#not that im opposed to this its just alien to me

[thatneoncrisis]

would it be any more sustainable for you to run a small merch store? you could stock prints and stickers and maybe pins or whatever but wouldn't have to pay travel to art shows. plus it doesnt technically have to constantly be in stock, it could be made to order whatever. i know this is also pretty difficult to do as someone who wants to do so myself but!! idk just wanted to suggest it on the off chance u hadnt thought of it

that Does seem like an interesting idea i just wouldnt have the faintest idea of where to start

[vixscribs]

despite benrook being a decently popular ship I can't seem to get behind a lot of fan content I see. Those are coworkers. There's no way they're snuggling and shit that's highly unprofessional.

[upsidedowngrass]

If Objects live with humans side-by-side in an AU, the objects would be small in pet size like dogs and cats.

hmmm, maybe!!!! tho actually ?? i LOOOVE the idea of them being human sized! the characters canonically have heights listed in ft, and TECHNICALLY this could just be like.... irl units scaled down, BUT i think its rly fun to interpret it fairly literally!! ESP given that liam and bryce DO end up standing near humans at two points and seem to be around the same height! IDK... theres just smth so cool to me about imagining objects just hanging out. that you could be at eye level w them. its almost unsettling but not enough for it to be noticable!!!! its kinda like theyre Large Beasts, but almost SHOCKINGLY human!!!!! like they could believably just. live in the same house as a human with near minimal adjustments. like having an alien living w u. that may just be my general interest in alien/creature/whatever design, but i just RLY enjoy them being similar to humans in small ways, but different in more SUBTLE but arguably MORE extreme ways if that makes ANY sense!!!!

NOT to say i dont like when theyre drawn closer to the size of dogs or cats (itd be a little silly for me to spend so much time on that recent piece if i did!)! i think itd be a bit MORE of an au than just them just being human height, but i DO think it could be SUPER cute. i tend to Generally lean on less on those sorts of ideas but it certainly would be VERY fun!!!!

[raisinchallah]

sorry my evil take is i actually think the most likely show to do a planet of gays episode would be enterprise like they have a track record of some really bad embarrassing lgbt metaphor episodes under their belt and actually my biggest evidence for them doing something like this is the almost unwatchable episode bound where theyre like surprise this is a sexy matriarchy exact energy they would take to a planet of gays episode and it would be worse than bound i didnt put my best foot forward imagining this episode to everyone in the post so i shall try again because i do actually think it could happen so anyways they go near this random planet and t’pol is like dont go there the vulcans have labelled them no contact due to their strange and fucked up ways but archer is like we dont listen to the vulcans lol lets beam down and so archer t’pol trip and reed end up on planet gay and everyones at first having a lovely time tho slightly weird theyre hanging out with governor speedo and his sexy half naked entourage of men and archer asks we would love to meet your wife and the governor is appalled and is like you think i would flaunt such a disgusting lifestyle like this dont tell me your people are .... heteros and archer is like wow oops but on my planet we think your lifestyle is kind of weird i guess thats cultural relativism for you and t'pol is like wow captain archer you have really grown and matured anyways despite the various faux pas everything goes about smoothly and theyre invited to beam down for shore leave on the planet trip and malcolm decide to go bar hopping and keep getting grossed out at all the men who keep hitting on them and make a few rude homophobic jokes they leave the bar but theyre cornered in an alley by a strange man whos like i saw how you looked at those men i understand you are like us you understand us youre... straight and ask for asylum on the enterprise and this group of random aliens in denim (as opposed to the planets lycra only dress rules) and theyre brought back to the ship one of the straight refugees would of course start to fall for trip and he would be like oh but you see im already committed and shes like oh of course how silly of me to think you could support my disgusting sinful lifestyle who is he and then trips like no i mean t'pol and shes like wow.. you live so openly and brazenly despite how wrong our love is you are my hero and hes like what in most of the galaxy its the gay people who are weird and the straight refugees are like wow... you are so brave on this stupid planet its like gay is straight and straight is gay and everyone is required to wear sequins and have dyed hair you are required to listen to disco... we just want the freedom to have a beer by the lake and listen to country music like any good heterosexual and trips like wow i understand you completely this is just like when the vulcans...

t'pol would do diplomacy with the soon to be revealed as evil lesbian faction but talks break down when they realize due to her psychic sensitivities and studio required rock solid heterosexuality she is completely immune to their ambient gay mist in the air that is revealed to be the source of gay majority on the planet she fails to communicate this to the crew quickly enough tho and the viewer is subjected to some deeply embarrassing and unwatchable sequences as the various cast start acting comically gay due to the saturation of gay chemicals building up in their systems when t’pol tries to explain this to captain archer he says dont worry about it darling and winks this is a sign he has fallen prey to the gay chemicals and has now also become gay she returns to the ship to talk with phlox who is like well you know being gay can be normal but forcing everyone to be gay via mind control like this is fairly unethical they have a meeting with the straight refugees who explain theyre all straight because of a mutation making the gay chemicals not work on them which has made them extreme social outcasts but phlox thinks if he studies their genome he can figure out how to create a gay vaccine to return the planet to its normal hetero state which t’pol orders to be released into the atmosphere because archer has been spotted in a speedo and the time for diplomacy is over once the planet has been re heterofied it comes out a small shady group of gays decided to hijack the government and turn the whole planet gay as part of a sinister plot but now the straights are freed and no longer misunderstood and they will now open their planet up to negotiations with other worlds now that they dont have to hide the existence of heterosexuality the dominant and normal way of being in the universe from their populace they get a few last homophobic jokes in about their behavior on the planet before the ship blasts off nobody likes the episode and its never rebroadcast

[dingodad]

I actually like the new retcon, im just not sure how well its communicated that it IS a retcon, do most people even remember that jane and jake weren’t on the ship? Anyway im glad they aren’t just dropped from the cast by being left on earth c

Thoughts on the weird flashing images that show up when vriska uses her powers?

i'm having to get used to the fact that most readers do not actually know or remember anything about homestuck, and if i shouldn't let it bother me then i certainly don't think the comic should be bending itself over backwards to explain things to those readers. again, jasprose was IN the update, and the last time she was in the comic - which was only about a year and 100 pages ago - she was literally talking about hanging out with jane and jake. so, like, if people aren't keeping track of that i don't think it's the comic's fault

i briefly talked about some of the flashing images last night. the ones on the ship appear to be flowers, so i haven't got any "thoughts" per se beyond the fact that there seem to be hints pointing toward the new aliens having something to do with flowers? i don't know why that would manifest itself as flowers appearing when Vriska uses her powers, but after John's vision of the table and the cake and shit this comic obviously is not opposed to being avant-garde purely for crypticness' sake LOL

if you mean the images that appear within her portal, or the explosion that happens when she lands on Deltritus... the first example read immediately to me as images representing nothingness (anti-light); stuff that evokes missing textures, missing signal images on televisions, etc. the second example literally has the famous source engine missing texture in it, but it also has a bunch of other far less abstract stuff; floral patterns (a four leafed clover at least makes SENSE for Vriska), mathematical diagrams, photographs of unidentifiable subjects... if this is supposed to be cryptic hints at something, I'm far less prepared to interpret it LOL. we might just need a bigger sample size before I can meaningfully say anything about it, though it is obviously interesting how different the first set of images is from the second. like maybe the specific images are less to do with Vriska's powers generally, and have more to do with what she's currently doing with them? which would go some way toward explaining why it's just flowers when she flies past the ship

god. i know i said trying to figure out what was happening in 8r8k was like doing mattpat frame by frame ARG analysis type shit but the information has only got denser and denser since then hasn't it. is this cosmic punishment. are they torturing me

[moomeecore]

maybe its a little stupid BUT. im trying to write a character who intentionally has a very flat tone & way of speaking do u have any other fictional character examples besides betty that talk like that??

oooh ooohhh ok so maud pie from mlp, ice bear from we bare bears, and red guy from dhmis all have the more typical, general flat affect that is easily identified as flat affect by neurotypicals - but still feels authentic *enough* that as someone with autistic flat affect it dosent feel like a shitty parody (ice bear is the least flat affect sounding of these, most like a nt monotone voice, if youre specifically going for a character whos monotone bc of neurodivergency - red guys got the realest sounding flat affect of the bunch imo).

the sheldon cooper (also seen in other chars by the same dude, like the alien from home and mudbriar from mlp) flat affect isn't nessesarily fully inaccurate, but its got an exaduration for comic affect that i find distasteful, although id still consider it as sounding similar enough to real flat affect (like, resemblant of how, in my experience, ppl w some form of flat affect speak, experienced as a part of their life, as opposed to how emotive people typically sound when they try to do monotone voices - there's a specific cadence i can't explain that you hear at least in autistic flat affect that ppl often fail to replicate)

like i said, the adventure time cast all have flatter voices than you usually hear from cartoon chars, but bettys the only one who resembles flat affect from what i can remember. mr fox (still from adventure time) is especially monotone for comic affect (very endearing), but he sounds more "tired neurotypical" than flat affect to me, but you could def argue for him having it!

the examples i was referencing in that post all had to do with media clips on youtube of series idk shit abt, altho i wouldn't doubt ive heard it abt characters im more familiar with, just not in recent memory

zane from lego ninjago is a character who im confident was written to be autistic on purpose (this is also true for maud, and of course the belothed bad representation sheldon cooper), and ill be honest , he's got a pretty damn good imitation of autistic flat affect, altho im p sure they didn't get someone who actually has it to voice him, he's got some of those cadences down well and it seems VERY on purpose. honestly they seemed to do... way more reaserch than mlp when deciding on how to direct his voice, which is a bit surprising considering ninjago is obviously the lower caliber of the two shows

im not an expert tho! my extra commentary may not be that insightful - there's always the chance that i don't know enough people with flat affect, and there's people out there who sound exactly like ice bear, all the time, 24/7! either way, i hope i gave you some good examples!

[emotionaloof]

please share your pd dental headcanons i am so very curious

Goddamn tumblr deleted my answer before i could post it but alas lets do this again

Ive realized how long this post is much later after posting so im putting it under read more to not spam people

Vyncent? Never brushed his teeth in his life. At most he used herbal potions on fauna for some healing for his mouth but never did anything specifically for teeth. When he came to Prime, Tide had to show him what a toothbrush is. He really was not on board with going to the dentist, he got so spooked by stuff he almost broke the dental unit. Drills especially spooked him, even thought none were used on him, just the toothbrush. Tide had to hold his hand for the entire visit. But despite that hes got no cavities - turns out elf teeth are protected from decay for some reason, so except from few small cracks in enamel and blemishes theres nothing wrong with them. So they put some fluoride paste on them to remineralize just in case but that made his eyes glow for some reason. For that reason Vyncent calls the dentist evil wizard. He also calls them that because he heard they take "wisdom teeth" and he can’t lose anymore wisdom.

Also, as you probably can see from my drawings - i love to hc that Vyncent has a diastema aka a tooth gap. He has it naturally - his labial frenulum penetrates gingival papila, whivh means the attachment of frenulum of the top lip is attached to a gum and overgrows creating the tooth gap.

William was braces kid - he used to have a removable one as a child and as a teen he had to wear proper braces. He would get different colored ligatures on them - moslty black and blue but for christmas he would always get red and green to feel festive. He actually got his braces removed like a week before he died and he lost his retainer when the Prime Defenders base got blown up so hes just hoping his teeth are okay.

He also brushes his teeth regularly - twice a day, unless shit hits the fan and he doesn’t have the time. He only stopped when he learned that he was rotting from the inside and decide that it doesn’t matter then. He resumed it though when he got heart transplant. After the finale hes still brushing his teeth but this time its more of a "what if... Vyncent realizes he likes me and we kiss... and my breath stinks????" overthinking thing. He doesn’t floss though. He tries to lie to his dentist about it but he fails everytime.

Dakota... oh boy. Let’s be honest, his teeth were the least of his problems for most of his life, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t crying for help. I hc that he used to go the childrens dentist regurarly when his parents were alive, but after their death he went there maybe once or twice and later focused on other stuff. He stopped brushing teeth at some point and its a miracle they are doing as good as their are. Once Tide learned about that, he immidiatelly booked appointment with W.A.T.C.H.'s dentist (that's my oc, a dentist who specializes in superhero and alien dentistry) and forced Dakota to go. While Dakota wasn’t opposed to it (unlike Vyncent who really didn’t want to go) he has... quirks that made treating him harder. Although for a dentist that treats the supernatural those quirks were basically piece of cake (like imagine treating a hero whos got acid spit or smth).

One - Dakota hates the sounds of drills and the unit. Often it overloads him so he either has to take breaks or wear headphones to mute it.

Two - i like to hc that Dakota is a menace to every doctor. Aka, like with his glasses he doesn't wear - he gets told that he grinds his teeth so hard that hes going to grind to dust and he still doesnt wear the night guard. His mandibular joint is crying. He would go to the dentist like "Hey doc, my jaw can make this funny sound!" *Both mandibular joints crack loudly* "pretty cool huh!" (writing that made my dental heart cry). In the end the W.A.T.C.H dentist makes him wear a nightguard after promising that hell get a sticker for every month he does. This works. It works too well because Dakota manages to bite through like 4 nightguards in a month. At some point the dentist makes a special mold and teaches him and Tide how to make them so that they wont have to visit every week for a new one. When Dakota leaves for 10 months he actually keeps his last night guard and tries to keep it as long as possible - sadly it breaks after a bad nightmare. But he gets a new one when they visit the W.A.T.C.H headquaters for the heart transplant, so he keeps in touch when he needs new one.

Three, Dakota has a biting problem. Which means he bites stuff out of instict when its put in his mouth. And he bites hardddddd. Thankfully the dentist clocked that quickily and always puts something silicone before their own fingers. When Dakota instanly bites they go "hey! What did we agreed to not do, sharkboy?" "I wont bite the tools..." "yes, now open up and let's see what needs to be done.".

Four, Dakotas teeth are in bad state. Like not brushing them, not visiting the dentist and constanty grinding sadly ended with him losing at least two first molars and a premolar (i draw him without one like that). Thankfully they managed to rebuild his other teeth so they aren’t in such poor state - they even thought about proper crowns but since Dakota is a minor (its better not to put pernament crowns on minors due to changes of the gums around them) and he keeps fighting (which means easily getting his teeth damaged) and grinding teeth, they’ve decided to give him only temporary restorations with composite. It works because even if it falls off its not too expensive to replaceand it takes like a one visit.

Because he had to have a lot of stuff done - they’ve treated most of his bigger problems under geneal anaesthesia (something that we actually do with children) so he basically woke up with like 3 teeth missing and like 7 new fillings. He was also very loopy after it and that spooked Vyncent - he was very worried that the evil wizard did something to Dakota but thankfully William and Tide explained to him that it had to be done and that Dakota is very good and brave for doing that.

I think thats it for main Prime Defenders. I also have a small headcanon that Ashe went to a dentist like couple of times in his life and has invisalign where the orthodonstit would send him couple new appliences every few months so he doesn’t have to come to have braces.

I also hc that Lightspeed is afraid of the dentist and Dakota offers to hold her hand and distract her when she does visit. He does very well at that. He once sat there and was liek like "im great at this assist thing, maybe i should get into dentistry" and both the dentist and lighspeed said "we love you dakota, but god please dont".

Theres probanly more that i dont remember so maybe ill add them at some point.

[transhoverfish]

OK TRAILER TIME

SO PRETTY!! now, because everything in this is cinematic (and it's only a teaser), i would take basically this entire thing with a grain of salt for how accurate it will be to actual environments and gameplay. the cinematic trailers/teasers for the first two games are full of things that didn't make it in. still looks VERY GOOD and im so excited!!!!!!

onto a few specific things, this specific area ^^ shows up in a steam screenshot (which i will get to later), and considering the high amount of light and coral, this is potentially this game's version of the safe shallows! that pink fish that swims by is also the youtube channel's current pfp, and as such is probably replacing the peeper, which was the old 'mascot' fish. this character is also using alterra tech, which i think is very interesting! are we still working for alterra, or are they just such a mega corporation that they make basically all water/space gear? the diving suit looks a bit like the stillsuit with its colors! the design itself reminds me of the cold suit,,, :o

now, the thing about this scene is that it goes by pretty quick, and is supposed to draw attention to the water vortex (and won't it be fun if THAT is an actual mechanic!!! god i would be so so scared), but upon a few pauses and look arounds... there's a building! that is so clearly some old ruins!! it doesn't look anything like the usual ruins/bases we've seen before, so i would guess that these are NOT built by the architects, and instead a new alien race. the assumption is that this planet is also very much abandoned,,, which begs the question, why? not the kharra again, surely? or is it just these surface-level ruins that have been left? and if they went deeper, why? this appears to be the only screenshot/sequence that shows any of these ruins. how many more are there?? I DEMAND ANSWERS!!

also, entirely possible im wrong, but this new character bears some resemblance to ryley, imo. the earlier scenes of him doesn't match too closely, and their hair is entirely different, but this shot specially depicts a very similar face structure, eyebrows, lips, and nose! now, this could be (and probably is) a new guy that just kinda looks like him, but if it IS ryley,,,,, what's he doin here? is he working with alterra still? is he just off exploring various ocean planets? even if this isnt him, i want to know these things. wheres my guy :(

another thing pointing at this being ryley is that this game is intended to be a direct sequel (as opposed to bz being a spin off), and if its in an entirely different environment, then it stands to reason there's a chance theres returning characters. otherwise,, this game would just also be a spin-off!

(also, would absolutely love if that oxygen warning is an actual popup ingame!)

and here's the second character that pops up! the steam screenshots also only show two people in co-op so far, and i do wonder if these are two of the playable characters and not just random models/characters used for the teaser (similar to how bart is a trailer for sub1 despite not being playable, and fred in bz's trailer). this person doesn't seem to be anyone from either game (she looks a tinyyy bit like lillian, but not enough that i can say it could be her), and she's in a new vehicle! everything still looks very atlerra, though, and the two characters seem to know each other, so once again i wonder if this is a lore reason, if these ARE alterra workers, or if this is just to fit in with the aesthetic of the other games.

BIG FISH!!!!! BIG FISH!!!!!!! this thing looks VERY new and introduced in the teaser in a similar fashion that the sea emperor was shown in the first sub1 trailer, so im wondering if this might be THE Big Fish (or simply just one that they've finished the design for). with brightness turned way up, it appears to have a nose and mouth on level with the two humans, much below the light on its head. a similar hunting tactic to anglerfish, maybe? and so many tentacles!! and pincers! BIG FISH!!!!

no exact date for early access, which makes me think we won't get it until spring at the earliest. however, the first two games came out in winter (december for sub1, january for bz), so its possible it will keep with that trend and be out before march. don't take my word for that, though, this is purely speculation.

with this teaser (or potentially before, i was not actively checking this LOL), there's also now a steam page up with additional ingame screenshots and description of the game with a lot of new information!! because tumblr has a screenshot limit, im going to rb this post later with all of the steampage info.

but there is a LOT of new stuff we've learned now!!! pair all of this with this article showing screenshots the devs have dropped in sub1 time capsules (which i will also talk about in the rb), and oughhhh it is a GOOD DAY to be a subnautica fan!!!!!! are we all ready to get dragged back into this fandom?? i hope ur all ready. we're gonna get water vortexed. help.

[mai-komagata]

re: sexy stabbings

im writing this very long meta on how galadriel x sauron and silvergifting dynamics help an audience recognize different forms of seduction in a relatable way (including queer forms of seduction, which audiences are normally blind to), and how recognizing these ships isn't about "crack shipping" but about the text using the language of sexuality/eroticism/seduction to convey concepts that would otherwise be vague and not-understandable like temptation to a metal object or wounds that cannot heal or possession by an alien being as well as concept of "men in a fantasy/magical/superhero setting are not just power levels" -- ie. the strongest man should always win. Galadriel is *integral* to this because most characters in tolkien are male and audiences are pre-disposed to ignoring emotional dynamics in men other than anger and violence -- the contrast with a female romance lets an audience be like "these people, adar, galadriel, celebrimbor are more alike than distinct". (wow maybe i don't need to write it, anymore!). But since that is taking me very long to write and i keep running into queer-erasure every day i'll just say this: the reason we don't see Sauron torture Galadriel in the same way she tortures Celebrimbor is not because his relationship with them is cosmically different (obviously its different bc they are different people). Galadriel is not more "pure" or "loved" than Celebrimbor. Neither is blameless (i.e. both were ambitious) and neither is deserving of torture (nobody deserves that, even Sauron). It's because there is different symbolism to the way they are being hurt. Arrows being used as martyrdom is a millennia old way of showing homosexuality. Stabbing is metaphorical of penetration. He intended to kill both of them for denying them the Nine. Because Sauron is bad at impulse control, he takes and believes he is wiser than he is. If he wants something he will take it and then regret that he broke his favorite thing. (note he doesn't regret killing other people he doesn't twistedly love, like mirdania, or the orcs).

Galadriel had Nenya (i.e. Celebrimbor's magic, untouched by sauron) and Elrond was able to save her (love and light win the day). Celebrimbor died as symbolic for what happened to Eregion (he was alone and eregion fell).

This doesn't mean BOTH scenes aren't meant to be erotic. The stabbing is hot and the caressing of the arrows are hot. But they are hot in a BDSM/noncon way. "Do you understand what it's like to be tortured by a god?" sorta way.

Pragmatically, though, the reason we don't see more graphic galadriel is because it would make audiences uncomfortable. You can be way more graphic with gay shit and people won't be squicked than if you are graphic with m/f abuse. As i said, a good 50-70% of the audience won't even NOTICE the gay shit and think its just standard fantasy violence. The closer you make it to outright rape, the less compelling it is, because Sauron needs to both be APPEALING and EVIL in order to understand why people are drawn to the rings of power and why it is essential to oppose it.

[disclaimer: this is not anti galadriel x sauron, it is just in favor of seeing the ship in a dark way as part of the larger narrative. When I talk about shipping them in a dark way i don't mean simply its my kink, i mean this is a dark seduction story at heart. The actors are very hot, their acting is very sexy, but the function in the larger story is to display the different ways sauron tempts and corrupts people, including galadriel, celebrimbor, adar, and how sauron himself was corrupted by melkor].

[semi-senioritis]

Im so goddamn nervous for the final round

With that said though, it seems like Till is crying. Even though the comics have shown Till being a little standoffish with Ivan, I do think that Till geniunely cared about him. So maybe he's grieving him here as well as Mizi. I mean from Till's perspective he literally has nobody left now.

Also noting Luka's heartrate monitor which seems to be hooked up to his earpiece...I guess it helps him keep track of it???

Its kinda hard to read it, granted I'm not a nurse or doctor or anything like that, but I've been trying to find heart rates that might match.

This is the closest I could find. It *looks* like his heart rate is more on par with sinus tachycardia (again not medical professional here). Its probably a result of his illness (literally cant remember the name of it), but it can also be an indicator of exercise, anxiety and/or stress. So Luka could also be nervous about the final round (which is fair given that Till is a prodigy and if he decides to lock in for the final round, then Luka really could be cooked). He could also just be exerting himself too much with all the movements he does on stage.

I think it would be interesting though, if Luka died not because he geniunely lost to Till, but because he was so overworked and pressured to be this perfect human idol, that he collapses and dies on stage from the stress on his body. From his illness, to hardly being able to eat, it wouldn't surprise me if his body just gave out.

I think it'd also be kind of interesting since the Alien Stage video suggests that he wouldn't be opposed to Hyuna killing him since he doesn't resist when she holds the knife to him.

Because while Luka is also a victim of the alien stage, it doesn't necessarily negate what he's done to Hyuna and Mizi. And since its obvious he wants Hyuna, whether for geniune companionship or in a possessive-controlling sort of way (you know like how someone who may not have control over aspect of their life might desire to exert their control over someone else to rectify that?), being denied death at her hands would be a bittersweet, karmiac sort of justice.

Also its 5am so if none of this makes sense just know I'm not even fully coherent right now.

[wolven91]

Slugs & Apes - Chapter 2

The looming alien remained still, like a monolith.

The only thing that betrayed that he was even alive was the steadily expanding chest before it mesmerizingly shrunk back down. It was... alluring in a strange yet exotic way. No one Blarah knew could move in such a deliberate and measured manner. It was one thing to hear about the ‘solids’ and the bipeds, but to see one was… nothing could have prepared her.

The second proof that he wasn't simply made of metal or stone were his eyes. Colourful things unlike the deep solid black of Sluggat-kind. White and green, they flicked left and right as they attempted to focus intently on one of her eye stalks at a time.

Why couldn't it just do what a normal person should do in polite conversation and use both its eyes to look at both of her eyes! To stare so intently at one was.. was.. lewd and very forward.

The poor overwhelmed sluggat moistened her eyes with deliberate slowness, and began to speak in the brief respite from his overwhelming gaze. Her mantra repeated again and again; ‘She was not some easily seduced floozy’.

The lie was comforting and easy to comprehend, even if she was well aware of its flimsy nature.

"Of - of course I can help, where were you trying to get to?" The young slug said in as professional a tone as she could muster.

"I was greeted by a rather large representative, a blue hue to him? However he asked me to go to the waiting lounge as he was called away. It seems the freighter we piggybacked through the jump with to get here needed his attention..."

"That sounds like the dockmaster, I can contact him and see if he wants to meet you here or if we need to send you away?"

"Ah, thank you, I'd really appreciate that."

Blarah began to type in the old slugs contact number as she tried to release the tension in her body. His voice, the deep vibrations that he blasted through the air directly at her in the tiny quiet office had rolled over her without mercy.

A grunt came from the communication device.

"Ah, sir? The human got a bit turned around and is in the administration office, do you want to come up and get him or should he make his way to you?" Blarah asked carefully.

The old dockmaster; Blargh, was an old and rightly huge sluggat with the blues common to his home planet's race. Sluggats after all never stopped growing, albeit slowly, as they aged. Blargh was probably the oldest most would have encountered and had the mass to back it up, although he had never actually said how old he really was.

"Urgh, uh, no.. take him to the diplomatic room prepared for him. I'll update your clearance now.."

"Wait, no sir, im- I'm quite swamped right now, we need someone else to-.."

"There; it's done, be sure to be polite, you're his liaison until the Big Slime says otherwise. Once he clears you; come back and you can catch up, I'll pay you double time while you're away and until you're back on track. .." the line cut off without so much as a farewell or chance for her to voice her protest.

She wasn't opposed to helping the alien, she wasn't one of these nutjobs that had demanded that not only the humans be denied entry into the Community, but petitioned for their abandonment without a home due to them not technically being considered ‘sentient’ by outdated classifications.

She felt sorry for this new species that were so alone in their troubles in a cruel and dry universe. 

But now, as she undulated with anxiety in the presence of one, they were, for lack of a better word, alarmingly, alien.

"Sorry if I'm causing you problems, but I really am grateful for your help." His face contorted, it seemed the only part of his flesh that was normal and alive, but even then; only parts moved and folded as she would expect. At the moment his mouth had stretched wide to the sides while the flesh around his eye holes crinkled up in what she tentatively labelled as 'happy'?

"It's alright, let's get to the lift." She said waving a wet tentacle. She stopped at the door to hit the lights, leaving the human briefly in the dark, just as the slappy, slick sounds of someone moving at speed came down the corridor.

Pleppany appeared in a rush and skidded to a stop in front of Blarah, out of breath and began to talk at the bemused sluggat.

"He wasn't on the freighter! He was on a transport that flew WITH the freighter, he landed over an hour ago!" She explained to Blarah, gesturing out the window and the massive ore freighter that was still inching its way into the dock on the other side of the window.

"He's loose and no one knows where he is! I'm going to miss my chance!" She groaned, practically losing all cohesion and puddling outwards on the floor.

"'Is she alright?" An earthquake-like voice rumbled not scant centimetres from Blarah's body.

Two opposite things happened at once that flew past the Human's notice.

Firstly, Pleppany did a fantastic impression of a human by coming to a complete frozen stand still, her eyes stalks shooting up and holding ramrod straight in shock.

Meanwhile, Blarah practically melted as the waves from his voice caused her skin to wiggle and roil. It took every scrap of her will power to prevent her eye stalks from becoming limp in the effects of his voice in such close proximity.

There was no denying it. He knew what he was doing, what he was doing to Blarah. Him and his hard skeleton and his.. his vocal sorcery!

She would have to address it sooner rather than later, but Pleppany, a credit to her craft, had re-coalesced and stood up again, rippling in the same manner as she did when she wanted the fast food slugs to get her extra portions or preferential treatment.

Pleppany had no shame as she oozed forwards and undulating, with practised ease, began to 'work' the Human as she had been trained to when seeking out a story.

"So! The mysterious humans finally made it to our humble corner, we're so glad you've made it; how was your trip?"

"It was alright, much quicker than our own transports."

"Oh yes, we're glad you're impressed with them, I suppose they're very confusing to you?" She continued, getting too close for comfort now as she tried to slosh herself between the human and Blarah. Pleppany continued without waiting for the Human to respond.

"I suppose you could do with a guide? I know all the best places on the station and both for socialising and getting some quiet time..."

The human’s face wrinkled again, but his mouth remained still, it was the flesh between his eyes that wiggled this time, as the two sets of dense whiskers that ran over his eye slots briefly came together or at least closer for a moment.

"Actually, I'm okay without. I have a guide for now thank you." He stated in a firmer tone than before. His own straight tentacle unfolded and extended past Pleppany's back before settling against Blarah's upper back, who had made a point not to be pushed away by the interloper, but now, with appendage touching her back, the harder, smaller tentacles pushed gently into her moist flesh to encourage her forward before relenting and folding back against his own side.

She got the message and surged forward, leaving the bewildered Pleppany in the snail trail. 

Blarah had experienced several times in the past what Pleppany was probably only getting to live through for the first time now; rejection.

Maybe he wasn't as bad as she thought, although he was still a cad for flirting so aggressively. 

With no further delays and in merciful silence they reached the transporter that would slide along the rails that crisscrossed the Station and deposit them as close as possible to their destination.

Her credentials were indeed now on par with the high class sluggats of the station which allowed her to select the diplomatic quarters near the top of the station, a far cry from her own quarters half way down and the middle of the Station's guts.

"So she was intense..." came a quiet rumble.

"That was Pleppany, a friend. She just thinks she needs to use her looks to get what she wants. Deep down she's actually quite insecure..." Blarah said, rippling in embarrassment and being honest in an attempt to defend her friend.

"I can understand that, I meant nothing by it..." the rumbling thunder said again. She had to keep taking deep breaths to remain steady and firm.

They stared out the window together as the transport rolled along towards their destination.

"My names Gregory by the way, or Greg for short..." Her mind was filled with rolling rain clouds over a parched savanna.

"Blarah, a pleasure to meet you." She demurely responded, a slight dip as she bobbed her entire body in respect.

A moment ticked by, followed by a second.

"This is why I'm here, you know..."

They stared out into deep space in silence together.

The rolling darkness that was the edge of space wasn't as black as one would think. It was the edge of the bubble that made reality. It was still expanding at a significant rate, but whether it be sluggat or human, the eye didn't know how to process the lack of existence that it was comprehending.

The result? 

A chaotic swirl of colours and impossible geometry. Truly and utterly breathtaking. The first pioneer sluggats that made it this far had apparently nearly starved due to their desire to sit and watch the unending show of the universe growing.

"It is beautiful..." She murmured, whispering it as fact that couldn't be denied.

"Yeah, I'm very lucky to be here right now..."

The silence was pregnant and long.

The ding surprised Blarah and caused her to ripple. Sliding and stepping off the lift in turn, placed them in front of his quarters, the only ones in use in the diplomatic quarter. As he approached, the doors opened into a plush and well furnished home.

It was not of sluggat design and it was just as strange as he, yet he strolled in as if it was his own home.

"Don't stay outside, come in and make yourself at home!" He called from inside.

Blarah's eyes bulged. Not just welcoming her, a stranger, into his home, but to demand she treat it as her home? He WAS courting her! To provide a shelter for one's partner, so they could begin the ancient dance in privacy?!

She wouldn't be taken by surprise.

She wouldn't be seduced.

She would give a polite rebuttal and excuse herself from his presence. 

Whilst this, the most dramatic dilemma she had ever encountered, played out in front of Blarah, she wouldn't have thought about the possibility that at the edge of the system; a sinister ship with a sinister goal could have slivered into the shadow of the planet like an eel; where it remained, coiled and waiting to strike.

[narwhalandchill]

a bit more serious/negative note on childes characterization and fandom perception, saw a post where the tone upset me quite a bit

i did do a whole vent/rant/cathartic 2.4k words of writeup on this yesterday which like did help clear my thoughts a lot but in hindsight is way too long to just release by itself so i suppose ill just summarize my thinking now

so i would really appreciate it if a certain subset of childe fans reading his character a specific way (the trauma, identity crisis, dark abyss experiences, etc. - you know the one) could stop acting as if its this like. superior canon proven hoyo intended most real and intellectual way to look at his character and interpret his narrative. as opposed to just one reading of the canon material among others. and im sure most people are civil but ive seen this tone enough to just need to get this off my chest rn.

like im not "missing" something or being "tricked" (what?) by childe or the narrative. its not some naive ignorance about this reading being a thing and the ways people argue for it. ive read his lore. p much memorized it rly. and i simply did not find the arguments that compelling or feel that inserting this additional layer of subjective interpretation atop my understanding of the canon text did much to enhance childes narrative potential or characterization for me.

simply put. applying this super strict irl psychology logic (bc yes a real 14 yo going thru some irl version of ajax' backstory would get severe psychological disturbances as p much given. i know what the DSM-V is) to fantasy game characters isnt how i enjoy engaging with childe or any character really.

genshin is a fantasy game and fantasy as a genre has always readily sidestepped things like realistic psychological consequences of various heavy experiences in favor of building a compelling narrative whenever necessary. i dont find arguments relating to irl psychology particularly relevant at all on the subject really. if you enjoy this approach, go on, have fun! but please understand that its an interpretation that people can disagree without being "wrong" or failing some arbitrary reading comprehension test.

like the dismissive tone i see from people who simply cannot comprehend that like no, this take isnt some universal truth of hoyos that every person will glean from reading up on childes lore and appearances if theyre big brain and intellectual enough is just... really fucking rude? and alienating.

im not going to go on a like whole ramble on all the things that i personally see very much as hinting towards childes characterization going quite a different direction than this popular heavy self-doubt, psychological angle would suggest. its my interpretation after all, and could be proven wrong the way any interpretation can. but for now ive read his lore for years and looked into every single tidbit that involves him and so far hoyos writing of him hasnt given me any convinving case for changing my view drastically anytime soon. and id just like to be allowed to exist in this fandom space without being randomly jumpscared by posts alleging im reducing his character to this or that just bc i see his greatest narrative potential elsewhere.

theres enough insane shit and incredibly interesting lore relating to his overall role in the story and the cosmic scale of teyvat as a whole to be invested in already. like taking childes character as depicted to us and how in-game content characterizes him at a relative face value as opposed to seeking an implied internal struggle of sth hidden and repressed is me simply finding that take the most unique, fascinating, horrifying, compelling and exciting way to see him instead. thats what i love about him and his character. like im sorry, in my eyes the dark past corrupting innocence and trauma angle has just been done to death already in media. childe can have something actually different and breaking those tropes is what makes him stand out for me!

anyway. this whole situation is not sth i wanna start flaming ppl for or make into some drama, i try my best to stay on my lane and let ppl live even if i disagree w these sorta takes on childe. and i just wish for that grace to be extended towards myself too.

[goresyard]

❔

˖　📥　𐔌꒰　　𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐀 '❔' 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈'𝐋𝐋 𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈'𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐖 𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒!　　✶　　answered / still accepting.　　✱

ok we're gonna do this a little differently since we're both multis ..... i can suggest a few pairings and then a few more individual muses. 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

•　　PAIRINGS, can be interpreted as romantic, platonic or both!

✦　　joker / akiren ﹠ kudou shinichi / edogawa conan. sherlock holmes meets arsene lupin, their vibes would often times clash, especially with akiren being a bit of a chaos agent and with his affinity for bending the rules a little too much just to get a good response. give 'em some time and i think we've got a pretty good crossover friendship going for us!!

✦　　inuyasha ﹠ sun wukong. i'm officially stating this to every single inuyasha writer because i think they'd be SUPER chaotic and funny to write with. brothers in arms, with wukong being the annoying elder brother LMAONFEUIGFN.

✦　　makoto tachibana ﹠ anyone i have from haikyuu / blue lock tbh, with an addition of sousuke :D every single sports anime are interlinked btw don't tell me otherwise, plus it'd be really interesting for them to meet during the olympics or simply by chance. and, aside from our planned makoharu, soumako is also on the table for us HEHEHEHE.

✦　　amane yugi ﹠ jack frost or danny phantom or rin okumura. being alone during the afterlife is intensely overrated, LET'S HAVE THE SPIRIT LADS BE FRIENDS!!! jack and amane is technically recipe for chaos, ( also, jack is technically an alien, and amane loves space wink wink. ) but danny would find him a handful /affectionately. i think rin would enjoy being around him, that is if he's alright with the son of satan hanging around him.

✦　　saotome ranma ﹠ moon knight, nightwing / robin or kyo sohma. i have NOT watched the anime, so just a heads up HUJBRFEYHR, i saw martial artists and ran with the idea. i think kyo and saotome would make pretty good sparing partners! as with moon knight and nightwing, since these two are legally considered street vigilantes and would make good mentors / elder brother figures for them! ( things can be changed accordingly or whichever suits the canon narrative better. :D )

✦　　howl pendragon ﹠ ashitaka. something about ghibli boys interacting brings me joy ....... i think their opposing personalities could create a pretty funny dynamic. an idea i've got while this duo came to mind is ashitaka potentially searching for howl to help him remove the curse, ( a canon divergent interpretation ofc! )

✦　　luke pearce ﹠ sylus or caleb. listen. please listen and hear me out on this one. private investigator and the leader of a criminal organization, do you hear me screeching at the back of my cage. for caleb, im thinking fast banter, small smiles, and the kind of deep trust that sneaks up on both of them.

✦　　moon system ﹠ spider—man, deadpool or daredevil. im completely fine with either mcu interactions or comic interpretations of them! ( moonspider in the comics would be really cute tbh its a guilty ship. )

✦　　rooster ﹠ hangman. CLENCHING THE TABLE. i only recently watched top gun maverick but damn these two bitches fucking gay as hell i need them in my life.

✦　　lee yeon / rang ﹠ kim shin. goblin and the grim reaper in a completely different timeline, their beef will transcend multiversal laws ....... i haven't watched tale of the nine tailed but trust that i will lock in eventually.

✦　　kiara ﹠ kovu. very self—explanatory, one of the couples of all time.

•　　INDIVIDUAL MUSES.

⟡　　simba, the lion king.

⟡　　karma akabane, assassination classroom.

⟡　　ritsuka uenoyama, given.

⟡　　daisuke kanbe, balance: unlimited.

⟡　　loid forger, spyxfamily.

⟡　　all might, boku no hero academia.

⟡　　rody soul, boku no hero academia.

⟡　　prince naveen, princess and the frog.

⟡　　marshall lee—abadeer, adventure time.

⟡　　kenji sato / ultraman, ultraman: rising.

⟡　　merlin ambrosius, red shoes.

⟡　　capitano, genshin impact.

⟡　　al haitham, genshin impact.

⟡　　aventurine, star rail.

⟡　　blade, star rail.

[allurasbian]

scrolling through your blog really has me writing fanfic for the first time in years for transbian kallura like pleasseeee (smt smt the way they both resemble a certain kind of grief, clinging to their respective pasts and their idea of who they should be for others & recognising that within the other and. theyre both lesbians. Unwell.). anyway would LOVE to know more of your transbian kallura thoughts if you have any more headcanons still rattling around <3 (also. Thoughts on butch allura & fem keith? I know everyone raves for the reverse but I think allura deserves to find comfort in her fathers tunics & to step away from the lost title of princess which carries its own kind of grief & resembles who she used to be. And fem keith. Well. The leggings & gogo boots are right there as you say)

this ask is fucking awesome ^^ btw. hey this is fucking awesome. ive never been good and just dropping headcanons TBH what you saw was like the result of yearssssss of pentup thoughts in my mind I LIKED YOUR FIC SO MUCH THOUGH !!!!!!!!

like shoutsout to catching that 'im probably trans but i have a job' is straight up kind of a sad heartbreaking perspective... i saw the tv glow is horror for a reason !!! & i liked the framing of grief the contrast between having nothing left or being surrounded by it.. & also the imagery of leaning her head down to feel longer hair . really vivid and great. ALSOOO fwiw im transgirl pidge brained but i thought it was clear from what you wrote that that was how she was portrayed. something in there about . omg im mind melding this with being seen by rustedspire... 'am i transphobic' in her envy of pidge knowing who she was from so young...

ALSOOOOO i hadn't considered everyone knowing before keith TBH!!!! i always think of her as such a private person that i didn't even consider the impact of mind melding :sob: BUT what a good piece of hunk dialogue in there <3333

ofmg ok . as per for butch allura and femme keith :thinking:..... a very new idea to me. not opposed! its super super funny to me to be like 'everyone raves about the reverse' bc ive been TORMENTEDDD by how rare kallura let alone gay kallura is.. we are doing this you and i

wrt keithhhh & potential femmeness i think some good points exist in catherine s ramirez' book the woman in the zoot suit which i think covers a lot of really interesting ground about like, alienation (as experienced by mexican americans) & femininity and gender nonconformance and how those two things aren't like diametrically opposed.... she compares like two plays by the same woman in which the respective pachuca character participating in the same style and subculture is a butch in one and a maligned ultrafeminine straight woman in the other. also an article that is not a full fucking book was this that i liked. ummm much to consider! also, like, alienation as in the social punishment for being gaytrans or autistic or traumatized or what have you.. all what's im saying is there's a reason aliens are a popular metaphor for marginalization since 1938 with miss universe's space judaism in superman

SIDE NOTE: i don't like when people attribute keith's personality TO being an alien... i think she felt isolated and alone and different .for a variety of reasons and was ALSO an alien.. imo most satisfying conclusion here is that she was searching for the why in being alien but found instead the solution in bonding with other gay women ! earth or space lesbians she understood herself better through bonding with allura and pidge...

BUT ABOUT ALLURA.... ive long thought of her as that meme thats like. let me recreate it

ppl: femmes are straight passing

femmes:

BUT LET'S TALK ABOUT IT I'M INTRIGUED... what a fun little dimension to add to her grief and how she feels about like preserving her culture... IMO a lot of culture exists Not Just in preserving traditions but in the tension between being familiar with those traditions and promoting them and the ways people step outside of the norm... long standing tradition exits of wink-wink-nudge rebellion. but allura was only like 18 when she lost everything! she's not guaranteed to know that or at least to be comfortable with that & she's so scaredddd imo of losing what she had

i thought A LOTTT about like imo coran being silly lends itself to being into breaking cultural "laws" and allura would be much more staunch about preserving the things that she grew up around. particularly her concern about altean femininity i think would come through as a trans girl (because i think she is!) .. it'd be a hell of a moment realizing how well it fits to also be into altean masculinity in performance. the layers going on.. i could get into it. very fun. IMO she might get into sort of saturday night butch vibeszz where she's got a different set of rules for date nights vs formal events vs casualness... lets go dandy lez allura

personallyyyyy i haven't considered keith particularly femme either! jeans and t shirt girl or the androgyny of emoalt styles... saturday night femme perhaps because absolutelyyyy i think there are parts of femininity that are bright and exciting to her.

THIS IS ALL SO DANGEROUS EVERYONE IS MAKING ME WANT TO REWATCH THE PARTS OF THIS SHOW THAT I LIKED AND GET MY FEELINGS HURT AGAIN !!!!! IT'S ONLY BEEN LIKE A YEAR SINCE I DID THAT LAST !!

[freebooter4ever]

So you guys know i (try to) post daily doodles, and i have said before that i draw for about 2-3 hrs every night. BUT that also means i dont post about like 80-90% of the drawings i do each night. Today though, i've been thinking about A*I and my own relationship with drawing, and how utterly baffled i am that anyone would want to use it to like...draw for them..and how the concept that *tell a computer what art to do so i dont have to do it* is alien to me. So here's ALL the drawings i did tonight. The bottom one is the last one i did and the one i would normally post. And i want to talk about A*I without talking about good or bad end product. Because i dont care if im making the shittiest art in the universe - i still wouldn't use A*I. Not even as a ‘tool’.

If you've been around here for a while you know i have a love/hate relationship with my art. I write too, but writing doesnt make me so frustrated and angry that i want to throw my computer out a second story window. HOWEVER. There is a huge caveat to that anger.

It happens after.

You could look at it a little like hockey. Every game is fresh, right? I mean god knows the US made an entire movie about how every game is a new game and the odds could always fall in your favor no matter how stacked against you. So every drawing i go into it excited - like LOOK at that reference material, its gorgeous. The gesture is beautiful, the post is interesting, there is something about it that is just begging to be drawn. But then say you hit intermission in the hockey game and the opposing team scored a few points. And i step back and look at the drawing and realize i started to go wrong somewhere along the way. But its too late now, you gotta commit and keep going. And you do but somehow the final score is STILL 6 to 0 and thats when i want to flush all my art down the toilet and never look at it again. But its okay because the next drawing is going to start with a blank canvas and who cares what happened last time.

Ok maybe a bad example.

The product is never really what drives me to draw - i mean, sure i do like it a heck of a lot better when i have something /anything/ that i can post to show that im sticking with my everyday doodle. But its not a requirement to doodling. The process of drawing is always fun. Its when i come out of it and look at the stupid thing that im like ‘well fuck i fucked that one up again didnt i’, and THEN i get annoyed lol.

I dont sit there consumed with frustration over ‘gee i dont know what to draw’. This is never an issue. I HAVE TOO MUCH TO DRAW. Sometimes i avoid certain gifs/photos because in the back of my mind im like ‘yeah no, i havent leveled up that far yet, i cant do that justice’. But i dont want to admit the sheer number of images of geno alone i have saved. I think my biggest reference folder is still aoki and that has over two thousand screenshots - i dont think anyone will ever surpass that LOL. I have a never ending supply of practice art to be done.

The frustration comes when i have an image in my head and i want to get it down on paper so-to-speak (computer whatever). So - when im NOT using reference (or at least not an exact one) and am making an ‘illustration’ (ish). But again, the process isn't the issue. I like the act of drawing, i like the image in my head slowly taking shape, i like how vividly i can see it. Yall know how obsessed i am with personality - that's not just part of the drawing, that IS the drawing. And each deicision in the illustration is defined by the personality/character.

A computer can't fucking do this.

Could i maybe tell a computer ‘draw geno in the shower’. Sure. And it probably could. And if i didnt care about the process - if all i wanted was a very good drawing of geno in the shower....that probably would be fine. Maybe great even. Maybe it would be the best damn drawing of geno in the shower ever. And then i'd feel like shit because a machine is producing art that is more valuable to other people than mine ever will be. But holy fucking shit that ruins the entire POINT of drawing???? Why would you do that?

I mean, im sure yall can infer the entire point of the act of drawing geno in the shower. He's hot, he's wet. ANYWAY.

In my opinion, a person who wants the end product and doesn't care about the process of getting there....that person is not an artist. That person is someone who enjoys art, and probably thinks they have a lot of good ideas to make into art, but who doesn't feel that pull to make art themselves. They just want to buy art. And they want it cheap. And mindless computers being trained in seconds on the decades of creativity and hard work of art masters is a heck of a lot cheaper than a human.

And the hardest part of all this for me is how worthless this makes me feel - nobody wants you, they want that automatic button. Kinda like my dad that way (haha)

[vultursvolans]

fragrance question for you!! why is it that scents like black opium are so popular? is it bc they're by big luxury brand YSL, or bc of hype? particular notes that work together??? I've been thinking really hard about getting it for myself as a christmas gift this year, but if there are scents that are BETTER (maybe a tiiiiiiiiiiny bit more subtle) I'd love to hear ur thoughts!!

ahhhh i love this question!!!!

i think ‘paying for the brand’ is so prevalent in shopping these days, and it absolutely extends to the fragrance world too. i personally believe that part of the hype for black opium is because it’s simply YSL, a luxury brand. and its image is marketed at being mysterious and sexy, which tends to sell quite well. being able to afford luxury brands is a huge feat! so logically, you would go for what generally does well.

that said, it’s not all about the name! staples like black opium wouldn’t be staples if they smelt terrible. i think part of its charm is its scent profile. i suppose it’s because the scent family of black opium is more ‘approachable’ and ‘well-rounded’. you’ve got your vanilla and coffee notes blended with a bit of floral and spicy which typically isn’t overpowering for the general user! (as opposed to notes like neroli or oud which some people tend to find polarising or ‘clinical’).

i’ve often seen people describe black opium as ‘addictive’ and ‘dark’ and with all of this into consideration, i completely understand the appeal. like… who doesn’t want a scent that makes people turn around and ask “who was that? a spy? a rockstar? maybe both?!” (knowing what i know about you, even if a little, i do think it’ll suit you. esp with your tattoos ><)

oh! and typically, more expensive perfumes have better ‘projection’ which refers to how impactful it is in a room. black opium will most likely last, i can tell you that much! she’s bold! and if you’re going to spend an arm and a leg, at least it’s worthwhile.

if you want something more subtle but you love how black opium smells, see if it in comes in roll-on or solid form. you get the scent but without giving yourself a headache. those forms are usually better for sensitive skin/noses too.

if you want suggestions for something similar, i suggest

alien by mugler - i believe it’s got that same vibe, only a bit softer. maybe a tad more on the ethereal side, rather than edgy but it’s unique (i personally like this one better than black opium)

coffee break by replica maison margiela - this is a nod to the coffee note in black opium. this one is unisex and lighter. it feels more relaxed. one of my close friends loves this one!

and this one is a complete wildcard but i just wanted to throw it in because of the unique concept. it might interest you! you by glossier - this one is actually meant to adapt to the wearer’s skin so whatever it smells like on you, could smell different on me. i’d describe it as clean and subtle. on me it smells musky and warm but on others, it can get woody or even powdery. super interesting if you want a truly personal fragrance!

IM SO SORRY I GOT YAPPY I REALLY JUST WANTED TO COVER ALL QUESTIONS 🫶 thank you for asking!!!! this one made me put my thinking cap on lololl