#like the strength of the word is

[cowboyskeletons]

and sparrow's son loves the world so much and loves everyone around him and how can sparrow tell him that the world is cruel? how can he tell him that love will be punished and that cruelty is the only way to survive? normal's love scares him, he loves his son so much but that love scares him. he would do and has done anything for his son but he knows that it has led to his own ruin. and he loves his son but too much love has only ever harmed him and maybe he can take a model from his own dad and multitask.

maybe he can love his son but he hates him too, hates that normal can love and hates that normal can be loved and hates that normal can be so oblivious to the cruelty around him in a way that he himself lost when the world ended. he wants his son to have everything but loathes that fact that normal'll never try. that he just accepts life as it is. the way his dad did, when sparrow saluted henry and went along with the world's end and turned a blind eye to his wife's infidelity.

he sees himself in normal, maybe. maybe he hates that. because he lost himself, that day he lost his father's care and his mother's respect, and he can't bear to see himself lost again. normal needs to be cruel because otherwise he will be crushed and sparrow can't do that again. can't let himself be crushed again.

[vaguely-concerned]

having seen at least the rough outlines of all the romances now I have to say that I think emmrich's is probably objectively the best in terms of coherence and completeness of story arc (with the understanding that ultimately the 'best' romance is whichever one makes YOUR heart sing anyway so objectivity is a silly thing to claim that way, it just felt like it's the arc with the most well-paced focused content and the least dangling threads)... but lucanis' is my favourite haha. just. the whole kneeling before your beloved full of reverence but without any of the distance that usually implies??? his complete undramatic certainty and calm in every scene with rook after this, having spent the whole game caught between fear and longing???? mr. lives in a pantry but it says nothing about my psyche don't worry about it it's purely for tactical reasons that I keep myself contained in a small dark room not entirely unlike a cell, love among the parsnips -- finally coming to rook in their room and it's so comfortable and comforting???? after all the times rook supports and comforts him through the game he's finally able to return the same to them when they need it while being so calm and steady and it's so fucking sweet and feels so effortless and with no price attached?????? he basically assigns himself the role of your bodyguard and he WILL stab a god over it??????????????? the turn to protector (which was in his heart all along longing to get out and find a place) of it all????? he sounds like he's found himself unexpectedly stumbling into such a soul-lightening state of revelatory existential relief, full on 'you only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves' mary oliver style, and he goes and he shares that with rook and protectively envelops them in it when they're hurting??????????????????????????? hello for the maker's sake hello can anyone hear me?????

[somerandomdudelmao]

@tapakah0

This little bunny means the world to me

[thinwhitedoc]

SHERLOCK | Martin Freeman as John Watson

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

Ephemer + physical touch

[cent-scratchnsniff]

of where [ ] [ ] used to be

[chronalshifts]

thinking about jayce arcane and the way he manages to make completely fucked up decisions through nothing more than base instincts. like. he doesn’t want to lose funding for hextech so he leans into the council. he feels powerless and wants to defend his city so he winds up accidentally killing a kid. he doesn’t want to lose viktor so he turns him into a void aberration without a second thought. do you hear me. is this thing on

[casualavocados]

Ai Di manhandling Chen Yi for @grapejuicegay (& me)

Chiang Tien as AI DI KISEKI: DEAR TO ME (2023)

[ganondoodle]

did not anticipate that addtionally to the problem of 'im posting to quickly and too much about whatever floated through my head in that moment that i maybe shouldnt' i would also grow to have the problem of 'deleting posts i probably shouldnt just bc of a sudden feeling of being wrong or unclear'

[pinbones]

There's two types of people who use transandrophobia to decribe transmascs' and trans mens' experiences:

- Simply specificity, language used to hone in on a specific way being trans affects people who just happen to be men

- As both the above and as a springboard to discuss how societal misogyny, radical feminism, gender stereotypes, and bioessentalism affect all people who can be pecieved as men or masculine by others, and how bigotries compound in meaningful ways with stereotypes and bigotry surrounding maleness and manhood

Like. Half of you are saying "maleness is a hollow experience which is standard, and exists in opposition to gendered oppression, and transandrophobia is therefore when dudes experience misogyny and transphobia"

and half of you are saying "Being percieved and/or transitioning towards male uniquely affects how I am treated, because, for example, how people perceive my blackness or mental illness or kinkiness or femininity is compounded with my manhood in ways that don't usually happen to gender conforming cisperi women"

Which are two fundamentally different approaches to transandrophobia as a concept. One suggests that maleness is a simple downy layer of privilege that coats a person through their male life, and the other acknowledges that a man (or somebody perceived as masculine/male) can experience oppression in ways that those NOT perceived male may not.

Only one of these interpretations is intersectional. Black individuals who are policed more hashly when interpreted as masc know they are risking dangerous experiences when transitioning to male, as has been discussed before on here (to no avail). Male or percieved male people with personality disorders are treated as more dangerous than women with similar symptoms, and are sometiems diagnosed with different disorders entirely based on percieved gender differences. This affects transmascs too, especially considering the already dire state of queerness in psychiatric institutions. Being a male birthing parent is a whole shitshow of transphobia because men are not supposed to give birth, and transmascs are lucky to access related healthcare at all, let alone access it without being ceaselessly misgendered and treated as a stigmatised 'other' to deleterious affects on parent and baby. These are just a few examples, there are many more ways maleness can screw a person over. And that's not to say that female privilege is a thing instead of male privilege, but rather to emphasise that men are not supposed to be minorities. Men are not supposed to be assaulted, men are not supposed to be outliers, men are absolutely not supposed to be trans.

When a man is autistic, he's not just autistic, he's an autistic male, and that makes him more likely to be killed by cops (especially if black). When someone says "you claim you're not ableist but you're scared of the homeless x on a bus talking to xself", they always say the person is a man, because that sounds more significant (and cops think so too). Consider when a person's rape/abuse is considered to not be all that serious due to the victim being male, or when a man's attraction is considered to be more exploitative than a woman's, or when a fat man is considered more creepy/sexist than a thin man or a fat woman. Consider why so many caricatures of evil and creepiness are men with deformities. Consider the fact that men's bathrooms don't have baby changing tables, and that a man may get less support from others after their child's death than the mother might. Maleness can negatively compound with things like minority status, vulnerability, aggression, sexuality, etc. in ways that screw that person over, both in social spaces (such as queer communities that dislike/distrust maleness and masculinity, or how isolation affects men harder), and in more tangible ways, like their rates of suicide and being murdered.

There are tangible ways in which transitioning to male can negatively affect a person's life even if you remove (hypothetically, not really possible) the transphobia element, and these also constitute as worthwhile topics of discussion. If you think maleness is the lack of gendered oppression, then you're not intersectional in your feminism at all. If your life as a male is genuinely sunshine and rainbows (apart from the transphobia if trans), then good for you, genuinely that's great, but not everyone lives in a radfem fantasy world.

Being unable to tell the difference between men talking about mens issues/liberation, and right wingers talking about oppressing women more, isn't feminist. It's ignorant and antifeminist. (MRAs don't care about actual mens lib, and are actively worsening it because they are sexist and opposed to gender lib. You guys know that, right? That male and female liberation aren't oppositional or binary, but the same gender liberation that is entirely oppositional to patriarchy?)

These men and mascs talking about issues facing men aren't ignorant womanhaters who deny misogyny and want ultraprivileged men to be coddled, they are good faith members of your community with experiences just as varied and valid as yours. Treat them like it.

[erikahenningsen]

prompt: fake dating, rejanis or fetchen with some oblivious pining (and the rest of their friends losing their minds over it)

i know it's cliche but i'm a sucker for the trope lmao hope you're doing well! (sorry to hear about your bro as well, hope his surgery goes okay and he gets better soon 🙏)

If Regina is honest with herself, she hates bars. They're loud, they're dark, and they're full of people, many of whom need to be introduced to a stronger deodorant.

This bar in particular attracts rowdy sports fans—Regina's least favorite category of people—but Shane loves it here, if only for the foosball tables they have in the back. And she's been dodging his requests to go out for weeks now. Being here now means he'll leave her alone for a little while.

Regina would be much happier at home on her couch with a book, but instead she's here, sipping her drink at the bar while Shane participates in some foosball tournament that's been going on for half an hour now.

She drains her drink and leaves it on the bar top, deciding to head to the restroom, if only to get a break from the crowd. She's almost made it to the staircase at the back that leads down to the bathrooms when she hears something.

"I said no, asshole."

"Come on, just have one drink with me."

Regina stops. There's a guy who looks like his picture would be in the dictionary next to the word sleazy. He's leaning against the edge of the bar, blocking a girl in with the mass of his body—which doesn't seem hard to do, considering how petite the girl is.

"Sure," the girl, with her back turned to Regina, says sarcastically. "But know that it would be your last."

Wait. Regina knows that voice. Why does she know that voice?

"Now fuck off," the girl says, turning away and—

It's Janis. Their eyes lock, and Regina watches the surprise morph into confusion and then into something... a little pleading.

"Hey, babe," Regina says before she can think it through, stepping up and wrapping an arm around Janis's shoulders. "I've been looking for you."

Regina can feel the way Janis tenses, and she throws Regina a look that clearly says what are you doing? Regina raises her eyebrows in response.

"Oh, yeah... hey," Janis says, forcing a smile. "Long bathroom line?"

"The worst," Regina confirms. Then she looks at the guy like she's just noticing his presence. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Chad," Janis says.

"What? No it isn't," not-Chad says.

"It's nice to meet you, Chad," Regina says, faux-sweet.

"Who the hell are you?" not-Chad asks irritably.

Regina looks at him with disinterested disdain. "Her girlfriend."

The guy narrows his eyes, seemingly not buying it. For some reason, it matters to Regina that this man believes this, so she plants a kiss on Janis's cheek. Regina tries to ignore how she can feel that Janis's jaw is clenched.

"Whatever," the guy grumbles. "You're a three at best, anyway." Then he shoulders past them and stalks away.

Regina briefly entertains a fantasy where she pulls out the hairs on not-Chad's scraggly beard, one by one.

Janis wastes no time in shrugging off Regina's arm, which for an incomprehensible reason, kind of hurts. She misses the warmth of the contact immediately. There's an unsettled feeling in Regina's stomach, and her lips are tingling, like she can still feel Janis's soft, warm cheek under them.

"Isn't it funny how a woman is the most beautiful girl a guy's ever seen right up until she rejects him?" Janis muses. "Anyway, I don't need you to fight my battles."

Regina rolls her eyes. "That's the worst thank-you I've ever heard."

"I had it covered," Janis insists, and in the dim light, Regina thinks she can spot a blush on Janis's face.

"Janis, that guy was twice your size," Regina says. "What are you even doing here, anyway?"

Janis shrugs. "Their burgers are really good. They make the clientele worth it. Most of the time."

"Are you regularly harassed by large men here?" Regina asks, feeling strangely concerned.

"Some of them are medium-sized."

Regina huffs. The idea that men are hitting on Janis bothers her, a slight tug of anxiety in her stomach.

"Well... just be careful," Regina says.

"You got it, mom," Janis replies.

A person appears across the bar with a paper takeout bag and hands it to Janis.

"My quest here is complete," Janis says. "Sorry to break up with you so soon."

"If you ever need me again, you can text me," is what comes out of Regina's mouth for some reason.

Janis peers at her. "Are you trying to ask me out?

"What?" Regina says, too quickly and too loudly. "No, of course not."

Janis just smirks at her, the way she always does when she thinks she's needled her way under Regina's skin.

"Don't be too jealous," Janis says, taking her bag and walking away.

Regina stands and watches her go until she can't see Janis anymore. What was she even doing? She suddenly can't remember. Oh, yes—the restroom.

Good. She feels like she needs to splash some cool water on her face.

[ywpd-translations]

Ride 769: Danchiku's “escape”

Pag 1

1: Sohoku's number 5 jumped ahead! And he kept attacking!!

2: Number 4, Kaburagi, caught up to Doubashi who has been left behind!!

4: This is bad!! Pedal!!

Let's raise our pace!!

Pag 2

2: I won't let you get away, Chicken!!

Pag 3

2: No.... they're so fast!!

It's no use anymore, senpai!!

3: Get away Danchikuu!!

Pag 4

1: Yeah, Issa!!

Pag 5

1: 4km left until the sprint line!!

2: Don't underestimate him, San-na*!!

(*NdT.: Kaburagi is calling him that because when earlier he called him “Doubashi” with no honorifics, Doubashi corrected him saying “it's san, na” the 'na' is just and ending particle, but I decided to leave it in the nickname Kabu is using now)

3: Danchiku is strong!!

He's the kind of guy who once he makes a decision, he sticks to it!!

4: Buah!!

I'm not underestimating him

5: With that attack earlier I got that his “running” is no chicken!!

6: Haha, I told you from the start!! I told you “that's not true”!!

Pag 6

1: But “mentality” is another story!!

3: “Running” and “mentality”are different things, but two sides of the same coin!!

4: I'm chasing him like this!! I'm getting closer!!

That's the reality!! The situation!!

I'll swallow him

5: And even if I don't do anything, he'll make a mistake!!

6: Tch, this guy hit a nerve

7: Look

8: My pressure

Pag 7

1: Is rising!!

3: What's this

From behind me

4: It's the feeling of something dark and hug approaching!!

This is that guy's....!!

Seriously!?

Pag 8

1: But!!

Gaa

2: But I also came here fully prepared!!

ruaaagh

3: “Take care of that idiot”

4: Bamboo

6: Hop Shot!!

Pag 9

1: I'll leave him behind!!

2: Switch to a

3: higher gear!!

6: Dammit, instead of switching to a higher gear I switched to a lower!?

Such a stupid mistake!! In a moment like this!!

I'll switch to a higher gear now!!

8: Stupid mistake...? That's not it

Pag 10

1: Is my body reacting to Doubashi's pressure!?

Pag 11

1: Dammit!!

Don't turn around

2: San-na is going to move to pin Nagoya down, you go with him

This is the chance that

And then keep going like that!!

3: Issa managed to get for me!!

4: Don't turn around

He's getting closer, I can feel it on my skin!!

5: If I turn around his pressure will swallow me!!

Gaaagh

6: Dammit... so this is the Inter High?

Pag 12

1: This is Hakone Academy's Doubashi Masakiyo!!

2: Chicken.... your pedaling got all messy

Pag 13

1: He's coming closer!!

2: I'm gonna get swallowed!!

4: It's over

After all you really are a chicken

Pag 15

2: A white pressure... Issa!!

3: Danchiku, since it's you, you can do it!!

I'm sure of it, so run without hesitation

4: After all you're

Pag 16

1: Team SS..... Special Strong!!

Higaruaaagh!!

Pag 17

1: I'll take it, Issa!!

2: Higaruaagh!!

Dammit, what happened, he came back to life!!

3: What did you do, Orange

4: I raised it too

Pag 18

1: My pressure, to tell him “if it's you, you can do it”!!

2: I am “team SS”!!

3: I can do it!!

Garuaagh!!

4: Hahaha, if you don't hurry he'll get away, San-na!!

That's called Panda Shout!! That acceleration is terrific!!

5: Talking like that is your strategy to get me to use up my legs, Orange!!

Hahaha of course, you've finally noticed!!

Pag 19

2: I've noticed from the start, though

Is-is that so!?

Well, can't be helped. My plan to defeat him by using pressure alone was a failure

This time I'll use my legs

3: I'll show you my running that I've tempered thoroughly this past year!!

4: The sprint is now down to us three

As expected, there's no one who can catch up to us from there!!

Pag 20

1: In that group behind us!!

2: Pedal more

Let's catch up to them before they get out of sight!!

Gallop!!

Mokkosu!!

4: From behind us, another.... two people!?

Are catching up!?

5: It's two guys from the selected team!!

Pag 21

1: I'm so glad, we caught up with the lead!!

We were pulled by Doubashi-san but we got tore off a little later

You worked hard, you two!

Yeah, somehow!!

2: The leader of our team, Sugimoto-san, negotiated with Doubashi-san fro us

3: Our number has increased so we still have a chance!!

We'll chase Sohoku and Hakogaku that are ahead

Yeah!!

And we'll fight for the green number bib!!

4: Alright, senpai, I'll pull

“Two people” who caught up?

No

5: There's one more person!!

[notfreetoday]

MPW Ep 5 Subtitle Corrections

Masterlist: EP 1 || EP 2 || EP 3 || EP 4

Y: 釣り合うわけないじゃん Y: 相手はよりによって　これだぞ　これ Y: There's no way (I) can match up (to him) Y: To this (person), of all people, this!

Ep 5 is about Yoh struggling with his desire to "match up" to Segasaki, and the objective difference that he sees between the two of them. It's different from Ep 2's struggle - which arose chiefly because he felt insecure about where he stood with Segasaki. This time, Yoh's struggle is predominantly with himself - because now he has to face up to his worst fear confirmed - that maybe he really is incompetent. And this time, he has to do it without the aid of alcohol too.

I've seen a lot of people talk about how Segasaki shows Yoh his love in every way but in words, and that that's the reason for their miscommunication - but that's not true. He may not use the word "love" or "like", but culturally these words are not often used anyway. What Segasaki does say however, multiple times throughout the show in fact but most clearly in this episode, is essentially "I like it when you depend on me". It's as direct a reassurance as you can get to the fear of being hated because of his perceived incompetence - but that's just the thing - Yoh's perception is skewed by his self-judgement. So, it's not that Segasaki can't use his words - the problem is that Yoh isn't ready to listen yet. Despite this, Yoh's confidence in his relationship with Segasaki is growing every episode. He might not realize this consciously, but it's right after Segasaki comforts and cares for Yoh at his lowest, that Yoh also drops to what is arguably the most casual speech level he's ever gotten with Segasaki (thus far) - and in response, so does Segasaki.

So, same translation disclaimer applies, Ep 5, let's go! (no twitter space for EP 5 probably because of the fan meets).

Y: 学生時代から不定期でもらってた単発の仕事も途切れて Y: 完全無職だ Y: あ、せめて、家事ぐらいはちゃんとやらないと Y: Now that the one-off jobs I've been receiving on an irregular basis since I was a student have been cut off Y: I'm completely jobless Y: Ah! At the very least, I have to do something as small as the housework properly.

Y: だって　そういうのがすきなんだよ、俺は Y: But, actually, that's what I like Yoh's explicit use of the personal pronoun "I" here again emphasizes that this is his own opinion. The way this sentence is phrased also gives the impression that Yoh feels a little aggrieved at the whole "your male characters are irritating to male readers because they're too perfect" explanation his editor gave him.

Y: *そりゃ、ほっといたら描いちゃうよ Y: **お前のせいだ Y: お前みたいなのが　***近くにいるから Y: バーカ Y: *Well I mean, if I'm left to my own devices then I'll end up drawing (him) Y: It's all your** fault Y: It's because someone like you, is (always) around*** me Y: I~diot. *The "aggrieved" feeling is even stronger in this sentence - Yoh is basically saying that he doesn't set out to draw the characters that way - it just sort of happens, and well it's not his fault, because as long as no one (including he himself) is paying attention to what he's drawing, well then, the characters just turn out that way. ** This is the first time that Yoh has referred to Segasaki using the informal pronoun "お前 (omae)" for "you". Depending on the context, it could be considered a rude pronoun, but is mostly just seen as a marker of masculine speech, and thus leans more towards being simply "impolite". It's the same pronoun that Segasaki uses when he speaks to Yoh - but Yoh usually uses the slightly more polite "あんた(anta)" instead, both in his head as well as when he speaks aloud. The switch here emphasizes Yoh's accusation, that this is all Segasaki's fault. ***the phrase here is often used to say that someone is "by your side" or "here for you" and doesn't only refer to physical distance. So, although he's using "omae" and "blaming" Segasaki for his characters turning out looking perfect, these 4 lines actually still sound pretty intimate. Together with how he drags out the word "idiot", this is very clearly Yoh's amae, similar to what we saw in Ep 4. I... will probably write a post about amae as well, because it's so important to their relationship.

Y: 洋服を着たまま海に溺れるように Y: 暗いものが染み込んで Y: 黒いものを吸い込んで Y: ブヨブヨになった体はずっしりと Y: 重く　重く。。。 Y: It feels as if I'm drowning in the ocean whilst fully dressed Y: The darkness seeping into (me) Y: The blackness pouring into (my mouth) Y: My body, now swollen, sinks heavily down Y: So heavy. So heavy.

S: なんだ　いるじゃねぇか S: 電気も付けねぇで　何やっ S: Oh so you are here S: Not even switching on the lights, what were-

S: *あちゃ～　これやり直しだな S: *Ahchaa... This needs to be redone then..

*This is just a sound that you make similar to "oh man..." so I'm not sure why it was translated so forcefully as "it's no good"😅 This sentence is another example of soliloquy, or talking to oneself aloud, that is common in Japanese.

Y: ご飯、ない Y: ごめんなさい Y: すぐ準備する S: *しょうがねぇなぁ　ほら立て S: 行くぞ Y: Food... there isn't any Y: I'm sorry Y: I'll make it soon S: *What do I do with you... come on stand up S: We're going

Yoh is really down here because he loses practically all his words. His first sentence is literally "food, none", and when he says I'm sorry he uses the casual (but full) version "gomen nasai" instead of "suimasen" like he usually does. It makes him sound a lot younger than usual, and overall just adds to the kicked-puppy vibe really well. *しょうがねぇなぁ (shouganee naa) - this is a common phrase that literally translates to "there is no way (to deal with this)" or more commonly "(this situation) can't be helped". It's used to express a sort of acceptance, like in a "oh well, it can't be helped, so don't feel too bad" or "well there's no way this could've been avoided, so let's just get on with it" sorta way. Here, the way Segasaki adds "naa" at the end with a rising tone, actually makes it sound a little indulgent - like when you find your puppy made a mess but it's too cute for you to feel upset and you just love it more. (Also, this is a really common way to show affection between characters in dramas/anime - when one character is down in the dumps, another will be like "well what am I going to do with an idiot like you, I guess I have to help, right?")

S: 葉　とりあえず　口開けろ S: Yoh. In any case, open your mouth first

S: ごちそうさまでした (gochisousama deshita) S: Thank you for the food This is a standard phrase said at the end of a meal (it's counterpart is "itadakimasu - I gratefully partake" said at the beginning). It expresses gratitude to everyone involved in making the meal possible - from the farmers who grew the vegetables to the person who cooked the meal, and yes, even to the animals themselves. Usually, you would say this to the person who made the meal, or the one treating you to it, but it's Segasaki here who leads the saying of this phrase. This isn't weird at all, given the broad meaning of the word, but it is reminiscent of what a parent would do at home, or a teacher would do in school (Japanese teachers eat with their students in class).

S: なんか落ち込んでんの？ Y: 漫画が　とてもだめです* S: You seem a little down about something? Y: My manga is... really bad.* *desu form is back, to give emphasis to this sentence. That said - and I'm really not trying to belittle Yoh here - but similar to the "food, none" phrase earlier, this sentence is just so short and simple that it just makes him sound, well, young. Imagine asking someone "you don't seem to like that person?", and they look at you all serious and say "they're a bad person" - it just sounds unexpectedly young and innocent, and the whole "desu" at the end just tops off the kicked puppy vibes for real. It's why Segasaki snorts a little and smiles.

S: お前漫画がだめだと　こうなんの？ S: えっ　そんだけ？ Y: うん S: ふーん Y: そんだけってなんだよ Y: こっちは　今にも　死にそうな気分なのに

S: So when your manga is bad you become like this? S: Eh? That's all? Y: Mm. S: Hmm~ Y: What do you mean "that's all?" Y: When here I am feeling like I'm about to die soon In case you were wondering, "that's all?" in Japanese sounds exactly as it does in English, so no blaming Yoh here for being all 😟 about it.

S: ほら*　早く来い S: Now, come here, quickly. *ほら (hora) - I last highlighted this word in Ep 3, but Segasaki actually uses it a lot more that just these 2 instances (not least because Yoh's always avoiding him). It's simply a word used to get the listener's attention, like, "look here" or "now" or "see" or "come on" etc.

S: 今日はお前がされるがまま*で気分よかったわ S: もっと落ち込め S: Today you did exactly as you were told, so I felt really good S: Be dejected more often *されるがまま - this phrase means to passively go along with whatever the other person says or does to you, without any resistance (it can also refer to letting nature take its course). It's mostly used to describe a negative situation since it usually implies that the person has no free will of their own, but can also be fairly neutral as in "I followed the waiter's recommendations exactly". So, it's quite amusing that in these 2 sentences, negative sounding words are actually meant to be really sweet (just like how Yoh's "I hate you" sounds eh?).

Personally, I also appreciate how this is a callback to Yoh's monologue in Ep 3, when he talks about noticing the way Segasaki looks just that little bit happier when Yoh listens to him. Here, Segasaki confirms it for Yoh (and us), reinforcing to Yoh that he really doesn't mind Yoh depending on him one bit.

Y: こんなの本物の恋人同士みたいだ Y: あんた*　まるで本当に　俺のこと好きみたいじゃん Y: Like this... it feels like we're a real live couple Y: You*... it's as if you really do like me *We're back to Yoh's usual "anta" here for "you", instead of the "omae" he used earlier.

S: しょうがねぇなぁ S: What do I do with you This is the same phrase as earlier, when Segasaki found Yoh by the laundry machine.

Oh, the moon is beautiful isn't it? 🤭🤭

Y: だって　俺の漫画は世間に求められてないわけですし Y: But, it seems like the world doesn't want my manga... The phrase "the world wants/doesn't want" is commonly used when talking about finding one's place in the world/society, and young adults often say this when trying to figure their life out. So yes, not so uncommon a phrase that this sentence sounds ridiculous, but it definitely does sound a little dramatic. Hence Man-san's response.

M: *甘ったれんな　思い上がんな M: Don't be so *spoiled. Don't think so highly of yourself. *The is the same word, amae, that Man-san used in Ep 4 when she said Yoh was being affectionate with Segasaki. This is another meaning of amae, and it is used in a negative way here, which sort of shows you the complexity of this concept. Underlying it is the message that it's okay to be dependent on your loved ones for your emotional needs, but you still need to take responsibility for your own life.

M: 衣食住の保障された環境でのんびり描いてて　 M: 一回仕事が途切れたぐらいでうじうじ言ってんのか M: 本気で気に食わない Y: 万さん　オーバーキルです M: Being able to draw freely without having to worry about your clothes, food or lodging M: and yet acting all wishy-washy the moment something as small as getting your work cut off just once happens M: I really can't stand that Y: Man-san, that's overkill The term Man-san uses to describe Yoh's current living arrangement is the same term that Segasaki used in his not-proposal, so this suggests that by now Yoh has told her everything about how they got together (and I love that Man-san totally does not judge). It's not explicitly talked about in the show, but despite their similar status as Segasaki Otakus, Man-san does often come across as something like a mentor figure to Yoh, or at least someone senior to him in the Manga world. For one, she speaks very casually to him (for a lady, she sounds as rough as Segasaki tbh 😅), even for someone from the Kansai region, and she often gives him advice. Yoh usually speaks to her informally, but in this whole conversation he does shift up to the desu/masu form often, in response to her scolding him, because she's really going at it (even after taking into account her usual speech pattern😅) and well, he's smarting a little at the moment 😂

M: 世間がどうとかじゃなくて　ダヨちゃんはどうしたいの？ Y: え？ M: ダヨちゃんにとって　漫画って　そういうもんだったの？ M: もうちょっと落ち着いて　考えな M: Rather than thinking about what the world wants, what do you, Dayo-chan, want to do? Y: Huh? M: Is that all that manga is to you, Dayo-chan? M: Calm down a little more and think about it yea?

Y: かたじけのうございます Y: I am indebted to you! This is a very very archaic way to say thank you, think like samurai-level archaic. These two definitely live in the world of manga 😂😂

S: もう体調は戻ったのか？ Y: はい　おかげさまで* S: また　崩してくれても**いいんだぞ Y: ええ？ S: Have you recovered now? Y: Yes, thanks to you* S: It's okay to feel down again for me** too you know Y: Eh?? *Okagesamade - standard phrase you use when someone asks after your health, or when you want to express gratitude for someone else's role in your success/improvement/recovery etc ** 崩してくれて (kuzushite kurete)" - adding "kurete" at the end like this literally means that Yoh does the action of feeling down for Segasaki, rather than just "it's okay to feel down again", which is why Yoh responds in such a surprised manner. As he did before, Segasaki takes what normally is a bad thing and talks about it like it's something good instead. It's his way of emphasizing that Yoh depending on him isn't an inconvenience, in fact, it's something that Segasaki is happy to be on the receiving end of.

Y: これから自分たちをモデルにした漫画を描きに行きますなんて言えないし Y: そもそも、万さんのところにしばらく通うことを許してくれるかどうか。。。 Y: なんとか説得しないと Y: It's not like I can just say "from now on I will be going (out) to draw a manga based on us!" or something like that and... Y: In the first place, (I don't know) whether or not he'll allow me to go to Man-san's place regularly during this period... Y: I have to find some way convince him.

Argument breakdown time, things get intense~~

Y: あの。。。 S: ん？ Y: 今日　編集部で打ち合わせをすることになった* Y: Um... S: Hm? Y: Today, I have a meeting at the editorial department* *Literally, "It has been decided that today (I) will be having a meeting at the editorial department" - this might sound like an indirect way to say "I am going to a meeting" but it's pretty par for the course when speaking politely. Except, Yoh doesn't use the polite form here like he did in Ep 4, nor does he phrase this sentence as an explanation that he's going to follow up on. Nope, by Yoh's usual standards, this is An Announcement, so it's no wonder Segasaki is immediately suspicious.

S: はあ？　仕事切られたんじゃねえのかよ？ Y: いや　そ、その。。。新しいやつ Y: しばらく　忙しくて Y: 場合によっては編集部に泊まりもあるかも S: 昨日の今日で　そんなことあるか？ Y: たまたま連絡がきたんだよね S: お前　なんか　俺に嘘ついてない？ Y: う、嘘じゃない S: いや　おかしいだろ　泊りって S: お前　まさか変な仕事じゃねぇだろうな？ Y: そんなこと。。。ないよ！ S: Haa? Didn't they stop giving you work? [じゃねえのかよ - Segasaki slurs the end vowel here, and adds the end particle "かよ(ka yo)" at the end, which is a rough way to express doubt or surprise, and usually implies some irritation. This, combined with Segasaki's trademark annoyed "haa?" results immediately in a rather flustered Yoh, who stutters a little on the next sentence] Y: No, it-it's... this is a new one. Y: For a while, I'm going to be busy and Y: Depending on the situation, staying overnight at the editorial department... might... be... necessary... [No end particles here - this is still a statement, and would sound stronger if not for the fact that he's hesistating so much] S: And all that just happens today, on this day, just one day after yesterday? Y: ...It just so happened that they contacted me, you see... S: You... are lying to me, aren't you? Y: I-it's not a lie! S: No, it's weird isn't it, to stay overnight? S: You - don't tell me - you aren't doing some kind of shady job are you? Y: There's nothing... of that sort!

S: 葉 Y: はい S: Yoh Y: Yes (hai)?

Yoh's been making a valiant effort to stick to his story throughout this whole conversation but his tone changes completely and he pretty much gives up once Segasaki points out he's lying. In response - and this is not easy to hear but if you want to, go back to about 19:56 or 19:57 of this episode - do you hear Segasaki's small "tsk", after his sigh and before he says Yoh's name? Clicking your tongue, or "tsk-ing" someone is a very very rude way to express frustration or anger in Japan. We're talking get-into-drunk-fights level of rude, if you do it to a stranger. Amongst close friends and family, you're more likely to draw shock first, since it shows the depth of your anger, but they might still get pissed with you afterward. Here at least, Yoh can tell both from the tsk and Segasaki's tone of voice, that he is Not Happy, so he answers Segasaki with a proper "hai" here too.

S: ちょっとここ座れ* Y: はい S: 早く S: Come sit here* Y: Yes S: Be quick. *Slurred "r" on the word "suware" - sit makes this sound very very rough. Segasaki doesn't normally do this, so again, this is him angry, and he's going to slur his r's quite a bit more.

S: お前さ　自分の立場わかってんの？ S: 分かってねぇだろ　分かってねぇから　泊りで仕事とか言い出すんだろうが Y: え～っとだから 遊びに行くわけじゃないし。。。 S: そうじゃねぇだろ S: ああ～もう S: 金か？なんか欲しいもんがあるなら買ってやる Y: 違くて　少しはさ。。。 Y: 自分が稼がないとって S: 必要ない　なんで分かんねぇかな S: お前は稼がなくていいんだよ S: Listen, you - do you even understand what position you're in? S: You don't do you? You don't understand and that's why you can just say things like you'll stay out to work overnight. [This is harsh. Not only is the speech rough, he's still slurring some of his "r"s here, and the ending particle だろうが emphasizes the forcefulness of this statement and Segasaki's frustration - and you can see the effect it has on Yoh.] Y: Umm well... it's not like I'm going for fun or something... [This is indignant, but also nervous - Yoh's speaking a lot faster than usual, and he has to drag the filler words at the beginning out before he can figure out what to say.] S: That's not what I'm talking about is it! [slurred r again] S: Argh I swear - S: Is it money? If there's something you want then I'll buy it for you [more slurred "r"s] Y: That's not it! Even just a little - [This is the first time Yoh uses the end particle "さ (sa)", and just like Segasaki, he's using it to draw attention to what he's saying, essentially the equivalent of "listen!". This whole line isn't rude, but it is direct and it's probably the most forceful Yoh has gotten with Segasaki so far, even compared to their argument in Ep 2 - Yoh might have physically pushed Segasaki then, but he mostly just sounded hurt. Here, he's very tense, but he's cut off by Segasaki biting his ear.] Y: - I should earn some money myself (at least, I thought so) [This is more like how Yoh usually voices his opinion - by "hedging" his sentences a little with "I think" and so on to sound less direct - though he's still using truncated forms here, so he's not quite back to his usual level yet] S: There's no need to. [To self:] Why don't you understand? S: It's fine even if you don't earn anything. [Similarly, Segasaki softens this sentence just a tiny bit by tacking on a よ(yo) at the end]

Y: でも! S: あのな　俺はお前に漫画の仕事がなくなろうがどうでもいいんだ Y: But! S: Listen to me. I don't care at all whether you lose your manga work or not. [To be fair to Yoh, the phrase "どうでもいいんだ" literally means "it's fine either way" but it tends to feel like "I don't care because it doesn't matter/make a difference to me/doesn't really involve me", so you can see why it triggers him.]

It's interesting to contrast Yoh's reaction here with the above 2 times Segasaki says something with a negative connotation. Of course, Segasaki also sounded a lot sweeter then (though in his defence, he didn't have to worry about why Yoh might be trying to lie to him all of a sudden), but the biggest difference really is in Yoh's mindset.

Y: え？ S: 当然だろ S: だから余計なこと*すんな Y: なんだよ　どうでもいいって Y: 漫画のこと　分からないなりに　応援してくれてるもんだと思ってたのに Y: あんたにとってはくだらないことでも Y: 俺にとってはすごく Y: すごく大事な事なのに Y: 全然よくない Y: バカにすんなよ！ Y: Huh? S: Isn't that obvious? S: So, don't do unnecessary* things [*余計なこと - This phrase is used to refer to the problems that arise from whatever thing/action is in excess, and so has a negative connotation. Yoh is too fixated on the previous line to notice though] Y: What's that (supposed to mean)... "I don't care" Y: I've always thought that manga was something you supported me in, despite not knowing much about it, and yet... Y: Even if to you, it's something trivial Y: To me, it's something that's extremely Y: It's something extremely important and yet... Y: This is definitely not ok Y: Don't look down on me! [word contraction - again, by Yoh's standards, at least when he talks out loud to Segasaki, this is a drop in speech levels]

Y: 絶対あんたより稼げるようになってやる Y: 漫画で! Y: I'm definitely going to become someone who can earn more money than you! Y: With manga! I think difference between simply "earning more" and "becoming someone who can earn more" is important here - because it isn't about money - it's about competence. Yoh thinks his own worth is calculated in his ability to do things "well", be it in his work or at home. By that measure, Segasaki is worth everything and Yoh is sorely lacking, hence Yoh wants to "become" someone that is, in his mind, worth something. Because if he does not, then inevitably, Segasaki will one day come to disdain him.

There are so many times in this episode that Yoh hears things that should cement their relationship in his head, that he even recognizes as couple-like and accepts without protest - Man-san referring to Segasaki as Yoh's boyfriend, Segasaki losing his whole "man-of-a-few-words" thing and saying more to him in this episode than in any other, verbal confirmation that Yoh depending on him is something he welcomes etc. And yet, Yoh's fear filters all of that out and he hears only what sounds like his own self-judgement in Segasaki's voice. It's no wonder he lashes out at Segasaki like that, though really, who he's really attacking is himself. Afterall, sometimes when we hurt ourselves, we hurt the people who love us too, as we'll see in Ep 6.

(That was quite the arguement though, wasn't it!)

[y-rhywbeth2]

Lore: Deities #1

Link: Disclaimer regarding D&D "canon" & Index [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. There's a lot of lore; I don't know everything. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest. etc]

What A God Is | Divine Ranks, Types and Further Abilities | Gods in Toril*

(*all 100+ of them...)

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Deities in general, rather than a focus on specific ones and their followers.

So. What a god is, how they perceive the universe, how they function, 'how to utilise your god correctly,' their blanket abilities and limitations, etc etc. Because idk I felt like it and it might be useful for writing religious characters and/or those un/fortunate enough to have divine attention.

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Nature and perception:

‘...gods’re more than just big mortals with lots of impressive tricks and mighty abilities. They’re concepts and symbols, too. They embody every aspect of their portfolios, the living representations of their spheres of control – and of mortals’ hopes and fears. The essence of the powers extends to a whole other kind of existence. ‘It’s crucial to remember that – the powers are incomprehensible, their motives and abilities unguessable.’ - On Hallowed Ground

A deity – sometimes called a god, or ‘power’ in Toril and most of the Outer Planes – embodies a concept, defined by mortals as ‘portfolios.’ Their nature also very literally determines how the universe appears to them. What embodies or aids their portfolio is good, what opposes and hinders it is evil, what exists outside of it is irrelevant. Tyr, for example, understands the world through the lens of a rigid code of right and wrong, aimed at bringing about justice. Bane has a similar desire for order, coloured with hate and fear; the Dark One quite literally cannot understand love and kindness except as lies, even if he’s experiencing the emotions himself. The portfolio likewise provides their drive and motivation, as they attempt to push the universe into the way it ‘should’ be. Gods always seek to spread their aims and gain power for that purpose, forming alliances with like-minded powers and plotting against rivals and enemies. Many squabble over portfolios – for example the oft shattered portfolio of death as a wider concept on Toril sees Jergal, Kelemvor, Myrkul, Bhaal and Velsharoon in uncomfortable proximity.

Gods all have a divine rank – admittedly a mortal classification system and one that comes in many forms, but good enough to work with – this groups gods together by their relative power levels, and the extent of their temporal power via mortal worshippers.

Weaker gods pledge themselves to stronger gods as servants, for fear that other gods will prey on them for their power, or to anchor themselves to another’s divine power if they’re at risk of fading and dying for whatever reason. Stronger powers take on these servants for reasons that in-universe theologians continue to debate, though one theory is that more powerful gods take weaker deities under their wing for the same reason that they have clerics – more hands to put to work. Others suggest that some gods are extorting these weaker gods for power, and routinely receive a small portion of their divine essence in exchange. It's believed that pantheons are the result of these kinds of alliances, when they're not family groupings.

Their personalities are not wholly one dimensional; like many outsiders they seem to enjoy the whole gamut of mortal pleasures, but they lack the flexibility and full free will of living mortals. They can learn and adapt slowly over time, particularly when mortal worship affects them. (They can also get drunk, apparently, though not necessarily on alcohol and some gods get drunk on weird and unspecified things.)

Their concept-based nature leads to the gods being locked in a permanent, cosmic political and ideological battle pushing back and forth: Shar wants the world returned to darkness and all that lives in it aware of the misery of the fact that they exist; Selûne would see life in all its diversity thrive and be happy. Chauntea seeks a world of flourishing life; Bhaal wants a world of death, populated by the (un)dead. Ilmater seeks to alleviate the pain of the world; Loviatar to increase it. Bane wants the cosmos – mortals and gods alike – enslaved in perfectly ordered hierarchy answering to him in fear; a lot of gods absolutely do not.

A god is more than themselves: aside from their being usually getting divided into multitude, existing in many forms acting independently and focused on different parts of a multiverse, a god contains the consciousnesses of hundreds to thousands of mortal souls who eventually merged with their divine essence over the course of their afterlives. Souls in the afterlife are called petitioners. Petitioners who have melded with their god retain their original independent identity and thoughts while also being intrinsically one and the same as the god, and some scholars of the planes theorise that a god is in fact a hive-mind of thousands of souls with the same value and goals acting in concert.

There’s a lot of theories about how and why gods exist. One is that gods were born from mortal desires – the outer planes are shaped from belief, and so from beliefs and creations (love, hate, fear, war, music… etc etc) beings embodying the fragments of mortal sapience and desire were born... Probably best not to ask the gods what they think of that theory.

Killing a god is, for all intents and purposes, basically impossible. A greater deity can only be slain by a greater deity. Deities of lower ranks are a bit more nebulous but still difficult. Only in exceptional conditions have mortals ever slain a god. The way you’re technically supposed to be able to kill a god is by killing them within their own domain – where they’re all full, reality-warping power, the entire environment is an extension of themselves and folds to their will, every artefact of power they’ve ever collected and an army of various semi-divine and fully divine allies will defend them. Assuming you can get anywhere near the god themselves, because they’ll generally make sure you don’t get that far.

Gods can also ‘die’ from loss of worship, which is also borderline impossible. So long as a single mortal worships them a god will not die. Such a death is very slow, and even once there are no mortals left worshipping them there will be enough ‘residual’ power linked to them, invested on the prime (‘their name, their sovereignty over the principles and ideals in their portfolio, and even the awe inspired by tales told about them as myths or parables.’) that they can still use to sustain themselves. During such time the god will do everything in their power to gain worshippers (and apparently praying to dead gods is a popular last ditch prayer of the desperate who hope that an equally desperate power will be eager enough for the attention to answer).

‘To effectively ensure the death of such a deity, in all likelihood it would have to be imprisoned on its home plane and rendered unable to communicate with any mortal being. Eventually, then, it would die.' - Faiths and Avatars

(And then it would end up on the Astral Plane, where it would be more comatose than dead and fully capable of coming back.)

Limitations:

‘The gods help those who help themselves.’ - A Faerûnian saying, Lords of Darkness (1e)

Gods are neither omnipotent nor all-powerful. They certainly are extremely powerful and basically impossible to fight or kill for the vast majority of the universe; but activities such as taking avatar form, rewriting reality, raising the dead and so forth are greatly taxing.

Their sensory and information processing capabilities far outstrips the comprehension of a mortal, but they're not perfect: A god – with their attention spaced out all across the continent and possibly multiple worlds – cannot feasibly see to every tiny detail. They keep their attention fixed on ‘the big picture,' and instead of running themselves ragged the gods delegate. They act through those who have been given their power and authority to move on their behalf: through their divine servitors (pit fiends, daeva, whatever) and through their clergy. ‘By allowing others to act for them in day-to-day matters, the powers can conserve their strength for the big battles – the times when they really need it.’

‘Every single action a power takes requires him to expend a portion of his might.’ Even simply answering prayers and empowering their priests and holy warriors ‘takes something out of [them].’ A god is not a limitless font of power; they expend their energies to further their goals and stymie that of their enemies (cosmic philosophical battle for the shape of the multiverse on a scale from the grand to the petty, yada yada), and as such they won’t weaken themselves for somebody or something that doesn’t give back to them. Somebody who prays for something on their own behalf will generally get no response. Something unrelated to the god’s aims will not have their prayer answered by that deity (that is to say; send your requests to the correct division. Don’t pray to Tyr for good crop weather, don’t pray to Umberlee for a good financial year, so on so forth). Somebody with no faith in the god who has never worshipped them will likely not be heard at all, both because the god has no reason to expend their efforts and because they likely cannot hear the prayer of the faithless at all:

While a god is aware of every usage of their power, investiture of their essence, every invocation of their name, and every prayer begging for their attention; even the divine cannot handle all of this emotion at once and gods must learn to compartmentalise, lest they end up like Cyric, completely overstimulated and unable to function:

The voices of Cyric's myriad selves shouted out their dismay, chorused their anger. The Prince of Lies stared, unseeing, at his shadow, trying to make some sense of the bizarre scene. He couldn't. There were too many things clawing at his thoughts, hoarding bits of his attention. In Yulash, an assassin offered up a half-hearted prayer to the God of Murder, her words as empty of devotion as her heart was of pity. A peddler, down on his luck and starving amidst the opulence of Waterdeep, bitterly cursed the God of Strife. His insults flew up like arrows into Cyric's mind. And then there were the Zhentish. Thousands of women and men shrieked Cyric's name, as if that act alone could earn his aid. Their pleas streamed across the death god's consciousness, scattering his thoughts in their wake. He was lost, his consciousness torn in a million directions at once. The blow caught Cyric in the face. He barely noticed the physical pain, but the surprise dragged his attention from the maelstrom of racing thoughts back to his realm in Hades. The Prince of Lies looked out on the ravaged throne room, but what he saw there only confused him more. The Burning Men, loosed from shattered chains, writhed across the floor in pain, unable to douse the fires consuming them. The explosion from the attack on Godsbane – no, Mask – had charred the walls and scorched a huge hole in the carpet. Cyric's throne had been shattered, the bones strewn about. All these things seemed right somehow, appropriate to the setting. Yet there were other objects, other people in the room as well, bits and pieces from all the vistas taken in by Cyric's incarnations. They all superimposed themselves over the reality of Bone Castle, creating a strange jumble of images. […] He attempted to focus his mind on teleporting away from Hades, but too many things were drawing his consciousness away from the enchantment. The voices in his head had become a chorus of discord offering five dozen opinions on even the slightest matter. And there were his faithful all across Faerun, of course, invoking the death god's name to resolve every petty conflict in their lives. - Prince of Lies

Gods literally can’t answer every prayer. What prayers they are ‘tuned into’ come from their clerics and faithful, and strong pulls from important events and mortals whose natures and actions align with the deity’s portfolio and nature (thus bringing them into the deity’s awareness). The rest is so much noise, and trivial prayers and prayers from those who have never offered worship unto the deity get lost.

They are also subject to other limitations:

By unanimous agreement gods do not manifest their true forms on the mortal worlds of Prime Material Plane, and they keep their conflict on the Prime within set boundaries. As soon as one god gets involved, it’s an opening for their enemies to involve themselves. Even assuming the battle does not turn into a war, even two deities using their full power is an extinction level threat. So the gods’ involvement is limited – lest divine fighting turn the worlds of the material planes into uninhabited wastelands. Shar and Selûne are a good example; if the Moonmaiden does literally anything her sister will immediately start trying to sabotage it. Selûne is extremely wary of manifesting on Toril because Shar takes obscene delight in murdering her sister in horrible and creative ways (as such most of Selûne’s personal actions against Shar occur on the Outer Planes).

It’s theorised in-universe that the gods have agreed to impose a limit on the number of souls they’re willing to resurrect: if every god could keep their servants going forever it’s simply turn into an endless bloodbath consuming the world, just with mortals instead of gods doing the burning.

Mortals are not privy to the abilities and limitations of the gods and often perceive them as more powerful than they are. It is common knowledge that the gods are neither omnipotent nor flawless, but gods have a vested interest in seeming more powerful and appealing than their competition, and more often than not the clergy are taught to believe their god’s propaganda and to preach it.

A deity’s power (and their divine rank) is tied to mortal worship; the more they are worshipped the more power they have. Apparently worship born of genuine love and zeal is more empowering more than fear (also the Dark Gods certainly do love being feared, regardless). The less power a god has, the more attentive they’re likely to be to their worshippers.

Apparently they cannot directly interfere with free will, though they can chose to emotionally manipulate you, seduce you, harass you, magically influence your emotions and memories, sabotage you, babble about destiny while making a grandiose light show, sometimes literally possess you, and otherwise manipulate you into doing what they want you to do with that free will.

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Powers, regardless of rank*

*(Refers only to ‘true’/above-rank-1 deities. Other beings classified as deities such as half-gods and titans (mostly) not included).

They are immortal, with no biological needs. Their appearance is entirely dependant on what they chose to look like.

Deities, whichever and any aspect of them, can teleport to anywhere at will without error. There is nothing any being of lesser power can do to stop them. With the exception of most quasideities, gods can also teleport to other planes with equal ease.

A god can speak and understand any language in existence, in any form of communication. Ever really weird alien ones foreign to human physiology. They can speak directly into the mind – or minds – anyone, anywhere without being detected if they wish, and there’s nothing anybody (who isn’t a god of higher rank) can do to stop them. They can also speak out loud as a disembodied voice. The tongue of the gods is Supernal, which likewise can be understood flawlessly by any being capable of socialising. Evil gods also speak Dark Speech, which is concentrated evil so strong that mortals can’t bear it and even fiends don’t like hearing it. (Most gods prefer communicating via annoyingly vague omens though.)

Gods come with the ability to restructure reality to their whims, in what is essentially a built-in wish or miracle spell. The degree to which they can do so is limited by divine rank, however. According to Ed Greenwood, the spell itself functions on Toril by petitioning a deity to use their ability on your behalf.

They can freely cast any spell of any level whenever the hell they like instantly with no preparation or requirements (sometimes subject to the limits of their portfolio: Shar cannot use spells that generate light, for example). They can also invent any new spell on the spot or tweak recognised spells to make them work slightly differently.

They are immune to psionics, and glyphs and warding spells ‘do nothing to them except attract their attention.’ It’s borderline impossible to affect a god with magic, and literally impossible to affect a greater deity

A deity cannot be harmed with mundane force, for example stabbing them with a blade of metal won’t do anything, and magic is required to harm them (so enchanting the blade will make it effective).

A god can grant any ability or spell, regardless of any requirements, to their priests (as long as the mortal in question is capable of containing/wielding the power, so a druid who can cast 5th level spells may be granted any spell of 5th level or lower). This is how clerics, druids, rangers and paladins get all their spells anyway.

While gods have hard limits, as discussed, they are partially omniscient. A god knows when and where their name is spoken the moment it is invoked, and has awareness of the area surrounding that invocation for at least a mile. The most powerful deities are capable of extending their awareness over an entire plane of existence for at least a year when invoked. They are always aware of their worshippers, holy sites, artefacts and any activity that relates to their porfolio[s] and everything the world surrounding these things up to at least a mile (although they can’t sense those of other gods, unless that god wills it). They won’t be consciously tuned in 24/7 but if something happens they will be aware and shift their attention to whatever is happening.

They also have sharp mundane senses, possessing the same 5 mortal senses humans do, but they pick up sensory input from 1-10 miles immediately surrounding them (and they have the ability to process this and not go into sensory overload). They move faster and they’re stronger and more durable than a mortal can hope to match.

Every god emanates an aura that has a profound spiritual effect on mortals, unsettling or uplifting depending on the personal relationship between individual mortals and the deity and also the god’s mood at the time. Apparently this is regularly experienced, as while gods don’t fully manifest their aura can be felt – even by lay-worshippers – while praying, such as at mass (or whatever that should be called on Toril).

[questionable-idea]

being self-deprecating in my general vicinity will provoke aggressive support and affection, i'm like a friendly landmine

[fatuismooches]

EVEN MORE CUTE DOTTORE MOMENTS TO MAKE YOU SMILE 🙏 (because I am too tired to post anything of quality)