#my knowledge is. limited atm so don't come for me

[devilbrakers]

having tav helena thoughts...

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Okay every time I read one of your celtophobia posts I am filled with immediate and incandescent rage, enough to propulse the responsible idiots into space but not to bring them back again. I'm really sorry about the """""lecturer"""""" you had to sit through this morning, and any other instances that happen. Hugs.

That said, I am very worried of doing the same thing and want to make my utmost sure I don't, so I thought it'd be okay to ask someone from a language that has to fight for space for politeness tricks. Apologies if this is not okay!

Context: I'm from continental Europe, which means English is my second language (I speak three languages and a half ish, the half is in process, because #languagenerd). I'm moving to Ireland come September, and I'm absolutely terrified of offending the good Irish people when I don't know how to pronounce their names, surnames, street names, or anything else; or, worse, try and end up butchering them in the manner of the British.

Dilemma: How can I ask for help when pronouncing things in a delicate way? I was thinking of signing up to Irish courses once I'm there, but for now I'm panicking about the actual move so I can't get a head start with that because my brain space is limited, and other than watching YouTube videos with the most common Irish names/words ahead of arriving, I honestly don't know. I want to be culturally sensitive and make sure they feel respected and not Colonised, Part Three Hundred, but also they shouldn't have to bear the weight of my lack of cultural knowledge and Teach Me? Idk. Just thoughts.

Good question! I suppose it's a two-part procedure:

Step 1: Learn a pronunciation guide. By that I just mean get to grips with the alphabet, common phonemes, etc and how those are said. With something like Welsh it's super easy (because phonetic), something like English it's super hard (because not phonetic); Irish is a bit more complex than Welsh, but still more phonetic than English. You might not be able to get to a "perfect every time" place, but you can get yourself to a "right most times" place.

Step 2: If you encounter a name you aren't 100% sure of, offer your best educated guess when asking. This shows that you have done the work, you are making a genuine attempt, but you still have the humility to ask to make sure.

When I say "best educated guess", I mean it's clear that you're guessing based on a working knowledge of the language rules in question. In Welsh, for example, if someone asks me how to pronounce "Cymru", there is a world of difference between someone saying "Sim-roo" (based on English pronunciation rules transposed onto Welsh) and "Kim-ree" (based on Welsh pronunciation rules, they just forgot which pronunciation of 'y' to use for the syllable it's in.) If someone says to me "How do you say that? Sim-roo?" then I know they haven't attempted any prior learning (though points for being interested enough to ask.) But if they say "Am I right in thinking it's Kim-ree?" then I know they've made the effort themselves, they've done the work, they just have a carry error that's skewed the answer.

Plus, you may well be right! And will be right more and more often the longer you're in Ireland.

If it helps, there's an Irish pronunciation guide here that's pretty good (or was back when I used it), and teanglann.ie is a pretty good resource for this, as it's a dictionary that lets you hear the words aloud and explains grammatical uses. (Irish people please feel free to add any other resources to the notes if you feel so inclined!)

As a final note, mind, given that you don't have time atm to dedicate brain space to this, speaking as a Welsh person I would be absolutely fine with someone saying to me "Sorry, I haven't had chance to learn yet, how do I say this?", or some variant thereof. Or, frankly, anything that's just... a polite request, and not laughing about it. I would take a thousand instances of "How do I say that? Sim-roo?" over even one "I don't know how to say that, haha" because the former is still caring enough to ask. So don't panic! A polite request will see you right.

[elvenbeard]

WIP WEDNESDAY

Yes I'm actually doing this on a Wednesday wooo :D

I just went back through all my tags of the last month and man, you guys ;__; <3 I'm not good at keeping up with tumblr atm and I don't have something to share every week, so I think once a month a WIP Wednesday might be a good compromise XD Thank you for all the tags!!

@theviridianbunny @dreamskug @ouroboros-hideout @lokiina @therealnightcity @chevvy-yates tagging you all right back!

So, with that off of my list of works in progress, as is answering all the tag games and quizzes, some projects I'm working on atm:

Writing: Love is stored in the olive jar (WT) - Chapter 13

It's done, but still needs a lot of editing, as it got very heavy on dialogue in the end and I want it all to flow more nicely and make it a bit more scenic XD Too many instances of "she looked up again" or "he paused for a moment/second" xD But I'm getting there! Here's a snippet from the already somewhat polished beginning:

“Alright,” Fuentes said as she finally caught her breath again, “I suggest we cut straight to the chase.” “Yes,” V nodded, “Thank you again for taking the time.” “Of course,” Fuentes nodded, “I have to admit, I have been thinking about you and your case a lot these past days. Even with the limited knowledge I have so far, I still believe I may be able to help. If you are willing now to tell me more about your condition now, of course.” ‘Willing’ wasn’t the word V would use, it was more a necessity at this point. “I will,” he said, “But only if you can provide me with a certain level of security.” Fuentes shifted in her chair slightly and frowned, then she opened one of the drawers of her desk and pulled out a tablet. She turned it on and began to search for something on it while maintaining eye contact with V as best as she managed. “You’ve come here today as my patient. As far as I’m concerned, everything, anything that we discuss, falls under the doctor-patient confidentiality. My contract with the Little China MedCenter binds me to treat your data and information with utmost care and discretion. All data we store is locked away securely, all in accordance with your Trauma Team policy. I can resend you the patient information papers and contracts, although I think most of them you should already have…” “I care less about the MedCenter than about what you personally do with the information I’m going to give you,” V said, and Fuentes stopped her search, narrowing her eyes slightly. “I’m not sure what you’re alluding to,” she said, still polite, but significantly more tense than before. “Nothing,” V shook his head carefully, “This is just not something I tell random strangers on the street… no offense, of course. If I have to play with open cards, I need you to as well.”

In which Vince hates doctors but has to trust one now, boo XD

Writing: Some drabbles :3

Inbetween the longfic I still have some ask prompt drabbles to fill that I'm looking forward to tackling soon! And in a sudden burst of inspiration I wrote out a long although not very serious convo between Vince and Johnny the other day xD I'd love to turn it into a (VP) comic maybe, but I'm not sure yet XD

Art: Nothing new since last time, slowly chipping away at some bigger projects inbetween

VP: Currently no concrete plans for a bigger project

Although I wanna do more "days in the life" for Vince!! And I wanna play around more with some poses though and have a very soft set to share that I gotta edit a bit still ;_; Tomorrow probably!

Also, I'd like to turn the interface thingies from my recent "V as NPC" projects into shareable templates, that is also on my wip/ to-do list! Just wanna gather some in-game reference shots first :D

Modding: 👀👀👀

I'm working on a little something maybe, and I'm so excited :DDD Just gotta relearn how to do Archive XL, it's been half a year xD And I fought MLSetup Builder so fucking hard, but now I know how to edit MLMask Setups, so that's a victory at least XD And I have a base for a very kitschy coat :3

But yes, so much to that so far! See you again in a month or so probably with an ever-growing pile of wips xD But maybe some more writing, maybe some more art, and maybe a finished mod after too long 👀

[findingoblivion]

Hii are you looking for any subs atm? If so I would like to be one we can get to know eachother if you like to :)

first of all i have 4 partners already so i'm not really looking a whole ton, if it happens it happens but i generally try and limit myself to 5 at most because things get way too hectic for me to deal with after that

second of all this isn't the way to go about entering into any type of sub/dom relationship, you need a tremendous amount of trust and knowledge of each other to properly have a sub/dom relationship and a huge part of that is communication between each other. we have communicated between each other pretty much literally not at all

anyone who would just willingly jump into a sub/dom relationship like that without getting to know someone first and being comfortable around them is probably not a good person and definitely doesn't have your best interests at heart, or is naive about how these relationships work

submitting and domming are huge trust exercises with someone, it's extremely easy to be abused or be in an abusive relationship because of the power dynamics involved

i don't wanna just preach to you but also you're 18yo and i'm 29, 11 years older. Not gonna say that all age gaps are bad or anything but that's a pretty big one and I can say that I have a lot more experience in these relationships than you do

i would feel uncomfortable with several of the things mentioned here so while my inbox and dm's are open and i would be happy to talk more, i wouldn't expect any kind of relationship to come with it

[wilted-astraea]

Asking this to anyone that might have fictionkin knowledge cause im hesitant to call me one without proper knowledge, but i never can find good info.

This may seem like a stupid question, so im sorry for that.

I feel like i am a character, memories, behaviors, and even missing locations. This character has been as if I've been there. But, i know im not the character? I often am told that i have to believe i am t1he character. But i know im not. Maybe in a past life i was? But either way. Idk

Any info could help.

~☀️

hello, anon! i am relatively new to the community, so my knowledge may not be as sharp as some others. in my experience, i came across the same confusion when my first kintype developed (sasha).

i can't say that i was experiencing any memories at that point, but learning to distinguish identifying as a character and identifying with one was a good starting point. there is a lot of merit in saying that you have to believe you are that character because kin would be described as identifying AS that character, but there are different ways that kin can be interpreted.

i suggest looking into psychological kin vs spiritual kin and understanding what they are because you seem to align with spiritual kin. keep in mind, you can experience both (i experience both as sasha waybright.)

you could also experience something known as fictionflickering. this is usually a temporary identification as a fictional character. it can come and go over time and may be limited by circumstances (ex. hyperfixating on the media they're from atm) whereas a kinshift isn't necessarily bound to temporary circumstance, but rather your mind/behavior shifts to that character and you believe that you are/were them. (ex. past life.. like you mentioned)

one last thing to mention! as i've observed the community and taken part in it myself, there is a general consensus around the existence of kintypes that are canon vs canon-divergent, meaning that our identities may or may not correlate completely with the source media. (ex. canon sasha is blonde, i'm brunette, but "we" exist in alternate universes with interlinked lives. we are still the same person.) so it's okay if you don't completely "relate" to everything about your canon "counterpart." sometimes, it comes down to personal beliefs and experiences as that character.

it's definitely a process, so don't feel like you need to rush. in my opinion, what you described definitely sounds like kin, particularly spiritual. before you kinfirm (confirm lol) this kintype, it can be helpful to try and "get into character." try out this identity! consume media, dress like them, maybe draw or edit them. do anything and see if this feels like there's an alignment. if you believe that this could be a past life, does it bring back those memories? do you get any sensations? do you feel a particular way about others within your canon? it's all helpful to look into these things, but also not everybody who is kin gets memories either. it just seems like you do according to your ask! i wish you the best of luck!! ty for asking <3

[goodstuffexe]

So,

I did the baffling discovery today that the beginning of this song

And the FUCKING LEITMOTIV OF HTTYD and HICCUP as can be heard at the beginning in

and better in

ARE NOT THE SAME.

But how? Why the fuck would a fan of over 10 years say that those are the same frikkin melody?

I DON'T KNOW. Don't ask me, my brain did an oopsie and I can't get over it.

My friends and I just discovered this while guessing film scores and ofc I recognised the score of Httyd immediately, but then my friend played a song from Ice Age and even if I've watched this film as a child, I don't remember anything from it besides maybe some scenes I've seen of the baby (yikes old animation haha). So I ONLY knew Goodnight Sweet Possums from watching Reels and TikToks (it's rly all over the place, but I can understand it's a fucking beautiful song) and SOMEHOW

I NEVER looked at the name of the audio when I heard it AND just assumed that it was a cover of the score of Httyd, because it sounded (and still does wtf) so similar to me.

And I especially never connected it to Ice Age of all things, where the damn thing is from.

Now I've gone over the notes and I think it's the first 3 that set my mind up for the leitmotiv and therefore get mixed up and guess what? Not even those are the same.

To the left is Goodnight Sweet Possums and to the right The Vikings Have Their Tea and you see that the melody of the first 3 ascending tones is not the same, similar? Sure, but not the same, not to mention that the song goes in another direction after this.

I've compared the two more closely and tho Goodnight Sweet Possums definitely has a different melody, especially after those 5 notes, and is faster, the two are still quite similar by first ascending and then descending, but at different times and have other/longer 'pauses' (PLS don't come at me for this explanation lol I have limited knowledge of music theory, am not playing an instrument atm and just tried to compare the two by the looks heh)

SO

Am I stupid for not considering that this, in the second half totally not like Httyd sounding song, (rly it's just the beginning thanks to TikToks short clips) could indeed NOT be a cover? And that I thought I heard snippets of the Httyd score in other musical pieces, because I listen to it weekly, where really none are, happened before?

Perhaps.

Was my world view shattered like the time I discovered musical songs (not all ofc) where in fact not original and I've been humming a melody that has been all over my feed for months and has nothing to do with Httyd?

Yes, yes it was.

But the song is still damn good wow

Anyways,

is this enough proof that I have adhd now?

ALSO THE TWO SCORES ARE FROM THE SAME COMPOSER JOHN POWELL YOU LITTLE-

Pls does somebody hear the similarities too I'm going mad over this

[un-local]

Rogier 7 8 9

7) Ship(s) with them that I like or at least consider:

[1] Past Rogier and D. (Now very divorced) (This will not change) Love that one. To copy paste my end notes from an upcoming chapter:

I just don’t see a way they can have a meaningful relationship without one of them folding and giving up the respective principles that they hold onto so tightly. With the tangled union of Darian’s grief and faith, and Rogier’s... everything, I just don't see that happening. And with their differences in ideology, I don’t see Darian bringing out the best in Rogier, not really. Since to maintain what they have, Rogier is always going to be the one accommodating that—in all his usual, (well-meaning, usually unintentionally) deceptive ways. A bummer, but I think they can still have their somber moments, like in this chapter.

[2] Fia/Rogier. (ONLY with ulterior motives on both sides)

I love them as a dynamic. Neither of them are upfront with their motives, really. (Rogier wasn’t in Stormveil—he only is after he’s injured, and the player helps him with the knifeprint.)

Now, I don’t think they’re liars, persay. I just think that they’re dishonest—in that they’re both playing things close to the vest. It influences what they say and when to a major degree. Especially to each other. Their oppositional goals drive their dynamic, and that's what makes it fun to me.

I do I think they have a certain respect for each other, despite it all.

[3] Rogier/Tarnished I think could be great.  D and Fia are too ideologically opposed to Rogier's goals to be anything but bittersweet. A Tarnished who’s sold on Rogier’s vision could be a game changer for him. 

It’s something I’m… flirting with… in Still Waters. We’ll see. Atm, its really only there if you want it to be there. 

What can I say. (Slowly) escalating, unspoken bi4bi tension is my favorite dynamic. That quiet, undying loyalty that comes only after truly knowing someone... Oh baby. Hell yeah. BUT, like I said, nothing's set in stone. The main plot is written to be wholly focused on an exploration of Rogiers character—as he is now, and his evolution after surviving deathblight. 

8) Made-up connections with other characters that weren't in the canon 

(friends, enemies, whatever)

Now this is my jam!

[1] Roderika. This is something that’s gonna be in the next update of Still Waters. I have some relevant thoughts in my end notes I'll condense into something shorter:

I’ve noticed a focus on fairness with her. Reciprocity. Seeking a just balance in interpersonal affairs. So when Rogier gives her comfort, but denies her the ability to offer the same, that’s what gets her. The inequity of being shut down like that, especially from someone who is so clearly full of it. (Clearly to her, at least.) Roderika’s impulse here to speak kindly is sweet. And with her abilities and similar background, she can parse through his bullshit better than most. It's what he needed to hear, but certainly not how he needed to hear it.

[2] I think he’s partial to Hewg. His sword is upgraded +8 when you get it, I think Hewg was at least in part involved in that. (It could have been upgraded before coming to The Lands Between, but I like to think some of that work was Hewg's.) 

[3] I can't imagine he’s too fond of Gideon. Who is, by the end of things, though?

[4] Highly improbable, but it's funny: If he's found Sellen, she’s sick of all his questions. He's relentless in his pursuit of knowledge, and even she has her limits.

I'd love to think that boss outside her chambers was to keep him from pestering her specifically.

Again, this is absurd, but it's a funny thought.

[5] In a world where he's teamed up with the Tarnished, I think he'd happily do wonders for Boc's self esteem.

Idk, I think one good talk with Rogier would circumvent that whole thing with Rennala. (But Boc definitely still deserves to hear his mother's voice again. Maybe they both try to make Boc feel better. Tag team of emotional support. Lol. Anyway.)

[6] On the idea of traveling with the Tarnished: can he see Melina? He can’t see grace, so it's funny to imagine he can’t see Melina either. The Tarnished he's traveling with just suddenly starts talking to thin air.

In my fic, he's surviving deathblight, and I'm going to have to address this somehow. Such is the nightmare-logistics of writing ER long fic. 

9) Backstory Headcanons

I answered this already here, but I have a few more! 

[1] In my fic, he landed on the shore of the Mistwood. His first death in The Lands Between was absolutely by Runebear. Naturally, this will be played for comedy in due time.

[2] In his life before The Lands Between, he's held his own in a duel. He was certainly not the one who proposed it, though. 

(Now, how dangerous the duel itself was or wasn’t—readers preference.)

[3] His first death, where he realized he was Tarnished, was blessing to him—an opportunity to get out of the life he was expected to live. It was the perfect way to get away and start really pursuing what he cared about. (Glintstone Sorcery. For real. Not just as a status symbol.) (Which, based on the prisoner class description, it was a status symbol of some kind.)

But he does miss the food, though. 

Hmm... a drastic way out of a life he never wanted? Sounds familiar... You bet I'm getting to that eventually ;)

[4] The impossible standards, emotional deprivation, and lack of true support wasn't just something he faced from high society. He dealt with it as much in the home as he did outside of it. It's where he learned to keep his real emotions at bay.

He spent his "entire" life behaving with detachment—I can't imagine it started anywhere else than in his own home.

[ Ask Game Link! ] Send me character and a number!

[highlander-732b]

Please accept my sincere apologies Lord General, I did not realize the level of your skill and the quality of your experience. I am used to automatically assuming that clansmen dislike the mere existence of my job as a spheroid mercenary.

In truth, I am quite inexperienced in discussions with clansmen myself, as I have only really dealt with some unscrupulous Sea Fox traders in-person. I've fought some members of Clan Wolf during my time serving House Davion, and I've helped the Raven Alliance with destroying Davion-based inner-sphere pirates, but I never socialized directly with any of my clan-adjacent employers. According to the liaison, many of them simply refused to talk with anybody who wasn't in charge, and so most of my opinions on the matter are merely secondhand. I shall rectify this for future discussion. Again, I appear to have been very biased in my knowledge and general information against the Clans, and I fear repercussions. Please don't send a trinary to wipe me off the face of the earth. I realize now that I should introduce myself; I am Lucas Beckman, current CO of Beckman's Bayonets, and I am son of the former CO, Kieran Beckman. We attempt to be a Jack-of-all-trades 'mech force, although we are relatively unknown. Currently, we're up to be rehired or hired somewhere else, as we are about to finish our contract with House Davion.

I suppose my bias against the Clans comes from a particularly poor attempt from Clan Sea Fox to grossly overcharge for ammunition. Clan Sea Fox attempted to stiff me and the rest of Beckman's Bayonets on multiple occasions with a failure to resupply ammunition for one of our few mixed-technology mechs; a older model Valkyrie QD5. They were asking for 150,000 C-Bills per ton of ammunition for the ATM-3, as well as an exclusive ammunition contract, which is beyond daylight robbery.

From what limited knowledge I have about Clan-grade manufacturing costs, which comes from my father's former RISC engineering comrades, I have been told that it costs between 56,000 and 62,000 C-Bills to manufacture a ton of ATM-3 ammo, and it is sold for approximately 75,000 C-Bills on the Clan market, give or take a few thousand depending on supply and demand.

150,000 C-Bills is unaffordable outright, and we told them to go pound sand. After a blatant scam, they had the audacity to pretend to give us a """"""deal"""""" for 110,000 C-Bills per ton of ATM-3 ammo, and our logistics officer straight left the room. Even 110,000 C-Bills is significantly above the going market rate for non-Clan mercenary ammunition, even if it's Clan-grade. As Sea Fox is the only practical supplier of ATM-3 ammo, we had to sell the Valkyrie's ATM-3 to House Davion as spare parts.

In essence, unless you know somebody on the logistics list, or you have a good working relationship with a manufacturer, you aren't ever going to be getting a good deal on Clan-grade equipment, if you can even get it at all. Sea Fox will force you to overpay, and actually contacting Snow Raven to get them to sell you something downright impossible, although they will give you a fair(er) price. I've heard that Snow Raven has been selling Blood Asps to other mercenaries with IS and Clan configurations, which is impressive to say the least.

In conclusion, my company, Beckman's Bayonets, generally cannot afford to refit clan-grade technology on to our mechs. Simply put, if we lose high-grade equipment, we can't replace it easily. The only mech we use that has Clan-grade technology, is the customized Marauder 11D named Clarent, which my father Kieran pilots. Clarent uses a significant amount of Clantech in its construction, being equipped with a Clan-grade XL engine and Clan-grade freezers, besides the expensive weapons and equipment it already has, so it eats up a massive amount of our limited maintenance budget. However, Clarent has always pulled through on a given mission, and I have seen it take down assault mechs with practiced ease, so I cannot complain about the results.

What's your opinion on the Eris?

At first glance, it is essentially an upgraded Wolverine with a Partial Wing. However, when looking at the whole package, and with time behind the controls, it becomes clear that it strikes an excellent balance of firepower, speed, maneuverability, and armor. It is a good trooper 'Mech. Not especially notable in the grand scheme, but good. The close range weaponry is decent. The ERS-3R adds ECM and additional armor, though it uses Rocket Launchers, which are less optimal as a weapon choice.

The older variant, the Hel, I admit I like somewhat better. The partial wing is (despite what some in my Clan might say) largely a novelty. Replacing it in favor of extra heat sinks is a sensible decision. Furthermore, of the two Hel variants, I prefer the HL-2. Two Large Lasers together deal more damage than a Heavy PPC for nearly equal heat buildup. The decreased range makes the 'Mech somewhat more coherent as a close(ish) range combatant.

Of course, the issues with the HL-1 could be easily solved with application of Clantech, but such is the case for many Spheroid designs. :)

[bearsizedant]

okay here's my diabetes ideas for dragon age

good evening all! hello! hi! i have maybe 2.5 functioning brain cells atm so bear with me here!!

these are all pretty general and based on my own personal experience and my limited research into early treatment methods for type 1 diabetes. if you have any headcanons for any other types, or want to elaborate on anything here, feel free! <3

Insulin! where do they get it?? animals! because I highly doubt a society that still believes in the 4 humors will have discovered how to produce it synthetically. the most common animals to extract insulin from are nugs, halla, and druffalo, but it is possible to get insulin from bogfishers, rams, and even deepstalkers under specific conditions. different types of insulin will affect different people in different ways; for instance: insulin extracted from a nug tends to give any non-dwarf an allergic reaction; humans especially. deepstalker-extracted insulin will almost always produce a severe allergic reaction when given to elves or qunari. halla and druffalo insulin are generally considered "universal," as they are least likely to give allergic reactions. all insulins have about a 30-minute delay before any effects are felt. insulins can also be mixed in different ratios to create short-acting (bolus) and long-acting (basal) insulins!!

so how do they administer it? there are different methods all across thedas:

•Orzammarian Dwarves: by pump or by individual injections. Orzammar has developed completely mechanized insulin pumps that can deliver quantities of insulin at specific intervals. however, given limited resources and the sheer effort it takes to build one of these machines, they're like. really hard to get a hold of. unless you're important enough to get first pick, it's likely you're taking individual injections with syringes.

•Dalish Elves: okay so I don't actually have that many ideas for this one because I loved @rozzwil's dalish pump hc so much that my brain has adopted it. (i would move mountains for u rozz istg) I can imagine there's probably little differences that pop up from clan-to-clan, but the basic concept is still the same.

•City Elves: generally depends on the city. certain cities have pumps inspired by those used by the dalish, and in cities where there are limited resources, individual injections are generally the way to go.

•Humans: (this also probably applies to the majority of surface dwarves and many of the Tal-Vashoth) given how humans just seem to generally dislike making anything better or easier for anyone, they have the least-developed treatment methods for diabetes. you've got insulin vials and a syringe. its likely that the insulin itself is in a powdered form that you have to mix yourself, as it cannot be taken orally.

•Circle of Magi: varies from circle to circle, but overall just as underdeveloped technically as many humans. most diabetic circle mages will self-treat or have others treat them with healing magic. before the fall of the circles, it was rumored that the tranquil craftsmen of cumberland's circle were on the edge of a breakthrough in developing a mechanized insulin pump inspired by those of the dwarves...

•Grey Wardens: i feel like the taint would actually sort of.... cure you? archdemon blood comes with some wacky side effects.

I don't have any solid ideas for Tevinter, Avaar, Chasind, or Qunari treatment methods yet... :'(

How do they determine blood sugar? blood magic will give you the most accurate readings, but not many outside of Tevinter will go that route. any mage with any knowledge of healing can give you a reading that's fairly accurate. spirit healers are the most accurate you'll get without blood magic.

for those who do not possess magical abilities or do not have access to a mage who can give them a sugar check, there are powders made of specific plants that will react and change color when they come into contact with blood, and can give you a good estimate.

Orzammarian dwarves have also developed enchanted blades that can give you a reading when they come into contact with your blood. these are roughly as accurate as a spirit healer reading, but are very recent and haven't really become widespread yet.

[guiltywisdom]

Hi! I asked about the Sacred Heart devotion being about Jesus' literal heart. Your answer is so helpful, thanks! I guess the thing I find interesting is the assertion that a devotion to Jesus' heart is a devotion only to Jesus' humanity. Isn't Jesus body human AND divine? or is it a human body that has a human and divine soul? I guess I don't fully understand how hypostatic union works. I'm not even wanting to defend the devotion, as I am torn between RC and Orthodoxy atm and am just learning.

I am glad the previous post helped. This apparently turned out to be a very long post however and as a result I think I may have accidentally given you a mini catechism! So I’ve come back to the beginning of the post as it occurs to me that your understanding might be limited by the fact you aren’t yet knowledgeable on some other basic Orthodox concepts? The duel natures of Christ is one of those later, harder to grasp, topics. You said you are “just learning” and that’s great! We are all always learning. What’s your background? You said you are trying to decide between Orthodoxy and Catholicism? Usually arguments will pit those two against each other instead of just giving a simple explanation mostly because it is easier to say what God is not, what we do not believe, than what is (apophatic theology). Have you read and understood the Symbol of Faith (aka the Creed)? Do you understand what happened at Creation and the Fall. Do you know the significance of His decent into Hades and the Resurrection? Do you know what Hades/Sheol is? Do you understand how God is warm light but also fire? It is important to have these basic concepts down before venturing deeper into theology! I hope you keep going and learn more! And I’d be happy to help you if you need it. Now…the rest of this will be my very long explanation put the best way I can. But it is important to note that I am a rather logical person by nature and this is a mystery and nothing I say should be interpreted as anything which contradicts what has been revealed to us and Christ’s Church, that Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully man. That said, let’s try to put this as best I can…

We refer to Christ’s natures as the hypostatic union, this union is also called the “mysterious union”. Hypostasis firstly means “substance” and is specifically physical substance. So, His body is human flesh, born of His mother. He is a real human man, a whole and perfectly complete man with a human mind, soul and body. But he is the man which the Son and Word of God has become. His body was human so he could participate in humanity fully. He hungered, he tired, he felt pain. As a man Jesus experienced all normal and natural human experiences including human temptation, suffering and death. He took these things upon himself “for us men and for our salvation.” Without a human body he could not have done that. Christ also had a human mind and soul. He has both fully human and divine natures. The Son of God is “of one essence with the Father,” which simply means that what God the Father is, the Son is also. He has two natures, without mixture and without change, without separation and without division [His Divinity and Humanity is not fused together, nothing is changed or lost but there is also only one Son and not two separate beings] and that without the distinction of natures being removed by such union, but rather that the peculiar property of each nature is preserved and is united in one Person and “Hypostasis”. The nature of the Word did not change into the flesh and the flesh did not change into the Word, but each one remained what it was by nature. He had two wills, without division, without fusion, without change and without separation, one divine and the other human. They are not contrary to each other but rather the human bows (usually, remember Gethsemane?) before the divine. He has two wills and two operations concurring in Him at the same time for the salvation of the human race.

So it’s to be understood that Christ’s body was not divine, at least to be thought of that a divine body could not tire or hunger. But it was divine in that it was perfectly human. His human flesh was born of His mother. True perfect human nature is before the Fall, it is pure and “like God”. Thus He was both human and divine. Like Adam at Creation, He had temptation but not sin but unlike Adam at Creation he still suffered the consequences of that sin of Adam; exhaustion, sickness, pain and death. God became man in order to unite us back to God. Before the Fall, Man and God were connected, after we were separated. In the Incarnation Man and God are united, our connection restored and through His decent into Hades he restored us to once again have the ability to become “like God”. At the Resurrection of the Living and the Dead we shall be elevated as Christ was and then be without pain or suffering as we were before the Fall; restored to perfect humanity. Honestly this is why we think the “Sacred Heart” is problematic, the attempts to separate is the problem not the veneration of His humanity.

[sparrowvolk]

it's ok if you don't have an answer rn (since your in concept development atm), but how will players get their first cats? will they be able to customize 1 or 2, or will only one be customizable and the other be random? would both be random? this is assuming you even start with two, perhaps you only start with one. personally i think a randomized pool, like lioden, would be the most fun, at least for me.

(starter anon) also this is like....a literal dream game for me. ik it's just concepts rn but i love it so much and can't wait to see it succeed! but i will because game development takes time.

I and my writer (yes, we're now a team of two! :D) have discussed this! I personally enjoy the random roll approach but there is also no reason we couldn't have a limited customization for your first cat or two. You won't get a second cat immediately, but they come in early enough in the tutorial that I don't think it'd be unreasonable to allow the player to customize them. So, some input would be helpful here!

Writer, you are welcome to announce yourself or wait until later! I appointed them because they have so much knowledge of the petsite genre, they've been incredibly helpful in banging out all the different features. As previously stated, I'm not comfy allowing anyone except close friends to join the team until I can pay them, but I'm delighted to hear feedback from anyone who wants to participate in discussions here.

[sunsetsover]

Tbh I don't think people even need to have an awareness of BPD or any other specific mental health knowledge to be a bit ehhh about Whitney's statement because it's p obvious that Ben's only got limited context and low self esteem to work with so it's no surprise he thinks Callum's upset with him. I'd assume most people could understand that but maybe I'm being optimistic lol.

Whitney literally saw Callum on the phone to Ben lying about where he was and what he was doing so it was a bit lol to see her talk to Ben like that 🥴🥴🥴

oh no i know and i keep coming back to the sheer audacity of her atm like.... being like 'you don't know him at all!!!' with the implication that she knows him better.... but u tried to hit him with a car tho..... that's ur bestie who u know better than anyone and are being all like 'uwu you can always come to me about anything you can trust me' ..... but u tried to hit him and his husband on his wedding day...... the math isn't mathing luv x

idk maybe it's bc she was getting on my FUCKIN nerves before all of this with the way she was w kush bc that was just Too Much like i get it she's traumatised n she's got issues i know that i'm not denying that but i have never been the biggest fan of her as a character like she's fine but i've always been indifferent even when i watched ee as a kid so it's like... when she's being a bitch to my boy ben the scale was easily tipped into the negative.....

bc it's like well ok she was clearly going thru some shit when she tried to hit them w her car but what's her excuse now..... like she seems fine.... not guilty in the slightest.... apparently she's even let the 'ben killed kush' thing go..... if i was her i wouldn't even be able to look callum in the eye knowing what i'd done let alone pretend to care about him and then basically tell his husband to go fuck himself when he comes to me concerned abt what's going on..... and let's not forget kat !!! who she put in fucking HOSPITAL and then, if i'm remembering right, immediately begged for her to not tell anyone what happened.... and then accused her of avoiding her bc she wasn't answering her phone after she got mugged and seemed really put out about it..... like bitch you HIT HER with a CAR... put her in hospital for a WEEK..... could have left her children MOTHERLESS.... and ur out here like 'u avoiding me :-(' ???? sorry can she just move

she's not even a ruthless bitch in a fun way is the thing like im all for asshole characters im literally a ben stan but ur giving me nothing to work with here like if ur really on that fuck ben life then say it with your chest none of this sneaky two faced shit i can't stand it

[queerascat]

i found an old post about a poc ace and went on their blog and they know say they don't identify as ace because aces are bad, basically. and like, i'm literally crying. idk what to do, that just really struck me. someone who wrote about being queer, ace and a poc like me shitting on me and telling me my identity is inherently problematic when it's the reason i can't access mental health atm, which is something i need cause the 'discourse' & the violent abuse i faced on this website for (cont)

(suicide ideation, death threat and conversion tw) including death threats, caused me to fall back into suicidal ideation. and the only therapist available to me suggested conversion therapy (i live in a small central american country, there’s not much knowledge about these things- she thinks if i can be converted to straight, i will no longer suffer from my orientation). this is horrible tbh. i’m sorry to unload but as another poc ace i feel safe around you. i guess what i’m trying to say is that this ‘discourse’, which is just a bunch of people thinking they can gaslight and abuse aces or call the ‘bad’ or ‘cringy’ and don’t want to have any sort of intra community discussion but literally deny us our experiences and be abusive, is harming my mental health. friends i trusted turned out to be acephobic, send me literal death threats. in what kind of WORLD is that fucking ok? idk where im going with this, im sorry. do you know of any ways i can deal with this wave of ace and aro hatred that’s spread this website? i don’t know how to go about it. and now in the spanish speaking online lgbtq+ community, enbyphobes have copied it to exclude enbys for ‘being actually cis’ and are calling us ‘cisnb’ after regs in english calling aces and aros ‘cishet’ so that’s just fucking great :( that’s because the community is only now starting to realize enbys exist. and it’s also learning that about aspecs, so im starting to hear it in spanish too. i just can’t escape it.

i genuinely feel like i’m in no place to be giving any sort of advice on things of this nature– especially right now when i’m just managing to keep my own head above water for various reasons, but…

i’d first like to say that venting has been (and continues to be) a significant part of self-care / coping for me personally and i am beyond flattered that you feel safe enough to vent your feelings to me. no need to apologize, anon. i don’t know if i can be of any help to you, but i hope that the very act of venting in and of itself has been a step in the right direction for coping for you like it often is for me.

i also want to say that i’m very sorry to hear about all of the shit that you’ve been (and continue to be) put through. while i haven’t had your exact experiences, i can very much relate to feeling like you can’t escape “discourse” or otherwise harmful ideology as both it itself and the effects of it pervades other aspects and intersections of your life both on and outside of Tumblr. not to mention how it feels to finally find that rare, illusive something or someone that you share important but seemingly less common intersections with only to discover that that thing or person contributes to the very thing that’s, for lack of a better expression, fucking you up.

…ah, yes. like those old posts by a formerly self-identified ace and queer person of color who now not only advocates against asexuality but who does so in a way that blatantly shits on aces of color by pitching them against other QPOC, among other things. that’s some fucked up shit, ain’t it?

cough. anyway… my personal coping and self-care strategies.

my go-to strategies for coping and self-care certainly don’t work for everyone or in all situations, but with Tumblr and social media-related thing in general i often try to:

remove myself from the source of the distress.

even if only temporarily for a few hours, days, a week– whatever, i do what i can to mentally and / or physically check myself out of whatever it is that’s negatively affecting me and do my best to turn my attention to other things. i go to Starbucks, read a book, clean my apartment, focus on a personal project, catch up on shows, turn off my computer and my phone and finally make myself food– whatever. i focus on things that are actually tangible and perhaps offer some form of self-gratification even if it’s just in the form of tasting good because goddamnit, the time and cost required to get a caramel macchiato is (and quite frankly should be) far more worth it to me than the time and (mental) cost spent giving a damn about someone else’s bullshit. or so i tell myself.

if the source of the distress is outside of the internet, as might be the case with a therapist, i cut that person (or thing) out of my life even if it’s just by silently breaking off communication with them by not returning their calls or not going to their therapy sessions temporarily or indefinitely. as i said above, that person / those people / that thing is not worth the time or (mental) cost required of me by dealing with them.

limit or manage my exposure to the source of the distress when removing myself from it completely isn’t possible.

i feel like this often ends up being more taxing than simply removing myself all together, but blocking / unfollowing immediately upon coming across something or someone that can potentially or does set you off is important. blocking applies to more than just people, blogs or posts but also blacklisting tags, keywords etc using something like Xkit for Tumblr, the native block & mute features on Twitter, etc. if the distress comes in the form of asks, instant messages, etc then i disable those things at least temporarily, especially when blocking an IP fails to get the job done. i also avoid browsing through tags, which can be tough when you actively want to find something to help yourself feel better about yourself / your experiences / etc…

when the source of the distress isn’t online-based, i try to manage / limit my exposure by avoiding the person or thing in question when possible. again, actively avoiding someone or something requires effort on my part and can in and of itself be taxing, so it’s not ideal… but i do what i can.

venting.

while venting is by no means The Solution to anything and comes with its own set of risks / problems when done publicly, venting can be done in so many different ways. it’s a relatively easy form of instantly relief for me regardless of how small that relief may ultimately be. whether it be tweeting, journaling (online or pen & paper), venting on sites specifically made for that purpose, scribbling feelings onto a piece of paper and then immediately ripping that paper to shreds, typing heatedly into a text document and then closing it without saving– whatever, it helps for me to take even a moment out of my day to acknowledge how i feel and speak those feelings into existence beyond just the mess that is my own head at times. even if those feelings only exist in the world for seconds before i delete or physically destroy them because Anxiety And Shit, it still helps.

but perhaps most importantly is to:

focus on the fact that no matter what anyone else says or does, i am The Authority on who i am, how i feel, etc.

i know who i am, but i also know that who i am is not the problem even when others make me feel otherwise. regardless of how i may feel about the things that i face in regards to my sexuality, my gender, my race, etc, i try to keep in mind that those things that i face are a product of the society that i live in and the people who insist on interjecting their own personal bullshit into my life. imho, this is as true of Tumblr “discourse” as it is of life in general.

while it may not be possible to escape society or shitty people all together, there is a lot more to society and life in general than the bullshit that we find ourselves faced with at times. i try my best to look beyond or through “discourse” on Tumblr and see the communities of people both on an off Tumblr who, like me, are against such bullshit. while shitty therapists and shitty people in general may rebrand and rehash the same old tired, hurtful shit that’s been said to others for forever, i try to look past that and focus instead on the fact that a lot of people aren’t like that and have actually learned from the past and and are better for it. i try to focus on a future where i will have access to competent mental health resources and care even though i do not have that now…

…….i’m not sure why i ended up writing this short novel of a post that ultimately amounts to nothing, but yeah. anon, no matter how hard things get, please know that you’re never going at it alone. there are others out there struggling, coping, surviving in spite of the same or similar things, it’s just that if hardly anyone talks about it we end up feeling alone in it, unaware of others’ company…

….which is one reason why despite the potential risks, venting publicly even in the form of anonymous asks can be worth it sometimes and i very much welcome such asks on this blog.

all the best, anon.