics like these from then at least an interesting one. like i like to talk about evolution a lot and ive found this framing is one of the best ways to explain how it actually works to people, like my favorite example is probably the spider tailed viper, it has a caudal lure that when moved in a specific way looks JUST like a spider crawling around (which it uses to trick birds into coming into striking range) and when people see it they ask "how does the snake KNOW what a spider looks like in order to copy it" and i love this question so much because it doesnt! evolution is the mutation of genes over many many generations, it has no goals or intentions, its completely fucking random. eventually an animal may have such a significant mutation, a really good example is an individual suddenly presenting a gene which makes it a different color than the rest, because this is something that can happen very quickly. and that mutation may create advantageous opportunities for that animal to live at least long enough to reproduce and potentially pass on the same mutation to its offspring, like if it is more or less camouflaged by its sudden color mutation that will affect its ability to survive (albino animals tend not to live to pass on their genes because they are easily spotted by predators or prey, and i might be wrong but i think albinism is recessive anyway)

so with the snake what happened was it may have had a normal snake tail, and one day a baby snake was born that had a gene that made some of the scales on its tail stick out or be a bit longer than the rest. maybe this created opportunities for it, but it probably didnt, it probably didnt affect its life much in any way. but it was able to reproduce and pass off its weird tail scale gene to its babies, and at some point a baby was born with even WEIRDER tail scales, completely randomly. this cycle continues until either the tail becomes advantageous or disadvantageous, one day a baby snake is born with a tail that birds seem to be attracted to, it catches a lot of birds, giving it a more reliable and easy food source than the other snakes, it finds a niche. the snake thrives, reproduces and passes on its gene, over time the mutations that affect the snakes tail prove more and more advantageous for catching birds in this new niche so the tail becomes more refined with trial and error (the snakes with less appealing tails are more likely to die than the ones with more appealing tails) and eventually you have a snake with a tail that is SO successful because it is SO appealing to birds it just looks exactly like a spider. the snake had to do no learning to accomplish this, it was simply benefited by random chance over generations.

so back to the dreams thing, we dont dream for any particular reason. because no biological function exists for any particular reason. even the fact that you eat and sleep is not out of any pure desire its born of instincts formed by your genes formed by your ancestors genes formed from nothing for no purpose. you happen to survive, you have a desire to survive but that desire isnt tangible. anyway, its kind of silly to suggest that "scientists dont know why we dream" because yes we dont do anything for any reason BUT its just a more honest question to ask "what are the benefits of dreaming" because it doesnt frame scientists as fools who know nothing about dreaming. theres plenty that scientists and by extension us, the rest of the population know about dreams, including benefits of it. dreaming can help us process emotions and memories experienced during the day, this may or may not help us to prolong our lives thats something we dont really know. are there other side effects to dreaming? are there negative effects? i dont know, im not really someone who has studied dreams a lot so im not the right person to ask.

i just think those questions are a lot more interesting.

also this is generally unrelated to the "why" question but i like to point out that dreaming is a pretty common symptom of sleep in a LOT of animals, and a sleep-like state is so common that you could even argue that plants experience something similar. at least in function, where you know organisms spend their active period of the day collecting energy and having experiences and stuff and then in their inactive/rest period is basically when they do all of their growing/nutrient using. since dreaming is a symptom of sleep its probably a function that involves the growth/compartmentalizing of emotions/thoughts/memories. i think ive read that your brain creates more neuron pathways whenever you sleep and its probably likely that dreaming could be something that helps stimulate that process. idk, like i said im not a dream scientist and i dont have google open either im fully just making shit up rn.

[haeresys-realm]

Please DON'T READ IT if you simp her. Because this is mg blog and I can tell what I want to tell (and I forbidden to show everyone everywhere my massages to say – look my jackals how stupid and wrong this man is; I'm really tired of contemporary childish manners and no aim to education. And yes, everything I will say will sounds stupid because I have a pooer English vocabulary and grammar, so, please, if you can correct it, do ut, but dont to correct my further opinions and try to say shit about me) and there will be my first reaction of all this shit happened in spite I thought I was ready for it. But every time it gets worse than I expected. I can't bear it, really.

... because unfortunately she was the reason I started to hate this game. All I've written before was because a year ago it was leaked she is the 4th. Now she and her pathetic pathos that was just taken from other character model is forced so much that I can't see anything but childish praising for such a trivial cliched character.

It is so funnuly because she behaves ABSOLUTELY LIKE THE DOCTOR. As if he was her REAL FATHER AHAHAHA.

And after that this idiots on developpers say this!?

https://youtu.be/SycnWxUMvpU?si=fINqhY0EyT5JJw5l

I guess the author of this cringe deleted my most emotional comment for my canonical pointing out that this is an illogical delirium.

And I'm absolutely horrified of what a shit character they made of her. Just a stupid good-mommy with sad fate who got everything from nowhere. There's no reason she could live so well with such a "curse". There's no reason she would be forgiven. They said she's insane cursed child – no, she's just an absolutely fanservice character for nowadays teen girls and nothing else. Absolutely nowaday-teengirl-fanservice character.

Arlecchino is just a female fanservice mommy character of the so-called strong woman with bad fate. It's disgusting how hoyo uses this image to attract teen girls to this character. And this empty cliche really works.

How idiotically stupid should this little girl be to threaten a GOD. Dottore power lvl can't be even compared with her. Kusanali said he is God-leveled and she isn't EVEN a rival to him. I really feel sick of what a shit these idiots on game developers made with characters and harbingers now just to show stupid children cliched black and white morality that doesn't work in life and what made us all (adults especially) feel too boring while watching it agaaaain and agaaain. I never were so dissapointed in this game. The worst character for me ever.

The girl with Mary Sue powers from nowhere tells she could kill a 500 years old genius who made himself a god who can defeat archons. But children say they like it and respect her. I have no words. If you want the science to improve and new developments work on people you SHOULD TEST IT ON THEM WHETHER YOUR LIKE IF OR NOT. And if there are people the society don't need it is the only way to do, ESPECIALLY when we are talking about JUST A GAME. Fuck. This is not just boring, it's the worst scenario it could be. Some girl killed a Harbinger when she couldn't. And everyone just forgave her and gave highest rank and trust. Just because children wanted to see a mommy character with manly outfit, strict character and transgender nickname. The woman can't be a father. Live with this information. And good luck in your mental evolution, because there's no way for degradation if supporting such a cringe and see no strange things and insane idiotism in it.

Because I know how inadequate the childish community for whom it was done are I know that soon there will be plenty of so-called "arts" with Arlecchino humiliating Dottore, dominating him, etc, and he, perverted as a character, crying and begging for mercy as Furina. I really feel too sick of all of this disrespectful attitude to canonical images and characters stories and core. Bur now I'm afraid the so-called contemporary developers are doing the same shit. They are not much smarter than these teens because they have chosen not to improve their concepts but to make a fanservice primitive shit instead of it.

And you can think what you want but if there are her lickers everywhere, you shall know that there's another point of view and if you're not that dumb and mind-limited child you shall listen to the alternative side and accept it's existence. Don't answer me if you want to say some shit about me just because you feel offence for your waifu. I warned you before you read. Have a nice day.

P.S. The moment of sudden faith in humanity. I must mark it.

[nikethestatue]

I’m seeing everyone talk about plot holes and inconsistencies in HOFAS. I read the book very quickly in another language and so I don’t really remember these. What are some plot holes in HOFAS?

One thing that’s been bugging me is, probably the only hole I caught, is the concept of limbs growing back for the Vanir, but this doesn’t happen in TOG or ACOTAR. Now that we know the Fae of Midgard are exactly the Fae of ACOTAR, and the Shifters are exactly the Fae of TOG, and it doesn’t seem like any type of evolution has occurred to change the Midgard Fae at all, im confused how regeneration is a thing. I suppose it’s never directly been mentioned in TOG. But Lucien is missing an eye. That faerie in book 1 ACOTAR had his wings ripped out by Amarantha and died from it. We know angels can regrow theirs. I know Cassian and Azriel have their wings shredded and healed at different points, but to me that seemed more like skin regrowing after being damaged rather than whole limbs regrowing. Idk, these things dont bug me severely but it is noticeable…

Just off he top of my head:

Amren who arrived during the time of the asteri/daglan can offer almost no info on them

She was in Prison during Fionn's/Theia's time, but regardless, she supposedly was there in the beginning and she can't provide any insight to anyone

Bryce arrives and conveniently, they just KNOW that she is gonna go exactly where the slithering beasts are...right

When someone drops from the sky or whatever and tells you that your whole world might be re-invaded and you have a history with these immensely powerful creatures who want to come back to your planet, asking 'may i look into your head' is just fucking dumb. It doesn't make you the King of Consent. It makes you the Lord of Dumbness. Why even have this daemati power if you never use it, even to save your people and your world potentially, because you are so...honourable? Come on. That's just ridiculously stupid. And oh-so convenient.

15 thousand years is a long time, but the amount of history that the Fae lose in that time is kind of dramatic. They conveniently remember nothing about their beginnings or anything that's connected to their past. But it doesnt make sense that they would forget because they live thousands of years. That time span could be only 4-6 generations. So their 15k is equivalent to our 200 years. We DEFINITELY know what happened 200 years ago. Like between Rhys and his dad alone, it's 1,500 life span. If grandpa High Lord lives for 2K years before, and another great-grandpa for another 2-3K years, we are REAL close to 15K. But no one remembers shit.

They dont even remember who built Velaris.

So for 15K years, NO ONE, not one person bothered to go on a walkabout in Hewn City, to check out all these walls with all these stories on them. It took Bryce to drop in and just miraculously look at a wall and see the entire history of prythian just like that.

Apparently, Azriel forgot how to winnow. So they needed some very elaborate way of crossing some river. Because he couldnt just transport them across it...

According to SJM 15,000 years is close enough to have an unbelievable resemblance between Ruhn and Rhys so much so that they look like twins, all because they shared some ancient ancestor. But apparently it's far enough for Rhys to know nothing about this ancestor, even though he is her direct descendant.

You have Rhys, whose blood is 'programmed' into the Prison and its wards, you have AMren who spent TWO THOUSAND years in Prison, you have Lanthys, a death god who heard the Harp and its note singing, you have the Bone Carver who imprisoned himself willingly in Prison--and yet NOT ONE OF THEM sensed the presence of an Asteri sleeping in a glass coffin beneath their feet.

Yet Super Bryce found the sleeping Asteri in 2 days. And managed to kill her too.

I can go on and on, but I think you get the point.

Prythians look like backward dopes and maybe they are, but I don't think they are supposed to be? Like the MOST POWERFUL HIGH LORD IN HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! was taken by some girl in pink sneakers. Not to mention her stealing Azriel's prized unique dagger just like that.

[psychotrope777]

i always think its weird whenever a story like. im just gonna use tes as an example. like the khajiit and argonians not only seem to know the exact species they descended from but also have a dort of reverent relationship to them. i mean it kinda makes sense in the case of the argonians bc in the lore theyre like lizards who ate alien god tree sap or whatever the fuck. its a really dumb thing to be bothered by because its a story with elves and dragons and werewolves i know that but im really petty; its just not how evolution works like one group evolving and the other just staying the same for the next million years isnt a thing like ill always get pissed off when someone says humans evolved from chimps bc its not only scientifically untrue its just fucking not possible. like its not probable for a species to know the species it descended from because that species won't exist anymore (again besides in the case of whatever happened to the ancestor lizards). but also like in reql life most humans dont even have like. a close relationship with the other great apes. do you know what i mean? besides obviously like conservationists and like some people think theyre cute but like the cat people worshipping the normal animal cats is like. obviously blah blah blah evolution its not the same but like. gorillas and chimps are our closest relatives but you arebt going to see a lot of people talking that way about them. its just kinda weird to me 😭 mainly because its like a trope i keep noticing not even just in tes but across other media as well youll always have the fictional crab people being like "we worship our noble ancestor the crab" but like theyre never going to write humans having like a nakalipithecus church

[inqilabi]

girl the thing you said about rape being not natural even though human males do it the same way animal males do, because humans are special and control their environment is stupid. when we were animals, when we were not modern homo sapiens do you think at some point of evolving into humans we just forgot how to rape? it just went out of our minds for a hundred thousand years? the distinction between animal and human is arbitrary, we are not that different.

If the distinction between animal and human is arbitrary, and we are simply a continuation of animal then why don't non-human animals develop the planet - create spaceships to explore other planets or can articulate how our world or universe came about? Why dont we see orcas which are by far the most intelligent mammal with complex language capabilities similar to humans, do that? Why are we the only species that can do that?

Evolution happens over millions of years, so yes you can easily evolve out of behaviors or as you put it "forget to rape" because it happens over millions of years. There's absolutely traits that "went out of our minds for a hundred thousands of years". Knuckle walking, completely gone. Being a good climber, completely gone - you have to develop this. And if you believe that rape is a biological trait, it should actually be relatively easily to believe that it can be evolved out in a species based on the environment since that's exactly how evolutionary biology works.

And not all non-human primates living even today rape. Like bonobo, one of our closest living relative, has never had an observed case of male sexual coercion. In fact, in their culture females dominate cultural relations and networks, and males grow up in this "culture' and observe and therefore learn, that they will have more mating success with grooming strategies rather than aggression. And they actually apparently get mating success by gaining support from these female networks.

And the natural experiment example of Robert Sapolsky's forest baboon troop, which DID have sexual coercion in their culture, but did not after the aggressive males all died out from eating contaminated food. In the following years, the troop developed a culture that was cooperative and they retained this culture going forward. There was no reappearance if sexual aggression thereafter.

And lastly, PR Sanday studied some 95 "primitive" cultures in society and found that 50%, half of were rape-free. These still exist today.

In all the above examples, there's a common theme of sociability for survival. This is what I was saying previously, human evolution is unique in that tool development, led to bigger brains dedicated to language and social function. Homo sapien evolution is even unique compared to other hominids in that unlike all other hominids, homo sapiens was not restricted to limited range of environment. It's both these things together that make humans unique. Early homo sapiens would have been bands of 20-30 people working together, splitting labour, cooperating, talking things through, analyzing things together to adapt to life anywhere. It's hard to imagine rape in these circumstances when rape doesn't exist in cultures and societies even today, where cooperation is required for survival.

Regardless, this a philosophical debate since we don't have evidence of whether rape was common or not prior to 10000 years ago. The only evidence we have is what i presented above, the non-human primates and ethnographic study of some cultures today. Your argument relies on the logic that since rape is biological and present in animals, it would be preserved in human evolution. I disagree with this logic, I think human evolution required this behaviour to be specifically 'evolved out' in order to survive. And it does not reappear until 10,000 years ago. And I still believe that regardless how we start, whether men are predisposed to rape biologically or not, we would be able to eliminate this when we women seize reproductive forces and address women's oppression materially. So ultimately it is possible to end it via a cultural evolution regardless of how we start. This we have plenty of examples of - i gave GDR & Long Bow as examples already of a primordial form of this. We saw lots of changes there and that wasn't even a full seizure of reproductive forces, it was only small material redistribution of resources to women that significantly reduced women's oppression.

But are you able to explain why in non-human primates and even human societies we have examples of no sexual coercion. Yes these are a small percentage because of the general and increasing development of society towards patriarchy, which would lead us to hypothesize that its likely that these rape-free cultures were more prevalent in the past prior to patriarchy. But if you believe that rape is a biological aspect, then why do these cultures not have rape. They should - since its a biological feature of evolutionary development, it should be pervasive no?

[gaelic-symphony]

for the character thingy:

Tara

Emily

JJ

Regina/Evil Queen

No pressure to do all of them though if you don't want to ✌️

For Tara:

Why I like them: She's everything to me!!!! She's kind, strong, empathetic, emotionally intelligent, totally badass, and unbelievably hot. She's my wife and I love her. She's perfect. 10/10 no notes.

Why I don’t: I do not have an answer for this. I literally cannot think of a single reason not to like her!

Favorite episode (scene if movie): Ugh, it's impossible to pick just one! Either Mirror Image or False Flag.

Favorite season/movie: 13. It's a great season for her, and a great season for Temily.

Favorite line: When she refers to herself as "the woman behind the woman (Emily)." I take this as proof that Temily is canon.

Favorite outfit: GREEN DRESS 🥵

OTP: Temily

Brotp: Talvez (Luke and Tara)

Head Canon: She's a dog person, but has never actually owned a dog.

Unpopular opinion: This fandom's constant sidelining of Tara is deeply rooted in racism and misogyny. The only reason she's not as popular as other characters is because she's a Black woman.

A wish: I wish the fandom would stop treating her like a minor character!

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: Her leaving the show

5 words to best describe them: The love of my life!

My nickname for them: Wifey💕

For Emily:

Why I like them: Lesbian with mommy issues who just wants to be accepted and loved. She's just like me fr! Also her growth as a character from season 2 to season 16 is absolutely beautiful to watch.

Why I don’t: I don't like fanon Emily. She's nothing like canon Emily.

Favorite episode (scene if movie): Demonology!!!!!!!

Favorite season/movie: Hmmm I might have to go with 16 because I love gray haired Section Chief Prentiss! I hate so, so much of Evolution, but for Emily purposes, it's an absolute masterpiece.

Favorite line: I have many, but "I've got a Glock leveled at your crotch" certainly stands out!

Favorite outfit: Cargo pants. Iconic lesbian wear.

OTP: Temily!!!!!!!

Brotp: Demily

Head Canon: Her parents divorced when she was in college, and even though she's not close with either of her parents, she has more of a relationship with her mother than with her father.

Unpopular opinion: Almost nobody in this fandom understands her or interprets her correctly. She is NOT a bumbling incompetent. She is NOT chaos personified. She is NOT comic relief. She would also never talk like a Gen Z TikToker. She's a middle-aged federal employee who excels at her job and has close, caring, mature relationships with the people she works with.

A wish: I wish people would stop butchering her character. This includes wishing they would stop shipping her with men.

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: Hotchniss. Really any het Emily ship, but especially that one. It's an abomination.

5 words to best describe them: A lesbian for the lesbians!

My nickname for them: Other wifey💕

For JJ:

Why I like them: She's a deep, complex character with so much room for fandom exploration. Also pretty lady make lesbian brain go brrrr 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

Why I don’t: I don't really like the direction her character took in later seasons, when she came back as a profiler. I love media liaison JJ, and I love Evolution JJ, but in seasons 7-15, she just doesn't do it for me like other CM women do.

Favorite episode (scene if movie): Hmmm probably North Mammon?

Favorite season/movie: 5 was a good look for her! I liked the bangs.

Favorite line: "It's not people, it's men."

Favorite outfit: Her Evolution crop top and leggings combo 🥵

OTP: I honestly don't know that I have one? I love Jemily and Jara, but I think Temily is endgame.

Brotp: JJ and Morgan!

Head Canon: If Henry had been a girl, JJ would have named her Rose, after Rosaline.

Unpopular opinion: Reid stans are way too hard on JJ, to the point of being misogynistic about their dislike of her character.

A wish: I wish the Jeid confession had never happened!

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: Will becoming a main character on CM.

5 words to best describe them: too complex for this fandom😒😒

My nickname for them: I don't really have one

It's been sooooo long since I was in my SwanQueen era, so I don't think I can answer all of these for Regina, but I'll answer some!

Why I like them: Ummm...she's a morally gray milf? Literally what more do you need?

Favorite outfit: Her in suits 🥵🥵🥵

OTP: SwanQueen!!!!

[spatio-rift]

Hiya there! I see a lot of your saiki k content, and I love it sm lol. Now, I'm curious as to what your fave ships are besides kubometo. >.< Considering your recent ask which encouraged me to do this, may I also ask what your least faves are? Also, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the takahashi squad with metori so much, mwa mwa kudos to you.

Hiii im glad u enjoy my stuff even when theres not much of it going around lately😢 when summer break comes i will make more.💓(maybe)

i will answer that question about my other fave pairings with an additional condition which is that they cannot include saiko ^_^ i wont have a looot to say about them because i have really bad tunnel vision but lets try.

i think the one i probably like the most after kbmt is kaiyume ^_^ not in a way where like the situationship is so hilarious that it compels me to write 15 posts in a row about them but i think they have a special kind of really funny like. early 2010s cringe highschool couple vibe. or something. embarrassing couple on the internet. blurry grainy matching profile pics. couple cosplay. the chuunibyou. LOL i do genuinely love their relationship and its evolution from the moment kaidou defended chiyo in okinawa to chiyos confession and the way chiyos feelings for him are so consistent despite being the 'girl who falls in love super easily all the time' archetype and shes so considerate in liking him and i think they fit really well together but most importantly the idea of their romance is so weird and embarrassing to me meaning theyll never be boring (which is as weve established a capital offense for a gag manga). i think it brings out so many fun parts of their character. chiyos unhinged but shes so caring. kaidous so pathetic but hes so brave and gentlemany. its great! 👍

wait hold on i just remembered i have a relationship chart. i couldnt for the life of me remember what else i liked LMFAO. lets see whats on there.

oh my god right i love satou and hii together. i dont care much for that whole thing about helping her guardian spirit so that shes not life-threateningly unlucky anymore i thought it was hilarious how satous normal powers cancelled her bad luck and they were very cute for the like 2 or 3 chapters they were around. <3 ive got a soft spot for them for real.

lets do a quick round. midori and chouno altered my brain chemistry in a way that i find a little embarrassing to talk about HAHA but its a dynamic i quietly Really enjoy the chapters that touch on it are favorites of mine regardless of the note on which it ends for them. lately ive been really enjoying imu and arisu together for completely baseless reasons i just think theres potential there for real funniness w both thinking the other is a creep. and of course you will always find me fighting on the front lines for kurumi and kuniharu.

as for my least favorite pairings.... i really dont want to be on peoples dash bashing stuff they enjoy so i will just let the chart speak for itself :') its just not for me!

and Lastly. im so happy my $quad awareness campaign is working <3 (gives u a big wet peck on the forehead) saiko and his idiots forever. peace &love.

[madisonrooney]

Question, Has Dove's evolution from disney girl to bad ass pop girl lessened your love for her at all? Cause I know some people aren't into the brunette badass version of her

short answer, no. she means the world to me and i don't think anything could ever change that, especially bc of the irl relationship we have.

long answer, it was a bit of an adjustment at first in some ways. id already gone through the same thing with miley, and that made it both easier and harder. easier in the sense that it wasnt my first time dealing with this type of situation but harder in the sense that i had thought that id already gone through that once and wouldn't have to again with dove.

shes gone on record to say that up until about last year, she'd kind of created this fake persona for the public to please people but it wasn't really her, which at first made me afraid that i'd fallen in love with someone who never really existed. but i've come to terms with that. for one thing, i know i'm not the only fan who's been around for years and it's not like she's denounced those fans. plus i think she may have been exaggerating a bit, bc for those of us like myself who have been paying close attention to her from the beginning, you can see many aspects of her that have remained constant, both the lighter parts of her personality that have remained and the darker aspects that were present even years ago (when she would talk about descendants and say she was always more interested in the villains than the princesses, when she said ruby hale was the type of role she'd always wanted to play among many other things regarding ruby, etc.) in an interview from a few days ago, she talked about how she kind of wants to clarify that she's neither extreme of perfect girl next door or evil badass but somewhere in between, and that's kind of how i'd already seen her anyway so it was nice to hear her say that.

the thing that's been the hardest is any time she talks at all negatively about her disney days bc of how much liv and maddie and descendants mean to me. that hasn't happened a lot tho, im just sensitive to even a just barely negative comment. plus, she's still talked positively about those roles within the last year or so, not to mention the cloud 9 tattoos she got with kiersey clemmons lol. from my understanding, she does want to leave that behind her but she still has a love for that time of her life and believes it was right for her at the time, and i can live with that. if miley was full on volatile about hannah montana and i somehow was not only surviving but thriving in the bangerz era, i can learn to accept what dove has said about her disney days.

plus.....her badassery makes her all the more attractive to me. so theres that.

if people dont want to be a fan of hers anymore obvs thats their choice but it can be sad to see given that this was less of a change and more of her fully expressing who's she's been all along, especially bc she's said it's very much tied to her public coming out process.

[kotomori]

The Banished and The Broken

Summary:

As someone who was born as an only child into a rich family, Steve could've had everything he wanted.

As long as he behaved himself.

As long as he sat up straight and spoke when spoken to.

As long as he blended in with the right kind of people.

As long as he was what everyone wanted him to be.

Yet ever since the first time fought a monster from another world and lived to tell in 1983, Steve has never been sure of what he wants out of life, if there is even a world that still has a place in it for a man as lost as he is. Three years later as he stares down the Devil who wants to break that world apart, he no longer cares about the stakes of his future but for the lives of those who changed him. He only has one priority left to fulfill as their protector: outnumbered or not he won't let them hurt his family.

*Author's note*

.Man am I late for this one....

Hi! :)

Not gonna lie to ya! Never thought I'd be here writing a Stranger Things fic. Then again I also said that about every other fandom I've written for on here so my word means nothing XD

Stranger things 4 was.....an experience. Did I love it? Volume 1 absolutely. Then volume 2 came upon us and.....what the hell was that?! Dont get me wrong, I love the way it ended with the upside down breaking into Hawkins. I loved Elevens arc in season 4 as a whole, I loved the Russian rescue mission and escape storyline which led to two of the most emotional reunion scenes I've ever seen. I loved that my favourite three characters (sans Eddie since hes only had one season hence he doesnt apply to this argument) had more screen time than they've ever had in the show. And by that I'm talking about Steve, Max and Dustin. I loved that Jonathan finally had a friend that wasn't Will or Nancy the same way I loved when Steve found a friend in Robin in season 3.

However....why were so many parts of volume 1 just completely forgotten about or rushed in volume 2? Mike telling eleven he loves her? Why was that a plot point? Why did he only say it when he was forced to say it? Why did Eddie have to die in order for the group to defeat Vecna? It would've take the bats just as much time getting back to the house as it did the trailer so they would've got him in time either way. Why did the Duffers pull a Two Days Later on us?!?!?

Another point I was confused about is why they conveniently forgot that Steve was literally mauled by bats....the scene where Eddie is explaining the warzone and Steve's just standing there bleeding through his bandages just like 'eh, just another Tuesday' made me laugh so much and then it's just never brought up again because apparently it was a way to introduce these bat things so that wed have insight into how one of the most popular characters would die....nah fuck that, imma change it.

Goes without saying Steve is absolutely my favourite character in the show. His character has by far had the greatest evolution and I cant wait to see how hes handling the aftermath in season 5. But I feel like they really missed some opportunities with him in season 4 and I'm just kind of projecting that onto this story because I like the character so much and hope you all like this story too :)

(Also side note but I'm honestly living for how the Duffers set up two potential LGBT couples with Rickie and Byler and then just threw the fruity fours great upside down adventures at us like XD I love the ship of Steve/Eddie, not sure I feel as into Ronance as alot of you but I think it's just because I like Robin way more as a character than I do Nancy, who honestly I have mixed feelings about her character.)

Also also, while this is a Steve/Eddie fic, that is not the sole or even the main focus of the story, its mainly about Steve's relationship with everyone, as well as some of the other characters with eachother, with a big ol dose of fluff on the side to cover up all the hurt in these poor kids.

Chapters 2/? Link to full fic available above :)

[gayrob0t]

"#but the wrist has gotta do so much crazy mechanical bullshit in the hand that it cant just#risk snapping something by doing what the neck does"

sorry i feel like i must be misreading this: our wrists can't risk snapping but our necks can???

Lol i may have phrased it poorly because I cant edit tags, but essentially the reason your head can turn is because of two specific vertebrae that sit on top of eachother called the atlas and the axis, they're right at the base of your skull

I believe this is the only place in the human body where a joint actually rotates transversely and it's because the spine is basically a bunch of socket joints sitting gently within eachother with the spinal cord threaded through and a fucktonne of ligament systems to keep it in place. Theres a lot of limitations to this system as you picked up, the main one being if you turn too far you uh, break something and get internally decapitated, which is game over immediately in 70% of cases and not fun in the remaining 30%. They also can sometimes dislocate from eachother and the ligaments that hold them in place and some people even have to have the two bones fused together. The point being that this is the only example we have of what seems the 'obvious' way to make a rotating joint in the human body and it already has so many problems. This brings us to the wrist

Imagine you're evolution, and you've got to figure out how to give an animal rotation of the limb. So why not put this kind of joint in the arm? You could probably already imagine how it'd work with the hand sitting in some neat saddle sitting within the radius or something. Why not? Well because you'd break something! We just finished talking about how the neck joint isnt the most structurally stable or safest thing to have (dont panic it's been there your whole life it's probably fine) and you twist your wrist so often! Much more often than you turn your head Im willing to bet! And your wrist has to sit in that turned position for extended periods of time! You may have noticed in that diagram of the atlas the label for the vertebral artery. Thats because it's not just your nerves in your spine, but you got blood delivery there too! Rotation can pinch these arteries, which is why owls actually have a flexible balloon-like bloodvessel in their heads to store blood when they do their 270⁰ rotation of the neck. So you'd have to put one of those in the hand I guess. And where are we putting all the tendons and muscles for the hand? Do we squeeze them all through that saddle now? How are we sure they won't pinch each other when rotating? Are we going to use ligaments to restrict movement so the bones dont guillotine everything off if they turn too far? And what about that extra bone just in the arm, is it going the way of the tibia?

An important thing to keep in mind is that evolution is a lot like a teenager doing their project the night before it's due, it's using what it has and by god if it works it works, final grade be damned. So it doesnt bother with the labor and material intensive task that is fabricating a whole new joint and troubleshooting the problems that come with it. It just takes the two bones already there

And twist

[propheticpanickingnerd]

I have discovered while I am really passionate about my current hyperfixation, I also have an added passion of educating all my friends into the reasons why, even after all the work they have been doing, they are still fat (to the usual shit beauty standards). Even though I'm in arts, I've studied this a lot mostly because of its relation to hormones and me being trans and all. And also the psychological benefits of indulging in BDSM without it being sexual.

In my experience, I've always been in multiple art schools, so I was always surrounded by a bigger percentage of queer people, neurodivergents and people who usually dont fit the standards in any way shape of form. And some of them are confident, dont get me wrong. Most of them arent though. They're all extremely uneducated in most topics, dont actively know about activism of their minority groups and the history of it. And a lot of them I'm not in the position to help soothe their worries, maybe we dont know each other, or we're not close enough for me to know their insecurities, but when I heard said key words about topics I know extensively, I tend to eavesdrop a bit.

Which happens far too often.

You know how much I want to tell Her that no, even though you work out a lot you will very rarely get any physically thinner, no it's not your fault, your mother is like that too and she's also too insecure to tell you why, maybe she's also doesnt know why. It's not your fault and its not something to be ashamed of, your mother just has great genes passed down from strong and surviving families that make losing fat a lot harder. It's evolution and it's a great thing to be proud of. Even if you work really hard, that fat will turn into muscle, but you'd still have the same shape. You're great at dancing, I love going to the open dance club sessions, you're amazing at that, and you're also still growing, you have your life ahead of you.

But I can't tell her that. Obviously. That's why I'm ranting of my mostly batfam tumblr blog. The blog is mine I do what I want anyways.

If this words speak to you, I'm glad.

One day I will come back to talk about the psychological properties of BDSM without involving sexual activities, to all my mentally ill people who have been told/feel like a therapist can't do much for them other than giving out a few coping mechanisms until one sticks.

[blueempty]

I'm back on the neurodivergent sleep schedule

Todays positive thing is Pokemon Legends Zygard wahoo. I'm actually a gen 6 enjoyer and a Legends Arceus stan so this is big news for me. I'm trying not to go too hard thinking about new mega evolutions or regional variants

I did end up bummed out for a while because Kalos reminded me of my friend Morgan who i was really close to from Pokken, Malamar and Diancie are her favorite Pokémon and she got really good as Aegislash in Pokken. She just kinda vanished one day and didnt say anything before completely expunging her online presence, even her switch profiles went inactive. But I finally asked one of our friends today if she knew what happened and it sounds like its as I assumed, she just couldnt deal with social media and shit anymore and on a whim completely withdrew from the internet. I truly envy her. But she doesnt like when people talk about her so i've said too much already, sorry Morgan. It just finally hit me how much I miss my friend. Shes doing well though I guess so thats good to hear

That also made me aware that my time dilation is a lot worse than I thought cuz my last message to her was in 2022 and I thought it had been like pre-pandemic. She gave me money for Pokemon Legends Arceus when it came out cuz I didnt have any at the time even though she thought it was cringe, but like, my concept of what has occured pre and post covid is completely lost, I do not know where I am in time

Except for how old I am cuz its my birthday todayyyy (the 28th) and I'm 29~~~~~~ and I'm not having a crisis at allllllllll hehee. Me and my partner are gonna go get boba and stuff but I dont have any real plan. I still kinda feel sick from the weekend before last so I've been too sleepy to think about stuff like that. It'll be nice to spend the day together tho. We watched the first two episodes of the Dungeon Meshi anime and its really well done. Marcille's english va is so good. I've been reading it all day too and the cat ninja has appeared. There was a moment when they were fighting the dragon that was so sick I almost stood up out of my chair at work. Liking that a lot

My kanji of the day I decided a few minutes ago is 飯, because well ya know. It means food, thats a good word to know regardless of what I'm reading currently right!! Looking up the stroke order helped me understand the whole kanji a lot better than I did looking at the like, text version of it from my keyboard. The rule of stroke order seems to get bent a lot. It must have to do with where strokes end as well as where they start. I know its top to bottom left to right but the way boxes are written seems to change sometimes if one side is longer or something. Maybe I'm misremembering the stroke order for 願. I probably am

Oh I found a vulture feather today too that was cool. Heres that and my plants shadows

Peace and Long Life

[old-reminiscence]

when my mom would debate leaving us in the car, her reasoning was always so that no one would call the police

i remember being all alone in the backyard sitting in a kids play house for an underminded amount of time playing with snails and bugs

being made to stay completely alone in my room for hours as punishment

deep memories of being alone and scared in my crib, crying and holding my stuffed animals

the screaming and arguing and the hiding

fucking making up scenarios where i was drugged and sexually assaulted over and over again

the way i flinch at every sudden movement near my head

strong feelings that i wasnt allowed to eat they were mad at me

that one time i struggled to make dinner because my parents refused to

the time i tried running away and my mom laughed at me and asked me where id go and what id do

the times theyd make me touch people i didnt know and look them in the eyes

when my dad first started teaching me how to swim i jumped in because he was getting frustrated with me

my dad looking me dead in the eyes and telling me if he told me anything more hed have to kill me

when mom would be sick and dad would be volatile and i was hungry

when dad wouldnt come home until really late

when theyd grab me and give me a stern talking to if i was being too rowdy or unclassy

like that one time i was rubning around the outside of a reasturant with my brother and having a really fun time

i got in trouble for so many mistakes like spills or knocking something over

"im sorry i didnt mean to im sorry"

being screamed at till i was sobbing and then being called out on it

"you look at me when im talking to you"

"dont roll your eyes at me"

"go to your room and dont come out"

the time i accidentally popped a lizards tail off chasing it and i told my mom excitedly about how it still moved and she said, "i thought you were the animal lover, shame on you" and treated me like i was a horrible person

asking about evolution and having my faith be questioned at dinner

being told i was going to go to hell if i was a bad kid

"pray every night"

"god loves you"

getting sick and my parents always got upset with me, blaming me for it

switching between comforting me from nightmares and leaving me all alone

that one time i genuinely thought my heart was breaking because i was so sad when my parents got dissapointed in me

being told about suicide when i was like 8

being taught how to kill someone when i was 11

watching a rape scene with my dad when i was 12

being taught tactics of how to analyze and scan people and areas like a soldier

"your mom loved you so much she gave you up so you could have a better life"

"she named you"

"we love you"

"we'd never hurt you"

"we're not those kidn of peopel"

[karma-ltk]

im just going to go on another ramble after months of not posting on here, theres some music i find absolutely beautiful because of the stories they tell. im a lover for complexity in what looks simple on the surface, but is an entire iceberg on its own.

my best example of this is "2112" by rush. the song is telling the story of how earth was deserted of human life in 2012, based on the aztec calendar that ended that year. 100 years later, a later evolution of man returns to the ruins of human civilization and have already formed a hierarchy and government system. one person discovers a guitar and learns to make music with it, being fascinated with the strings, the sounds, everything about it. he brings it to the officials to show off and see if he could make this discovery his whole life in their eyes, comparing the sounds to build high like a mountain and the notes to be falling gently like rain. he proposes to let the people make their own music, but is quickly shut down by the officials, saying its a waste of time, and what drove the old race to their demise, "another toy that helped destroy the other race of man." the tone of the song changes based on the emotions and scenery, who is talking and who isnt, its a perfect culmination of musical story telling.

theres also the musical stories being told of real events, whether personal or not. my favorite example of historical music is "run to the hills" by iron maiden, though a lot of their music relates to historical events. run to the hills tells the story of the americans overtaking the natives when colonizing the americas from three perspectives. the first being of the natives themselves, the second of an american cavalryman, the third of no single individual, though heavily criticizing the americans. i dont exactly have a great way of explaining why this song is incredible unless you listen to it yourself, as its easier to understand why if you read the lyrics to their entirety.

personal stories being told in music is another branch of musical storytelling that is just as amazing as the rest. "patient number 9" by ozzy osbourne is one prime example of this, as its based off of ozzys own struggles with mental stability. or theres also "montero (call me by your name)" by lil nas x. it was written the day after he hung out at a guys house that he was into, to make it more like he was telling a story. he described the humming in the song as a sort of mating call, and explained in an interview with genius as many key points as needed. this song was boosted for multiple reasons, the representation of the lgbtq community, but more importantly, the controversy. montero (cmbyn) was a huge deal among conservatives and christians because of its biblical inspiration and sexuality presented in the music video. honestly, it was hilarious. as a queer atheist, it was humorous watching these people get so upset over it, especially with the reaction video macdoesit made to the replies, but i digress.

theres plenty other examples i couldve put in here, but id have to make a whole playlist to get that point across.

tldr i like storytelling in music

[theeclecticwitchblog240]

Spiritual Awakening~Are you experiencing one??

A Spiritual Awakening is not usually a pleasant experience. Often it can feel like confusion, frustration anger, sadness, grief or being "an outsider looking in" at your own life. For some, it might even trigger a traumatic response experience that scars an individual and changes them in ways I'll never be able to explain. Everyone's experience is unique to them alone. Really, it all depends on what you are going throughat the time when the Spiritual Awakening happens.

This time can be quite uncomfortable and challenging, because it's an intense time of personal growth that often people are unaware of what's really happening to them, thus leaving them in complete disaray. My first experience was something else! It happened when i was in my mid 20s and I'd hit an all-time low point in my life, let me tell ya, complete rock bottom, on my hands and knees crying, praying for help of any kind! I had a full blown emotional breakdown! Then BAM! Suddenly out the clear blue, I was able to get a grip on the waterworks, and I somehow was able to understand that what I was experiencing and why things were happening the way they were. It became clear to me that this all had to happen in order for that growth and maturity to happen! It literally paved the road I'm currently on right now. (Back then though, I didn't know it was an awakening. It wasn't until much later I finally put two and two together.) But, things I'd been questioning, begging for answers, were finally "explained" to me through mental flashes of images of my life, experiences, even my choices....let me tell you, those were hard pills to swallow. Its hard to explain unless you know what I am talking about or have gone through a similar experience yourself, and everyone's experience is unique to them, so while my experience went one way, it might not necessarily be the same or even a similar experience for you. I will say that this experience for me helped me grow and mature into the woman I am today. It also helped me gain forgiveness of not only myself and what I've done, but also found the empathy to forgive others as well. Not because they deserved it, but rather my soul deserved it more! I was plain tired of carrying around the baggage so instead of continuing to carry it all, i found the courage to let go of it instead and make peace with it all. It was time to let go and move forward with room for the next baggage that finds me. As it always finds its way you know.

Now i know how difficult it may feel; rest assured you're not going crazy, I promise! You're just naturally evolving. You have come to a point where its necessary for spiritual growth/evolvement in order to enter the next spiritual journey you are destined for. Dont be afraid of this experience, rather embrace it, welcome it, and go explore the newfound knowledge at your disposal and use it to better yourself so you can find your truth, your voice, and your power. We are all meant to grow in life, be it physical growth, emotional growth, and yes this includes spiritual growth as well. Its encoded into our DNA, i believe, to naturally evolve until we take our last breath, at that point our soul then continues on the neverending cycle of Evolution.

My advice to you is to be open and honest with yourself when answering these questions. No one else will know about them unless you volunteer for them to know. If need be, answer the questions, get everything you need to express out, then destroy the papers. No harm, no foul you know. There's no correct answer or wrong answer to any of these questions, its just to help you understand what you are going through and maybe help process the experience as well. Even if you are not currently experiencing a Spiritual Awakening, I'd still recommend reading the questions and then journaling them. I say that because these questions can also help you better understand yourself as well. Help give yourself an insight on how you really feel, and perhaps help you feel/find validation as well. These questions can easily be turned into spiritual shadow work instead too. My hope by sharing this and my experience with you all, helps inspire you to look within and find a way to be your own true authentic self who's advancing to being comfortable with who they are, what they are capable of, and be your own best friend!

"Consciously choose a state of mind thats in tune with your soul's highest purpose. Being calm allows your mind to find solutions.

Calmness is also a state of trust. Instead of overthinking and overreacting you surrender for that moment and allow yourself to recieve guidance for what doesn't make sense.

You have everything you need right here in this moment."

Here's some journal prompts to help you get started:

1} How do you define "god"? What name or description feels right for you to say?

2}What spiritual practices do your enjoy engaging in?

3} What are your favorite religious or spiritual quotes or sayings?

4} How would you define your current spirituality?

5} Do I trust my own guidance over others? Why or why not?

6} Do I take it into account or feel they know me better than I do?

7} How do I slow my mind down? List out what helps.

8} What was your religious or spiritual influences/ environment like growing up?

9} What resonates or does not resonate about those early influences?

10} What is your spirituality like now compared to when you were a child?

11} Describe how spirituality enhances your life.

12} What are your greatest struggles with Spirituality?

13} Are you able to open and honest with anyone, including yourself about your spirituality and beliefs, while feeling comfortable about it? Why or why not?

14} What can you do to make any changes, if necessary, to make you more comfortable within your own skin? Write these out.

15} What is your foundation for your Spiritual path/choice?

I hope this helps you and inspires you all as well!

Thank you for reading,

Blessed Be!