#i’m by no means an expert on any of this so feel free to correct anything if i got it wrong!

[writingwithcolor]

how to convey arabic language in a specific dialect is being spoken without lengthy descriptions of how words/specific letters are pronounced?

Anonymous asks:

I believe my question revolves around linguistics, but please correct me if there’s something I didn’t take into account. I’m an Egyptian girl who speaks Arabic (the Egyptian dialect specifically), and I am currently writing an urban fantasy set in modern day Egypt. Naturally, the characters would be speaking Egyptian arabic (i even have a scene where my character converses with a tourist and struggles to speak to them ‘in english’)  But as the story is written in english, I found this is really hard to convey, especially with the entirely different alphabet, and the words that simply cannot be transcribed (sometimes in definition, and sometimes in letters that don’t have an equivalent). What would be a good way to send the message that these characters are by no means speaking English (unless stated) without having to hold the reader's hand through lengthy descriptions of how a word is pronounced at every corner?

Hi Anon! This is a tough spot. I’m no expert, just a mod and fellow writer trying to support your fantastic ask. Any bilingual readers, especially other Arabic speakers, feel free to chime in.

1- Disclose they’re speaking Arabic, even though you’re writing in English:

Example A: “Hey, Noor! Wait up,” he said in Arabic. 

Example B: “Habibti, I haven’t seen you in a while,” she reminded me. It was true - I had missed the lilt of her Darija-Moroccan dialect-so different from the Mesri, the Egyptian twang, that rolled off my tongue.

2- Consider using Arabic semantic structure or phrases and idioms used mostly in Arabic.

Example A: She reddened with embarrassment. // They whitened at the sight of it. ((English would probably say she ‘turned red’ rather than reddened, or ‘paled’ rather than whitened. Since Arabic has this natural and fun ability to let color be a verb, which English can but doesn't have naturally - make use of it! It will read differently in English because it’s an Arabic construct. Use other examples like this that you’d know better than me.))

Example B: Consider using “May the Gods smite her house!,” instead of the classic English ‘Fuck You.’ Or use “On my eyes” rather than ‘min ayooni’ or its English translation of ‘of course.’ Since Arabic language is beautifully expressive, you could lean into that when you can rather than using common English alternatives.

 Example C: Consider interspersing Arabic transliterations of common words/phrases like; habibti/habibi; yani; mashallah casually through the story.  

3- When speaking with English speakers, consider using informal text/chat speak (Arabizi?) to communicate the Arabic, since it’s already transliterated to the Roman alphabet. [disclaimer - I am atrocious at this, and will be surprised if anyone can read it… but for science!]: 

Example A: Instead of (انت طالب بالجامعة) or “are you a student?” it becomes; 

“Ente 6albeh bel jam3a?” I asked, staring at the textbook in his arms. 

He looked at me confused. “I don't understand,” he said. “I can’t speak Arabic.” 

“Wain 3m tedrus? Where do you… y3ni… where do you study?” I tried again in slow, awkward English.

These examples may or may not work for you. It’s important to remember that there’s no single "right" way to do this, but it’s mostly about finding a balance that reads well, and feels good to you. Subtle cues like sentence structure, idioms, the occasional untranslated word, and natural context can help to show the language shift. Good luck and happy writing!

~ Melanie 🌻  

P.S. Mod Meir suggests checking out the book When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb, which handles this issue well. There's a lot of "He said in English" or "He repeated it in Yiddish for the old woman's benefit" or "It took him a moment to realize he had spoken in English" (( Thanks Sacha! @kuttithvangu ))

[solarpunkwarlock]

Ways to Live in Direct Opposition to Capitalism

I am by no means an expert in any of these things I’m gonna talk about, so keep that in mind! I am just making a compilation of things I know of that we can do to lessen the stranglehold the capitalist lifestyle has on us while enriching our lives, our surroundings, and the lives of others. Please add anything I miss or correct anything I may be getting wrong! Anyway here goes!

Use what you have, fix what’s you can, make what you can, accept from others, thrift what you can, and finally purchase as a last resort.

This is advice I have seen float around here a couple of times that can apply to a lot of things including clothing, furniture, food, and more besides. It’s meant to be done roughly in that order as it applies to what you’re wanting/needing/doing. It’s about preventing waste, promoting self-capability, having a heightened reliance on your community, and consciously rejecting the ingrained habit many of us have to just purchase things or services.

Here’s where you can read about growing an indoor garden!

Here’s where you can read about sewing things yourself!

Here’s an online site for giving and receiving items for free!

Here is where you can find a local Mutual Aid to get things from, learn skills from, give do, volunteer for, etc. (in the U.S.)

Be politically active! (from a U.S. perspective)

Vote for every election. Know your representatives and those who will be competing in the next election. Vote without ignorance and without falling for unfounded claims. While operating within the system that actively oppresses us will not bring about the future we want, it can serve as damage control (preventing worse candidates from taking office) and it can potentially create a national atmosphere more open to change.

Here’s a good article about getting more involved in the U.S. political process.

Here’s a site that will show you how to register to vote, when and where elections are held, and more!

Here’s good advice on finding protests in your city!

Here’s some readings on unionizing! It’s your legal right to unionize!

Here’s a more user friendly site for learning about unions!

Be active within your community!

Developing strong, motivated, capable, knowledgeable, and inclusive communities is the ultimate way to combat the relentless and bleak present and future. When you’ve worked on the things above and have gotten good at it (or even if you haven’t gotten good at it yet), start spreading what you know and what you can do with others!

Give your neighbors, coworkers, and friends some of the vegetables you’ve grown.

Invite your community members to volunteer events.

Talk to folks about how to vote, when you’re doing it, etc.

Take part in Mutual Aids to teach what you’ve learned or whatever you may be an expert in! Invite neighbors, friends, and coworkers when you take part in the Mutual Aid!

Accept your community. Take them for who and what they are. Discrimination is the enemy of cooperation. You have much more in common with everyone in your community than a single billionaire or corporation. We’re all passengers on this spaceship earth.

Do it one step at a time!

Obviously we can’t do all of these things at once. Do what you can when you can, and you’ll start to notice real change in your life!

Our online communities where we talk about our visions and hopes are fantastic, but they have little impact if we don’t actually get up and do the real work that change requires.

Want to be better, and keep hope for the future!

Harbor and nourish that desire to be a better person and to be the change you want to see in the world. You need to be hungry for a better future if you plan to make it through the rough times when everything feels pointless and without hope. Reach out to others when you’re down, and be someone others can lean on when their lives get hard.

That’s it! Please interact with this, spread it to others, and add your own thoughts and ideas! It’s important that we do the real work to get the change we crave!

[meanbossart]

Any tips for new or returning artists?

I’m hoping to discover my own art style this year (from scratch, no references) by just throwing myself into learning anatomy, drawing random characters, and praying I can figure out how to add depth to pieces.

I have very minimal artistic experience and my work has improved significantly from where I started years ago, but not even close to where I’m hoping to be.

I can freehand faces and tweak the anatomy accordingly but I feel limited. Maybe it’s (in part) because I’m using an iPad, apple pen and Procreate? I recently added the paper-feel screen cover and that’s helped significantly with control.

Do you draw on paper to help your muscle memory? Honestly, ANYTHING helps. I watch videos on anatomy and art all of the time — I just don’t know if my brain is absorbing it correctly 😭

Hello! I don't know if I can say anything in particular to the returning aspect of your situation since I've drawn pretty consistently all of my life, but if someone else has had that experience of picking the skill back up after a long break, feel free to share your thoughts in the replies!

I'm not fully sure what you mean by "hoping to discover my own art (...) from scratch, no references", but if it means trying to whip up a style from thin-air and blocking out all outside influence or take any inspiration from existing art that you like... Uh... Don't do that! I don't see the benefit. All art is a derivation of a derivation, I can assure you that by compiling a folder or collage of your favorite works, borrowing and reworking aspects that you like, you WILL land on an original style and have learned so much more about it in the process than if you hadn't done that at all.

Also I can assure you that drawing on procreate/ipad is not a hindrance whatsoever, plenty of professional artists prefer it over display tablets. @wolfskulljack-art comes to mind as someone who has created several incredible tour posters for Metallica, all in her ipad.

I must have drawn on paper a total of 10 times in the last 5 years, I have no idea if that's bad or not... It Probably is, but I'm at peace with it, LOL. Generally when it comes to improving ( and I know that this is a frustrating answer) the secret is to just draw a lot. There is no class that is going to take you from amateur to Caravaggio, it takes time and takes making "bad" art. A lot of bad art. When it comes to learning anatomy, I think the best thing you can do is draw a lot of real-life human bodies from reference while consulting an anatomical diagram or model of some kind. Otherwise you will just making a bunch of lines without ever understanding their purpose.

I don't think you need to be an expert at the human body AT ALL before jumping into stylization and making confident, art, but if you do something like this whenever you draw I think you will end up learning a whole lot. Muscle memory (no pun intended) will come to you naturally!

I also have a lot more tips in my #tutorial and #advice tags that you can look through if you want to, otherwise, I would tell you to just do more drawing and less looking for the perfect tutorial or golden advice. A lot of artists get very boggled down in learning in the most correct and effective way, and while there are pointers that can be given, they tend to be very straightforward🤷 and the rest falls on you to follow through with!

[josie-and-the-pussycats-2001]

I’m seeing a lot of information being passed around about the SAG-AFTRA strike and have already seen this line of questioning on Twitter so I thought I’d address what this means for Broadway actors as I understand it;

Many of your favourite Broadway actors work in film, television and other fields of acting outside of Broadway and do have SAG memberships and thus ARE currently on strike

HOWEVER

Broadway actors are also apart of the Actors’ Equity Association - typically known as Actors’ Equity or just Equity - this is a SEPERATE union

Broadway actors apart of Equity are signed and working under Equity contracts for the productions they are starring in

As they are working under different union contracts, if you see Broadway actors going to their jobs, performing as usual, promoting upcoming theatrical work, etc. - They are NOT scabbing or crossing the picket line as they are not under SAG-AFTRA contracts

Broadway actors are complying with their Equity contracts and to not do so would put their jobs in jeopardies

Remember, the people who comprise Broadway productions are not just famous names but are comprised of many hard working actors who do not have the status or recognition of their more notable co-stars and should NOT be shamed under the guise of false information

HOWEVER

If you see Broadway actors signing onto new screen productions, promoting upcoming screen work, and breaking any of SAG-AFTRA’s strike rules, then it is up to your discretion if you want to bring this to people’s attention

I would like to make it clear that I am NOT an expert nor a professional working on Broadway, this is all information I have gathered from discussions from people involved in the industry. I am only making this post as I have yet to see anyone else address this and have seen some people be confused about what Broadway actors are currently doing in this moment so I hope to help clear things up.

If there is any information I have misunderstood, failed to share or falsely spread, please feel free to correct me and I will update this post.

TLDR: Broadway Actors are not crossing the picket line by continuing to perform in their current theatrical roles as they are under Actor’s Equity Contracts which is a seperate union to SAG-AFTRA

[polysucks]

I've seen a bunch of your indigenous headcanons for Starks and I love them so. Do you think of all First Men that way or particularly northern First Men/Starks? Also I'm going feral over your idea for a wild west AU!

HI I LOVE YOU.

I will talk forever about indigenous Starks and Northmen.

yeah. I’m that bitch. I am the #1 Indigenous Stark Truther* (unproven claim) and I will happily die on this hill.

I’m answering all of this on mobile like 15 mins before I have to be in class so I have none of my research in front of me and no sources, so yall feel free to jump in the comments and the reblogs to compound or (CONSTRUCTIVELY) Correct me :)

As we know, the First Men are all over the place. I mean it’s been, what, twelve thousand years since they came over from Essos on the Dornish Landbridge? (Sound familiar, fellow US Public Education System Victims?) and maybe six thousand years since the Andals migrated, with all the interbreeding and the thousands of years of generational melding, there’s bound to be traces First Men blood all over the planet by now. Just like all indigenous peoples irl! Imma have to write a whole thing about the Westerosi equivalent to the Columbian Exchange now is not the time—

So like personally, I see Native American coding in the Northmen. And all I know is of the American Indigenous perspective (and not even a whole lot bc I wasn’t raised in the tribe. I was removed from the tribe via my grandparents who are both Blackfoot-Salish out of the PNW and victims of modern colonization but that’s another story for another time. It’s just to preface that I am no expert in Native American culture, and only know what I personally know. I got some baller resources if you’re super interested tho)

In my personal humble onion. There would be a high concentration of First Men blood (god I really hate using the term ‘blood’ bc of blood quantum and lineage politics but for the sake of brevity imma just use it) in the Northmen. To me it’s giving PNW and Inuit who pressed north after the Columbian invasion because they had the means to survive in the harsh lands, where the whites. Simply didn’t. And knowing Peepaw is American, like, I see the parallels.

The First Men lived in close harmony with the land, practicing a nature-based religion—the worship of the Old Gods—centered around weirwood trees, sacred groves, and the guidance of “greenseers” and “skinchangers.” (We don’t use the W word around here but do you smell what I’m stepping in?) Their way of life was deeply tied to the land and vaguely resembles that of indigenous spiritual beliefs about animism and ancestral wisdom.

After however long years of battling with the Children of the Forest, the First Men reached the pact, agreeing to honor the children’s sacred forests and worship their gods. This mirrors real-world treaties between indigenous peoples and settlers, which were often later broken or disregarded (to put it nicely). the pact was chill for thousands of years (I think like I say I got no refs in front of me we die like Icarus), leading to the Age of Heroes, in which the First Men formed their own kingdoms, including the foundation of House Stark.

Bro that. Is so ancient American history coded. Same shit different font.

There’s a large population of indigenous peoples in reservation-adjacent areas cherry picked all over the US. I mean, we’re everywhere. Don’t ever let terminal narratives win. We out here babyyyyyy but to me it makes sense that the highest population of indigenous peoples of Westeros would be on the lands that are least likely to be gentrified (wrong word but imma stick w it) as in. The North. I can’t source any quotes rn specifically but how often is it mentioned that the north is the biggest and the “emptiest” in all their seven kingdoms?

So excellent question! Yeah I think all the Northmen are indigenous coded! You can’t convince me that Lyanna Mormont isn’t some badass fuckin thicc warrior goddess coded. And the Greatjon??? My mans leanin and rockin w a bear pelt. That man kills bears with his fists (just ask him) and I could go on forever about how The Boltons in all their violence and the rumors surrounding all that they’re capable of is so so so sooooo Comanche Ute and Sioux coded. They were so shat in by westward expansionists and rumored to be barbaric and cannibalistic and fuuuuuuucked up—simply bc they fought back against the people who were raping, pillaging, and stealing from them. But that’s pure speculation and personal hot take on my part, and wildly incorrect bc the boltons really do be flaying people. While the Ute, Comanche and Sioux did not. In fact. Flay anyone. (Unless they deserved it :) )

Tl;dr

Yeah man I think all the Northmen are native coded (w some Viking and Norse imagery thrown in there bc this is fantasy. It’s not that serious.) but the Starks heavily so due to the hard focus on the animism, their honor, connection to the land, spiritual beliefs, dedication to family, and the fockin’ wolves bro. Natives do be really into wolves. (Wolves are cool as fuck dude)

Also I got three chapters of my Wild West au already written and so much art I haven’t posted. when I unlearn shame and finally post it all it’s over for you bitches

[nightmaresprophet]

So yeah, you know those League of Legends asks in my box? Im going to get to them soon, but currently fell down the Demon Slayer Rabbit Hole and now I’m down bad. Enjoy some Demon Slayer Romantic headcanons.

Warnings: Potential Manga spoilers, some angst at certain points. Written with a Male Reader in mind but could very easily be read for Gender Neutral readers.

DEMON SLAYER CHARACTERS FALLING IN LOVE HEADCANONS:

Shinobu Kocho:

-Ever since Kanae’s untimely death Shinobu has been very much in touch with her emotions. Both the good, such as the love she feels for Kanao and the companionship she shares with the Hashira, as well as the bad, namely the loathing and hate she harbours behind her smile towards the Demons, especially the one who took away her sister. Yet, when you came to the picture, she started feeling an emotion that she never expected to feel. Love. Not the sibling love she has for her little sister Kanao, but actual, genuine, romantic love.

-At first she does her best to stamp this flame out. Not because she hates you, because by God does she love you. She adores you and wishes she could promise you a future together with a small family to raise and only being surrounded by happiness and love, to dedicate herself to your happiness but she does not want to. Ever since she started poisoning herself to ensure she could kill the Demon who took away her sister she all but discarded all thoughts of settling down. Maybe, if somehow, some way she managed to survive her battle with the Demon who took away her sister she could find love, but until then that was a pipe dream… until you came into the picture.

-She fails, as one can guess, to stamp these out, and that’s not for the lack of trying. She does everything she can, from avoiding you at first, to even doing her best to find any, and by any she means ANY, faults in you that she could use to tell herself you two wouldn’t be a match. Yet, the opposite happens. She finds out all the things that MAKE you two a good match. She finds herself enamoured by your smile, her own becoming far more genuine and not the fake she used to put up in front of everyone else. The happiness she only used to feel when Kanae was around comes back full force, and she has to wake up to the reality that yes… she loves you, and wants to have a future with you.

-That is not to say that she gives up on her plan, oh… she certainly doesn’t but at the very least she admits that just perhaps she can find some joy in her last few weeks, or even months, or perhaps even years. Either way, once the Insect Hashira realises her feelings for you and stops trying to deny them, she instantly does whatever she can to win your affection.

-As a Hashira she doesn’t have much free time. Ironically enough though, the way she shows her love for you is spending whatever moments she doesn’t spend tending to people, out on a mission, or being with Kanao, with you. Though one would assume this would leave her with barely any time, Shinobu is an expert at making the best out of bad situations. From training with you if you are a Demon Slayer, to inviting you to small festivals when they are on, or merely listening to you talk about your day, she is there. Shinobu is also an expert at giving advice, but she is extremely gifted at knowing when you merely want her to listen, and when you actually want an advice out of her. Thankfully, more often than not, her advice are more than usually correct, something which she is both extremely happy about and thankful for as well.

-Confession is a tricky topic for the Insect Hashira. She spends a while planning it but in the end decides to go with the flow. She doesn’t make a huge deal out of it, but makes sure to tell you just how much you mean to her. She has a way with words, but she doesn’t over complicate things, and instead merely just lays out just how much you truly mean to her. When you eventually tell her just how much you grew to love her, Shinobu visibly lights up, a bright smile on her face. It was then, when she realised you truly do love her, did she realise that even if her future is short… so long as she can spend it with you, she will be happy.

-She understand that you very likely won’t approve of her plan, and she can live with that, however she at least expects for you to allow her to continue. As much as she loves you, she cannot put the thoughts of revenge down from her mind, so the very best thing you could do is just let her know you don’t like it, but respect her wishes, and work harder to help her defeat the Demon without needing to resort to that quite radical method. That small thing alone means so much to her, so expect Shinobu to ramp up her affections after, because she realises just how truly lucky she got with one such as you.

Inosuke Hashibara:

-This Boar Boy comes into your life randomly and violently. You could be anyone, a Demon Slayer he so happens to meet as he cuts down Demons to just a mere Civilian who he encountered one day. Either way, you most likely are amazed at him when you see him, and that instantly makes him take a liking to you. At first, it’s not even proper attraction, heck you two would likely just bond over how awesome he is, yet as the two of you become closer, Inosuke starts noticing… *you* as well. It’s not that he didn’t notice you before, but as he grows closer to you, he starts seeing more and more of your personality, things you enjoy doing. Even if they are things that he himself would never really enjoy doing, he doesn’t ridicule you for it, instead happy that you have a passion yourself.

-Inosuke likely doesn’t even recognise that he is catching feelings at first. Remember, he was raised by Boars, yet if there is anything that are sharp (other than his weapon) is his instinct, which is telling him that he… likes you. He wants to be closer to you and spend more time than with anyone else with you. He is so close to realising his feelings for you yet so far at the same time, and it likely takes outside influence for him to even click how he likes you. It’s probably Zenitsu or Tanjiro who note that he’s been spending way more time with you lately and has been talking about you *non-stop* and ask him if the two of you are together or something.

-Bless his heart, he probably answers something like “Yeah of course! The Great Inosuke and his best friend are always together!” This causes both Tanjiro and Zenitsu to stare in shock, before they decide, just to make sure, to ask if he knows what ‘love’ is, the romantic kind. Once it becomes clear he doesn’t… they see how much he cares for you, and figure that if they explain it to him, than at the very least he could draw his own conclusions from there and indeed, the Great Inosuke does draw conclusions… eventually.

-Once the reality sets in though, Inosuke actually ponders about it for a few moments. Whilst it is true that he loves you, and his first thought was to just run to you and proclaim it, it was Zenitsu who stressed that it’s not so easy, and that he needs to show he loves you (turns out, being rejected so many times allowed Zenitsu to pick up a few things, even if he doesn’t use them in his desperation). However, since this is Inosuke, things go… different than one expects.

-Inosuke’s love language and attempt to show he loves you revolves around Quality Time as well as Gift-Giving, yet the latter is far more unorthodox than the former. His Gifts include things you can actually use, he sees no point in Flowers being given as Gifts. After all, yeah, they smell nice, but he prefers more practical gifts, or rather at least things which show his Strength off more, such as the time he dumped quite possibly the biggest Bear you ever seen in front of you, thoroughly bled out, so the two of you can cook it and have a feast. Needless to say, he doesn’t do anything half-assed.

-There’s also the fact that Inosuke becomes FAR more protective of you. Not coddling, as he believes you can take care of yourself and respects that about you, but damn it Boar boy is ready to challenge anyone who dares talk behind your back, and the more personal the insult is for you, the more riled up Inosuke gets.

Kanao Tsuyuri:

(I legit love Kanao so much. She’s absolutely precious and needs to be protected)

-Truth be told? She probably goes to Shinobu with this, who only gives her a vague response like “Ara Ara, perhaps you should talk with (Y/N)-Kun more, Kanao?” Meanwhile, poor girl is staring at Shinobu like… yes, she is aware that she wants to, but she wants to know why. After all, sure, you have a beautiful smile, your eyes are gorgeous, you were always with her, slowly making Kanao’s shell crack… She WANTS to be around you, her hearts yearns for it, and when she is not, or when she sees you hang around with someone else it’s like a dagger being stabbed into her heart, which then promptly makes her either consult her coin or just retreat into the lairs of her room. It’s even worse if she sees you with Aoi or someone else because she KNOWS she shouldn’t feel so betrayed over the two of you simply being together but what can you do? It takes a bit of convincing herself to get over it, so there is a good chance you won’t be seeing her from time to time until she manages to sort her own emotions out.

-Eventually though, Kanao finally realises just how much you mean to her. Whether it’d be you sticking up for her after a few other Slayers called her strange, whether you done what Tanjiro did and helped her begin making decisions by herself… she falls for you, and she falls for you hard, and she truly realises this when Shinobu makes a comment on not using her coin when it comes to you. To Kanao, you are more or less always priority, the only one who even comes close to this being Shinobu, and she has overheard the triplets talking about the ‘obvious’ crush she has on you. I mean, she had to ask what a crush was from Shinobu, but once *that* got explained things fell into picture.

-Poor, precious bean is a nervous mess and that’s putting it lightly. She looks like a small wind could blow her away when you’re near her and her face has a small permanent tint of red until she properly grows used to her feelings. It’s not her fault, and not yours either. She’s just so terrified of messing it up, of relapsing into using her coin and that you don’t feel the same because she’s not like other girls who can properly express emotions. Yet… though it’s eventually pointed out, with you she HAS been more emotional. Her smiles become more genuine, her eyes begin to light up more, and just the fact her eyes shine when around you tells anyone what she needs to know.

-Her love language is probably Quality Time and her giving you gifts. She’s still not the best at speaking with you so whenever she tries to give you Words of Affirmations it will be awkward at first. Yet, when she sees just how down you are, she feels compelled to speak, so she just tells you that she cared about you, and will always be there at your side. She’s not over dramatic, she won’t overcomplicate it, but that’s the simple truth. Whenever she is not training, she’s probably next to you enjoying her free time, listening either to you talking to her about what was happening to you, or just the two of you relaxing. If you are a Demon Slayer, you know she’s suggesting training. She just wants to make sure you are always at your best condition, and it’s for that exact reason she’s never holding back on you. Physical touch is also a big no-no for her, at least not for a while but we’ll touch on that later.

-Honestly it’s you that needs to confess. Every time Kanao tells herself it’s time to confess she always resorts to using her coin and she flips it, but she never looks at just what the coin truly landed on. She’s utterly terrified, because if she needs to confess, she is scared at the mere idea of rejection. If she doesn’t confess, then she’s scared that she’ll never confess and be able to move. It’s a down right agonising Catch-22 definitely makes her sleep schedule a bit worse than usual but not enough to hamper her performance, though Shinobu notices and is steadily growing more worried for her and more annoyed at you. However, when you finally confess… it’s like fireworks shoot off in her mind and for the first time since Kanae’s death… she finally feels whole.

-Even when together at last, Kanao is not a physical type of person. That’s not to say she doesn’t get any better, but she still has severe trauma from all the abuse she suffered. You, Shinobu, and eventually Tanjiro help her overcome it to the best of her ability, but she still has nightmares about that horrible life. Her deepest fear is that she’ll wake up one day still there, and that you, the love of her life, Shinobu and Kanae, her older sisters and Tanjiro, her best friend were all just her imagination, so after she wakes up she immediately goes to find you and nearly just breaks down from relief and the stress. When you’re comforting her it’s probably best to sooth her worries first, and eventually, slowly, she’ll melt into a hug, and as you two hold each other, eventually… she’ll drift into a deep, happy sleep. A world with no Demons… A world, where the two of you can be happy together.

(Please protect her Kanao needs to be Happy. Also, expect a potential Upper Moon headcanons as well.)

[butchoftheoldgods]

Can I get some advice, ofc say no or ignore this message of you don’t want to answer!! No pressure!!

I am just getting into deity worship and feel a strong connection towards Lady Artemis, as I wish to embrace my freedom and strength as a woman. But I’m afraid as I am in a loving relationship with a man. I know this is a silly question and I apologize for sounding ignorant, but I don’t want to do anything to disgrace or offend Her. Is it best to not work with her because of this relationship or can I still be a devotee of the maiden goddess despite not being a maiden myself? Again I know this is dumb but I’m new to all this and truly do not want to offend anybody.

Hey! First of all, welcome. Thank you for reaching out to me, your questions could never be dumb and it is always a pleasure to talk to fellow women who would like to worship Lady Artemis. Okay, I have two things I want to say to you;

First of all, you absolutely can worship Artemis while in a committed relationship with a man. Artemis looks over all sorts of life stages for women and girls — including the pains of childbirth, for example. The way She watches over us is put very well by the book Lesbian Mythology that I was reading the other day:

You can still devote time and effort and offerings to Lady Artemis while being in a relationship with a man. She can guide you to keep your own needs and identity close and She will protect you. I know that in ancient times there were certain rituals or positions of Priesthood that you could not be in unless you were chaste or actively abstaining from sex for a certain period of time, but you do not need to worry about such centralised practices for the time being; the groups behind them are not really around anymore and, should you find out about a specific thing you want to do, you can cross the bridge when you get to it. Your practice is your own and you choose the rituals you want to engage in. Ultimately, as long as you’re a woman there is nothing that stands between you and your worship of Lady Artemis.

Second of all, I think it is very important that you are going about your worship in such a respectful manner. Something I think you should know as you’re getting into deity worship is that “mistakes” are bound to happen. You will inevitably fall asleep before making the offering you said you would make, you will feel like your altar is too empty, you will forget to offer for a few days because work has been busy. All these things are human, and the Gods know; so long as everything you do comes out of love and respect, you will generally not offend anybody. That being said, do make an offering if you ever feel like you’ve done something wrong, it’s good manners.

Feel free to reach out to me if you’d like more advice or just to talk about this stuff, and enjoy this new start in your worship!

PS. I am by no means an expert on any of this stuff. I love to grow my knowledge and to read, but I would never claim to know everything. If somebody knows more than me feel free to correct me/ add on to my post, I would love to hear you out.

[sammydreamer]

Hey, everyone! Today, I’m gonna do something quite different in this post. You may have gathered this from my pinned post, but I am heavily interested in personality tests and typing, most notably with MBTI and Enneagrams! But the reason why I have been invested in this is that I initially wanted to type each of the main characters in KINAC, most notably my one and only romantic F/O, Petal! It took many attempts, changes and difficulties, but I have indeed typed her with something that I won’t likely change.

In this post, I will tell y’all all about what I typed my F/O Petal as and WHY I typed her this way. I will be going over some characteristics of each of the types, including some very specific yet neat stuff, and how they relate to her! I might even do more personality analyses like this in the future, if y’all want! I won’t waste any more time here, so let’s get started under the cut!

(SPECIAL NOTE: I am making this blog post assuming that everyone who will read it has prerequisite knowledge of MBTI and Enneagrams, including cognitive functions and the function stack for the former; and wings, instinctual variants, and tritypes for the latter. I will brush over some of the listed topics as I go along, but I highly recommend familiarizing yourself with each of these topics if you haven’t already!)

(ALSO...I don’t really consider myself an expert in this subject per se, and there are times when I rush through things and might make quite a few mistakes. Feel free to correct me on anything or even give your own insight into what her type could be, if we have different opinions!)

Personality Typing Deep Dive - Petal

I think first and foremost, this prerequisite is required: what is Petal’s personality like? I will give a brief rundown.

Petal is considered to be motherly; she is protective of those she cares about and loves looking after them, especially Kitty. Petal is also very kind, caring, and enthusiastic to a fault...so much so that the other cats have gotten annoyed at her sometimes. Despite her kind and gentle nature, she knows when enough is enough, and is willing to put her foot down if it means justice.

Petal’s motherly nature makes her quite intelligent for a cat. But at the end of the day, she is still a cat. She doesn’t fully grasp human culture and behavior (often calling humans weird or unintelligent), and because of her cat instincts, she has done some pretty derpy things at times. And yet, despite not fully understanding sometimes, she does her absolute best to be as kind and respectful as possible.

MBTI brief recap

The first of two personality typing systems we will use to type Petal is the Meyers–Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI for short. MBTI, as y’all know, is perhaps the most famous personality typing system besides Zodiac signs. 4 letters with 2 possibilities for each of those letters each yields 16 different types one can be. Under the hood, 8 cognitive functions are each stacked in various positions in one’s mind, with varying degrees of consciousness. A function can be the driver for your decision-making at best (your conscious stack) or a demonic force of evil at worst (your shadow stack).

I personally wouldn’t say that MBTI determines your personality and personality traits as much as it determines your behavior and how you cognitively make decisions, due to these functions. Two people can be of the same type yet have entirely different personalities. As such, it’s more like a “blueprint” rather than a complete definition of one’s personality. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting way to see how different people behave in any given situation, whether they know it or not!

But enough waffling on...now that we know what Petal is like and what MBTI exactly is, we can move forward with her MBTI type!

After much deliberation, I have concluded that Petal’s MBTI type is ESFJ!

What does it mean to be an ESFJ? ESFJs are often called “consuls” or “caregivers.” They generally have strong practical skills and a sense of duty, and they are very loyal and can easily connect and flourish with others. They generally ensure that others are cared for, and they provide a warm and safe presence for them. However, they can also be too needy or selfless, and are sensitive to criticism. They can also be very averse to conflict and can have trouble with giving criticism, too.

Sounds like Petal, right? But generalizations and stereotypes aren’t good enough for explaining why she’s an ESFJ. In order to fully gather that, we must look at what’s under the hood: her cognitive functions.

Dominant Fe

Your dominant function can be thought of as the driving force behind your cognitive processes. It’s the one you use most often in everyday situations, and it’s your most trusted one when it comes to making major decisions. As an INFP, my dominant function is Introverted Feeling, or Fi. My Fi is about my inner moral compass; what I personally feel is right. As a Fi-dom, I want to go through life by staying true to who I am without having to conform to societal standards.

Petal, on the other hand, has Extroverted Feeling as her dominant function, or Fe. If Fi is about what’s inside, then Fe is all about the group. Fe-doms often have a strong desire to help people and make sure that everyone is involved. They love talking about their feelings with others, and they want to live in harmony with everyone. If there’s any motto for what things they do, it’s: “It’s what the people want!”

Sounds a lot like Petal, especially with her penchant for helping others! Petal definitely puts the desires and intentions of those around her before her own. In fact, she gets so caught up in the group that she often gets dragged along into any silly shenanigans they get into. For example, in one episode some of the cats performed a play about seeking buried treasure, and the cats including Petal, thinking it was fact instead of fiction, searched all around the mansion for it! I definitely imagine her thinking to herself, “Everyone else is doing it, so I should, too!” When they did find treasure and King Tubby took it all for himself and the other cats got mad, she did as well! There were many other instances of her playing along with the group, including investing in the stock market and playing tag.

But despite this, she knows when to take charge, and there are times in the show when she does. She isn’t always a leader-type, but when she is, she is very effective in telling others what needs to be done and how. (Although, this may be more of a Te thing now that I think about it.)

I want to touch upon this quote a bit: 

“Hello there, I’m Petal. Most would refer to me as the motherly type, which is fine; I like looking after everyone.”

It’s the introduction she gave herself when she filmed a video. It’s a common stereotype with Fe users (especially Fe-doms) that they struggle with their identity. So, they turn to others to determine who they are. To put it in a quote, “I’ll be whoever you want me to be.” It’s very subtle, yet it says a lot.

But there is a certain episode in which I feel is where her Fe truly shines: “Petal Pushers”, the 43rd episode of the 1st season. At the beginning of the episode, Petal is shown to be very encouraging of the others, much to their annoyance. In one particular part, she was showing a flower to Kitty and Timmy Tom when Cheeta busted in and announced that he could touch his nose with his tongue, which he tries and fails at that moment. Now, he interrupted her, but did she get mad? Nope! Instead, she congratulated him for his “ability,” and encouraged him to try again! Miley was there and she got annoyed at her for not making him apologize. To which Petal responded:

“Oh, he doesn’t need to say sorry! I’m only sorry I was doing something while he was obviously trying to do something very important!”

Later, Petal overhears some of the cats talking to each other about how annoyed they were with her, and that she was “too nice all the time.” Petal, initially distraught, decides that if “they don’t want nice Petal, they won’t get nice Petal.” So, she dons a leather jacket and spiked collar, and becomes mean. She throws food around, insults others, insists on watching hardcore shows, eats unhealthy food, and stomps around. Despite doing all this, she finds that it’s incredibly hard for her to be mean. She gets tired of keeping up the act, and finally drops it when the other cats apologize to her for taking her kindness for granted.

If you know your dominant function, you also know your inferior, opposing and demon functions. Could her demon Te have taken over in this case, then? I unfortunately don’t know enough about the demon function to accurately say anything about that. But some of her final words sum up her Fe well: “I just love you all so much!”

Auxiliary Si

Your auxiliary function is also an important part of your cognitive processes. If the dominant function is the driver, then the auxiliary is the guide, helping it out in making major decisions. My auxiliary function is Extroverted Intuition, or Ne. Ne is mostly about finding every possibility one can in the world. However, I mainly use it to enhance my Fi by coming up with ways I can express my values and identity.

Since she is an ESFJ, Petal’s auxiliary function is Introverted Sensing, or Si. Si is mainly about one’s past experiences, and how one can use them to deduce what could happen or what they could experience, so that they can be prepared for any situation. However, Petal doesn’t use this on its own; instead, she uses Si to advance the interests of the group and to assist others if they need help.

Petal is one of the first ones to offer any advice on what to do if a problem in her group arises. For example, when the cats experienced a blackout, they were stuck on what to do until the power came back on. She immediately said, “Oh, we can roast marshmallows!” and handed Cheeta marshmallows and sticks to use to “put them on the fire.” (He misinterpreted this and actually threw them into the fireplace.) In another instance, Timmy Tom couldn’t stop yodeling, which the others thought was a case of hiccups. She immediately exclaimed, “Oh, I have a remedy for hiccups!” and pulled out a lemon, which she made him bite down on. In summary, Petal helps others by using her own tried and true methods that she has learned over her life.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much else to say about her Si. As a result, I would like to go down a step in the stack to another function that can better explain exactly why Petal is an ESFJ.

Tertiary Ne

I personally believe that when it comes to typing characters, the tertiary function provides better insight than the auxiliary into what type they exactly are. The tertiary function aids you just like your top two functions, but it is often labeled as the “child” function. This is due to the fact that it is most often used in a “childish” or “immature” way, and isn’t entirely reliable in making major decisions. My tertiary function is Si, and I use it very differently than Petal does. I mainly use it to relax, by finding comfort in routine and familiarity. For example, I often become nostalgic when I rewatch old movies or listen to music I’ve loved over the years or even browse through old photos, as it reminds me of much simpler times. (This may not be the best example, but...yeah.)

Like me, Petal also uses Ne. However, I am much more mature about it than she is. Ne is about possibilities; as such, sometimes Petal is absolutely enthralled in the exciting and unknown...so much so that it can become a problem. If she sees a new thing that she likes or can be useful for her, she becomes obsessed.

One example of her tertiary Ne showing is in “Junior Rangers”, the 6th episode of the 2nd season. In it, a junior ranger troop leader explains to Petal the premise of being a junior ranger, including showing off some badges. She becomes instantly hooked on them, spending all night sewing together tons and tons of them...even though she initially planned for Kitty to become a ranger so that she can be taught how to behave like a human. She would end up giving them away basically for free, and it ultimately distracted her from the fact that cats cannot be junior rangers. Ouch...

Miley: “Are you sure this is the right thing for Kitty, or are you just in it for the badges?” Petal: “For the badg–I mean, Kitty. Er, all for Kitty.”

But there is one dark side to the tertiary function that can really make itself known during difficult times, that truly cements how one can behave when it’s not used wisely: the dominant-tertiary loop. What happens during a loop is that your auxiliary function is completely ignored, and as a result you “loop” between using your dominant and tertiary functions with devastating consequences. As an INFP, I’ve definitely found myself in a Fi-Si loop before. The experience is different for all INFPs, but in mine, I become so paralyzed by my past mistakes that I retreat from everything and am deathly afraid of trying new things.

But as for Petal and her loop, let’s look at “You Can’t Handle the Juice!”, the 40th episode of the 2nd season. In the episode, Petal signs a contract and is the not-so proud owner of a bunch of boxes of orange juice. She is told by both the neighbor and a person in a video that she has to sell the juice, but it’s not so much selling as it is helping. Seeing as how she’s an ESFJ, she was enticed by that. She was also told to never take no for an answer. Hoo boy...

In my eyes, what happens next is a great example of a Fe-Ne loop. Again, the experience is different for each ESFJ, but here is how Petal experienced hers. Every time that a cat had a problem, Petal and her juice were to the rescue, or so she thought. Out of milk for your cereal? Use OJ instead! Stained your fur? OJ will clean it up! It doesn’t matter what kind of problem it is, she sees every single opportunity to just help everyone out using the juice. She’s not thinking rationally, but only how she can help. This juice can solve ANY problem, just you wait and see! The worst part is, she ain’t even realizing that she’s making everything worse! AND SHE’S GOING INSANE IN THE PROCESS! It’s what the people want, dammit!

Anyway...again, if you want to type a character, just think: what does their loop look like?

Critical Se

The last function I want to go over before I move on is part of the shadow stack. These are the functions that aren’t exactly a part of us. As a result, we tend to have no control over them, and they could help or seriously harm us.

One of these functions is called the critical function. If the auxiliary function is the guide or “nurturing parent,” then this one is the “critical parent.” In short, we tend to criticize and berate others when they use this function, or we criticize ourselves when we don’t. My critical function is Introverted Intuition, or Ni. If Ne is about what could be possible, then Ni is about what will be possible; Ni can be described as making one long-term plan and sticking to it, with no other options. Because this is my critical function, I tend to silently berate other people who limit my options. As a real-life example, my stepdad was talking to me the other day about my career in statistics. He said that I can be interested in applying my skills to various things, I need to apply it to one and only one thing in order to advance my career. Him saying this just made me angry. Why should I limit myself to only one topic? There’s got to be another way! I cannot live like this!

In contrast, Petal’s critical function is Extroverted Sensing, or Se. Se is often described as “living in the moment.” However, there’s more to it than that. In particular, one big aspect of Se is that it’s the experience you give to other people. Being aware of how your words and actions might affect others AND being able to use that awareness effectively is a possible indicator that you have strong Se. (As someone with trickster Se, I can’t relate, lol.)

If Se is in the critical position, what does it mean for Petal? In summary, she is often critical of people who leave a bad impression on her. If she is around to witness another person being rude, there is no doubt that she will criticize them for it. She has a strong sense of justice, and takes notice of any bad behavior or intentions in order to correct them. Not only this, but it may be that she criticizes herself when she leaves a bad impression on others, in the form of over-apologizing and having an “Oh, shit!” look when she makes a mistake.

“Pardon my French, Pierre!”

She also tends to be critical of habits that seem strange to her. Besides King Tubby, she seems to be the one cat that is the most critical of human culture and behavior. She even goes as far as to say that humans are weird and unintelligent. (As for how she fell in love with me, I’m unsure tbh.)

But overall, she is one of those rare ESFJs that know how to use their critical Se to their advantage. With it and her sense of justice, she knows how to give proper discipline to others and hold them accountable for their actions. This is just one of the core aspects of her motherly nature, and that is just one aspect that makes Petal who she is.

Enneagram brief recap

The other personality typing system we will use to type Petal is the Enneagram. If MBTI is how people behave the way they do, then the Enneagram is the why. There are 9 Enneagrams that each correlate to your core motivations, desires, and fears. Again, I wouldn’t say it determines your personality; it more so determines the reasons for you behaving the way you do. Just like with MBTI, two people can be of the same Enneagram type yet have entirely different personalities.

Despite how basic it may seem compared to MBTI at first glance, there are several complicated sub-topics when it comes to exactly specifying your Enneagram. There is the idea that you act like another type depending on if you’re in growth (integration) or in stress (disintegration). There is a wing, which is when you inherit traits of an adjacent Enneagram. There is also something called instincts, which reflect how you further behave, which can all be stacked into an instinctual stack. There’s even the idea that one person has 3 Enneagram types at the same time in something called a tritype! As stated in the beginning of this post, I am assuming you have prerequisite knowledge of all of these topics. You don’t have to be an expert, you just have to be familiar enough with them so that you’ll know what I’m talking about!

So what are we waiting for? Let’s type Petal! (The following descriptions are probably going to be much shorter than the MBTI ones due to the types being self-explanatory given what I said earlier.)

After much deliberation, I have concluded that Petal’s Enneagram type, including wing, instinct stack, AND tritype is 2w1 so/sx 216 (2w1-1w2-6w7)!

What does it mean to be an Enneagram Type 2? In summary, 2s have a core desire of feeling loved, and a core fear of being unloved or unworthy of love. How does that relate to Petal? Well, an extremely common way that 2s want to feel loved...is by helping others! In fact, 2s are often seen as the “helpers” of the Enneagram world. They are generally empathetic, sincere, warmhearted, friendly, generous, and self-sacrificing. However, they can also be flattering and people-pleasing.

I mean...this fits her pretty damn well, I think! One thing to note about Enneagram typing is that it’s not finding exactly what fits a particular character, it’s what fits a character the most. And 2 definitely fits her a LOT. In her own words,

“Oh, I love helping!”

Does all of this sound familiar? If so, that’s because there’s actually a large overlap between ESFJs and 2s. Being helpful and compassionate towards others? Sensitive to criticism? Putting others before themselves, so much so that they forget their own needs? Yep, fits both of them well! In fact, a study done to find the correlation of MBTI and Enneagrams found that about 61% of ESFJs are 2s, and that about 47.5% of 2s are ESFJs. Very cool!

I feel like I really don’t need to say anything more here, since a lot of what was said about Petal in the previous sections can also be applied to type 2s. But let’s dive deeper into her specific wing, instinct stack and tritype!

Disintegration into 8

I want to briefly touch upon disintegration, or when you become so stressed that you inherit the bad aspects of a certain other type. This other type depends on your own type, but for Petal, she disintegrates into an 8, which makes her aggressive and domineering. She has been shown to get really angry at times, in particular when things don’t quite go her way or when someone left a really bad impression on her (critical Se!). In particular, she might cuss or insult others. She apologizes right after, however. (Now that I think about it, this may not be true disintegration...then again, maybe her becoming mean in “Petal Pushers” was?)

“When I’m underappreciated, I kick off!”

1 Wing

Enneagrams can also be split up into 2 “wings.” In short, a wing is something that enhances your type by inheriting characteristics of the adjacent type. If what you desire in your primary type is your end goal, your wing can be seen as HOW you achieve that goal.

Keeping that in mind, there are 2 possible wings for the helpful type 2s: 2w1, which incorporates the 1s’ sense of justice and perfectionism, thus wanting to achieve being loved through being prim and proper; and 2w3, which incorporates the 3s’ sense of ambition and goal-setting, thus wanting to achieve being loved through being successful. I mentioned Petal’s sense of justice before, which already makes her lean towards the 1 wing more. But let’s briefly dive into some differences between these two wings:

2w1s are more concerned with doing the right thing, while 2w3s are more concerned with keeping up a good image. Petal seems to genuinely care about others and wants what’s best for them.

2w1s want to be loved but being proper is almost more important. There have been times where Petal has spoken up about things needing to be done in a proper way. 2w3s, however, want to be loved and there could be nothing stopping them. They can be manipulative and competitive, and will try to help everyone.

I saw an analogy on Reddit that really sealed the deal for me: imagine that two 2s are about to serve a dish to a group of people. 2w1s will make the absolute best dish they could think of in the hopes that everyone will love it. 2w3s, however, would make everyone’s favorite dish to prepare it for every individual person. The first one definitely fits Petal better; in fact, she has served one appetizing dish to the other cats, and all of them loved it.

Knowing all of this, I can confidently say that Petal definitely fits the 1 wing better. For her, it’s not about success; it’s about being good, as well as her genuine love for those she cares about.

SO/SX Stack

Enneagrams can also be divided into 3 instinctual subtypes. The 3 instincts can be thought of as “survival mechanisms” for how to make it in the world, whether alone (self-preservation), with a partner (sexual), or with a group (social). Everyone has these instincts, but like the cognitive functions of MBTI, they are “stacked” to varying degrees of importance in one’s mind. There is the instinct that is sought, the one that is a resource, and the one that is ignored. Although instincts are different for each and every Enneagram, the core idea remains the same.

NOTE: Wings and instinct stacks DO NOT and SHOULD NOT affect each other! You can be of ANY wing and stack combination!

Knowing each of the instincts, I think it’s safe to say that for Petal, the self-preservation instinct is dead last in her stack. I don’t need to say again that she is mostly influenced by the people around her, and that she often does certain things only because everyone else is doing it. The question is...is Petal a social 2 or a sexual 2?

The way I see it, instincts enhance your core desire. On the one hand, social 2s want to feel loved by a group of people. They often are supportive and overextend themselves for the group in order to gain influence and love in it. On the other hand, sexual 2s want to have a partner to feel loved by, and can be seductive or manipulative in order to achieve this. In addition, people with the SO/SX stack tend to appear friendly and lighthearted on the outside, while those with the SX/SO stack can be energetic and enthusiastic, yet intense and impulsive. With this, I think SO/SX definitely fits Petal more.

216 Tritype

And last but definitely not least, comes the tritype. As stated earlier, there is an idea that people are of 3 Enneagram types (and wings!) at the same time, ALSO stacked based on importance! There are restrictions when it comes to what possible tritypes there are (specifically, you must have one type from each Enneagram triad), but each of these types work together to form a cohesive framework into what motivates your behavior as a person.

When figuring out Petal’s tritype, I was conflicted as to whether she was a 216 or a 269. What I was hung up on is the 1/9; does she strive for peace and harmony, or perfectionism more? To answer this, I decided to take a look at the two tritypes as a whole:

126s’ greatest ability is to be there and serve others when they need it, while 269s are excellent at dealing with conflict. Thinking about it, Petal definitely takes on more of a nurturing, protective “guardian” role more so than a “mediator” role. She can often be seen in the show doing chores around the house, helping out whenever it is necessary. It’s very important for her that any chores need to get done, and that others are responsible for their behavior. 9s in general tend to be very passive and have trouble asserting themselves, and let’s just say...Petal asserts herself when it’s right.

For example, in “Kitty Copy Cat,” the 28th episode of the 1st season, Kitty starts copying Miley’s behaviors, and the latter gets extremely upset. So she and Luna decide to get back at Kitty in order to get her to stop. They end up making Kitty angry and she storms off...but Petal witnessed the entire thing. And so she gave it to them straight.

“Ahem! Can someone please tell me why Kitty just ran off dressed like a rebellious teenager? Imitation is the highest form of flattery, and being catty is the last form of cat-havior! I expect better of both of you! Just fix this!”

Knowing this, the choice is very clear. Now that we have her basic tritype, we can go over her specific tritype: 2w1-1w2-6w7. If you know about the wings of types 1 and 6, it is clear that her wings are somewhat obvious. Her 1 has a 2 wing, as she is more inclined to make the group around her better by helping others be prim and proper, at the cost of her own needs. The last in her tritype is 6, which is about wanting to be safe and secure. Petal does seem like the type to want a safe and peaceful life, and she ensures that others are safe as well.

“I’m Petal. I’m looking forward to building a shelter, and making sure everyone works and plays nicely!”

One of the biggest differences between a 6w5 and a 6w7, though, is that the former wants to appear capable and competent, while the latter wants to have fun every once in a while. On occasion, Petal will definitely have fun, either dancing in one of the cats’ many cat parties, or going to a large social event, such as a craft market. Now that I think about it, 6w7 fits Petal infinitely more than 6w5; she is more social, remains optimistic, doubts herself more, is often pulled along with the group, and sometimes enjoys new ideas. There is absolutely no 6w5 in her. There’s no 5 in her whatsoever, even.

And we have covered pretty much everything! I may have missed some things worth noting, but I have covered the major portions pretty well, I think! But no matter what, even though Petal may be typed as an ESFJ 2w1 so/sx 216 (2w1-1w2-6w7), at the end of the day, she isn’t defined by any personality typing system...she is defined by who she is as a person. She is kind, caring, motherly, enthusiastic, and has a sense of justice. She is my lovely lady, my beautiful bride, my wonderful wife. Petal...is Petal. And there’s no changing that.

And that’s all, folks! Man, this was an insanely fun post to make! In fact, this may not be the only Personality Typing Deep Dive I make; if it’s requested, I may do one of these again, whether it’s for any of my non-romantic F/Os, or even other KINAC characters! If y’all think this is something you want to see more of in the future, please let me know!

Until then...see y’all in the next post! I love you so much, Petal!

Proship/comship DNI.

[loserharrington]

i’d like to preface this by saying i am not an expert on religion (or non-religion) this is simply information i’ve learned over the years of research and talking to those who do practice satanism. if i’ve got anything wrong feel free to correct me

with that being said, i’ve always had this idea that The Munson Doctrine followed the rules of the church of satan. be it the 9 satanic statements or the eleven satanic rules

eddie has a laveyan cross patch on his vest so he must practice satanism to some extent. Especially since it’s a pretty large patch in an obvious place.

it’s sort of complicated because it’s not really a religion but it’s still a practice. (one of personal freedom and rationalism.) it’s basically things he lives by to better himself and the way he interacts with others. the “rules” don’t need the approval of any deity because satanism rejects the idea of all gods. (it goes hand in hand with atheism) it simply encourages individuality, skepticism and living your life the way you want to no matter how “sinful” it may seem to others.

i think it’s safe to say eddie resonates with this. he’s seen blatantly rejecting and criticizing societal norms and questioning why he and his friends are seen as freaks and targeted because of their interests

now here’s where i start inferring things about how he practices

i’m sure he’s added to these rules (hence the name Munson Doctrine instead of a direct reference to the rules of the church of satan) but i think it still loosely follows those rules. eddie just seems like the sort of person who’d take something like this and make it his own, which is essentially what satanism is. (again, it’s not a religion so it doesn’t require specific rituals to be done)

or, he misunderstood or interpreted some of the rules given to him differently than others might’ve, which lead to the quote that started this whole rabbit hole i’ve fallen down.

Quote: “I just couldn’t accept the fact that Steve Harrington was actually a good dude. … No way man, NO WAY, that like, flies in the face of the laws of the universe, and my own personal Munson Doctrine.”

i’m leaning toward the idea that he added his own rules and beliefs to the list because satanism encourages freedom and self expression, so he can essentially do whatever he’d like with his practice as long as he’s not infringing on the rights of others. (again, this would explain the name Munson Doctrine)

he might have added things (such as bullies/bystanders never changing. i.e: steve harrington now being a good dude when, in eddie’s eyes, he wasn’t before) because of his own experiences with people like that. [read here for more on that]

regardless of what he might’ve added or why, i do think that the Munson Doctrine is something he actively lives by. (ignoring the fact it could have just been a joke he threw in there to express his shock on how much his perception of steve had changed)

now here’s the fun part. my head canon i built off of this head canon.

i like to think that eddie didn’t come up with the munson doctrine on his own. his mother might’ve been a big influence in why he practices laveyan satanism.

now here’s why i think that:

1. it’s obvious eddie has some sort of ill feelings about his father, going as far as to say he told himself he didn’t want to “wind up like he did”.

this could just be him referencing the fact his father has been incarcerated for various crimes or it could be him referring to his character as a whole including his religion

this ties into fact that we see Wayne (who we assume is Eddie’s father’s brother due to their last names) is actively religious — at least enough to have religious decor around the trailer so it’s safe to say the munson brothers grew up religious

2. we know absolutely nothing about eddie’s mother which means i can make it all up !

eddie referring to his personal beliefs as his “Munson Doctrine” could imply that he’s not the only munson who follows these rules. he does say it’s his “personal” doctrine so i will choose to believe that is in reference to the new things he’s added as he’s grown up and experienced more things in his life

but before then, his mother could have instilled rules into him that he still follows to this day. rules such as these:

i just love the idea that eddie still has some connection to his mother and this is just one of the ways he honors her, but the idea of eddie finding comfort in satanism later in his life due to feeling alienated by the people of Hawkins because he’s different is just as good

in conclusion:

i choose to believe the munson doctrine wasn’t just a silly throw away line, and it ties into the religion he seems to practice

[fiishii]

First of all, this is gonna be a stupidly long whale rant. Be warned. And second, to the two people in last post’s notes who said “Daily Dick”, yes. Absolutely. That is the objectively correct answer thank you and I will be using that as an actual tag from now on.

So, Daily Dick it is. Today I realised I never had a consistent scale for my Eldritch Moby Dick drawings. Sure, fella’s big but the size consistency wasn’t really there so I thought of making a little reference sheet.

But it kinda just devolved into me making delusional eldritch whale lore. Here you go.

The idea was whales but as beings representing the faults of humanity or maybe human emotion? I don’t know it came to me at 2 AM.

But yeah, at least I have a size comparison for him now.

If you’re interested in my 2 AM induced whale god lore there’s more close-up screenshots of my notes under this cut, you’re not obliged to read them!

I am by no means an expert in ichthyology, cetology, or anything related to the science of the ocean. My knowledge is extremely shallow level (pun intended) but I have always loved fictional critters, both realistic or mythological like eldritch Moby here.

I’m definitely gonna be watching whale documentaries or something like that to learn more about them, but for now I’ll just hope this is good enough. I mean he’s technically god-like here so he shouldn’t be too realistic in general but still. If anyone is more informed on the topic of cetology or marine life than I am feel free to share :)

Or if there are any questions on my Moby depiction, those are welcome too.

If you managed to read through my delusional whale talk thank you and have a nice day fr

🙏🐟

[someidiot-withadhd]

so, this is a thing!

hibiscus flowers and a graffitied duck

I’m not gonna look too deep into this, cause I’m not MatPat, but I will point out a few things i noticed!

one, a hibiscus. According to google, this flower means “virginity, gentleness and fame.” … “happiness, sunshine, and good luck!” And “beauty and joy”.

these all(excluding the obvious outlier o-O) mean something happy. Sunshine sticks out to me most, because when you think of quesadilla island, you’re supposed to think of perfection. Perfect, sunny weather, right?

two, the duck. This bastard <3 /neg

he has not been a part of the islander’s lives, only showing up once every big event. So far he has shown up at the start of the island on the train. The egg adoption event, and every time a new language was added(I’m pretty sure). He has been absent for the lore so far.

which bring me to the quote. “I don’t like you, but you’re good for my business, and that’s all I need”

this is written in all caps on the image. Which is a writing style used by federation workers. This is not an islander writing this. That’s one suspect out of the way. This also probably isn’t the duck himself speaking, cause why would the picture be of him.

I think this is the watcher.

“I don’t like you” the watcher hates the duck and the fed workers associated with it.

“But you’re good for my business, and that’s all I need” this fucker is taking control of the islanders and the duck’s branch of the federation.

also, the graffiti has some clues. I doubt that “Loser” is something that Cucurucho or an islander would put. The duck is probably much more powerful than even Cucurucho, but the watcher? The (most likely possessed) eye workers took down FITMC HIMSELF. The 2B2T veteran was killed by them.

the dollar sign. This correlates with the business thing. The watcher is trying to get some money out of this whole ordeal.

But anyway, that’s JUST A THE-

ahem…

you’re welcome to add onto this in any way. I am not an expert on all the lore (I main Jaiden and Slimecicle lmao) so I have no idea if this is even anything. Feel free to correct me on any information I may have gotten wrong, or disprove my theory.

[wisdom-devotee]

Hi, so I am not an expert on pagan or really any non Christian belief. I was raised in the church but due to religious trauma and just some generally traumatic experiences I left with some bitterness and anger. I don’t feel like worshipping one deity is for me, I recently started to use Tarot however and it honestly… really works! Interpreting the cards in reference to my life and existence has been really mentally regulating for me. I’m interested in Helpol as a theology and even a way of living but I don’t really know where to start in terms of actually getting involved in the faith, all I know is I’ve been having these dreams during the night and feelings during the day calling me to this faith. I’ll also be real, I haven’t really engaged with Helpol outside of occasionally seeing TikToks or tumblr posts about it. I haven’t really gotten into these feelings but I saw your blog and I’m genuinely interested and curious as to how I could incorporate what I’m already doing (Tarot) into this kind of faith or if I should avoid using Tarot so as not to offend the gods? Any advice is welcome. Thank you for all you do, your blog has been super informative and I’m glad you exist, you wonderful human!

First, I wanna say I really appreciate the kind words, I needed to hear this today. It means a lot.

I’m also so glad that you’ve been able to have a better spiritual experience with tarot and I hope you find Helpol just as healing. I certainly find this religion incredibly beautiful.

You can absolutely use tarot, whether that’s as part of Helpol or a separate spiritual practice. I personally use them as a communication tool with my deities — same way you’d use them ordinarily by reading the cards, except you invite the deity to speak through them and explain the situation to them if there’s a specific thing you want to ask about.

In terms of starting out, the best advice I can give is to do research on any deities who interest you, and make an offering.

I’d say definitely don’t trust most of what you see on Helpol tiktok, I also would be a bit skeptical of communities here on tumblr and of a lot of discord servers. They’re very much full of beginners — which is fine, because beginners definitely need community and they’re definitely more than welcome on my blog! But the problem when it’s a community/discord server is that you end up getting a ton of beginners spreading misinfo and nobody is around to correct it. That said, I’m certainly not an expert myself. But I have been doing this like three years, I have done a lot of research, and I’m very open to being corrected, which is far easier to do on here than a community or a server.

Theoi.com is a great place to learn about sleciifc deities and I have a few very basic overviews of Helpol stuff linked in my pinned. I also really recommend @khaire-traveler

If you’ve got any other specific questions about the religion, please let me know! And if you do end up sending in another ask feel free to give yourself a signature, which could be an emoji or a word! It’s lovely to have you here 🤍

[mar64ds]

i know this isn't exactly a friendship-test question but it's semi-related, how did you find the ability, passion capability, to make your own rpg-style game? Its so well put together and functional (for presumably your first game? That you made on your own? If I'm correct, I may not be) I just think it oozes love for the genre sorry if this sounds rambly and strange, I just think you've made an excellent game and I just wanna know a little about the process, sorry again

- a weirdo that is obsessed with the idea of making a game

I’ve always wanted to make a game in rpg maker, it was the most accessible and easy to use game engine, at least for me. But don’t get me wrong it took me years to find the inspiration and motivation to do anything. You have no idea how many times I have downloaded rpg maker, watched 1 tutorial and then never opening it again for years. I just never had any idea for a game, I had ideas for stories, but none that would work well in an rpg maker game

Last year I spent so much time PLAYING games (toontown) that I felt a bit guilty I was being ‘unproductive’, but at the same time I was also filled with inspiration, and I was very hyperfixated on robots too, so combining all of that I had a small idea to test out rpg maker: friendship test. It started small, I was planning for the game to just be 4 hours, it was quite literally just a test game

I have ADHD, which means if I’m not motivated enough it takes me a lot to do things, but there is also the opposite, if I’m very focused on something it’s ALL I do, for better or worse. The more I worked and thought about the game, the more it started becoming something bigger and something I really really I cared about.

It is my first game and I worked on it all by myself yeah! A friend of mine playtested it, the music is all free-to-use songs I found online, but other than that I did everything myself. Youtube tutorials saved my life, I’m still not really an expert on RPG maker, there are plenty of things I have no idea how to do, but I understood the basics to make this game and I’m okay with that.

Taking the step of deciding to make a videogame wasn’t easy, I was worried it was going to suck every step of the way, I was so worried I was wasting my time. That feeling never really went away, I genuinely thought my game sucked so bad while I was working on it. The jokes felt unfunny, the dialogue felt unnatural, the drama felt forced, the pacing felt terrible, the story felt childish... But there were those few moments were I playtested it and thought ‘maybe its actually kind of good?’. My friend’s feedback also made me feel so much better, she really liked the game and I was happy at least one person liked it.

I also hate working on things but not showing all the work I’ve done to people, my friend was the only one I could truly talk about the story/she could play the game and she made me felt better cause it KILLS me to have to wait, I’m an impatient person on many things

My ADHD can also make me overwork myself too much, I had weeks where I worked too much and felt very alone and useless. Imagine spending all week working on something you think it’s terrible, and that you’re not even going to get any money from it. Add to the fact that I suffer from derealization and depersonalization, it’s not great. I went through a really bad depression in November and I’m sure all of this didn’t help.

Making this game wasn’t easy and I had no idea what I was doing. It’s a miracle that is playable and that people actually like it, I don’t know how it happened either. But thanks for this ask!

[crispyanonart]

Hi! Loved your recent art post and the message with it, was wondering if you have any tips/resources/ideas on where to start researching the things you mentioned? Like the important parts of history and how it repeats itself, stuff like that,, thanks!!

Hello anon 🖤 I'll start with a disclaimer: I’m just someone who shares fan art online, I am no expert or anything, but I’ll do my best to offer some useful references and share how I personally stay informed - I'll keep this list updated if I find interesting sources

@ everyone pease feel free to correct me or add to this post

I know that diving into topics like politics and history can feel overwhelming, but I promise it’s manageable if you ease into it with media and languages that feel comfortable to you. Of course, it’d be amazing to read and study every history book and testimony out there, but realistically it’s tough to find the time and energy to consistently do so - at any point in life. The best way to begin is to follow intersectional educators and historians on your socials to get small interesting informations little by little, and go check the sources they provide any time a topic sparks your interest.

Second disclaimer: I don’t know your background or where you’re from, and I think this makes the difference when figuring out where to start. I live in Italy, so many of my usual sources are Italian educators, historians, or social commentary pages that align with my own political and ideological views (se c'è qualche Italian*: il king Alessandro Barbero, Michela Murgia 💔, Claudia Fauzia, Tomaso Montanari, Diletta Bellotti, Cathy La Torre, Loredana Lipparini, @aestheticasovietica, @madonnafreeda...) but I started out just simply by browsing the internet, listening to some (wise) older people talk and perking up my ears in class.

My first tip would be to start local at first, and work outward. Look into the history of your town, community or area. What struggles and key issues have shaped it over time? If you have the means even directly ask people in your circles. We often hear about broad, all-encompassing issues that can feel unfathomable and far beyond our reach and control, but it’s important to remember that everything always starts within local communities, and only grows from there.

On the opposite side of this, my second tip would be to try and keep your sources as diverse as possible, and hear out people from all backgrounds. When events affect a specific community or minority, seek out creators and reporters directly from those groups and involved in said issues. Mainstream news is known to be very partial and biased more often than not - I personally tend to avoid it completely.

☆ now some actual sources:

Profiles

Historycoolkids & Decolonialatlas (these two are honestly just very fun but also educational) / so.informed / IMEU / JP Hill / seastersjones / decolonizemyself / seedingsovereignty / queerbrownvegan / workingclasshistory / brownhistory / propublica / motherjonesmag / ajplus / I'll add more as I find more

Readings

substack: us politics / world politics / history

the electric typewriter: Politics / History

are.na: Politics / this platform is full of great resources and full on books/pdfs to download, but it's better to just browse it by topic

a great library to explore is JSTOR ( @jstor ) / politics

Some writers I recommend are Susan Sontag, Angela Davis, Bell Hooks, David Olusoga, Thomas Piketty, Keisha N. Blain and Margaret MacMillan (you can also look on youtube for lectures they did)

Accessible history

Ryan Chapman

Then&Now

HistoryExtra

CrashCourse

What is Fascism (suggesting this video specifically bc it's the best english one I've found on the topic. Fascism is a word that gets thrown around a lot - and will be in the near future - often without a real knowledge about its origins and meaning, and I think this explains it very well and as quickly as humanly possible.)

This is everything that comes to mind right now!! And by the way remember to always remain full of curiosity and hope xxx

[koishikomeijiofficial]

like let me put it all out there

until dawn is a shit excuse for a game and if you’re a fan i don’t like. hate you or anything. but i certainly don’t trust your taste in media.

i’ll start immediately with the racism. the use of native american folklore as a spooky scary plot line is already annoying as fuck, but to do it in the way supermassive does is just irresponsible. for one, just saying the creature’s name out loud MULTIPLE times despite one of the most important things being that even uttering its name invites some Real Bad Shit, yet you’re telling me this old man with a flamethrower that is supposedly native himself and an expert on these creatures would just??? carelessly say it over and over and over again? again, he’s supposed to be an expert and also native. he should KNOW to keep his mouth shut when it comes to just saying the creature’s name. and on top of that, you’re really telling me This Expert Man would die THAT easily by running after he’s just finished telling another character that the creatures can’t see you if you stand still. now let me state ahead of time that i’m white, so i do not have the experience of native people having their folklore yoinked and mishandled like this, and people who are you are free to correct me on anything i get wrong. i just feel like the handling of the creature and its lore and just kind of…. making up things (like the motion based movement) is so shitty and irresponsible. when you’re handling something like this that has significant meaning to people, you need to handle it with the utmost care and respect. there is no respect in until dawn. also worth mentioning is that the existence of the creatures feels like a half-assed secondary plot line; josh’s dumb bullshit couldn’t make a long enough game apparently, so they had to stretch it out by putting in some random Spooky Scary Monster. they’re two completely different stories that are barely connected, and the connection in the first place is flimsy as fuck

also your choices Don’t Matter. the game wants you to believe sooooo bad that choices matter, but the story doesn’t change no matter who lives or dies. the only change you experience is the interviews at the end. the story itself doesn’t change. any character who is able to be killed just stops being important or even relevant to the story at the first instance of them possibly dying because idk these devs couldn’t be bothered to properly branch anything. every scene is the same no matter who’s there. the choices get you the same reactions from the characters no matter what you do.

also. the fact that a completely innocuous choice can change whether matt wastes the flare gun on his own or not???? that’s complete bullshit. just say you hate your players.

until dawn as a game also just makes me sick. the constant jumpscares aren’t scary, they’re just fucking annoying and badly done, and the sickness doesn’t come solely from the gore, but the way it’s handled; every death except one or two is via head trauma. decapitation is all over the place, head squashing, face smashing, eye stabbing, etc etc there is just WAY too much for me to see it as scary deaths. it feels more like the devs have a massive decapitation fetish. it’s just torture porn. if i wanted torture porn i’d go read a mid rated hentai. the obsession w heads also carries over into their other games, but it’s at its most egregious here in UD. the drawn out heads getting ripped off, the lingering camera on the heads dropping to the floor with the expressions changing, its past the point of horror and firmly in the camp of Devs Obviously Jerking It To This Shit.

also if you praise anything about the gameplay i want to study you under a microscope. WHAT fucking gameplay? you just walk around, pick things up very slowly, and press buttons sometimes. yes there are good games that are just walking simulators, but my issue with UD is that it’s being advertised as this great “butterfly effect” horror adventure where choices matter and that it was exciting and fun. it is None of those things. “butterfly effect” is just a fancy way to say “we made a bunch of choices that didn’t actually matter but we want you to fall for it anyway”. there is nothing exciting about it. you don’t run from things, you don’t chase anything, you just slowly walk and sometimes hit a QTE. a walking sim indie game that tells me it’s a walking sim with a story is always going to rate higher in my books than a “game” whose advertising is a complete and utter lie.

this series of videos hits on a lot of these points and i recommend them wholeheartedly

tl;dr until dawn is a bad game and if you enjoy it you’re not terrible but you’re also ignoring a lot of passive problems and also racism. the racism is pretty bad. and so is the egregious decapitation fetish

[lizard-shifter-noms]

Still Subject to Change Chapter 25 (NEW)

——————————————————————————-

Hello everyone! i decided to repost arc 1 of SSTC

(the chapters were way too long and had a bunch of typos but hopefully this will make reading easier)

this Story contains Vore, Dont like dont read.

if there are still any grammatical errors i’m sorry.

——————————————————————————

Barsen Effortlessly Hoisted the ceramic vessel onto his shoulder he turned a bit to go into another hallway.

“It’s right this way, I assume you got lost for a bit?”

Walking after him Robin immediately started chattering his ear off.

“Yeah! And then we thought we could ask someone for help but they-”

Tuning his retellings of what happened out for a moment I looked to Arthur instead who was still holding his sore jaw.

“You okay? I’m so sorry that happened”

He Hmm’d and made a dismissive hand motion.

“Im fine, s’just a bruise, also i broke the guys nose so i won”

So the cracking noise i heard was indeed caused by a breaking bone, well cartilage actually if i remembered correctly.

Still, getting punched in the jaw wasn’t fun as I knew from experience.

“If you’re sure, but just as a tip don’t use the hurting side to chew, that just puts pressure on the sore parts”

He looked bewildered for a moment.

“Did you get punched in the face before? Or how do you know that?”

I nodded at his inquiry.

“Multiple times, beating the face of a Bastard is apparently fun for a lot of people, i’m lucky i never had it broken”

He looked a bit shocked at the admission, and had likely drawn the correct conclusion that all the Fae hating people in the town had used me as a punching bag in the past.

Thinking about it, I was incredibly lucky to survive that long.

“Fucking hell, well im pretty sure that kinda stuff is stopping now with Rikaad as king”

“Yeah, i mean he’s already going over the paperwork, so i’m sure it will get better from now on”

He nodded and smiled as best as he could with his slowly swelling jaw, Then winced a little and went back to holding the bottom half of his face with his hands.

I looked forward again to Robin who was still chattering on to Barsen, Now about plants.

Well he was the Gardener so talking about plants was the best topic to make small talk.

Listening for a few seconds I realized Robin was talking about the plants I had told him about after he asked what was edible and what wasn’t.

I felt strangely touched that he actually remembered all of it, and that he went to talk about it with an actual Gardener who was much more a plant expert than I was.

Walking around a bend i could see a door with a familiar sign on it, the infirmary.

We would really need to find a way to navigate this idiotic layout of the castle, Why would anyone build it like this in the first place anyway?

At least we were back at a point we knew and Arthur could get his jaw looked at by a medic.

“Here we are, if you boys ever need help again feel free to ask, i’m sure we’ll see each other around, I have to bring this to its new place now”

He gently patted the ceramic pot on his shoulder and turned to leave.

“Thank you for bringing us here, Barsen!”

I waved after him and Robin excitedly jumped up and down next to me.

“Bye Barsen! Thanks for helping!”

Arthur just waved as his jaw had swelled some more and talking would probably hurt now.

Since one of us was injured I felt like it wasn’t an unjust disturbance to knock on the infirmary door.

It took barely ten seconds for the nurse who had opened last time to open once again.

She took one look at us and especially Arthur before winking us inside.

“How did that happen? You were here not too long ago and i’m very sure you didn’t have that bruise back then, it looks pretty new”

Since Arthut had trouble talking with a swollen jaw I substituted the answer.

“He got punched by some card playing Guards for telling them off”

The Nurse let out an annoyed huff.

“Oh i know who you mean, they regularly come in here with a hangover and at this point i don’t let them in anymore, i hope the new king does something about it”

Oh, he for sure would, he had a strong sense of justice after all, he’d probably just fire them seeing as it appeared that they did not contribute anything at all.

Aside from that we could just tell Nea and she’d kick their asses.

Speaking of, I looked around the room to see if I could spot her.

While Arthur was led to a cabinet that smelled strongly of some kind of disinfectant and alcohol I saw a corner that was separated by white curtains.

Robin awkwardly stood next to me and it was clear he didn’t know what to do.

Neither did i if i was honest, Arthur was getting the medical attention he needed and i didn’t see Nea anywhere at all.

“Donovan? Do you see Nea anywhere? Do you think she’s okay?”

I looked around once more just to confirm I hadn’t missed her.

“No idea where she is but i’m sure-”

“Focking Hell! That stings! What are ya even doin?”

I was interrupted by a very familiar voice hurling mild obscenities at whoever was near her.

Nea had been behind the white curtain the entire time!

No wonder we didn’t see her.

Robin looked at me with big eyes.

“Nevermind, i found her”

“Shall we go and say hello? I have no idea how long Arthur takes with that bruise after all”

After a nod from him we went over to the curtain where I could still hear Nea cussing out whoever was with her.

“Hold still already! Or I’m going to sedate you again!”

Wait, I knew that voice.

“Oakley? Since when are you back? And what do you mean by sedating her again?”

A two pronged tail shoved the curtain aside and revealed the winged man standing over Nea and bandaging her foot with a weird smelling cloth.

“Hello Donovan! I had to drug her cuz she wouldn’t stop trying to punch me”

“And I’ll do it again! That stung! Ya coulda have warned me at least!”

Glad to know that Nea was already getting better, at least judging by her angry disposition.

“I did warn you! But you were busy cursing at the dead ice mage!

You could at least show some consideration to the people that help you!”

Nea just huffed angrily.

“Ya didn’t have ta focking drug me ovar that!”

Her weird accent was shining through a bit more than before I noted.

Was it because she was angry right now?

Whatever the case she glared at Oakley while he finished wrapping up her foot.

“Well anyway, remember what i told you about taking care of it, and for fucks sake don’t make it worse or im going to set it on fire to combat the ice magic! Be glad it didn’t freeze your foot off!”

“Yeah yeah, I'm not dumb im not going to do anything that could make me lose it after I got so close to having it amputated by that quack!”

Wait what!? Close to amputated?

Did the doc she was brought to attempt that?

Robin who stood next to me also had a shocked expression.

“Oh no! Are you okay? Why would they try to do that?”

Oakley looked at him.

“Well they have no experience in dealing with magic, so I guess they thought it best to remove it before it could spread the coldness even more? She’s lucky i got here in time”

Nea just crossed her arms and huffed unhappily.

“Imma kick their shins as soon as i’m fit again”

Yeah, she seemed to be well on her way to recovery if she was already threatening violence again.

“Well I guess my work here is done, Anything I can help you two with?”

Before I could come up with a way to ask for help about my aching Pouch without admitting anything, I didn’t want anyone to know about it. 

Robin had already started to tell Oakley that Arthur got socked in the jaw.

“Arthur got punched in the jaw, can you help him too?

It looks like it hurts a lot, he’s with a Nurse right now”

Well, since Nea was right here it probably was for the better that i didn’t ask him right now, Besides, Arthur would probably appreciate the help.

“What did he do ta get his face punched? Also yeah better help him lest one of tha doc’s decides ta amputate that too!”

She was definitely still sour that one of the medics here tried that.

Also maybe putting it out there that she could kick some delinquents as soon as she was better might lift her mood a bit.

So while Robin brought Oakley to Arthur I told her in simple terms what had happened.

“Some card playing Guards got angry when we asked for directions”

Since apparently a lot of people immediately knew who we were talking about when we said card playing guards she would probably know too.

“Those guys again? I ought to break their fingers! Every single one-”

She stopped to stare at me and I suddenly recalled that she had only known me in the Ardua form and I got nervous.

Well Barsen had known somehow that the Ardua and I were the same thing so maybe I would get lucky again.

“That’s what yer human form looks like? At least ye still have the same eyes, and Yer smaller than i thought, and tha hell is with yer ears?”

To exaggerate her point she bent forward and pinched the ear closest to her and lighty tugged down a bit.

That sent off a weird feeling to my brain and my fight or flight thing activated making me freeze on the spot.

Since Robin had dragged Oakley to Arthur already there was no one that could help me.

“Oww, Nea! Let go!”

She immediately let go and I carefully rubbed my ear where she had pinched it.

A sword lady for sure with strong fingers like that, I would have to remind myself to never arm wrestle against her.

“Sorry! Didn’t know yer ears where so sensitive”

“Im fine, you didn’t know, Just don’t do that ever again”

I grumbled out at her apology, still holding my sore ear.

“I do gotta ask though, which one are you?

Beast turned human or human turned Beast?”

What, well as unexpected as this question was, it was still easy to answer.

“I’m shifting into the Beast, which is called an Ardua by the way, and the form you see now is the one i was born with”

“Ha! you’re just a little gremlin!

If i coulda done that who knew what insane stuff i had come up with!”

Suddenly I was very glad nobody else could use the bracelet seeing as just the prospect of shifting made her admit that she would have done some rather idiotic stuff.

“I uh, I guess? To be honest i kinda expected to be stabbed as soon as the people here saw my ears but till now only those card players tried to”

Her gaze shifted into something I couldn’t pinpoint, but it sure wasn’t happy.

“They What? Oh imma break something for sure! Let me guess, Arthur got punched cuz he was in the way?”

I nodded at her correct assumption.

“Well he kinda put himself in the way, and he pulled me aside as one of them aimed for my face with a dagger and then blocked the doorway”

“So he saved ya, imma have to congratulate him for quick thinking i guess, eh later”

Right, Arthur saved me, and Robin too as I was pretty sure he’d have gotten caught in the crossfire.

“Oi don’t look so down! Yer all safe and that winged fucker is doing whatever to help the blondie, it’ll be fine!”

Ah, my apprehensiveness showed on my face, that or she was just good at reading emotions.

Considering she was surrounded by helmeted people a lot of the time it might be the latter, might.

“How’d ya get away after that anyway?”

I looked back up to her.

“The gardener, Barsen is his name if I remember correctly, calmly told them off then brought us here.”

“Ah yes Barsen, the guy is a godsend sometimes, and he’s always so nice, No idea how he manages that i would have been ticked off long ago!”

So the gardener was rather well known in the castle halls, and for being a good guy no less.

I’d have to really talk to him at some point just to see for myself.

“Well what about you? How are you?

Your foots been fixed and now you just have to rest for a while”

She sat up straight, with her legs still stretched out in front of her and I had to note that she was rather flexible.

“I’m out of commission for at least six weeks, That sucks so much! I can’t even kick tha slackers anymore!”

A fair sentiment, seeing as she was a rather energetic person that had to be especially annoying.

“Nea i have no doubt that as soon as you get crutches you are going to hit people with those”

“Damn roight ya are, I am gunna do that! Just cuz I’m out for a bit dun’t mean thay can just sleep on tha job!”

She had devolved into an accent i couldn’t place for the life of me, but it did sound angry.

“Oh calm down, I’m sure it’s not so bad! You could pick up a hobby or something!”

She just stared daggers at me.

“I’m going ta make it my hobby ta bite anyone that says shit about me being off duty just out of spite!”

I had to snort out a laugh at that.

“What? Did the vampire bite you that you want to bite people all of a sudden?”

The sentiment was funny because I knew she did not get Bitten.

“Nah, but what do ya think the fucker woulda done with our corpses had we died?”

Well seeing as it was a vampire that only left one option really.

“Probably eaten them, or at least sucked all the blood out, i guess you could call him a sucker cuz he sucked at his objective”

She actually laughed at my really bad joke before slapping me across the back making me lurch forward and my pouch started to hurt worse again from the impact.

Still i didn’t let anything of that show on my face, and what little did show could easily be mistaken as her hitting me in a sore spot.

“Ya know yer green form is big enough to do that i think”

I froze in place at her words, not sure what to do now.

She didn’t know that much was clear but she had correctly guessed what i was capable of and i could absolutely not let anymore people know about this.

“What? That thought never occurred ta ya?

Well i guess since ya are part plant ya can live off sunlight like plants do, So ya probably don’t think about such stuff”

Luckily she mistook my freezing up in panic as me just being uncomfortable with such a topic.

“Uh-”

“Eh sorry if that made ya uncomfy, i sometimes have a rather wild imagination, just ignore what i said”

Well at least she had correctly guessed the plant thing, but she was not dumb, at all, so i would have to be extra careful around her to not let anything slip.

And now I was nervous, great, just great, but it had probably been long enough that I could excuse myself and got back to Arthur and Robin.

“Well i should probably go back to the other two and let you rest, I wish you a fast recovery”

She gave me a thumbs up and I stood up, turning to face the rest of the room only to have a pillow fly by my ear and hit Oakley from behind.

He let out an extremely birdlike squawk and whipped his head around with an irritated expression.

I looked back to Nea who was just flipping him, ironically, the bird.

“Next time warn a gal before ya use drugs ya cunt”

“Well, next time i’ll just leave the drugs out and you can feel all of the pain then”

Oh, it looked like Nea was still very sour about the sedative, at least it was just a pillow as everything else that could be thrown was well out of reach.

Good thinking on part of the medics, well they were probably used to such antics by now.

I decided it best to get out of the line of fire and moved slowly away from Neas corner.

Though slinking away turned out to be unnecessary when Oakley grabbed a bag and just left out the door.

Fuck, now i had to search for him again, At this point I'd never get help.

Well at least Arthur seemed okay now, He was still holding his jaw but the swelling was gone and all that was left was some discoloration from the bruise itself.

Avoiding being hit by something in case Nea decided to throw something else I went over to both Arthur and Robin.

Arthur greeted me with a little wave and gestured weirdly to his jaw.

He was silent the entire time but luckily Robin filled me in on why.

“Hey Donovan! Oakley fixed Arthur’s jaw as best as he could but he said it would be numb for a bit!”

That made sense, if the thing that got the swelling down was also numbing it he wouldn’t be able to coherently talk.

“How long is a bit? A few minutes or like an hour?”

Robin looked to Arthur once before answering.

“Uuhh, we don’t know, we forgot to ask”

So Arthur was stuck with a numb jaw for ‘a bit’

which could be actual hours and not just a few minutes.

“Well we could ask him, I think he’s outside? I’m not sure but the tower he wanted seems the most likely place so we should check there”

“Oh right! And you wanted to ask more about Ardua! I bet he’s got some really old books!”

While I hadn’t seen Oakleys shed on the inside, with all the knowledge he had it was very likely that he owned some rather rare tomes.

Like the one about Ardua for example, Maybe I’d ask him if I could read it.

I was not a fast reader by any means but at least I could read unlike some other street dwellers.

“Yeah he seems the type to have that, and he did say he had one about Ardua so i’m just going to ask if i can read it myself”

Arthur looked at me strangely as I said this, what?

Did he think just because I grew up on the street for a majority of my life meant I couldn’t read?

Arthur’s confused staring was interrupted by Robin.

“Are you good at reading? I’m not, the letters start to shift when i look at them too long and it hurts my head”

Both me and Arthur looked at him concerned.

“I don’t think letters are supposed to do that, Maybe you need glasses for reading?”

The ginger shook his head.

“Already tried that, didn’t work and the glass warped everything weirdly, I don’t want that again, it looked like nausea feels”

That was one of the weirdest descriptions I had heard in my life but strangely enough I could actually picture what he meant.

“That’s weird, well i’m no expert to such stuff so i can’t say why its like that for you”

He didn’t seem overly bothered by it and just shrugged, Then his usual curiosity returned.

“Who taught you to read? I thought you couldn’t go to school with your pointy ears?”

Oh, right, that was true but I did hide on the roof of one occasionally and learn by just listening.

“My Mother showed me how to read, well before she died at least so i’m not very good at it”

Arthur tried to say something to that but only managed to mumble something completely incomprehensible due to his numb jaw.

“What? Oh wait yeah we should go to Oakley and ask him how long that stuff is going to numb your jaw”

Judging by his face that was not what he had meant to say but since he couldn’t talk right now we could only guess.

Despite having tried to say something else than what we assumed he walked towards the door of the infirmary.

“Oh, we can ask him what types of magic he knows!

Ooh maybe he can teach me a spell!”

We weren’t even out of the room and Robin was already excitedly jumping up and down.

“Haha maybe, i don’t know if all humans can use magic though, Well if someone knows that it’s Oakley”

His enthusiasm was adorable, and it gave me something better to focus on that my hurting organ.

Arthur also gave a thumbs up to Robin since he couldn’t exactly say anything about this.

“Ooohh wait, Elemental magic is a thing! What element do you think fits me best? What Element do you think fits you? I think Fire would be cool!

But that’s probably dangerous, uhh maybe air! Then I could use wind to grab stuff from the top shelves! What do you think?”

Right, elemental magic, well considering the Nature of the Ardua form the magic in the bracelet was probably Earthen.

As for what Element fit Robin best-

“Well with red hair like that Fire would be a fitting match i guess, but air could fit too, not that i know anything about that sort of stuff but i think you could find and twist stuff so every element fits you somehow”

Arthur made an agreeing Hmm and nodded while Robin just stared at the air before facing us again.

“Well what do you think you are? With the shifting i mean and-”

He gestured to the bracelet.

“-that? I mean it’s definitely NOT fire i don’t think at least”

I looked down again at the bracelet with the embedded green gems, Yep definitely Earthen considering everything.

“I’m pretty sure it’s Earthen, i mean come on i’m a big plant lion thing what else would it be?”

A goofy smile appeared on his face and even Arthur tried to to grin which failed as half his lips were still numb.

“You’re right! Big plant cat is for sure an Earth element!

And the gems on your bracelet are green too!

Hey, what do you think Oakley is element wise?”

Oakleys Element? Hmm that was trickier, he said he did not have an affinity for ice magic so it probably wasn’t water.

I Doubted that it was fire as I just couldn’t see the tailed man using flames for anything, and he had wings so it was very likely that it was air.

“Well he’s got wings, so I guess it’s Air?

He said he’s not good at ice magic so it definitely isn’t water”

While we went around the corner that led to the hallway with the exit door my mind went back to when Oakley had used the ice staff to melt all of the snow.

For someone who said they weren’t good at ice magic he had been very adept at removing the snow.

If that was what he considered bad then I was curious as to what he defined as good at magic.

“Not water huh, well I guess Air is the opposite? Or would that be earth?

I think Fire and Water are opposite but i don’t know about the other two”

Robin seemed very intrigued by the concept of magic, and to me fair being able to use magic did sound like it would be great.

“I don’t know about opposites, if that even counts in element magic, but im sure if you could use magic you’d do something cool with it”

Robin smiled brightly and now that we were at the same scale I could make out his chipped tooth perfectly, it looked like a tiny little fang.

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