#kind and genuine and genuinely consistent

[ere-the-sun-rises]

I love the Odyssey and I genuinely think everyone ahould read it (the Robert Fagles English translation the most accessible I've come across and it has an audiobook narrates by Ian McKellan!) bit here are some other facts from your local tumblr Classicist:

The Odyssey was actually translated into Latin many times well before the 1510 date Community Notes provides. That one is just the oldest Latin translation we have that survives (and it's in Biblical Latin, so it's ugly as fuck Latin - I'm sorry Biblical Latinists, but Classical Latin is prettier in every conceivable way)

The Greek poem was actually written sometime around ~800 BCE (ei. almost 3000 years ago) and is thought to be one of the first literary pieces from the dawn of Greek writing (including the Iliad and some other lost works)

It has some of the earliest examples of comple literary tropes, themes and structures we have (think thinks like in medias res, foreshadowing, unreliable narrator (depending on your interpretation), character study, etc).

This thing is a novel's worth in POEM FORM. i cannot stress enough how impressive it is to tell a whole novel's worth of story in POEM FORMAT.

Ans not just any old poem - "epic poetry" refers to a specific kind of poetry. Like Shakespeare is iambic pentameter, Homer is dacyllic hexameter*

The narrative is really good and very compelling. Odysseus really loves his wife, man.

It was originally oral history/entertainment!

In short, I highly recommend reading it (or evem better, listening to it).

*Iambic pentameter is five feet of iambic meter - or five beats of long-short stresses. This is the most natural and consistent beat for English. In Greek, the meter is six beats of long-short-short stresses.

I’m living for The Odyssey discourse on Twitter right now because some people are like, “You’ve never heard of the odyssey” and other people are like, “some people don’t speak English and haven’t read your little American book.”

[scintillyyy]

i do think that despite certain kinds of grittiness occurring in other 90s comics, and even bat comics, 90s bat comics were genuinely pretty firm on the stance that resorting to killing is pretty categorically unacceptable for a bat-character. it's why knightfall is a thesis for "a batman who only cares to stop crime and will kill is not a good batman". it's why when they had characters like huntress and spoiler who were more likely to ask the question of if "maybe some people should die" they consistently got talked down from it as not the right way and would always back down from killing (and why they were allowed to be batfam characters rather than bad guys--the fact that despite the fact they were willing to kill, they chose not to almost every time) (whether or not you agree with the stance that ostensibly was the main stance). like yes. bruce could be a dogmatic asshole about it to people but also. in the words of the batbible itself.

[hitomisuzuya]

being wrapped up with ribbon as a christmas present for aventurine... im on the floor....

aventurine x fem!reader. smut. body worship. nipple play. cunnilingus. spoilers for aventurine's real name.

i hope smut was what you were asking for 😭 if not, my apologies. i hope everyone had a wonderful christmas.

you got a lot of encouragement from topaz. aventurine's eyes held both a look of soft amusement and captivated awe as he looked at you. there you are, a shy blush on your cheeks, offering your wrist that has a lopsided christmas ribbon tied to it. tying it with one hand had indeed been a challenge, to say the least.

every part of your body was highlighted perfectly by the lingerie you put such careful thought into picking out. "happy christmas. i hope i am an okay gift," you said shyly, barely able to look at him in your flustered state.

"my my, you shouldn't have," aventurine replied, his eyes sliding over your body as he untied the bow. "i will unwrap you, and enjoy you thoroughly," he dropped the ribbon to the floor.

both his words and the action of untying the ribbon made the blush darken on your cheeks. every word aventurine said dripped with appreciation for your gesture. "such an exquisite gift deserves to be indulged in," he delicately removed your bra and panties, taking extra time in brushing his fingers over your skin teasingly.

he led you over to the bed, gently maneuvering you onto your back. "tell me, sweetheart, to what do i owe the honor of such a," his finger traced a line from your throat to between your breasts, "lavish gift?" he chuckled hearing your shy squeak. he is more than aware of how much just the sound of his voice affected you.

his cock aches always seeing how adorable your flustered reactions are.

"because you are you. i want you, aventurine. thank you, so much for simply existing," you replied, shivering as goosebumps dotted your skin in the wake of his touches.

aventurine felt both his cock hardening and his heart swelling. your words were full of genuine love and endearment. he turned your head to look at him with a finger under your chin. "what kind of man would i be if i didn't except such a gift?"

lying next to you on his side, aventurine kissed his way down your neck, drawing a shaky sigh from you as his teeth grazed your skin. he put an arm around you, leaning around to flick his tongue on your nipple while he parted your legs.

he groaned softly, slowly wagging his tongue across your nipple. "you know, i have always enjoyed the sensation of your nipple hardening on my tongue," he latched his lips around your nipple to suck on, dipping his fingers to part the folds of your pussy. "you are really enjoying my tongue," he teased, swirling his tongue around and around your nipple relentlessly.

your hips twitched up to grind on his fingers, his sucks on your nipple sent jolts of pleasure to your throbbing clit. you whimpered softly behind your moans, your hand finding the back of his head to press his mouth down onto your breast. you carded your fingers through his soft blonde hair.

aventurine sighed, soaking up the feeling of your fingertips rubbing on his scalp. he practically purred as he switched his attention to your other nipple, drool rolling down your breast. he savoured the sounda of your moans rising in octave, becoming more consistent as he stroked your pussy and played with your clit.

more wet pooled between your legs, the worshipping sucks and licks on your nipples made your pussy clench around nothing. you grind against his fingers, arching your chest up into his mouth slightly to convey your urgency for him.

"k-kakavasha," you moan, grinding your clit on his fingers. aventurine pinched and rubbed your clit, his sucks on your nipples turning more aggressive as he grinded his hard cock against your thigh. you moaning his real name so sweetly turned him on even more.

he is determined to worship your pussy next. rolling over onto his stomach, he slotted himself between your thighs. "say it again," he moans, his tongue sweeping between your drooling folds. he looked up at you expectantly, his fingers ghosting along the insides of your thighs.

"kakavasha," you cry out, your thighs shaking as you grind against his mouth. your clit throbbed on his tongue as he scooped it into his mouth to suck on as drool pools onto your pussy.

he groans hearing you oblige him. he wagged his tongue around and around your clit, his head spinning with absolute love. "how lovely you sound, sweetheart. please," he prodded your tongue on your abused clit before licking a stripe down your pussy to tease at your hole. "do moan my name just like that while you cum."

aventurine hardly gave you a moment to breath as he ravished your cunt. just when you processed the strong jolts of pleasure burning through you, he coaxed another much stronger one to grip your body. "kakavasha! oh fuck, kakavasha, don't stop!" you writhe on the bed, chasing the warm, delicious pressure of your orgasm building in your core.

"how sweet you sound," he moans, pushing his tongue inside of you. his eyes rolled in the back of his head tasting your walls clench around his tongue, your back arching off the bed as he pinched and rubbed your clit. "give me more, sweetheart."

you tug on his hair, pushing his mouth down onto your cunt as your hips buck into his mouth. "kakavasha!" you moaned in an endearing way that made his cock pulse even more. your gasp of pleasure as he latched his lips around your clit again was the only warning he got before his tongue on your clit tore your orgasm out of you.

you couldn't even think about anything, except for how good his tongue felt fucking into you while he lapped at your release.

[a-dragons-journal]

Genuine question, does our system need to label ourselves as ‘endo-neutral’? (Mostly because we just really, really cannot bring ourselves to care. Also people are people and we can’t care (low empathy))

I ask asking because I (and the system) are not involved in syscourse, and I’m not sure what to put in the tags to prevent people from being upset.

Ignore this ask if it is rude in any way (genuinely)

(This was written by the co-host)

If you want my opinion, if you want to say “we don’t want to be actively involved in syscourse,” that exact sentence is the only way to say it.

Personally, I’m kind of of the opinion that “endo-neutral” isn’t a real thing unless you’re “neutral” in the sense that you haven’t done enough research on it yet to have formed an opinion (which, that’s valid but a different thing than true neutrality). You can’t really be neutral on whether people are allowed to exist or not. Either you’re okay with people fakeclaiming other people, or you’re not. “Endo-neutral” just tells me you are okay with it, you’re just not actively doing it yourself - which is a little like this comic:

Y’feel?

This is not me saying you have to involve yourself actively in syscourse. As a matter of fact, I recommend you don’t actively seek that out, in most cases - it’s not really good for you, generally speaking. Not wanting people to drop syscourse on your doorstep is perfectly reasonable. But unfortunately, if you interact with other systems much, it’s probably going to come up eventually, whether you like it or not. Eventually you are going to be in a space where someone starts talking about how endogenic systems aren’t real, and you’re going to have to decide how to respond to that and whether you’re willing to tolerate it.

Ultimately, I don’t think you have to be emotionally invested to decide whether you think something is right or wrong. I know there’s probably some extra energy investment required for that for you, but unfortunately I think that’s just something you’re going to have to deal with, as harsh as that might sound. I don’t really see a way around it. Which, it’s as good a time as any to ask yourself - where do your morals lie? What basic principles do you build your morality on? Are they internally consistent, and if not, what needs to change to make it so? And if you follow those principles to their natural conclusion, what does that tell you about the situation you’ve been given?

(Also, entirely pragmatically, if your goal is to avoid people getting mad at you, “endo-neutral” in my experience kind of just gets both sides upset anyway - endo supporters because of everything I just said, anti-endos because anyone who tolerates endos is the enemy according to them. You’re probably better off just stating you don’t want to argue about syscourse to achieve that goal.)

But that’s just my two cents’ worth. Hopefully it’s good food for thought at least.

[sir-phineas-lost]

Claudia Deserves Respect

One of the things I think the last(?) season of The Dragon Prince did right was giving Claudia her due as a character. For a long time now, I feel like both the show and the fandom has had the bad habit of either demonizing or infantalizing Claudia and her motives. Even the corners or the fandom who are sympathetic towards her tend to go on about how she is "emotionally immature" or naive and easily manipulated because she wants her dad back and listens to Aaravos when Viren is gone, but that has never been my read on her.

The big shift in Claudia and Aaravos' relationship this season happens when they are at the Moon-Nexus and Aaravos has a rare moment of introspection and vulnerability with her, confessing that he doesn't really believe that Viren is going to be there. This is obviously very surprising for Aaravos to admit because he has no reason to do so other than genuine guilt about manipulating Claudia after bonding with her and also breaking her and Terry up, but Claudia surprises us even more by admitting that she has already done the introspection to realize that her dad is not going to be waiting for her at the end of this. This is one of those moments that I have seen people argue makes Claudia a passive puppet because "she just wants Aaaravos to tell her what to do" but I disagree. It is important to know that until this point Aaravos has not given Claudia any reason for why inverting the Moon-Nexus would be a good idea other than the vague suggestion that Viren might be there, but she has already come to the conclusion that he isn't on her own. When she answers Aaravos with "Good question. Why don't you answer it?" she is not making Aaravos think for her, she is telling him: "I know you didn't suggest this for my benefit, I know you have an agenda, now spill it". In this moment, Claudia demands to hear exactly why Aaravos is doing this and she decides that his is a cause worth pursuing. Aaravos was open with her and she decided for herself that she is 100% on-board with tearing down the entire structure of the world and making the cosmic assholes suffer.

This is also not demonizing her in any way because it is perfectly in-line with her previously established good traits. Claudia has consistently been the most vocal about voicing the injustice of this world in how poorly the elves and dragons have treated humanity so tearing down the cosmic order is not framed as her just wanting the world to end but her usual way of standing up to injustice by breaking taboos.

Her last big scene of the arc is her confronting Soren and Corvus on top of the Storm Spire where they chased her down with the intent of killing her and she lets them go saying that she is still herself, still nice. This is also something I see a lot of people framing as negative because it is Claudia "holding on to a false image of herself" but I see it as her confirming something about herself. Claudia has changed a lot, but the one thing that remains true about her is that she is nice. She will prioritize her loved ones over all else, but when she has an opportunity to be good that doesn't conflict with her larger goals, she will take it. In this moment she is furious with Soren, who all but confirmed that he will kill her when he gets the chance and not even a sworn oath from his king will stop him. She has every reason to toss him off the edge to be broken the same way their father was, but she doesn't. When Claudia is in control, she chooses to be kind, even to people who are never kind to her.

So if this is the end of the show, I am glad with the position it left my favorite character, because it respects her in both her motives and her autonomy. She is still out there, still scheming to bring down the injustice that our heroes won't even acknowledge. And she is confirmed to not do this out of blind devotion or even blind love for Aaravos, but a genuine conviction in that goal. And above all, she is still the wonderful person who proves that you don't have to be a paragon or follow the arbitrary rules of "good" to be a good person. To just be "nice".

[yurlittleangle]

Yan!Male Stalker x Fem!Influencer Reader

Ask: Yandere male stalker X influencer Fem reader. He's in a parasocial relationship with her and she's a twitch streamer, (THIS IS OPTIONAL YOU CAN DO WHAT YOU WANT.) maybe something a long the lines where he comes to give her a Valentine's Day gift, but he creeps her out or sent and freaks out

The neon glow of your gaming setup lit up the room as the chat flowed rapidly across your screen. Hearts and emotes of all kinds flooded your monitor as your voice, light and playful, danced through your headset. The Valentine’s Day stream was in full swing, and your audience—affectionately dubbed your “Valentine Squad”—was eating it up.

“Thank you, guys! This support means everything to me,” you said, flashing your signature smile. Your voice was genuine, but there was a tinge of exhaustion. Streaming for hours straight, constantly reading comments, and trying to stay energetic was draining. Still, it was worth it.

Among the sea of usernames, one stood out: AlwaysWatching92.

They were one of your most consistent viewers, always in your streams, always donating just enough to stay noticed, but not so much as to come off as too obsessive. Or at least, that’s what they thought. You had already begun to notice the patterns: the long, heartfelt messages; the way they seemed to know personal details you had never shared online; the slightly unhinged tone in their comments when you didn’t acknowledge them fast enough.

“Alright, guys, let’s take a quick break,” you said, hitting your BRB screen. Your voice softened, the artificial cheer dropping for a moment.

As you stepped away from your desk, a sudden knock at your apartment door startled you. It was late. Too late for anyone to visit.

Your heart skipped as you approached cautiously, peering through the peephole. What you saw made your stomach sink.

A man stood there, clutching a bouquet of roses and a small, heart-shaped box. He felt disturbingly familiar—too familiar. His mask matched the profile picture of AlwaysWatching92.

You hesitated, unsure if you should even open the door, but he noticed the shadow of your figure through the peephole.

“I-I’m sorry to come unannounced,” he stammered, his voice muffled through the door. “I just… I wanted to give you something special for Valentine’s Day. You deserve it.”

Your breath caught in your throat. He shouldn’t know where you lived.

“How… How did you find me?” you asked, your voice trembling despite yourself.

There was a long pause. “It—it wasn’t hard. You mentioned your favorite coffee shop once, and I—I just followed a few clues… I wanted to surprise you.”

Your chest tightened. “Look, this isn’t okay. You need to leave.”

“But I—I thought we had something special,” he said, his voice cracking. “I’ve been there for you every stream, every moment. I’ve supported you when no one else did!”

“You don’t even know me!” you snapped, anger flaring past your fear.

The silence that followed was deafening. Then, his voice dropped to something darker, more desperate.

“I know you better than anyone else. Your favorite color, your laugh, the way you look when you’re tired… I’ve spent hours with you. Days. Months. You can’t just push me away!”

Your hands shook as you fumbled for your phone. You started dialing emergency services when he suddenly shouted, “No! Don’t do that! Please! I—I’ll leave, okay? I just wanted you to know how much I care about you!”

You stayed silent, your phone trembling in your grip.

Finally, you heard his footsteps retreating. You waited several minutes before looking through the peephole again. He was gone, but the flowers and box of chocolates remained on your doormat, a sinister reminder of his presence.

You locked the door and called the police, your voice shaking as you explained the situation.

As you returned to your desk, the glowing monitor and cheerful chat felt alien, like a relic from a life you no longer inhabited. You forced yourself to smile and address your audience, pretending nothing had happened.

But in the corner of your room, your phone buzzed.

A new message:

Unknown Number: I’m sorry if I scared you. I’ll be better. Just don’t forget about me.

[sleepyicon]

“robby’s the fan favorite character because he’s a hot white boy”

ok first off, robby is definitely not the fan favorite LOL tumblr does not make up the whole fandom. i’m almost certain that just like the writers, the fans of the show overall prefer miguel. and there’s nothing wrong with that.

second, i can’t speak for every robby enthusiast, but i like robby the most because he has the arc i find the most interesting. he’s gone from a delinquent to miyagi do’s main guy back to delinquent and then back to miyagi do’s main guy (miguel has “eagle fang”). this arc is genuinely so engaging and i can tell deep down inside beneath all the shitty things he’s done, that he was a broken person, not a bad one and his journey to fully finding the light is truly beautiful. he’s tapped into his potential, becoming a truly kind person who cares so much for the people around him. he has made amends for his past wrongs (even if he doesn’t receive much in return). he’s also very loyal, a trait that i adore in characters and has been consistent with his, even when losing his trust in others in s3. i just love my goat so much!!

and to those that do prefer him bc of his looks, u are superficial and completely looking past the reasons why true robby fans like him. and if you are one of those people who are racist towards miguel and prefer robby cuz he’s white, fuck you. black robby enthusiast here. ok end of rant.

[liketolaugh-writes]

I'm confused about how you read that entire exchange and apparently did not absorb it but I think you maybe need to watch Danny Phantom again.

Yes. I am aware of all of those mentalities. I am aware that a large portion of the DPxDC fandom wants Danny to expect Superman to be Kon's parent (because apparently parenthood is something that can be forced on you and God forbid you feel violated.) I am aware of where Danny gets the grudges that people invent for him (a character that does not hold grudges against anyone except Vlad.) I am aware that there are multiple Flashes and that Danny is equally happy to insult all of them (because talking back to authority is a thing that Danny does. Ever. In his canon.) And I am well aware of how much of the DPxDC fandom likes to portray the Justice League as a bunch of idiots, which... is also not consistent with any of their canons and just, again, comes down to the chip-in-the-shoulder a lot of people seem to carry for heroes these days.

None of that is what I'm addressing. Fandom is built on headcanons and expanded universe, and it's great to build those things! It's great for them to build extra backstory to meld the two universes together, to fill out Danny's kind of flimsy canon, to have Danny already have opinions based on that backstory. You can write all these things if you want. I understand that people enjoy them, and DPxDC has a particularly mutated fanon that people have built over years now. People love these stories!

The part that I am illustrating is that the manner in which it's usually carried out is extremely unlike Danny. See above (far above) characterization notes. But especially, doubly so, for a Danny that grew up knowing and loving the Justice League for most of his childhood, before he had any reason to resent them.

Quite frankly, out of anyone, I would expect Danny - who routinely fights for a town that hated him for half the cartoon, and rescues people that have been cruel to him personally - to understand how terribly difficult it is to be a hero at all. To understand that they work hard to save people every day, that the Flashes time-traveled under great duress and out of pure desperation (as Danny usually does), and to understand that anyone who works around the clock to rescue people is, fundamentally, a good person even when they make mistakes or act out in anger. Repeatedly - with Valerie, with Dora, with Ghost Writer and Dash and Amorpho - Danny is shown to have an intense sense of empathy that lets him forgive people who have acted against him and are not sorry about it.

(And, personally, I think that Danny, having been cloned, would understand how violated Superman felt even if he doesn't agree with how he responded - but that's speculation, I suppose.)

And finally, while I understand the motives writers have for this portrayal (see, again, above notes about fandoms with sweet protagonists that take a lot of shit) the problem is that this vengeful behavior people want him to have is extremely out of character for a boy who:

Apologizes to Dash for something Dash doesn't even know he did (overshadowing him to stick his head in a trash can)

Goes to intentionally let his dad capture him because his dad was having a really bad day

Is the first to suggest a truce the moment he thinks an antagonistic character might be open to it (true of Valerie, Dash, all of his rogues, and occasionally even Vlad)

Once genuinely thought Jazz was beating him up out of anger and responded by apologizing and trying to convince her to calm down

Pretty much only ever just wants people to get along?

I also don't know why you assumed I was basing my entire opinion off drabbles and dialogue snippets, because... no? The stimulus for this entire post was in fact a fic of nearly 10k, which I stopped reading because I was so mortified that Danny kept insulting people that were actively helping him and being considerate and understanding? I don't even read drabbles outside of Tumblr. I prefer longfics, always, and I assure you that I still see all of this pretty regularly. I don't think I've once seen someone imply that Danny holding a grudge is unusual for him.

Why is Danny everyone’s mouthpiece for their random grudges against various superheroes? Why is it SO COMMON for Danny to show up and immediately start chewing people out?

Like. Danny? Mr. ‘My Parents Shoot At Me But It’s Fine’? Mr. ‘Dates The One Ghost Hunter At His School’? Danny ‘Dash Can Shove Me Around I Guess’ Fenton? Holds a bunch of grudges against popular superheroes and tries to punch them at the first available opportunity??

I know it’s become a pretty popular characterization in fandom for Danny to be pretty testy/spiteful, I just don’t really get it

[stagkingswife]

Do you have a masterpost about your advice on otherworldly travel? I feel like when i do it maybe im missing something. When i was younger i used to do it a lot. I could very easily visualize stepping through a portal to another realm, and i have a weird ability to kind of feel sensations that i imagine, like if i imagine myself standing in grass i can feel it. But when i meet spirits in this place its hard for me to figure out if they are something outside of me or something i just made up. I also don't seem to be very good at keeping up conversations with them. I don't really know how to start a relationship with them. Past usual pleasantries im not sure what to ask them. I would love to hear if you have any advice. I personally find it easier to literally go into my back yard and talk out loud to them, its almost like the non verbal feelings i get when i do that give me more information than directly speaking to them, but i also really enjoy otherworldly flight. I wonder if there is a way i can sort of combine each methods so its more intuitive and clear. Thanks for reading.

You know, I've never really had the spoons to build masterposts, this post is the closest I've gotten to one on the subject of how to travel to the otherworld, and it's really more of a "greatest hits" than anything else.

I have answered a couple of asks about how to tell what's a genuine experience and what's a sock puppet.

Ask 1

Ask 2

As for advice on building a relationship: It's easy to forget that building a relationship with an incorporeal entity is different than building a relationship with a person, given the way people talk about it on social media. You don't have to sit and talk to them for hours. A relationship can be built on offerings, prayer (if you're into that), divination readings, whatever works for you. What really matters is consistency. If it feels easiest and most fruitful to go into your back yard and speak out loud to the spirits then do that! Just do it on a semi regular basis. If you're the kind of person who has a sort of personal Otherworldly space you could try traveling there and talking to your spirits "out loud" there and seeing if you get the same results. You might find that the results are a little more heightened than in your backyard, giving the increased proximity.

As for what to talk about beyond initial pleasantries that's up to you. You don't need to develop a relationship with a spirit in order to practice magic or travel to the Otherworlds so there must be a reason why you want to do this. Do you want their help with something? Do you want to be of some service to them? Do you just want to be a good neighbor so initial plesantries, a little small talk, and a "let me know if you ever need anything from me" is enough? Talk to them about whatever it is you want, info dump about your special interest, sing them your I Want song.

[dykeomania]

this is the one post that i will not delete but i’ve been so much happier ever since i’ve started talking to her

[titaniumshortcake]

Adding to this, as someone in their thirties and leaning toward the sex-repulsed side of the ace spectrum: We've always existed, no matter how hard people try to sell that sex is a must for a healthy relationship.

You can be an avid consumer of smut or porn and not all that interested in physically participating in sex. You can spend twenty years or more not understanding the appeal of sex and then meet that one person where it clicks and you Get It. You can want the romance and the casual intimacy without having an interest in sex. You can change your mind and decide you want to try sex with someone, and you might decide it's still not for you. You can be entirely uninterested in all of it and completely content with your life.

Asexuality takes a lot of different shapes. A lot of the time, that shape is fluid or changes depending on where we're at in our lives.

With Lucanis, specifically: He is a work-oriented man. If he's not busy on a contract, he's looking for some other job to do (i.e. taking over as the primary cook). Intimacy is not a priority of his, even if it might be something he wants. Add to that the fact that this man is a wallflower who does everything he can to avoid being the center of attention. He prefers to blend in and keep his head down, because there's a kind of safety in avoiding the notice of others.

Social cues are not his forte. He misses the fact that Rook is flirting half the time, and is genuinely taken aback when he realizes Rook is interested in him. It's not rejection when he pulls away from that near-kiss.

It's panic.

His body language during that exchange is stiff; if you watch his face as Rook leans in, his smile drops. Lucanis is trying to take the lead in the way that Crows are taught to seduce a mark. He's probably watched Illario do it a thousand times, is probably jacking his lines straight from one of the romances that he's read, and he doesn't know what to do with the realization that he wants to take that step. It's all new to him. All he knows is that Rook shouldn't be treated like a mark, but he doesn't know what that looks like.

Most of us have been there for our first crushes; wanting to get it right, terrified of screwing up something good. And that's before we even factor in how Caterina raised Lucanis, and the year of torture that he's bottling up for most of the game, and his struggles with Spite.

For all of Veilguard's flaws, and the fact that I don't think that the game handles its depictions of trauma consistently, when it gets things right...it gets them right.

A portion of people within this fandom are really letting their discomfort with asexual people and virginity show.

I hate to break it to you, but there are people who make it to adulthood as virgins (and it isn't inherently tied to being religious.).

I need you guys to breathe and be realistic for 5 minutes, and also realize the implications of your exclamation about how impossible you find Lucanis being a virgin is. Maybe it's not within your scope of focus, but yes, it happens.

No, I don't care that he's a Crow. He specifically tells you that seduction is Illario's thing.

Yes, you can read romance and be in love with the idea (and even long for it for yourself!) and still not take that jump.

Sex is not casual for everyone. Casual sex is not for everyone.

Please sit with that before you guffaw and call it impossible.

[slfcare]

be critical of yourself in a way that lifts you up, which means: catch yourself when you're thinking mean things about yourself / correct yourself when you're imagining what negative opinions others might have about you / encourage yourself to do better next time in a gentler and more optimistic way / never strive for more without acknowledging how far you have already come. it's okay to be nice to yourself.

[weregonnabecoolbeans]

Lilia reading freshly thirteen year old, completely innocent and oblivious William Kaplan’s future and being like:

Okayyyyy lemme just un-know that real quick so it doesn’t haunt me forever🥲

I can’t properly express how much I love her

[dariusaurs]

i think dinostar is such an interesting ship right now even if i've kind of turned away from it after this season. the problem is that it's complicated, and fandoms historically don't like nuanced situations or takes. i don't think it's fair to say darius is putting brooklynn on a pedestal, since from his perspective, she hasn't done anything wrong, and kenji has been framed as this unfair partner to her. it does feel like his feelings are very immature and more of an infatuation right now ("if he loved you half as much.."/"unless?"), especially when you compare them to kenji's own feelings for brooklynn - his girlfriend who he's loved for 6 years - but that isn't a horrible thing, it's just different. i do completely understand if people dislike the ship right now, and even criticize darius' way of handling the accidental confession, but i just think people have been way too harsh on all three of them without being willing to see that all of their perspectives are different

[indigosfindings]

updates having beaten the game

i also mentioned in my ttyd liveblog that that game's Big Interactive Set Pieces (like the punis and the glitz pit) drastically reduce in number after chapter 3, but spm keeps them through almost every chapter--the underchomp, the dorguys, etc appear pretty late in the game! tbh i get the sense that in terms of structure spm was designed a lot more holistically than ttyd was--hence the insane degree of foreshadowing

i know ive said this like twice already but i really really wish that more exploration stuff was unlocked by the acquisition of new pixls & characters. like, they consistently allow you to access things to complete their respective chapter, & they let you reach the next heart pillar, & that's basically it. it's particularly disappointing considering that it would take very little--toss a block cudge can break somewhere in chapter 3, or have a treasure room in flipside that you cant enter until you have carrie, or even put a peach-related thing in 7-1. then again, in the absence of badges & proper sidequests, what would the rewards even be? more catch cards???

the Chapter Padding/Imposed Backtracking continues to exist, & as i said about ttyd i think that it works best when theres a sufficiently charming framing (eg the overthere stair fruit thing) as opposed to when there's a more flimsy & perfunctory justification (like the hags essentially telling you "redo (part of) this level twice")--it's the difference between feeling like a genuine Quest vs like filling a clunky quota. the dimentio tag thing is like halfway between these two points

the underchomp is kind of fascinating. it's shockingly in-depth (there's interactions for every pixl???) for being essentially a one-off set piece that railroads you to victory

catch cards are mildly interesting but theyre the kind of collection task that's just too herculean to undertake--like, i can only do completionism up to a certain point, & if completing the list is going to rely on a LOT of chance-based rolls then i might as well just install genshin

women really are written in Some Kind Of Way (the hags, luvbi getting in verbal slapfights with tippi & peach, etc)

it would have been really easy to just make the 3d environments be the 2d environments With Extras, so im really glad that they pretty consistently make you lose access to 2d objects and/or add additional hazards

i have found it beneficial to the game experience to just actively Never use hp plus or power plus

"block meal" is so fucking funny

the overthere levels might be the ones where my attention wanders most--tbh ive never really cared for heaven, just like from an aesthetic standpoint

i will say though, the overthere has what might be my favourite background in the game (and that's saying something lol)...... the many, many parallax layers of interlocking circles function almost as an interactive study in adaptive composition

the bonechill fight is a bit of a letdown in contrast to the buildup

i said this before, but i really think all of the "doubled atk" effects ahouldve been +1 or +2 instead, or otherwise all the enemies & bosses shouldve had 1.5 or 2x the hp

the scene where luvbi "dies" was surprisingly heartfelt--her spat with grambi & jaydes produces a sense of emotional authenticity that really elevates the scene beyond the sum of its parts in a way that i dont think any mario game has even really attempted since. yesterday i watched it 2017 for the first time and throughout all the hollow, vapid dead-brother scenes i was struck by how comical that movie's failure to illustrate earnest grief & family dynamics was in comparison to a ~3 minute cutscene from super paper mario

on that note, i really like how after that heartfelt scene when grambi is like "please...... take care of the pure heart............" luigi is like "okeydokey." girl read the room

i LOOOOVVVEEE when dimentio is like "oh btw count, have you ever heard the name 'blumiere'~?" like he didnt gain anything from that it was just pure cattiness, im obsessed with him

i like how the subchapters of castle bleck are themed around their respective bosses--o'chunks's level is a gauntlet, mimi's level is full of tricks & traps, dimentio's level has puzzles & illusions, and bleck's level is like a final labyrinth

castle bleck is pretty similar to the palace of shadow insofar as theyre both largely linear gauntlets rather than "true" dungeons, yet for the most part i like castle bleck a lot better.... i think it's probably a mix of the platformer style being better suited to that kind of level design + the strength of the aesthetic

the final bosses are fun, especially super dimentio. the theme is great, and i LOVE the idea that luigi is like The Ultimate Darkness In Universe & that's just something we're not going to examine further or ever talk about again

between that and negative zone the nintendo wii really was just spoonfeeding luigi to matpat huh

the ending still makes me emotional as an adult! i cant rule out that nostalgia/carrying over the sentiments & attachments that i formed as a kid plays a large part in that, but i dont want to downplay the execution of the scene itself--it's sincere & evocative, it pays off a LOT of buildup, it plays to the attachments you form to the cast, and the music that plays in the wedding scene is gorgeous

nastasia is probably the saddest character. if only she couldve fixed him,,,

replaying super paper mario, sporadic thoughts post-chapter 2:

very easy so far--& although ttyd was also easy, spm's gameplay is sadly substantially less rich thab ttyd's was

having said that the game design in spm is! unrelentingly charming!! the use of platforming as a framework for a varied stream of stage styles (straightforward levels, dungeons, towns, the entire 2-3 Situation) is creative in a way that imo predicts the sort of things the mario maker community later ended up making. chapter 2's set pieces in particular are extremely quirky (the rooms with traps, the rubee thing, the mazelike basement, the merlee game show lmao)

few platformers have boss fights that feel like genuine Combat, so that's pretty cool

i will confess that as a First Dungeon, yold ruins doesnt have half the sauce of hooktail castle--it's much more linear in layout, with far less of that zelda-y "explore & comprehend the space" principle that made ttyd's dungeons hit

in a similar vein, it's kind of crazy how tippi has like a fraction of the personality that goombella had. it's a bit sad for the character doing the vast majority of the talking to just.... not really have any opinions on anything

the momentum of the chapters likewise means very few npcs ever get to stick out. like, even the "first town crotchety old mayor" character was a total one-and-done, one dialogue and you never have a reason to speak to him again (mostly just speaks to the game structure, which is as mentioned a bold enough exercise that i feel i cant really fault it for that)

bringing up a menu to use items In A Platforming Context is not at all natural to me, so im finding myself just not really using them

this game is a masterclass in visual design imo. the npcs & enemies & pixls being made of primitives that reconfigure themselves into different shapes really elevates the interplay of 2d & 3d, the backgrounds/environments are extremely aesthetically satisfying (the Mathmosphere in lineland, the optical illusion in the sky in gloam valley, all of castle bleck), & i love how the constant "digital/tech" motif (eg the "dragging selection boxes to flip/teleport", the trees & shrubs looking like something youd make in ms paint, etc) is an ingenious progression of paper mario's core aesthetic design

dimentio is so fun

the inter-chapter dialogue flashbacks are surprisingly earnest? for such a tongue-in-cheek game where almost every line of dialogue contains a joke of some kind, those exchanges feel humourless & sincere. that probably contributes to the Space the game occupies in all of our memories lol

i ADOOOORE nastasia

likewise it was really interesting how peach's "escape" sequence after chapter 1 was (while, again, still extremely sardonic) aesthetically & narratively framed with such a sense of Hopelessness. that's not to say like "woahh this mario game is 10x darker than you thought!!!!", more that it's just not a space the series commonly ventures into

the Ancients stuff is being leaned into extremely hard lol. ttyd mostly teases at that kind of "mysterious rpg lore" thing peripherally (the riddle tower inscriptions, grifty, etc) so it's interesting how spm puts it front & centre in contrast, without ever sacrificing the sense of mystique

this game really highlights how interesting the wiimote is as a controller--pressing the A button while holding it sideways (ie removing your left thumb from the direction input to press a button) is something that i cant think of any other controller doing, & it projects onto that button a really interesting sense of, like, Valence

it's the kind of game that seems to beg for one of thsoe posts like "things that ACTUALLY HAPPEN in _____"

[lemongogo]

is this the part where i say i like jaymel . bc i do