#i'm sure it's different for everyone

[the-boney-rolls]

There are seven levels of McLennon Hell

Level 1: Denial - What's this "McLennon"? Oh of course there are people that think they are in love. Wishful thinking but wouldn't that be fun ha ha ha

Level 2: Curiosity - I mean ok they were definitely platonic soulmates, right?

Level 3: Queering John - Oh wow seems like there's legitimate evidence that John was bisexual, I guess it's not that much of a stretch to imagine he was in love with Paul, that really changes things

Level 4: What Happened in India??

Level 5: Disillusionment of Paul's Immovable Heterosexuality - Oh they really wrote a lot of songs about each other huh. "I'm in love with a friend of mine," what's that mean Paul? Paul? Why are you so obsessed with queerness Paul? You don't have to mention John, Paul, no one asked!

Level 6: Letting Go of All Sanity - Look at the way they look at each other, it's not normal! Is it...... so crazy to think that they did? Paul is so private and repressed, he would keep that secret. What else could "waiting on the other side for your friends to go" mean??

Level 7: Acceptance - THEY WERE FUCKING THE WHOLE TIME THERE'S NO OTHER EXPLANATION

[screambirdscreaming]

Something that peeves me whenever I see another post going around with some variation on "autistic people take things literally which means we are the only people who communicate Clearly and Directly" is that - for any given statement, there is not one singular, agreed on, universal Literal Interpretation. If there was, none of this would be a problem!

The nature of language is that there's always some degree of interpretability. Words have several different meanings, often overlapping, and there's nuance of context, cultural references, and so on.

Faced with a statement, most people will quickly come up with an interpretation that to them makes the most sense. But if you asked a roomful of people to explain in detail their interpretations, everyone's would probably be a little different, even for a pretty simple statement. Regardless of whether those people are autistic! Everyone conceptualizes the world a little differently, and everyone has a unique personal history of all the language they've encountered, and these things effect our interpretations.

In order for communication to be workable, given this slosh in interpretability, there's another couple of processes that go on. As conversation goes on, people reassess if their initial interpretation matches up with additional context. If it doesn't, they revise it, or ask clarifying questions. And on the flipside of this process, the other person in conversation is tracking if your reactions make sense with *their* understanding of what they're trying to convey to you, and offering context or rephrasing things if it seems you're out of alignment.

These processes are social skillsets that are, like most social skillsets, not ever directly articulated or explained. Many people are bad at one or both. Sometimes you encounter someone who is really, notably good at it - the vaunted "good listener", who puts in the effort to really understand what you're trying to say, or that really excellent teacher who engages with you back and forth until you really get it. But a lot of the time, it's a sort of passive social friction - people just not getting each other.

Sometimes, you encounter someone whose brain works so much like yours that talking to them feels almost effortless - you just get each other. But that's a pretty rare occurrence for anyone. More often, as you get to know someone, you start to understand the shape of the way they interpret things and learn to account for it, so over time it's easier to make sense to each other.

It's honestly not uncommon in society for people to aggregate in groups of people who interpret things similarly, and who are thus easier to talk to, rather than actually building the skills of communicating across interpretation gaps. Particularly egregious are those groups of men who talk about Women as an incomprehensible monolith, but it turns up to a greater or lesser degree on a lot of levels.

I suspect this is the root of a lot of parenting problems - people who have never built this communication skillset, and relied on choosing friends who make sense to them without a lot of effort, and who are then totally unprepared to interact with a child who interprets things in ways they don't expect.

Obviously I can't speak to The Universal Typical Experience, not least because it doesn't exist. But in general I would posit that:

Most people, give or take a few assholes, are not trying to say things that are confusing. Most people think they are communicating clearly, because the first interpretation *they* would come up with on hearing one of their own sentences is the correct interpretation.

Many people are not very good at accounting for different ways people could interpret things they're saying. However, it is normal and polite social behavior to be somewhat flexible about this and forgiving of misunderstandings. If people are being shitty to you about not understanding them, they are assholes. And I wouldn't assume that the rest of the communication they have with everyone else they know goes totally smoothly for them.

I suspect there is a bit of an unfortunate feedback loop, where people have bad experiences when someone gets mad at them for not getting something, and learn to hide when they're confused. Which then leads to larger, more complicated misunderstandings, which other different people get upset at them about, because those people think they should have asked for clarification in the first place.

Truly you can't win with everyone. No one can win with everyone. There is no monolith of "neurotypical communication" which resolves all these contradictions - all those people you're lumping in together under "neurotypical" have just as much trouble with each other.

[seawitchkaraoke]

never gonna get tired of Aabria and Brennan playing dnd together, they know each other so well, they are so fun, they're clearly having so much fun ''does Evan have a grenade??'' ''idk will you let me? :)'', ''you know what I'm gonna ask'' ''yeah I throw myself in front of Sam, absolutely'', ''I'll give it to you, if you detach your shadow'' ''.....(pause, clearly aware that with Aabria as a dm, this will have Consequences) yeah I do it, I want to get all of them'', ''is my shadow back with us?'' ''no :)'' ''okay. (concerning)''

And that's just this episode, but there's so many little moments in all of their campaigns that really read as ''I will fuck you up <3'' ''I know and I am walking into it with open eyes <3'' from both of them, never hold any punches, because they know the other one doesn't want them to, just. Inflicting emotional damage on each other for funsies is a love language I guess?

It's beautiful

[tagarilaghost]

I SWEAR CELEBI'S THINGY IS COMING SOON BUT I REALLY WANTED TO POST THIS ALRIGHT

yeaah... future trio got me too...

and Darkrai is there too, because of course he is.

hey look i drew a cute Drifloon :D

...ignore the rest

whatever started at Darkrai doodles ended in brainrot of future trio + darkrai and I'm blaming @scribz-ag24 for this

[canisalbus]

hi sorry in advance if this is weird but i couldn't for the life of me figure out who machete was reminding me of and just now i figured it out - surku the dog from the moomins. can't remember enough to tell how accurate that is personality wise but something about the image of a distressed pointy-nosed dog shivering in a coat... plus ne on molemmat ahdistuneita queer ikoneita

I love Surku! Surku must be protected at all costs.

If you ask me, he's even more distressed in the comics.

I keep him on my fridge door as well.

But now that we're on the topic of Moomin characters, I must add that I see Machete in various Fillyjonks a lot. The short story Fillyjonk who believed in disasters is one of my favorite pieces of literature ever, when I first read it it shook me to my core, I still revisit it on yearly basis. For someone who seemed so wild and free spirited by nature, Tove Jansson did remarkable job at catching and depicting the essence of anxiety, uncertainty, vague sadness and irrational fears. At least in my opinion.

[cosmicredcadet]

"This fandom is so queer friendly!" This fandom literally hates, bisexual, trans, nonbinary, and aspec people but ok.

[onewingedangels]

BALDUR'S GATE 3 (2023) dev. Larian Studios

[starwarjotta]

first work for @codywanfirstkissbingo, "tender kiss" bingo card under keep reading

[loudlittleecho]

Danny Phantom Prompt: Too Late to Save Them

Ok! There are similar concepts floating either around here or AO3 (or both), but I haven’t been able to find this particular angst path. (Though I’m sure it’s around)

So!

Canon Divergence After TUE (The Ultimate Enemy)

Danny fought his evil self, but was too late to save his family. Clockwork didn’t reverse time to save them— they were always meant to die. It was their “time.”

-------------

“NO!” 

Danny was flown backward from the explosion, his body hurtling along with the rubble. 

The rubble. 

When the dust settled he heard sirens in the distance. Saw. . . a torn red beret beside his foot.

Tucker. 

Sam. 

His. . . 

Family. 

Distraught, confused, exhausted, Danny notices a woman crouched down beside him. She’s speaking to him, but he can’t hear her; there’s a dull buzz all around him, and the world seems more. . . narrow. It’s hard for him to focus on what he’s seeing. 

And then she. . . freezes. 

The world freezes in time. 

The ghost, Clockwork, is floating behind her. He has his hand out, waiting for something. His expression unreadable, but Danny understands. 

His fingers lightly grasp the thermos holding his future self. As though in a trance, he lifts it up to Clockwork. Gives him the thermos. 

Clockwork accepts it, continues looking at him impassively. 

Resumes time. 

. . . 

The days go by. He is released from the hospital in the care of a caseworker. She is talking to him gently, but he doesn’t hear what she’s saying. 

He's had many people talk to him, so many people gazing at him with pity. He can't be bothered to care.

He is led to a car, someone buckles him in. The car begins driving, and soon is parked in front of Fenton Works.

His home. 

The caseworker is saying something. . . Something about his aunt Alicia. He ignores her, walking into the house. 

Into the lab. 

He hears her scurrying after him.

Ignoring her cries of alarm, he goes into the portal. 

… 

He floats in the ghost zone. A few ghosts attempt to banter with him, push him around; but noticing his non reaction, leave him be. 

He can’t go home. Can’t go to Vlad. He has to keep his humanity to prevent becoming a monster. 

But how can he keep what he can’t feel?

He’s lost them all.

But he can keep his promise. 

“Don't worry. I won't turn into that. Ever. I promise.”

He floats further and further into the ghost zone. 

[indilaras]

it's mira loving hours <3

(you check the clock. all the numbers have been replaced with 'mira loving hours')

Aro and Ace colors bonuses:

[cupidgnome]

i changed Brent and Madi a lil bit.

[saltpepperbeard]

Stede + His Babies

[bingqiuhateabortion]

I just realised that the official translation of tgcf probably doesn't have author's notes. Y'all are missing out on a lot. I know it doesn't fit the "proper book" format i guess and is setting a very different mood but!! But how else would you know that hx owes hc money for his pet's food?? Or that she compared 1000 gods cave scene with fxmq finding hc's childhood diaries?? Or that hualian kept the memory eating demon for ageplay kink reasons.

[lazzarella]

The Heart Killers x Pulp Fiction poster

[sunderwight]

Alicent's approach to motherhood is a lot like the kingsguard approach to knighthood, when you really think about it.

In ASOIAF when Jaime gets knighted as a teenager, there are strong parallels to a maiden being deflowered. The cloak, like a wedding cloak, and the blood spilled on the white, like the virgin blood spilled on a wedding bed sheet, and how Jaime is all starry-eyed and hopeful right before the whole myth of knighthood comes crashing down into cold, ugly reality, and etc.

I think Alicent has that going on but just with a different romanticized social role. Her path to honor and nobility had to involve becoming a mother and conducting herself in a certain way, because of her place in society. Even if she hadn't married a king, she'd have been married off to someone, and been expected to produce heirs and to raise them for him. Motherhood is presented as this noble pursuit for women in her society. But in the hard light of reality, it's not nearly as glamorous or morally concise of a lifestyle as it purports to be. She'll put herself between her kids and threats, just like a knight defending his liege, but we never see her actively enjoy motherhood and she clearly struggles to connect with her kids on an interpersonal level. Just like how Jaime got knighted ridiculously young, Alicent got married ridiculously young. Just like Jaime struggled between doing the morally correct thing vs doing "his duty", Alicent struggles between doing what she wants and doing what's expected of her as a mother.

It's all about the way that restrictive social roles make people miserable.

[mollysunder]

The one thing I don't understand about the theory where Piltover and Zaun are teaming up to fight Noxus in the end, is why are Vi and Ekko flying towards Jinx's supposed airship if they're on the same team? Why does Vi NEED to confront Jinx in the middle of a warzone?

We see Ekko in garb that looks like he's on Jinx's side, but we mostly see him with the Firelights in those scenes, and they not decorated in Jinx's colors. Even minor background characters that are on Jinx/Sevika's side have a pink X on the right side of their chest. The Firelights are completely free of any graffiti or markers that would identify them with Jinx, and Vi is in an enforcer uniform. We don't see any other Zaunites in the crowd, but for some reason Vi and Ekko are centering their concentration on Jinx.

I think what's happening is that Ambessa's forces are fighting against Piltover's enforcers, but Jinx isn't helping, she's taking advantage of the chaos. Jinx is probably in Piltover to do something big that Piltover can't defend against since they're preoccupied with Noxus. Jinx will probably think the fight between Noxus and Piltover is the best opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Vi and Ekko will probably object, they'll say her plan goes too far, and it'll get people killed. The whole scenario will probably be a more extreme mirror to whatever the Silco flashback will reveal about what went down on the Day of Ash and why Vander tried to kill Silco, except this time with magic.