#my parents are weirdly unique

[the-catboy-minyan]

I saw you are Israeli with an asexual flag icon. I know you it's not your job to educate me and have no obligation, but if you don't mind, could I ask what your experience of views towards asexuality in Israel are? I'm an American asexual with Israeli family I'm just getting to know since we were in different countries and weren't really in contact until recently. I'm wondering how asexuality is viewed there and what to expect about social attitudes towards it?

honestly I got no clue, the only people who really know I'm ace are my queer friends (who are already educated from western media on what lgbtq is), and my mom.

my mom is all "don't label yourself because you're putting yourself in a box and blocking yourself to new experiences, you're you and that's what matters (also asexuality isn't a thing you're just childish)", I don't know if her views are an accurate example of what the average Israeli thinks, because I'm pretty sure she's somewhere under the NB and bi umbrellas and just doesn't feel the need to use labels, but she's the only "negative" experience I had with coming out as ace, other people probably wouldn't care about your lack of sex life.

also my dad is a whole other story but I gave up on explaining to him what queerness is, he tries to support at least, in a way of "I have no idea what this is and I don't really like it, but it's your life and I can't control what you do with it, I'm gonna give my opinion sometimes (aka scoff and say it's bullshit) but I'm not gonna force you to do anything". which is better than nothing! I can't force him to understand what non binary means or why I want top surgery (he's against all cosmetical surgeries not just gender), and he can't force me to be Normal™, win win ☺️.

[raayllum]

Right in front of our faces

So I've been thinking about self-eating a lot. Not only because it's weirdly on brand with everything in Claudia's arc (drinking her own blood, treating her own body basically as dark magic parts just for other people's metaphorical consumption, at least in her head, rather than for her own desires) but also because... Why, y'know? Why have this be a thing, why reserve it for the third arc, an arc wherein with the Archdragons gone Aaravos' main goal will be to dismantle the Cosmic Council?

In some ways, I think I was so focused on Aaravos' side of things—the easiest way to get revenge on the Stars (since they don't care about the destruction of their creation, not really, according to him) would be to kill them but he, for whatever reason, cannot do that—that I was missing the obvious other side of things.

Aaravos asks in 7x08, "Are you watching?" but wouldn't it be really bad for him if they were? What is stopping the Cosmic Council from transporting Aaravos to the same place they took Leola and permanently killing him, since permanently killing a Startouch elf is something we know the Cosmic Council, uniquely, can do? He couldn't stop them before when he was more powerful than he is now as a 'Fallen' Star.

Aaravos' plan hinges on eventually getting the Stars' attention, and they are presumably still at their full power, just no longer involved with Xadia. He is seemingly never concerned, even when making the choice to live and plot against them, that the Stars would just kill him the way they did with Leola.

Or maybe, perhaps, he already has a reason that they can't.

As he collapses in tears at Leola's trial, Aaravos' chest star is complete and right side up. After, presumably, 100 years of weeping, his star is inverted and the centre piece is missing when the Merciful One comes to see him.

The reason I brought up self-eating is because we see it's used as a form of chasing immortality, even beyond what Kim'Dael does. I've long speculated that Aaravos purposefully carved out his chest piece, whether to place it in something or to help create dark magic. He may not have done anything with it, even if it was on purpose, but I wonder... if he ate it, in order to ensure that the Cosmic Council couldn't kill him.

This is especially noteworthy since from what we see of Leola's trial, her destructive glow begins in her chest star and then spreads to her fingers, and the destruction of Aaravos' mortal form is radically different.

This doesn't really make sense. Leola was destroyed while in her mortal form, given that moments before she'd been living and interacting with things on earth, just like her father. Aaravos' destruction stems from the bite mark at first, but then begins elsewhere that's entirely separate (the foot) and never broaches the hands. Leola becomes entirely light, while Aaravos' body seems to be shattered, and does bear a striking resemblance to how dark!Callum crumbles in the 2x08 dark magic nightmares.

Furthermore, when Leola is killed and her star energy is sent down (for lack of a better description), we do see a symbol of a star being inverted, despite that not being a part of her character design.

We also know that Aaravos' body being destroyed differently in 7x09 isn't due to dark magic use, at least not in terms of his body. As of season seven, he hadn't done any dark magic in his new body, which is a soft reset. However, we also know that dark magic affects your soul/spirit (6x06) which would, presumably, be the same no matter the body in this case. Therefore, the reason Aaravos' body might've crumbled (beyond differences in execution style) might be because of the dark magic he's used that created a permanent hole in his spirit/self, and one that Leola, of course did not have.

I also think some of this in my head is connecting to the ideas of sacrifice. Other characters, especially parents, can sacrifice themselves in TDP canon in hopes of a better future for their children / the next generation (the three queens, the archdragons, Harrow, etc). Aaravos divorcing himself from the ability to sacrifice himself, especially after thousands of years with no daughter to speak of (until Claudia, but on her in a second), purposefully robs himself from the ability to make a meaningful contribution to the cycle. Death, permanent death, provides meaning and consequence, both things he's seemingly devoid of.

Sacrificing his ability to die (his heart) and at least, in theory, reunite with his daughter / no longer exist without her to ensure he can 'avenge' her is a hell of a thing, after all. And on a certain level, that seems like his endgame goal regardless. Even if all the above speculation is untrue and wily, unless he can execute himself, in destroying/killing (?) all the other Startouch elves, he will be alone and eternal... forever, with no way out, carrying only the pain of his child's death and withering satisfaction at punishing her murderers, unless he decided to eventually change.

Like I said: a hell of a thing.

[llondonfog]

What you said about Sebek is really true. Diasomnia is so much like a family if you look at it from most angles, but Sebek is weirdly removed from it to a degree that I wonder if they'll address it at any point. I don't know how to write him into the scene most of the time because I'll want to make a cohesive piece with the feel that Lilia is loving all 3 of his dear diasomnia sons equally, but then Sebek goes and has his own biological mother and father and grandpa who are all alive and love him and everything...? I'm sure Lilia cares about him, but it just can't be to the same intensity as with Malleus and Silver

And the same kind of goes for Malleus' perspective too?? It's not to the same degree as Lilia because I feel like he's also pretty removed from Silver, but as nuanced as his relationship with him is, I feel like being there to babysit baby Silver and sing him to sleep when he cries is Just A Step Above anything he has going on with Sebek right now :(

I always feel mean about it because I love Sebek so much, and he is such a silly little boy, but my man, what are you doing here... What do I do with you...

anon i feel you, and i need to make a formal apology to sebek because i genuinely love and relate to him on a personal level as a character and i neglect him so much in my own writing 😭

(also can i just be. petty. and say how much it drives me insane that this fandom seems to forget that sebek does have his own family and that heavily affects his relationship with the other three and that lilia DID NOT RAISE HIM. HE TRAINED HIM. THERE'S A DIFFERENCE. WHY DO Y'ALL FORGET HE HAS A FAMILY, HALF OF MY DELIGHT IS WANTING TO SEE HIS MOM AND DAD DURING A BV EVENT)

anyways. i don't think? it's a bad thing to say that lilia doesn't feel the same way for sebek as he does for silver and malleus, because i don't think that lilia feels the same way towards silver and malleus themselves. i think he's pretty fond of sebek and finds him highly amusing when he thinks back on his memories with baul, but i also think he respects the dedication that the boy has to his duties, his genuine care for malleus, and the true friendship that he offers silver, which naturally endears him to lilia anyways.

personally i think that gives sebek a unique outsider insight into all the poor parental choices that lilia has made with silver and poor communication with malleus because he has such a stable and loving family framework to reference. i honestly hope that when they all get out of the dreamworld, he gets to lay into lilia the same way that he laid into silver because it gives me such delight to see him become the family counselor LMAO

[greatwyrmgold]

When I was little, I loved the Harry Potter books. I eventually noticed some of the problems with them, and then I noticed how JK Rowling's personal beliefs and actions lined up with the problems in the books. It was easy to separate these two; JKR was doing a good enough impression of a progressive liberal when I was reading the books, and the mask didn't slip until after I'd started to drift from the series.

I wonder what it's like for kids who got into Harry Potter later, kids who are getting into Harry Potter now. Kids born after house elf discourse peaked, who didn't start reading until JKR went mask off, who didn't know better but could have if they'd read the right articles. Kids whose parents have ignored everything JKR has said and done that isn't directly relevant to the Harry Potter series, or who don't care, or who don't want their reservations to get in the way of their kids enjoying some books.

For me, it's easy to separate my HP-fan period from modern JKR. In retrospect signs were always there, but they were subtle enough that you could hardly expect a kid to notice them, and it's not like they were unique, lots of fantasy writers get weirdly hung up on fantasy racial crap, specifically a Jewish-stereotype race, and replacing the slave race with some kind of biologically evil mook race, which is kind of an apples-and-oranges thing. Harry Potter's worldbuilding wasn't uniquely bad, just not-good, and both HP's narrative and JK Rowling's politics seemed progressive.

But JKR has doubled down on all the worst aspects of Harry Potter's worldbuilding for the past 15 years or so, and has also openly supports TERFs and fascists for the past few years. JKR's progressive platitudes feel hollower every month. The only excuse kids today will be able to come up with for supporting JKR is that they were just too ignorant to realize they were directly funding transphobia. Is that enough?

It's not really my problem, but I still wonder about the people whose problem it is.

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

bestie what’s your beef with what the river knows 👀 please do full spoilers it’s on my tbr!

YOU CANNOT ATTEMPT TO WRITE A BOOK CRITIQUING COLONIAL ARCHAEOLOGY IN EGYPT AND MAKE YOUR PROTAGONIST A RICH SPANISH ARGENTINIAN AKA A MEMBER OF THE FORMER COLONIAL RULING CLASS!!!! AND SAY ACTUALLY IT'S OK WHEN SHE DOES IT!!! listen to me Lindsay listen to me apparently some authors think colonialism isn't real when it's not done by English speakers what if. I lost my shit.

ALSO listen ok listen. No one is as cartoonishly evil as the one evil guy in this was in his very first conversation with our protagonist. He was like hmm did you know I think women are weak and also Egyptians are inferior to the English? And then stole shit from her and it's like where is the subtle insidious nature of widely accepted racism???? Where is the realism?? Why does it feel like this book is written as Baby's First Introduction To The Evils Of Colonialism And Misogyny?????? GIRL WE'VE BEEN KNEW

also frankly. Listen I hate female protagonists who make genuinely stupid decisions and it's held up as girlboss. She's like oh damn my parents are missing I'm going to travel to Egypt with NO PLANS with NO FRIENDS with NO EXPECTATIONS and like if she really felt driven to it FINE but no one's going to be doing that like yasss slay queen! That's going to be terrifying! Make it feel conflicted! Please!!!! Not a girlboss moment!

She meets a British man in his twenties btw and immediately insults him and blames him fully for British colonialism and like listen I'm completely on board with the politics but that is just a guy why are we being like this. he's just a guy. He's not The British Government.

But also what really annoyed me, frankly, is that our protagonist (fully cannot remember her name) has extremely modern liberal politics regarding women, race, Colonialism, class, etc. but the thing is that she IS from the ruling elite in the late 1800s. She's extremely wealthy, she's given an unexpected amount of control over her own life, she has servants. And ok to me, if people are served by the status quo they need a reason to want to break it. And we're never told why she does. The current system works specifically for her and her parents, there's no reason for her to hear alternate opinions and we're never told that she does or how she does, so her entire politics feel very empty because it's like the author wanted to have her cake and eat it too - she wanted an unproblematic modern character but to not have to deal with actual realities of how one becomes progressive. I know a lot of people who have this approach about modern day btw, they're like oh OBVIOUSLY we all agree on this one thing because that's The Good Opinion but it's still like no, you got that opinion from somewhere, probably the people around you. But in the book it never addresses at all where she and her parents got those opinions and it just feels a bit hollow.

Basically it's just not fun! And it's not original! And it's about a girl with no unique features as a YA protagonist who thinks like someone from 2024 but exists in 1884 and is somehow excused from the fact she is also complicit in a colonial system so she can show her anti-colonial girlbossery! Also the male protagonist is obsessed with her immediately but in the most boring predictable way possible he's so bland I'm sorry.

This isn't even getting into the fact it's weirdly paced and the mystery is kinda stupid, I frankly don't know if it redeems itself in that regard because I didn't finish but yeah it kinda sucked.

[louloulemons-posts]

weirdly specific I know but what about fem!goth!reader who's been best friends with eddie for years. he thinks he knows everything about her until one day he climbs through her window to hang (bc of course he does, he can't use a door like a normal person, even if her parents aren't home, where's the fun in that?) and finds her rocking out to taylor swift and it turns out shes a massive closet swiftie.

Weird But F-ing Beautiful

Modern!Eddie X Fem!Gothic!Reader

Summary : You were a metal head with a secret, you love Taylor Swift.

Word Count : 1k

(How I imagine Reader would defend Taylor)

Warnings : not proofread, 3am writing (again-pls someone save my sleep schedule), so many taylor references!, swears, petnames, cuteness, eddie and reader are just adorable honestly

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

You and Eddie had known each other for years now, you’d say he was your best friend in the whole world.

The pair of you had a lot in common, you were both unusual and unique people. You bonded over that, along with your love of bands like Metallica and Black Sabbath.

You’d always liked darker things, loving halloween whilst most liked christmas. Horror movies and true crime documentaries brought you comfort.

Complaining about summer as your dark wardrobe made the heat cling to you, it was just the person you were. But you had a secret, one that even Eddie didn’t know of.

You absolutely loved Taylor Swift. You’d found yourself bopping along to one of her songs that was on the radio and were hooked, owing all of her albums and having them on regularly.

Enter Sandman to All of the Girls you Loved Before was quite the contrast, but you loved it.Walking down the halls to your locker, Lover was playing in your ears.

People who passed you wouldn’t think that, ripped tights, a skirt that went just above your knees, dark top with long flowing sleeves - bat wings Eddie liked to call them.

Fingers and neck decorated in mismatching jewels, huge boots, a corset around your waist and eye liner that took longer than you’d care to admit. Love Story didn’t really look like a song that’d be your favourite.

Arms wrapped around your waist, squeezing you softly. Pulling out an earbud you spoke, “Edward.”

“Hello Sweetheart.”

“What can I do for you?”

“Milkshakes?”

“You paying?”

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

Sipping on your strawberry shake you chuckled at Eddie, leaning over the table you wiped whipped cream off his nose. “Thank you,” he blushed.

“Don’t mention it Rockstar.”

“Sooo,” he said.

“Hm?”

“I may or may not have gotten two tickets to see one of the best bands of all time, and I was wondering if you’d like to come with?”

“Oh my god One Direction have reunited?” You laughed, “Shut up. Will you come with me?”

“I mean I guess I could free up some time for you,” you smirked, taking another sip of your shake.

“Cool.”

“Cool.”

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

“Thank you for the milkshake.”

“Anytime Sweetheart, I’ll text you the details of the concert and stuff.”

“Please do. I’ll see you later,” Leaning over and kissing his cheek, cherry red stain being left on his skin.

Heading up to your room, neither of your parents were home yet. Throwing your bag down you put a record on, Taylor.

Humming to yourself as you undid your boots, you decided to start on some homework. Turning up the music and tuning everything out for a while.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

Stood in front of your mirror, you began wiping your makeup from your face, eventually singing along. “I remember when we broke up,” you sang softly, humming mainly.

Sliding off your rings and necklaces, your hair being pulled out of your face, comfortable for the night. God how did this woman make these songs so catchy? What was in them?

You couldn’t help yourself, “I used to think we were forever ever …” You put your books away, cleaning your desk, “We are never ever ever getting back together!”

Dancing around your room, you laughed as you spun around your room. These songs just made you so happy, “We are never ever ever ever getting back together!”

“Okay I get the message,” a voice laughed.

“WHAT THE FUCK!” you screamed.

“Wow chill it’s me.” Eddie.

Storming over to your record player you turned it down, Stay Stay Stay playing quietly in the background. “What the fuck are you doing here? How’d you get in?” you shouted.

“Window. Came to bring this back, wasn’t expecting a concert.”

“Oh fuck off Edward,” you huffed, taking a ring out of his hand. Turning away from him and putting it with your others.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I um didn’t know you liked this music.”

“Well I do, got an issue?”

“No. Just … do you actually like metal or was that just umm …”

“I like both okay? Sometimes I just want to feel like a happy, silly teenage girl. Her music helps me do that, or if I need to cry, or fall in love or anything really. I love metal, I didn’t lie!”

“Okay. I believe you. She’s cool.”

“You think?”

“Well you like her, so she must be.”

“Shut up,” you smiled.

“I’m serious. Teach me the way of Taylor Swift,” he grinned, dropping on your bed.

“Well thats 10 albums, and then there’s Taylor’s versions.”

“God you’re a proper little nerd.”

“Says the one who loves D&D,” you smacked him lightly.

“I’m not saying she’s bad! I like that one umm … Enchanted?”

“Yes! It’s her newest re-release, god I love that album and 1989s out soon as well.”

“Slow down babe, you’re losing me.”

“Sorry, so um Enchanted?” you asked, standing up, pulling the vinyl out of its case, replacing it on the record player. The song played softly. “It’s beautiful.”

“It is,” you smiled, turning back to Eddie. “Thank you for bringing my ring back, where was it?”

“My van, must have fallen off.”

“Or you stole it.”

“Me?” You nodded.

“Don’t think it’d fit Sweetheart.” The chorus played, and Eddie began to hum along, standing to be in front of you. “I like this other side of you.”

“Thought you’d make fun of me.”

“I’d never. I like all parts of you, this might be my new favourite, maybe we can see her concert.”

You snorted, “You willing to sell a couple organs?”

“For you, I do anything.” You smiled up at him softly, he nudged your nose with his.

“As Taylor said, I was Enchanted to meet you,” he smiled, leaning down to press his lips to yours.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

A/N : This was so fun to do! I just jammed out to Taylor the whole time and it was great. Thank you so much for this request I hope you enjoyed it 🤍

Thank you so much for reading! Please leave any requests 🤍

[musicalmoritz]

Just saw your TBHK headcanons post and saw the one about Akane being the father who stepped up for Tiara since she sees him and Teru as her parents (Literally adore the mental image btw) Do you have any other headcanons for how Akane and Tiara would interact?

Omg yayyyyy yay more TBHK found family asks. Ya’ll are giving me too much to yap about, I feel spoiled. Alright onto the silliest father/daughter duo of all time, we’re about to take more liberties with fanon so everybody fasten your seatbelts

• So this headcanon happened as a result of the whole “Teru is basically raising Kou and Tiara” thing

• I feel like it’s true, their dad is absent and while most of the household work falls on Kou (a massive responsibility on its own), Teru seems to take on more of the “parenting” responsibilities. Such as training Kou and giving him guidance, plus the way he interacts with Tiara feels v much like a parent and their child

• I don’t mean to take away the sibling dynamic at all tho, there are plenty of oldest siblings out there that have had to raise their younger siblings. Being a parental figure doesn’t cancel out one’s role as a sibling

• Anyways that made me think that whoever Teru ends up dating is probably gonna end up co-parenting Tiara, especially if it turns into a long term relationship

• If their dad never gets his act together Teru will likely be the one having to raise Tiara into adulthood, I don’t think he’d let Kou take on that much responsibility (plus he likes to be involved in his siblings lives, I think he’d genuinely enjoy it)

• Since Teru and Kou are closer in age tho I don’t think the co-parenting thing applies to Kou, he’d be a regular brother-in-law (minus maybe one awkward “I’m not calling him dad” moment)

• Terukane is my main Teru ship so naturally I have to imagine Akane getting overly involved with the Minamotos

• “But what would that progression look like?” Tysm for asking, I’ve given way too much thought to this

• Tiara initially goes through a phase of not liking Akane very much, he’s way too blunt with her and she’s used to being coddled

• In return, Akane doesn’t like Tiara too much bcuz we all know he’s not above beefing with toddlers

• Since Tiara is five tho she gets over that hatred pretty quickly. All Akane has to do is, like, bring her a juice box and suddenly they’re best friends

• Akane wants to make Teru’s life a little easier bcuz he can’t help but want to take care of every person he falls for. I do believe his obsession with Aoi was unique but I also like to think it’s partially just an Akane thing, when he falls he falls hard. He locks in

• When I write Terukane I usually try to balance their canon dynamic with Akane’s obsessiveness, tho I don’t mind when some writers lean more into his yandere side for the ship. I know some shippers really hate it but I kinda like seeing various interpretations (keep in mind tho I don’t read Terukane fics often so I’m not the best authority on this lol)

• Holy Tangent, Batman! That is not what these headcanons are about. I need to yap on track

• Anyways, because Akane wants to take care of Teru he ends up babysitting Tiara a lot. This gives both the Minamoto brothers more free time, and it fulfills Akane’s need to constantly be making himself useful

• Their dynamic is one of the very imaginative, hyperactive child and the apathetic dad who adores her. He’s not overly doting like Kou and Teru are but that’s weirdly what makes Tiara attach herself to him, he’s different from most people she knows

• Oh yeah she calls him papa btw. This stems from my headcanon that she calls Teru mama, and this is where I have to reaffirm that I’m not trying to feminize him guys I just think it’s funny :(

• Basically just picture Loid and Anya from Spy x Family, that is how I imagine Akane and Tiara

• He hangs around so often that she genuinely starts to think of Teru and Akane as her dads. This indirectly strengthens their relationship bcuz like…they can’t just break up now. That would be like divorce for Tiara

• Every time they have a mild argument Teru’s like “think of Tiara :(”

• In turn, Akane starts acting more like a dad. He takes Tiara to the park and prepares her snacks when Kou is busy

• One day Tiara calls him papa in front of his parents and they have to grapple with the realization that their son has had a whole ass child for months and neither of them knew

• Akane’s dad panicked for like a full minute thinking it was a teen pregnancy before he realized that’s not really possible

• Akane would def introduce Tiara to his favorite rock bands (totally not based off me and my dad)

• Seeing Teru and Akane together actually helped Tiara understand the concept of marriage (since she doesn’t seem to understand it in canon), and that there are different types of relationships. Teru had to sit her down once and carefully explain that he and Akane aren’t married. She didn’t get it but, oh well, baby steps

• Akane introduces Tiara to people as his daughter, which results in a lot of confused looks from strangers

• When she gets older Teru becomes “dad” but Akane stays papa. She also calls him “old man” sometimes

• Since everyone seems to agree Mirai is a sister-figure to Akane, I could def see her making Tiara call her “Aunt Mirai” lmao (they would be best friends, trust)

• If someone upsets Akane or tries to hurt him, Tiara will go full lightning mode on them. Legend has it her first words were “Nah, I’d win”

• By the time Akane meets the Minamoto Father it goes down like “Who are you??” “I’m the owner of this house🤨”

• “Father?? No, you’ve been demoted to grandpa”

• Akane gives Tiara a lot of piggyback rides

• He tries to give her a lot of attention bcuz his own parents aren’t very involved in his life and he knows that can cause issues

• She likes her sandwiches cut into little shapes and Akane can accurately guess which shape she wants every time

• He can do hair really well because of Aoi and Mirai so he styles Tiara’s for her a lot

• I like the headcanon of Akane becoming a psych major (we’re twinning) so I like to imagine that when he eventually takes a lifespan development or child psych class he’s like “Teru. Teru we need to develop authoritative parenting styles. Teru we’ve been too permissive. Teru.” • I think they’d already be authoritative but shhh

• He becomes mindful of the type of attachment style Tiara has and tries to make her feel as secure as possible

• He picks up a couple parenting books

• Him and Teru would also be the type to read their Tiara LGBTQ+ children’s books. Woke parenting/j

• I think it would make both Teru and Akane happy to know they don’t have to go through with getting married and a whole adoption process for Tiara to see them as her parents. They don’t have to rush into anything or follow any standard process, they can just do their own thing and be a happy little family

• And Tiara gets to grow up with two parents who love her more than anything in the world

I’m ending it there because I could yap abt the Minamotos forever. Glad I got to spend my Terukane Girl Dads agenda again. Hope you enjoyed!!

[dr-spectre]

Octo Expansion is now over 6 years old... dang...

I know I missed the anniversary by a few days but who cares. It's really weird to think about just how much time has passed since this DLC came out...

I remember asking my parents badly for this DLC because I didn't have my own money at the time and I remember speedrunning this because I wanted to play as an Octoling in multiplayer before I had to go to sleep for school the next morning. And uh... I really wish I took my time with this instead of worrying about being able to finish it in time before I had to go to bed.

This DLC's atmosphere stands above all the other entries in the series, it's weirdly nostalgic atmosphere and beautiful music makes this such a unique experience to play. Even though I didn't grow up in the 80s, I still feel nostalgic for the environments. It's like this DLC teleported my brain back to when I was a kid playing games on the Wii. It's a weird feeling but... I love it.

Also, getting to learn more about Off the Hook as well was incredible. Octo Expansion really fleshed them out and they became incredibly beloved characters in the series because of Octo Expansion.

The final boss too.. actually just the whole finale in general is still probably my favourite out of the entire series. It takes such a drastic turn in tone and it becomes a stealth game for a bit, it's fucking awesome. Battling against Agent 3 and hearing Splattack?!?! OH. MY. GOD. AND SEEING A HUMAN ON SCREEN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE SERIES THAT ISNT A SKELETON?!?! AND ITS A GIANT FUCKING STATUE HEAD THATS GONNA DESTORY THE WORLD?!?! HOLY. FUCK. THATS INCREDIBLE!!! FLY OCTO FLY AS WELL OH MY GODODODODODOD!!!!

Whoever on the team thought of that idea needs the biggest sloppy toppy ever man I swear to go-

Um... Anyways, to cap it off, I also remember beating Inner Agent 3 and let me tell you. It was the most satisfying feeling I've ever felt in a video game. Period. It took me months to beat them but once I did. I stood up and screamed as loud as I could while my heart was about to combust into flames.

Octo Expansion is one of the best DLCs in gaming, ever in my opinion. Sure some aspects might be overrated but, I don't care, this DLC rules. I love it.

[ranticore]

Okay I’m really curious because visors as a concept are just so neat, are there any visors whose “characters” are considered to be paired together, at least to the longwings? Do the stock characters of specific visors ever show up in media and such? Any weirdly specific niches visored harpies find themselves in?

yes to all three questions :)

Visor “characters” considered to be paired together: My two big swan harpies Mia and Ebb (Mia-kef and Ebb-a-vef in the East Spire naming system, they're world-class delivery and postal workers) both have swan visors - a mute swan and a black swan respectively. These visors used to belong to two ex-military pilots who were within the same fighting wing back on Ceti, the colony from which humans travelled to Siren. They were offered substantial pay to become part of the Sirenian mission's private military, but they stipulated in the contract that the two of them would always work together (i.e don't fire one without firing the other lol). They brought their visors with them on the mission, which is why they're uniquely detailed and themed after Earth birds (see my header image). And now, looong after those two people are dead and all records of them mostly lost to time, it is still considered mandatory to the longwings that the black swan and white swan visors (Signaswun and Signastoo) are paired together - at first, just because they look very alike, just palette-shifted, but after a while they grew their own little mythos about being a matched pair who should not be separated.

The stock characters of specific visors showing up in media: For young longwings in the western continent (where the visors are stored), they often grow up with puppet shows depicting several archetypal visored characters, similar to the comedy and tragedy masks in theatre. The main character is usually a basic mass-produced model (similar to Terwy's) who is given the role of The Fool, the audience stand-in guy who stumbles into all sorts of adventures, is dumb enough that it gives the spectating kids an opportunity to yell the right answers to a problem he's trying to solve, etc. The Fool meets a variety of different, more unique characters often based off of real visors, though with rather simplified personality traits based on what the show is about - Wise Elder, Parent Who is Always Right, Child Who Should Eat More Vegetables, etc.

Weirdly specific niches? Some of the visors are marked by bloodshed, betrayal, heartbreak, and all that good stuff. If you are assigned the visor that once belonged to some longwing famous for stabbing people in the back, well, there are certain expectations resting on that. But they're not forced into these roles, exactly - it's like pulling a tarot card and having that omen hanging over your head for life, good or bad.

In more practical terms, some of the visors are suited for specific jobs - for example, there are geo-scanning visors with more robust sensors that can return information about the bedrock composition. Obviously you'd end up maybe in a mining sector if you pulled that visor. The military ones, like the swans, still have their targeting systems intact in the HUD, even though the actual aircraft that carried all the weapons is long gone. They are used to keep track of a moving target from a distance of thousands of kilometres, and very handy if you have to deliver a letter to a whaling ship at sea.

[max1461]

My parents were like "what if we constantly made weirdly sexist and weirdly sexual remarks that made both men and women sound sound disgusting and contemptible in their own unique ways and made romantic relationships between them seem inherently fraught and destructive I bet this won't fuck up our kids views on anything at all" and well. They weren't correct.

[gumasantan]

i'm reviewing for my exams tomorrow...but i've been thinking a lot about 1000xRESIST lately.

it's a game, not a film or a show or a book. 1000xRESIST is a game about...many things: surviving an alien invasion, living underground, clones of human beings, stubborn parents, angst of a teenage girl, generational trauma, and a lot of things. i don't exaggerate when i say the title describes just how much themes the game dives into. since i finished the game a week ago, a feeling of longing has grown and grown inside me that can only probably be helped by replaying the game, but i can't anymore. i want to restart my memory just so i can play it again without any prior knowledge. we all feel like that sometimes, right? when we deeply resonate with a piece of media we now consider a transcendent level of art form we just wanna keep replaying it and have our minds reset, so that we may able to uniquely experience them again and again, forever, even.

i attached a pretty landscape of hong kong to not only help reel you and others in reading this, but also to remind myself how this game made me long for a memory i never had. it connected with me so much that everytime i try to recall parts of the game, it's difficult for me to dissociate myself from them, and so, i end up with a mess of thoughts, unable to properly communicate what i'm trying to say; the memories of watcher, iris, (two of the game's main characters) and i seemingly fused together into one. heck, it is not explicitly a "self-insert" type of game where the devs intend you to project yourself into it so that the story makes sense.

so, why do i reminisce about hong kong when i haven't even visited the place? for context, the troubles during the 2019 hong kong protests are ultimately what sets off the events in the game, even though the game takes place around 3047 onwards. it is one of the few games where i actually see and feel the emotional impact that such a historic moment had on the lived experiences of fictional video game characters. fictional, in name only, but they are very much real in our world: expatriates who had to flee persecution as a result of resistance. one could say that this game is dedicated to these courageous people. not only to them, but to their children who are yet to exist.

i mention this because iris was born from these people. walked on earth away from hong kong, and as she grew up, came to realize how homesick she was about that place she was a stranger to. iris and i—we are as different as we can be. i was born and am living in my native country, doing my best to live since birth. i shouldn't ever feel homesick, but weirdly, touching this game and seeing iris' life through watcher's eyes, i can't help but go back and revisit the life i swear i lived in hong kong.

i'm not the only one who feels like this, however. watcher feels the same way. of course, watcher was cloned from a clone that was cloned from iris. it's only natural that watcher retains some of that "irisness" two generations down. though she is aware that she is reliving an amalgamation of hers and iris' memories, i relate to her struggle to separate her own consciousness from iris'. this is my belief: when you keep confusing someone's memories with your own, that just proves that you two are more alike than you would think.

i said before that iris and i were as different as we can be, but by my own words, that shouldn't be true. am i hypocritical? delusional? i'm contradicting myself, but not intentionally. i would 100% disagree with myself here had i not played this game and this predicament came up in another situation, but after playing the game, i don't know. the more i think about it, the more i get convinced that iris, though raised in very different circumstances, ended up sharing some of the same traits as i do. i would argue that there are just human characteristics that we all just happen to share, kindness for example, but no, these ones—they're too personal for and very understood by me to say "no, we're different."

at the end, the game rewards you for sticking to the end: a future of your own choosing. this may be a part of the game where some people would get stuck in for more than an hour, or as short as a minute, depending how much the player sticks to their own convictions. for me, i don't know how to build a future i want because i don't know what i want out of it; i don't know what's right. the game slapped me in my face with my own hypocrisies and dared me to stick with these foolish principles. eventually, i did reach the epilogue, but it didn't feel like i actually crossed the bridge.

i'm still trying to understand just as much as i'm trying to examine every minute detail in the game. the game's mechanics are mainly built around memories and the more i keep playing the game and watch multiple playthroughs of it, i realize just how important each memory is to conveying a message that's ultimately different for all of us. a thousand different lessons for anyone to learn; it is THAT complex.

if you stuck around this long, thank you. please, please, PLEASE play 1000xRESIST. there's something here for us to learn, a thing or more. these things about hong kong and memories are part of a bigger whole that i will want to talk about once i know how to express it. especially to my fellow asians, this game will speak to your heart. i've never felt a surge of emotions this strong since i finished signalis, another masterpiece which i may get around to talking about later! (play that too!)

[characterworkshoppe]

So...remember when I said I want to do something cringey?

Basically...I was looking after a friend's younger sibling for a while...and everyone got halloween squishmallows...and they wanted me to have one...and I got a lil' werewolf named Wade...that's where the initial interest happened...anyways...

So I came home thinking "Fuck....now I wanna make a whole fucking wolf pack..."

So uh...shield your eyes if werewolves aren't your thing I guess?

You're in for a lot of cringe...I'd say sorry...but I'm not...just stating facts :p

Anyways....I'll introduce the pack under the cut

So! This is Whitetrack Heights, it was named that because these wolves live in the snowy mountains and it kinda just felt comfortable naming it that :p

(Obligatory picrew links ...guy one- https://picrew.me/ja/image_maker/695783....girl one-https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1272810)

The Alpha (yes cringey word I know...leader... :p) of the pack is named Zeév

The Luna (other leader, is fem but doesn't have to be in my AU) is named Noelle

The Beta (basically like right hand/deputy guy to Alpha) is Cole

The Gamma (right hand of the Luna) is Thane

The Epsilon (guy in charge of soldiers...like a commodore I guess) Is Owen

And I'll include other ranks later maybe :p

Gonna add another fem character at some point...for the rank of Omega...which is basically uhhhhh head maid I guess which is appointed by the Luna...I'm thinking of making her a werecat that the pack took in...

Anyways....

I guess some questions and introductions are next? So....

Do these guys exist in the same universe as my dragons? (ABSOLUTELY)

(...They do) (I often exchange letters with Thane)

Just kinda far away I guess...but they visit each other sometimes

How do they speak (i'm sweating nervously trying to answer that)...during rp

Zeév : I'll talk like this

Noelle : Um...like this

Cole : This

Thane : I'll speak like this

Owen : I'll speak as such

I'll also try to write about them in like written stories I guess...maybe...if my brain allows me...that goes for the dragons too...won't use their unique speech stuff though...it would just be a story...

Anyways very very basic introductions :p

Zeév ;

Only recently became Alpha...doesn't talk much with human-kind...is basically clueless about human culture but is weirdly fascinated to hear about it...

he recently found his mate, Noelle, (yes mate, another cringey word) and has some longstanding and strong alliances with other wolf packs (called Cressent Lake and Moon Valley) and with other supernatural beings (dragon fam and more)

...he's skilled in basically everything you'd maybe need as Alpha...supernatural politics, healthcare and medicine, pedagogy and child care, how to govern a pack, combat and weaponry, cooking, cleaning, so he's basically everything you'd need...he wanted to cover as many bases as possible being Alpha....(his parents are alive-former Alpha and luna-idk if I'll make them actual characters)...

Smart but clueless if that makes sense...very smart with wolf culture...dumb-dumb about any other...

And in wolf form he's a white fur wolf

Noelle ;

So she died as a human in a fire, and the wolven moon goddess saw this when visiting humanity's pantheon of gods and protected her soul and reincarnated/isekai'd her into the supernatural world...gave her an inner wolf and a stronger body...now she can shift like any other wolf...but doesn't know shit about anything in this world and always asks Zeév, her mate, to explain stuff...

She likes gothic style clothes...kinda pale...super awkward...would like friends but sucks at making them...she's French-Canadian (wanted to make an oc from Canada for once :p)

Doesn't have many skills or anything she deems herself good at, however she's good at a few things...and is picking up pack essential skills easily...

She's Luna of the pack...as a wolf has black fur (idk if I'll make the goddess a character)

Cole ;

Beta of the pack, basically helps Zeév with whatever he needs, is good at organizational skills, pack government and supernatural politics, time management always early, and well personality wise...he's a loveable asshole I guess...

He's a childhood friend of Zeév, Owen, and Thane.

As a wolf he's red and obnoxious and he doesn't have a mate.

Thane ;

Gamma of the pack, helps the Luna with stuff, also works as the pack doctor. He's two years older then Zeév.

He's got a calm and friendly disposition...basically his personality is like...orange peko tea with milk and sugar...

His skills are what you'd expect healthcare and medicine, pedagogy and childcare, basic self-defense, cooking.

Childhood friends with the guys mentioned before.

Is good friends with Dr Viceth the dragon...and slightly crushing on him...for a few years...and pines for him a lot

Black fur as a wolf

Owen ;

Epsilon of the pack, basically combat and fighting and weapons and shit, deals with pack defense and security...

Elegant and also has asshole tendencies and tends to butt heads a lot with Cole but hey they're always still friends.

Childhood friends with the guys mentioned before.

...

So...just saying...basing this off the multitude of other werewolf shit that exists out there in the world like on like kikistory or AlphaNovel...warning if anyone wants to read stuff on thoes apps...tons of those stories are on the nsfw side of things....not like every chapter but still...just a warning about those...I'll try and keep mine more or less friendly and suggestive as most...

...

Anyways I might add more...because I need more Gorls...so potential werecat...

Anyways guess that's it...

Yeah...welcome to the cringy stuff

[t00thpasteface]

Hiiiii₍⁠₍⁠◞⁠(⁠ ⁠•⁠௰⁠•⁠ ⁠)⁠◟⁠₎⁠₎

Could you explain the hipster Vs fandom war. I've been on here for like four years and I never knew that existed lol and btw I really really love your art and you are one my biggest inspos for how I imagine and draw my Clark.

i'm not sure i can explain it in a way that makes sense, and certainly not in a way that makes you say "i understand why this was such a big deal", but gl'bgolyb knows i can try.

first, let me take you on a sensory experience... picture in your mind the following things... skinny jeans... nerd glasses... a weirdly dapper fashion sense in a time where everything is baggy and neon... boom, you have 2010-2014 online tumblr hipster culture. and also 70s elvis costello, oddly enough.

although admittedly i don't know his stance on pumpkin spice lattes.

anyway. now that that's burned into your brain, consider a significant population of this exact type of person that has already been well-established on this microblogging platform around the turn of the decade. tumblr doesn't really have an app yet because smartphones haven't taken over everyone's life yet, and online fandom culture is still largely dominated by deviantart as the main "fandom hub". most people, myself included, are getting their main meme fixes from facebook (which your parents were not yet on) or the icanhazcheezburger image-aggregator network. THEN EVERYTHING CHANGED WHEN THE FANDOM NATION ATTACKED.

somehow, a huge crowd of people who considered their favorite books/movies/games to be core personality traits began to set up shop on this fair slate-blue isle. i number myself among this crowd, having been lured here by google-image-searching for miscellaneous fanart in 2011. the "old guard" largely belongs to, and continuously attracts new bloggers within, a burgeoning subculture that 100% defines itself by bucking popular trends and social expectations... whether or not this is actually accomplished by purchasing beverages from starbucks and putting old film filters on every photo, i cannot say.

you may be seeing an issue already arising: hey, if the hipsters hate everything that's popular and gatekeep all their interests, and the fandom bloggers are obsessed with extremely popular franchises and are hell-bent making them even more popular, isn't that going to cause a little friction?

well, yes. it caused a fuck ton of friction. a division arose early on between "the fandom side of tumblr" and "the hipster side of tumblr." some people, like myself, played both sides. others abstained from the rigid dichotomy and considered themselves to be on another "side," like the science side of tumblr, known for explaining relatively straightforward STEM concepts in large essays that began with something like "listen up fuckers."

ahhh, unfriendable. such a narrow little window in time where cheezburger sites and facebook had equal sway in the online zeitgeist.

interestingly, as someone who trawled a LOT of aesthetic tags, the most popular of which was simply #aesthetic (it was shockingly consistent in there), i never actually saw hipster bloggers complaining about fandom bloggers. it was always the other way around, with fandom bloggers bragging about how much they're freaking out the squares to get cool points with other fandom bloggers, all while never actually engaging with the hipster bloggers because their tags rarely overlapped.

hi, marge! we're freaking out the hipsters!

regardless of whether there was any material reality to it, or if it was simply a Minitrue level of entirely fictional warfare, this concept entrenched itself into the fandom bloggers, likely as a way to still feel "edgy" and unique while, again, obsessing over extremely popular and mainstream things like doctor who, pokemon, avatar the last airbender, the brand-new mcu, and other decidedly non-counterculture media. even with things it felt like no one irl had heard of, like hetalia and homestuck, those were online juggernauts nonetheless, the former of which had dominated deviantart for years and the latter of which prompted hotels and convention centers across the world to implement very strict rules about unsealed body paint. people treated fandoms like they were some sort of exclusive country club with membership fees and a dress code. and dunking on hipsters became an entire genre of Fake Internet Story, which were already pervasive on this website.

what's the point of being in a clique if there's no outgroup to flex on? #swag

this whole phenomenon ran concurrently, even symbiotically, with other tumblrisms like "tumblr university" and those horrendous "not like other girls" memes...

which means, of course, it was absolutely dead in the fucking water once DashCon happened in 2014. i don't need to tell you what happened at DashCon (there's a million essays and videos about it if you're one of today's lucky ten thousand who's never heard of it), but all across the fandom side of tumblr, it felt like finding out your parents lied about santa claus. turns out the fandoms you're in don't actually say anything about who you are as a person, a bunch of tumblrinas can't just will a fully functional micronation into existence just by wearing tacky merchandise in a public venue, and magic probably isn't real.

i wish i had some grand way to end this story, but really the moral is the same as it ever was: online drama is eternal, inescapable, and completely fucking worthless. if you only post to get mad at shit, especially if you're just making up a guy to get mad at, cut that out. touch grass. look at images of cats. i don't remember any of the enemies i made from this era, but i fondly remember all the friends, and i'm richer for making those positive connections. that's all for today's episode of Tumblr History with Toothpaste Face... remember to tip your waitress and stay minty.

[redleavesinthewind]

Hi Elliot! How about 1, 5 and 7 for the YR secondary character ask game?

1. Favorite secondary character

ahh an easy one to start with haha. it’s felice. she might be a lot of people’s favourite, but i think that’s fully deserved. she’s an incredibly well written character and i was attached to her from a very early point on. there’s just something about daughters and mothers that strikes something in me, and felice’s relationship with her mother and how it affects how she presents herself is. very important to me. she’s trying to be the person her mother wants her to be and it is at the detriment of who she really is and that’s something i understand so well. obviously there’s layers to it with felice specifically that i will never fully get but it’s still an experience i can empathise with. and that she breaks through it, decides to be her own person, not her mother’s, is very dear and important to me. she is also just a great person. she is kind and loyal and she surprised me in the best ways. her friendship with sara is beautiful and defied pretty much all the expectations one would have of the popular girl at a posh boarding school. felice in general defies expectations and i love that for her

5. Favorite familial relationship

ohoho okay. so. wille and kristina. they’re fascinating to me. there’s so much going on. so many layers. so much fucked up shit. they tickle my brain i need to study them. first off. kristina is not a good mother. she’s not a bad mother either. she’s a mother in a very unique circumstance and she’s trying to keep things together and she messes up a bunch but she loves her son and she’s trying but she’s trying in all the wrong ways. being a mother isn’t her priority, being the queen is and i will bet to you it was the same with her parents. i’ve said all of this but it, in no way, excuses how she acted towards wille. it’s an explanation and it makes sense. but wille has every right to be angry. has every right to fight with her. because that’s his mother and she’s not on his side. meanwhile kristina thinks she’s only doing the best for him. because the best for the monarchy is the best for wille to her. the thing is i could say so much more about them. i could write a whole essay. but i’m gonna be honest it’s been a while since i saw the show and was in fandom at all and i feel like i need to rewatch to properly express all i think of them because there’s things i’ve forgotten but what is most important about them to me is this. kristina loves wille. however the way she expresses her love has the potential to destroy him. they’re fucked up. i am obsessed with them

7. Character you didn’t initially like/love but have now warmed up to

see this is a bit hard for me to answer because i don’t feel like this really applies to any of them. i always disliked august but i also always thought he was interesting. the characters i liked i still like. characters i dislike i still dislike. i guess the closest i’d get to answering this is rosh and ayub because two of their scenes in s1 just baffled me. the first one’s the one where simon talks about leaving bjärstad and rosh and ayub react. weirdly? to it. as someone from a small village (and small country) it is very normal for people to want to leave. so i guess it was just a moment of disconnect i had with them. and the other one was when they just. left simon after the fight with august. because my friendships i had at their age worked quite differently. if one of my friends was in that situation i wouldn’t have just. left him alone with it. it was just fundamentally odd to me and while i liked rosh and ayub already those two scenes will always just. confuse me

[mermaidsirennikita]

Hi,

Can you rec historical romance where hero abruptly has to take care of his family and is impacted by it?

Not Anthony Bridgerton but Julian Blackthorn style

Thanks 🙂

Yes!

The Truth About Cads and Dukes by Elisa Braden is one! The hero had a very cold father and has sort of become the man of the house, is managing a total mess of a brother... who compromised a mousy girl in a non-sexual way, and now the hero is marrying her to make up for it. Fortunately, he's DEEPLY obsessed with her hands.

I would say that Lisa Kleypas's The Hathaways series has this. I can't remember exactly how both Hathaway parents died (one had scarlet fever, I think) but point is that Leo becomes head of the household fairly young, and having just lost his fiancee to the fever... He is a MESS. A MESS. Total dissolute rake. His book is next to last in the series, but each book (about his sisters) shows you his character development. The second one introduces his heroine, too, and they have this slow burn supporting tension. Her Ravenels series has a similar situation, but you get that hero's journey first as he's the hero of the first book. He inherits a title unexpectedly, and with it his three cousins who he now has to take care of lol.

Alexandra Vasti's Ne'er Duke Well has a hero who has to care for his two younger illegitimate siblings. It's pretty fun—he needs to get married in order to maintain full custody of them, and the heroine tries to help him find a wife while CLEARLY being the right wife.

Duke Most Wicked by Lenora Bell is about a duke who was a bit of a mess before, but now has to shape up to find good matches for his sisters. Too bad he's really into their poor music teacher...

Lorraine Heath's The Return of the Duke is about a hero who's doing this in a unique way... His father is a duke and ends up executed and losing his title after he's convicted of treason. The hero has been lowkey trying to reclaim the title and get the family name restored for years, which is what leads him to the heroine... his father's former mistress.

Her Protector's Pleasure by Graced Callaway introduces Ambrose Kent, the patriarch of her Kent family, who is in charge of his billions of younger siblings who all find love in their own books lol (their father had most of them quite young). If I'm HONEST, Ambrose is one of my lower-ranked Grace heroes because he is very like... stolid? In a lot of ways? BUT it fits this trope very well.

An m/m option would be The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles. Joss Doomsday has kind of fallen into a "protector" role in his crime family, though he certainly has relatives that oppose him and the family matriarch (his grandmother) technically isn't dead... Just very old. He's really sweet with his little cousin.

Lmao if you want "dark but also weirdly comical" Hart Mackenzie was forced to become the family father figure even before his own father died because the man was so abusive. Hart... doesn't always do it right... But he deeply loves his family, and the moment in his book (The Duke's Perfect Wife) where he and Ian have this big like... recognition of how much they love each other... Makes me wanna cry. He's got a lot of paternalistic shit in the first three books in the series (both literally and metaphorically) BUT again, his book is The Duke's Perfect Wife.

OH! Devil Cynster in the Cynster series is TOTALLY this. Deeply dominating and bossy. Also a doting brother/cousin/uncle/whatever he is to all of the family.

[saguaropokevariants]

A challenge for the crackship. My Frills x Occa

Vuala! These three are probably the most unique hybrids I've designed.

Reef has the least amount of snow-fluff, just the poof on his head, the rest is skin or very short fur. He's a bit of a wonderer, exploring areas and finding interesting things that he brings back to his siblings and parents.

Droop is very similar to Occa... No thoughts, head empy, short stubby body. Her horns point downwards, so they can't ram someone like an Orinatan Mareep could. I don't think it was ever a thought on her mind... if there are any thoughts going on in that head of her's...

Mond is a perfect blend between a Helioptile and an Orinatan Mareep, but has black snow instead of the usual white. He's not a shiny, shinies are purple in their fur coloration... he's just weirdly unique. He also tends to be a bit shy due to his unusual snow-wool coloration, it kind of makes him stick out like a sore thumb.

Included a color chart that all three share. You're free to take them if you want!

Also, if you do evolve them, shoot me a message, I can send you the evolutions for Orinatan Mareep so you can properly draw how they'd look evolving!