#lead by example and maybe it'll get others doing the same

[lock-my-feelings-in-a-jar]

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO IT AND SAYING THIS, THIS MADE ME SO HAPPY

that song was a true story and real experience about his relationship with his dad.

this was what he said about it:

"It was how I felt when I was 20 years old trying to communicate with my father. And he was a good dad. But he never hugged me or really cared for me. And I really wanted a hug. And when my dad died I started to hug everybody. I wanted to put that down. “Like Father Like Son.” That you hand down basically what you are. Say you want to hand down good values, think about your life, think about how you’re living. You can only hand down your values. Why hand down someone else’s values?"

would recommend that whole book of love album(or even just about his entire discography) if you like meaningful songs with good messages to them. it's like a concept album about experiences in his life, each song is another step of the journey towards psychological fulfillment, he said. it's worth a listen if you(or anyone) have the time.

he is ALL ABOUT showing love and pointing out the lack of love in the world and trying to encourage more of it and making the most out of life. and i'm fully on board with that.

Please, show the people you love that you care about them as often as you can. 💗

Spend time with the people who love you; do nice things with them, go for walks, talk to them, give them something special, anything meaningful. Don’t over complicated life. Don’t let small things stop you from doing what’s important. Show your appreciation and tell those who do everything for you that you appreciate them and that they are special to you because even if nothing negative has happened between you, you may find when it’s too late:

You Won’t Regret The Things You Did. You’ll Regret The Things You Didn’t Do When You Had The Chance.

Never take the time you have for granted. Never take the time you have with someone for granted. Remember that life is really short and we only truly have time for what we mean to do and what matters. Don’t delay what’s important to you.

[ohwaitimthewriter]

I absolutely love the imagines of Reader throwing a rock at Koba to save Ash! Have you ever thought about how they would approach the reader? If the reader was more wary or scared of the apes, considering the reader was definitely at the scene when the humans were being chased

I swear you all are going to convince me to write a full oneshot about this story!

The reader would be dead ass scared! And I think there are two possibilities that would lead to this:

After throwing rocks to Koba (and here you have more possibilities of how you feel, you can be shaking as a leaf or your survival instinct could kick in and pour you a huge amount of confidence to harass Koba with rocks, it really depends on who you are, some people act all frantic while others can be very calm in their head, so you chose!), here are the choices:

(1) You hide. You're too afraid to move from your hiding place which is probably under a pile of rubble or under a demolished car or something like that. And for sure you'll end up being stuck there and the only way to get out would be someone helping you from the outside. You're going to stay quiet and curled up until all the hustle and bustle around you dies down and you don't hear any more ape cries or crashing noises.

In the mean time (and after all the story we know with Koba being killed by Caesar), Ash would recall the event to his father (Blue Eyes confirming each words) still overwhelmed by your act of bravery and the fact he would not be here to tell this to Rocket if you didn't act upon it.

And Rocket will be desperate to find you to thank you for saving his son.

He'll end up finding you when it's all over, because you'll start calling for help to get a human to come and get you out from under the car. Except it won't be a human, it'll be Rocket who lifts the car with Ash's help.

And I'm willing to bet you'll mistake Rocket for Koba! You'll end up frozen in fear because he's bound to kill you by dropping the car on you, or he'll rip your throat out, or… anyway, you imagine every possible scenario until Ash tries to communicate with you using sign language to ask you to get out. That's when you recognize the ape you've been trying to save.

I think they would try too approach you in a very caring way like, trying to be gentle and slow in their movements so you don't feel threaten. If you got your knees close to your chest, I bet they would try to touch your leg with their knuckles softly to say something like "hey we're not going to hurt you please come" and they will give you space!

I mean, I believe apes are very observant and they know how to read facial expression, especially because we share more or less the same facial expression. Human are probably more expressive so it's even easier for them to read your emotions throw your face and Rocket would notice the fear! So definitely they give you space once you're out from under the car! Especially if you flinch when they try to touch your leg for example.

So yep, for this kind of direct encounter right after the aftermath, they would be gentle!

Or…

(2) You ran away. Which means you won't meet them right away, but much later. Maybe months after you've saved Ash!

You could be looking for food or water, and I can imagine you struggling to find any! And maybe you'll even try to steal a fish from Ash and Blue Eyes at the river, and that's how you'll find them again 🫣

They'll catch you trying to steal a fish and just as there's a moment of hesitation where you're staring at each other, not really knowing what to do, Blue Eyes starts growling and all of a sudden, watching you get scared, Ash remembers you!

He'll let you go with the fish, and that's the start of your adventure together!

[cripplecharacters]

Can people with flat/blunted affect mask and if so how common is it for people with the symptom to be able to do that?

Hi!

I'm assuming you mean an autistic person who has a flat affect?

Short answer: yes.

Long answer:

Flat affect is one small part of autism. Tone is often difficult for autistic people to recognize and reproduce. But there are plenty of things that go into masking!

Masking can involve suppressing stims, avoiding talking about special interests, putting focus into body and facial expressions, and many other things too!

Also, masking takes a lot of energy. If your character is more focused on making sure they are sitting still, for example, they may not be focused so much on their tone of voice.

Keep in mind that masking isn't widespread in the autistic community. Many of us, especially higher support needs autistics, cannot mask at all. (Personally I understand masking in theory but am unable to mask myself.)

It's certainly possible to be higher masking and have a flat or "unusual" affect, just consider how else that might affect them.

Mod Rock

Hello!

I mask almost constantly whenever I'm able to. It's a survival mechanism that I haven't been able to break out of. I also have a very flat tone and what's usually referred to as 'resting bitch face'. I'm not very expressive naturally.

When I'm masking, I don't usually mask my tone. The rare times when I do is usually for short interactions at parties/events or during job interviews; both places where it's short term and rather necessary for me (To get the interaction over with at parties and to have a better chance at getting a job at the interview).

Even when I'm masking, my tone and expressions don't always come across as natural or real. They can seem fake or superficial, at least from what I'm told.

If I had to keep it up for longer than those short interactions, it would be very exhausting and, as Rock suggested, I'd have a harder time focusing on other aspects of my mask.

To answer your question: Yes, it is possible for somebody to do that but as for how common it is, that really depends on the person. Not all autistic people have a flat affect and not all of those who do can or will choose to mask it.

Cheers,

~ Mod Icarus

Hello,

I'm medium support needs autistic with flat tone and facial expression. While I can mask some things, I can't mask everything at once.

It's kind of like my brain is a computer, and masking different things is like running different programs. if I try to run too many at once, all of the programs start struggling. I can mask my tone, injecting what I think is an appropriate amount of emotion, but, beyond a few things that come easily to me such as a genuine-looking smile, can't really mask my expression while masking my tone. If I'm masking my expression and trying to follow what I think non-autistics would expect based on what I'm saying, I struggle to mask my tone. If I try to mask both at once, both masks start to slip. Tone and expression are larger programs, so it's harder for other programs to run while those are running. Maybe a small program, like simulating eye contact by looking at someone's forehead, can run at the same time, but trying to run too many little programs while running a big program will lead to the same problem. All of this also takes an enormous amount of energy. So while I can kind of mask, I can't mask everything at once. There are only so many programs I can run before my computer crashes.

If your character is medium support needs, masking perfectly is probably nigh impossible. If they're high support needs, there's absolutely no way they can mask. Masking is a lot harder for M-HSN people, so if your character is medium of high support needs, they probably aren't going to be able to mask at all or, if they can mask, will likely mask imperfectly like me. It'll also take a lot more effort than it would for a character who has no support needs or light support needs, it would exhaust them way quicker. And, again, a lot of medium support needs individuals may struggle severely with masking or won't be able to mask at all. High support needs individuals often, if not always, cannot mask at all.

So if your character is M-HSN, their ability to mask will depend on where they are on that spectrum and what else they're trying to do as they talk.

Mod Aaron

[iwonderwh0]

It'd be a completely different media and wouldn't work for a multiple-choice game, but both Hank and Connor would be in such a completely different light if it was Hank-POV narrative.

You as a viewer would also think Connor is fucking annoying and you'd feel like breaking his nose the first time he brings up complaining about you to your superior. Like wow what a fucking capitalist dystopian police state is that where a fucking robot threatens you. And if he spills your drink? You fucking paid for it, and now it threatens that you'll have to pay for him too if you damage it? "Androids are there to serve humans" your ass, as far as you can see it's humans who are serving androids and CyberLife. Regular humans who pay for android's existence with their jobs, taxes and loved ones who prefer androids to them. CyberLife is holding the whole country hostage by their fucking things, and you even heard that some of their robots go crazy and recently one of them took a literal hostage? A kid?? The FUCK, how does things like that even happen?

You wish Cyberlife would be at least held accountable, but well, you lived too long to believe that they ever will. You know it from your own personal experience. Even if CL was made to pay some financial compensations, how can it be ever enough to "compensate" for the loss of someone who is fucking dead now, and what does a fine do to a multibillion dollar corporation? No one gets punished, nothing is done to prevent it in the future. For CyberLife nothing is changed, but for the people they harmed — nothing will ever be the same again.

You get assigned to android cases, as if you give a shit. As if anyone at all gives a shit. As if investigating any of this shit matters, as if it'll lead to some changes or get someone punished for letting it happen. Now you're forced to look at countless examples of this corporation fucking people over without repercussions. You don't even care to open those reports, they just make you feel too angry and hopeless. If after all those examples of harm they can induce androids are still allowed to be produced and owned what's the fucking point of looking into those cases? What is it you're supposed to do about them anyway, lay an egg?

Okay, fuck, you were dragged into looking at them despite your will, and now you are kind of confused what to make of it. You know those fuckers are made to look human, they are even made to laugh and joke to win your sympathy. But still, those androids you see don't really give you an impression of being broken, instead they look...

Maybe that's a stupid idea. And yet it won't leave you alone. It makes you angry because you genuinely don't know if you're just being a gullible fool or you're onto something.

The android that was assigned to you acts like your typical office Joe, the kind of people who even before the invention of androids gave off the impression of not being quite human. The kind that speaks like they've read way too many positive thinking books about success. The kind that describes themselves as "goal oriented" in a casual conversation and suggests colleagues to have a pointless team-building meetings.

You hate those guys even in their human form, so when you first expressed to that plastic Joe a desire to throw a bunch of them in a dumpster you're not entirely sure whether you're talking about just androids or this specific type as a whole.

While all the deviants you see appear to be really human that just happened to be in a bad place at the wrong time and make you feel doubts, the plastic Joe makes you feel fooled again whenever you look at it. Sometimes it does something that fills you with doubts, but then it goes back to rambling on about its task. It gets on your nerves, you wish you could just get a solid evidence of whether or not this thing feels something. You get real drunk and try to provoke it, to see if it'll react to a threat of death like other deviants you saw. It doesn't give you an explicit answer to your dilemma. You're left with your doubts on your own. Maybe this plastic Joe doesn't realise he's anything more than what he claims, or maybe he's perfectly aware and is just fucking with you. Maybe you just imagined a bunch of nonsense. Maybe that plastic Joe isn't like those other feeling androids you saw, and unlike them he's indeed exactly what he claims to be.

He gets killed right in front of your eyes. You can't help but feel bad -- after all, he still looks like a human and you feel like you "knew him" as a person in your life. Granted, one of the most annoying ones you ever met, but to even the most annoying Joes out there you don't actually wish death, even if sometimes you say you do.

You don't get to feel sad for long -- the next day the plastic Joe walks right back as if nothing happened, and ACTS as if nothing happened. It makes your blood boil and your eyes feel hot. It simultaneously makes you feel like a naive fool for ever bothering about it at all and like tearing it up with your own hands again so you wouldn't have to be next to it. Because you know you can't help but feel like it's a living person purely for how human-like it looks and acts, even when you know it's not.

Also it makes you think of how utterly unfair it is that something soulless can be brought back and keep "living" after a fatal accident as if nothing happened while so many actual and much more deserving people can't nor were ever given a chance. Nor ever will be.

It makes you even angrier to see how indifferent it acts to the fact of its own death, while you, a fool, felt like shit about it all this time and STILL feel like shit about it now. If you used to find yourself occasionally liking him before, whatever warm feeling you had are gone now that he's back after something that should have been a final stop. You can't stand looking at it, you wish to get as far away from it as possible, and yet you cannot stand the idea of it seeing it getting "killed" if front of your eyes again because you know that your human gut will twist all the same. But the way he acts, completely deprived of self-preservation instinct, as if at part intentionally trying to torture you, It just makes you hate him more. You try to grab him and stop him from what can potentially end in his destruction whenever you can. Not so much for his sake as for the peace of mind of your own.

The androids are marching on the streets chanting about being alive. They hijack a tv station and send their demands. If Connor didn't give you enough proofs to convince you, this finally does.

The question remains of whether all androids are just as the one you're stuck with. You spend the most time with it so, unintentionally, you project everything it does on all the rest of them. And if the only thing it reminds you of is this terrible nauseating injustice of the world that depresses you so much you already felt like disappearing from existence before you ever met and impunity of all those in power, maybe it's time for you to pull the plug already because there's nothing you want to see or stick around for anymore and only everything you hate that is left. And it will only ever gonna get worse, and you're too tired and helpless to do anything about it. And even if you weren't, perhaps it's just not worth it.

[kirbybecomesastarwarrior]

Once again I thank you all so much for supporting me during the Kirby OC Tournament. Especially all my followers & mutual who humored me with all the poll reblog stuff.

As promised the lore. (And I've been cooking this turkey for a while and it's ready to come out of the oven.)

Fair Warning contains spoilers... I will not be explaining all the details of what happening. This is incredibly vague & via musical... so I won't spoil that much (since this does take place during the final arc... Void Termina Saga). The events that are being shown do not happen exactly how they are portrayed, however the essence of what's happening is the same.

Morgan shall be singing "Last Midnight from Into the Woods,"

Spoiler warning, (More drawn content is contained below)

(OH NO WHAT'S HAPPENING TO KIRBY...Sorry, I can't explain it just yet... Nor why Meta Knight's mask is broken in half... maybe he got into a fight or something, hold the phone I thought Galacta was trapped in insanity... what happened... Sorry if I tell anything of that it'll spoil the good stuff)

Dame Morgan: It's the Last Midnight

So in summary: After they refuse to hand Kirby over, Morgan reveals there's a traitor in their midst... Fumu is the reason why Kirby is in the state he is in (Fumu is currently regretting her life choices). Leaving Meta & Gala shocked, and scared to death at Kirby's current state, while Kirby is sad, and betrayed again...~

And Morgan just having herself a time, living her best life~

In the KBASW series, she tricks three major characters:

Namely: Queen Ripple, Hyness, and Fumu/Tiff. (the most devastating one she tricks)

Dame Morgan is basically a mixture of: "The Witch" from Into the Woods, Morgan from (Merlin's 2008 TV series), Eris from Sinbad (she has the voice of Eris), and the Joker from Batman.

Morgan represents the opposite of Celestine... (via Morgan vs. Merlyn wizard rivalry) The Anti-Celestine so to speak~

The one person she hates more than Arthur is Merlyn/Celestine.

Celestine sees magic as a tool, not a solution or the answer to your problem... promoting true self-improvement comes from within. For there will always be...: another bridge to cross, another monster to slay, another woods to go into. The only way to ever truly be prepared in this world is to learn from each other... and to be kind to one another & share the experience. If you cheat your way throw life will just get harder and move with you... Being better and leading a good example will inspire others to be better along with you.

The change starts within, with us...

While Dame Morgan:

Life is unfair, you play by their rules, you follow the system, sacrifice everything to fit the mold, and yet you can still be cheated out of what you deserve...

And you're telling me I should just "hang in there," "hold on", "it's gonna be okay eventually keep smiling".... nah? Let's stop "pretending to be good", everybody is just in it for themselves so... if you do that you're just a fool waiting to be tricked.

Why not live just for yourself... why not cheat back... why not be the bad guy? That's why her theme is "Stella Jang(스텔라장) _ Villain(빌런)

Morgan represents the easy way out, a quick fix... to blame someone else...an escape. How did she obtain this dark magic... The Jamba Heart...Granting everyone's selfish desires... the reason why everyone falls for it is because she has the charisma to make the offer far too tempting and to pass it up, no.

And guess who was her first customer... Hyness~

The biggest change I probably did the to mix anime & game lore. (Kirby Star Allies) In KBASW AU... Morgan the one who convinced Hyness the Jamba Heart was what he needed to restore his clan. It's the reason she's able to stay hidden for a long while...Allowing the negative to naturally corrupt him and use him as a figurehead...

Despite giving him the Jamaba Heart... she did not tell him exactly how to break the seal on Termina... (Whoops she must have forgotten, how clumsy of her...) Purposely having him fail~

However, the secret to this lies with... FUMU!? Due to the reincarnation of the first ruler of Dreamland... she holds the key to unsealing & controlling Void Termina... She throws them to the wrong person. She's very much tricked into thinking she's helping "Kirby," but... yeah this happens instead.

And of course, there's always a price... though once you do realize you've been bamboozled, she'll remind you that she gave you a choice... Ultimately making you realize it's your own fault at the end of the day. Very much rubbing your head in the mess you've made for yourself. (which is exactly what she's doing to Tiff/Fumu right now.)

In summary, she pretty much invites you to be your worst self; she's the villain but deliciously so! :3

[sepublic]

I find it interesting that Willow definitely understands that Amity hurt her, and doesn't struggle as much to hold her accountable to that; She's setting up her boundaries, particularly in S2B. By contrast, she's a lot more excusing to Hunter; This can be attributed to him not having hurt Willow in that same way, it was like one incident but he showed he really didn't know better, and learned from and made up for it within the same day.

So when Hunter starts going through stuff in For the Future he becomes the immediate —even if not the overall— source of Willow's feelings of inefficacy, which is why it's vital that it's Hunter who clears things out and apologizes for not being more responsive, that his behavior is not a reflection of Willow's failings as a person and it won't be.

Which of course, shows how he's better than his uncle; Hunter isn't going to turn Willow into his own Grimwalker, or Caleb, as someone trying their best but he just won't listen and in their perfect compassionate selflessness they get killed by him before they can stand up for themselves. When he tells Willow she didn’t do anything wrong nor make anything worse, it reminds me of how those in abusive relationships will blame themselves for their abuser being upset and unresponsive to attempts to make them feel better. Hunter knows he makes mistakes and isn't going to blame it on others, he's actually going to take an opportunity to be better when offered it by those same people; Those people will not blame themselves for not being ‘compassionate’ enough.

And you can also see that in the Collector and Luz, who do seem to wonder if they should've done more with that same abuser Hunter is thinking of. And Luz and Willow are both struggling in that episode with the feeling that surely they must be able to fix it; They just didn't, so it's their fault, and they CAN blame someone instead of accepting that you can do everything right and it'll still go wrong. Because it's messed up accepting the world is kinda chaotic and not based on justice, fairness, or logic, most of the time.

For Willow, it just feeds into her people-pleasing tendencies and her feelings of being inadequate, because not being good enough for Amity was what started it all! So that really stuck with her, and with the aforementioned grace towards Hunter and need to be in control, it's just setting up Willow to be sooo repressed. Just silently smiling through it all over again, figuring she just needs to put in more work like Amity insinuated in their mutual debuts.

And then it finally festers into something explosive that detonates towards the nearest acceptable target (Boscha), who is easier to be mad at because Willow doesn't want to ruin things with a new friend. And she hasn't fully mastered her boundaries yet, she can do it with obvious examples who clearly hurt her, but she still feels the need to wait for something long and agonizing before setting her foot down, instead of just doing that preemptively to prioritize her own health. And in Hunter's case he isn't consciously hurting Willow so it's easy to make excuses because Willow's still struggling with being demure, she's just repackaged and rebranded her issues as the Mom Friend.

Their dynamic in FtF is fascinating because you can see the setup of Hunter following in his uncle's footsteps, and the setup of Willow regressing into that same "Half-a-witch" persona that's trying to be as small as possible, apologizing for being in the way and not good enough, and meekly asking not to be stepped on; Before suddenly exploding in an unstable, unraveling fashion that just as quickly wraps itself back up. Just a walking mine of resentment which, given how she did hold anger towards Amity, maybe it could've eventually been directed at Hunter, leading to paradoxical feelings of shame and frustration at being made this way... Unlike the Calebs, Willow might consider actual harm to her Wittebane in this bad ending. IDK. It didn't happen, thank god. Or Gus, same difference.

Hunter’s concluding storyline was about him forgoing confronting his uncle physically by confronting his uncle spiritually because not only does he not care whether he’s Caleb, but he’s choosing not to be Belos either, even when given the self-pitying opportunity to do so. So I think it’s just fine he didn’t personally kill the man.

This and Hunter’s magic focusing on evasion, and his palismen creation? It all feels like a direct defiance to his witch hunter ‘heritage’, an ideology based in supremacy, aggression, and violence. Hunter gave up on destroying his enemy in favor of being kind to someone trying to reach out, and not remain bitter from the automatic response of stress and anger; He prioritizes peace now. Willow might resemble Belos to Hunter in some ways, but she’s also the Grimwalker to Hunter’s own Belos; And they fix that!

Likewise, Willow isn’t going to be Boscha either, who seems to be a leader but is actually clinging to someone else for validation; Be it Kikimora or Amity. And in Boscha’s case she has to be told that she can’t just depend on someone to be who they can’t/won’t be, whether that’s for good reasons or not, and just should just grow a spine. Not in the insecure Throwing your weight around sense. But just being normal about other people having other things in their life.

Honestly, given her initial attitude towards Amity, the paradoxical resentment followed by dependence anyway. It’s like what I said about a Bad Ending Huntlow. Imagine if Boscha had festered enough resentment to be truly aggressive, like a Willow whose Hunter never apologized, and who didn’t walk out ahead of time for her own health. Boscha relevant for Willow’s arc here too, and for other themes as well.

[l0uterstella]

EVER RED: THE THEORY (MASTERPOST)

This is a post compiling all the theories surrounding Ever Red from the Fragaria discord server

Last updated: Dec 2 2023

AMNESIA THEORY, THE TIMELINES

Fragaria's story is confirmed to be separated into two: The MVs and the voice dramas. This could imply two separate timelines. The 1st timeline is “ruined”, and the 2nd timeline (possibly the one for the MVs) acts as the present. In the Ever Red MV, there are lyrics highlighted in red, most of them pointing to them forgetting something.

This theory is unrelated from Ever Red, but the main point of the amnesia theory is that the knights don't remember their "original" selves, their current names and forms being a show of their connections to their lords (hence why Hangyon's name is only 2 letters off from Hangyodon for example).

These lyrics also point to something being forgotten (strawberry/fruit representing memories. Sweet and sour memories, a memory that ripens/develos as it is repressed)

But forgetting their old identities also means forgetting past events.

RIBBONS

The ribbons represent the pains of the past. In this part, Hallritt sings "Once the ribbon is tied, the knot marks are still there." Once pain is inflicted, the wounds and memories are still there.

The ribbon now ties everyone close to each other. The Red Bouquet will be there for Hallritt to help process his past, and make things right again (see next header).

I just want you to laugh, that's all I wish for Even if our memories are mismatched

Hallritt is now being covered by the ribbon, except for his eyes. He must face the truth of what he did.

HIDDEN AUDIO, "ELDRITCH HALLRITT"

Refer to this post to listen to the hidden audio.  "Move. That dream… It was my fault." It was Hallritt's fault for the destruction of the 1st timeline. Around 3 minutes into the MV, there is a quick frame of this shadow version of Hallritt which me and the discord have named Eldritch Hallritt/Eldritt.

(isn't he so silly <3)

He was the "original" Hallritt from the 1st timeline, and a manifestation of the current Hallritt’s true feelings and repressed memories. He knows everything. He was the one who destroyed the 1st timeline, and is here to make sure the Hallritt of the current timeline doesn’t mess up.

But what was Hallritt's mistake in the first place?

SEEDS

SEEDS are the antagonists of Fragaria's story. They could be the original knights, as seeds come first before flowers/bouquets. One day, they took things too far, leading them to be banished and replaced by the Fragarians.

They might have once tricked Eldritt/The "original Hallritt" into joining them, which led to him ruining his contract with Hello Kitty, destroying the 1st timeline. Eldritt then reset the timeline into the current one, and is watching over the current Hallritt to not make the same mistake he did.

BONUS/MINI THEORIES

My friend Angel pointed out that "Fragaria Memories" sounds similar to "Fragmented Memories"

System Hallritt - Eldritt is an alter for Hallritt (+ is a protector or a gatekeeper) who wanted to prevent him from finding out the truth, but they can't run from it forever.

Bouquet leader doomed yaoi (I don't have a better name for this) - If Cielomort and Badobarm find out about Hallritt's secret, they could get angry and not trust him anymore. If this happens, the conflict could grow, repeating what happened in the 1st timeline that led to its destruction.

Hangyon and Chaco know - These two are suspicious. For Chaco, his title is "The detour dog with a hidden motive." The hidden motive could maybe have something to do with SEEDs. For Hangyon, if he knows what happened in the 1st timeline, that could be why he's close with Badobarm specifically. He watches him for any signs of the past repeating itself.

In a world that continues to change Only time will never come back Yet no one can take away our memories (EVER RED) I'll never forget them for eternity Living in memory No one can see it, but it'll never disappear Ever certain, ever red

[welcometogrouchland]

Batman #149 by chip zdarsky is mostly unremarkable, but I'm really fascinated by how it makes a great case for 'good' endings not saving 'bad' stories*. Because there's a lot of interesting concepts in this issue (bruce having to deal with his rapidly aging and decaying clone making him think about his own life, re-establishing a 'nest' so to speak for his family after pushing them away, etc) but bc of the OOC slog that came before it, almost every moment w/ the batfamily comes off as unearned and disingenuous imo.

Like, everything with Damian is the perfect example in this. Because in isolation it's...fine. admittedly it's a missed opportunity to not go deeper into how Damian would feel about a clone of his dad who tried to kill considering Damian's relationships with clones of himself (the heretic rejects and respawn) or with former enemies who wanted him dead but who were manipulated and/or brainwashed (like suren and maya).

Zdarsky doesn't go into any of this but you could maybe excuse it as the issue not being about Damian. However, coupled with the previous bizarre characterizations of Damian in 147 and 148, it ends up not being fine- instead it starts to feel...icky how Damian (who, despite often being drawn and written as white, will never have his connection to the non-white al ghuls forgotten and will always be effected by racism even when not portrayed as a poc) is constantly written as overly violent, uncaring and narrow minded in this run. Coupled w/ trying to recanonize the morrison origin for Damian it's like. OH this is badly written and laden with subtle bigotry, sick**

That's me going into detail on it with Damian but it's applicable to other things in this issue- the way Cass, Steph and Duke have all been ignored or turned into jobbers makes their inclusion in the 'family' here feel hollow instead of satisfying. Bruce proclaiming that Zur was still a part of him and he needs to accept responsibility for his actions (when it means taking in clone son) wrings hollow when just last issue zdarsky was bending over backwards to separate Bruce and Zur bc otherwise the Jason thing would get really awkward. Ends are achieved through means that feel hollow or strange. I'm at my destination but damn why'd the bus have to do all that???

I only really have opinions on this latest arc of zdarskys Batman bc it's the one I've read the closest (bc I'm a hater, masochist and avid follower of even the bad damian storylines) but it's not saying great things.

Bc zdarsky can do one thing good in this book, and it's write Bruce and Tim. And yet this entire story, whether of his own volition or editorial mandate, includes other characters who aren't Bruce and Tim, the fabric starts to unravel in very telling ways.

(p.s, I think pennyworth manor is an interesting idea but I feel like in execution it's just gonna be 'bruce living in a house haunted by the memory of the people he couldn't save' but with a different dead guy this time. Illusion of change and whatnot)

*whether or not the ending is good is up to you ofc, as is your opinion on the proceeding arc! I saw some ppl complain that the ending was too "WFA" for them, which I get even if I dont think it'll literally be the same premise. If anything it's probably a lead into the new tec run. Likewise many ppl who aren't in the weeds of Damian and Jason characterization liked the previous arc! But I have my opinions and rest my case before the bench

**disclaimer, I'm white and portrayals of bigotry in comics are complicated and subjective, but I am basing my point here off what other poc comic fans on socmed have been saying about 149. Also the "sick" is sarcasm incase that wasn't obvious

[topaztimes]

Both of you wanted this so I made it a post lmao @etherealspacejelly @the-rat-1

ERM! I call this the Very Brief Guide To Human Faces (From A Furry Perspective)

Let's start with this guy.

This buddy is the absolute basics of the human face -- I guarantee that if you focused your camera on a version of it you drew, it'll recognise a face, because that's all a human is: neck, nose, under-lip, under-brows (which is also why I make the under-brow coloured darker in my style lol. Cheeky example below)

Anyways! Exaggerating and expanding outwards from these shadows are really important if you're trying to go for realism. But let's keep going with regular anatomy for now lol -- just, if you're stuck, make sure that those shapes are obvious. If they aren't, maybe that's the issue!

(That's what buddy looks like filled in. His brows are raised a bit lmao)

Mads Mikkelsen jumpscare:

(I chose him because his skull is SO OBVIOUS) Now, this is THE cheat code of all time: in the VAST majority of mammals, the inner corners of the eyes are exactly the same width as the widest part of the nose/nostrils. In humans, since we have bones in the front of our jaws, we have another sneaky thing with this same proportion: the CHIN. Wowie!

See? These two buddies have a very obvious line. It's amazing

More things that line up are: Top of ear: top of eye socket, bottom of ear: middle of upper lip Bottom of nose: top of earlobe (where the hole begins) Corner of the jaw: dip of the chin Aaaaand there's definitely more that I can't think of off the top of my head. Oh well

Here's a small turnaround of the head for you... which leads us onto the cranium (REMEMBER that the head isn't a perfect box! It's more like a trapezium prism; that's how you can see the tips of someone's opposite ear when they're facing 3/4 away from you)

THE CRANIUM!!!

This is what a white person's head would typically look like from the side -- they tend to have more flat craniums. I like to exaggerate the shape of the overhang because it makes me happy

Another thing to do with side profiles: the default human has the JAW and the FOREHEAD PARALLEL to each other. It's an epic cheat, because if you know the rough angle of the jaw, you know the angle of the forehead. It's saved me far too many times

This is closer to my own head shape, although it's still very exaggerated lol. In short: anything that isn't the xenomorph's level of head-dome is likely the shape of a real human. Everything can be customised; everything's connected

Last bit: customising the face. You know the default -- how do you change it while still looking realistic?

Remember the line I was talking about? Contains the nose, doesn't include the eyes? You change THAT. You make the nose wider than the corners of the eyes for a big nose, and you make it smaller for a little nose. That's how your brain can tell that someone's had plastic surgery lol (people often get nosejobs without also getting their chin shape changed. There's a lot of variation in eyes, so you don't often notice those if only 1/3 doesn't align)

Same thing with the forehead and jaw being parallel. You want a square jaw? Make the jaw more of a right angle while making the forehead rounder. That's how you build juxtaposition to draw attention to the 'striking' feature.

OKAY omg that was a lot but I hope it helped lmfaooo -- I also have a mini guide for the general body so let me know if you want that too

[wildissylupus]

I LOVE those Junker bios and backstories! Are you planning on doing more? Maybe the Overwatch agents?

Oh absolutely!! I've technically done a couple descriptions on how some Overwatch agents would be but they weren't deep dives, it'll also probably take longer then the Junker characters cause there are a lot more Overwatch characters then Junkers. Also because of the fact that the Overwatch and Talon groups have more cinematics and comics I will probably be referencing them in a Mirrorwatch context for some of the descriptions.

Anyway might as well get into it here.

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

Doomfist - Strike Commander Ogundimu

Honestly he's the easiest to describe as we already know a lot about him from voice lines and interviews. Though his history is still largely unknown, we know that his motivation is largely the same, just changed to the strong must protect the weak. I also think that in this universe, Akande isn't the third Doomfist, but the second, being chosen by Adhabu Ngumi to be his successor. This version of Adhabu Ngumi likely being MW!Overwatch's first strike commander. Personality wise I think he's pretty much the same but a lot more heroic. I think an in game example that would be a good reference is Bonebreaker, another alternate Doomfist who's also a hero. Though despite this more heroic Doomfist, I still think he would have been arrested. Mainly because I doubt that he would have respected the Petras Act, likely continuing his Overwatch work.

Widowmaker - Captain Lacroix

Like Doomfist Amelie is easy to do as we have voice lines for her. We know that she has a high focus of justice and retribution, we know she was close with Ramattra, that her Gerard is still alive (either still an agent or retired) and that her eye was likely shot out by Ana. Interestingly though, she seemed to have a close connection to Sam, which makes sense as Sam and Gerard likely worked together on diplomacy, though it is also likely that Ana trained Amelie in this universe. As the voice lines that Amelie has with Ana not only imply that Ana worked for Overwatch before Talon but they also have an inflection that implies a previous close relationship between the two. It's also shown that Sombra and Amelie are close in this universe as well, and considering that Sombra and Cassidy likely switched places, I like to think that both Amelie and Gerard were both Blackwatch agents at some point. Personality wise I think this version of Amelie is a lot goofier, making spider puns and maybe even helping Sombra with pranks. I also think she's incredibly stubborn and loyal, an absolute beast on the field but her care for the people around her can cause her to hesitate, hence why she lost her eye. Though what's interesting is that Amelie chose to get a prostetic eye and has seemingly gotten augmentations on the other eye as well. Which makes it seems she's insecure in her abilities as a sniper.

Sombra - Agent Olivia Colomar

Sombra most likely started off as a Blackwatch agent, taken in after Overwatch conducted a sting operation against Los Muertos. I still think that she would find out about "The Conspiracy" but that would be something she discovered after Zurich. Likely resulting in her going off the grid until Doomfist was broken out. As I said before she's close with Amelie but I also think she would be close with Echo in this timeline too, recognizing that the learning AI that she has is learning more then just battle tactics. I don't think much would change about her personality wise, she would likely be less prone to blackmail but even that's a stretch.

Echo - Stealth Unit

Created by a Mina Liao that had full given up on recreating the sentience that Aroura had. MW!Echo would have been strictly made for combat, but still using a highly advanced learning AI for maximum efficacy. An unintended side effect of this was that Echo's learning capabilities eventually progressed past battle strategies. This lead to Echo having a more clinical and straight forward personality, not being as excited to learn but intrigued by what else she could be capable of. She was likely still quarantined after Zurich but was saved from Talon hands by Ashe.

Reaper - Gabriel Reyes

I think that the original strike team was likely still the same for Mirrorwatch, especially with the knowledge that Ana was with Overwatch at some point and Reinhardt is being implied to be brainwashed. Though I do think that with Jack and Gabe specifically they immediately joined Talon after the Crisis. Reyes loosing faith in changing the system during the crisis because of public reaction towards Overwatch during the crisis. However that changed as he watch what Overwatch turned into, bringing in pepole like Ashe and Sombra, giving them a chance at a different life. What also helped was his connection to Cassidy, even if their dynamic was strained because of their environment, they were still close, and because of that Reyes has always felt guilt about what he helped Cassidy turn into. That was a big motivation as to why Reyes defected from Talon, seeking out Overwatch to make up for all the pain he caused. During this escape however, Jack chased him down and during the altercation an explosion happened that presumably killed Jack (it didn't, Jack just saw Gabe's defection as a good sign to retire), and left Gabe incredibly wounded. Even with being a super soldier, the wounds were too much. That's when Moira found him and helped him the best she could, but it was not an easy process and Reyes was left permanently changed. It took years for the side affect of Moira's impromptu treatment to be dealt with to the point where Reyes wasn't in excruciating pain all the time. When he was treated though, he immediately set off to right his wrongs, his first act in redemption was saving Dr. Siebren de Kuiper from a Talon abduction with the help of Agent Colomar.

Moira - Head of Medical/Field Medic O'deorain

Moira was made Overwatch's head of Medical soon after Akande took the title of Strike Commander. Which was something that surprised her as her medical research was considered controversial, though those who said that often ignored the key detail that all experiments, she used herself as the test subject. Moira is a person who is fully in the belief that even if she doesn't have the time to be entitled to patience, her research will live on and eventually be picked up by someone else. She is highly aware of recovery time and often dissuades un-needed surgeries because of this. This is a problem when it comes to Amelie as she believes that she needs more augmentations to keep up with Ana and other Talon operatives, a sentiment only increased by Ramattra's death. Moira holds a lot of guilt for the things she's had to do with Overwatch, mainly being forced to do experimental treatments that resulted in less the good side effects.

Sigma - Dr. Siebren de Kuiper

Sigma's story would mostly be the same except he was saved by Overwatch instead of captured by Talon Talon. Which would lead to his mind and abilities being a lot more stable. I think he would still be close with Sombra as well as Hammond, but with the addition of him genuinely being close with Moira and Reaper. I don't think he'd go into the field that often, his powers still being unstable, but he does help out where he can. When he does go into the field though he mostly tries to protect his teammates and assets in civilian rescue.

Mauga - Ecopoint Liberator

I think this Mauga would be largely the same personality wise however morality would be very different, specifically I think this version of Mauga turned against the Deepsea Raiders and helped liberate the Samoan Ecopoint. That becoming his home base until Sombra got in contact with him and asked him to join Overwatch. I like to think that in this universe Mauga and Bapiste meet but it's while Baptiste is undercover trying to get information on what's happening with the Ecopoint to Talon. Mauga being a good way in.

Wrecking Ball - Hammond

Hammond is the same as Winston, basically just Hammond but he landed in Gibraltar instead of Australia. Though one this to consider is that Hammond likely struggled to get the same rights Winston did in canon, due to the fact that Hammond is a hamster and can't talk the same way the Winston can. Hammond becoming an Overwatch agent likely causing more outrage. Also because of this I think Hammond would have been made more of a mascot by the public the Winston was. Hammond most likely hating this. Basically Hammond is motivated to do good because that's what the people around him do, his friends want to do good, want to save people. So he'll follow their lead because even if he doesn't care for the general public, he cares about his friends.

Ashe

I've talked about Ashe a bit already but to summerise it, Ashe's parents where likely into more illegal dealings even before Ashe started her gang, which caused them to act differently when it came to Ashe lashing out. They manipulated her into thinking they had changed their ways and were becoming better people, which lead to Ashe betraying the other Deadlocks and going back to her parents. Which as you can tell, was a bad choice. After Ashe had basically cut off her entire support network Ashe's parents basically became worse then they were before, firing B.O.B and getting Ashe heavily involved with the family business. All the while still not paying her any mind as their daughter, now more as a nuisance they needed to keep an eye on. Until Overwatch took her parents down and offered Ashe a position in Blackwatch. Where she also reunited with B.O.B and Frankie. Ashe lives with a lot of guilt for her past action, guilt only increased when Blackwatch started getting invloved with Talon and she saw what became of Cassidy.

[slutforalastor]

Help me

If he had it in his mind, Lucifer could have ignored him completely. He was a button-pusher, that grinning demon, and any interaction was a chance for him to poke and prod for weaknesses, softness he could sink his teeth into. The issue was, if there was no interaction whatsoever, that'd be chalked up as a victory, as well. And someone had to watch over Charlie.

They'd crossed paths in the foyer, Alastor sipping his drink from his favorite mug and half-invested in a periodical, Lucifer waiting to receive Charlie from a diplomatic mission. Charlie had inherited the same dislike of the silence, and the King found himself clearing his throat, watching those red ears perk up and Alastor extricate his grin from the outdated book. "So, red, hmm? I guess you're a pretty big fan, seeing as how you look like that joke about the nun that fell down the stairs, minus the white."

"Well, you know, my tailor says it compliments my figure. I do like to lead by example."

"Of course it does, and of course you do. Any opportunity you get to lead, eh Al?"

"Please, your highness, my friends call me Al. It's Alastor to you."

"Well, maybe I'll come up with my own nickname for you, like Red, or Little Red."

"Haha," he chuckled, the static in his voice growing thicker. "How I haven't missed what passes for comedy in Hell. How about I tell you a story, then?"

"If it'll make you feel big, deer friend."

"Very funny," his grin ironically telegraphing that he'd gotten no humor from it. "So, in the living world, where I grew up there were a lot of snakes. Dreadful creatures, you know, sneaking around, waiting for a good time to strike, hated by all. Anyhow, most of them were relatively harmless, my mama taught me how to tell the dangerous ones out from the others. You see, they always had bright, outrageous colors. Somehow, most of nature knew that those were the ones you avoided fucking with. Those snakes, they're even more aggressive than the nonvenomous ones, even though they have less to lose."

"Is this headed somewhere, Red?"

Alastor lifted himself out of his chair, closing the distance between himself and the King of Hell until they needn't talk much louder than a hissing whisper.

"The only people that get close to such bright, obvious warnings are people looking to try their luck for the sake of a thrill. Is that what you're after, your Highness?"

[danieyells]

got any random nsftish hcs of kaito? all i got rn is him getting pegged by a strap on but i wanna know what hcs other people got for him

hmmm I work a lot better with prompts(not that 'nsft headcanon' isn't a prompt but like marginally more specific) but maybe I can think of something!

Kaito is a virgin. But that's basically canon, I don't need to tell you that. This makes him a little easily excited. He's not Yuri "Flustered By A Girl's Exposed Shoulders" Isami but he can get unexpectedly aroused by little things simply thinking about where they could lead. Try not to surprise him with gestures unless you want him worrying over his awkward boner for a while.

Isn't as straight as he thinks, especially when it comes to some of the pretty guys around like Jin and Romeo and Subaru. It'll take him a while to consider that he might be okay with being with another man.

Kaito thinks he would be fine rushing into sex or having casual sex--because he's a boy and boys like sex and that's what's expected of him right?--but he'd either chicken out if his partner rushed him into it or he'd feel really awkward about it afterwards. He'd be super excited at first but get panicky and awkward and. . .it just wouldn't be a good first time with him even if he were experienced. He's too insecure to be rushed, he needs the trust and the intimacy. Friends with benefits could be fine as long as he doesn't have romantic feelings.

He would be willing to get pegged by his partner if it were something they were into. He's got that heteronormative mindset of 'i'm a man and so i should be on top' when he's with girls or people smaller/more feminine/more passive than him but. . .he's plenty suited to bottoming. In fact, he'd find himself surprisingly comfortable taking it from a more experienced partner, and he'd be eager to help a first timer figure pegging out. It'd be a first for him too so. . .no need to be embarrassed right?

On that note even if you're not pegging him he is very good for anal play. Even grabbing his ass gets him pretty worked up but, unbeknownst to him he really likes being teased back there. Finger him, rim him, spank him, scratch him, whatever. He'll be shocked by it and maybe protest a little lightly if he hasn't accepted it yet but once he trusts the process he'll be more open to it.

He's self-conscious about making noise. He feels like of he makes too much noise he's gonna come off as uncool or unattractive or not masculine. He bites his shirt a lot when he jerks off and when he has sex he tries not to be too vocal and when he is vocal he tries to play it up as grunting and growling and other ~manly~ noises that may come off as unnatural. But catch him off guard or encourage him to make noise naturally and he whimpers and moans a lot. And he yaps too. He's a chatterbox. He will talk to you.

He's a bit of a people-pleaser and he'll put extra work in if you tell him how good it feels. He also works great with instructions, so if you know exactly how you like it just tell him. He is a great follower! Awkward roleplayer, he's much better at being himself than trying to play a part, but if you give him an idea of what to expect or what to do things will go a lot more smoothly.

Canonically Kaito is good with his hands--he puts together furniture himself for example--so he's good with his hands in bed too. He's great at figuring out where and how to touch and stimulate and it just comes surprisingly easy to him if he's fingering or jerking off his partner. Same with smoothly removing clothes too--he'd surprise himself when he doesn't somehow mess up removing a bra okay his hands are smarter than his brain.

He'd be shocked but excited by little bits of public play. If you rub his thigh during class or move his hand toward your lap he will try his best to make it look subtle. If he's feeling really confident he'll test the waters himself.

His need to put on a certain facade of bravado means he'll pretty much try anything once. It won't necessarily go well and he might chicken out at first, but if he really likes and trusts you he can be persuaded. Ultimately he is a coward and will have a hard time with more extreme stuff.

He has fantasies about being the strong, powerful one in a situation and they upset him a little bit sometimes. Sometimes they get. . .a little more extreme than he feels comfortable with and he feels like a bad person. Even if he were able to comfortably express these fantasies he would need a lot of aftercare and reassurance that thinking about roughing up his partner or being forceful with them doesn't make him awful. Similarly, as he accepts his cowardice and weakness and maybe explores it sexually, he'll need aftercare. . .he'll probably need a lot of aftercare in general, even with regular sex sometimes. Which isn't a bad or shameful thing!! It just helps him process stuff!!

He gets a lot of his sex advice from, well, relationship and sex advice magazines and stuff. So he may frequently be the one to bring up trying new things in hopes of keeping his relationships 'fresh'. They may be questionable things, but until he starts to feel like he knows what works and what doesn't he'll rely on the guidance of "professionals."

Instantly turned on seeing his partner in his clothes. Simple boy. Also has fetishes for things like stockings and heels. School uniforms don't do it for him as much--he's been burnt by too many girls in his time in school. . . . Doesn't realize it but thinks crossdressing looks great on a girl.

Extremely weak to being seduced and approached and sweettalked. If you're forward with him he'll be puddy in your hands, though that won't necessarily negate the awkwardness.

Would flourish being stimulated while doing other activities like studying.

Gets tired easily but pushes himself instead of admitting to it--so he's likely to fall asleep after having sex.

Occasionally thinks back to when Luca held that knife to his neck and threw him around and gets a little excited. In the moment it was too terrifying but thinking back on it. . .it makes it a little awkward to associate with Luca the next day, whenever he's gotten off to it.

His really good sight makes him very visually focused. He tends to watch his partner doing things, especially when they're doing things to him, and he's very observant sexually so he can tell from little reactions if something is good or not. This also comes with drawbacks--he always notices little things like erect nipples through a shirt, rubbing thighs together, peeks of skin or clothing that weren't meant to be exposed, the bounce of breasts and asses and thighs when someone moves around. . .it's easy to catch him staring.

Would be so nervous about being tied up you'd see a hint of his ghoul strength come out and he might break through ropes by accident. Something metal might fare better.

May accidentally leave marks and hickeys on a partner. Will absolutely do it intentionally if asked.

Nervousness and lack of confidence mean he'll frequently ask for confirmation that you want him to do something. . .this may unexpectedly and completely accidentally turn into denial or powerplay where you're expected to beg without him realizing it.

Speaking of begging, if you're edging him even a little he will be a babbling mess of begging. Overstimulation is the opposite--he'll start begging but eventually start drooling and groaning and being incoherent and crying.

Also on the subject of crying, don't be shocked or worried if he tears up during sex. There's just a lot going on and, as long as he doesn't seem to be emotionally distraught, it's probably just happening and not a sign that he needs to stop or have it addressed. He'd prefer you ignore it rather than act differently in response to it, unless he seems to be like crying crying. Then maybe check on him, give him a hug or a kiss or some reassurance of some sort.

Often doesn't like situations where he's too passive as they play on his insecurities and inexperience--he really and truly wants to be good in bed so it doesn't really sit right with him to just take it and never be giving anything. In contrast he has no problem if you just take it as long as you're reacting in a way he can get feedback from.

. . .i feel like a lot of these are very basic and vanilla and simple but like i said i do work better with slightly more specific prompting haha but also i feel like kaito is. . .a little vanilla? Or he has more common tastes. Or at least his cowardice makes it harder for him to try out or enjoy other things. . .i feel like he's very fond of intimate sex and a lot of vocalizing and feedback and active communication, he doesn't like to be kept guessing but he doesn't mind trying to surprise you if he thinks you'll like it.

Hopefully this satisfies you a bit, anon! Sorry it took a little while.

[violet-fire-cat]

👀

Another 👀 ask, another AU ramble!!

For today, let's go wiiiiiith- hm. What do I even call this one, I'm so bad at naming aus. Uh. How about ~

Alien Avatar AU This one takes inspiration from the movie Avatar. Yes, the one with the blue aliens. I have a tendancy to watch a film/show or play a game and go 'I can make an AU out of that'. And this is one of many examples of this pfft.

Anyway! This ones more sci-fiy, but only partly so. And. Also, once again, Ethubs. Yeah. (sorry not sorry) There's also some art! Design doodles for a while ago, so that's fun ~

Bdubs is a scientist on a research vessel that's travelling to other planets to study them. He's a biologist, mostly focused on plants and how they grow. The ship is full of other Hermits with various areas of study, as well as the tech guys and medics and such.

Etho, however. Is an alien living on one of the planets that the humans want to study. His species are much earlier into their development, living in small clans and villages in the thick forests and snowy mountains of their home world. Etho is a scout and a hunter, often patrolling the territory around his village, or hunting for food to feed his people.

Bdubs' ship arrives in the planets orbit to do some research. They are aware of the native species but limit time spent on the surface and keep their distance from settlements. They don't want to interact with the locals if they can avoid it. They just want to do their research, study the planets flora and fauna, it's ecosystem, terrain, climate, etc. And then leave.

The extreme cold, heavy snow and rough terrain of the planet below is very difficult for a human to navigate safely for any length of time. And sure they aren't spending much time down there, but they still want to gather some samples and specimens to study on the ship, and to explore a little. So a few of the crew members have 'avatar' bodies made using both their own DNA and previously collected genetic material from the locals.

Bdubs is one of the people who gets one of these things, and he's a little weirded out by it at first. It looks like him, but covered in fur. It's strange. But he still makes use of it to collect plant samples for his work. He's never down there for long, and he's been told that there are no signs of a native settlement in the area he's in, so the chance of him stumbling across anyone is low.

Low. But not impossible.

He's collecting plants in the forest when something sneaks up behind him. One of the locals. Bdubs has seen pictures, but encountering one up close is different. And he's a bit concerned! The stranger is crouched low and watching him closely. Dressed in what look like animal pelts and leathers, his white fur camouflages him against the snow. He's not hostile, but he's definietly cautious and wary.

This, of course, is Etho. Who's not quite sure what he's just found. A stranger. From another clan? He doesn't look like any others Etho has seen before. He looks weird, his hair and fur are so dark. He stands out against the snow. He doesn't seem to understand his words, the other nearby clans at least speak the same language, so he must be from far away. Why is he here? Etho doesn't know. But he doesn't think this guy is dangerous. Was he collecting plants? Herbs maybe? Hm.

It'll be dark soon. Etho won't leave someone out in the snow at night. There are wild animals, and the bitter cold of winter nights is tough, even for them. It's not safe. He's still wary, but he leads Bdubs back to his home. Bdubs shouldn't follow, but he does.

The village is small, but these people have simple structures and homes built into the rocks and hillside and a fire burning bright in the middle of the settlement. The rest of the clan are curious of Bdubs, but they listen to whatever Etho tells them.

Someone passes Bdubs a bowl of hot food. Like soup. It's meaty and delicious and warms him against the winter chill. He's given a place to sleep in Etho's den, and that's where he spends the night.

When the alien body sleeps, Bdubs wakes up in his human body back on the ship. And- he has so much to explain to the others, this is going to be complicated. God he hopes he doesn't get in trouble for this it's not his fault he got found, okay!!

Technically, they should get Bdubs' alien avatar out of the village and back to the ship. But- those people don't know that Bdubs isn't from this planet. If they don't kick Bdubs out as soon as the sun rises, maybe keeping him there wouldn't be so bad. They've been granted quite an incredible opportunity to learn about the locals, about their culture and way of life. Surely they should pursue that?

Bdubs isn't sure at first, but he eventually agrees, and the next morning he links back up and rejoins Etho and the rest of the clan. They don't try to chase him out, and so begins Bdubs living an odd double life.

Over the following months Bdubs basically intergrates into Etho's clan. Learns about their language, their culture, their enviroment. The way they hunt, cook, make clothes, make medicines. It's fascinating and he's learning a lot of new skills alongside everything else. And then every night he debriefs to the other Hermits back on the ship, and they're able to add new info to their database.

Bdubs and Etho become good friends, especially as Bdubs' grasp of the language improves. And... With time, they start to become something more.

Bdubs didn't plan on falling in love with the alien! Of course not! It just... Sort of happened. And by the time he'd realised it he was in way too deep to get out.

It's becoming increasingly obvious that Etho feels the same way too... Oh dear.

Bdubs is confronted with a romance he wants but really isn't sure that he should allow. And, later, with the fact that his secret won't stay secret forever. That one day Etho will learn the truth of where Bdubs comes from. And the reality that is Bdubs eventually being expected to go back to Earth... This trip really wasn't supposed to be this complicated!!

Aaaand yep! That's all for this one! I really love this au and it's definietly one I'd love to write some time, but I'd need to figure out what order everything happens in and how certain plot points actually play out and- various other things. I don't know. Maybe one day!

But yeah, drawing Bdubs all fluffy is so fun hehe, that art is from a few months ago now and was just me experimenting a bit, but I like it!

If anyone wants to know more about this AU feel free to drop me an ask, I love to talk about these things, if you couldn't already tell pfft. Still got more of these asks in my inbox too, so expect another long AU ramble from me very soon ~

[riding-the-sunset-bird]

hello!! this may be a weird question but have you got any tips for replaying (the base game)?? even tho i make up a whole new mc and choose different things it still gets a bit boring..

Hello~!

It's not a weird question at all! I totally feel you sometimes because there are moments that can feel a little restrictive. Games will inevitably have limitations and that's why you've seen me do multiple Shopping edits from the MC's opinion on the snail they watched to being able to skip the magician and get a different scene to replace it. There are also some other edits I've neglected posting about.

What it comes down to, I think, is either changing your relationship with Cove, getting a different Cove personality (so if you've gotten a Warm one, go Cold, and same with Sporty/Studious) but also doing moments out of order.

For example, if you usually go from left-to-right, go backwards and see if there's any dialog you haven't yet seen.

When you say "the base game," I also assume you don't have DLCs or aren't interested in them (or maybe you mean you're avoiding the Derek/Baxter DLCs)? I'll still bring up some as they tend to be the best comparisons, but yeah, I'd say avoid moments that don't have notable diverging paths.

Smaller things are like... telling Cove about the deal in Sandcastle can also lead to a little conversation in Shopping if you ask about his dad giving people money, whereas larger are that you can choose not to tattle on Lizzie in Grown Up and get an entirely different scene that's shorter but where she's thankful towards you. In Wave, you can have an extra conversation with the moms about their relationship if you choose "You weren't sure what you were going to do; he was surfing and you didn't know how." and can choose to stay on the beach instead of surf or the reverse if you'd done that before.

In the Step 1 ending and Wave, you also can choose not to stick to Cove at all and get a couple scenes you might not've seen before. I'd never really recommend going for a full Indifferent one, but you can do a technical slow relationship by staying on Fond but not sticking close to Cove until later on (waiting until Step 4 to confess and propose to Cove is also hilarious if you have the patience for it).

Diverging paths are usually more reserved for the DLCs (examples being Barbecue when you can stay with the family instead of the kids and get a conversation with Cove about his fish on Fond/Cush, Runaway where you can stay/go with Cove which basically changes the entire moment, and Sleepover where you can either leave with Cove, let Cove leave himself, or convince him to stay on Fond/Crush), but there are still little things you can do.

I think it's also important to figure out why you're replaying the game if you're bored. If it's specific moments that you feel won't change much, then skip them or subvert the moment entirely (by not engaging with the plot, for example in Ghost you can choose not to investigate the noise and get a scene with the moms instead followed by Cove in the morning). I'd also recommend playing the Our Life: Now & Forever demo if you haven't already to get an experience similar but different (it also has more replayability due to how you can split/choose between Tamarack and Qiu).

I may be able to help further if I could understand your mindset for replaying even if you worry about boredom. Like, if you're doing it just to search for new dialog/scenes, you can use the Skip function, blaze through the game, and it'll stop skipping when it spots new text if you have it tuned to that in the Options.

[tekatonic]

Hiya! So I just stumbled upon SEGAU and I gotta say, I'm hooked! Like, I'm very confused, but it all looks so cool! You said you were okay with questions and I want to know more, so here we go!

Is there anything in the early story (Sonic’s origins, meeting Tails, Project Shadow, the like) that has significantly changed from canon? I can't think of any other questions right now, so we'll start with that.

YES the first ask about it !!!! Heck yeah ! Sorry it took me a full hour to write this up I have a lot to say !

Let's see, the answer is Y E A H.

First of all lemme explain the basic chaos energy setup I have going on, it'll help. ( this ended up being VERY long feel free to skip the bullet points... )

So every person has a different way that chaos energy flows inside them, that's called chaos flow. There's different chaos flow categories with type distinctions based on if you have special powers and how strong they are, but let's forgo types for now because that's not that important, here are the categories !

Dormant : that's the base category, most everyone is born like this, with a stagnant chaos flow, and within their early childhood it's usually fixed into their definitive type ( which can also stay dormant ), important to note : just because you're not dormant doesn't mean you will have any special powers listed here !!

Passive : slow swirlies in your flow ! very stable ! the kinds of powers you can get from this are "internal", mind powers essentially, for example Rouge can read people's thoughts ! This is also the flow pattern that can give you a summonable item like Amy's hammer, those are called chaos objects.

Active : not stable ! the flow is sparking and bursting all throughout, and that's where you'll see most people with form changes, but not only like Super forms, also like what Tails, Cream and Knuckles do : shifting their body parts ( wings is the standard ). And this is where you'll see Shadow's abilities to externalize and shape chaos energy ! Shadow is just REALLY good at it.

Hyperactive : super rare, and for good reason, because it is like solar flares inside you all the time, and a lot of people with this one are born into it instead of developing it normally, and that's NO GOOD because newborns are NOT made to handle that and most of them will unfortunately not live for very long :( Silver is alive though !! Hyperactives tend to have faster everything ever.

and last up, Conditional : this is the rarest flow category, there's like 10 people in the world at once with this, aaaand Sonic is one of them. Basically this cycles multiple flow patterns, and can potentially use abilities from all available flow patterns. The problem with this is it's so rare and unpredictable that if you were ever to have a medical issue related to your chaos flow... well, good luck.

I lied there's another one but there is only one person that has it and it is Amy :)

Okay maybe I explained the basics too much... Are you still with me ?

So yes, let's get into backstory. The first thing you need to know is that GUN is very bad ! No good at all !! And they have a lab. Terrible things happen to children in there.

Anyway, little Sonic happens to be born and have conditional flow. Uh oh ! This is the perfect base to go off of to create a potentially perfect being ( aka Project Shadow ) ! Eventually they decide to move the project to the Ark, and poor 4 year-old Sonic with it. Unfortunately ( or fortunately ) for the little guy, once Shadow starts happening, they kind of forget about him, leading to Sonic being in suspended animation on the Ark for 38 years straight, secret to the world. Until his capsule gets ejected mysteriously and it lands on Christmas Island.

Of course, present-day Sonic does not remember a lick of this. Shadow doesn't know either, they were never in the same room together. Sonic was basically an unnamed research paper at that point.

38 years later and in fact 9 years after that, that GUN lab STILL exists... until little Amy, who also got caught by the GUN baby-stealing ninjas, absolutely blows it up and off the face of the world and walks away to meet with destiny.

---

Alllllright that's probably enough lore for your ask ? Sorry this is SO long and complex to say such a simple thing about Sonic being the basis for Shadow, haha...

A thing to note, I am fusing some games together here, the logistics are being worked on, but for example, CD and 06 are fused together, which means Amy meets Sonic during Sonic 2, just a little later than Tails !

[softsky-daily]

11/7/2024

My phone always makes these nighttime photos look so haunted.

Positive thing: I had a nice therapy session.

Talking with him about election woes helped, and it was also while I was talking I realized there's plenty of good things happening in my life too. I have many wonderful friends, I'm moving to a new place soon, my mom is confirmed to be coming home in December, and I'm getting back into stuff I enjoyed like nigehaji. I reflected on how much more I've been feeling like drawing and writing again which I thought might never happen.

There were some funny/interesting things from today. My coworker friend and I have been slowly watching through nigehaji together after we finish work on Thursdays, and she gets supremely frustrated while watching the main leads. It's a playful kind of frustration, and I totally feel her because I'm pretty sure I reacted similarly when I was first watching. There's this weird quality to nigehaji where the exact same details and scenes that make me insane make every other person go "...ok?" or even "god what is wrong with them". Which is absolutely their perogative and I don't feel offended if they don't like it. It just makes it hard to explain why I do like it. I don't know how to put into words that the fact that the two main leads don't communicate on the same wavelength and the main guy is always running away is frustrating but also a key part of the message of the whole show. And if it was any other romance with a different setup I would condemn it to hell for being a dumb miscommunication arc but in nigehaji it's actually just cinema to me. I don't know how to explain!! I just don't know. But maybe I'll write another essay about why I like it and maybe it'll finally turn out coherent one of these days.

Another interesting thing that completely distracted me from my nigehajiposting was someone in one of the Japanese Discord servers I'm in apparently got coaxed into some maid cafe bar, and spent ¥100,000 on a drink. ¥100,000!!! For context, that's roughly $650. I know he got pressured into a tourist trap basically, but I was so shocked at how he basically reacted like it was a small mistake and not something that ruined his wallet. Like, that's almost my rent for the month basically. On one drink?? Oh my god. I would fall to my knees. What cracked me up was how he followed up saying he was done with maid cafes because of this but not 30 minutes later he announced he was in another one. Godspeed, dude. I guess this is how Japan's tourism industry stays alive.

This one's less interesting but I had to do a reading for class, and the book we have to read is written in a very annoying way. Basically it's a self-help kind of book about how to organize your life, applied to building your career or whatever. I do think there's some good points in there, but because the author is a Los Angeles white woman hustler type lady it has this grating edge to it. "You just have to get up early and do things!" rings hollow from anybody but especially from someone like that. There's a short excerpt where she describes how one of her lowest points in her life was lying on the floor for 30 minutes feeling stuck. And like, lady, I feel that way every day, and I'm lucky if it's for 30 minutes. Also her anecdotes tend to include other brands and social media and it just feels like I'm being advertised to every other minute. She shows an example of what she thinks a cordial email is and it's the most passive-aggressive thing I've ever read and she finishes by saying something like "And I'm really proud of how I handled this email, I'm so professional!" and it's like, okay...

Long story short, I don't trust people whose lives are extremely niche in the grand scheme of things giving advice as if it's universal. Maybe if you're white and neurotypical and abled you'd resonate more with this lady and her "I try to get up at 6:15am and be in my car by 8:23am" type nonsense.

But anyway. Tomorrow I'm looking at another place with my friends to potentially move into, and this one looks real promising. It's got wood floors instead of carpet like the last one, and it's located in a nice neighborhood close to my university. The rent isn't bad either. I'm hoping it looks as nice in real life as it does in the online pictures.