#plus it’s not like this is something cater would actually post because than people would see past his carefully constructed persona

[calloohly]

heeheehee

[blues824]

hello! First of all i enjoy your writing alot! Can u write an imagine/headcanons of Malleus, Riddle and ruggie (seperatly) with a Fem! Reader who's obsessed with shopping and drags them excitedly to the mall? Reader has them trying on outfits like a silly fashion show and etc! And can u make them and the reader in a relationship already? Thank you i hope you're doing well! 💗💗

Because you only requested three characters, I am making the scenarios longer.

Riddle Rosehearts

He just can’t find it in himself to say no to you when you ask him with puppy dog eyes if you two could go to the mall on the weekend. Plus, Trey and Cater pointed out that you had been following each of the Queen’s rules as well as maintaining a good grade in all of your classes, and thus deserved a break like this.

So it was a date that the Housewarden found himself very excited for. It wasn’t everyday that he got to take his girlfriend off of campus and go do something she liked to do, so this was a once-in-a-while opportunity. The town wasn’t far away from NRC either; just at the bottom of the mountain that NRC was built upon. Thus you wouldn’t waste a bunch of time commuting.

When Saturday rolled around, he heard a knock on his dorm room as he was getting ready. He opened the door to see you in a casual outfit, ready to head out. He was ready too, and he made sure that he had his wallet before leaving. As you both exited the Heartslabyul doors, he yelled out to Trey that he would be in charge while he was away with you. You took him by the hand as you dragged him to the bus that was taking students down the mountain.

During the bus ride, he was looking up some of the stores that were within the mall. You were peering over his shoulder as you made an effective plan on the places you were going to visit, since you were aware that Riddle preferred to have this kind of thing organized. You then pressed a kiss to his cheek and thanked him for agreeing to come with you, and he just had a dopey grin as his mind went completely empty.

Within the mall, you just let out a gasp as you looked at the huge building. You turned to look at Riddle and he asked you where you wanted to head to first. You pointed to a nearby clothing store that had a dress in the window that looked super cute, and he took your hand in his before leading you inside. You took him to the dressing rooms after choosing a few different outfits, and you asked which ones he liked more. There were a few that exposed a bit more skin than he was comfortable with, so he was definitely flustered for a few minutes.

The next store was actually a men’s store, so he was kind of confused as to why you chose to go there. You said that he needed a few more outfits and maybe even a few matching ones like you had so that people could tell that you were a couple. You picked a few that you thought he would like and you had him go try them on. You sat outside of the changing rooms, scrolling through some of your friends’ Magicam posts when your boyfriend called your name.

You looked up and saw that he was wearing some black pants, a white button up, and a red sweater over it. You stood and walked over to him to adjust his collar, and as you were doing that he asked if he looked alright. You gave him a kiss on the lips as you stated that it looked great, and you asked if he felt comfortable as he was the one wearing it. He nodded his head, so you went to the cashier to purchase the clothes before making your way to the next store.

Ruggie Bucchi

The only concern he has is how much money he’s going to be spending, but you told him that you had been working at the Mostro Lounge to save up money for this, and that Leona offered to loan some money as well (totally not because you threatened to wake him up with ice cold water every morning and drag him by the tail to classes if he didn’t). So, he was pretty excited to go with you.

As the days ticked by, the hyena was getting more and more excited. Honestly, it was annoying to the Savanaclaw Housewarden because Ruggie kept messing things up because he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing. You weren’t in a very different state, considering it was the first time in a while where you were able to go on a proper date with your hard working boyfriend.

When Saturday arrived, he was super happy. He got ready in just five minutes before he ran to your dorm, where you were about to head to Savanaclaw. After laughing at the coincidence, Ruggie took your hand in his and pulled you to the bus that was taking students to the village at the bottom of the mountain. Because it was 9 in the morning, it was a bit chilly, so you squeezed his hand because it was warm.

If we’re being honest, this trip was a spontaneous thing that you wanted, so he was just going to be following you around. He listened intently as you went on about some of the stores you saw online and how you wanted to visit as many stores as possible. His tail was definitely wagging in pure happiness at just being able to be with you when he’s been so busy lately.

Anyways, he wasn’t surprised when you spotted a really cute outfit in one of the shops’ windows and dragged him in. He would be the kind to look at different articles of clothing and hold them up to you, trying to picture an entire outfit. You brought the right guy for the job, as he’s done this before a few times but in thrift stores. Actually, he had a pretty decent sense of style, and you saw that in the outfit he came with you in.

After you got some food at the food court, you spotted a store that you wanted to go into. Ruggie was just going to follow you without a word, but he noticed that it was for men’s apparel. He, too, was very confused as to why you wanted to go in there, and you said that you wanted to buy him an outfit that matched the one you had purchased from one of the prior stores. The entire idea was absolutely adorable, and so he went to try on the clothes.

A few moments later, he emerged from the changing room in a light orange hoodie with some distressed jeans. You chose the hoodie because 1) you could steal it when Ruggie wore it enough so that it smelled like him and 2) it matched a dress you got earlier. He asked if you chose the hoodie to steal it, and you just shushed him jokingly as you hugged him. The hyena started laughing before wrapping his arms around you in return.

Malleus Draconia

This man was so happy when you asked him if he would go to the mall with you on the weekend, because he never gets invited to anything. Plus, a date with his beloved sounds absolutely amazing, so he asked Lilia if he could go. The bat fae was definitely very excited, so he cleared Malleus’s schedule as well as informed the other two knights that he would not need a security detail for a simple date. Sebek was kind of hysterical, but this isn’t about him.

He could have very well manipulated time and made it move faster, but he knew that patience was rewarded. The entirety of Diasomnia could sense the pure joy radiating from the dragon fae, and did their best to make sure that no one or no thing got in the way of his good mood. He, however, didn’t notice because the only thing he paid attention to was the way you were also beaming about your date.

Malleus had to admit to his retainers as well as his guardian that he had no idea what to wear to something as casual as a date to the mall. All of his clothing was either for school, or for more formal occasions. He opted on some black dress pants as well as a white button-up and some comfortable dress shoes, and he grabbed the flowers he purchased before and showed up at Ramshackle. The gesture made you a bit flustered, but you put the bouquet in a vase of water and took his hand in yours and led him to the bus.

During the ride to the bottom of the mountain, he asked you why you wanted to go on the vehicle rather than just allow him to teleport you there. You told him that you knew that as a royal member, he might not have had experience with the life of an ‘ordinary commoner’ and thus wanted to provide that perspective. He then said that you were not an ordinary commoner, but rather the princess to his prince.

You made a joking comment that he looked like your sugar daddy instead of your boyfriend, especially since he insisted that he pays for everything you wanted while you were there. He didn’t get it, but it didn’t matter. Then, you spotted a dress that looked so cute, and Malleus waited outside of the dressing room. He thought it looked absolutely beautiful on you when you came out and gave him a bit of a twirl. This guy has a whole other way of testing out the length of dresses. He will dip you down and kiss you in front of everyone to see where it raises on your leg. So that’s what he did, and he seemed satisfied with the modesty of the length.

Anyways, you brought him to the food court so that the two of you could get a bite to eat. He made you laugh by saying that he preferred the fast food over Lilia’s cooking, and he was practically inhaling his food. Once you were finished, you started walking through the mall when you spotted a men’s store. Your prince here was kind of confused as to why you wanted to go in there, and you said that he needed some casual outfits and you dragged him into the shop.

There, you immediately spotted some black ripped jeans as well as a few muscle t-shirts and hoodies that you had him try on. He admitted that he did like how the shirts outlined his muscles so that he could impress you a tad more. Also, the clothes were a lot more comfortable than the formal things he typically wears, so he purchased them and walked out wearing them. All in all, you both considered this date successful.

[linka-from-captain-planet]

Florrickology, Part 1: The Thong That Launched 1000 Headcanons

My favorite thing to do as a background character fan is to co-opt things that were definitely not meant to be characterization by making them characterization.

Thus, I have looked way deeper than intended into every possible pixel, moment, and mention of my beloved Counsellor Florrick and developed the exciting new field of Florrickology to report my findings.

Obviously the first place I'm going is this fucking dress and how I use it to infer upon her the two sexiest characteristics a woman can have:

Unflinching vanity and a deep-seated, yet subtle, insanity.

This dress is more than a bit of an enigma because... why?

It really stands out because, while Larian gives players plenty of opportunities to sexualize their avatar and their companions, they don't really sexualize NPCs. Most women, like men, are dressed very modestly. Outfits that female NPCs wear are even often much more unisex than the equivalent outfits available to player characters (e.g. tunics that male PCs can wear may turn into tits-out dirndls on female PCs for no apparent reason, but female NPCs wearing the same outfit get a tunic). The only characters who are sexualized are presented as Sexy Characters, like Abdirak or Sorn Orlith or Orin or even Mystra and Mamzell Amira, who also wear this dress.

Mostly.

Florrick, despite being beautiful, a two-time damsel in distress, and a certified MILF, is not presented as a Sexy Character. She's presented as a no-nonsense, somewhat domineering, loyal-and-virtuous-to-a-fault fed. This is the only description of her in the game files (see img description), highlighting these bare-bones characteristics:

So... why? For this character whose appearance truly doesn't matter beyond being eye-catching enough to communicate her importance to the story, who has no even vaguely flirtatious dialogue and no implied sexuality or romance (even with the man she spends the entire game chasing!), and not even a weird torture porn moment which she has ample opportunities... why dress her like this? Why emphasize her body over any other similarly-prominent NPC like, say, Alfira?

My assumption would be that they did it to soften her to the average Redditmod McGamerbro because the story really is better if incels don't kill her for being "bossy"... if they didn't also code her as a middle-aged black woman and give her a custom face sculpt with a prominent nose, large jaw, and non-Western features, all famously accepted with no problematic reaction from this demographic whom Larian doesn't not cater to. In fact, as the #1 Florrickposter in the universe, I often see people say in tags and comments that they didn't even notice how revealing her dress is while playing the game. While racism is definitely at play (plus misogyny, rendering this middle-aged black-coded woman invisible, whereas a younger and white man in the same role would be ALL OVER THIS DAMN PLACE), it also speaks to just how discordant her outfit and explicit characterization are.

Now, this outfit does make a little sense on a glance and I think that's a big part of why it flies under the radar as well: she's important and presumably wealthy, so of course she wears this very posh and expensive-looking dress. She's a wizard (a fact everyone manages to glean on a glance, despite it never being stated and basically never being relevant), so of course she's wearing something obnoxious and purple. From the waist up, it actually looks like a pretty reasonable outfit for a person of her DnD class, social class, and occupation.

It's from the waist down where it gets out of hand.

But first, this isn't even Florrick's original outfit or face (which I'll talk about in another post), or the first iteration of her current outfit. Originally, she wore the ostentatious yet modest feathered peacock dress that eventually ended up on Lucretious (and took the thicc waist with it RIP). According to my research, there was a reason for this: it was too baller for Waukeen's Rest and kept causing crashes, so they had to put her in a less graphically-demanding outfit.

The original peacock dress sent the necessary "I am an important quest giver, engage with me" message, so why not just remove the cowl that was causing the issues? But instead, they changed her outfit entirely, keeping it eye-catching and posh (suitable for a big-city government official), but randomly making it super revealing (strange, for a big-city government official). Further, Florrick got a major va-va-voom upgrade between Sexy Dress v1 and final release, with a new dress model that makes it clearer that the front and back panels are sheer, subtly showing even more skin, and which unsubtly emphasizes her hips and breasts.

Based on extensive academic research using mods, I determined that the dress is what conveys the extra curviness (see img description in the left-most pic) vs her having a custom body sculpt (weak). Further, when viewed from behind, the dress pads out her ass, also making it look bigger and rounder than the standard body type 1 (see img description in the right-most pic).

What's more, if you look closely at the waist seam of the final version of her sexy dress, it looks like they went so far as to skew it to make her hips stand out even more when she takes the cocked-hip stance (which she seems to only stand in) and perhaps draw even more attention to her thong sticking out. Notice how the waist seam is even and straight across in Sexy Dress V1 above, but Final Florrick has it like 2 inches higher on her right, without fabric bunching to explain the different seam lengths. You can also see how the dress subtly pops out farther than her actual hips (and from the side view, over her lower stomach), giving her the impression of curves the standard body type doesn't have. They were very intentional with it.

Shockingly, I don't actually have much to say about her exposed thong in and of itself (it is what it is) except that I think it actually makes the outfit look substantially skimpier because it draws attention to just how high those hip slits are, compared to leaving the area blank so eyes gloss over it (even if that would imply she runs around commando all game). It's a small detail that drives home the overall design.

All this is to say, since this dress is only worn by 4 people* with Florrick being the first you see and by far has the most screen time, and it isn't lootable, it seems this outfit was developed intentionally and specifically to emphasize her body to make her look sexier.

*Florrick, Mamzell Amira (slightly different lower half), a random patriar at Gortash's inauguration named Lady Alia Durinbold, and Mystra

So, this takes us back to the question of 'why'. Why spend all this time and these resources fine-tuning this dress to make it as sexy and flattering as possible? Why put it on a character who has literally no reason to wear such a thing? Why put this dress which is nothing but nonsense on a character who's pretty much only characterized as being no-nonsense??

And this is also where the real tinfoil hattery comes in, as I doubt Larian really meant anything by it aside from creating a hot NPC for players with good taste to enjoy across all 3 acts.

But that's not what this nuclear caliber simp post is about; it's about overthinking shit because I love her and she is a main character to ME.

So, whatever Larian's intention, there's only 1 in-universe reason why Florrick wears this outfit:

She woke up that day in Waukeen's Rest, in the middle of nowhere a full tenday from the city, on her way back from literal hell to deal with yet another crisis, and decided to put it on. And continued to do so every day thereafter.

It's logical that she can't change right after being rescued since the inn is burning down presumably with her luggage in it, but why did she choose that outfit in the first place, considering she was travelling? She's been travelling for months; it can't have been her only clothing. Did she not have a Fist uniform? A pair of leggings? She runs right off after she's done talking; does she hike all the way in and out of the shadow-cursed lands in a thong and flat macrame boots? It doesn't even have any indication of cinches or buttons despite having all the logical seams and it's clearly tailored to fit her bananas hourglass figure, like there's no way she can just pull it on or step into it, so does she have to expend her valuable magic to wear it? Does she take the time to sew herself into it every day instead of sucking it up and wearing *barf* pants??? There are plenty of people around in Act 2 that could and would give her something more practical to wear, even if she did have a good reason to wear her original dress that day in Waukeen's Rest. Yet, she continues to wake up every day and put that outfit on. Even after returning home.

(In my head, the video game convention of every character only having 1 outfit is shorthand for what their "typical" outfit is, and they "really" have a wardrobe of similar clothing. So when I say she wears that outfit every day, I mean she has a couple of similarly-bonkers dresses in her bag and chooses to wear one every day vs something more practical).

So the simp's question isn't what Larian is saying about her by dressing like this, but what she's saying about herself by choosing to dress like this.

Clothing is self-expression. Look at the many analyses of the main characters' outfits. Larian may or may not have really meant anything by giving Florrick this outfit, but just as Astarion's careful mending of his shirt necessarily says something about him and his personality in the universe he lives in, so does Florrick's decision to wear flashy, revealing clothing.

It almost makes no sense... until you think about one of Florrick's explicitly-demonstrated characteristics:

Confidence. Over confidence. Hubris, even.

I'll have more to say about Desiré "Fuck It, We Ball" Florrick and her personality in another florrickology post, but the long and short of it is that this woman is not afraid of shit and sashays into every situation fully confident in her ability to charm or steamroll it to her liking. "She is used to getting her way", indeed. Her epilogue letter betrays a bit of self-doubt, but it seems to have been brought on by her perceived failures in relation to the player character's successes, so likely not her ordinary attitude. Whereas this seems to be her ordinary clothing, since she took it with her to Elturel and back for no apparent reason and chooses to wear it for no apparent reason.

She has nothing to gain from it, no one important to impress at least until returning to the city in Act 3. Otherwise, she's in bumfuck nowhere with her boss-friend and lackeys, or cursed!bumfuck nowhere with her lackeys and a bunch of vigilantes planning a war. While I wouldn't doubt that she has or might be willing to use her beauty and sex appeal to meet her goals (TadpUlder does, curiously, call her a "black widow"; is his tadpole capitalizing on stereotypes--could it be slut shaming her??, or is it referencing things that the shreds of Ulder's mind know she's done?), ultimately, there can't be a tactical explanation because there's nobody more powerful than her around 90% of the time.

She also doesn't flirt with anyone and nobody flirts with her (philistines). She has no mentioned spouse or lovers, nor any implied sexuality at all. The closest we get is Mizora saying "she misses the Duke" after Florrick's ambush in Act 3, the only time anyone implies she's on a crusade to find him because of romantic feelings and not duty, loyalty, and friendship... which means Mizora is probably just talking out her ass and belittling people, as she does.

So, combine self-confidence with the decision to constantly wear a sexy dress that shows off her body for no practical reason, and what do you get?

Balls-to-the-wall, unapologetic vanity.

(If it wasn't clear, when I call women "vain" I think they are objectively correct and this is a compliment of the highest order.)

Sure, maybe wearing this kind of outfit boosts her confidence and that helps deal with this unprecedented crisis and possibly the first self-doubt she's ever experienced, but this is evidently her usual clothing and she isn't usually dealing with those things.

So, she wears this intricate and revealing dress mostly she likes it and how she looks in it. This means she likes that it's revealing. She likes showing skin to literally no end except her own enjoyment.

Notice she doesn't really do her hair (it's shiny and neat, but not really styled) or bother with makeup (she lost the EA smoky eye in favor of a quick swipe of eyeliner). One may think that perhaps she isn't as confident in her facial beauty since she does have unique features, so she calls attention to her body instead, but she's so devoid of modesty that I can't help but assume she simply looks in the mirror in the morning, thinks "no notes" (correct) and moves on to pouring herself into her favorite skimpy dress. She's proud of her natural beauty, and she's not about to cover it all up with goop or fabric!! She never mentions it and nobody who knows her does; she's not trying to stunt on anyone or even attract other hot people.

She's in it purely for the love of the sport and, sexiest of all, herself. This woman doesn't think she's the sexiest creature in any given room, she knows it.

And she knows that being hot doesn't affect her ability to do her job and protect the city she loves. She doesn't have to cover herself up, doll up her hair and makeup, slap on like 400 pettiskirts, etc, to be taken seriously. It's possibly even giving 'malicious compliance'. She commands so much respect that even horny gamers don't notice her entire ass is one breeze away from being out.

The deep-seated, yet subtle insanity part has pretty much already been covered; maybe in her day-to-day life of attending meetings and walking all over everyone in Wyrm's Rock, it's not so impractical, but it's a completely insane thing to wear in any sort of crisis or outdoor adventure. That this woman is willing to risk chafing or being cold (womankind's public enemy #1 and #2) simply for the drip is delightfully nutty. There is not a single moment she appears in this game where this outfit would be reasonable.

She presents herself as a stalwart, serious, determined woman, but then squeezes into a dress so tight and precarious that it knocks off her Fleet of Foot speed boost, for literally no reason aside from being vain and lowkey kind of crazy.

Good for her!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

So, i don't know how you would react at this BUT, i just read all of your posts and i think you're really amazing while answering ask's, so i just thought it might be good to share with you a ( kind of? ) headcanon that i have about Silver.

Like, i don't know if it actually makes sense. And pardon me if there's any grammar erros, i'm quite bad at english.

BUT i just feel that he is pretty "incapable" of truly expressing himself, unless it's when his knight mode are on, but even in this mode, has some difficulties. ( and by incapable i mean he has some pretty relevant difficulties with expressing himself in a sentimental way ).

I just have this sort of feeling that his creation with two non-human ( and one half-human ) beings as he was human have a large impact on him mentally, specially because Malleus and Lilia are not the most open ones in terms of sentimentality and Sebek is just bad at this as them and also have some issues with expressing himslef and being sociable.

Like, despite all the efforts Lilia put to make sure Silver grew up to be a good person, he couldn't really be that good on the social and emotional part and Malleus weren't the perfect teacher of it either, not even Sebek. So Silver just grew up subconsciously trying to follow their behaviors and manners, while the culture from Biar Valley also moulded his way.

( and I also see Lilia as someone who hides his true feelings behind this mask of energetic and teasingly playful guy. )

The sleep curse might had put some extra inner barrier in Silver's mind, as or he is completely afraid to trying be sociable or he just are indiferent to this because he don't actually think he is capable of something like that due to the curse making him sleep anytime plus all the baggage of being raised in a country were his specie in not viewied with good eyes and being raised by people he eventually knew that would live a lot many years than him, that compared to them, he's really just a common human with a short lifespan. I doubt this hasn't fucked up his mind.

I don't remember if it's actually mentioned something detailed about his relationship with his club partners but, i do think he can be respectful and chit chat for a few minutes, but just having a long, deep and intimate conversation with someone might be too overwhelming to him, since he practically lived his entire life having constant interactions only with his family. He's just caught in this cycle where his adopted dad hide his true feelings, Malleus pretty much do this too and Sebek probably doesn't even think about how he really feels, so he just follow them and lock himself in his own bubble.

So, i really don't know if this make any kind of sense. But i would enjoy if you share your opinion on this silly headcanon i have.

Hello and thank you for sharing your thoughts ^^

I originally wanted to keep this short, but I kept having more and more thoughts and continuously added to the post until it became an absolute behemoth 😅 I still feel like I could have said even more, but I’ll leave it at this for now.

Please look below the cut to read my response!! (Note: the focus will be mainly on Silver and Lilia’s relationship, as those two are usually the ones described as father and son + we know the most about those two as Silver grew up.)

Mmm… Firstly, I don’t know if “being incapable of truly expressing himself” is something that’s exclusive to Silver; this is a pretty consistent trait among the prideful students of NRC. They demonstrate this in different ways (Rook is secretive, the twins claim they would throw Azul away if he becomes boring, Jamil represses his desire to be free while serving Kalim, Cater does not outright tell Trey he wants to be besties but implies he wishes Trey were as close with him as he is with Riddle, etc.). Very few are willing to allow themselves to be vulnerable with one another, and this feeds into a lack of “deep and intimate conversations” amongst all of them, not just between Silver and his peers.

That being said, I do not believe that Silver generally has issues expressing himself. In fact, I would actually argue for the opposite: that Silver is one of the more open students (at least when it comes to his feelings). He has talked about his deep love and respect for his father on multiple occasions. He has many animal companions whom he communicates with. He has given various speeches about how he wishes for a world in which living beings of all races and live happily together. (This last example was vital in Fairy Gala: If; it was Silver’s heartfelt words that moved the pixies to return what they had originally taken from NRC.) He has said on more than one occasion that be is thankful for his father and owes him a debt, that he must somehow “repay” Lilia. He becomes concerned about not being alert and that others may think of him as rude for falling asleep mid-conversation and seeks to correct this. He also worries about his classmates thinking of him as scary and emotionless (and, again, tries to solve this problem). He sees the best in others, he lets them know it (for example, assuming that Jamil is worried about Kalim in Endless Halloween Night), and he gives earnest advice. He understands that Sebek’s abrasiveness is a way of hiding his embarrassment and expressing gratitude, knowing that, deep down, Sebek is caring—so Silver is patient with him and asks others to do the same. He has no trouble asking for help either (something which the other NRC boys have trouble doing). He openly demonstrates awareness of his shortcomings (such as how he always falls asleep at bad times) and is happy just knowing that others may lend an ear to him. He has a lot of tenderness that’s hard to find at NRC. Silver is simply earnest and speaks his mind, even if it can come off as blunt or perhaps a naive way of responding to the world. He has a very simple way of thinking and forming opinions (Vil asks him what’s the most beautiful? “You,” Silver says. Azul asks him what he thought of the food? “Good,” Silver says.)—and his lack of facial expression certainly doesn't help in conveying his emotions, no matter how earnest they may be.

The one major time Silver actively demonstrates repressing his emotions is in book 7, when he stows away his true sadness for the sake of seeing his father off with a smile. He breaks down when he’s away from the party and with Malleus, venting his frustrations about himself and how he cannot even fulfill his father’s final wish. Silver apologizes to Malleus for his “unsightly behavior”, referring to his tears, indicative of a negative emotion, as something to be ashamed of. This, in of itself, is not odd. There’s always a handful of subjects a person may feel uncomfortable talking about even with their friends and family. Maybe it’s finances, personal flaws, or failures. For Silver, it’s in relation to his life span and “owing” Lilia. That’s nothing unusual; most people are not willing to divulge everything to their loved ones; there’s typically something negative or shameful held back. (For example, Deuce wouldn’t be so eager to tell his mom about the violent outbursts he had at school since he’s trying to reform himself. I doubt the OB boys would be eager to tell their own families about their overblots, etc.)

What I deem to be Silver's greatest strength is his empathy, and I think that comes across in how he communicates. When he's talking with others, Silver is entirely emotionally capable, willing to hear them out, and even lend his support. Where he falters is when it specifically comes to matters of his place within his family (which is not present most of the time; most of the time, Silver is in that default empathetic state). This is a point of insecurity for Silver, and it is a large part of his character arc in book 7.

One can say Silver repressing his emotions related to this occurrence is a learned response due to a combination of things. For one, he doesn't want to disappoint his father by ruining his celebration with tears. (Silver cares a lot about others, usually prioritizing them over himself, whether it's putting their needs over his own or literally throwing himself in harm's way to defend them.) For another, Silver, as a human, may have developed insecurities or a complex from having grown up in Briar Valley, a place known to have a very low human population AND a history of war with humans (meaning it's possible that humans are discriminated against). I don't know if the "culture" of Briar Valley had an impact on Silver's communication, since we ourselves are not fully aware of what this "culture" is or how people normally express themselves. Just because fae can be standoffish to outsiders doesn't mean fae are standoffish to other fae when Silver happens to be in the immediate vicinity. We don't really know if Silver has previously expressed worries about the difference in his life span versus those of fae either, but I'd imagine this is something he had to learn for himself and come to terms with, much like the discovery of his adoption. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this "fucked him up" since it wasn't touched on or implied prior to book 7. Because of this, I don't get the impression that it's deeply concerning to Silver until the point it became relevant for his father and paying back the "debt" Silver feels he owes. (Then again, I acknowledge that perhaps these thoughts were not shared due to Silver's... unique style of communication.) I’m not going to speculate about the sleeping curse since we don’t fully understand how it works and I don’t want to make assumptions while I’m still uninformed.

While it’s true that Silver had limited interactions with people outside of Lilia, Malleus, and Sebek in his childhood, I wouldn’t attribute all of Silver’s characteristics to “he learned how to repress his emotions from them”. There were many other factors that contributed to the kind of person Silver would eventually become. His level-headedness comes in part from having to “grow up” fast since Lilia lacks the homemaking skills to look after him. Silver had to learn to cook (have you tasted Lilia’s food?) and clean (have you seen Lilia’s room?) in his place, as well as look after their cottage home whenever Lilia left on trips. He’s the calm that balances out his father. I’m not going to comment on Malleus since I’m not sure how frequently he visited Silver (which would impact the degree to which he affects him). Sebek, however, is also someone that Silver spent a lot of time with because 1) his grandpa already knows Lilia and 2) there are very few kids Silver’s age in Briar Valley. The circumstances just worked out that way. This also exposes Silver to Sebek and his family, as they looked after him on occasions when Lilia could not. Sebek’s two older siblings and parents, then, are also people Silver could look to as models. Otherwise, he seems to have mostly lived in their forest cabin and interacting with few living beings aside from the animals. He states that he rarely went to the capital (which we learn is because Lilia is banned from there) and that he didn’t even go to a middle school (implying Lilia home schooled him before NRC), so… yeah, he’s mainly isolated in the woods. This grants Silver a lot of time to slow down, to be introspective, and to consider both his own feelings and those of others. His awkwardness, then, may come from his social circle being small and not having an opportunity to interact with people beyond it. This creates a lack of awareness for how he may come off to others, as he’s so used to how acclimated Lilia, Malleus, and Sebek are to his usual demeanor. Silver doesn’t realize that his stoic expressions can read as unfriendly to others.

I think there are flaws in saying that Lilia is the type of person to hide his true emotions behind a smile: it’s true from the understanding of the PLAYER because we’ve learned in book 7 that Lilia kept secrets from Diasomnia. Silver’s origins, about the war, why he’s in a hurry to leave early, how Malleus hatched, etc. We as the players understand that Lilia tries to hide his own pain and suffering from those he loves. But… the issue is that Silver doesn’t know this (so how could he “copy” Lilia’s penchant for covering up his true emotions if he never picked up on the initial deception?). Silver fully trusts his father and does not really suspect Lilia of hiding anything from him (excluding maybe the occasional prank). Additionally, I would not conflate keeping secrets and hiding own’s emotions with discouraging sentimentality in Silver. Lilia has hard conversations with his son (like in book 7 right before he handed over the ring from Silver’s deceased parents), and that shows some degree of emotional intelligence and vulnerability. Isn’t he modeling a healthy way of dealing with feelings here? Isn’t Lilia right here, right now, telling Silver how proud he is of him? Lilia is able to be vulnerable too in these moments, regardless of what other secrets he may keep.

Another discrepancy is that both Lilia and Sebek (the ones whom Silver probably spent the most time with as a child, since Malleus had to stay in the castle and be trained and tutored) tend to “hide” their real feelings with very emotional methods (ie covering up one feeling with another feeling)—yet Silver himself didn’t learn to use do the same thing. If we include Malleus in the count, he’s the more consistently “emotionally repressed” character but still has his outbursts of rage and upset. Silver does not “copy” this either. He and Malleus are both calm, yes, but they come from different backgrounds which could breed this calm personality, not necessarily from one mimicking the other. (Silver was mostly in his cottage, Malleus is as in his castle.) This is, again, why I say that it would be faulty to attribute how Silver acts in large part or entirely to Lilia, Sebek, and Malleus. He has been impacted by far more than them and does not pull all of his knowledge on how to socialize from his dorm mates.

The last point I’d like to bring up is that wearing your emotions on your sleeve isn’t necessarily a good thing all the time, nor is it the only way one can express themselves. You can show your love through acts (Silver often thinks about what he can do to best support his father) or gifts too (Silver mentions Lilia puts a lot of thought into picking gifts for everyone). From this angle, we can see that Lilia (Silver’s primary caregiver and guardian) has demonstrated and taught healthy ways of expressing one’s feelings too, and how Silver is capable of reciprocating in his own ways.

Now, am I saying that Lilia and the others were perfect in modeling emotions to Silver? Obviously, no. Misunderstandings happened—but what’s important is learning and growing from them. For example, Lilia failed to understand that Silver might be hurt to learn that he was adopted and thus Lilia acted in a callous way by laughing. But given how their relationship in present day is not strained, we can surmise that Lilia and Silver made up and that Lilia has become more attuned to his son’s sensitivities (as Lilia states that he can easily read Silver’s emotions). Lilia says as much in Malleus’s Dorm Uniform vignettes, telling Malleus that humans have different sensitivities than fae do. A lot of the values Silver had—such as the importance of unity among the races—must have also been instilled in him through Lilia and extensive talks. Again though, Lilia’s not perfect and sometimes he acts in ways which still earn Silver’s ire (Endless Halloween Night is a big one). Malleus himself also makes multiple mistakes when interacting with humans (overstepping with his powers, not paying attention to times, scaring them with his presence, not making an effort himself to reach out). Sebek regularly insults them despite being half human himself. (That’s a whole other can of worms; I’d recommend this analysis for my thoughts on Sebek and his whole deal.) But what I really love about the Diasomnia found family unit is that they balance out each other's flaws really well. Silver's empathy is a great asset to the group, as he's often the one settling disputes between Sebek and his peers or apologizing for Lilia's mischief. He's simultaneously the "heart" of the group and, to some extent, also the "brains" when the others need to be reeled in.

Ultimately, I don’t agree with the suggestion that Silver is “afraid of trying to be sociable”, is “indifferent to socializing”, or that “he doesn’t think he is capable of socializing”. I don’t think Silver would find long, deep, intimate conversations “overwhelming” either (unless, of course, it relates to his own particular insecurities. Recall that he has given those speeches about his hopes for all races to be united; that requires a degree of vulnerability on his part and Silver laid it out smoothly. Lilia has also had tough conversations with him too!). Silver is not a socially anxious person; I think it would be more accurate to say that he comes off in the eyes of his peers as someone who is hard to approach because of how stone-faced he is. Silver himself does not fear or shy away from socializing. He just speaks in a plain way to get his point across and because that’s how he communicates—it’s not the result of him wanting to close the conversation ASAP so he can get away. His sleepiness is another factor to consider (Silver worries others think of it as impolite), but it never outright discourages him from speaking to people to avoiding social interactions altogether to minimize the drowsiness impacting his life. He tries to find ways to stay more alert instead (trying to fix the root of the problem rather than a symptom of it)

I think an excellent encapsulation of Silver’s entire character is his Dorm Uniform vignettes; in them, Silver’s classmates express that they think he is unapproachable and that he has no emotions. Silver overhears these comments and becomes concerned that his peers do not like him, so he asks his friend, Kalim, and Jamil for help learning how to smile. We then learn through a series of comedic events that it is physically hard for Silver to smile or to make a different facial expression which matches his feelings more. What finally gets Silver to smile naturally is when he gets so lost in an activity that he isn’t even aware his expression has changed. Lilia and Malleus, who are watching him, remark on Silver’s uncanny empathy. Then Lilia says, “[Silver] conceals some powerful emotions beneath that poker face of his.” To this, Malleus corrects him: “I wouldn't say he actively conceals [his emotions], per se. I suspect he simply doesn't betray much emotion.” Lilia agrees: “I suppose that's fair. Not that I find him difficult to read, of course!” It’s then that Silver’s classmates realize they were wrong about him and they begin to act more friendly.

To summarize: Malleus outright says it in Silver’s Dorm Uniform vignettes; it’s not that Silver does not have emotions or finds it difficult to communicate in a sentimental way, it’s that peers tend to misread him because of his face and his frank way of speaking. He thinks a lot of the people around him and makes numerous attempts to adjust his behavior so that they are more comfortable being around him. He asks for help and offers help in return. His one weakness is not being able to fully come to terms with the fact that Lilia loves and accepts him as he is, that Silver IS enough for the family he now finds himself in. He may have learned things from Lilia, Malleus, and Sebek, but those three should NOT be held entirely accountable for Silver being the way he is. Several other factors played a role in shaping him to be the cool, level-headed knight we know and love. Silver is… Silver, and sometimes Silver is hard to read or struggles with self-acceptance! That’s just who he is, and that’s part of his appeal.

[eldritch-spouse]

So here’s some Food for thought for lore, what food do demons that reside on earth mainly eat? I know that most of human food has salt on it as a seasoning, do they have any cultural dishes that they bring??

Are the results the same if they consume food with salt on it or does it harm them?

Also what is the likelyhood that a human would just have holy water on hand??

And is it possible for an ordinary human to acquire immortality??

(Also your art style is impressive)

[Thenk you so much!]

This post can help on information regarding salt.

They don't like the scent of it, is one way to put it. It's pretty repulsive and it traps imps quite well, mid-rankers can tough their way out of one, high-rankers are insulted that you think salt is effective against them. If you want to trap non-imps in a circle, you're going to need more than just salt, primarily sigils from siadar times. Which have probably been appropriated by a series of religions, scattered across the world, misused. Demons don't eat things with too much salt, and when they do, it's because the substance has already been absorbed into the food, therefore harmless to them. They do have salt substitutes that are specifically catered to demonoid consumption. Gluttons end up having a milder reaction to the substance, something that can be ignored if they're determined.

There are definitely cultural dishes specific to Hell's Rings, utilizing lifeforms from various locations. And while you can find establishments on the surface that cater to this type of cuisine, they're few and far in-between due to not only being found in demon-heavy population zones, but also the effect transporting ingredients from Hell to the surface can have on their longevity. It's a pricey endeavor. Plus, the owners of these establishments need to be very vigilant of the quantities and recipes they utilize, so as to not harm non-infernal clientele, and it's not unusual for a smartass to walk in with the confidence of a glutton yet the body of a frail human. It never ends well, controversies arise.

The likelihood of someone having holy water in hand is probably more elevated in demon-heavy zones, as you might guess. The likelihood of that "holy water" actually doing anything of note except make a demon wrinkle their face is much lower. Few people have equipment authentic enough to dispel and frighten demons.

On the matter of immortality, it could be possible, yes. The thing is, you'd have to make very harsh deals. A demon can't offer you immortality, it's beyond them, but they can offer you slow decay, can extend your life at the cost of others, or for however long you submit to serving them. There's no guarantee that your sanity will stay intact throughout the years or that you won't physically change drastically. Can the siadar offer you immortality? In the truest sense of the word, no, everything decays and so shall you. Even Dorem, in his horribly long existence, will cease to exist one day.

Are there entities who are actually, truly, immortal out there? Perhaps.

[ryuichirou]

TWST hcs: addiction, dark thoughts, sh

Hcs that I didn’t have time to finish yesterday, another long overdue batch. Thank you for your ask and for being patient with me!

Last hc post was kinda cute, so today we’re balancing it out by talking about twst boys being addicts, having suicidal tendencies and practicing self-harm. Please don’t read this post if these themes upset you, but you know, it goes for all of our posts…

I hope it’s okay that I grouped those asks in one posts, but I figured they are somewhat thematically similar, or at least similar in a way that I can’t say a lot about them.

thestarlightfae asked:

Wait! One more! I personally headcanon Leona to have some sort of Alcohol (that word is way to hard to spell) dependancy! What do you think? Do you think any of the twst characters use drugs/ or drink excessively? Do you think any of them are addicted? Alright! Goodbye for real this time!

Alright, let’s start with this one!

I’ll go through the list of characters, but only mention those who I can say anything about. When I write hc, there is always urge to talk about every single one, but actually, I don’t think a lot of the boys would have those particular issues, at least at this point in the story. I mentioned some of the boys with “they aren’t but they could be” context though, plus mentioned those who feel strongly about it in general.

I’ll talk about Leona in a minute! >:)

(Also, on a lighter note, we do have a hc post about twst boys’ relationship with alcohol + what kind of drunks they are!)

Riddle isn’t an addict obviously, but I still wanted to mention him because we need to protect this boy. Because of his extremely strict upbringing, he gives me major vibes of someone who would become addicted to anything that he used to be strongly against the moment he tries it. He has zero tolerance, both physical and mental, and all of his discipline would crumble the moment he gets over that first “I can’t”…

Deuce also isn’t really an addict but he used to smoke and drink beer with his delinquent pals, so I can see him wanting to do either of these things when he gets very frustrated and overwhelmed. But he never does it! He is a good boy now <3 He either does his “screaming on the beach” thing or just runs until he isn’t frustrated anymore. Yes, I wrote about him just to call him a good boy lol

Cater is more of a (secret) smoker than a drinker, and whenever he gets opportunity to drink, he goes for something lighter BUT he did have a couple of moments when he got drunk all alone and just kept drinking until he passed out. He would probably do it more often if there weren’t so many people around him at all times because he becomes a miserable and irritable wreck when he is this drunk, and that absolutely would ruin his image.

Leona strikes me as someone who also likes to drink alone, and as you said, he could have a dependency, but then again, he is also someone who would say stuff like “I can stop whenever I want, I am not that weak”. I guess that means he just doesn’t want to stop, shrug.

I want to mention Ruggie and Vil because these two are very aware about how much alcohol and drugs could ruin someone else’s life, and both of them feel very strongly about it. Ruggie swore to never get fool around with highly addictive stuff (some booze here and there or weed is okay); but he doesn’t care if people around him do (as long as they aren’t his close ones). He is also aware that this thing could be extremely profitable for someone who “distributes the goods”, but he also knows how dangerous of a job it is, so he would prefer to avoid it.

And Vil just witnessed a lot of people in showbiz, including very young actors, become entirely different people due to addiction, so his rule is to never touch and even go near any kind of drug and only drink moderately and on very rare occasions. And unlike Ruggie, he is someone who nags others about it.

Epel isn’t an addict right now, but he is also one of the dangerous ones! If he isn’t careful, he could become an alcoholic at some point in the future lol The boy needs to be busy doing something and have things in his troubled head sorted out; for some reason, I can imagine him being a moonshine boy. But this is like the worst case scenario for Epel…

I don’t know if Che’nya could be called an addict, but he is constantly high. Is it weed? Is it catnip? Is it something else? Can he even function without it? It’s difficult to tell, but it’s just as difficult to catch him being completely sober. And unlike all those boys, he isn’t troubled or miserable or anything, he is just one extremely relaxed funny-smelling guy. He visits Trey whenever he gets the munchies. One time he made Trey bake him special cupcakes.

Crewel used to be wilder when he was in his early 20s, and his body endured a cocktail of alcoholism and a whole bouquet of drugs. He was never addicted to the latter ones, but he probably tried a lot of different things, but mostly smoking and sniffing type, nothing that goes directly to your bloodstream. Those were his restless years, it’s like he was looking for something and had no idea what it was, which resulted in him getting angry and drinking a lot. But these days he doesn’t do drugs; still drinks though, but not as much as he used to. A normal person would still consider it a problem though….

Fellow’s money problem keeps him from becoming an alcoholic and a heavy smoker, but when he gets a chance to get drunk for free, he does. He loves the taste of alcohol, especially when it’s good alcohol, but he drank all kind of nasty shit. Same thing with drugs – he isn’t an addict, and he would never waste money on it, but he tried a bunch of stuff, especially before he met Gidel. Actually, he became an addict very briefly at some point in his late teens because one guy paid him to experiment with stuff, and then suddenly disappeared, leaving Fellow with the worst withdrawal pains in his life.

Anonymous asked:

TW: Self Harm & Suicide

How fucked up mentally do you think the twst boys r? Who self-harms? Who has attempted before? How much do those around them know?

Good question, Anon, but also a very difficult one to think about. I think this is one of those darker topics that I don’t usually explore or just don’t imagine characters going through this kind of stuff, so similarly to the previous list in this post, I won’t have a lot to say, but it was still interesting going through the list of the characters mentally and trying to look inside their heads like that…

Riddle could have a bad habit he developed during his childhood; maybe when his mother got especially mad, she used to pinch him, smack his hand with a ruler or an elastic band. Something isn’t super major, something that wouldn’t be considered physical abuse by his parents, but still painful enough for Riddle to get traumatised to the point that he does it to himself. It could be intentional, i.e. “I did bad, I need to focus/to discipline myself”, or even unconsciously, i.e. pinching his arm very painfully without realising. Trey absolutely knows about it and hates it, Cater is aware as well because Trey has told him; but also Ace and Deuce definitely saw Riddle do it once and kind of got freaked out. Ace almost confronted him about it, but couldn’t say anything for some reason.

When it comes to Cater, I always remember that one mandrake vignette and everything gets depressing instantly orz The guy clearly isn’t in a good place, and I think he feels pretty much trapped and alone. So he absolutely would have pretty dark thoughts, and I think he thought about ending it all at least once before. His mental state gets better the further he is from his family though, and since he has been able to hang out at NRC for more than two years already, it’s been a good change of pace for him. But that doesn’t mean that he is happy, I think he is still pretty depressed. Although I don’t think he self-harms; definitely thought about it before, maybe even tried burning himself with a cigarette, but he really doesn’t like the pain + is too anxious that others would find out about it. A bunch of people know that Cater is hiding his state (mostly Trey), but no one knows how bad it is.

Leona – honestly who knows, but ironically with everything that’s going on in his life and with how much he laments about it, somehow I don’t think he is suicidal. He could have certain feelings and thoughts about not being suicidal, i.e. “wouldn’t it please you if I was?” type of thing. For some reason, I think Leona is too mentally strong to self-harm as well…

Jamil isn’t suicidal and doesn’t self-harm in a traditional way, but I still feel like Jamil is someone who is prone to making things worse for himself when he is already feeling very shitty. This is a very roundabout way to say “I am still thinking that Jamil could have sex with Azul just to make himself feel even worse mentally” lol But now that I think about it, it’s probably just a mix of masochism and “things are already pretty bad, I don’t care anymore” that always ends up with him regretting this horrible, horrible mistake. I can’t believe I’ve just said that sex with Azul is a form of self-harm…

I actually talked about Idia and self-harm before in this post, it’s the last reply on this one. But to reiterate: I think Idia punishes himself constantly, but not through the means of self-harm; I kind of see him as someone who is both scared of physical pain and detached from anything physical. Mentally though, he tortures himself all the time… And of course, another reason why he doesn’t self-harm is Ortho because there is no way he would be able to hide it from him, and Ortho is very aware that he has to protect Idia from himself sometimes. In terms of Idia being suicidal though, I think he goes back-and-forth. I’d say that this is his default deep state, but he copes quite well, both with AI!Ortho being around and all of his favourite manga and shows. In the Ghost Marriage event he expresses that he doesn’t want to die yet, but in ch6 he was ready to join Ortho without any hesitation, in fact, he was eager to do it. One thing that I can say for certain is that Ortho being around helps him A LOT, both with his presence in general and with how well he knows exactly what to say to Idia to save him. His hero <3

Rollo is the only character I am 100% certain about in terms of self-harm; both because of how nicely he fits the trope of a pious person punishing himself for his own sins, and because of how deeply the theme of guilt and deep sorrow is tied to his character. Rollo wants to punish the entire world and he blames the magic users for the tragedy that deeply traumatised him, but he clearly blames himself the most. I think Rollo could have quite nasty self-flagellation scars. And of course no one but Rollo knows about this, but maybe… maybe Rollo only thinks that no one but him knows about this… a certain school council vice-president snoops around too much…

I can also picture Fellow being pretty much suicidal before he met Gidel. I think Gidel’s existence motivates Fellow a lot to keep pushing, keep working hard and keep living; not only because he eagerly wants to protect Gidel from this cruel world, but also because he genuinely feels happy when they are together. Fellow is in a much better space now that he has Gidel to cheer him up. Gidel absolutely knows about this, but Fellow believes that he doesn’t.

[w1ld-wr1t3r]

omg i would love a norrix outsider pov

Took me a while to decide who to make the outsider, because there are honestly so many good options, but I eventually settled on Max V. Hope you like it!

Also, is it still a drabble if it's almost 1.5k words? Genuine question. This one got away from me LOL.

Even before introducing them to each other, Max had had a feeling Lando and Martijn would get along well. He'd thought their personalities would mesh well, and maybe Martijn's supportive optimism would be good for Lando (he may be a rival on the track, but that didn't mean Max would ever wish anxiety or emotional pain on him). Plus, he knew Lando was a big fan of Martijn's music. It would be fun to see his mind explode when he got to meet someone he was a fan of.

When their friendship took off from the moment they met, he initially didn't think twice of it. He was just glad that they'd hit it off as well as he'd hoped they would. When Lando started going to more of Martijn's shows, and going on trips with him, and just generally started spending more time with him, Max had thought, good for them!

Their "world tour" vacation, and some of the photos that came out of it, was when he first started to wonder about how close they'd actually become.

He'd known that Martijn was interested in more than just women for a while. But Lando . . . well, it had never really come up in conversation before. Motorsports in general weren't known for being very queer-friendly, so the topic was usually avoided. Max was sure there were queer people in the paddock somewhere, but he'd never asked and he'd never expect them to tell.

But something about the way Lando acted with Martijn . . . the way he smiled and gushed when he got to talk about him, they way he jumped at any opportunity to spend time with him, the way both of them had such an easy, effortless chemistry with each other . . . something about it made him wonder.

When Martijn's birthday rolled around, the last thing he expected was for that wondering to be silenced. He'd sent Martijn a birthday message, as usual. He went about his day, taking care of work, doing a bit of sim racing, and catering to his cats (honestly, they were in charge of him, not the other way around), until he sat down in the evening and opened Instagram out of late-night boredom.

He'd nearly spat out his Red Bull when he'd seen Lando's latest story.

Yeah - no. There was no way that was a photo a totally platonic friend would post for someone's birthday. He was wondering why Lando even had this picture. One where Martijn had a lot of skin showing. After another moment of thought, and an oh moment, he decided that maybe he didn't want the answer to that question after all.

He'd been briefly confused when the story disappeared around twenty minutes later . . . only to be replaced with a different, but no less platonic, choice of photos and captions.

Lando obviously hadn't meant to publicly post that first one. And that made him wonder about the implications behind it. And if he was trying to mask those implications, then Max was sorry to say that his second attempt had mostly failed to do the job.

Was there something more between them?

Once that thought entered his head, he started to pay more attention to their interactions. And now that his eyes were open, he realized just how blind he'd been before. Maybe it was because they were his friends, and he hadn't even considered the possibility of their relationship developing like this at the start. Or maybe Charles wasn't the only one the phrase "I am stupid" could apply to.

He caught Lando and Martijn messaging or talking to each other incredibly often. Their smiles were always bigger after being together. Whenever Lando had a break in his race schedule, he seemed to fly straight to Martijn's side, wherever he was. When Martijn released yet another love song, and Lando liked the announcement post almost instantly, Max finally realized that maybe there was someone he was writing them for. And when he saw the way they looked at each other in person . . . suddenly, he understood what people meant when they used the term "heart-eyes."

Max didn't say anything. It was their place to tell him, not his to tell them he knew. As long as they were happy, he was happy for them.

It was in Zandvoort that he finally got positive confirmation of how close they were. As disappointing as another loss was, he really was happy for Lando's win. God knew he'd fought like a lion for it.

He knew Martijn was around, and expected to see him sometime after he was done with the first of his post-race duties. And sure enough, Max spotted him just outside the garage area as he was stepping out for a break from the craziness. But he wasn't alone.

Lando and Martijn were side by side, laughing and smiling. Lando still seemed to be glowing from his win, and Martijn was basking in that glow. There was no other way Max could describe the way he was looking at Lando other than loving.

He didn't want to interrupt their moment, and stopped far enough away that he wasn't intruding. He didn't intentionally spy on them, but it seemed like every time he glanced back their way, they had somehow gotten closer together. When did they start holding hands?

He really couldn't believe he hadn't seen what they were sooner. Now that he'd noticed it, it was impossible not to.

He had pulled out his phone and was absentmindedly scrolling when he realized that he didn't hear their voices any more. He glanced up, and did a double-take as he caught them pulling apart from a kiss.

He wasn't sure how he managed to fix his gobsmacked expression before the two of them parted and Lando finally turned his way. Lando smiled at him and happily made his way over, so he assumed he was at least somewhat successful.

"Hey, Max!" Lando greeted him. Max met him in a one-armed hug. "Martijn and I were wondering why we hadn't seen you yet. Red Bull kept you a while, huh?"

"Yeah," Max said absentmindedly. His mind was still caught on the image of Lando and Martijn looking at each other like the other was their whole world.

"Hey, um . . . we're good right?" Lando asked, biting his lip nervously. "About today?"

Max snapped out of his distracted thoughts instantly. He didn't want Lando to think he was mad at him about today, not when Lando had had a genuinely great race and it wasn't his fault Max hadn't been able to get the car to perform as well as it needed to. "Of course. You raced great today, Lando. Really."

Lando smiled at him, clapping a friendly hand on his shoulder. "Thanks, Max. That means a lot. You had a great race, too. Had me nervous a couple times out there." He playfully tugged Max along. "Come on, I still need to find Charles and congratulate him, too. Didn't get a chance after the podium."

Max followed along willingly. He'd already spoken to Charles, but he didn't mind following Lando. If they were heading back towards the garages, maybe he could find Oscar and congratulate him too while he was at it.

"Oh, um," Lando said after another minute, sounding a bit nervous again. "How long were you, uh, standing there? Were you waiting for one of us?"

Max knew what he was afraid of - that Max had seen him and Martijn together, and that he wouldn't want to be friends with him any more. He slung an arm around Lando's shoulders in another friendly one-armed hug. Whatever happened between them on track or in the paddock, he never wanted Lando to think something like this would change their friendship.

"Just looking for Martijn, wanted to thank him for coming today," he said. "I was only waiting for a few minutes, don't worry."

Lando nodded, but his tension didn't dissipate, and Max knew that wasn't what he had been worried about. So he continued.

"I'm glad you two have each other, by the way," he said. "He's treating you well, right?"

His meaning was pretty clear. Lando blinked at him in surprise, searching his expression for any sign that he might be hiding his real opinion or getting ready to push him away. Max knew he would find nothing, because he didn't feel anything like that. Who Lando dated was none of his business and didn't affect how he performed on the track. If anything, he was just glad that two of his friends had found happiness with each other.

Finally, Lando smiled in relief. "Yeah," he said softly. He gave Max another pat on the back. "Thanks, Max."

Max smiled back. It didn't matter how heated things got on the track. He would always be glad for his friends' happiness.

[blurredblu]

Why I made Eggman harsher on Sage in my Frontiers rewrite

A reader left me a review for Sonic Horizons on FFN asking why I wrote Eggman to be harsher to Sage. I think the messages we had are informative enough that I want to transfer them to a post on my blog here.

I've anonymised the reader and only made grammatical-level edits to both our messages for clarity and correctness. The reader's messages are indented whereas my responses are not.

Okay, I've got to ask: why are you making Eggman harsher on Sage? He can’t really hate her when she exceeds her function that he made her for and along with having a intellect to talk with.

Hi there!

Eggman is a narcissistic supervillain who holds nothing but disdain for those who diverge from his vision and has no reputation of working with or respecting others' opinions. Sage is his creation the way that children can have narcissistic parents who grow unreasonably disappointed and angry that their children do not cater and adhere to their specific visions, whims, and emotional states. It doesn't matter that, reasonably and objectively speaking, Sage is intelligent and highly capable, because Eggman is not a reasonable or objective person who holds other in any regard higher than he does himself

His and Sage's relationship isn't meant to reflect two reasonable and well-adjusted people, but an unrepentantly evil megalomaniac and his guileless creation who only has one purpose to her existence, a purpose which Eggman's personality makes nigh impossible to sustainably achieve

But that's why he felt a connection with Sage because he created something that he can be proud of and despite all of Orbot and Cubot mistakes and fumbling he keeps them around for some conversations and people to knock around. The Egg Memo did also show what his childhood was like and the fact he was stuck way longer with Sage to grow to appreciate her. Yeah, he's a Narcissist but he still would have pride in Sage and she gives him that longing he wanted as a child and what he could imagine what Maria was like when she was alive. Sometimes evil people can grow to love someone which gives them a different reason to conquer/destroy the world. Plus, if Joker can fall in love and start a real family (an evil one, mind you) so can Eggman. But this is your story and I'm not here to force change I was just wondering.

Hi again!

I should first dispel any notion that this rewrite is supposed to respect or be faithful to Frontiers' interpretations of the characters. As a matter of fact, I'm writing Horizons specifically because I found the characterisation of all the key characters, including and especially Eggman, to be lacking in some way. If you're reading Horizons with an expectation that I am ignoring what Frontiers has established, it is purposeful, to the point of literally being the purpose of this fic in the first place.

On that point, I find the way that Frontiers 'humanised' Eggman to be very boring, predictable, and not well established according to what we know of his character in all the past games. It is very in line with Marvel/DC superhero/supervillain plot beats, or something parodying those beats like Megamind does, to have supervillains actually, in truth(!), have a kernel of Humanity, Sympathy, Compassion, a Human *Non-Socio/Psychopathic Heart, unlockable finally by fulfilling some Freudian conception of familial love that was lacking in their (obviously tragic and loveless, because how could it be any other way) childhood or some such. This storyline, to me, is an absolute snore. Eggman, I have found, is a very compelling and likeable supervillain who has accomplished being that without very popular and predictable plotlines about discovering the Power Of Love that other villains or characters have been routinely subject to.

If Eggman were the type who valued connections or somehow, some way, wanted connection with a being who was in some sense equal to him, it is (1) not hinted at all in most of his existence and (2) not established in a convincing way in Frontiers given point (1). If he built any statues commemorating Literally Anyone But Himself in Eggmanland or had something other than his own face be his logo on every piece of technology he owns, perhaps I could be a little more convinced of the idea that he actually would like, appreciate, and try to nurture something resembling an equal partnership. As things stand, I'm not convinced.

Horizons starts from after Forces where he tasted success and it was all torn away after he worked with a jackal, another person, who in the end exhausted his usefulness and could not help Eggman's cause, and Eggman was ultimately beaten again despite having won. Horizons follows an Eggman who is pulling out all the stops while still remaining his narcissistic, clownish, unrepentantly evil self while creating and exploiting highly advanced technology and, in some senses, being way in over his head about it while still remaining fiendishly clever. He is not like you, or me, or other supervillains so popularised in comics. He is just evil. Period. To me, that does not mean he is uninteresting or unlikeable; far from it. I like him as he is and I want to tell a story given the way that he is.

*Editorial note (one that I haven't communicated with the reviewing reader but write for the current one)

The idea of goodness and humanity always seems to include the stereotyping of sociopathy and psychopathy as inherently evil, which I do recognise to be false and the realities to be much more nuanced. It contributes to a narrow viewpoint about human nature and humanity that to have a Human Heart is to have a Squeaky Clean Bill Of Mental Health, and that those are the only ways in which villains can be compelling, relatable, or likeable to an audience, none of which I think to be true

On another note, though I use narcissistic as a qualifier, I don't use it to mean that Eggman has narcissistic personality disorder, or NPD, proper. I also don't think that someone having NPD or narcissistic traits automatically makes them evil; reality, again, is far more nuanced than such a flattened picture provides. At the end of the day, though, Eggman is extremely and cartoonishly self-centred and self-loving in all his ambitions to take over the world, which can only be aptly described as him being narcissistic

[autisticandroids]

been reading various discussions on the genuinely thorny issue of ao3 moderation - mostly what to do about racist fanworks, but also the eminently plausible possibility that due to having lax content policies, ao3 could become a safe haven for white supremacists.

my first takeaway so far has been - it seems like having some level of content moderation would be a good idea, if only to deal with the hypothetical nazis who could use ao3 as a place to post their manifestos. like, i am in general suspicious of content moderation on ao3, because it's both hard (ao3 is big and has a shoe-string budget; moreover, the ethics of content-moderation in general are thorny, as most content moderation is done exploitatively and it can even be traumatic for the moderators) and likely to be abused. but i am coming around to the idea that ao3 has to at least be prepared to defend against the people who tend to show up on "free speech platforms" if nothing else.

my second takeaway is that it would be really easy for ao3 to have better anti-harassment policies, and its failure to do this much is pathetic. it's one thing to host fictional stories with arguably reprehensible content; that's a complex issue both in terms of whether it's worth doing anyway and in terms of who decides what's reprehensible (and in fact, who decides where the line is re: what's reprehensible enough that it's not worth doing anyway). however, it should be easy to simply temp-ban or permaban users who do things like use racial slurs in their comments or incite harassment in their author's notes. that's actually pretty simple and inarguable. ao3's failure to do this is embarrassing.

my third takeaway has been that i think people are just entirely failing to note one of the biggest likely problems with more content moderation - spurious mass-reporting. lots of these arguments take into account that people might do things like "report fic with sex between an eighteen year old and a twenty five year old as pedophilia" in good faith because they're stupid, and i agree that that will definitely happen because fandom is fandom and online is online. however, it's also common to use intentionally spurious mass reporting as a form of harassment on platforms that are more trigger happy with a suspension or ban than ao3. and that's not something i really see brought up? this seems like one of the most obvious problems to be tackled on a more moderated ao3.

my fourth takeaway is that these calls for action against racism tend to use examples of homophobia and misogyny in their hypotheticals in order to seem more neutral/cater to people who don't care that much about racism. but i think that's a bad source for hypotheticals because imo trying to ban homophobia/misogyny on ao3 is way more obviously bad than trying to ban racism. like, ao3 is a porn site. it hosts things people want to get off to, mostly. and because we live in a patriarchal society, a lot of what people get off to, regardless of their own gender, is going to just be eroticized misogyny. that's what happens when patriarchy inevitably shapes people's sexualities. this is nearly ubiquitous in porn. and i think homophobia kind of piggybacks on this both because a lot of homophobia is also a result of patriarchy. and patriarchy... well, it governs how people fuck, and what turns them on. plus, if you mix the whole eroticized misogyny thing with most of the porn on ao3 being slash you're going to get a lot of homophobia as a result. so i don't think this hypothetical really works the way people want it to. (also homophobia and misogyny are simply less salient given that fandom spaces are already mostly set up to cater to a very female, very queer demographic, because fandom of the sort ao3 caters to skews female and queer. but this would hold true even if that wasn't the case, imo).

[odmn124]

I kind of realised something about the number of characters for each of the twst dorm - if someone else already did, nvm, mb, t'is but a thought.

Indulge my thoughts here. Maybe I am overthinking it, but especially after seeing all the Tsumsted wonderland Groovy cards so far, the number of characters for each dorm seems to hold significance as to the dynamics of the characters themselves.

For Heartslabyul, Savanaclaw, Octanivelle and Pomefiore, it is all in odd numbers, contrasting Scarabia, Ignihyde and Diasomnia. Now, this might not actually matter, but I think it actually works with each of the characters' dynamic and standing, especially when interacting with one another.

Heartslabyul, Savanaclaw, Octanivelle and Pomefiore, despite their differences, unanimously establish that their dorm leader are usually positioned smack dab in the middle for a number of the dorm groovies.

And while that doesnt mean that the other dorms dont value their leaders, the personalities of the mentioned dorms very much match the physical positions in these examples.

Riddle in Heartslaybyul sees himself as a supreme authority that upholds and enforces the rules of the Queen of Hearts. That is clearly presented so when he interacts with the other dorm students, acting as a leader. [Plus having Ace, Deuce, Cater and Trey act as the 4 types of cards work with the aesthetic of the dorm too.]

Leona sees himself as the King or Savanaclaw like the King of Beasts, for his intelligence, wit and strength [and also desires to be so for his kingdom despite the realities of his social standing]. Despite his more lazier moments, there is clear respect for him in the dorm anyways, especially when he does show up and act more like a leader when the situation calls for it.

Azul sees himself as calculative in managing his dorm and businesses, and knows when and how to use others for his own benefit while maintaining his authority - to some extent. Yes, the Leech brothers do indeed listen and help carry out his plans, but that is largely to their discretion and for their own amusement in some ways. Regardless, this is clearly shown in handling the Monstro Lounge, during the Octanivelle arc and the Scarabia arc.

Vil leads Pomefiore like the Beautiful Queen, and sees himself as the top, never stopping to reach perfection. This is prevalent in how he interacts with his dorm, like in the Dorm SSR story.

These personalities perfectly would suit people who would want to be in the middle as the focal attention.

Contrastingly, for Scarabia, Ignihyde and Diasomnia, that is not really the case.

Kalim as the easiest example, doesn't seem to show himself as authoritarian, or superior to anyone. Rather, he sees other dorm members like he would with other students, simply fellow classmates. This extends to Jamil, despite the nature of their relationship as master and servant, and this shows in the tsumsted groovy, where they both appear on both sides rather than the middle.

[ALSO SIDE NOTE:in this tsumsted groovy, Jamil is at the front, possibly wanting to covet the attention of the viewer in this shot, much like how he wanted to covet the dorm leader position. NOT REALLY RELEVANT TO MY POST, BUT I LIKED THIS DETAIL].

For Idia, while I cannot really think of any examples of Ignihyde SSRs, he also doesn't really seem to be showing himself to be superior to the other students, [aside from taking on the role of dorm leader], let alone to his brother Ortho. We don't see him being in the focal position because his personality does not seem to mirror this attitude, except for the Ignihyde arc when he is acting as a director de facto while his parents were away.

And lastly Diasomnia - now this oen might not make the most sense compared to the previous two I mentioned. the dorm puts Malleus on a pedestal, and for sure, he is certainly someone who will eventually take the position of a king or leader as the crown prince. But despite this, the way he interacts and presents himself in the story thus far shows otherwise. For Sebek and Silver, ofc they would see themselves as below Malleus' standing, and if it were the three of them only, the positioning would make sense. but WE HAVE LILLIA [for now lol].

Lillia acts as a parent, and often represents Malleus in meetings due to his absence, but doesn't assert power over the dorm like Riddle or Leona for instance. Additionally, Malleus does not really enforce his authority that much to the dorm, it is more like he observes their shenanigans and lets it be, sometimes causing some shenanigans himself like in his Dorm SSR story.

Again, I am 99% probably overthinking it, but I love that in some ways, these dynamics are reflected well in the groovy arts and number of characters in the dorms.

[kmze]

My attention span had spread thin by the time of s8 so I barely remember anything except a few sc moments and I'm probably in the minority but I loved loved the first proposal and more than the second one.Your post also reminded me Bonenzo was actually a thing.I don't know why I thought he died in s6.I would love to know though what you think about how different the finale would have been if kevin hadn't returned.

Oh yeah I think when I watched it lived I zoned out on a lot of the plot because I was so tired after S7 and was just happy to get good SC scenes but on rewatch I really enjoyed it. I think a lot of it was that there was so much chaos in S7 with them driving around and different locations and finally in S8 it was basically back to Mystic Falls with all the familiar sets. I liked that it was a new species of villain with the siren and I liked when they used the creepy whistle and I liked the search for the macguffins felt like S1. God Bonenzo lol, I have the most complicated feelings about it because on one hand I'm glad Bonnie got a guy who was completely and totally devoted to her and loved her but Enzo is so... he should have died in S6! And in S8 they give me nothing, just meaningless dialogue and dances.

I actually think the finale would have been pretty similar if Kevin stayed away because Brett Matthews basically said that in his EW podcast breakdown on S8. The writers planned out the whole season once they decided it was going to be Damon dying and they liked the idea of Damon compelling Stefan to let him die, which I agree with that was the only way Stefan would have left him. KW came back around 8x11 and was like Stefan killed Enzo he has to die, which I don't buy. I think what happened is his brain exploded at the idea of Stefan and Elena both being human at the end of the show and not together and basically guilted Julie into changing it. The writers only made Stefan human because they needed the brother who lived to be mortal to do the final scene. And because Stefan was human when KW came in the writers wouldn't feel as strongly about him living as they did prior, plus he was absolutely miserable as a human!

So what I think would have been different in the finale is Damon would have seen Elena in limbo and they would have had a heartfelt goodbye. It would have been a great full circle moment from 1x22 when he said "he came to the town to destroy it" and now he saved it. Stefan still would have offered the Boarding House for the school as part of his atonement and the 'S' would have been the Salvatore one (like in the kitchen) rather than the 'S' on his ring. Damon probably got some memorial wing or the library (not sure Damon knows how to read though). Probably a SE scene at Damon's grave that would have mirrored their meeting at the graveyard in the pilot. Still could have done the Klaus letter, Bonnie's ending would have stayed and I think Elena would have left MF for med school and we'd see some scene of her with her family watching over her maybe with a new guy or not. Stefan would have done the final diary outro and said something about how he lived a long life helping his wife with the school saving kids being the man he was supposed to be and that's the end of his story (FULL CIRCLE AGAIN) then he'd find Damon in peace like the ending scene we got.

Edited to add: Completely forgot to say I LOVE THE 8x02 THE MOST! I mean I do think the 8x14 proposal is one of Stefan's best speeches (it's that or the 6x22 one) and it's beautiful and sincere but that first one was SO THEM! And I'm more partial to their relationship as two vampires/immortals than Stefan ending up human, that was always the root of their relationship and Caroline helped Stefan accept more of his vampire side and here he was proposing to her with eternity being the goal. And I kind of love that people hate on it because they hate that it wasn't a cliche speech and Steroline got a proposal catered exclusively to them, like no other ship on this show could have done that proposal. And the kiss was probably their best kiss.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Actually, while we're on the topic of pets, what pets do you see the others with?

[Referencing this post!]

I'll (slightly) cheat and condense everyone into their groups, then say "whatever animals fit the motif of their respective character/film". There's some notes for each boy as well, but not always in the most intense of details. (Please keep in mind that this is only covering the main 22 students from NRC!!) Heartslabyul already tends to hedgehogs and flamingos, so those could be common creatures to have as pets/familiars (especially among the card soldiers like Cater, Trey, Deuce, and Ace) Alternatively, there could be other animals from Alice in Wonderland such as cats (for the Cheshire Cat), oysters, living flowers, walruses, dormouses, rabbits/hares, etc. If we want to stray outside of the dorm motifs, a chameleon for Ace (since he has a talent for mimicking people)?? Cater with a fox because of how crafty he can be?? (I don't feel super strong on this choice.) Trey is Normal so a cat or a dog for him!! The dog could be useful for sniffing out special ingredients while a cat is fitting because Trey's VA also voices Lucius... And of course, Deuce deserves a chicken so it can lay many eggs! Riddle I see getting one of the standard pets because "it's the rule/tradition at Heartslabyul!" Uhhh, mostly savanna animals for Savanaclaw I guess?? But again, the same moral debate I mentioned in the original post still applies here. (Like, would it be weird for a lion/wolf/hyena beastman such as Leona/Jack/Ruggie to have a lion/wolf/hyena as a pet/familiar???) Octavinelle would have a lot of aquatic creatures as pets/familiars. I think the "perfect" pet/familiar to match Azul's image would be eels (to mimic Ursula). Not sure what Jade or Floyd would have (the JP fandom uses a dolphin and a shark emoji, respectively, to refer to them so maybe those)?? But since Jade is the informant for the group, I'm thinking something small and agile so he can send it to spy for him. (Plus, it could chill out in his terrariums for funsies later.) Floyd would have something more aggressive... Scarabia would have unconventional animals from all over Twisted Wonderland! Kalim is someone I see as having many animal friends, so I can't think of just one animal. Maybe a tiger (like Princess Jasmine)? But it's also fun to imagine Kalim riding in on a massive elephant! He was originally supposed to have a monkey familiar (like Aladdin), so I can easily see that happening as well. Jamil has a clearer desire for a specific animal companion, and that would be a parrot. I can also see a snake for... obvious reasons. Maybe a bug to really torment them. Peacock for Vil because he sits in a peacock throne and it has a majestic vibe. A crow or raven also works due to its association with the Evil Queen. Rook, like Kalim, is someone I see with a variety of animals and not a specific one. Whatever his pet/familiar is, it would probably be a skilled hunter. I'm thinking like some kind of predator bird like a hawk or falcon. Epel... nothing immediately comes to mind, but maybe something small and cute but tough like he is. Idia would want a kawaii widdle neko-chan (his words, not mine) to keep as a lap warmer while he aggressive games. Ortho is more of a dog person (yes, this is purely because of his Cerberus Gear card), though I picture him engaging with virtual pets and/or those cybernetic dogs more than like... actual animals. I think Lilia's bats already count as his pets, although they are rarely ever mentioned in dialogue. Silver, as a member of the light trio, is another person that I see with many animals (squirrels, deer, birds, rabbits, etc.). Sebek I feel would shout that every animal is inferior to Malleus and that no pet he has could ever match Malleus's, etc. etc. etc. He's usually associated with crocs, so I think many would gravitate to one as Sebek's pet??? I think it would be funny if his familiar was something small, cute, and kinda pathetic (like a chipmunk or something) so he acts all bashful about it... but hey, I think a horse (so he can ride proudly into combat) also works. Malleus I already covered in the original post linked above.

[glasseditor]

signs of affection. [cd]

synopsis: You had forgotten to return his jacket. Surely, he wouldn’t mind if you kept it for a while. In fact, he would probably say something along the lines of It looks super cute on you anyways! instead of asking for it back.

tags: cater diamond x reader, gender-neutral reader, sfw, fluff

ao3: signs of affection. [cd]

word count: ~2.3k

After every date with Cater Diamond, you did the same thing. He would walk you back to your dorm, you would sink into the couch, and then pass out into a deep slumber within seconds. Today’s activity was one of his favorites, but it was especially tiring: cafè hopping.

Cater had a long list of all the trendy new places that he wanted to visit and, of course, he would drag you along with him. He begged you over text, through magicam dms, your school email (?), and then in person. You agreed since he had assured you that there weren’t too many spots on the list and that he would pay for everything.

It’s not that you really minded all that much in the first place, but you had to admit, you started getting tired around cafè #2…out of 7. It would’ve been easier on you and your stomach if Cater actually enjoyed eating any of the sweets he ordered rather than just looking at them and taking pictures from every angle, multiple times. You had eaten enough cake and pastries to feed all of Heartslabyul in a single day.

Despite feeling so tired, for some reason, you found yourself unable to fall asleep for your regular post-date nap. Instead, your mind thought of how Cater snuck pictures of you while he thought you weren’t paying attention and how he smiled to himself while he looked through them afterwards. It wandered to how he tucked your hair behind your ear, so as to make sure that it didn’t touch the frosting while you ate. And how he held your hands together and blew hot air on them when he noticed your hands balled up and your face tinted with blush from the cold. When it was time to walk to the next location and you were still shivering, he took off his own jacket and draped it over your shoulders.

These little thoughts were the reasons that you simply could not fall asleep. Tiring as it was, any day spent with your boyfriend was a day you looked forward to. Plus, you would never decline if it was something Cater insisted on. If he really, really wanted something, he would only insist on it with you. Anyone else and it would be something more like, I kind of wanted to do this, but if you wanna do something else, that’s cool too—we can do that instead! He would never admit to it, if he even realized it in the first place, but he was a bit of a pushover.

The kiss that he left when he dropped you off lingered on your cheek along with his scent. Laying on the couch now, you felt a calm warmth at the thought of him. His smell made it feel as though he were still there with you in your room. You wish he could’ve stayed with you longer and wondered why it was that you were thinking of him to the point of missing him just ten minutes after you had last seen him.

Oh. You came to a realization when you looked down at your sleeves to find that they weren’t the same ones you left with. You had forgotten to return his jacket.

Surely, he wouldn’t mind if you kept it for a while. In fact, he would probably say something along the lines of It looks super cute on you anyways! instead of asking for it back. But, it would be cold later today and you knew how much he loved this particular jacket because of the little red accents and the soft lining along the inside. You figured that you should call him, just in case.

Much to your surprise, when you pressed the call button on your phone, a cutesy pop rock tone started to ring in your pocket. How did he even forget his phone? He always had it on him as far as you could remember—so much so that some people saw the phone as an extension of Cater Diamond himself.

No matter. Around this time today, he should be at a club meeting for rehearsal with Lilia and Kalim. You had both of their numbers anyways, so getting ahold of him would be easy. The phone rang a few times, then a bright voice started.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Kalim it’s me! Could you put Cater on the phone?”

“Gotcha! CATER! IT’S FOR YOU!!!”

You knew that he was loud in person, but over the phone, with the mic peaking, Kalim was even louder.

“Hellooo~! Cater speaking—“

“Hi, it’s me.”

“Oh! We were just together, I didn’t think you’d call so soon. What’s up?” he spoke in a voice softer than the one that he had first responded with.

When he spoke to you, his voice was calmer and more honest. Yet, he still always sounded excited when he heard your voice. It was something that he did unintentionally, but you never failed to notice it and smile to yourself.

“I just realized that I still have your jacket. You want me to bring it back to you?”

“Hehe, aren’t I so lucky to have someone who would go through all that trouble just for me?” he giggled. “Hold on to it for me. You can wear it out until we see each other again since it looks super cute on you anyways!”

“But it’s so cold out! I don’t want you to get sick and—”

“Like you said, it’s cold out,” Cater parroted you. “That’s why I don’t want you coming to me and getting sick yourself. I have other jackets I can wear—and I’ll be seeing you tomorrow too.”

Knowing he wouldn’t back down with you, you reluctantly gave in. He was right anyways, though you didn’t want to admit it. Maybe you just wanted to see him again—as if the time in seven cafès wasn’t enough.

“Oh right!” you suddenly recalled what was in your pocket. “You left your phone in here, silly.”

“Ahhh, that’s where it was! I was worried that I might’ve left it at one of the places we visited,” he sighed. “At least now I don’t have to retrace my steps and visit all of those cafès again.”

“So you did know it was too many!” you reprimanded. ”Anyways, don’t you need your phone?”

“Hmm…” he thought for a while. There was a long pause of silence before his response. “Nah!”

Huh?

“I’ll pick you up for class tomorrow morning and you can give it back to me then! Keep it safe for me, will you?”

Huhhh???

“Ah, but could you post a few of the pics we took today on Magicam? It’s peak engagement time right now!”

“Sure, but—you really want to go without your phone today? And which pictures should I even post?”

“I needed a social media detox anyways,” he answered. “And for the pictures—well, I trust your judgment!”

HUHHH??? Cater Diamond? Without his phone? You obviously knew that he could live without it, but he didn’t seem to mind just leaving it with you in the slightest. It was the first time that you had ever seen him be okay with someone else keeping his phone.

“O-okay, if you’re really sure about it,” you hesitated. “What’s the password?”

“I trust that it’s in safe hands,” he spoke with confidence in his decision. “And you won’t need a password.”

No password? You held his phone in your hands, the red diamond on the top right corner of his case staring at you. “You really don’t mind me having your phone to myself, right?”

“Of course not! Not if it’s you,” he laughed. “You can go through it all you want. Oh—it’s getting to the good part! I gotta go—“

“The good part? Are you guys even playing anything?” you questioned. You just barely caught a dramatic confession line through the phone in the poorest audio quality you’ve ever heard in your life. “Are you—are you guys watching a movie?”

In the background, you hear another voice. “Hang up, HANG UP.”

Click.

Lilia.

Everyone knew that their club did fuck nothing, but how did they seriously get away with watching a whole movie? Since you promised him, you figured you should get that post up on Magicam. After all, with every second that ticked away from “peak engagement time,” the algorithm was working against Cater’s ever so hard earned likes. Plus, you had already established that you weren’t going to be getting that post-date nap anytime soon.

With each picture you scrolled through, you felt your heart grow soft. In just the one day that you two spent together, Cater had managed to take so many. Ones of you smiling, ones of you eating, and ones of you together—all of which were saved into an album with your name on it.

The album had hundreds of photos saved to it dating all the way back to when you and Cater were just friends. It was odd to think about when you weren’t dating Cater. Looking at the first picture in the album and the most recent one, you thought about just how close the two of you have gotten.

The first photo was of you, Cater, Trey, and Riddle at an unbirthday party—smiling, but formal and distant. You remembered how, at that time, Cater had taken pictures of all the sweets and then put it to the side—saying it was Way too cute to eat! or something to that effect. The way he took so many pictures was still the same, but now he told you the truth—saying Sweets kind of gross me out or I’d rather watch you eat it instead ☆〜（ゝ。∂）

The most recent photo in the album was noticeably less tense and more intimate. A close up selfie of both of you—Cater hugging your shoulder and kissing your cheek. Your eyes were pinched closed while Cater’s were closed gently. You couldn’t help but think about how happy you both looked. Just looking at the picture made you feel the warmth of his immense love for you and heightened your own immense love for him.

It had been some time when you finally remembered to post the pictures to Cater’s page and you were guessing that “peak engagement time” had already passed. Regardless, the moment the post loaded, likes started to rake in.

Of course, you knew he was popular. He put so much effort into posting and making his feed look nice that it would only make sense for him to get so much attention from it. You wondered how, with all of those likes and followers, he was still able to pour so much time and attention into you. Somewhere in the back of your mind, you wondered if that time and attention would last. But for now, you would accept his love for what it is and give your love to him.

When you came back to the couch after a study session, you picked up Cater’s phone into your hands. Your tired eyes checked the time to see that three hours had passed and the phone automatically unlocked as you showed your face. Just three hours and hundreds of likes and comments had appeared on the post.

Cater has said that you could go through his phone all you wanted, but when you thought about it, you realized that you had already seen mostly everything before. He never really hid anything from you and neither of you felt the need to keep things secret from each other.

You looked at the taskbar that held Magicam, messages, photos, and his music app while you contemplated which one to open. The one app that you had never really considered looking at was the music app. Sure, why not?

As you would expect, his playlists were organized and pleasing to the eye. Not only were his public playlists complete with fancy font and filtered images, but so were his private playlists.

You admired Cater’s music taste. He listened to a wide variety of music and it reflected in the band’s setlist. If you were introduced to new music, it was almost always Cater that had shown it to you. His playlist titles were things like guitar riffs and great mixing! for music that he wanted to play with the band. But there were also playlists that were just top hits that he loved.

Scrolling along, you found a playlist entitled with just your name. The picture was one that you recognized as a date you went on a few months ago. That day, the two of you went on a picnic and Cater had brought his acoustic. As the sun was setting, he had played you a ballad that he liked as a kid and told you that it was one of his favorite songs.

The picture on the playlist with your name was your fingers connected with his in a heart shape between the bridge and the pickguard of his acoustic. You opened it to find a handful of songs—all of which were representative of your relationship.

Songs you listened to on dates, songs you guys made fun of together, and songs that reminded Cater of you were all compiled into a neat playlist. You recognized one from the setlist of the first show you attended with Cater, a song from your favorite movie, and even a song that you mentioned liking during your cafè date just today. Most significantly, you noticed Cater’s favorite song—the ballad that he had played you at the top of a grassy hill with soft orange hues stretching across the sky.

You hoped with all your heart that you would make more memories like that—more memories with Cater. Thinking of more songs being added to this playlist, a wave of contentment and peace came upon you. And soon, you had your post-date nap.

[ryuichirou]

Replies

More replies! Related to our KaliJami comic + our post from yesterday, and, as always, about some other stuff. There are also some spicier ones at the end of the post.

Anonymous asked:

I'm guessing the latest comic is before they became first years.

Yep! I don’t know if we got any info about how exactly it went in canon, but I’m guessing Kalim didn’t take the fact that they would be separated for the first time very well.

Ironically, I think he got over it right before he got transferred to the NRC lol And all that emotional growth (well, an attempt) went out the window.

Anonymous asked:

Jamil's side of KaliJami is basically that one post that's like 'my favorite trope is when a character realizes they're in love with another character and instead of being cute about it, they're just like "No, fuck, god why?!"'

Yeah, exactly! If Jamil really was to realise that he is in love with Kalim, it would probably be the worst news ever for him lol He’d probably be disappointed in himself too…

Anonymous asked:

Azul X Jamil is the definition of comedy, while Kalim X Jamil is the definition of tragedy. Yeah, I wonder if Azul and Kalim is jealous to one another?

That’s a nice way to look at it, Anon. And together they create an absolute insanity in Jamil’s mind lol

I don’t think Kalim would be jealous at first. He seems to be genuinely happy when Jamil gets along with someone. If anything, if he found out that Jamil slept with Azul, he would assume that Jamil is in love with him and that they are dating, and would try to support them. But I still feel like deep inside he would feel the sting of jealousy, similarly to how he felt it when Jamil was chosen instead of him as a lead vocalist in ch5. How far is he going to take this jealousy? Who knows. Maybe we’ll play around with this theme in the future.

Azul, on the other hand, is very jealous by nature, plus easily annoyed by naïve and gullible people. So while he isn’t antagonistic towards Kalim (he is an Asim after all, Azul has to stay friendly with him), he would still definitely feel jealous. His relationship with Jamil is supposed to be mutually beneficial and not romantic, but Azul has a crush, so of course he’s going to be petty about it lol Nothing of this will be shown to Kalim, he’s way to profitable for Azul to put his own feelings above his gain

Anonymous asked:

Has Ortho been jealous about anyone close to Vil? I knew you talked about Neige but what about Jack. They knew each other way longer than anyone. And what about Rook? Sure Ortho likes him...but we know who he is.

It’s always a bit weird with Ortho and honestly depends on a scenario you want to go with, because the whole jealousy spectrum is possible with this boy lol

I can easily see him coexisting with Rook and Jack and all those people, but I can also see him trying to act like everything is okay, but feeling extremely jealous and possessive. He isn’t used to sharing – his closes person (Idia) is entirely his own, and while he wants him to make friends, he knows that Idia isn’t going anywhere. But Vil is popular, and there are a lot of eyes on him, and a lot of people are close to him.

I don’t think he’ll have a rivalry with Rook – I actually feel like they would bond over their possessiveness in a weird way lol But I can also see Ortho getting teasing and clingy with Vil, just to assert his dominance and make everyone remember that even though there are other people close to Vil, he, Ortho, is the most special boy.

Anonymous asked:

Thoughts on malleus x cater 🤔 the size difference is surely something to consider

Replied here!

In general, every Malleus is great because of just how big he is… all the other characters are so small next to him~

Anonymous asked:

i'm the exceptions anon, and thank you for answering, that makes a lot of sense!

Of course! <3 I’m glad I managed to clarify what I meant.

Anonymous asked:

I’m not sure if you’ve answered something like this before, but what are your thoughts on mobs with characters? The beach scene in book 5 has a lot of…potential…with Deuce and Epel

Anon wait

Anon let me grab the loudest mic in the universe

YES.

We absolutely love anything with mobs, doujins and scenarios with mobs in general are one of our absolute favourites LOL I can’t even stress just HOW MUCH WE LOVE IT.

And YES THE BEACH SCENE IN BOOK 5!!! Of course Deuce and Epel managed to not only escape but also fight the guys, but the potential… the potential is too sweet not to think about how else the scene could’ve ended. Deuce and Epel are also kind of perfect for this type of thing, both of them are so cute and pretty, and oh how horrible it would be for them to get outnumbered and mistreated for being so cute. Especially Epel, who basically seduced them with his cuteness in the actual scene anyway lol

In general, twst has a surprising amount of scenes that could lead to steamy mob/character sex, but I guess this is what happens when 85% of the student body consists of spooky douchebags with no eyes.

I gotta draw something with mobs one day…

Anonymous asked:

Flojami when Floyd fucks Jamil brutally and pulls his hair real hard that's when Jamil realized he's a bit of a masochist (<- would never admit it)

See, this is why Jamil doesn’t like being around the octa-boys: they make him learn a lot of things about himself LOL but never to this degree, this is purely Floyd’s merit.

But yeah, Floyd is probably the most perfect sexual partner to unlock Jamil’s inner masochist: he’s mean, he’s chaotic and he doesn’t give a shit. Jamil would tell him to never do this type of stuff without permission (or AT ALL!!), but they both know that the fact that Jami didn’t expect it made it much more pleasurable to him.

Anonymous asked:

I finally got around to reading your dad hcs, and because I am obsessed with diasomnia forever and ever, I cannot stop thinking about Silver as a dad.... Would he have sex with his own kid(s) if he thinks it's just as normal as any other parent-child activities or training? He's such a good man, and if he followed his instincts more, he would be the perfect dad, but if he's trying to immitate his beloved father's parenting.... 😔

Sdfsdf ANOOOON!!! 😭 The Vanrouge methods of alternative fae parenting survives another generation. This is so beautifully cursed.

Well to be completely fair, I doubt Silver would do it, because, just like you’ve said, he has his good man instincts, and they usually lead to him making right decisions. He also has some common sense (despite Lilia’s hard work…), which we’ve seen in that vignette in which Sebek and he tried to take care of a baby bat.

At the same time, Silver definitely doesn’t think that him having sex with Lilia was a bad thing, SO LOL I guess the only reason he wouldn’t do it to his own kids would be because he wouldn’t want to.

But at the same time!!

Would Silver think at any point think that it’s his responsibility to teach the young ones how to fuck someone properly, i.e. lend his butt to them for educational purposes? He would. And he would be so proud of their achievements…

Raising an army of future little Lilia Vanrouges, one tiny top at a time.

[alexistudies]

my first six months at purdue by @alexistudies

introduction/background

my first 6 months at purdue have been some of the most academically challenging months of my life since early in my undergraduate studies. if you're wondering why i am at purdue, it's because i am doing a post-baccalaureate research program. think of a master's program but 1) without the degree, 2) only one year long, and 3) fully funded - meaning courses & fees are covered and i get a decent paycheck every month. i chose to pursue this route instead of a master's program because i wanted to have a smooth transition from my undergrad discipline to this, and to confirm that pursuing biomedical engineering is truly something i want to do. moreover, all my master's program offers provided little to no funding so this also made the most financial sense.

research: what type of research i do + why its been an uphill battle

the lab i decided to join focuses on neural engineering using electrophysiology in mice to investigate ways of creating artificial sensation for neural prosthesis, while also looking at things like sensory encoding and deep brain stimulation for neurodevelopmental disorder treatment. because our work is in vivo, this means we learn how to do neurosurgeries of implanting electrodes in mice, then stimulation and recording while they're awake (and sometimes asleep depending on the project). this has been challenging to say the least because the surgeries require a lot of skill, tactfulness, and patience. plus, animals are unpredictable.

i joined my lab in july, started getting trained on the surgeries in august and began practicing in september. these surgeries require a certain level of skill and technique that i just haven't acquired yet, but we're trying! due to my struggles of surgeries being unsuccessful, some mice dying, etc... i haven't collected any data yet. however, i can tell that after winter break, i should be able to restart surgeries and collect data .. which would be GREAT since i'm presenting at a conference in February (probably)

grad school

despite the struggles with actual experiments and such, this has been great preparation for graduate school becauuuse we all know graduate school is a marathon and not a sprint. i was successful in submitting all my PhD and fellowship applications and i can't wait to see how things turn out. i've already had 1 interview event, and i've been notified of 3 others. things are looking up.

outside of the literal applications, i have taken 2 light graduate level classes on sci-comm and using citation management software. recently switched from mendeley to zotero and i can't say i'm mad about it. additionally, i'll be taking a more meaty course in the spring called Neural Systems. i'm looking forward to it content wise, i'm just hoping i can handle the coursework on top of interviews and research obligations. my planner will be my savior.

highlights

living on my own! super exciting and enlightening. very freeing. oh and seeing snow REALLY fall for the first time!

finding some cool coffee shops around campus

experiencing a campus with a lot of school pride and culture... you can't beat that. my undergrad institution was a commuter school catering to a different population, so that vibe wasn't present. this is a nice 180

presenting at ABRCMS

other struggles

rebuilding a support group here. i have my partner, my lab, and 1 or 2 friends but i'm really hoping to meet more people next semester. this will be crucial if i decide to stay here for my PhD

not having a car. whew its rough but we're making moves to get a vehicle soon. no later than August 2023

solid 7/10 if you ask me, but lets check back in after winter is over lol

[ordinaryschmuck]

I posted 1,869 times in 2022

That's 132 more posts than 2021!

817 posts created (44%)

1,052 posts reblogged (56%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@moringmark

@ordinaryschmuck

@l-egionaire

@tigerlily1615

@whitebeltwriter

I tagged 1,070 of my posts in 2022

Only 43% of my posts had no tags

#the owl house - 373 posts

#reblogged - 273 posts

#not mine - 266 posts

#luz noceda - 177 posts

#asks - 137 posts

#send asks if you want - 137 posts

#ask me anything - 137 posts

#eda clawthorne - 113 posts

#toh hunter - 100 posts

#the golden guard - 98 posts

Longest Tag: 112 characters

#i will always remember him as the guy who yelled at the aliens to piss off when invading his planet on christmas

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Quick Thoughts on “The Tomb” from Moon Knight

“The Tomb” might just be my favorite episode. Why? Let me count the ways.

The many great interactions between Marc and Steven. They’re fun and even heartwarming at one point. Plus, Marc punching Steven in the face is pretty funny, I won’t lie.

Steven trying to prove himself as someone useful. Maybe not in a fight, but definitely in a chance to solve a mystery or figure out what everyone needs to do.

Layla. Layla is the stand-out star in this, having moments that proves how badass she can be, as well as this realistic reaction to something heartbreaking.

Arthur Harrow is selling himself as one of my favorite MCU villains. The way he twists characters minds is top notch. He doesn’t lie and doesn’t entirely manipulate. In actuality, all he does is tell them truths. Truths that hurt the characters and make them do...occasionally stupid things. And that’s great. I love a villain who wins his fights through his words rather than actions.

This episode is one third archeological adventure, one third horror story, and one third psychological thriller. And I was invested through all of it, especially that final scene. I won’t give away how, but it really makes you question EVERYTHING you’ve seen in the show so far. And, yeah, that last zing got a chuckle out of me. Well done.

So, yeah. “The Tomb” is a great episode. It was a ton of fun and, with how things left off, it makes me excited for more. Much like every episode before it, but...this one did it better.

628 notes - Posted April 20, 2022

#4

Reminder:

This happened.

And all of our souls felt a little lighter because of it--DOES AMITY KICK UP HER LEFT LEG?!

Aw, that’s cute...

915 notes - Posted July 4, 2022

#3

Why do I love this expression?

Because I can easily see this in a 2D cartoon. Somewhere in the vein of Steven Universe or maybe even The Owl House. Like, if Turning Red was hand drawn, this expression would have been made in no time flat. But the animators worked extra hard in making this movie look like a 2D film with a 3D makeover. And that type of dedication earns so much of my respect.

926 notes - Posted March 10, 2022

#2

Please watch Wendell & Wild.

Not just because it's a Halloween classic in the making.

Not just because it has a unique art style.

Not just because it has decent trans rep (which is cool to see it get more attention in recent years).

And not just because it has Key and Peele playing the best characters in the movie.

Watch Wendell & Wild to prove that animation can cater to more than just kids. This movie is PG-13 (but a 90s PG), meaning it's more for older audiences without relying on constant cursing, grotesque violence, and ludicrous amounts of sex and drugs. Instead, it uses creativity and genuinely good writing to tell a story that, while not really too intense for kids, it's at least a lot more advanced for them. And that's great. I want more animation that appeals to a vast majority of audiences of many ages and proves that type of animated content can be successful so people can stop saying animation is just for kids. But it's not. Anybody of any age should be able to enjoy animation and all its strengths, and the best way to do that is to give movies like Wendell & Wild a shot.

So, please, watch it.

2,602 notes - Posted October 29, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

“Animation is just for kids!”

...Ok...Ok...Let’s take a look at some of that animation that’s “Just for kids,” shall we?

Adventure Time is a series that touches a lot on philosophical questions and theories, with one episode having one character ask “If just being born is the greatest act of creation then what are you supposed to do after that?”

Avatar: The Last Airbender dives deep into having characters question what is right and wrong when dealing with a horrible evil. Like, is it better to harm anybody, even the most innocent old man, just because their society is run by fascists? Should we torture those who tortured us? And should we really kill someone just because they are irredeemable? All hard questions, each with uneasy answers.

The Owl House has a powerful antagonist whose goal is to commit genocide on an entire race of innocent people due to being raced to believe that said people are evil, thus stating that the most dangerous people are the ones who are prejudiced and ignorant.

Centaurworld  has a scene where a man tries to drown an elk. No, I’m not kidding. That happened. It was on screen and everything.

Encanto teaches a lesson on generational trauma, the pressures of living up to expectations, and stating that the best gift is being alive and having those around you.

And do I even have to say ANYTHING about Pixar?! The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Up, Inside Out, Soul, and even Toy Story all have themes and morals that can speak to adults while also being simple enough for kids to understand.

But that’s just animation for kids. Let’s talk about animation for ADULTS, shall we?

South Park takes a comedic view of our society, poking fun in the many ways it’s broken.

The Breadwinner is a tense movie of a young, Afghan girl disguising herself as a boy so she can go out and make money so her family can survive.

Invincible has some of the most brutal scenes I’ve seen from a superhero series, including this moment with a train (you’ll know it when you see it) that was so horrific that, when it cut to black for a second, I saw the look of pure shock and terror of my face reflected onto my laptop.

And Bojack Horseman is the best adult-animated series I’ve ever seen because it tackles issues made for adults. Things like opium addiction, depression, the struggles of being asexual in a sex-driven world, and telling one truth that most adults need to hear. The truth that, in this life, you can’t live happily ever after. You’re alive, always have another problem to deal with, and then you’re dead. There’s no point, in this plane of existence, when you’re happy forever and ever. Because life’s a show, and when everybody’s happy, then there can’t be a show anymore.

Animation. Is not. For kids.

Animation is a medium that is often geared towards kids. And the reason why people keep saying it’s for kids is because they focus on the kids stuff and refuse to look at how mature some animated movies and shows can be.

5,942 notes - Posted April 24, 2022

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