#i'm probably going to re-talk about this later in post form

[luciusspriggss]

okay. i am going to bed for real this time.

it is around 2am pst and i would very much like to sleep

so i can continue to liveblog my decent into madness

(it is actually about the weird funky day i had pre-ted finale)

[ipso-faculty]

Proposing some intersex gender modality & transition terms

So there are a whole bunch of different ways that intersex people can be/identify as trans. I've been thinking about what names would be useful for articulating these differences and in this post I'll list what I've got so far. 🧑‍🔬

I'm hoping to get feedback on these, so if you have feedback let me know! 💛 I expect to edit this post, to incorporate feedback and further ideas.

CW: mention of IGM and forced HRT

Types of transitions

Distransition: a medical transition forced upon an intersex person, such as through IGM or forced HRT. Dis- to indicate the negative aspect of the transition being coercive, as well as to connote disability since this process is so frequently traumatic and/or disability-causing. In disability studies language it's a form of debility (disability caused through systemic violence).

Mistransition: a distransition (forced transition) that is not in alignment with a person's gender identity. Mis- to indicate the incorrectness of the alignment as well as to maintain a negative connotation because this is a coercive transition.

Entransition: a consensual transition done by an intersex person. Contrast to distransition. En- acts as an opposite to dis- and also to me indicates a level of intent (e.g. envision, enact, enliven). It also serves to indicate that transition is different for intersex bodies than for perisex bodies.

Retransition: an entransition done by an intersex person who previously had been distransitioned. I.e. when an intersex person does a second transition to undo, alter, or improve a forced transition. Re- to indicate a second transition, but also that it's a revision of the first one. EDIT #1: This term is not intersex exclusive, and may also be used by perisex trans people who have transitioned multiple times. EDIT #2: For an intersex-exclusive version, I suggest "re-entransition", combining re- and en-.

Retrotransition: a retransition that is done to undo the effects of forced transition. So an intersex person who, after being forced into a binary gender, then transitions their body towards a best approximation of what their body's natural state would have been without forced transition. Retro- for backwards to indicate undoing that is worth differentiating from detransitioning.

Laterotransition: a retransition done by an intersex person to a gender that is neither the gender externally imposed by a distransition nor what their body's "natural state" would be. For example, an AFAB AIS person who was coercively transitioned female, who then later transitioned male. Latero- as contrast to retro- (latero- is to the side, antero- is forward) as well as to indicate the turn away from the path set forth externally by parents/doctors.

Anterotransition: a retransition done by an intersex person that continues the direction set forth by previous forced transition. So additional transitioning done by somebody whose gender is in alignment with what was externally imposed. While this will probably be somebody's AGAB, it doesn't have to be - some times intersex people are forcibly transitioned to a different gender than their AGAB.

All of these transitions would have an analogous gender modality. So an entransgender person is somebody who has/is undergoing/intends to entransition. And a retrotransgender person likewise has/is undergoing/intends to retrotransition.

I see distransition and mistransition as potentially useful for intersex people talking about trauma and structural intersexism. I think entransition might be useful for talking about how being intersex and transitioning is frequently different than for perisex people, especially if it is a retransition. And perhaps distransition and anterotransition may be of use to exparium folks.

Personally: I was distransitioned as an adolescent and have recently started a process of medically retrotransitioning.

Feedback welcome! A list of revisions will go at the bottom of this post. Will make flags for terms once I feel satisfied with them.

Edits

2024-01-16: I've been informed by @chipbutbetter that retrans is already used by some perisex folks with complicated transition patterns, so I have edited to say this term should not be intersex exclusive. Thanks! 🏳️‍⚧️

2024-01-16: thought about an intersex-specific version of retransition and landed on "re-entransition". A little awkward but combines both retransition and entransition! Flexible on whether to include a hyphen (reentransition).

[saunteredserpent]

I don't want Aziraphale and Crowley to become human, when all is said and done, in the finale of series 3 and the show as a whole. Because it's

in my personal opinion going against who they both are in terms of who they've both been all along, and

not at all what they deserve for an ending to begin with.

Most specifically, Crowley.

Hear me out, because I was just talking about this with a good friend of mine.

It is stated, verbatim in the book itself, that "Crowley [is] an optimist." Now granted, sure, that the sentence following that one also mentions him being an optimist strictly in terms of believing the universe itself will always turn out in his favor; that "he [will] come out on top; that the universe [will] look after him".

Is this arguably selfish of him? Maybe. But we'll (probably) come back to that. If not, and I forget to circle back to it in this particular post, I'll probably just talk about it in a different post later on.

That being said: buckle in, because not only did I just talk about this with a good friend of mine, but I'm fairly certain I talked her ear off about it as well. I have a feeling the rest of this post might possibly get lengthy, so I'm putting it under a readmore as a courtesy to the rest of you. you're welcome xoxo /lh

Crowley is a demon, right? An optimistic demon, who loves listening to Queen, and driving his Bentley, and collecting plants, and drinking wine and Talisker whiskey, and indulging in spy thrillers, and watching humans fall in love (this last one I DEFINITELY will come back to), sure... but still a demon nonetheless. I mean for fucks sake, one of his very first assignments as one, is to "get up there and make some trouble" — 'up there' being the Garden of Eden, and 'make some trouble' being, arguably, to tempt Eve.

I say 'arguably' because as far as I know, we don't... actually know that he was really told to tempt her in the first place. For all we know, 'make some trouble' could have meant anything. It could have meant 'tempt the first woman into disobeying her creator', sure. Or it could have meant causing rain clouds to downpour over a garden where no rain had yet fallen, and in doing so ruin that perfect little image of paradise. Or it could have even meant terrorizing the other animals in his Serpent form.

It could have meant any of those things, and more.

I believe Crowley chose temptation, for a reason — and hear me out: I believe said reason in him choosing to tempt the first humans into a little rebellion, a little disobedience in learning right from wrong after all, actually has to do with why he, himself, was cast out.

Unless I'm remembering wrong we haven't actually been given the reason Crowley was cast out; but our best educated guess, as a collective fanbase, is that he was given such a punishment for daring to ask questions. For wanting to know things. And I won't say this next thing is a good thing of him to have done so, per se, in terms of potential pettiness and whatnot, but.

What if Crowley tempted Eve into wanting to gain the knowledge she did... all because he was denied answers, himself? All because when he wanted to know things, himself, he was also punished? I don't know if anyone else has brought this up as an arguable point already — please free to point me in the right direction if they have — but Crowley being cast out for knowing, but doubting and/or wanting to know more things could very, very much be a direct parallel to Adam and Eve being cast out for possibly having doubts and/or questions, themselves, on top of having gained new knowledge they weren't supposed to have gained in the first place.

What if this very first little temptation of his (and again, I'm not saying it's a good thing, per se) was also the first means of him finding a connection with humanity, despite his position and nature as a demon?

Because as we move on, over the course of the next several thousand years, Crowley remains on Earth almost the entire time, only reporting back to Hell whenever he absolutely needs to; otherwise, at least as far as we've been shown, avoiding Hell if he can help it. He remains on Earth — by doing so, acting on self-indulgence by partaking in the many delights and pleasures (and even some of the vices) that humanity ends up having to offer.

Not only that, but in doing so he as an immortal demon also allows himself the joy of watching us, humanity as a species, evolve, grow, adapt, and change, every step of the way... and in doing so, falls in love with us, humanity, as a whole. He falls in love with us (though of course in a much different way than he falls in love with a certain angel), and all we have to give.

Crowley, as a demon, watches us, as humans, in everything we come up with, in everything we invent, and also watches us in everything we do — the bad and the good, for all of the above.

He watches us hate. He watches us go to war with each other, and destroy each other and ourselves, over the thousands of years. And I like to imagine that, frankly, it always breaks his heart watching us do so.

However—

I also like to imagine that at the same time it's broken his heart watching us destroy, and hate, every time, it's given him happiness and hope watching us not only create and fall in love... but also inspire.

I like to imagine that for the latter, specifically, we've not only brought him hope that things can and do get better (because at this rate he's seen it all from us) — but also that we've inspired him as well.

Because what if that's the beauty of it. What if it's him having fallen in love with humanity not only for the little things and little gestures that we have come up with and invented as a whole that have brought him, as a demon, joy — but also the thoughts and feelings, the sheer number of complex emotions, we've over the course of our very existence become capable of rendering not out of each other but also out of him as an entirely different being.

What if we're the reason he's an optimist in the first place.

What if all of that is the other big part as to why Crowley, alongside Aziraphale, was against Armageddon in the first place. Not just the material things we've invented that he enjoys — but everything we've made him feel for himself, and inspired him with.

Of course none of this is to say that it isn't or can't be the same to be said of Aziraphale. I'm more than convinced that he has also been inspired by us, and felt several emotions of his own, in watching us over the thousands of years.

My point for this post is specifically about Crowley, because in my opinion, as stated already... is what if he's not only connected with us all along, but had somehow found a (albeit, arguably, flawed) way to connect with us from the very start, and will continue to do so?

I don't want him and Aziraphale to become human because I feel that in having been given the opportunity to fall in love with and feel inspired by humanity, and all the ways we've grown, and all we've ever had to offer, as a whole, they also deserve the opportunity to continue to fall in love with us, and continue to be inspired by us.

TLDR; if they're written off as either willingly giving up or being stripped of their immortality in the end, then sure, yes, that's them being provided the opportunity to grow old together and pass on together., etc etc etc. Arguably, that could make for a decently happy ending in and of itself. But. That's ALSO them being robbed of the opportunity to, for the rest of humanity's existence, continue to watch us grow, and to continue to appreciate us and all we've ever been capable of inventing, and will continue to invent, as well as any and all other things we also become capable of causing them to feel as time passes — all while we ourselves, proceed to evolve and grow, and create, and love, even more as a species.

And being robbed of getting to continue to witness such a thing out of humanity isn't what they, in my opinion, deserve.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk, y'all. xoxo ✌🏻✌🏻

[preservationofnormalcy]

OOC post:

I'd like to talk about something that's been eating me.

The second set of posters included a design entitled "Seeing the Patterns", depicting a figure standing in front of a "pins and string" conspiracy board, figuring out some sort of quandary. The text on it read "Seeing the patterns? The synchronicity department needs you!"

This was intended as something I was going to talk about - the concept of "synchronicity" in the Office canon. My intent for the story was that the Office had perfected the concept of synchronicity into a reliable science, examining hidden causal links between unrelated events, such as the price of string or the winner of horse races. This would have taken the form of the stereotypical "pins and string" conspiracy board, elevating that trope into a science in the canon. The Office's synchronicity department would have been able to determine hidden meanings or even predict the future using these methods.

It was pointed out to me that while this was not my intent, it has some similarities to the right-wing antisemitic meme of "noticing things", as well as possibly casting those with mental health crises like schizophrenia in a bad or stereotypical light. Neither of these were my intent, obviously, but when you play in this sort of thematic space (conspiracy theory, etc.), you do have to be careful of which tropes you use. This has, to be honest, been a source of significant anxiety for me for the past two weeks. I really like the idea of it as I had envisioned it, but right now the implications it gives are too much for me to really be comfortable with.

It's because of this that I'm withdrawing the design from my shop, for now. I may re-release it later if I can develop the idea more to my satisfaction, but for the forseeable future that design will be unavailable for purchase. I may fill its space with something else later, I have several drafts that just weren't developed, but for now I'm going to let it settle.

I've edited the second set post without that design. I know I just reblogged it yesterday or the day before, but if you're willing, I'd appreciate another reblog without that design. Hopefully that version of the post will be the dominant one.

Thanks for understanding, folks. I'll probably be quiet for a few days - like I said, this is a hard choice but a needed one, and it's been a source of anxiety for me.

[skzleeknowcore]

I did this for Lee knows birthday, but I accidentally deleted everything that was on this account, so I'm re-doing the birthday post.

Birthday surprise

Summary:You've been hiding a secret from Lee Know and the boys.

Genre:Fluff, idol lee know x choreographer fem reader, pregnancy surprise, the rest of skz

I got out of the car with my hands shaking, locking the door.

Breathe y/n he loves you. He wouldn't have asked you to marry him if he didn't

I walked up the stairs to the dorms and knocked on the door

"Hey y/n come it where all in the loungeroom lee know just finished his birthday live" Chan said

"Hey channie," I said walking into the dorms then hugging him

I walked into the loungeroom with Chan following behind

"Hey guys" I said walking to the loungeroom hugging everyone besides chan and minho

"Hey y/nnie" everyone said

I walked over to minho and sat on his lap hugging him

"Hi jagi" minho said hugging me back

"Hi" I said putting my head on his shoulder, yawning

"Are you tired y/n" Felix said

"Mhmm, I had to choreograph a dance for the new girl group jyp is debuting" I said cuddling into minho

"What time did you finish?" I.n said wondering

"12 am," I said, not really caring about the outcome of the boys faces "but anyway, where's the present I got delivered here"

"In the back room" hyunjin said

"Ok can you go get it for me please jinnie" I said while moving from minho lap sitting next to him but still cuddling into him

"Yea, I can I'll be right back" hyunjin said, walking to the back room and getting the present a couple of minutes later he came back with the present "here you go y/nnie" handing me the present

"Thank you jinnie " I said handing it to minho "happy birthday jagi"

"Thank you kitten" minho said kissing me on the cheek

Minho starts opening the present and goes through it taking out stuff that's related to baby's then he saw the positive pregnancy test right at the bottom of the box "j..jagi are you really" minho said turning to me with tears in his eyes

"Surprise baby" I said then minho lunged at me wrapping me up in a hug I could feel a wet substance on my shirt that I was wearing and I knew minho was crying

"Wait, what's happening" everyone said looking confused

Han comes over and peeks at what has made his best friend cry

"Y/NNIE PREGNANT" han tells with a loud voice

"WAIT WHAT WHERE GONNA BE UNCLES" I.n said bouncing around like a kid in a candy shop

"OMG.......wait how far along are you" Chan said looking at me

"7 weeks today" I said rubbing minho's back then he picked up his head off my shoulder

"I love you future Mrs lee" minho said looking at me with tears coming down his face

"And I love you my soon to be husband " I said wiping the tears away that were coming down his face

Minho crashed his lips onto mine then pulled away and moved down to talk to the growing baby that was forming in my stomach

"Hi little one I'm your dad I'm so excited to meet you when you come into the world just know you have 7 amazing uncles that will spoil you and so will your mum and i" minho said in a quiet voice but everyone could here

"We should celebrate the upcoming arrival of straykids" Chan said

"We should" everyone but Chan said

"Oh, and I told jyp about the pregnancy, and he said to wait until I'm in my 2 trimester to announce it to the fans just because we don't know if there's gonna be issues" I said to the boys

"Yea its probably the better option" Felix said

"But other than that let's celebrate" seungmin said

While the boys went and got dressed me and minho were still sitting on the couch

"I love you jagi" minho said

"I love you too " I said cuddling into minho

Everything happens for a reason the boys and y/n can't wait to meet the new addition to the straykids family

[squerlly]

just felt like doing a little something something... this post is kind of a little clarification for certain things about my new series. for those who don't know I made a series called flames of desire and it is an Alastor x (f! bunny reader) slow burn romance with eventual smut ofc. my writing style is a bit odd to say the least since I have a hard time explaining things in detail and in attempt to make mine and my readers lives easier iv color coded the dialogue for each and every character so that you know what's text vs dialogue. I also try to include individual POV to get a clear aspect of certain things *cough* *cough* lore. so here are some things you should know

-dialogue colors-

husk, angel, Alastor, Vaggie, Charlie, Niffty, reader (this font specifically, please don't get it mixed up with her thoughts) incase I run out of colors for certain characters I will substitute a color but I will always specify whos talking!

yes bunny Reader design has paws and she can't really wear shoes so I decided to make her wear socks similar to the helluva boss character Lunas, which are open-toed socks just to have something to cover her feet at least. in this story, y/n is old enough to drink but I wouldn't say she's on the older side so use your imagination or don't I don't mind if you edit the character, this is a story about you lovely people after all!. I'm also terrible at smut so don't really expect a lot.

I am Hispanic and although I am not fluent I will try my best to make the characters cannon yet not cannon, by this I mean I will make valentino speak slight Spanish as his cannon form does. I will also make Alastors cooking related to new Orleans Louisiana dishes because hes old fashioned and I doubt he will ever put in the time to learn other cooking don't come for me!!!

I will not be adding sir pentious in this series, I know I'm sorry please forgive me, maybe if I change my mind later which I always end up doing eventually I will add a part just for pentious, a little something. I already struggle trying to make sure I include every character in at least every 2 to 3 chapters because I don't really do favoritism when it comes to my writing, same goes for lucifer but once again maybe something but I also don't want to spoil the show for people who have not watched it yet.

I have a tight schedule when it comes to things I have to do at home vs my free time so I will try to get at least 2 chapters out every week maybe 3 if I feel motivated enough or unless I don't get writer block. as for request I will be re opening those this Friday and close them on Sunday so I can work, edit, and release them throughout the week if I get any.

this series is a shared project between me and my bestfriend @strippezzz please go check out there artwork its so good. he works on helping me proofread because I have ADHD and my brain works a million miles an hour and tend to miss things here and there. hes also 10x better at writing smut, not for the ideas but just describing it detail so I leave that to him and wanted to make sure that I'm not getting all the credit!

if you have any question or concerns just ping me in the comments and I will probably answer in 5 min tops because I'm always using my phone for literally everything

I hope this was helpful!!!! and have a wonderful day/night love you all stay tuned~

-squerlly

for more stories and more chapters please click this masterlist

[chrissbluehat]

Nervous

part 1

Pairing : y/n and Chris Sturniolo 

Summary: you lived a pretty standard life, you kept to yourself mostly, and never felt you drew the eyes of anyone. Though this always felt conflicting when comparing yourself to friends. This was until a boy came into your life and flipped it completely around.

Sorry I kept forgetting to post this, hope you enjoy

Warnings : none

I have the window down, the evening breeze running through my hair. Jenna is driving me back to my house. As we travel all I can think about is the interaction I had with Chris earlier. The whole thing felt like a fever dream, it all felt a little too pleasant as if I was thrown straight into a book with no warning and the chapter was re-enacted around me. I didn’t understand why he would have gone out of his way to talk to a girl he didn’t know before then, maybe his drink got to him and he was simply bored. The thought of him felt suffocating, my thoughts were then broken by Jenna catching my attention. “Are you good? The way you’re staring is starting to creep me out a bit”, I can hear her laugh a bit, and I give her a half smile.

“Yeah I'm okay”, Jenna nodded at my response and looked back at the road. I contemplated telling her about my conversation with Chris but I didn’t want to make it into a bigger thing than it was, I mean it was just one conversation. I wasn’t hiding it, it simply just was not that big of a deal, I thought to reassure myself. 

She drops me home and I head straight up to my room, quietly, since it was late and I knew everyone would have been asleep. I slump onto my bed, thoughts all still on one person. Is this what it feels like to like someone? This feels like a form of torture, I needed a break but I couldn’t get one. My mind was not free of that brunette and I honestly wasn't sure it would ever be. I change quickly and get into bed, thoughts still captured.

The rest of the weekend wasn’t much different. I saw him in everything I did, it was starting to become exhausting. The worst part was that he probably hadn’t given a second thought since departing from that bench and that hurt more. I mean there was no real reason for him to remember that, it probably wasn’t even significant to him remotely. My days ended the same, with him plastered around my mind similar to the way girls had posters of their celebrity crushes around their room, when thinking about it that way it became slightly comforting.

On Monday, I got up slightly earlier. Usually I stayed in bed until my mum came in and yelled that i’m going to be late. I started getting ready straight away. Shower and then skin care that I kind of just had for the aesthetic. I then put on more make-up than I usually would, it wasn’t heaps, just mascara and a tinted lip gloss rather than my usual bare face that I was too lazy to cover up. I found an outfit that was reasonable, a simple brandy graphic tee and jeans and I went down for breakfast, my mom gave me a weird look. She usually would if I changed anything about my appearance, but I ignored her and had my breakfast and started walking to school. 

Once in homeroom, I took my seat. Fortunately they were assigned which removed the anxiety of having to make sure no one has taken your unassigned seat each day. A couple minutes later my friend Maisie came in, she sat just in front of me so I had someone to talk to through that period. As we were talking a bunch of guys arrived late making an unnecessary amount of noise, I looked up to see who it was and then I spotted him, the guy that had consumed my thoughts all weekend. How I even let him slip my mind was beyond me. I looked over at him, but he didn’t even glance in my direction, I could tell that his eyes didn’t even search for mine. He headed over to his seat before the teacher came up to him and one of his other friends and made them hand out something with each of our names on it as some kind of punishment for arriving late rather than just giving them the usual detention, I guess she was tired of signing for them. They made their way around the classroom and Chris then walked towards me.

“Are you Y/N?” I nodded my head and took the paper, in the moment I felt crushed. He didn’t even remember my name. I wanted to crawl into a ball and hide from everyone but I knew I couldn't do that, so I acted as natural as I could and pretended that that comment didn’t bother me in any way. I thought about that moment for the rest of the day, it distracted me all day and I paid no attention to anything else. I practically ran home so that I could finally wrap myself in my bed and sob over a boy that I barely knew. My feelings about him confused me. I was confused as to why I was so sure I would be significant for him to remember, I'd built up a big moment for no reason and I felt utterly pathetic for it. 

He continued consuming my thoughts but not in the way I had previously enjoyed when he appeared in my mind. The cold memory was on replay as if on a bad vhs tape, I couldn’t escape it. Every time I saw him all I could hear was his voice asking for my name. I tried to replace it with the memory from the party but that file was damaged and wouldn’t fill in the void the way it once did.

After the first week I had nearly given up hope, that was until I caught him glancing at me. I caught his eyes and he quickly turned back around. I put my head down smiling to myself. After that we communicated in looks and quick glances from across the room and in between classes in the hall. It started off once or twice a day and began to grow more frequently. We were both conscious to do it when our friends weren’t looking and their attention wasn’t on us. When I thought of him I now saw flashes of his pretty blue eyes and the way his hair gently draped over them, this slowly started to eat away at the negative memory and replaced it, the thought of him no longer hurt. 

After the first glance I'd become a little bit invested in him, to the point where I found myself searching for him anywhere. This search started off at the sports games that I was forced to go to, though the thrill of him maybe being that washed out the annoyance. Though after a couple games I discovered that he’d never go, which I thought was off considering his friends were all there. There was one time that I thought he’d come for once only to realise that it was someone that looked exactly like him, I then discovered there was another. I’m honestly shocked that I never realised that there were triplets here, luckily they each have pretty different hair so I now know how to tell when it’s Chris and when it’s not conveniently. I searched for him online. In the weeks that we started noticing each other, I became tempted to just message him, I had found him online after stalking through his friends' accounts. 

It wasn't too difficult to find, he used to post a lot but I'd noticed he hadn’t updated it in a couple months, I also noticed that he posted with his brothers a lot, it was easier to tell them apart when they were next to each other, which was helpful. After looking for a way to message him I ended up coming to the conclusion that it was better to not interact with him there, just so I didn’t come off as overbearing too early on. I’d wait for him to give me a signal first. I then searched for him in conversations. In homeroom one day I overheard his name being mentioned by Maisie and some girl that I wasn't really familiar with. I knew she was linked to Chris's friends though. I heard her refer to him as weird and kind of peculiar. 

“Yeah since he quit lacrosse he’s been a bit off, like he was a bit much before but now I forget he’s even there”,

“Literally, and when you do realise he’s just acting all moody and miserable, like why drag yourself somewhere if you’re going to ruin it for everyone else”, Maisie scoffed. I furrowed my eyebrows at her words. I wasn’t sure why I felt so offended for him. I mean I didn’t know him, we were barely even friends. My eyes slowly wandered over to him, and I realised he already had his eyes on me, making me smile a bit. I often wondered how long these glances would last before he either lost interest or spoke to me again, little did I know one of those options would happen a little faster than I thought.

[falmerbrook]

Morrowind Chapter thoughts

This is going to be way longer than my other posts about my thoughts on the ESO chapters/dlcs/whatevers because I have played Morrowind, care about Morrowind, and have something to compare this chapter to rather than judge it by it's own merits. I also just have many thoughts, and love yapping and vomiting my opinions out :D

On that note, the first arm of the Main Quest was overwhelming with nostalgia, but it actually chilled out with it beyond that. But right off the bat, Seyda Neen was exactly the same, the map was almost exactly the same (to the extent that the shape of the coastline and the roads don't fit in with the design of ESO's other zones), Vivec (the city) was very similar and the temple was exactly the same, and the soundtrack featured many re-orchestrated tracks from Morrowind (the game). I mentioned this in an earlier post, but it was too much all together at once. I couldn't just play ESO and have fun with it, my brain was constantly comparing to Morrowind instead of letting myself get immersed in any of the quests or story. The Main Quest continued to do this by constantly featuring plot points and locations into the story, and while I don't dislike the basic idea of the plot for it, I wasn't a fan of how it was executed. I'll get into my thoughts of the Main Quest later (since they are the most numerous), but the crux of my issues boils down to the amount of references to the og game and the appeal to nostalgia also in turn invites comparisons to the original game, which made it not only hard for me to immerse myself in the story and take it as it's own thing, but also made me way more critical of how it handled those things I was already familiar with.

Before I get into the Main Quest though, some of my other thoughts on the zone (skip to later if you just wanna know about the Main Quest):

Once I got past that first part of the Main Quest in Vivec, they referenced the original game way less, and I enjoyed myself more and liked what they did to change the cities and flesh out the environments a lot. I wish the grazelands were more grassland-y, and I wish the Ashlands were more rolling barren hills, but I know they are limited on the size of the map compared to the original game, and I still liked this version of the Ashlands as well.

I'm not a fan of how Red Mountain looks. This is nit-picky as hell, but from everywhere but the north it looks like a big mound, not that the whole island is the slope leading up to the volcano. It looks a little silly form Vivec (the city)

I liked the inclusion of characters from Morrowind in this zone like Barilzar, Chodala (in theory, not a fan of the execution), and Llevule. They're cool references to those who remember them from the original game, but they are also aren't referencing their roles in the original game at all, so it wasn't distracting.

I hate the way they say "Nerevarine". It took me out every time someone said it lol. And they say it a lot. And no, I don't think that was the original way it was supposed to be said. They say NERevar and nereVAIRine in the same sentence differently. In Morrowind Azura and Almalexia say it as NERevarine. It drove me a wee bit nuts.

Loved how the Buoyant Armigers talk. Throwing in random rhymes and poems is exactly how I pictured them talking

While Vivec (the city) in general felt smaller and less grand (ignoring that it is inocmplete) I loved the interiors. They were gorgeous.

The voice acting overall felt improved in this chapter. There was a lot that impressed me

My thoughts on Vivec: As you guys probably know, I love Vivec, but I was general ambivalent to his portrayal here. Others have mentioned that he look very masculine here, and while I will acknowledge that this game is probably stuck working within it's default person models, the still didn't need to make him the most chiseled man on Nirn, y'know? His face looks too normal, and his little teeny tiny ears broke my heart a little. They cropped them :(. I also don't have super strong feelings about his dialogue. I liked how he kept quoting himself or workshopping verse at us, but other than that he just didn't seem to have very strong characterization, at least not compared to his Morrowind appearance. The one bit I really like though was the line, "Use the staff …. return my energy. Or not. In a little while … it won't matter". It had the same depressed energy as his Morrowind dialogue to me. I'll talk more about him when I talk about the Main Quest though.

Thoughts on Balmora: I liked the way the city looked and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the quests here. There's like 3 Shakespearean tragedies happening in this town and I really like all of them. The main quest for the city was longer than usual, but I thought the pacing and build up was great and I really enjoyed it and all the characters in it. I liked the twists of the quest with the ebony mine, and I thought the quest with the dying man and his kids was very sweet and touching. I wasn't a fan of Naryu before this, but now I have a bit of a sweet spot for her.

Thoughts on Ald'ruhn: God, the ending of this quest is so so weird. At first I was like "oh ok cool a way for them to spoon-feed us info about the Ashlanders. That's fun". And it was nice at first seeing a House Dunmer who wanted to respect them after going through the Balmora main quest. But then the conclusion was one wise woman going "ok yeah sure you can have this land that we use as out very important annual meeting place for this really flimsy reason" and like, I don't care how much the guy says he will respect the Ashlander's right to the land, we saw how the Redoran treated them in Balmora, we hear him say he's in talks to work with the Redroan to establish a settlement there at the end of the Main Quest, and we know that it's a major Redorna city within a few hundred years. Horrible vibes on this quest.

Thoughts on Gnisis: The main quest here is one of my favorite in the whole game I think. Interesting set up and mystery with a really cool use of sound and music and a unique conclusion to the mystery. All of the characters are fun and play off of each other in fun ways, and I just love Revus. He's great. I hope they bring him back in the future (I've heard they do).

Thoughts on Molag mar: I just didn't like this one that much. I'm a bit conflicted with how the Ashlanders are portrayed in this chapter. Like, there's a lot that just have 24/7 constant aggression about the Tribunal/House Dunmer, and I just don't think they would be that present in the minds of the Ashlanders, especially in this quest. But they aren't all portrayed like that so I can't really put my finger on what's bugging me. Maybe it's just that they're portrayal feel sorta shallow and not adding anything? I'm not sure.

Thoughts on Sadrith Mora: On one hand the main quest here was a bit too long, but on the other that length made me appreciate the character development and build up it had, which I liked and appreciated.

Thoughts on Vos: the decisions they made with Dratha were odd. i don't really think there needed to be a justification for her no men stance but even if the intention was to flesh it out and make it feel like less of a "haha stupid feminists" writing decision, this was just a very odd and nonsensical way of doing it. Her caring so much about seeing though to the end of Dagoth Ur or whatever her reasoning was doesn't match her characterization at all in Morrowind, and her being so desperate to live longer that she consults with a daedra when she's a Telvanni wizard who could live for millennia if she wanted to doesn't make sense to me.

Ok, back to the Main Quest. I have a lot to say.

First of all, the ""foreshadowing"" about Clavicus Vile being invovled was so heavy you would have to literally be blind to not catch on to it within the prologue quest, let alone the rest of the story, but the reveal doesn't happen until late in the story. Like, hmmm I wonder who is targeting Vivec as I run through daedric ruins with Clavicus Vile-like enemies and Clavicus Vile statues and books about Clavicus Vile??

Secondly, on Vivec, I spent the whole first half being admittedly bogged down by wondering why Vivec is trusting the player literally at all. All we have done prove our trustworthiness is help some random priest on the side of the road get into his family's tomb and ask his ancestor some vague questions, and in response Vivec starts getting us invovled with a secret he is keeping form the general populous about him losing his power that could send Morrowind into a panic if they found out. I'm sorry but I just wasn't buying it. I think this could've worked if either 1) we did something more extreme to prove our loyalty, 2) at some point we found out about his loss of power on accident, so he has us keep helping because either he might as well or to keep us on his side, or 3) perhaps he could tell we are a Prisoner™ and allows us to help for that reason (this one is a stretch, but it could be implied with just a short line or something).

Thirdly, I didn't like Chodala as an antagonist. I'm starting to get the feeling I will be comparing the main conflict of all of these chapters to Orsinium over and over again. Kurog was such an interesting antagonist. Chodala had 0 development, 0 character, almost 0 intrigue, and 0 reason for me to feel anything for him. I honestly feel like we didn't even get a solid explanation of what his deal was. We first meet him while he's already becoming power hungry, he continues to be power hungry, and then we kill him. We work with his sister, but the most emotion we get from that is her going "It's sad we had to kill my brother :(" and nothing else. How do the Urshilaku feel about him? How does that change? How do they react to their Ashkhan going nuts, allying with exiles, and being killed? Do they agree with his actions? How do the other tribes feel about him? What was he like before he went power hungry? is he just power hungry, or deluded about thinking he's the Nerevarine and doing the right thing? How much is Sunna'rah affecting him? How does he even know about it/the ritual to summon it? Does he actual think he's the Nerevarine or is he just trying to take power? What was his relationship with Seryn like? I would've taken literally anything. He's just a shallow villain, and having played through Orsinium with Kurog as the final antagonist makes his shallowness even worse. There's no time to sit with these characters and get to know them and what their motivations are. We're just hitting the beats and it makes the quest feel rushed and uninteresting.

A smaller note, the whole concept of the Red Exiles is kinda hilarious. Like, they clearly just needed and enemy faction for you to mow down, so the exiles formed a unified group lol. They could've done something actually interesting with that though. Maybe they were an earnest attempt by remorseful or falsely exiled Ashlanders who gathered together and formed their own tribe and wanted to try to prove themselves worthy of being proper tribesmen again to their former tribes, who Chodala then took advantage of and manipulated to doing his bidding. There could be a whole follow up quest about getting them back into the good graces of the tribes or something idk.

Another place I think the Main Quest messes up is in how much it relies on the main story from the original game. Like I said earlier, it just invites comparisons and criticism, and their use of locations and concepts feels shallow. The idea of Chodala stealing power from Vivec and claiming himself the Nerevarine who then his sister has to prove otherwise is a fine and interesting idea, and comparing him to other failed incarnates is an interesting way to do it, but they don't do anything with the Nerevarine prophecies! You have to prove his claim wrong but the literal How to Identify the Nerevarine manual doesn't get brought up once. It's odd. And then for some reason you are the one to go into the Cavern of the Incarnate (not timing locked this time, which I will not complain about because of how ESO's day-night cycle works). I think I made this up in my head, but I had kinda assumed the Cavern of the Incarnate was supposed to be a rather hidden, very sacred place. Not the sort of place they'd send strange Outlanders to. You had to solve a riddle to get there in the original game. It's inclusion felt cheap to me, even if it was pretty.

Finally, some things I did like! I liked that you find out towards the end that this wasn't so much Clavicus Vile's doing, but rather Barbas's, and that Barbas kinda fucked up the plan by getting involved. This is why they are one of my favorite Princes, I love that dynamic. I also liked the twist with Tarvus having been Barbas. I didn't see it coming but when it was revealed it made a lot of sense in hindsight. I liked Seryn, Barilzar, and Llevule. I like how the the Chapters/DLCs so far have all had their final quests in the Main Quest be almost like epilogues where you get some finality with all the characters you met on your journey. It might be cheesy but I love that. It makes the story feel more like a story than how it was done in the Base Game.

I didn't wholly dislike the Main Quest, it was more meh to me in general, and I liked the zone overall! But I think the Main Quest was one of the weaker parts.

I'm interested to see what is in store with the Clockwork City! I've overall seen very positive responses about it, but also a handful of strongly negative ones, so I think I might try to catch up on pre-ESO Sotha Sil lore before I get to it!

[therentyoupay]

Hellooo! Sending this ask purely because I need someone to kick my butt into writing gear :'D but how do you manage writing without getting bogged down with self-doubt? My brain has the tendency to cripple my creativity and then I convince myself that the writing is trash. Even though no one but me is reading it at the moment.

HELLO LOVELY! ✨ i'm so sorry it's been so long since you sent this ask; i've been bogged down with academia but i promise i have been pondering your ask for these past three months now!!

honestly, this semester i'm relying on a lot of similar strategies for overcoming self-doubt in my dissertation writing process right now that i used to experience with my fanfiction (and still occasionally do, but it was a lot more prevalent in my teenage years and early 20s). regardless of the genre and context, i totally get how self-doubt can sneak in and mess with your writing and creativity and the enjoyment of the process. here are some things i do, which i'm sure lots of people have shared before, but it probably bears repeating!!

re: "trash": first of all, even trash is good. trash is SOMETHING. trash means creation and some form of use. seriously, even if you hate what you write at first, IT IS SOMETHING. remember it is generally easier to edit (even if you delete it all later) something than to create from scratch, especially if a long time has passed and you've built up the task in your head. i say let yourself write without judgment for a set period (like 10-15 minutes). don’t worry about grammar, structure, or quality. just get out your thoughts in whatever stream of consciousness makes sense to you and bypass your inner critic. this is a skill that needs to be developed and honed through practice. second, if you're bad at bypassing the inner critic at first, name it and tell it to shut up ("be quiet, reginald"), and carry on. repeat until it's actually easy, and then reginald doesn't even talk that much anymore.

separate writing and editing: on that note, write first, edit later. trying to do both at the same time can kill creativity. write freely, knowing you can refine and improve your work later. on that that note, you can always take a break from writing one thing to go write another thing and then come back to it when your head is more clear and your eyes have freshened!

set small goals: break your writing task into smaller, manageable goals. i like to set word count goals OR "write for X minutes" OR "write Y scene(s)" goals. i do this with both my dissertation and my fanfiction and my non-fic book writing, depending on the day, the deadlines, and the vibes. remember that small wins can build momentum and confidence. another thing i like to do to loosen up and get back into the swing of things via small-goal-setting is to post baby drabbles and micro-fic on tumblr!

positive self-talk: watch your inner dialogue. swap negative thoughts ("this is terrible/trash/whatever") with positive ones ("this is a draft, and it’ll get better with revision"). this is a skill!!!! practice it!!!! related: your writing may be a reflection of you in many ways, but it is not you; writing garbage on an off day does not mean that you are garbage or that your writing is always garbage. separate the skills, performance/product, and person. (and remember: garbage is still something, and you can edit it later.)

create a routine, if you can: this one doesn't quite always work for me, to be honest, due to the nature of my workday, BUT, when I'm able to do things consistently, i do like to set up a regular writing routine! consistency can help reduce anxiety and make writing feel like a natural part of your day. when i was in grad school (the first time) and working i used to write while on my commute, every day, on my phone; those of you who were with me in 2015 remember the prolific sorcery of that year. 😂

seek feedback: share your work with a trusted friend, beta reader, fellow writer, etc. sometimes you don't want to unleash your writing to the full internet right away, and that's totally fine and normal, but you still want constructive feedback. find a friend who will beta!!! they can reassure you and point out areas you might not have noticed. (and receiving and incorporating feedback is its own skill worthy of its own post, but i shall leave it for now!!)

CELEBRATE progress: i'm so serious, recognize and celebrate your progress, no matter how small. enjoy each kudos!!! each like!! each posted fic! each drabble!! each reblog!!! each bookmark!!!! reward yourself for reaching milestones (1 kudos, 10 kudos, 10,000 kudos, 1 comment, 200 comments, 1 hit, 5 hits, 500 hits, 1 story posted, 12 stories posted) to reinforce positive behavior. 😉 basic applied behavioral analysis and behaviorist psych!! (remember: positive self-talk, setting small goals)

visualize success: i do this one all the time for basically everything in my life lol (teaching, public speaking, finishing my dissertation, book tours for my non-fic books, winning awards, finishing fics). close your eyes, and picture yourself finishing your writing project successfully. how does it feel? what do you see? who is there? how does it smell? what are you wearing? where are you? what do you hear? visualization can boost motivation and reduce fear of failure and can give you all sorts of goody feel-good chemicals. your brain literally can't tell what's real or not real sometimes, so give it something tangible to make the task feel like it's literally in your reach (because it is 😉). this is, interestingly enough, also an incredible boost for writing itself, haha.

clean something first: maybe this is just me, but clean your desk beforehand. 😂 or go to a café or something. new fresh space. but don't let yourself get distracted by that either!!

read for inspiration: read works by authors you admire to get inspired and remind yourself why you love writing. 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

WRITE. WRITE WRITE WRITE. WRITE LIKE THE WIND MY LOVE.

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

Re: your post about JohnandPaul. If you do wish to share them, I'd love to know your headcanons about John and Paul's feelings for each other. ( I do get your discomfort about sharing though and yeah, I also miss the long discussions and metas from back when Get Back came out. It feels like, except you and some others, most of my favorite blogs have moved on from the fandom)

I've been sitting on this ask for several days now.

First of all I hear you, re:blogs moving on. It's understandable, but it's also sad when my brain does not want to give this stuff up any time soon lol.

In my post I talked about having specific headcanons about their feelings for each other, but the truth is, it's more like I imagine hundreds of very specific somewhat plausible scenarios, while not actually fully buying into any of them.

I always struggle with how sure people are of some definite timeline of McLennon because I just don't see how it's in any way clear: the most compelling evidence that at least John had Those Feelings™ for Paul is stuff he said after the fact (compiled with the stronger case for John being attracted to men in general) – so, if I choose to interpret his words in that way, I'm still not very close to knowing when he developed this attraction. Let alone concluding anything substantial about Paul's feelings.

(And no, I really don't find the two of them saying the other looked good when they met particularly compelling. Appearance plays a huge role in first impressions, regardless of attraction.)

So I guess, it's more that I have open questions I return to again and again, for which I try to construct hypothetical answers that make sense to me. Aside from that bigger timeline question, here's a few more specific ones:

From what I've gathered researching the topic, listening to psychonauts speak about their trips, the acid mindset very much romanticizes all forms of human connection (among other things). I think that's probably what was going on during those "I know."–"I know." sessions John and Paul had on LSD. With that in mind, how might that have mixed in with John trying to understand how he felt about Paul? Could it have confused him? Opened him up to the idea? "Appeased" him for a while? (and again, the answer here would depend on the timeline of feelings in the end)

I still lean towards "Paul is not meaningfully attracted to men" (or at least "Paul valued other aspects of his relationship with John much more than physical attraction") – with that in mind I do kind of ask myself what Paul thought his relationship with John was exactly. Like, I don't pretend it was a standard, run-of-the-mill friendship, so I wonder a lot what his end-goal was, how he saw both of them continuing into later stages of life. The way he talks about the breakup, equating John choosing Yoko with John leaving Paul, speaks to something somewhat true about most couples that marry – but why did he not anticipate that before? What was different? Also, for $20 don't copout with "hurr hurr cause Cyn didn't matter"

Paul's various takes on The John Question continue to puzzle me. On the one hand, it sort of seems to me like Paul would have had enough context clues at the time to get that John was attracted to men, because some of our evidence for it is evidence he would have had access to – he also indicated at least once that John was in fact kind of openly bicurious??? (note: that rant keeps me up at night. Could write a whole thesis on it and also it's so fucking funny) On the other, Paul is pretty insistent that the rumours are Not True and he's not actually the only person to shoot them down like that. (May Pang, Julia Baird, Tony Bramwell, Hunter Davies off the top of my head) It shouldn't be a stretch of the imagination that a man born in the 1940s might have trouble rearranging the image he's made of his dead best friend so drastically (or in a way that might feel drastic to him). So what is it? Is Paul obfuscating the question to protect John's reputation/because he thinks the curiosity is in poor taste or does he genuinely not buy into it? I'm not actually sure whether he's weighed in on this since Yoko's "John Was BI!!!!" reveal. Has this stance developed over the years? And if I assume Paul does know about John's sexuality: does he in fact think John had feelings for him? I do think this is a thing he would never talk about if he did so it feels like there would be no way of knowing either way. But it also makes me wonder about the barriers he might have set up in his head to avoid that very question – because the truth is that if John had Those Feelings™ for Paul and Paul never knew, that's sort of the second-worst case scenario from Paul's perspective, right after John having never liked him in the first place.

AND THEN THERE'S JOHN. Because just because Paul may not have picked up on it, doesn't mean John wasn't putting anything down. But he could also very much have been sending mixed signals from his own end, right? And again, acid mindset + mid 60s Free Love shit: in that culture, how much could John making advances be perhaps taken as Flowery Friendship? Did he justify it to himself that way? Or was John actually violently shoving all of that down? Was he truly capable of that?

It really never ends – I'm not certain of ANYTHING, but give me a proposal (ie. "In My Life is about Paul") and I'll talk myself into circles exploring the ins and outs of that hypothetical.

[ryuichirou]

Replies

Also shorter ones today… mostly related to our previous replies and posts!

Anonymous asked:

After seeing Eel Floyd with Riddle

AND THOSE BITE MARKS 👀👀👀👀

I gotta know -

Did Floyd slip and slide in Riddle?

Or

Also

Did Riddle magically goldfish form and the two had merman sex???

Honestly I wasn’t thinking about Riddle also becoming a merman, but they absolutely have to have merman sex at some point, otherwise it just isn’t fair (to me) lol

And to answer your first question, yes, there might have been some slipping and sliding in Riddle involved~

Anonymous asked:

re: the gaslighting Jade ask. I randomly stumbled on your blog from other ones, and I literally blocked you because shroudcest triggers me. Ultimately, we are responsible for our own safety. As long as it’s properly marked for (which yours clearly is since I blocked you the second I made a tumblr), really all we can do is filter the things that hurt us out.

(im agreeing with you btw. draw what you want i cant stop you. just feel like i in particular make a point worth mentioning from seeing that. you can answer this or not bc obviously i probably wont see it anyway)

Anon! Whether you see this reply or not, thank you very much for writing this despite having us blocked lol

You really are making a good point, and I am glad that you are taking care of yourself and avoiding uncomfortable stuff. I really encourage it. Thank you for understanding and for approaching this issue with respect.

Have a good day.

Anonymous asked:

Gaslighting IS Jade’s love language. Also mushrooms.

Facts, Anon <3 He doesn’t waste his gaslighting and mushrooms on those he doesn’t find entertaining love!

Anonymous asked:

Honestly I can totally see Cater as the kind of guy that now and then buys a random manga just because the cover looks aesthetically pleasing, although if they are BL they are probably more oriented towards shonen-ai than explicit content. But also he wouldn't really read them because he finds the stories and characters a bit ridiculous (is he a bitter anti-romantic? or maybe his sisters used to collect shojo manga and he associates the love story genre with them?). I bet when he had roommates he had fun leaving one of his manga lying around, just to see people's reaction and go "aw, shoot, you saw it? that's sooo embarassing..." or something like that

To be honest, I can see that too. Cater seems like someone who isn’t all that into anime and manga, but is aware of it enough to recognise that the cover is pretty and that there is something gay inside (he might figure out the latter thing later as he looks inside the book lol). His sisters really could be into it though, so I can see him having certain associations.

lol Cater’s roommates “finding” his manga though… Don’t act so coy, Cater 😭

Anonymous asked:

Goddammit! Idia, you cannot escape me for long, one way or another, your chest will be licked! *shakes fist at the sky*

I love how this is turning into a Looney Tunes cartoon…

Anonymous asked:

Idia doesn’t have nipples. He accidentally shaved them off. Tragic 😔 L in the chat for his nipples.

Damn. I’m afraid I have bad news for the previous Anon.

Anonymous asked:

Do you have any HCs for Neige and/or Chenya?

We do have HCs about Neige/Vil and Chenya/Riddle (1,2)!

Anonymous asked:

It is I, 🐩 anon,

So I got a friend into twst and tell me why her favorite character is goddamn Crowley? I'm currently trying to convert her to Divus supremacy. Enough about this. Let me ask my silly little question.

Is there anything about TWST's story plot that you dislike or wished it was worked on more? Or character you wish were more fleshed out? 

Your friend has quite the taste… She is probably a genius of sorts 😔🙏

I feel like I was pretty vocal about it, so I am sorry for talking about it again, but I really didn’t enjoy how Ch2 was handled and Leona in general, to be honest. I wrote a post about my grievances a whole year ago, but my stance didn’t really change. We’ve rewatched the majority of the main story since then, and I thought that maybe with fresh minds and fresh eyes we would enjoy Leona at least to some degree, but unfortunately it didn’t really help. The events don’t really help either…

There might be some other things, but this is the one I think about every time when we talk about the flaws of TWST writing.

Anonymous asked:

what is your notp?

A bunch of Leona ships come to mind, i.e. Leona/Malleus, Leona/Vil, Leona/Idia 🤔 But also a bunch of Trey ships, like Trey/Jade or Rook/Trey…

Anonymous asked:

if you had to go on a date with one of the twst boys who are you picking? i'm picking idia

Idia is a great option, Anon; he would be so uncomfortable and awkward, getting nervous about the smallest inconveniences and whispering “thank god” every time you don’t force him to do something… I would pick him to, but my second option would be Jamil. I think he’s pretty chill.

Katsu would've picked Jade because of course, this is the best pick.

Anonymous asked:

any old fandoms that you feel out of love with?

Can’t think of any, Anon… I feel like we never fall completely out of love with anything, just move on, but there is always an opportunity that we’ll come back at some point. Things like Homestuck are still on our minds constantly lol

There are some titles that we kind of started watching, but then stopped because it wasn’t fully out yet, and since then we kind of lost interest for this thing. And with some of these titles it’s very unlikely that we’ll ever go back, but it’s never 1000% impossible. But then again, it’s not like we loved these titles…

Anonymous asked:

Funfact: The crowley that crowley is named after used to perform sex based magic with men

Damn I hope this is what our Crowley also does. This is his dark secret that is very poorly hidden

Anonymous asked:

I think Riddle would be a really good teacher's pet

Oh he would <3 He is a teacher’s pet.

Ironically, I feel like this makes him a bit boring for Crewel…although it depends…🤔

Anonymous asked:

What is a ship you rarely draw but you love

I don’t draw any of them enough, I love them all! Waaaaah :(

I feel like I don’t draw Sebek/Silver nearly enough for how much we love them, Rook/Epel is also a rare one but we love it, Sebek/Idia could use more love, anything with Jamil too…

Anonymous asked:

Please share with us a full list of the preference of the TWST boys? Top or bottom? I typed up a list for you to use!

Anon, we have a list in our pinned post! But since you’ve typed up a list, I’ll go through the list again :) We also have a post in which we explain our reasoning for each choice, so you can read it too if you’re interested.

Oh! And if you meant some other types of preferences, please let me know. In that case though, we have a list of the boys’ kinks, which isn’t the same thing, but pretty close; so you can read this one too if you want <3

Riddle – bottom

Ace – top

Deuce – bottom

Trey – top

Cater – top

Leona – bottom

Ruggie – top

Jack  - top

Azul – top

Floyd – top

Jade – top

Kalim – top

Jamil – bottom

Vil – bottom

Rook – top

Epel – bottom

Idia – bottom

Ortho  – top

Malleus– bottom

Sebek  – top

Lilia  – top

Silver– bottom

[sugarfreesyscourse]

It's the year of 2023, can people stop treating their alters like they're less than people?

I hoped we would've left this mentality in 2016 but here I am, 7 years later, making this post.

Let me elaborate on what I mean. For one, I think it's very important for systems to recognise their alters as parts of oneself. This isn't to say you have to be comfortable using parts language etc, but fundamentally you are all parts of one brain/all parts of one person- you share a body, you share a life.

I think people have been getting better with acknowledging this, there's less systems that are like "x and co" and rather acknowledge what each alter needs to function and recover, and there's more of a push to be healthy and cohesive. But not everyone follows this...

This is mostly directed at hosts. If you have an alter- even if you don't like them- you shouldn't ruin things for them with no regard for what they would think or want, or how they would react when they next front, if you do not have solid grounds to do so (eg said alter is self-harming in any emotional/physical/social way). If you are taking things away from your alters- other parts of you- for no reason, that's cruel. It's punishing and making your life more miserable and difficult. Why do it? Not to mention if it's relationships/friendships etc it's harming another external person but hey

This isn't talking about persecutors and persecutor mentality, that's a different kettle of fish. Persecutors typically re-enact abuse and trauma for primarily an internal impact. I'm talking more about, say, ruining alters friendships or relationships without their consent or knowledge, ruining their reputation and talking badly about them, or treating them as if they're an external abuser in persecutor cases (I can understand how it can feel this way, but again, if this persecutor is part of you harming you, it's self harm mirroring something traumatic that has happened to you).

Though if you're ruining things for another alter that would technically make you some form of persecutor, and if you're a host with the whole "host syndrome/that's my only role" deal going on you probably don't like that, huh? So stop doing it

If you're doing this to an alter, I encourage you to take a step back and look where your actions have gotten you, particularly if the alter you're hurting (accidentally or not) is one you depend on to survive.

You demand respect for alters to be treated like people in the community. Hold that up to your own alters, too. If you're mad at an alter for hurting you or treating you badly, don't punish them in this way or give them more reason to lash out at you. After all, you've probably been treated like that yourself, and I really doubt you liked it.

[1800titz]

Hi! I’ve read everything you’ve posted and I’m on patreon and your stuff is very *chefs kiss* and such creative story lines! I had one thought the other day and I mean this as like. Helpful critique one writer to another. Like in the way that you don’t have to take this advice but I mean to help not hurt. You’re really fantastic at using creative imagery and unique words and you write very poetically. And most of the time it’s so good. But every once in a while it feels like a bit much - like I just want to know where he’s actually touching her or what they are actually doing. Like sometimes it takes a while to get to the actual action or narrative. Other times it’s really beautiful and flows so nicely and you create a really wonderful rhythm with it as well. You use it as a great narrative tool. But yeah in a *critique* way not a *complain/mean* way, you might want to consider pulling back and occasionally putting in some simpler more direct language. Especially at like the climax of a scene when I’m thinking “hurry up I want to know what happens next!” Bc you’ve told such a good story and I want to know! In the same way that the poetic language is a wonderful tool for some things, I think the simpler more direct language can be a great tool for other things. And by incorporating both it might make it more interesting to read. I had a professor talk about how when you change the style of language the reader doesn’t always notice that, but they do notice that the mood is different.

Again I LOVE your work and I intend this to be helpful not hurtful and you know yourself and your work best so if you don’t want to do anything with these thoughts that’s so valid!!

Hi! This is totally valid and I want to thank you for the support and for writing this in such a polite, friendly manner, because other times people don't do it so nicely.

I think I can understand where you're coming from. That being said, I also definitely make purposeful, lyrical prose choices. I'll probably never be able to understand why when you google "purple prose," the first thing to come up is "how to avoid purple prose," because to me, most literature that I enjoy borders on purple prose, if it already isn't. Like, genuinely, the kind of prose that other people hate and actively try to avoid, I will actively look for. It's just a preference thing. It's what I enjoy reading from others, it's what I enjoy writing. I think writing and reading stylistic decisions/preferences are entirely subjective, and I can also agree with you that a line of "he smiles" or "he holds her hand," as opposed to a chunk of flowery narrative, can add a delicate touch of simplicity here and there that I can appreciate. I think, as writers, we're always evolving and experimenting with our stylistic choices. I also am totally down with re-writes, and going back months later to edit things, and add new things, and take whole chunks out altogether, because I feel like that is the essence of writing, and I've done it before for sure! I go back, and I rewrite, and I put things in, and remove things, even if they're already uploaded. I've noticed a lack of ~simplicity~ in the earlier patreon posts for sure, which is why I go through, and edit here and there, and add things, and take things out. That being said, I purposefully avoid depicting actions a lot of the time, unless it's in a passage of smut (where it's mostly touch and movement and it makes sense to spell things out), because those things kind of unfold on their own in my opinion, if that makes sense. You can illustrate the movement occurring in a scene in three or four words if you wanted to, but you can't sense the depth of an emotion/turmoil/context in the same way, which is why that is a massive, massive part of my passages. I absolutely do not claim to be a pro in anything by any means, in any shape or form. I'm well aware that there are people out there who don't like my writing style at all. I just write things the way that I would enjoy to read them, and the way that make my brain happy. The fact there are people out there who enjoy it enough to subscribe and support me is unfathomably flattering, and I am really grateful for that.

But yeah! I totally get what you're saying, and I am no stranger to changing things and trying new things and growing out of/into new things. I agree that direct, simple language here and there can add a nice touch, and I'm totally open to incorporating a "he smiles" or "he holds her hand" here and there. The flowery metaphors and imagery along scenes are just a purposeful stylistic choice that I couldn't ever bear to part with.

Thank you again for supporting me and sending this in a really kindly worded way! <3

[bitterrobin]

tiny appreciation post/insane rambling about Tom Bronson

re-re-re-reading JSA 2007. Tom Bronson is a good character, fight me. Everyday I claw at the air in rage for the many characters introduced into the JSA and then never given any more detail. There's just too many people in the '07 JSA, man. Too Many. Tom is unfortunately one of those comic characters that has a super niche fanbase and nothing to follow up on outside of JSA.

so, in light of me inserting him into the TAXONOMY!verse and putting the guy smack dab into the Battle for the Cowl and Bette Kane's radar - I'm just gonna gush a little bit about his first appearance. (and include some headcanons for the au).

Putting aside my favorite Old Man Trio, can I just say that I like how pretty the art makes Tom look? The first time I read this comic, I got a very James Dean/1950's bad boy vibe from Tom. I'd like to think it was a little bit intentional in order to parallel Ted Grant and his eternal Old Americanism. At least it's something I'll keep in mind.

Getting into the main post though, throughout his first appearance and the later fight with Vandal Savage, its made clear that Tom is surprisingly knowledgable about superheroes and the surrounding goings-on of them. He knows who Wildcat is (though obviously Ted is canonically an old hero, he has to be somewhat well-known) and he instantly recognizes Vandal Savage.

(sidenote: Ted looks like a stiff Barbie doll being thrown into the kitchen there)

I take the fact that he recognizes and correctly identifies heroes/villains as a point towards my "Tom is an observant and analytical person" hc.

Earlier on in issue #3, we see that Tom gets right to heart of things when talking with Ted and that he's quick to reach (somewhat right) conclusions.

Despite this, he doesn't really show it anymore as he quickly drifts into a side character spot as the comic run goes in. I choose to believe that Tom doesn't voice his thoughts to the JSA bc he doesn't know them well and he prefers to make snarky remarks in conversation instead of inserting himself into anything personal.

Later on in the series, Tom is reluctant to learn how to box and is shown to dislike fighting in general.

Given the whole estranged-dad-is a famous boxing champ thing, Tom probably doesn't like boxing specifically because of Ted. He says that he doesn't like fighting because of his were-cat form, which it's assumed that he would unconsciously shapeshift into whenever he got into conflict.

(sidenote: why is this the only time I see his inner monologue in comics *sob*)

This distinct trait of disliking combat, at least the personal fist-flying kind, is definitely something I'm including in the au.

Both Tom and Bette are chosen for the au partially because I like them, but also because they have distinct personalities and philosophies that clash with baby Damian Wayne who's coming fresh into the Bat-scene. There will be conflict as Damian will dislike and mostly abhor Tom's personal disdain for fighting. Tom doesn't seem to fight unless necessary and he canonically prefers to rely heavily on his powers to get out of fights. He's only shown getting more violent than usual after Grant Emerson's death, which is pretty reasonable. They were clearly fast and close friends.

Hooo boy Grant should not have died. Especially in Blackest Night, of all things. Despite my personal dislike of it though, I'm still flip-flopping between leaving him dead and then resurrecting him in the au - or just ignoring his canon death altogether. On one hand, I like Grant and I like their friendship so I want him to appear in the au somewhere (alongside Maxine). On the other, his death allows for a just a little bit of dramatic character development/detailing for Tom that lets me explain why he's not with the JSA and instead is in Gotham. Choices.....

Ending the post here with the final smorgasbord of headcanons and blurbs for the au.

he is Mexican-American, but distant from his roots because his mom raised him single and cut-off from her larger family.

he and Bette will enter a relationship. It came to me in a vision and I decided to implement it bc why not. Tom/Bette is bi4bi.

they start dating bc they both strike me as "why not?" type of people, but it develops relatively quickly after Damian enters the picture and they have to co-parent/watch over him as Gotham collapses in slow-motion around them

its shown in the background of some of the panels above that he's into music, specifically guitar and piano

so he will be in a band at some point

bc Alfred does not have the same relationship with Damian in the au, Tom is one who gives him/lets him keep the kitten

(also bc I don't subscribe to the "League of Assassins hate/kill animals" idea - Tom bonds with Damian over a mutual care for animals/cats)

Tom and Damian are a rocky pair, and it takes them longer to get along than Bette does with Damian

He treats Damian as the annoying little brother he never had, and their sense of humor kinda lines up

Tom fully encourages Damian’s sarcasm and rude comebacks

Believe me, there will be a scene where Tom unconsciously purrs in his werecat form and Damian definitely notices

adding to the maybe Grant stays dead part, I'm still iffy on whether to include a one-sided crush on Tom's part that adds to the angst

unlike Grant though, I'm definitely keeping Yolanda Montez alive

Tom and Yolanda have a semi-distant sibling relationship that's a little awkward bc of the age gap and differing experiences with Ted

Might also resurrect Jake Grant, I need the Wildcat family reunion

Ted and Tom still talk, and even though Tom doesn't stick with the JSA, he's still regularly invited to whatever gathering they have

Tom still keeps up with working out/a bit of training - but he focuses on defense and avoidance instead of out-right conflict

Tom got into heroism bc of Ted, but he stuck with it bc of Grant and Maxine

he does not have strict ideals or a drive to save the world, but he likes to focus on the small things and helps where he can

[the-invisible-queer]

I feel like this is gonna make me sound both like a know-it-all nitpicking you and an insane weirdo who was way too invested in the relationship of two teenagers I don't know but. As someone who literally hyperfixated on both Nick and Miley for basically all of my formative years, and as a result just permanently has an encyclopedia's worth of useless information about their teenage selves stored in my brain even though both fixations died off years ago and I barely pay attention to either of them now, some parts of your post about them are simply killing me and I HAVE to correct and expand on it or I'll explode lol, I'm sorry it's nothing personal:

Kevin misspoke in the doc; the Hannah Montana episode wasn't when they met, they were already dating by then. They met at a charity event on June 11, 2006 according to Miley's book, with Nick also eventually calling June 11 their anniversary in Wedding Bells. IIRC Miley said in the book that Hannah Montana had only been airing for a few months when they met and the boys hadn't really done much of anything with Disney yet, which would definitely indicate emotions happening before any publicity did.

(There's also a very funny/interesting/wtf piece of lore re: this date from yearrrrrs later where Miley either mixed up the dates herself or tried to retcon her own life and gaslight everyone about public information by claiming on Twitter that June 11 was her anniversary with Liam, then deleted it, then announced her divorce very shortly after. That's not really directly related to anything we're discussing here but it was such a bizarre thing to watch happen in real time that it almost dragged me back into the fixation again as a grown ass adult, so I felt compelled to bring it up anyway lmao.)

A LOT of the og Niley Lore came from Miles to Go, where Miley dedicated an entire chapter to Nick (called "Prince Charming" in the book) and their relationship. I don't remember every detail anymore but she definitely said they clicked instantly, became boyfriend and girlfriend the day they met, and stayed up talking on the phone until like 4 a.m. that night, all of which backs up what Kevin said about love at first sight. She also explicitly said in the book that they truly loved each other and had a serious relationship despite how young they were.

A lotttttt of JB songs, especially but not exclusively the ones from the mid-to-late 2000s, are thought to be about Miley and some are very obvious if you know The Lore, but the only ones I know were ever explicitly confirmed besides the ones you mentioned are Sorry, Can't Have You and, of course, Before the Storm. The "hugs are overrated" part of SOS is sometimes thought to be a reference to the day they met, where according to Miley's book he tried to shake her hand and she told him she only did hugs, but I've always assumed that was probably just a coincidence since it seems like logistically it must have been written before they broke up and that would be a weirdly snarky line to write about your current girlfriend. Burnin' Up is also very very heavily thought to have been inspired by Miley, specifically by her look at the 2007 AMAs, which you can Google if you're interested enough; I do believe this one, which makes Selena's appearance in that specific music video much, much funnier.

Essentially all of Miley's earlier Miley songs (as opposed to Hannah ones) are also either confirmed or commonly thought to be about Nick. Also possibly of note is that some of Demi's early songs are also rumored to have a lot of Miley inspiration in them due to Nick co-writing them, which is simply amusing to me, especially considering the chances that at least one song probably ended up being partially about Nick's ex and partially about his brother. I never fixated on Demi or her music as hard as I did on these two though, so I no longer remember which specific songs were implicated here.

Nick confirmed Wedding Bells in his 'answering Google's most searched questions' video, where you could tell even he was thinking "who tf else did y'all think that one could have been about" lmao.

The messy little ping pong game Nick played between Miley and Selena for a while was definitely confirmed; I don't remember if any of them ever explicitly acknowledged it (outside of lyrics like "you love me, you like her" from 7 Things which...damn girl scalp him again), but to me and the other hyperfixated kids following along at the time, the dates alone made it obvious lol. He first got with Selena after the first time he and Miley broke up and then repeated that exact pattern at least two more times over the next few years, rarely being single for any significant length of time at all in between. Baby fuckboi behavior.

In conclusion, both of them have been pretty clear and consistent over the years that the emotions of it all came first and were very real, even if Disney may have capitalized on those emotions for publicity purposes. My specific examples are fuzzy since the fixations were dead by then but I know both of them have described the other as their first love and first heartbreak well into adulthood, including as recently as I think last year for Miley (where she revealed that the first time they broke up she asked if she could give him a hug goodbye and he said no, which is lowkey hilarious even though it makes baby Nick sound like a douche - although knowing his sensitive ass he was probably just afraid he'd start sobbing or something if she hugged him lol).

The only non-Niley piece of input I have to add is that in recent years Miley has definitely expressed negative and complicated emotions about starting her career so young, not in the sense that she didn't actually want it at the time but in the sense that like...children often want to do things that wouldn't be good for them or that they aren't capable of fully understanding the ramifications of, but that doesn't mean their parents should allow them to do those things or that they'll appreciate having been allowed to do those things when they look back as an adult. I don't know a ton about her feelings on it since again, I don't actively follow her anymore and only really see what comes across my feed, but it seems like it was definitely much more complicated than "her dad sold her to Disney Channel" or "she wasn't forced into it so it was fine." For the record I've often wondered if any of the Jonas boys have similar emotions about their young stardom, as most child stars seem to to some degree, but honestly feel like if they do we'll never ever hear about it; they just don't give me the vibe that they'd ever be comfortable talking about that publicly, especially if it involves any complex feelings towards their parents, who they seem to have much closer and healthier relationships with than Miley has with hers.

OKAY I'M DONE sorry that was a whole novel you didn't ask for but I literally have had all these stupid factoids about these two strangers just bouncing around in my head for like almost twenty years and almost never get the chance to put this wealth of knowledge to "use" anywhere, so on the rare occasions I can vomit all this up I kind of get carried away lmao whoops

BESTIE NEVER APOLOGIZE! Especially not when it comes to rambling about fixations. My blog is a safe space!

Though I wish you could add cuts in asks because RIP to everyone's dash I'll try to add tags so people with long posts blocked can ignore.

I'll be the first one to admit my fuck up with Jonas lore. Deadass don't remember anything Miley wrote in her book about Nick and I read Miles to Go twice but I have the memory of a twig.

I can't even remember what I was doing 5min ago - no joke.

Also my timeliness are SO fucking hazy - it's the trauma - because I'm learning shit I thought happened with JB in 2011 happened in 2009.

I am not the most reliable source.

Also I didn't care about Nick much back then. That's from when he was my least favorite (derogatory).

Thank you for illuminating us on the subject! I actually did learn a lot from that.

[twst-drabbles]

The same annon from the "MC shouldn't have magic" I absolutely LOVE when people talk about this! I love hearing people's rambles .

I also agree with all your points stated in the reply!

As for obey it hits close to home cause it's honestly one of my fav dating sims

(don't know many but it has good translation and doesn't have a paywall(GESMS) or adds)

But I also agree on the story telling 🥲. It's a good idea and plot but there's a part that could definitely use improvement (lesson 16 if yk yk).

SPOILER!!!!

for those who are in the later lessons it's weird for me how it never got stated that we learned magic(able to cast) in the original lessons(early ones). Like we always had magic and even though we didn't know anything we would've picked some stuff up like we've been there for almost a year. So we should've had at least have small weak magic 😞 but we only learned and got to cast spells later on late into the lessons once Solomon taught us.

Another thing that could've been improved.

END OF SPOILER!!

Also if you wanna know something about a lesson you can post about the lesson + chapter you want information on and I'll probably go to your inbox to tell you since i have 1-80

(not the locked ones you need 3 stars or the ones in hard mode)

Hope that helps :D

Drink water plz 🙏

Ah, lesson 16, the start of my frustrations. Funnily enough, I wouldn't be as irritated at that lesson if it weren't for the fact the MC isn't allowed to be angry. I was already annoyed with the fact the MC is easy to fluster when I'm 100% immune to flirtations and teasings, but lesson 16 kinda just, clicked into place that the writers had no intention of having the MC get some kind of backbone. So I just stopped playing the game. But also because all my UR's ended up being Belphegor and I was nooooot about that. I was considering re-downloading the game when those Diavolo cards were released but eh, I got into Arknights by then and I was sucked in.

And yes to the magic thing. If the intention was to always have the MC get magic, there should've been signs or indications as such. Odd reactions to the pacts, a sensitivity to the ingredients when making food or potions, perhaps even a heightened intuition for dealing with the creatures down under, or even just a sense of scale of the power sleeping in Diavolo's castle, but nope. And if the MC always had some small form of magic, it would've been a good idea for them to be clever with it when trying not to get murdered. Like, it's one of the things they're confident about, small magic spells that they use in creative ways, only to get that confidence tested and questioned with the events of lesson 16. Twas a missed opportunity, I say.

And honestly I forgot which lesson I left off on. It was so long ago. Would be nice to find a database to read at my own leisure.