#probably an alien not ki

[astral-mariner]

I think a lot about how Vegeta, Raditz, and Nappa did everyday humanoid (saiyanoid) things out in space. Things like bathing, sleeping, shaving, etc.

Think about it: Not every planet or space station would be guaranteed to be hospitable to every subtle humanoid need. There are tons of different kinds of aliens out in space, and not all of them would need some kind of bathroom or a bed that's roughly saiyan-sized. Super interesting that aboard one of Freeza's ships as in the gifs above (source), we see a sink and a mirror!

What are everyone's headcanons about this stuff? I think Vegeta & Co. had to plan their stops around places they could tend to their basic needs, as was the case for most people out in space. Probably had to pay extra for certain kinds of lodging, equipment, etc. when they were traveling. As for shaving, myself and others have discussed whether saiyans, say, basically lasered off their facial hair with ki. Just as a possibility.

[tobiasdrake]

Haven't had a chance to talk much about the Ginyus yet, so here we go. Talking about the Ginyu Tokusentai/Ginyu Force/Dairy Special Forces requires putting them into context with the greater Dragon Ball universe around them.

Something that has always been incredibly limiting for Dragon Ball's worldbuilding is that, despite much of the brand being about presenting Goku with new ladders to climb, Goku doesn't climb ladders. He leaps from ladder-top to ladder-top.

What this means is, Toriyama had a tendency to be hyperbolic with the challenges Goku was presented. Toriyama doesn't pit Goku against powerful foes. He pits Goku against the most powerful foe, then has to sit back and figure out another arena for Goku to go fight the champion of.

This creates issues of perspective. We don't get to see a lot of development of the worlds Toriyama creates because Goku only shows up to fight the Very Most Powerful Guy and then leaves. And this also means we don't get to see what being the Very Most Powerful Guy means relative to people who are not.

If you followed Dragon Ball Super, you might have noticed that issue with the Tournament of Power. The way the story leaps straight from "Multiple universes exist" to "Goku vs. The Strongest in Universe 6" and then to "Goku vs. The Strongest Guy in the MULTIVERSE!" without even stopping to breathe.

What is that universe even about? Who knows? But this guy sure is their STRONGEST GUY. And that's something that's been with Dragon Ball... honestly, since all the way back at the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai when his second arc adversary was the Earth's legendary ultimate martial arts master.

The whole concept of aliens enters the Dragon Ball universe by way of Raditz introducing the Strongest Alien Race in the Universe.

Shortly after that, Goku is fighting the Strongest Saiyan, who is technically referred to as Strongest in the Universe... right up until a retcon introduces the Planet Trade Organization and Goku fights Frieza, the Actual Strongest in the Universe For Realsies.

So. Yeah. It's hard to get a sense of perspective for how powerful our guys are when they leave Earth because they only ever brush elbows with outlier titans.

But to give some idea, we already know that Earthlings are considered to be a pretty weak species.

Raditz's arrival retroactively explains Goku's destructive Oozaru transformations. This thing?

This is the Doom of the Earth. The planet-killer meant to exterminate every last human being on this planet. Boy, sure would be fun to be in the ring with that, huh?

It's also clearly touching down outside of the ring so I don't know why this wasn't a ringout. Since when is the waiting room's rooftop considered part of the stage? But I digress.

When Goku was three years old, his Oozaru was measured to be sufficient to slaughter this world. That is how weak Earth is on the scale. By contrast, Namek is considered to be one of the more powerful worlds. Vegeta describes Namekian fighters as "extraordinary".

That's something we get to see for ourselves, when Extraordinary Namekian Fighters happen to Frieza Force soldiers like a typhoon.

This is what's considered extraordinary on a standard galactic scale. These are three warriors from one of the stronger races in the universe tearing apart soldiers whose job is to exterminate races. Once they start fighting, Dodoria reads their battle powers as 3,000.

For comparison, Raditz was said to be equivalent to a Saibaman at 1,200. We never got a read on Nappa but he found the idea of Kakarot being at 5,000 unbelievable enough to go into denial, and he shit himself over 8,000.

So, with that in mind, we can understand that these nameless Namekian nobodies are pretty fucking tough, well within the realm of Saiyan ability. They're also familiar with advanced martial arts concepts like ki suppression that the Planet Trade doesn't understand.

There's probably a reason why, despite Namek apparently being well known to the Planet Trade, nobody's seen fit to gentrify this one yet. This is a fight Frieza's more elite forces can win, to be sure. But also, there are easier pickings to be had.

And then we have the Saiyans, said to be the most powerful race in the universe. Raditz, a loser scrub who doesn't know a thing about martial arts, is able to thoroughly humiliate Goku and Piccolo in terms of sheer stats, even after Goku's been trained by Popo.

This guy is the Saiyan equivalent of Appule. Goku's been personally trained by God's right-hand attendant, and Piccolo is the reincarnation of God's evil counterpart; These are not humans of this planet, but two guys who demonstrated five years ago that they're in a realm beyond the humans.

And this loser is still doing this to them. This is what a low-rate Saiyan looks like.

And this is what a Saiyan elite looks like:

Like I said, we're never given an official reading on Nappa but he found 5,000 BP to be ridiculous for Goku to have and 8,000 to be unthinkably terrifying. The Daizenshuu pegs him at 4,000, but they also peg Piccolo at 3,500 which would mean Piccolo and Nappa are closely matched.

I don't know about you but I don't see it. But that may just be me.

In any case, this gives us a general understanding of how powerful the races of the universe are. Earthlings weak. Namekians strong. Saiyans strongest. And then there's outliers.

Throughout the universe, there are... mutants. On rare occasions, an individual is born to a race who have vastly, unbelievably, ridiculously, stupidly tremendous ki.

The Planet Trade employs these mutants for their upper staff. Zarbon and Dodoria are mutants, as are the Ginyus and even Frieza himself. Especially Frieza. The reason we've never gotten elaboration on Frieza's race is because Toriyama didn't want Frieza's traits to be taken as indicative of a whole people.

According to interview, Cold was born with abnormally high power and cruelty for his race, and these traits were passed down to his son Frieza. Whatever species they came from, it is nothing like them.

They're not the only ones. The Planet Trade collects and employs these uniquely ultra-powerful mutants for its elite forces. The Saiyans are the strongest race in the universe, but these mutants are the strongest individuals in the universe.

To grasp how powerful these guys are relative to the rest of the universe, we need to talk Saiyans again for a moment. Raditz? Raditz was the yardstick for what the bottom-tier of Saiyans was. He made Earthlings look like trash, but he would have been eaten alive by those unnamed Namekian warriors.

However, a Saiyan's true strength lies in the Oozaru. Goku as an Oozaru was meant to be able to reduce the standing population of the Earth to 0. Raditz, as an Oozaru? Would still have gotten his teeth kicked in by Vegeta, the Saiyan super-elite. He is so ridiculous, he could win a straight fight with the planet-killing Oozaru.

...I mean, not after being beaten within an inch of his life and taking a Genki-Dama to the face, he can't. But if Vegeta were still at the top of his game, this would be a very different fight.

Meanwhile, the Ginyu Force.

So. Yeah. By the time we get to them, we are far beyond the ordinary limits of the universe. Saiyans are the strongest race, and Vegeta's pressing up against the limit of Saiyan ability. He's one Zenkai away from breaking through the Saiyan ceiling. Goku already has.

And these mutants they're up against are the most powerful freak aberrations of unexplained super-ki ever to have occurred anywhere in space.

IIRC it's never directly stated but for reference, Broly would probably be considered a mutant. Whether he is or isn't, he makes as a pretty solid equivalence. These guys are to their respective races what Broly is to Saiyans. What Uub is to humans.

This is all vital context for understanding the way the Ginyu Force fights.

Because.

Like.

You need to understand.

These guys suck.

On purpose.

From a technical standpoint, they're not good fighters. They're sloppy. Poorly trained around big showy moves that are meant to look cool. Style over substance.

This is because they can get away with it. They are the most powerful beings in the universe; Powerful on a scale that is an order of magnitude beyond everybody else that exists. Even the Saiyans look like shit next to these mutants.

Saiyan super-elite hits Recoome with everything he's got right in the face at point-blank range.

And the mutant takes it like a fucking champ. Vegeta's about to be killed by a man who keeps pausing to do this.

The Ginyu Force is badly trained on purpose. Which isn't to say that they're trained to lose fights, but rather that they aren't trained to compete with an equivalent rival. They can afford a martial style focused entirely on showmanship because there is no competition for them. They're too powerful to ever lose fights. Nobody else in the known universe even compares to their mutant might.

Which, as previously noted, is something Frieza is also afflicted by, in different ways. There is no reason for the Ginyus to hone their skills the way the Earthlings do because. Like. Who's going to challenge them? They're naturally born into being top of the field by a wide margin. They're going to auto-win every fight they ever involve themselves in, so their idea of self-improvement is centered instead on looking as cool as possible while they do it.

This is precisely what the Muten-Roshi worked so hard to prevent Goku from becoming.

Something else I mentioned before is that Trunks demonstrates his serious goal-oriented nature by never naming any of his techniques. He has some distinct and identifiable moves, but none of them have a formal name that he shouts out when firing them. He's here to get the job done, not to show off.

The Ginyus are in the opposite boat. They know they can't lose fights, so they are absolutely, 100% here to show off. They name the shit out of their techniques.

Flying knee? Nah, bro. That is a Recoome Kick.

Running in and throwing a punch? Nuh-uh. Recoome Mach Attack.

Lobbing a ki blast at the opponent? Crusher Ball.

These basic attacks are given huge, flashy names. And, I need to specify, they're English names. Moves like the Kamehameha or Taiyoken or Sokidan or Makankosappo also have names but they tend to be Japanese names with descriptive meanings.

Turtle Destruction Wave, signature move of the Turtle School of martial arts.

Fist of the Sun, an intense blinding art.

Winding Ki Bullet, a remote-operated bullet of ki that Yamcha can manipulate how he likes.

Demon Piercing and Killing Light Gun, a Mazoku technique that pierces and kills.

This is not the same thing. These guys are screaming exotic English words to look cool while throwing hands. "RECOOME KICK!!!" Recoome screams in English as he throws a kick.

There is only one other character in Dragon Ball who fights like this.

That's right. Recoome Kick is the same kind of thing as Satan Miracle Special Ultra Super Megaton Punch. All shouted in English as well. The Ginyu Force is what Mr. Satan would be if he was as formidable as the world believes he is.

They're showmen, even moreso than the Earthling martial artists who were born for a tournament stage. Hell, some of Recoome's moves are inspired by pro wrestling.

They are the ultimate demonstration, both of the unquestionable might of the Planet Trade's human resources, and of the absolute waste that is the Planet Trade's capitalist philosophy towards martial arts. The PTO doesn't train warriors; They scout the strongest guys their money can buy and give them marching orders of "Get 'em." Their super-elites are no exception.

Except the Captain.

Much like Vegeta was with Nappa, Ginyu is the only one who gets it. He sees Goku's reading and immediately assesses that Goku's suppressing his ki. Ginyu knows his shit. He's just never drilled this kind of information into his soldiers, opting instead for cool-looking battle poses.

It makes sense that he understands ki suppression. He's Frieza's highest-ranking officer, and Frieza is the universe's unparalleled master at ki suppression. The lengths Frieza has gone to for the sake of suppressing ki....

But he hasn't taught it to his men. They're learning flashy modeling poses instead of martial arts.

I guess I can see the logic. Powerful as they are, why would it matter? Those three extraordinary warriors earlier were also suppressing their ki, but a range of 1k to haha actually 3k doesn't mean shit to the Ginyu Force. If nobody's true strength can match them then why waste time on tactical study?

But unlike his soldiers, Ginyu himself has the spirit of a martial artist. He doesn't waste time on battle poses or scream "GINYU FLYING PUNCH" in English when he throws a punch or do elaborate two-minute windups for his signature moves.

He's even pretty good at reading people. Ginyu lowballs Goku at 60k before the fight, but reassesses after he's traded blows with Goku a few times and estimates 85k instead.

Goku's official non-suppressed Battle Power at this point in time is 90k. So 85k is a pretty fucking good estimate for a guy who can't sense ki. Ginyu knows his shit. He's as reliant on tech as the rest of the PTO but he's experienced enough to have a strong understanding of what various levels fight like.

This is especially impressive when you remember that he's never fought someone at 90k before. Remember, further up, when he first judged Goku as 60k? He was getting excited about his lowball 60k estimate and saying he's never had a chance like this before.

If he's never fought 60k, he's certainly never fought 85k. He just. Knows enough about how lower levels fight that he can apply that knowledge and extrapolate to higher levels. It's an impressive estimation that demonstrates his experience. Ginyu isn't just the second-most powerful guy in the Planet Trade. He's the best martial artist in the Planet Trade, bar none.

He's also got a... theoretically cool ultimate technique that utterly sucks in practice: Body Change.

He may be the best martial artist in the Planet Trade but he's got nothing on martial arts master and analytical counter-fighter Son Goku. It takes Goku no time at all to realize that Ginyu's technique sucks. He doesn't know how to fight with Goku's ki.

Ginyu-Goku thinks this body will give him 180k BP because that's what he read on the Scouter when Goku used the Kaio-ken. But not only does Ginyu not know how to perform Kaio-ken, he doesn't even know how to use Goku's ki at all. It's not his. It doesn't work the same way. In Goku's body, Ginyu's reduced to a distressing 23k BP when Jeice reads him.

He's not just failing to put out Kaio-ken power. He's getting his teeth kicked in by Krillin. It's embarrassing.

I've heard the theory go around that Ginyu started out weak and worked his way up via Body Changing anyone that was ever stronger than him, but I'm not convinced that's the case. Because this right here? This seems like a critical flaw. It's hard to believe he'd be entirely ignorant of this drawback if he's ever seriously used this technique before.

Ginyu being incompatible with a Body Changed host's ki doesn't seem like something an experienced Body Changer would need Goku to explain to him. In practice, the hypothetically awesome technique is bad for reasons Ginyu wasn't able to foresee, not unlike when Tenshinhan brought Shishin no Ken/Multiform to the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. Or Goku's first time attempting Super Saiyan 3 in a living body. Cool in theory but a massive fucking oversight costs him the entire fight.

This seems more likely to be something Ginyu, the only real martial artist in his crew, developed in his own time and showed off to his men. Something he's never actually stress tested, that he's been sitting on and waiting for an opportunity to use in the field.

Whatever the case, it pins an unexpected and interesting capstone on the Ginyu Force. They're a group of clowns who can get away with clownishness because they were born into unparalleled privilege. And they're led by a shockingly well-educated and capable martial artist who's never worked the kinks out of his ultimate technique for lack of adequate competition in a universe that could rarely hope to ever challenge even his weakest man.

[grifff17]

hi I've heard you do podcast recommendations

I've just finished Desert Skies after relistening to Midnight Burger for the third time, but there's still a burger-shaped hole in my heart that Welcome To The Horizon just doesn't seem to fill.

do you maybe know of any podcasts with a similar vibe? for me it's very about "outcasts in a very surreal scenario with a dash of comedy and strong characterisation"

if so, much appreciated ❤️

I decided to break down you request into "outcasts in situations", "surreal", "comedy", and "strong characters", and recommend some shows that have multiple of these traits. I've roughly listed the traits in order of how prevalent they are.

SCP: Find Us Alive (strong characters, surreal, outcasts in situations, comedy): This show might be the closest thing to Midnight Burger out there, but it's still very different. It's set in the SCP universe, where a covert foundation studies and hides things that break the laws of the universe. The show is set in a Foundation research site that gets transported into a pocket dimension, and focuses on the characters adapting to their weird situation and attempting to escape. It's also in some ways a workplace comedy. You will get more out of this show if you are already familiar with the SCP universe, but since the show is entirely contained within a pocket dimension you don't miss too much.

Wolf 359 (strong characters, outcasts in situations, comedy, surreal): Wolf 359 is an absolute classic audiodrama, a good percentage of modern audiodramas are inspired by it. The main characters are the crew of Hephaestus Station, a deep space outpost looking for signals from alien life. For the first 10 episodes or so it's a comedy, but after that the plot really picks up. Fairly similar vibes to Midnight Burger, though the way the characters are written is very different.

Girl in Space (outcasts in situations, strong characters): A girl has spent her entire life alone on a spaceship orbiting a star. The only people she has ever talked to were her parents and a dysfunctional AI. All she wants to do is do science and rewatch Jurassic Park. Of course, other people have to come along and ruin it. This show is a lot like (and probably inspired by) Wolf 359, in the "set on a remote space station with lots of weird hidden secrets in it" sense.

Midst (surreal, strong characters, outcasts in situations): Midst is hard to describe. It's somewhat similar to Midnight Burger, but only in that both of them are so different from everything else out there. Midst is a surreal space western with very unique worldbuilding, and, in favor of a full voice cast, three narrators who narrate together, like people sitting around a fire telling a story. If you aren't sure about this one, listen to the first 2 minutes of the first episode, it stats off with a bang, literally.

The Strange Case of Starship Iris (outcasts in situations, strong characters): Think the tv show Firefly, but its super queer. That's basically TSCOSI. In a sci-fi setting where the human government is evil, the main characters are a group of smugglers being gay and doing crimes on their ramshackle spaceship. It also has a little bit of comedy, but less than Midnight Burger.

Mission Rejected (comedy, outcasts in situations, strong characters): "This is your mission, should you choose to accept it." What happens when the superspy declines a mission? The backups are called in, of course! A pencil pusher, an intern, a failed actor, and a hacker on work release are brought together to take on the spy missions that superspy Chet Philips declines. This show is a parody of spy tropes, with surprisingly strong character writing for such a silly comedy. Hope you like volcano lairs, silly accents, and villains that refuse to stay dead!

Fall of the House of Sunshine (surreal, comedy, strong characters, outcasts in situations(in the later seasons) ): This show is as surreal as it gets! A terrible noir detective investigates the murder of a kids tv show host via a bullet fired through a rift in space time, and gets sucked into a secret war between a cult of dentists and living puppets. Oh yeah, and its a musical! If you like the sound of that, this show is for you. Every season is an escalation of the previous one. Like Mission Rejected, I care about the characters shockingly much for how thoroughly ridiculous this show is.

If you want some more recommendations, I can find you some more, but these ones are the closest I found. I'll admit that the last couple are a stretch, but I just really like those shows and take every opportunity to recommend them.

[deusvervewrites]

Saiyan AU

Inspired by DraconicSoul’s implication in his previous ask, I did some digging and found something interesting.

This is Shoda’s hero costume

Now, we all can see that he has a Scouter. We could assume that he was simply inspired by Inko and is one of her fans. But Inko doesn’t have the Scouter, Coli does. Inko has never been known to use the Scouter. So the question is, where did Shoda get a Scouter from?

Ladies, gentlemen, aristocrats. Let me introduce Shoda Nirengeki, member of the Frieza Force.

You know, it was suggested that he was a fan of Inko's but you're right, the scouter is Coli's. And while sensing energy is a technique that was invented on earth that the Frieza Force didn't know about, Coli is a Ki expert, as established, and probably does know how to do that, so Inko wouldn't have needed a scouter.

(Though, given the fact that so few characters use Ki, it wouldn't have helped her anyway)

This also means Shoda would have to be an alien, so, redesign there.

Also, there is no reason for a member of the Frieza Force to lay low at a Hero School instead of subjugating the planet and calling it a day which implies that Shoda is actually like the Midoriyas and not an active member.

[nari-writes]

Tim Drake has Problems and Issues, and Batman is a capital-B-bad word. (ft. Jason Peter Todd, The Second Robin and Incorrigible Creature of Sass and Child Protection). aka. Blogging (and other dangerous activities likely to get you adopted by the Batman) chapter 2 (HECK). Part one | Ao3 Link

Tim finds out the next morning that the hecking Batman stole his camera’s memory card. He hadn’t even seen Bruce take it! Granted, part of his distraction had been the dark and the late hour and the suddenly-woken-from-sleep by what could probably be constituted as someone’s sleep paralysis demon, but wow. The slight of hand required, when Tim’s attention had been worriedly and entirely focused on his camera? He’d been paranoid that Bruce would take the camera as punishment for his photos - but he hadn’t even noticed Batman stealing his SD card. 

He’s prepared to write it off as the price of his identity being discovered - because he’s got two others and can fetch a third next weekend for backup - when he has the sudden, horrified realisation that he hadn’t finished formatting the card last night. It had been cold and he’d wanted to make Jason smooshing into a snowbank into a gif for his blog, and by the time he’d finished that and posted it, his eyelids were basically shut and he’d still needed to pull the other photos off the card. He thought he’d have time to format it this morning because his dad had a golf thing early, and Tim and his mum were only going later for the brunch and the mingling after everyone had finished playing, but-  

But he doesn’t have time. Because Batman had stolen the card. The card he hadn’t finished formatting, and last night he’d been playing around with slow exposure shots and taking pictures of Wayne Manor. He'd been playing around with the long lens he doesn't get to use often because it was too bulky and he'd been taking pictures of Wayne Manor. 

Oh he’s so doomed. He’s got to get the card back before Bruce has time to look at it, if he hasn’t already. The photos are definitely going to be called creepy at best and at worst they’ll highlight Tim is well aware of his neighbour’s nighttime activities. Thankfully, the lack of alien mind-probing and Bruce Wayne at his doorstep at least indicate Bruce hasn’t had time to go through the photos. Yet. 

Probably.

Freaking heck, he's so screwed.

Plan one is to just...break into Wayne Manor. It's a stupid idea, so he doesn't even put it on a back burner to muse over and discard later because there are way too many problems with it. How is he going to break into a) the home of a billionaire and b) the home of the literal dang Batman, most paranoid and prepared person on planet Earth? It's not happening. It would be nice if it was that straight forward, but it's not happening.

Plan two is his parents. They are technically home this week, and he's pretty sure he can get them to invite themselves into Bruce Wayne's house if he pretends Bruce wants to talk business. He knows how to get into his dad's emails, and if he acts fast enough he can get them to organise some sort of business meeting before his parents jet off again at the end of mid-semester break. It's still dependent on his parents staying till the end of the mid-semester break, though, and also on Bruce not being suspicious that Tim Drake, guy he just stole a camera from and also threatened, is coming to his house. It’s a pretty bad plan.

Plan three makes him feel kind of slimy, but it's the one that's most likely to work if he can't get around his parents. 

Jason's self-defence classes, the ones Bruce totes as an ‘anti-kidnapping measure’, are run by the same person who teaches Tim’s classes on the other side of the city. He’s built up enough goodwill with her that he’s pretty sure if he looks dejected about his parents not being able to come to his Tuesday class to see his progress, she’ll let him join Jason’s Thursday class as a temporary measure, even though that class got booked out a day after Bruce’s kidnapping commentary.  

From there it’s just a matter of prior parkour practice making him a fun match for Jason and Jason’s Robin training, and then Jason enjoying his company enough to chat to him after class so they’re still together when Alfred or Dick comes to pick Jason up, and Tim then letting on that he lives next door and oh no, looks like his parents aren’t picking him up, would it be at all possible to be dropped off? Then pretending to forget his key and his parents not being home to let him in - which, at least, is the part of the plan most likely to succeed, and it makes him a bit miffed that there are so many other points of failure - and getting himself invited to stay at Wayne Manor until his parents are free to pick him up. 

On Thursday he’s pretty sure they have a dinner date with the Khadirs, and they actually like each other. It means his parents won’t be home till eleven at the earliest, which will give Tim plenty of time to search the manor. 

Unless, of course, Bruce didn’t take the memory card into the manor and has instead stored it in the Batcave, which Tim knows exists but has never been able to access, or he’s given it to Dick or Oracle to look into, or even just Tim not being enough to keep Jason's attention-

God, he’s going to have to figure out how to make plan one work, isn’t he. 

There just isn't time for plan three, because Bruce will totally have free time between now and Thursday and so much of it hinges on Jason wanting to talk to him when Tim's three years younger and five feet shorter, and it runs the risk of Jason recognising him from jaunts in Gotham. Plan two is better, but not by much, and he's concerned that Batman's legendary paranoia is going to have negative effects on Tim's success rate.

Plan one…maybe he can pretend to be selling cookies for the girl scouts? He's young enough to get away with it - but there's no way Mr. Pennyworth will let him inside, unless maybe it's raining. That'd be a weird situation to get into though - to walk between their properties when there's a better road, and to lug behind whatever eclectic collection of cookies he can find, and then invite himself into their house to get out of the rain. It'd look totally suspicious. And what respectable girl scout would sell things without the rest of their troupe? Or supervision. Or checking the weather. What respectable Gothamite would go out without checking the weather?

He would need it to be raining - which, to be fair, happens often enough in Gotham - but not have the day be dreary, so he has an excuse to have forgotten his umbrella. And, as everyone knows, when it rains on a day that's not dreary, it's normally acidic, and Tim's not keen on dealing with the raindrops burning scars into his scalp.

Scratch that, no girl scout impersonation is in his future. He could try and just break in and pretend a friend had dared him? But that wouldn't give him a lot of time to investigate, and no access to the Batcave.

Although. Why does he have to break into Wayne Manor? 

Tim's eyes narrow in the mirror, lips twitching upward. Why not use Batman's paranoia against him? If there's the risk his memory card will be in the Batcave, why not start in the Batcave? He'll have two perfect excuses either way - there's likely no way to tell the Batcave is under Wayne Manor, so he won't be risking his knowledge of their identities - and Batman stole his memory card, so why wouldn't he track down Batman to get it back? Plus if he needs to go upstairs to find the card, he can always claim pre-teen prankster status, or even just leave and get back into Wayne Manor some other way. His parents will kill him if he gets caught in Bruce Wayne's house, but he'd rather be 'grounded' for the rest of the break then let Batman realise Tim's a stalker. 

…Okay he probably already thinks that, but still. Tim’s not letting the Batman know about his collection of Wayne family photos. He'll never be able to walk around Gotham again. 

He’ll never want to walk around Gotham again, on account of the fact that he’ll be dead from embarrassment. 

So…now he just needs to break into the Batmobile and get himself driven into the Batcave. He's totally got this.

—-

Several hours later he’s still sure he’s got it, even if it’s not at the same level of total assurance it was that morning. He’s followed Batman and Robin around all night and neither of them have caught even a glimpse of him, and he knows they were keeping an eye out because they swung past his usual haunts twice. As if he’d be dumb enough to use the same spot after it’d been blown. He’s young, not dumb. 

He’s also not dumb enough to beeline straight for the Batmobile the first time they leave it unattended, either. A few carefully thrown rocks from the fire escape reveal no perimeter alarms summoning Batman and Robin back if someone gets near the car, and even the ones he lets very carefully - he didn’t throw them hard at all, and made sure to stand closer he could aim better! - hit the tires and the door didn't set off an alarm. 

It’s kinda stupid, actually. When Tim gets his SD card back he’s gonna send Commissioner Gordan a message about it so the Commissioner can use the information to make fun of Batman. That’ll be a good revenge for taking Tim’s stuff. 

The lock’s harder than testing the perimeter alarms, though. His palms are so sweaty he has to keep wiping them on his hoodie to stop himself from leaving marks, and every noise makes him scamper back to hide behind a group of stacked cardboard boxes, just in case it’s Batman or Robin. It takes forever before he can get the trunk unlocked, but when he does he sighs in relief and quickly scampers inside. 

There is…very little space. It makes sense, all things considered - what's the best use for a car, bar travelling storage space? - but Tim's thankful he's small and flexible enough to fit around all the junk. His mother’s yoga obsession is serving him well right now, because he's got one foot pressed against a spare tire and the other wedged by his ear, and if he were any less dedicated to Dick Grayson’s gymnastics routines he'd have already started to cramp.

He really hopes they have a short patrol tonight. It is a Monday, so chances are good that Jason at least will be sent home, and Bruce at least visits the Manor to (presumably?) put Jason to bed and (probably?) drop off evidence, but that still means at least two hours of this squished discomfort.

Except also it’s winter break, so Jason doesn’t technically have to be back at the manor for school the next morning. Tim scowls at the realisation that he’s probably gonna be here for ages. He breathes deep, trying to relax so he doesn't cramp up, and then pauses.

How does the trunk of Batman's car smell better than his dumb gloves? 

There's a faint motor oil smell, but mostly it's just clean carpet and mint and a vague smoke, like the remnants of a campfire. It's nice, way nicer than the other times Tim has been shoved in a car boot (though at least he normally had more wiggle room when being kidnapped, even though handcuffs had made it impossible to utilise) and Tim's got plenty of time…his blink feels a little too long, but he doesn't bother to fight back a yawn. At least if he can get some sleep it'll make the time go faster and he can finally get to looking for his memory card.

His neck spasms, and Tim hisses between his teeth, awkwardly shifting his arm to try and ease the cramp. Sleep hovers out of his reach, but thankfully the pain eases and he slips into a drifting lull, the muted noise of late-night traffic enough to mimic the trees that normally rustle outside his bedroom window. 

By the time the engine rumbles under his cheek, Tim's stumbled through half-dreams of Robin and long exposure shots and his knee is stiff enough that he knows getting out of the car is going to be difficult. Still, he's been lucky enough so far that Batman hasn't found him, and he's not about to trade a sore leg for a frogmarch back to his parents. 

The pull of acceleration makes a tire press against his ribs, but bar the squish of things moving around, the actual drive is surprisingly smooth. He can't hear anything from the front seats, but it's still making his heart rabbit in excitement; he's so close to Batman and Robin, and they have no idea. 

…No wonder Rouges pull plots all the time, if this is the amount of giddy adrenaline that hits you when you get away with something under Batman's nose. Tim feels like he's going to jitter out of his skin, and it's only the lack of space in the car that's stopped some excited hand flapping and gleeful wiggles. He can’t help it. It’s just so exciting to know he’s so close to Batman and Robin, the shadowy vigilante heroes of Gotham. He’ll never be able to talk about it, but it’s exhilarating to know his classmates will never experience anything like this.

The car rumbles through Gotham, her engine a purr of power, and Tim feels every corner and twist, even if he can’t figure out the road they take back. It doesn’t matter, though: he still knows where he’s going, and he knows his plan for when they arrive. 

He needs to be careful. He has to wait. Tim tilts the edge of his watch towards his face and manages to wiggle it into the light coming through the brake light. It's just after 2am - but that doesn't mean Bruce has finished up his work as Batman. He'd made himself promise he wouldn't leave the car until 10am, which is when he normally sees Mr. Pennyworth drive Bruce into the city, presumably for work. 

Theoretically he could get out earlier, but he knows 10am is the only verifiable time, and points of failure decree that he should limit them with available evidence whenever possible. That's rule number one in making sure your plans work with minimal adjustment - and he's already gonna have to do major adjusting when he gets out of the car. Like, for example, do they have cameras? How will he access them to hide his presence? What if Jason or Dick is in the Batcave instead of the Manor? Tim will probably hear them, but things are pretty muffled in the car. 

Then the SD card itself - would Bruce put it somewhere logical, like near the computer? Should Tim check the computer to make sure no files have been copied across? Is what Tim considers logical going to be what Bruce considers logical?

And finally, getting out. Sure, they'll be way easier ways of getting from Batcave to Manor than vice versa, but what if someone sees him? Or what if there are extra cameras upstairs on a different security system? 

He hates not having every point of information available for easy access, but there's nothing he can do here but his best.

Which. Disgusting. He hates that he just said that to himself but it's all he has to combat his nerves right now so unfortunately his best will have to do. After all, it's not within his power to get a blueprint of the Batcave, or he'd have just hacked the batcomputer and deleted his photos manually.

He sighs to himself longingly at the thought and hears the tires change from pavement to stone, and then an echoing reverb of machinery. The Batcave; it must be. He’s in the freaking Batcave. His heart pounds in his chest and he grins to himself, a tiny noise of excitement squeaking out of his throat. This past day-and-change has sucked in terms of his stress levels, but holy heck the fact that he’s currently in the literal Batcave has almost made everything worth it. How could it not, when Tim is in a sanctum so very few get to see? He’ll never be able to tell anyone, but that’s just par the course at this point - and he likes getting to keep his secrets. 

Who cares if his parents never ask about what he’s been up to, when Tim can hold in his heart the knowledge that he is one of the privileged few that knows the Batman’s identity?

Sure, Bruce didn't tell him, but isn't it even cooler that Tim figured it out by himself? He'd only ever admit the daydreams on threat of telepath, but sometimes he's thought about Bruce finding out Tim knows and being impressed with him. Bruce would compliment him on his discovery, on the deductive reasoning and the evidence he collected to prove it; what else would impress the greatest detective in the world but someone of similar calibre? 

It'd be amazing to have Batman invite him into more secrets, impressed by his faithfulness, but...

Tim's not stupid. Kids are a seen-and-not-heard subsection of the human species, especially kids like him, and Batman would likely only be pissed at Tim for being an uncontrollable liability. Better to make sure that, like everything else Tim thought important, it was kept his own personal secret. No need for Batman to get involved with Tim Drake if Tim Drake is a normal kid, and no need for his parents to drop him off at another boarding school for bringing trouble to their door in Gotham. 

There's a sudden click, and Tim startles, head twisting as the trunk lifts. It gets him into the perfect position to be blinded as the trunk opens, and then-

“Ah,” he says, staring up at the cowl and cape, before swallowing thickly. “Hello.”

“This is breaking and entering,” says Batman, and Tim can't stop his scowl. 

“That's super hypocritical. You literally broke into my house yesterday.”

“Your window was unlocked.”

“That's not an invitation!”

Batman makes a noise in his throat, and Tim tries to wiggle out from around the spare gear and the tire he'd wedged himself around. His attempt ends when Batman takes him by both biceps and physically pulls him from the vehicle, sitting him against the ledge of the trunk when he's free. 

“I think breaking and entering requires you to not have driven him here,” says Jason, his voice a drawl of sarcastic displeasure, and Tim flushes and looks down at his shoes. Batman had known the whole time? He'd just…let Tim stay in the boot for the whole drive, and not done anything to stop him? How humiliating, to find out his oh-so-clever plan hadn't even survived first contact.

Batman's looking at him. Tim can feel eyes resting heavy on the back of his neck before Bruce says, “The Batmobile is well-outfitted with sensors and cameras to prevent theft or tampering. Prior experience assisted in advising me of the…issues with my security system.”

Jason's weight shifts, like he knows he's the ‘experience’ that highlighted the Batmobile’s weak spots, but Tim's stomach just feels wobbly. 

“Do you enjoy lying?” Batman asks, and Tim's head snaps up.

“What?”

His stomach no longer feels wobbly. Now it just feels…gone. Like it dropped into his feet and took his guts with it. Is his face pale? It certainly seems like it should be, with how his fingers have begun to tingle, the too-hard pulse of his heart depriving him of oxygen. 

“I distinctly remember you saying that I wouldn't see you out again at night-”

“You weren’t going to,” Tim says, feeling light-headed, the sentence cut off by his own recognition of a pitiful defence. Bruce’s mouth is a hard, flat line. 

“Did you or did you not understand the intent behind the instructions I provided, Tim Drake?”

“Yeah,” he mumbles, shoulders hunching. Because yeah, he had, but Batman hadn’t caught him in three years and he’d figured that his lucky streak would continue. Especially if he didn’t post anything on the blog, and Batman had no further proof of his existence and/or his defiance of Batman’s rule. 

“Then, with that in mind, do you understand that your behaviour directly violates the rules we discussed, and additionally endangers your safety?”

He’s been scolded before. It still hadn’t felt like this, with humiliation making heat prick at his eyes. Batman's impassive, but you never look at Batman to know how he feels: you look at Robin. Tim chances a glance and sees Robin’s shifted on his heels, looking awkward and unhappy. 

Bruce must be so mad. 

“We didn’t discuss anything,” Tim says softly, his throat tight and his hands shaking as he tries to keep his emotions under control. “I’m careful. You just - you just ordered me around, but you don’t know me.”

“Kid,” Jason says, and Tim’s nails bite into his palm. “It’s our job to protect the people of Gotham-”

“You stole my stuff! You stole my stuff and deleted my archive and do you know how many people were upset? Twitter blew up about it. They like you! They like seeing you. It was important to them! It was important to me.”

…But why should Batman care? Tim’s long since learnt that things that are important to him don’t get to be in plain sight - his dad has broken his stuff before, and Tim’s not let that happen to anything he actually cares about for so long that he’s forgotten what it feels like. The feeling that he’s stupid for letting it get to him, when it doesn’t even really matter, the helpless, melancholic kick of being unable to change anyone’s mind-

“Aw, kid, hey,” Robin’s kneeling in front of him now, hands on Tim’s shoulders, and Tim’s mortified to realise he’s been sniffling. Can this day get any worse? Bad enough that his clever checks and foolproof plan were literally ignored by Batman so that Tim would stay out of the way tonight, now he’s crying? Like a child too emotional to be up past his bedtime? “Come on now, squirt, B-man’s an overbearing prick but the translation here is he’s terrified for you. It was dangerous for the site to stay up. Your photos were amazing - but you were so close to us. ”

“I wasn’t,” Tim says, wiping his runny nose across his sleeve, and then suddenly a black handkerchief drops into his eyeline. He pauses, tracing it up to Batman’s hand, and then pettily says, “...if this smells as bad as your gloves I don’t wanna use it.” Jason snorts and mumbles something that may have been a proud, I told you so.

(He still takes it. He’s not petty enough to refuse having a handkerchief from the Batman. This night has been a nightmare - at least he can still have the world’s most pity-present souvenir.)

“Distance,” Batman says softly, “was not the problem.”

“Okay,” Robin says, when Tim’s expression takes on a mutinous edge, “think of it this way for me, yeah? There’s a blog that’s gotten crazy popular because it’s started semi-regularly posting really good photos of us. Batman and Robin. And you, you’re Penguin or Riddler or Marone, whatever, you wanna know how the blog gets good pictures of us. Wondering how the photographer knows where we are. You start thinking maybe Batman’s trying to drum up good PR and then suddenly you’re thinking: hey, maybe this blogger knows the Bats.”

“I don’t!” Tim says quickly, and Jason looks over his shoulder at Bruce. Tim, desperate, follows his gaze, and-

Batman’s holding his SD card. 

“Don’t you?”

[vomitingstars]

Our Love is Out of This World pt. 2

Alien!Alan Orion x Reader

With all her remaining energy, she charges towards the creature with a determined battle cry. The creature grins even wider as it runs backwards. Yep, this thing is actually playing with her. Like a cat lightly batting a mouse with its paws before sinking its claws into the poor thing. In her moment of reflection, she tripped over the same tree root from before. Sending her flying right into the alien’s lean and surprisingly toned arms. She gasped at the realization that she had been caught. She had successfully been hunted, and now she’s being held by an alien. 

“What do you want?” She asked, panting into the green man’s chest. Her mind and heart raced with a cocktail of emotions. Fear, curiosity, and a need for survival. “I’ll give you anything you ask. Just don’t dissect me. You want cows? Brains? I’ll bring you as many as you want.” She offered, keeping her head down and avoiding eye contact. So much for going down clawing and fighting, huh? No. She’ll fight in her own way. No matter what, she will live and she will live well. 

The alien took her chin in his hand and lifted it up gently to gain her full attention. She was forced to take in all of his face. Every detail. Every texture. So odd and yet so familiar. His skin almost seems to glisten and glitter in the moonlight. His face no longer grinned at her, instead, he gave a soft smile and then brought their lips together in a sweet kiss. It only lasted a few seconds before he pulled back to gaze into her eyes once more. 

She took a moment to collect herself. Blinking away the disbelief. “You just wanted a ki-” The alien took this opportunity to shove a long probing finger down her throat while her mouth was open. His other hand held the back of her head firmly to keep her still despite her squirming. His skin was so cold. Almost freezing. It was almost like swallowing ice, only the icecube wouldn’t go all the way down her esophagus. His finger thrusted in and out clinically as if searching for something. 

He pulled the icy digit out of her throat slowly and carefully. “I can now speak your language.” He held up his finger and showed off the glowing tip proudly. You stared at him silently in terror and confusion. She looked at his face. Then back to his finger. Then back to his face with furrowed brows and replied. “I want to go home.” This is too much. Being hunted, or reverse hunted was exhilarating and terrifying. But kissing aliens and getting throat fingered in one night is a lot more than she was mentally prepared for.

“I’ll take you home. Yer cold. Humans shouldn’t be cold. Let’s get you warmed up.” The alien spoke in a soft voice as if he was trying to soothe her. In the midst of all the excitement, she hadn’t noticed how cold it had gotten. She really should get inside quickly. And so she nods and thanks him. This action seems to please the star beast greatly, prompting him to pick her up and carry her princess style right back to the location of which they started. The alien tossed down a little disk that transformed into a large circle that he stepped on. 

She yelped at the blindingly bright light that enveloped the two of them. Before she could comment, it was over. They were no longer in the cold dark woods but instead in a warm bright and sterile looking environment. Everything looked so eerily clean and clinical. Like a doctor's office in a way. It made her feel uneasy. “I thought you said you were taking me home? You’re not going to dissect me are you?” He carried her over to a tall glass tube. One large enough to place her in completely.

“No dissection. I just want to give you a check up.” He placed her inside while whispering  and cooing encouragement at her. With a couple beeps and boops the glass tube released her in a cloud of cleansing steam. He quickly grabbed her and placed her back into a princess hold. 

“You said I was going home.” Her patience was wearing thin. It’s probably two o’clock in the morning by now. This has got to be a dream or a sleep deprived hallucination. Maybe she just ate too much nutmeg again.

“We are home. It is my home away from home. Your home.” The star beast smiles at her with a strange expression. It was as if he were trying to look friendlier. To really sell the idea of her moving into this weird spacecraft on a whim. She shakes her head in disbelief with furrowed brows. 

“No. I need you to take me home. Now.” She spoke slowly yet sternly. “I am not staying here. You can go ahead, abduct whoever you want and go on about your business. I don’t even know your name?” She threw her hands up in frustration. Begging for this confusing dream to finally be over. Her bed is calling and it's time to pick up and get the hell out of dodge. 

The green man introduced himself as a strange chirping noise. “But you can call me whatever you’d like.” He pressed a few green squares on a touchpad and the environment suddenly changed. This room looked a bit messier. As if someone lived here and possibly spent a lot of time away from home. A whooshing sound was heard and the sliding door behind him was sealed shut. 

“I… I guess I’ll call you, Alan? I don’t know. You kind of look like a Gleep Glarp, but we’ll stick with Alan for now.” She chuckled, trying to find humor in the situation. Naming an alien doesn’t mean you have to keep it, right? Alan looked a bit giddy to receive a name from his prey. And even more so, to hear her laugh. 

“And I will call you, Doe-Eyes.” Moving items here and there, Alan began zapping random items away with a small laser as if he were trying to tidy up quickly for his guest. He came closer, and she looked up at his smiling face. Green lips stretched in a lovesick grin. He reaches out to cradle her face and whispers dreamily. 

‘Doe-eyes?’, she thought. What a random name. Did this have something to do with the deer from earlier? “Look, Alan, you seem like a sweet… Alien guy. But I have to ask, why Doe-eyes?” Her mind wandered to awful experiments. Wondering if Alan had been abducting deer recently. Or possibly experimenting on them. Did aliens eat deer? Perhaps that’s what she distracted him from doing earlier tonight, and this is her punishment. 

“Yer eyes. Ya open them so wide when ya feel such strong emotions. Ya remind me of a deer. I like deer. Such gentle creatures.” He trailed off, thinking of the deer he had collected the day prior. Alan pointed towards a floating menagerie with two tiny deer in a lush green setting. It appears Alan had shrunken them down and built a tiny forest just for the two docile creatures to reside in. 

Ignoring the tiny deer and the nightmare logistics of such, she cleared her throat and decided to introduce herself properly. “My name is Honey. I would like to go home. To my home. Unharmed. Please.” This is the last time she’s going to ask. Alan doesn’t seem like a bad guy at all but, who knows what he’s capable of.

Alan’s smile softens. “Honey is the substance yer Earth bees make. From what I understand, it’s got a sweet, deep and rich flavor.” He lets out a sound akin to a purr and chirp. “I’ll take you home” Honey’s eyes widened in surprise. She couldn’t believe it. Asking nicely actually worked? Maybe the best solution really is the easiest. Alan pulled out a small disk and tossed it onto the ground. “Hop on.” Alan said as he offered his hand. She cautiously stepped onto the expanded disk and when she blinked they were right outside her house.

“Wha- Of course. Alien tech. Just roll with it.” No need to question it. Home at last, she turns to face Alan and thanks him for the ride. He does an awkward little princess wave as he bids her farewell and then materializes into thin air. Honey raised her eyebrows with squinted eyes, set in confusion and mental exhaustion. Dragging her tired body inside and placing a pink bonnet onto her head before flopping facedown in bed.

[chickenoptyrx]

Ok so here's the run down since I'm too lazy to ever draw everything out :U

goin off this comic

⬇️and down here cause I ramble too much 🙄⤵️

Ok so first the next few pages I had sketched out

Ok so things to note:

• trunks is sad and like very much thinkin bout gohan and his death.

• bulma has the control device thing for brolys headband, but can't figure out how to make it work

• this thing is basically a ki battery. And what imma ramble about.. The whole sub plot here being that 1 of the big drawbacks in the future is theres just not enough power for bulma to accomplish much. Ki as an energy source should work but it doesn't interact well w earths tech, its nearly impossible to store, and even when stored it doesn't then 'power up' in a predictable/usable way like electricity.

(As a side note I stopped at this page cause I kept wanting to redesign it to have 7 obvious apatures or idk something to coincide w the 7 Chakras cause like brolys jewelry stuff also has 7 gems. But. I did none of that :U )

So anyway we see in dbz that non-earthlings have tech that utilizes ki, and paragus' control device for broly obviously uses ki, but while this battery that her and gohan were able to sorta get to work can store ki, they never found a method for converting or using it. But now it can be used and the control device gives her something to reverse engineer from, which is 1 of the reasons for wanting broly around despite him being.. the way he is.

SO ANYWAYS

This was another panel I intended to use once 17 starts attacking broly, who at this point is still very zonked out and not reacting.

So. From trunks pov. Hes already A. thinkin bout what happened w gohan and B. primed to see 'saiyans' as good guys or heros or whatever. Even if hes heard every story about saiyans as a race being bad, hes grown up hearing about goku, seeing gohan, and yknow no ones really talkin too much heavy shit about his dead dad- and his mom loved him so like he was probably good too.. right??

Lol dumbass kid.

So yeah my poor dumb stupid baby boy here is gonna jump into a fight that he does not needta be involved in to protect someone who does not need his help and won't be grateful :D cause ⭐ Le Trauma ⭐

Meanwhile, bulmas testing out her new theory(s) about the control device A. being built to send out some kinda signal and B. Being powered by ki. She's got it set up to expand the reach of that signal so she can pick up that it is reaching something without using too much power and without necessarily alerting whatever its reaching. But broly was already in a weird spot w the headbands control so this lil ping along w everything else goin on is what like awakens him to the fight or whatever. As you can see I'm not a writer.

Big cool epic no holds fight scene that im not drawing starts up. Broly terrorizes the androids but also attacks trunks cause like tf does he care? He's havin fun :>

Bulma realizes how late for dinner she is, decides not to waste the energy in the battery since its all they have of it (also she doesn't wanna admit it but she knows its like the last thing they have of gohan) and now that she knows it won't blow up she can just ask trunks to help her run more tests on the control device later. Then she realizes her kids not home any more and 3 guesses where he went :U she planning on goin out after him guns blazing, realizes she has no idea where he actually is, YadaYada, if she increases the power and range, she can pin point what this devices signal is bouncing off of and thats probably where this new alien and therefore her kid are.

By this point in the fight the androids are aware this is not goin their way, and trunks, poor dumb baby that he is, has finally managed to draw his stupid sword thats way too big for him rn. This creates an opportunity for the androids to get tf outta dodge cause see. Here's the bit. Broly was stabbed by trunks grandad as a baby. So seeing someone pointing a big knife at his probably gets his undivided attention :D anyway, luckily bulma uses the last of gohans ki from the battery thing to send out another stronger signal that zonks broly right tf back out before he can kill trunks. He runs and meets his mom on her way to save him and uh.. yeah, they go home. Soooo gohan saved trunks again even after he's dead :U im sure that'll be fine. Maybe they have a sad fight about it, idk.

Anyway. Middle middle middle.

Paragus used broly for his power to fight his battles for him, so I dont see how this situation w the androids looks very different to broly. They have the control device for their own safety sure, but I mean that was paragus's reason at first too

Then too, broly doesn't know or really care to know how to actually apply any self control w his powers so ya kinda don't want him 'helping' destroy anything- dudes just gonna nuke the planet as collateral damage and move on.

So yeah, more middle middle middle and he's training trunks to fight and trunks is tryin to get him to learn basic self control and like.. morals. And uh theyre friends or whatever. Idk man I just wanted to draw them hanging out and hadta do a convoluted back story about it that I then never actually did :D

[chhagiya]

Unpopular Opinion time:

(This is my opinion. If you don’t agree with me, I fully understand and I don’t have any problem with that. In the past, I have been harassed because some people disagreed with something that I posted purely as a joke. I respect everyone’s point of view)

Sometimes when people grow up in same sex environment as a child, they tend to be more comfortable with that sex. For example, if someone grew up in girl’s only school, then they tend to be more comfortable around girls rather than guys. When someone grows up in boys only school, they tend to be more comfortable around guys compare to girls. And this is often carried in adulthood.

I think Moon Jo is like that too. He grew up in an environment where there were mostly guys. We don’t know much about his childhood. We just know he grew up in an orphanage where Eom Bok Soon was director. So I’m guessing it was a catholic orphanage ( given Eom Bok Soon appears to be closely related to church). Catholic orphanages( especially in the 90s or so) often used to be very strict and most likely not co-Ed. If that is the case, then he probably didn’t have that much exposure to women or girls other than Eom Bok Soon. She was a mother figure to Moon Jo and she tortured him. So obviously that scarred him. It’s very likely that he didn’t have a loving childhood or maternal love for that matter. And his friends, roommates or classmates would have been all boys. So it’s likely that for these reasons, he is more comfortable around guys compared to women. I don’t think it’s his sexuality. It’s just the way he grew up.

Moon Jo is 100% attracted to Jung Woo, there’s no denying that. But I don’t think he is exclusively or strictly gay. Straight, Gay, Bi… these labels mean a person is in general attracted to opposite and/or same sex. Straight people are in general attracted to opposite sex, Gay people are attracted in general to same sex and Bi people are attracted in general to both sexes. Moon Jo is none of these. Seo Moon Jo is annoyed by most people in general. Jung Woo is an exception. I don’t think he was that attracted to Ki Hyuk. Moon Jo and Ki Hyuk were more like Boss and Boss’s right hand man rather than lovers. Other than Jung Woo, he finds most people to be uninteresting, boring and/or annoying. So in my opinion, none of the usual labels are applicable for him.

I think, Moon Jo’s attraction doesn’t depend on a person’s gender or sex at all. If he is emotionally and psychologically attracted to someone, he will be attracted to that person. If his mind is attracted, his body would follow. In my opinion, if Yoon Jung Woo was a woman with same mindset, same personality, same instincts and same madness, Moon Jo would still be attracted to that person. If Jung Woo was an alien from a different planet, he would still be attracted to him. I believe the terms for that are Demisexual or Sapiosexual ( I often joke he’s Jungwoosexual). I don’t want to label Moon Jo in any way, he’s too complex to put a definition on him. But if I had to define his sexuality to some extent, I would say, in a broad sense, he’s Demisexual or Sapiosexual.

[therealslimstrider]

some notes for dirks backyard garden warning theres a PESIS on one of the statues

fwowers:

snowdrops

lilies of the valley

bleeding heart

lavender

ornamental kale

begonias

caladium

rhododendron

hanging succulent walls

decorations/features:

horses unicorns etc

erotic naked dudes (less cut in the abs area though hes a stickler for that)

nice covered patio with comfy chairs / table etc

in-ground hot tub under willow tree

alien mango tree from sef is in the main garden - not his private one

orange tree covered in hanging lights

waterfall feature / hanging succulent walls on house; garden is lined with rhododendrons

waterfall connected to a decent sized pond with 4 koi (250gal per koi)

probably a hammock

fire pit

koi names:

kin kikokuryu - sunset shimmer

karasu - princess luna

hi utsuri - clementine

ki utsuri - sunburst

[redrobin-detective]

I have no idea if you're into Dbz or not but you're the only blog I know that's into Ben 10, so you will be my target for my unprovoked ideas.

What if Ben had Saiyan in the Omnitrix? It wouldn't seem too different at first from his normal self aside from having a tail. He does have a massive change in his appetite though & is easily able to finish off a week's worth of food. As time goes on & he continues using it, he starts to notice that he is getting stronger. Eventually he is able to use ki (maybe with some help from Gwen) for flying, fighting, all that good stuff. Finally, when emotions are running especially high, he does reach Super Saiyan level.

I'm not entirely sure where all this would fit in the series although I do see Super Saiyan happening somewhere in Alien Force. I'm also not sure how much info there'd be on Saiyans in general on Earth since they're practically extinct & have been for ages. Azmuth probably didn't even originally plan to put Saiyan DNA in the Omnitrix because of it. He was likely only able to get it out of shear luck.

I haven't watched DBZ since I was about 9 years old but this sounds entertaining. I can't even imagine how that would work out

[miraculous-showtime]

Some songs I want in Project Sekai !!

(flash warning for many of the linked videos!!)

Ki Do Ai Raku by Task - WxS I KNOW this is kind of outside of their usual genre/style of music BUT JUST READ THE LYRICS PLEASE!! i literally am so in love with this song and it just fits wxs so well it makes me feel ill I cannot describe in words how ecstatic I would be if they covered this! (very outlandish pick but i want it all the same)

Kimi no Taion by KutagawaP - Ichika & Saki this could probably be a full leoni cover BUT just LISTEN,,, this song is SO middle school ichisaki to me!!! it's so them! and it's so sad and bittersweet and it makes me emotional and they would sound SO GOOD singing this together. okay? okay.

Pajamy by Iyowa - Airi & Shizuku me and my lyrics relating to character arcs smh... ANYWAY! this song is literally just. Shizuku and Airi being scorned by the idol industry and AAAH IDK! I love iyowa and this song fits them so well and its been SO LONG since they've had a cover together. just read the lyrics please... thinking abt Shizuku's struggle with cheerful*days in the main story.... Airi wanting to help her through that... Airi being burned from how she was treated before she first quit being an idol...

Nee Nee Nee. by PinocchioP - Ena & Mizuki this song is literally about two online friends who are in love with each other but can't communicate properly. SORRY DID SOMEONE SAY MIZUENA???? I've seen people say they want this song with other ships but this is SUCH a mizuena song to me.... like idk dude it's just so them. I need them to cover this so bad.

Ironina by NILFRUITS - VBS this song could probably also work for 25ji but just hear me out the vibes would be so cool for a VBS song right? ALSO Akito alt and maybe An alt! :) the lyrics made me think of Akito so much he just HAS to have an alt.

Light Blue Invasion by Nayutalien - L/n this song is just so fun sounding and the lyrics are so leoni... everything about this song makes me think of them. I also think leoni just deserves more songs that are super fun and upbeat!!

shake it! by emon(Tes.) - MMJ this song is just so fun and sweet... I think it could be a really fun mmj cover! also the parts where the crowd is cheering? imagine a 3d mv where they're interacting with the crowd. idk I just think this would be super cute!!

Tiny Bunny by youman - 25ji literally the lyrics fit them so well, I can imagine exactly who would sing which lines. I also just love youman and this song. this song is so good and i think that 25ji would do an amazing job covering it! :)

Literacy by Wotaku - VBS tbh i don't really care who in vbs covers this I just want it... I think they would sound really really good. maybe anhane and akitoya alt vocals? i don't know but I really like this song and also it would be cool to have more wotaku songs in game!

UFO by Kikuo - Emu & Rui I don't know how likely a kikuo wxs cover is but. this song is so dreamy and the lyrics dude!!!! literally a song about lonely "aliens" looking for companions. this is SO emurui coded. this is one of my dream covers for them tbh. also ik i haven't been mentioning vocaloids BUT the vibe fits wxs luka so well to me i want her on this song with them. please just imagine this cover it'll change your life I promise.

Electric Angel by Yasuo - Minori & Haruka WOULDN'T THIS COVER BE SO CUTE??? like the song sounds super cute and i would love to hear them sing this... if anyone other than mmj covers this song I'll feel betrayed. ALSO THE LYRICS. SO minoharu coded! this might possibly be a bit of a pull from nowhere but I want it anyway

Amatsu Kitsune by Marasy - L/n I think this would be a really cool cover for them to do. I love this song, I think Saki specifically has a chance to really shine in this cover. IDK! I just like this song and the vibes fit leoni... also references to space and celestial stuff :)

Let's Die Together in Kurashiki by SLAVE.V-V-R - WxS although the lyrics do not fit them AT ALL the whole vibe of the song is SO cool. I would love to hear wansho do a cover like this! I especially think Rui and Nene could sound really cool in this, maybe they could get an alt vocal :) IDK this would just be a neat cover to hear

Baimei Baimei by Maiki-P - Mafuyu & Ena I have some newfound hope for this cover because of Maiki-P recently doing a comm for wxs! I just think the lyrics fit mafuena really well and also they could sound SO COOL singing this. it's just a really good song that I like a lot and I think a mafuena cover for this could sound amazing!

Rafflesia by Utsu-P - VBS okay this pick seems kinda random but please stick with me here I have a vision. THEY WOULD SOUND SO COOL SINGING THIS. literally i cannot imagine a world where vbs would do bad with this song. especially An, if we do ever get this song I totally want an alt vocal for her. ALSO the lack of Utsu-P in game is a CRIME.

Lula by n-buna - 25ji (i could not find an official upload (or reprint) for this song help) this song feels very bittersweet to me and I don't know I just think it would be a sweet nightcord cover. this song is really wonderful sounding and I would love for them to cover something like this. they've done similar songs before so it's not impossible

Scissorhands by Nem - Tsukasa & Rui guys guys please this song is so them like you don't get it I need this cover. "This hand of mine cannot even caress your cheek. If that's the case, just how can I protect your smile?" LIKE ARE YOU SERIOUS??? not to mention they would sound AMAZING with a song like this. this has potential to become my favorite ruikasa cover over fixer it could be so good... this might be a bit too overtly romantic for ruikasa but idk.... I can hope and dream.

Magical Girl and Chocolate by PinocchioP - MMJ I tried not to pick too many super popular songs (like ones i see on wish lists a lot) but i want this cover so bad. this song fits mmj so well and I love pino and mmj so it would be a dream come true for me tbh. I think they would sound really cute singing this, okay?? Haruka and Airi could have alt vocals for this :)

CH4NGE by Giga - Kohane & An really just another song I picked because I think it sounds cool and An and Kohane could totally do this justice. they could do such an amazing cover of this song honestly I've been wanting it for a while I think it would sound super good!! also songs like these are peak vbs vibes to me.

Tenkou Zen'ya by ChinmariP - Ichika & Honami really this is a very Honami coded song to me. Ichika is just here because solo covers barely exist and leoni doesn't have any songs without Ichika (I would've put Shiho otherwise). but also the vibe of this song very much fits with how other ichihona covers sound and I think it sounds really nice.. it's bittersweet and reminds me of main story/middle school Honami, i think it would be a neat cover.

[roseaesynstylae]

Star Wars: Republic Commando: Hard Contact, Chapters 8 & 9

Chapter 8

"Her face was a study in blank surprise. It was also fascinating in a way he couldn't define. He had never seen a human female this close, this real. He was astonished by the dappling of small brown dots across the bridge of her nose and her cheeks, and the different strands of colors in her long, unkempt hair -- light browns, golds, even reds. And she was as thin as the locals. He could see blue veins in the backs of her hands, and she smelled different from anyone he'd ever shared space with. He wasn't sure if she was pretty or downright ugly. He just knew that she was utterly alien and utterly fascinating, as alien as a gdan or a Gurlanin. It was almost stopping him from concentrating on the job."

Despite my reaction to their first meeting, Darman/Etain is the only RepComm ship that I actually like, probably because it feels like it has actual buildup and chemistry. Ignoring Etain's actions in Triple Zero (which is a discussion for another day), I find them pretty cute.

I like the little detail that Darman doesn't know what freckles are.

Chapter 9

"There is something very touching about them. They look like soldiers; they fight like soldiers; and sometimes they even talk like soldiers. They have the finest qualities of the fighting man. But behind that is nothing -- no love, no family, no happy memory that comes from having truly lived. When I see one of these men killed, I weep more for him than for any ordinary soldier who has lived a full and normal life."

-- Jedi General Ki-Adi-Mundi

I was not expecting to see anything in this series involving the Jedi that isn't in some way bashing them, but this pleasantly surprised me.

Ki-Adi mentioning family is a lot sadder when you remember that he lost all three of his wives and all of his children during the war.

"Atin took a bite out of the white cube and washed it down with a gulp of water from his bottle. 'He [Kal Skirata] never trained us. Heard a lot about him.'

'Trained Fi and Darman too. Our squads were all in the same battalion.'

'We had Walon Vau.'

'That explains where you get your cheery outlook.'

'Sergeant Vau taught us the importance of planning for the worst scenario,' Atin said, all loyalty. 'And maximizing your tech. Being hard is good, being hard with superior tech is better.'

'I'll bet.'

'I'd heard everyone loved Skirata, though. Even if he was a bad-tempered drunk.'

Niner had never been drunk and he didn't even know what alcohol tasted like. 'He cared what happened to us. He was one of us, pretty much. Not just because he couldn't cope with not being in the army anymore, or had to disappear. No, he was a good man.' Niner would have given a great deal to have seen Skirata come limping through the trees right then, demanding to know what they were doing lounging around like a bunch of Kaminoan nahra artists."

Oh look, our first mention of Walon Vau, problematic-est of problematic favs. (And, indirectly, my beloved Mird.)

Knowing how Atin actually feels about Vau, Niner calling him "all loyalty" here is pretty uncomfortable.

*Flatly* I don't love Kal Skirata. I love well-written fanfics with him, I do not love him in canon.

Apparently, nahra is the Kaminoan version of ballet, in which they express emotions they usually repress. Huh.

"'Why are we scraping maps in the dirt when we've got perfectly good holocharts?'

'That's what Sergeant Skirata used to do,' Darman said. 'He didn't like holos. Too transparent. He also thought that feeling the texture of dirt focused your mind.'

'And you don't need any technology to do it.'

'He was a great believer in intuition.'"

Any time Kal Skirata has any advice or does anything that I actually like (ie, anything that doesn't make me want to strangle him), I feel honor-bound to mention it.

I have to wonder if he had to explain what dirt was to his trainees. Omega definitely had no idea what dirt was when she first left Kamino. Oh, now I have this image of him reading the dictionary definition out to a very confused group of cadets.

"Etain hesitated. She had once heard someone say that they could never remove their betrothal ring, not until they died. Her Padawan braid felt equally permanent, as if her soul was woven in with it, and that removing it after so long -- even temporarily -- would rend the fabric of the universe and underscore her belief that she was not Jedi material. But it had to be done. She unfastened the single thin braid and combed the strands of wavy hair loose with her fingers.

She felt less like a Jedi than ever, and not even remotely close to a commander."

This is one of the examples of Traviss's writing that I don't have any problem with. If she stuck more with this, instead of the Jedi-bashing and Mando-shilling, I wouldn't have so much of a problem. This passage gets Etain's situation across very well. In particular, her reluctance to remove her Padawan braid despite the circumstances reminds me of how I tend to cling to specific objects no matter the situation.

Wow, I actually don't have much to pick at with these two chapters. I suspect this will occur less and less as the series goes on, so I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

Jedi-Bashing: 15

Di'kut Count: 6

Main Post

[katierosefun]

just got emotional thinking about what hjw might've had to go through in the year away from manyang, he was probably pestered by medias, having to deal with the trials and all the talks and whispers behind his back or even straight at his face. If i got the context right betraying his father was abig deal, yes many would praise him but many would shame him for being disrespectful and not filial. I'm sure hkh had big supporters in the force, corrupted people that wanted influence, power and wealth, they probably got mad at hjw for cutting short their connection and the future career advancement. All this might have reminded hjw how his life was before everything happened (my god something like "good things aren't bound to last") but after the time spent in manyang he changed, he got to experience love and closure, a found family and going back to his old habits might have felt so alienating now? he'd realize how cold and lonely that life was and struggling all the more due to it. I'm so glad he managed to fight his anxiety and fear and return to manyang + I'm fairly sure that once he saw that the people there still love him and welcomed him with open harms, he'd go back to stay. sorry if i wrote a lot but i wanted to share my feelings with someone who could understand and loves hjw too❤️

yeah, i was always incredibly fascinated by what might have happened in that year han joo won was away, and why i also just. think that han joo won probably really couldn't show his face not just because he probably felt a lot of shame, but also like. i dunno. my personal thought is that he was a fuckign mess for a little bit--like, the man you're in love with is also the man that you arrested, and the little community of people who cared about you can't possibly still love you now, not when you're the reason why their favorite person is going to go away . . .

and i feel like there definitely were a lot of people who probably looked askance at joo won to be like "how could you do that to your own father" or maybe other people who tried to swoop in and promote joo won for the sake of saving face, and i like to think that joo won was just like. blank-faced through it all. and just like, the thought of him running away from seoul and trying to go to a place where no one knows him is. yeah.

and also, i forget who might have said it, but there's also some speculation about whether joo won's the one turning down promotions or maybe joo won just never gets a promotion because maybe his name's also lowkey blacklisted since everything that happened with his dad. i like to think that it's joo won who keeps turning down promotions--maybe he's terrified that he'll ever really turn into his dad, because i don't think he ever will, but i do think that a small part of joo won will always still think about what greed and power can do to people, and he probably doesn't want even the littlest taste of that. (granted. han ki hwan was always a bad person, i think--you don't clamber up to the top with that kind of attitude unless there's already something broken inside of you, but i think. joo won would still. try to run from it.)

(especially since like. i think a lot about joo won hearing han ki hwan's conversation, what with han ki hwan being like "oh, joo won wants to think he's like me, but he's actually more like his mom", and seeing the fury but also the genuine pain on joo won's face because. yeah. as much as joo won scoffed at the mention of his dad even in the beginning, i think. it's the curse of certain children--the only child, the eldest child--to be like the father, especially when the mother is deemed weak or just out of the picture. little boys and little girls want to be the behemoth of a man that their father is; they want to be cold, logical, infallible. and i think as much as joo won hated talking about his dad, i look at how, esp. in the beginning of the show, he tried so hard to project that kind of attitude, with the whole "i don't need friends / i don't trust anyone / you have to be logical" when we so clearly see. how lonely he is and how he. still trembles a little bit when his dad yells at him and how he peers in through the windows of the shop like he's an alien. or maybe a very curious, kind of timid cat.)

so all that to say: yeah, i feel you anon. i love han joo won so much, and i love how beyond evil is just as much a story about joo won learning to fall into this beautiful (but slightly broken) community, and how i think. he must have healed along the way :'))

[negative-speedforce]

Okay, your turn (sort of)

Madison has asked your OCs to take care of Bravo (her 150lb wolfdog) for a week while she's out of town. He's well-trained and generally pretty friendly, but still a big and somewhat scary-looking animal, and he'll need to be walked regularly and fed specialized meals (raw meat, raw eggs, bone marrow, etc. on top of his kibble), so it's not quite like taking care of a normal dog.

Who agrees, who says no, and how does it go?

Says "no": Siv, Hailey, Gina, Esme, Cat, Max, Eric, Jacob, Ameerah, Rania, Director Hawke, Meredith, Torryn, Myopia, Onnie, Jessi, Qiara, Marie, Soraya, Nyx, Laila, Athena, Thalia, Ariadne, Rue, Pyrrha, Aldrich, Samira, Sohelia, Victorie, Dolores, Kayla, Dori, Gabi

Jay: Immediately agrees. He's got experience taking care of one dog, what's one more between friends? As long as Bravo and Stella get along, the week will go by easily.

Cassandra: Only agrees because Jay agreed. She'd prefer not to take care of another animal, but hopefully Bravo will get along with Stella well enough.

Ember: Hesitantly agrees, since they're somewhat worried that Bravo will try to eat his chihuahuas. Instead, the chihuahuas are the instigators, and cause all the trouble. Bravo might be a little traumatized when Madison gets back.

Arya: Spends the week mostly in the form of a dog, hanging out with Bravo and playfighting, only going back to their human-adjacent form to feed him and stuff.

Kyle: Mostly just lets Bravo run around in his backyard all day with one of those tennis ball machines. He'll probably invite Jay and Stella over at some point.

Khalil: Takes good care of Bravo, but isn't overly affectionate. Maybe if one of his makeup clients has kids, Bravo can occupy them while he's working.

Antonio: Tries to take Bravo home, but his parents won't let him. Instead, his older brother will take care of Bravo in his apartment.

Reggie: Takes great care of Bravo. Unfortunately, due to xer magic being slightly out-of-control at xer age, Madison may come home to her dog having purple fur, or being able to speak Japanese.

Kelsie: Once she's 100% sure that Bravo's friendly, she might ask Madison if she can bring him in to a few of her therapy sessions, since she mostly works with metas who have PTSD, and a giant, fluffy dog might be helpful.

Cory: Takes great care of Bravo, and makes him Instagram famous. Now, Bravo has an online cult following, and people might approach Madison in the street like "OMG is that Bravo???"

Pippa: Takes good care of Bravo, but ends up making her neighbors concerned because most people... don't carry around 150 lbs wolf-dogs like they're little lapdogs.

Hyun-Ki: It goes fairly well, as long as Bravo and his cat can get along. Otherwise, one of them is going to get shut in the back of the house until Madison gets back.

Liah: She takes great care of him at first, until the Borg or the Klingons or something attack, and she ends up having to pull a 36-hour shift in Engineering. She'll set the replicator to make food for Bravo at certain intervals until she's back, that way he won't starve or anything.

Arissa: Same as Liah

Carena: Brings Bravo up onto the bridge, until Captain Al-Sharif tells him to get Bravo away from her, since she's quite allergic to dogs. From there on out, she leaves Bravo on the holodeck when he's on duty, chasing holographic squirrels and stuff.

Reyna: Takes great care of Bravo, but Madison may come home to her dog having a translation matrix in his collar that allows him to speak in 46 different human and alien languages. Hopefully, Reyna being a felid species doesn't trigger some kind of "chase the cat" thing in Bravo.

Iloriya: Takes great care of Bravo, though he might not be a huge fan of her boyfriend, who's Dylae and therefore smells like a cat to him.

Arien: Look, Arien would take great care of Bravo. 10/10. However, if Nyx found out? Bravo (and Madison) are so screwed.

Matt: As long as Bravo and Moshe (Matt's German Shepherd) got along, he'd agree, and take pretty good care of Bravo. Since his joints aren't great and he can't walk Bravo too far, he'd probably just let him loose in the Hunters' Camp most of the time, since it's fenced anyway.

Vanessa: Probably spends the whole time napping face-down in Bravo's thick fur, muttering something along the lines of "so.... fluffy...."

Ellis: Does not know how to take care of a dog, but agrees anyway because they feel bad not doing it. It'll take a miracle for this to go well. Good thing that miracles are something Ellis is quite skilled with.

[deusvervewrites]

Saiyan AU: If we expand upon the whole idea of Grandma Coli being a BRILLIANT SCIENTIST, I bet she'd be able to revolutionize the medical field if she can reliably reproduce the healing tech used by the Freeze Empire, especially if she were to get in touch with the nation of nerds that is I-Island.

Which, you know, would hugely benefit everyone in the Hero community, not just our resident bone breaky boy, who'd now be able to abuse the Saiyan's innate bullshit that is the Zenkai Boost without worrying about permanent damage to his body.

Of course that'd also probably kill any narrative tension surrounding the Stain arc, at least when it comes to Tensei's Hero career ending, since they could just toss his butt into a healing tank and he'd be good to go, no permanent spinal damage whatsoever.

As cool as the healing pods are, I don't think she'd have access to the fluids they use, and I was more picturing her as a Ki expert. Besides, she is trying to hide the fact that she's an alien, and showing up out of nowhere with advanced tech isn't exactly the most covert thing ever

[wuxiaphoenix]

Worldbuilding: Unknown Unknowns, or Wait There’s Another Ginseng

Even when you know a subject fairly well, it can be worth your while to check a site like Science Daily or even Wikipedia to see if there’s new and useful info on it. Or, as in this case, old info that simply never came up on sources when you checked before.

There are actually two species of ginseng native to North America.

You’ve probably heard of American ginseng, Panax quinquifolius. Yet there’s an entirely different species, dwarf ginseng, Panax trifolius. Dwarf ginseng isn’t considered to be nearly as medicinal as its well-known sibling, but its small tubers are perfectly edible, and it does have some of the same adaptogenic compounds. Historically the locals used it medicinally for chest colds and the like. It might be worth further investigation even as just a woodland crop, given it is a good thing to eat.

The background to this is that I have shreds of an Idea (fantasy ninjas), and I’m trying to find out what would be a good start and end scene for it. Hopefully that would perk up my brain (something new to write!) and get the plotbunnies enthusiastic enough to also finish the Colors draft faster than a dead crawl. I have no solid images for the scenes, but I figure if I can build a little more of how the story is supposed to work, it might be easier to visualize what those scenes might be.

Long story short, one character has to go undercover. But as I was going over the situation in my head, my main ninja pointed out that the original cover story an arrogant noble came up with wouldn’t work. Go undercover in the guise of a nekomata, oni, tanuki, kitsune? Any of these who were born youkai would have to have friends and clan that would be known; and, for example, a normal fox gaining enough years and power to become a full-fledged kitsune would be noticed by other youkai before it ever took a humanoid form. People would remember. People would check. It’d be all too easy for someone with a suspicious frame of mind to blow the whole cover wide open.

But a plant gathering enough ki to cultivate a youkai form? Those happen most often when lucky plants (or unlucky, see vampire trees) touched by magic get overlooked.

A tiny medicinal plant in a forest is a very good candidate for “went overlooked”.

Honestly, I stumbled on this in part because of a thought-chain of, “trees are actually not a separate category but a specific plant lifeway in several groups, huh I wonder what a ginseng tree would look like”, and looking up the scientific classification of ginseng species. Turns out they’re in the ivy family, which tends not to be trees - or at least, not very good ones. There’s a relative that gets to small tree size and is renowned in Japanese proverbs for being useless at that stage.

And that’s where I found out there are possibly ten different species of ginseng, when before I’d only known about the Korean, American, and near-extirpated Chinese ginsengs.

None of my other books on ginseng mention dwarf ginseng. Digging through books I have on the shelf, there is a brief (about four lines) mention of it in Peterson’s Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants, but I’d never have noticed that without the Wikipedia info.

...Now I want to read an SF story where someone colonizing an alien planet brought along all the lesser-known edible plants and woodland herbs so they could homestead in a forest even if conventional crops failed. Just in case. Anyone want to write this?

Poke around, just for fun. You never know what you don’t know!