#see i talk about stuff like this but some of these would require research thats more then the bare minimum

[pain-is-too-tired]

I wished pjo had focused in on modernization of the mythology. Not just "if this thing from the original myths are now this" but make new myths.

Think the reason we notice when certain things aren't right to the original myths is that Rick tries so hard to only give the feeling that the mythical world has adapted, not changed.

Sure, the gods mention how they're precieved and worship can change them. But that's only presented to us in terms of Roman sides of them. How messed up some of the gods interpretations are could feel a lot less sour if we got more confirmation that "Yeah, they're like that because of how the world now sees them and what they represent has corrupted who they were originally."

You can't tell me that thousands of years have gone by and there's not a single new monster. That a god didn't get mad once and made mothman or something.

There are a lot of modern mythologies without an actual tie to another religion.

Give me Loch Ness being a mortal who slighted Poseidon or a water god in the area it's now in.

Big Foot,Jersey Devil,The Tennessee Terror,Sea Serpants of the Gulf, the wolf woman of mobile etc

Heck,even other more recent ones like Slenderman and the Rake

I much rather have that then have gods and demigods be heavily involved or the cause of wars with very sensitive causes(what the fuck were you thinking with WW2 and Civil War Rick. Wtf)

But yeah. Honestly think seeing modern legends be used would be cool. And I must reiterate specifically those not already tied to another religion or culture. Legends that aren't sensitive to brouch on. Feel very important to mention when talking about crypids(especially as majority are in America) cause if you just look them up lot of them might add legends from native culture to the roster and they're already tied to something.

Anyway. Just thoughts on my brain I wanted to share. Think modern beings in pjo could've been so cool. Like America is full of folklore that was made post colonization,it wouldn't be shocking if the gods created part of that.

[cherry-blossom-qf]

Necro, who was the kindest person in your life? And what was the hardest sacrifice you've made— literally or figuratively?

Apple Core, what was your most challenging experience as a Sensei?

Prince, O lord of fashion, which if your fits and/or forms is your absolute favorite?

Magomon, what's your opinion on Tamers in general?

Officer, my good sir, what was the toughest case you've helped or had to solve? Any solo cases?

UT, what are your favorite holiday traditions in the Underground and Surface world?

🩸: "There hasn't been a sacrifice thats been that hard for me to perform. The only thing I truly regret sacrificing is my ability to smell normal ever again. Seriously, I tried bathing multiple times and used every single perfume, cologne, all the scent products... AND I STILL CANT GET RID OF THE ROITING CORPSE SMELL!!

As for who's the kindest person I know? Well... the obvious answer would be Kirby... but there's also this snowman that has been helping me with my research, perhaps I could talk about them some other time."

-

🍏: "Most challenging things as a sensei? Well, to perfectly honest, it's the students that are, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, require a lot of patience from me. For example; I have this one student who is just, again I mean this in the nicest way possible, a stubborn wanna-be-cool-guy.

Don't get me wrong, he does have a lot of potential to be a Skylander and I can see him becoming one in the future... BUT he's just has a really bad habit of wanting to do things all by himself because he's 'so cool' with his high running speeds and cool dragon sword, only to get his ass handed to him one way or the other. I thought Blades' cockiness when he became a Skylander was bad, that student takes the cake!!!"

-

👑: "Favorite outfit? My goodness!! That's like picking between my own children!! But... if I had to pick just one.... like, you holding a knife to my back and forcing me to pick just one, then I'm gonna pick the robes I wore to my wedding. They were so sparkly and beautiful, I truly felt special on my special day~! As for forms, the Prince Form is my favorite. I like the height boost, elegance, and a sense of power in that form, hehehe~"

-

🎩: "My thoughts on Tamers? Well, I have said before that there have been tales and legends of humans being involved with digimon. I've always found it fascinating, as those legends have told of humans granting digimon power they could never get on their own. I kinda wished to see something like that happen one day... Little did I know that I was gonna get a human myself, hehe!!

Susie has been lots of fun to travel with, and the power she grants me and Marxamon has been incredible (tho I wish evolving into Crownedmon wasn't so mentally scaring and painful)!! I could have never asked for a better human partner!! Me and Marxamon are her 'goodiest boys'!! 'Goodiest' is not a grammatically correct word, but I let it slide because she gives me hugs and pets!♡♡♡"

-

🚔: "Funnily enough, my toughest case was actually my first solo case!! The case of Artie Flopshark, a poker guru that was supposed to be dead, as he was killed by Flint Paper. According to some of the records, Artie's bank account was still active, depositing and withdrawing money regularly as if he was alive. And there had been reports of Artie being near abandoned graveyards across the country. Flint Paper couldn't track him down for the life of him, so he assumed it had been some kind of 'witchcraft' that made this guy untraceable. So Flint gave the case to me since I'm a mage and stuff (witchcraft and my magic are obviously two different things, but I let it slide). Sam and Max had a lot of faith that I could handle this on my own, so I took on the challenge just to make them proud. The weeks of trying to find this guy felt like the longest weeks of my life! But I was able to find him.

Long Story Short; It turned out Artie Flopshark was revived as a zombie like monster by a bunch of teenage wizards that were messing around with dark arts (kinda sounds familiar). When the wizards successfully revived him, they freaked out and left him behind. Artie was able to get a hold on that dark arts book that they coincidently dropped and used it to get around the county's graveyards. He was hosting nightly poker nights to get his funds back for his new undead life, inviting all sorts of creeps and ghouls to play games of Texas Hold'em. In fear of being killed again by Flint, Artie used magic to keep himself untrackable from any living being on earth. Which I was able to work around the effects because I'm not from earth, hehe~!!

I felt kinda bad for him since even mentioning Flint Paper made him scream in panic, so did Artie a favor and helped him get a restraining order on Flint. I got my paycheck and a celebration surprise from Sam and Max that they planned for me for completing my first solo case, a VIP trip to The Inventory for drinks, dinner, and poker."

-

💙: "Well damn, ol' gunner boy spoke in whole paragraphs! Ok, favorite holiday.... I gotta give it to Halloween, dude. Monsters seem to enjoy Halloween a lot, and I can see why, as my best memories here are sometimes related to Halloween. Like on our first trick-or-treating, Frisk dressed up as a witch and made me their little 'black cat' by dressing me in a black cat onesie. I was carried around in their backpack as we went around the neighborhood. And when I got my monster form perfected, me and Frisk did even cooler matching costumes! Mario and Luigi, Dipper and Mabel, Steven and Amethyst, Freddy and Bonnie, heck we even Sans and Papyrus a few times! (which the bros really liked)

Even though I moved out of Toriel's house after I got married, Frisk and I still go trick-or-treating together every Halloween with our matching costumes. And Frisk hasn't grown out of trick-or-treating just yet, so we'll be continuing this little tradition of ours for a few more years! And I'll be enjoying every moment."

-

🦋: "Man I sure do love being involved!" -he said to no one.

(Congratulations Blaze, you changed my QnA formatting just for this ask! Eff you and have a nice day!)

[jerzwriter]

as a writer, when you put in all that hard effort into creating this massive story with so much thought and research, it just gets swept away and with people more inclined towards reading one shots and Tumblr's own interface designed for blog posts and not longform fiction like say, in ao3, it is unsurprising to find people gravitate towards fluff and stuff that gets wrapped up in 1k-2k words.

There isn't really a lot of interest in people wanting to read something that gravitates away from romance in the slightest. People want the engagement stories, the days leading up to it, they want the cute dates and that's perfectly fine too, but there really isn't any point complaining about engagement anymore because the fandom has just shrunk exponentially and it only makes sense to support each other's work because you like the author and you hope they keep writing time after time.

I don't know if I'm making sense lol, this is just my two cents on the situation and many random shovels of thoughts.

I do hope we get a fandom renaissance or something but that would require people to share, reblog and actively be a patron for people's works and not everyone has the time for that in this post-covid era, which is totally understandable too. I just hope we find a middle ground so people of all niches can be accepted and they can reach their audience.

While fandom events do encourage people to create; as a catalyst, the readers always play the primary part in making sure that encouragement sustains enough for authors to create. After a while it gets pointless to just shout out things into the void and you're left wondering if the stuff you create really matters or not; even if you think you're writing for yourself and you matter, it gets tedious 😭😭

OMG THIS. THIS. THIS. THIS. THIS!!!!!!

THIS!!!!!

Not going to lie… there are days lately I am like “It is time to just hang it up”, bit it still brings me some joy in a world that isn’t always so great. So I do it. But the desire to produce isn’t always there, and when it is, it is more likely to be short, simple, and like you said, that’s fine too. But I miss delving into deeper, more substantial content. But who is going to take the time to do it if … as you said… you are screamed into a void.

We always talked of “silent readers”. Well, I think a lot of them are even gone now, but I am sure some remain. But at this point if we don’t encourage one another, I think we will have very little outside of occasional shared screenshots within a year.

A year ago, the fandom was smaller, but I couldn’t have imagined hanging it up. Now, I think, “after I tell this… chances are I have nothing left to give.” And thats from someone who always has a new idea. Hey, that hyperactive mind fucks me enough, I am grateful for the good things it gives me too! lol But even for my Tobias and Casey, which are truly my heart, I can see an end. Today, it is all day by day.

Thank you for this… this post says it ALL.

[wolfythewitch]

i see we're talking about canes! local cane user here, a couple things to keep in mind:

- phil would likely use a 3 or 4 ended foot as theyre best for mobility in rough terrain and are best for balance and mobility

- i think phil would also possibly benefit from a walker at times, and also its okay for one person to use multiple disability aids interchangeably depending on the circumstances!

- phil having a collapsible cane would be cool (note i have one and theyre funky)

- usually with canes you use them on the opposite side of the body needed to be assisted, as you use them like if you walked with both sides at once thus helping balance/relieve pain on that side (ex if your left leg hurts when you went to take a step, youd use your cane on the right side at the same time). so if phil were to use the cane its likely hed be an ambulatory cane user (someone who uses canes on both sides)

- using a cane alone requires a lot of arm and shoulder strength, so thats important to keep in mind he'll have to build that strength

generally id say find cane users/wheelchair users/amputees etc to check with because a lot of the time these things can get! deeply offensive in aspects people might not even realise (ableism is within us all, even the disabled)

Funky funky I am taking down notes

It's kinda funny cause I'm not even planning to draw dsmp Phil that much LMAO I draw hc!Phil fanart more, but also this is really interesting to learn about and I love character details

About the collapsible cane, that is funky yeah! I'll have to look into that, but I'm also thinking of hiding a weapon within the cane? Like a little reference to urahara's cane in the anime haha, so that might make the collapsible part. Uh. Difficult

I have two close friends who are cane users so I'm definitely gonna slide into their dms at some point lmao, but I'll also look into wheelchair and walker stuff if I decide to go further into drawing anything for this (I haven't drawn dsmp in weeks I just realized that wowie)

But also if you have some trivia/info about disability aids feel free to just drop them in my inbox too! I don't answer all of them cause I don't want to clog up my blog but I do read them all :D also gonna be asking questions here if I try doing research and get confusing answers haha

Also I found a pic of this cane with like an ice pick at the end and I don't know how functional it would be but it looks neat if you guys want to see lol

[ashdreams2023]

soo i just read the matchup requirements hehe .. b4 that can i be 🥟 anon ?? :D

sexuality: unlabeled ! but i am into men women and nb! pretty much everyone but i have preferences

prefence: like a type?? bcs if it is then someone who can get along w me and someone willing to put up w me !!

characters that r a big no: villains !!

likes: i LOVE music, rains, night sky, cold weather, coffee, color and shades of green, blue, and brown, films (especially sci-fi, rom-coms, and horror), reading and writing poetry, i like researching stuff esp when it comes to science like psychology and the space!!, i love doing sports or any physical activity !!, i play a bit of musical instruments, i love dressing up, and i love talking about a lot of things such as politics, culture etc. OH and animals !! esp mammals ♡

dislikes: frogs and cockroaches, complicated math and i really hate burgers for some reason and i am not ashamed of it.

looks: uh well i am tanned, short natural black hair up to shoulder, i wear glasses, i have a heart faced shape, uh what else im 5'3 and brown eyes !! uh not sure if my race helps but im seasian !

thats all tysm ♡ - 🥟 anon

Hmm maybe sweet bruce

He puts up with a lot of crap believe me you’re not much at all he can handle it

I can see him make you some coffee along with his whenever he goes to kitchen

Would let you play your music around the lab as long as it’s not directly blasted on his ears

He’ll help you do your little researches since he himself is a curious knowledge loving person

Please ask him about his political opinions because literally nobody ever has

His hand tends to lay on your hair and runs his fingers throw your locks just for comfort if you’re ok with it

Pull him outside his lab for movie nights, he needs it and probably will only do it for you

[sirislayer]

4, 8, 20, 23 for the artist asks!

4. Favorite Thing to Draw Faces, facial expressions, Pointy ears, Glow Magic stuff, landscape (traditional, abstract), Puns

8. What's the most fun and the least fun parts about your process

Most Fun:

Ideally this lightning of giddy inspiration strikes and I just MUST DRAW or else I will be unable to do anything else. (This is an unreliable reason to do art however, so it should never be depended upon)

But even if this aspect is missing, I like the part where everything of an idea clicks into place. The research starts to come together, the moodboard is helping, the scribbles turn into a sketch, turn into lineart.

Hyperfocus!!!! Hyperfocus is so great to be in. It satisfies my brain being able to hyperfocus on a piece of art and suddenly hours passed by but I finished a thing!!!

Creative activity to me often corresponds with problem solving. The problem often being, that the image I want to exist does not exist. So actually being in the process of problem solving and actually seeing results, thats fun!

Another fun thing - this specifically applies for me to fanart - is when I know a specific person, friend, mutual will enjoy the thing I'm working on as well. It's like "aaah the thing I'm making will probably excite my friend, I can't wait to see their reaction!!!"

Least Fun:

Repetition. I h a t e repeating things I have already done. I don't like doing repetitive tasks or redoing work because I lost my progress due to software crashing. It used to be the thing that would easiest stop me from drawing something. I've gained a bit of a better attitude and harder shell over the years over the course of various professional projects, but it's still a big bummer.

I find posting/uploading + tagging my content on different platforms to be a chore and rather tedious. It has made me think I should just quit twitter/instagram all together because I neither get the interactivity one would want out of them, nor do I necessarily gain any financial benefit from them. Tumblr and YouTube are the most fun to post to, but I know my audience i limited on Tumblr to those, who use tumblr.

Posting in general, while it does result in positive feedback and attention and all that external validation at times, I just find the process boring and rather stressful. Formatting my images to actually be top-notch quality and not be compressed by various platforms takes time, so I actually often just don't do it in the first place.

20. a piece from this year that you're really proud of

I think the one I'm most proud of is one that is not available to the public as of yet. It's an animated short (8 minutes) about coping with the escape from a domestic violence and abuse situation. Most of the work on this was done the years prior to this year, but I did finish a substantial amount of the final animation this year, so I think that still counts. I won't share a link to the video right now, probably in about a year or so. But here are some images from the film:

After finishing that film... long animation does not scare me as much anymore to make. :) If we want to talk strictly limited to this year and this year only - I will probably say my TAZ Graduation Animations [1] [2] [3] and this character design commission!

23. what's something you hope people notice when looking at your art

Uh... that one is actually kinda tough. I don't really know?

Unless the piece has a specific message/vibe I want them to definitely feel (e.g. my domestic violence film), a lot of times I just want people to enjoy the art?

I guess the normal expectation is, I want them to notice my effort? But even then, with 5 minute doodles, that's not effort that's just.. braindump so this answer does not feel quite universal.

A lot of times though, this specifically applies to animation and maybe comics - I am always pleased when people point out things I put in that were not required to make something work, but are fun to see anyways. (e.g. people pointing out ear wiggles, sign language, background action, Fitzroy getting more angry once he notices Argo's upsetness...) It's nice to see I did not add that detail and decor in vain.

In a way I hope people will notice the things and nuance I put there specifically for people to take notice of. (if that makes sense)

[marinetteplztakeabreak]

okay now that we’re in the middle of a hiatus and the fandom is mostly calmed down

I’m one of the very few people who’s actually hoping for a Lila redemption arc? I don’t want her to be friends with Adrien or Marinette or anyone she’s really really hurt, but she is still like 14 and we don’t know her full story and I honestly want to see her grow and be a person and make some actual friends and get some hobbies. Again, I think she’s burned the bridge with a few characters, but that doesn’t mean she can’t ever be friends with anyone else

and anyway, my ideal takedown/ redemption arc for Lila is one where she unknowingly lies about having several disabilities that other students in the class actually do have

BUT I don’t want it in a “oh actually, Lila, you dumb fool, I have real medically diagnosed tinnitus, so I know that’s not how it works, haha everyone look at Lila the stupid liar” kind of way

I want them to be like stupid levels of understanding and try to bond with her

(detailed explanation of my Lila arc under the cut, obviously don’t read if you’re uncomfortable with the idea of Lila being redeemed)

Lila is like “oh... actually... I can’t participate in the PE final... I have scoliosis... that I just found out about right now” and Juleka is like “oh! I have scoliosis too!” and Lila is panicking because she’s about to be called a fraud, but instead Juleka just happily sits with her for the entire PE final and rambles about stuff and is super happy to have a bench buddy

Alix mentions that she has tinnitus and Lila is like “wait what? why aren’t you in front of the class?” and Alix is like “oh, for me it’s kind of a waves thing? on good days, I can hear her from anywhere in the classroom, and on bad days, nothing can really help me hear? so Ms. Bustier just gives me lecture notes that I can read and it works for me.” And Lila is completely expecting to be called a fraud but Alix is just like “it’s super cool that it does help you, though! everyone’s different! If you ever want to compare notes about what helps, you can text me!”

Lila starts to say the beginning of a well practiced and overly researched speech about how she can’t go on a field trip because she has a super rare medical condition and Max just pulls her aside and is like “hey, I know it can be scary and you feel like you have to justify yourself, but you really don’t have to give super personal information all the time. It’s totally fine if you are comfortable, but really, I know from personal experience that Ms Bustier and this class are super understanding. You can just say ‘personal reasons’ or something and we’ll all leave you alone. You’re allowed to have privacy.” and Lila is like “huh”

this is getting long but basically, eventually she talks to someone in the class with ADHD or anxiety, I’m going to say Alya for now, so she literally catches Lila lying about knowing some celebrity, and instead of being angry or judgemental she’e super discreet about it, she pulls her aside like “hey, I know it feels hard to make friends, but I promise you, people do think you’re interesting as you are, and we care more about you than the people you know.” and she doesn’t even call Lila out for lying? she’s literally just like “u dont have to know celebrities”

and then Lila actually finds out that there’s at least one actual compulsive liar in the class. And, if you didn’t know, Lila’s not an actual compulsive liar, and I’m not going to get into a rant about that now but... She lies on purpose, and tells planned lies with an agenda, whereas compulsive liars don’t usually plan to lie or have a reason for lying. So anyway, Lila gets actually caught lying, and someone, lets just say Nino for the sake of picking a character, is like “hey i know its hard but you do still have to apologize, even if you did your best, you still messed up and you’ve got to own up to it. I believe you that you’re trying to be better but you can’t just use mental illness as an excuse.” and Lila pulls out the fake tears and is like “you don’t understand-” and Nino is (not in a rude way, just trying to be kind) like “I can’t understand you exactly, no, but I literally did have a problem with compulsive lying and I have a therapist, so if you want to talk about it I probably understand more than you know” and Lila is like “oh.”

and anyway, Lila’s arc doesn’t come through someone she’s harassed trying to defend her, and it doesn’t come from her being traumatized into being nice, it just comes from her classmates treating her like a human person, and doing their best to understand her while also actually finding ways to make things accessible to her so she stops being able to get out of things. And then it turns to “hey Lila, just so you know, you don’t HAVE to give explanations for not wanting to go places, you can just SAY if you’re uncomfortable.” and she starts getting called out on it a little bit more, but in a friendly way. Her classmates are just like “Lila please just tell us what you want, I don’t need your medical history, I’m not going to do a background check, just, say you want to borrow a jacket and I’ll let you borrow it. I literally have an extra hoodie”

But simultaneously, everyone with a disability “in common” with her starts latching on to her and opening up, and they actually hold her accountable for listening to their needs. And Lila, who already has the mindset of “oh u are legally required to help Disabled Person or everyone will hate you,” which is literally the basis of half of her plans, is now surrounded by classmates who are asking for her help with reading things because they’re dyslexic, or asking her to grab a textbook from across the room, and asking her if she has any heating pads, and, well, Mylene actually bought her some heating pads when she was faking having cramps earlier, so she might as well lend those out so that she can get more credit with her classmates

And it’s not because she *cares* obviously, she’s just doing it to get them to rely on her, and to get on their good side

and then she’s invited to join the disabled students activism club, and it would look suspicious if she didn’t join, so she agrees, and then whoops, she is now working to do actual charity work-- because it’s really nice to have such solid evidence for her claims, and some charity work that she can actually point to solid evidence for if she ever gets called out-- and honestly it is pretty stupid that its so hard to get accommodations on tests for students with anxiety, because aren’t those the students who are the most afraid to talk to the teachers-- not that Lila cares. And it’s super dumb that no one even knows proper etiquette for helping people in wheelchairs,, and people keep Leaving Things in the Hallways that make it too narrow, and-- Lila doesn’t care at all though, and she definitely doesn’t care about her “friends” in the club because they’re not her friends, and she totally does not cry when she finds out that most of them are literally self-diagnosed, and then it turns out that Mylene was actually wrong, and she probably doesn’t have Lyme disease like she thought, and no one judges her or treats her any different? they’re all just like “oh thats great! glad you could keep getting new information!”

and Lila realizes that literally no one will be mad if it turns out she doesn’t have any disabilities. Except also, she’s starting to become more and more sure that she Does have several things wrong with her, because apparently it’s Not Normal to feel constantly on guard when she’s around other people, and apparently it’s Not Normal to just have days where you literally cannot drag yourself out of bed in the morning and then get hit with terror that if you tell anyone about how numb you feel they’ll immediately think you’re unworthy as a human being, and she’s like, oh, huh, i should  look into that

and anyway Lila doesn’t even try to be a good person at first she just wakes up one day and is like “what the heck when did i get actual friends and passions and hobbies,, i did not sign up for this” but she does start making an effort to be worthy of them and she ends up growing a whole ton once she’s given a support system

and anyway i know lots of people are uncomfy with Lila and that’s fine, but i’m continuously a sucker for “evil devil child is actually a pretty decent human being once their basic needs are met and they feel safe” trope

[bookworm-called-bear]

Daisy Labinette

Does Daisy Labinette love all of the students and love to help, yeah. Would she beat the shit out of anyone on short notice: yeah. 

Students: No one messes with Daisy

People: Because she protects anyone

Students: That and the fact that she can knock you out in like two punches and not get caught

Also, the memes Daisy would know because, yes she lives on a sanctuary but its near the cities and her mom integrated her in muggle culture as a kid. Someone from a pretentious family comes in and is so snobby and after she punches this kid when he comes to she just hands him a snickers and says “you’re not you when you’re hungry.”

Her being just as chaotic as her brothers and sending random students howlers with rick rolls or “What team!” in it. 

Brittish transfer students hearing about the older sister of Ilvermorny who protects anyone from bullies and is apparently one of the nicest people there and then seeing her beat the shit out of an 8th year when she is a 6th year because “He didn’t learn the first three times he insulted my brothers so now he doesn’t get to have all his teeth.”

It’s like batman and bruce Wayne. Daisy is so kind and nice and charitable and willing to help with anything but the second you bully someone she is there like a shadow and is about to murder you. 

I just imagine if Daisy was with the Marauders and knew McGonagal(for some reason) and all the marauders and co spend a week or so at Ilvermorny to learn or some shit and they see two things of Daisy before talking to her. One she is taking care of a werewolf student before a full moon with such a kind smile in her eyes and beginning to administering medicine. The second thing they saw was her putting her wand in her hair when Bellatrix called her and her family dirty half breeds and her just beating the shit out of her with her fists. 

Daisy is the kind of person to tease in a loving manor and laugh, Daisy will give people who are rude second chances but if they don’t improve she will teach them the lesson as many times as needed. 

The Marauders: See this badass 5′7 girl with dyed hair, tattoos, scars and leather jackets putting her wand away to fight because, “my fists work better” and pranking the new students and protecting anyone she sees getting picked on and fighting bullies and teaching lessons but also teaching how to be better and changing ideals. 

Ilvermorny Student: Oh thats Daisy. If you have any questions go to her she is so nice, also if you need help with school and stuff she is so good at it and she knows how to find herbs to heal stuff and she will research with you and spar with you and she is awesome. 

Daisy: Hi, if you have any creature blood that requires special circumstances we can set that up for you and I can help with any questions and my best friends or brothers can help and I can introduce you to your guides and pull some strings for y'all, McGonagall told me you’d be here so I stoked up on chocolate but I warn you If you are an asshole you can catch these hands. 

The Marauders: Found their new favorite person

[dramioneasks]

Its not a matter of "some people like different stuff" I don't like marriage law fics and you don't see me here complaining. There are some writers who choose to give their characters more dept or trauma by making them rape victims, and it os ok, thats a different debate. But the fics that you share here under that category, MOST of them are romantizicing rape. Physically Irresistible is one of your favorites and it is a perfect example of that. (CONT)

(CONT) The fact that you're not even open to questioning the way you run this page and are immediately dismissing me by saying " if you don't like, don't read". It's like I know!!! If I don't like ROMANTIC PORTRAYAL OF RAPE I won't read it obviously but that's not the point. The point is that you are actively supporting the making and sharing of that content. And IT IS IMPORTANT, it creates rape culture!!! It prevents women from acting up or even realizing that they're experiencing abuse! (2//3)

AND BDSM HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RAPE! Or as some people lile to put it non conscent ((THERES NO SUCH THING AS NON CONSENSUAL SEX. ITS RAPE)). BDSM is a super controlled practice and the participants are extremely responsible when done right. (3/3)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am going to direct your attention to these articles:

Novels That Tackle Sexual Assault

THE NECESSITY OF WELL-WRITTEN SEXUAL ASSAULT IN FICTION

I can’t write about a world without rape – because I don’t live in one by Kaite Welsh

Writing Fiction About Sexual Abuse And Sexual Violence In The Era Of #MeToo 

The New York Times article gives a list of books that talk about sexual assault. In each of the other articles it talks about women writers and the topic of sexual assault and rape. 

We are an archive. We archive the stories under the Dramione tag which means that we will come across stories that depict sexual violence, non-consensual and dubious consent.  In the CW: Rape, Non-con/ Dub-con, Abuse tags you are going to find a lot of stories that detail those topics. Whether in a good light or a bad light. 

When we write, we write to make sense of a world that is at times senseless. Over the years, many topics that had been taboo before such as sexual assault, rape or abuse have come to the foreground. 

Many authors write about their experiences with these as a way to heal from their traumas. They use fictional characters to depict the actions of the ones that hurt them. To tell them that they cannot write that and then share their experiences because it adds to rape culture is like telling a BIPOC that they cannot write, create or share their experiences with racism, with sexual assault, with abuse, with the oppression and injustice of our world because you personally think it adds to those cultures. 

There is a place for Dark Fiction. That is what those stories are. They are dark fiction which is a genre of works that depict the ugliness of our word through a fictional means. The authors are then free to express their fears, thoughts and experiences within that realm because they are using fictional characters in real life situations.

Those include stories like The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. 

Do we condone stories that depict rape in a romantic fashion? No. 

Please do not make assumptions that we find pleasure or glee in the depictions of rape. Do not make assumptions that we support anyone that engages in sexual assault. 

On the topic of Consensual Non- Consensual in BDSM:

 The Role of Consent in the Context of BDSM

Safewords and negotiation are especially important in scenes involving rapeplay. Rape-play is the enactment or role play of nonconsensual sex within an invisible structure of pre-negotiated consent (Joyal et al., 2015; Pitagora, 2013; Sandnabba et al., 2002). Scenes involving rape-play, or “consensual non-consent,” require extensive negotiation and planning so that behaviors that would otherwise be indicative of a lack of consent can be performed with the mutual understanding that such behaviors do not, in that instance, signal a desire to stop (Pitagora, 2013). The individuals involved are thus able to act out a nonconsensual fantasy in real life, with safety precautions in place, while freely engaging in outwardly resistant and coercive behaviors. Safewords enable practitioners to safely engage in scenes while acting in ways that would otherwise seem nonconsenting. Participants who endorsed an interest in rape fantasies in a prevalence study by Joyal and colleagues (2015) specified that they would never want to actually have such experiences. Thus, rape fantasies do not necessarily translate to corresponding desire for rape (Masters, Johnson, & Kolodny, 1988). The simulated activity of coercive sex with pre-established consent may be enjoyed, whereas real-life sexual assault would likely be traumatic and unwanted (Critelli & Bivona, 2008).

-   Cara R. Dunkley and Lori A. Brotto, The Role of Consent in the Context of BDSM, Section Safe Words, pages 7- 9, (2019)

The article above is from a scientific research paper on Consent in the realm of BDSM.

I do not have anything to add to what is said because it explains itself quite clearly.

[tundrainafrica]

do you currently have any snk universe LeviHan headcanons on your mind?

Okay, before I go into this question, I just have to say my brain is literally a conglomeration of head canons which I’ve built up after hanging in this site for months so at this point, I even have trouble telling which one is real or not because everyone just thinks up such beautiful and reasonable ones. 

I wanna talk about one headcanon though which is not really talked about because I don’t think a lot of people jive with. This one resonates with me so well though that I ended up writing it in all my fics even if it’s only barely hinted and was never confirmed in canon. But Imma just drop it here because like I would have wanted to talk about it anyway so now or never. 

Since no one ever confirmed Hange’s history I took liberties with it. 

Hange grew up in a rich family within Wall Sina. 

So my headcanon is Hange grew up rich. Like really rich, not necessarily royalty but at least noble family rich. 

Like Hange could have chosen not to work a day in her life beyond managing family properties and businesses like a larger version of the Reeves company but she just had such a passion for discovering the outside world and research that she ended up deciding to join the survey corps anyway, one of the shittiest factions in the military out of passion. This ended up causing a rift to grow between her and her family which is why she never talks about her family or her history.

Are there hints in canon? 

These are probably my interpretations but I kinda see possible crumbs which can be interpreted as Hange having grown up rich or at least highly educated. 

For one, where do you get the knack and obsession for research? To a degree someone has to have had a lot of time in their life or a lot of time beyond trying to find food or trying to survive to get so deep into something as complex as research, especially in that crapsack world. If Hange was living hand to mouth, she wouldn’t have been neck deep into research. Mind you, Hange is the type of person to get into research for days, completely disregarding her own personal needs and other obligations. This could be interpreted either way but I think not having to work a day in her life growing up, Hange had the leeway to enjoy research and appreciate it, and had built the habit of just locking herself in her room to get stuff done because of her environment growing up. If she had a family to feed, if they were living hand to mouth, I doubt Hange would have built this habit. 

Hange’s room is constantly a mess. It could be interpreted both ways,I know. But we have Levi who hates filth because he grew up in filth. We have Hange who lives in a messy room among clutter because maybe she had someone cleaning up after her growing up? When she finally started living alone, she started thinking, I’m too busy to clean this up myself and just goes about her life. Levi, who had lived in filth all his life, ends up the one cleaning after her because he’s traumatized by filth to the point of fastidiousness. While Hange is not. 

Hange is familiar with powerplay and media manipulation. What kind of work did she do in Season 3? She did a lot of the politick-ing, the media manipulation and the behind the scenes work to get Reeves back into power and she did a really good job at it. I think this could be interpreted as her having grown up within the walls, brushing elbows among the elite to have known how it works. Hange was one of those completely aware that the uprising and the rebellion could not be completed without getting the trust and the faith of the people. She was also one of the people who knew exactly how that type of shit worked and that's why it went so smoothly in her end. 

Hange is okay getting her hands dirty. This could be seen as a counterargument. If Hange was rich, why is she okay getting her hands dirty? I’d like to point out here her motivations for it and the way she goes about it compared to Levi. When Levi fights or tortures, the way he goes about it is he just knows it’s a necessity and something he has to do to get things done. When Hange fights or tortures, there is a sort of wonder or curiosity in her face, which shows she is more motivated by the wonder and the unpredictability that comes with working in the survey corps more than anything. Although Hange has a good heart, she is not as in touch with the struggles of the poor and the powerless as Levi imo. I don’t think it came as naturally for her. In fact, the penchant for survival and the mindset of doing something because it’s necessary did not come as naturally for Hange as it did for Levi. Hange gets her hands bloody because she likes dissection, she likes trying to learn new things (like learning to torture) and this type of perspective, not coming naturally for someone like her at least hints to the idea that she grew up with enough financial leeway to at least not understand that some unfavorable things may have to be done out of necessity.

They glossed over her history. Maybe she had no childhood trauma? Although Hange did have traumas which were put into light after she joined the survey corps, we never hear about any traumas or any big revelations about her life before that. Maybe it was comfortable? Maybe comfortable to the point of forgettable? It was a good life maybe, enough to brush it off lightly. Maybe her life was just so conventionally normal, and the worst she ever experienced is deciding to defy her parents and adjust to a mildly middle class existence as part of the shittiest factions of the military (which is still a farcry from being dirt poor or having lost her parents at a young age.)

What does this mean for my Levihan HC?

It adds an interesting facet to the Levihan dynamic in my end. That’s why I ended up keeping this around as a silent headcanon and I’ll just drop some of them here.

Hange had to teach Levi about living above ground

The culture above ground is completely different. Business language, writing documents are something which Levi probably had to learn when he joined the survey corps and became captain. Hange was rich enough to at least have a good education and formal schooling for her to have sheer mastery of how the rich people talk, how budgets are drafted and how announcements are made in a way to please the rich people. Hange knew that and thats why she ended up doing a lot of logistics and research. In fact, she could have been better than Erwin, which could possibly hint to her even having better education than him.

Levi probably never mastered business language and logistics, which is why he never took any other role beyond special squad leader. Although he has the eye for strategy and combat, he cannot for the life of him handle paperwork or the logistics of being a supreme commander. 

Also, they lived in a medieval place so we can assume this type of education wouldn’t be accessible to most people in the outer walls, which kinda supports the point that Hange wasn’t poor or even lower middle class. Like I’m expecting at the least she was on the same social class as Jean. 

They fight over budgets.

If I remember correctly, this has been confirmed in canon. Hange handles budgets and Levi likes to blow the budget with luxuries. Hange has simple joys for someone who grew up rich. Having grown up with a lot of money and a formal education, I wouldn't find it surprising that she was a master of budgeting and that’s why she ended up taking over that job in the survey corps. She also handled supplies and her department probably required the most budget. Not surprising that she handled the overall budget.

Hange handles the budgeting and Levi likes to blow the budget on tea and luxuries. It was explained before why Levi blows the budget on tea. Levi loves certain luxuries but never really had them in the underground which is why he enjoys them know in the military. Hange doesn’t have much of an eye for luxuries because she grew up with them already. There’s nothing much which would impress her luxury wise so she doesn’t see the need or the joys of blowing the military budget on slight luxuries. 

Hange buys him the teas. 

Although Hange has a rift with her rich family already. I don’t think her relationship with them was ever that bad. She was probably like a black sheep, who they would roll their eyes at during family gatherings. “The one child who ran away to join the shit hole military faction.” I think she still has access to their money and they still drop gifts. I have this head canon that Hange actually buys him the teas or gives the nice pastries or souvenirs she would receive from them to Levi so Levi could at least enjoy those too. 

These are the only HCs I can come up with now but I have sprinkled a lot of my fanfiction with them and it is practically canon in my head for many reasons… Mainly because it is an incredibly interesting headcanon and facet of their relationship to consider.

Analyzing the romantic relationship between two people from different social classes is just incredibly interesting. 

Levi and Hange are complete opposites yet manage to jive. This is a common sentiment and take among all the people in the fandom. But what if you take into account as well that they are from different social classes?

I’ve seen this type of relationship in real life and there’s a lot of adjustment involved but it really puts into light how open certain relationships are that differences in social background are discussed and navigated instead of treated as a dealbreaker on why the relationship won’t work. 

Growing up poor and experiencing starvation stays with people and it manifests itself in the small things. In Levi, it manifested itself  in his having a special appreciation for luxuries and his obsession for cleanliness. Hange never batted an eyelash at any of those luxuries being in the survey corps offered. For someone handling such a  budget, she never felt the need to spend on anything too fancy. In fact, when they were eating beef in that one seen, she didn’t really think too much of it compared to the cadets who grew up in small villages in Wall Rose or Wall Maria. 

Even in my family, my mother grew up poor so she has this certain appreciation for saving everything and keeping it. She hates it when we throw away food.. My father never grew up poor so he has this penchant for investing and reinvesting. He has this mindset that if we earn 100 dollars we spend 10. While my mom points out that that 10% isn’t enough for most people to live in. My parents get into the most interesting discussions and arguments having grown up in completely different social classes and I guess, it ended up why I ride so much with this headcanon. It’s just so dam interesting. Tbh, my boyfriend and I are form completely different social classes too so the way we go about material things and money are really different and it’s really interesting to navigate it when the discourse is calm and comprehensive so these relationships kinda influenced this Levihan headcanon. 

I feel like for Levi and Hange, this social class issue was a give and take. Hange thought him how to butt elbows with the ultra rich in the military, having been trained herself how to talk to rich people and win their favor. Levi was the one who put into light for Hange the realities of the war and the lower classes. 

Hange is a good heart and I’m sure she is aware but I just don’t think she was as in touch with it as Levi who had grown up with it. What she brings to the table for Levi That’s why is the capacity to see the wonder with everything since even in Season 1, it was shown that she wasn’t as jaded as other people in the military. Because she had her whole childhood to build that wonder already, not having seen suffering as a child growing up. 

Sorry, if this is pretty long. This HC is pretty important to me because it just adds another facet of their relationship to explore when I write. 

I hope you enjoyed reading it at least. Thanks for the ask!

[bi-kisses]

I was going through your discourse shortcut and noticed an issue. In your trans brain section, all the links are about whether sexed brains exist, whether trans brains are different than their natal sex, but your accompanying paragraph is all about proprioception. it's the jump i honestly struggle with most regarding all this. my opinion as of yet isn't really decided. i've noticed all sides make really big assumptions. in this case, it's that the differences in the brain then translate to a dysphoric feeling that can only be solved through transition. but that assumes 1. the differences in the brain are the reasons dysphoria developed rather than dysphoria causing those differences to develop 2. those differences affecting proprioception, despite rarely being in the part of the brain associated with that 3. that these are permanent (that kind of goes with #1— the brain changes w depression, 4 example) 4. that all people with this type of brain develop trans identity and seek medical transition (the sample is taken from trans people rather than from people with ___ brain type, it's a self fulfilling sample) 5. i've also just noticed studies tend to poorly control for hrt and sexuality 6. that all people with this brain type will benefit from transition

i was wondering your reasoning behind making those assumptions because i think they're certainly not insignificant and i think it's what i struggle with most when weighing the degree of this. because those questions all have a great impact on the permanence and absoluteness of this, which is the main thing you (general) use this as evidence of in the first place.

i believe sex affects the brains and all that, that's not what this is about. it's more about the assumptions people interpreting the studies and those doing the studies are making, as well as the methods and whether the sampling is truly representative. i know it's impossible to have a perfect study— i have all these questions because i'm going into a non human biology field and they just drill us on tearing apart this kind of thing all the time, no matter how much evidence there is (like climate change lol).

I'll talk about these as the numbered list followed by the other points, these are all good questions!

1. If the dysphoria causes the differences, I'd have to wonder what causes the dysphoria. In either case, the fact of the matter is that people with gender dysphoria have atypical neurology, and thats important because it shows there is a biological basis to what they're experiencing. We don't have (or really need) all the answers in that case and I've wondered the same myself a number of times.

2. This one is interesting because proprioception isn't centralized to one area of the brain, and mostly has to do with electrical nerve communications. I actually don't posit that the studies in the trans brain section have much to do with that part of the brain, they're more showing that there is a hormonally-influenced difference with the brain as a whole with or without HRT (I'll talk more about that later)

3. I think the kicker here for me is we've observed these neurological traits in young adults, middle aged trans people, and in the brains of deceased trans people. Take that how you will.

4. Oh I agree with you here, that if we only examine people who are trans and not those who solely have gender dysphoria, we haven't isolated gender dysphoria as a factor. But several studies linked in the spreadsheet I reference actually are gender dysphoria-specific and don't require any level of trans identification; just the dysphoria diagnosis. That being said, there are people who have gender dysphoria but choose not to transition for whatever reason and technically speaking (from a medical standpoint) they're trans as they possess the necessary attributes of transsexualism, but socially they aren't and that's their business. Kind of an aside there.

5. Some do, yes, but again I have posts that actually point to specific studies which do control for those things and mirror results of the more ambiguously-controlled ones.

6. See above, I don't think using the word "benefit" alone is enough to explain why transition is often the best method of treating GD. It can be beneficial to the dysphoria, but not the person as a whole due to a slew of other factors. And sometimes the fact that the changes are artificial don't help with the dysphoria in the first place. So I wouldn't say it's always the best option or always beneficial (I don't think I've ever said that but it is a common assumption)

So now on to why I harp on about proprioception so much; it's sort of explained in the shortcut, but I'll clarify specifically.

A big thing with trans people is phantom limb syndrome. Trans women not experiencing it after vaginoplasty, trans men experiencing it before phalloplasty, as the two biggest examples. We know for a fact that the brain often wires itself to expect certain characteristics, as shown with born-amputees still feeling PLS even though they never possessed the limb in the first place. It's a logical conclusion, with this information, that the reason one would feel at odds with their body has to do with the part of their mind that actually has to work with the layout of said body.

I won't lie and say I can prove this with a bunch of studies or anything, but I do believe this because it's what I've been told by neurologists (I've spoken to the people who run trans research personally in the past) and also what they themselves conclude with the information we're given.

I don't personally think it's a huge stretch but I understand the hesitance to share my confidence and I won't criticise or judge you for that.

So why use those studies if I don't even really think they play a role in gender dysphoria, you may wonder, and the truth is I don't really find that it matters. Whether or not we know the how and the why, we do know that for decades and decades trans men and women have consistently had these traits, with or without HRT and/or full transition. My resources more prove that there's no denying the biological nature of being trans, that to pretend it's some new phenomenon coming from ROGD or buying into dysmorphia too hard is ignorant at best. All the proprioceptive stuff is sort of the most likely theory we have but it's not the be-all-end-all for what makes someone trans. I'm excited to see what studies in the future reveal about all this, and as those who love science well know, happy to be proven wrong should it be the case.

[trashcatsnark]

Hard agree on you about CDPR's characterization of Johnny. It's not only that he doesn't show up as often as he should, and that his lines are a bit wonky sometimes (side gigs mostly), but they also kinda made him more of an asshole than he actually is? Like, they made Rogue say that he cheated on her. Three times. That is not in the actual lore. Why did they add that??? In the actual story they even share a sweet moment with him saying she's the best and calling her by her actual name.

Part 2 For Context: Another thing to add to my post, TTRPG Johnny also buys entire warehouses and converts them into living spaces for homeless artists and such. He does free concerts to expose NCPD brutality. The guy even felt bad in 2013, when he made the people rally against Arasaka bc he didn't want any of them to die. Like, he's a shit, but he's actually a very decent man too. I guess 2077 Johnny is just an engram and not the real one, but still, could've done better with his writing.

I'm trying to think carefully of how I wanna word this. Because I know when discussing problematic character behaviors, its a slippery slope at times. So, I wanna preface by saying, I am by no means justifying his actions by any means.

However, my issues with his characterization have less to do with me wanting him to be nicer and/or closer to his TTRPG counterpart. I'm not someone who was heavy into the TTRPG, I never played, I've just done some cursory research into it out of curiosity after playing the video game. Mostly out of curiousity of what still could or would fit into the video game. I've talked a bit of how I think the Silverhand Studio warehouses could fit as a project he tried when he was younger that failed. And I could easily see the police brutality awareness concerts still being something samurai did, cause Johnny in cyberpunk 2077 still cares about and is passionate about those issues; but he's a giant fucking asshole disaster who treats people like shit. At least thats how I see him.

And like, again, not justifying his actions but from a character and narrative standpoint. I like the decision to make him an asshole. Because to me, personally, his growth and redemption is the best part of the game. Like, obviously I love a lot of other things in the game and it has value beyond that. But to me his redemption and changing is so critical to the plot. That if he was just good guy johnny who is still good guy johnny by the end, it would take a lot away from the game to me. Which may or may not be fucked up that I prefer an asshole who becomes nicer than nice man who stays nice. But a journey is more interesting than a sit, ya know?

But my issues are generally; at times inconsistencies, consequences for his assholery, and just wish we saw more.

Ive talked somewhat about how he can be inconsistent in his development between main quests and side quests. He can be very erratic, which that also is probably just part of his character rather than an inconsistency. But those things can make it hard to understand him and can feel odd. But that also can just come from sidemissions being mostly nonlinear. In my ideal world where cdpr gave themselves more time; i would have liked if side quest/gig dialogue changed based on Johnny and V's relationship, the same way it does in the quests with kerry and in the endings/embers. Like if he do a gig with 0 affection, he may not show up or be a dick. But if you do that same gig with 70% he for sure shows and is more concerned for V. Like just that little level of consistency. Which i know it'd require more time and getting keanu back in the booth but, it'd have been nice.

Ive talked at length before about how I wish Johnny faced some more consequences for being a dickhead, so I wont bore anyone with more of that.

As far as the Rogue stuff you mentioned, that kind of goes into my issue of wishing we'd seen more. Cause V is suppose to have Johnny's memories lurking around their skull but we only see 2 memories??? Rogue says at the date: "lets go back in time before i knew what a bastard you were" there was a time when he was at least on some level decent. I refuse to believe he managed to convince Rogue and Alt to date him, being an asshole out the gate. There had to have been softer moments. But we the player dont get to see them. We only see the worst of Johnny in the past, despite supposedly having all his memories as V.

Like Johnny who cheated on Rogue and the Johnny who was soft with her and called her by her real name: very much can be the same guy and both having happened. Johnny getting attached and that scaring him so be does dumb shit and destroys everything. Johnny having genuine feelings but being unwilling to embrace them fully. Johnny giving breadcrumbs of affection to keep people around then snapping and doing something devastating when he worries they've gotten too close. Then regret it and give another breadcrumb of affection because he does feel that affection, he cares, but hes fucked in the head. Intentionally or not, stringing the people who care about him along. He's whiplash and a whirlwind. And that all makes sense and fits his in video game character to me, because hes meant to be a toxic asshole who really does care but has to get his shit together big time. But we dont see the nicer moments enough, we dont see what drew Rogue, Kerry, and Alt into his life. We dont see enough of those moments in my opinion. The closest is, when alt dies, if you choose the nice goodbye to kerry, and the way he tried to smooth things over with alt in the alley way before she was kidnapped, oh and the little hand hold. You get really brief moments but you mostly just see the assholery. It would have been nice to see how he met the people who mattered to him, seen more of his good, more of that charisma he claimed to have. In general, I would have liked more exploration of his character and his relationships

[graffitibible]

how do killjoys treat raygun burns? i genuinely have no idea and i know you've already gone pretty in-depth with raygun wounds in general but i was curious about the treatment

cw: we’re gonna be talking about medical stuff and injuries in here. i’m not gonna include any graphic pictures and also i’m gonna warn anyone who wants to do further research that some of the images that’ll come up are gonna be pretty damn graphic. tread carefully!

SO i’m gonna be going off this ask here, and running with the assumption that raygun burns probably both bleed and burn. thats important since thats gonna affect how youd do treatment. it also means that raygun injuries are messy. most burn injuries in the real world can cauterize - theyre unique in that the site of injury is usually sterile at the time of injury. however, since the rayguns in this world are capable of making someone bleed (rather a lot too, if the comics are any indication), that means that these wounds can get pretty gnarly.

the important thing about how rayguns in danger days seem to work is that they are not pure laser bolts! if they were, they’d be able to pass through something and cauterize it pretty neatly, like a lightsaber. the raygun blasts have an obvious physical component - they can physically knock someone back, for example, and we see sparks shower when people are shot in the music videos. so rayguns in danger days have an apparent kinetic component to them: you are basically applying heat to the human body at high velocity. 

ONCE AGAIN, THIS GOT LONG. THE REST IS UNDER A CUT. mind the content warnings above!!

other than that, we’re not sure what specifically the makeup of the lasers like...are. electromagnetic radiation? plasma? heat? electricity? i doubt its pure electricity since that would be more consistently fatal, but it is some kind of bolt that has both heat and velocity on its side to be sure, but thats the extent of what we know.

now logically, this would actually cause the human body to like. explode. cause thats what happens when you apply that much heat to something made of mostly water. getting hit with a bolt of something that hot would cause all that water to boil off abruptly and then the steam would fucking parboil you. not a fun way to go though it is funny that the steam would be the thing that causes the most damage. so yeah actually a very gory kind of injury.

obviously thats not what happens in danger days, since no one to my knowledge Fucking Explodes when theyre hit with a laser bolt. but lasers from rayguns can make blood FOUNTAIN OUT OF A DUDE’S GUT in the comics so obviously they can do a hell of a lot of damage (the mvs are way less explicit but they also werent allowed to like, swear in the mvs and had to tone down some of the violence and shit so im taking the comics canon as the more “realistic” one wrt rayguns here) the science here is kinda...eh, cause laser bolts don’t appear to be a penetrating injury but rather a messy “burn and blister” kind of injury that are nonetheless capable of making someone eat it pretty quick.

but this is danger days and this is kinda where science goes to die so here is how i view laser injuries in the universe:

danger days laser bolts have a kinetic or explosive quality to them.

what this means is that the injury is twofold: first, the heat damages the external layer of skin. i’d hazard that we’re talking second-to-third degree burn levels of injury on immediate contact. second, the kinetic energy released at that velocity and force generates an explosive impact that does damage to surrounding tissue.

what’s left is an injury that both burns and bleeds. my take on it is that the bolt impact creates the open wound, while the heat intensifies that damage and disseminates it. you need a temp of maybe 300ºF and higher to cauterize a wound so lasers would have to burn at least a little bit lower than that since the injuries do consistently bleed. but since the human body is pretty sensitive to high temperatures that works out in our favor seeing as if you heat things too much, again, the risk is that we would Fucking Explode.

lots of burn injuries, especially third degree and higher, tend to bleed. since thats the closest thing i have to compare to a laser wound in danger days, thats going to be my basis here.

treating a raygun injury is likely to resemble burn treatment in a lot of ways

burn treatment stuff varies a lot and i will spare you guys from googling this and going “oh thank you google images thank you for showing me what a graphic third degree burn looks like i am so glad that i know this and that this is in my search history and keeps popping up in my search history im SO GLAD.” 

burn injuries go by degrees. first degree is like mild sunburn basically, and only affects the epidermis or external layer of skin. second degree affects the top and middle layers of skin and can leave blisters. third degree burns go all the way to the subcutaneous fat layer and can leave the skin white and charred. fourth degree burns can go through nerves and muscles and even down to the bone and can cause permanent damage that requires amputation. at fifth degree you have significant risk of organ injury and at sixth it’s basically like “fifth degree, but with the common side effect of Death.” 

again im not linking to anything here because pretty much every information article you get on this stuff is gonna have some nice graphic images. so if you look this stuff up on your own do it at your own risk or have an image/media blocker extension ready if that kinda thing squicks you out

the main takeaway is that any burn from like the third degree downward can be very brutal and hard to heal over - they can cause swelling and severe scarring and the destruction of the epidermis and hair follicles means that new hair won’t grow. add to that the idea of raygun blasts tearing open that external layer of skin that means that you can get burns that go in pretty deep which would go a long way to explain how it is a weapon that doesn’t appear to have a lot of “penetrating” energy is capable of killing someone relatively immediately, especially if theyve got that initial kinetic impact thats capable of tearing open the dermis and making the injury go deeper.

im going to tentatively say that raygun injuries are basically full-thickness burns with a few bells and whistles. basically, they destroy the epidermis and the layer of skin below it, the dermis. thats the level of third/fourth degree burns and worse, essentially.

so, serious burn treatment usually goes as follows:

clean! that! wound! it’s best to do this in a sterile environment, cause otherwise youre gonna end up blistering the injury and agitating it further. you wanna get all the dead tissue and gunk off the burn.

pain medication. with most burns the nerve endings can get pretty fried and you might not immediately experience any pain, but since raygun injuries go a little harder than your average burn, thats probably not the case. people definitely consistently react in pain after theyre shot with a raygun in the both the mvs and the comics. so yeah, its painful. pain medication is nice to mute that feeling.

antibiotics and/or tetanus shots to make sure that you don’t get an infection

intravenous fluids containing electrolytes as well as a diet high in protein and nutritional supplements

antibiotic ointments/creams for the injury

skin grafts to close the injury since a burn of that severity would have difficulty closing completely on its own. yikes.

continuous monitoring of the patient to prevent sepsis and eschar from fucking with the blood vessels and healing tissue.

obviously killjoys do not have the benefit of a fully stocked hospital. if youre in bat city youre probably gonna be in more luck. but if youre slumming it or if youre in the zones, heres what i imagine the killjoy diy procedure would likely be:

application of water over the wound. cool water is best, not ice-cold (alright alright alright alright alright etc)

cleaning the injury comes next to prevent infection. ideally you would use soap. do not scrub as youll agitate the wound

pain medication might be helpful here, but who knows if thats common out in the zones - and i imagine city-born killjoys might have some hang-ups with taking meds, so who fuckin knows there.

bandages, ideally clean ones, would help cover up the injury and keep it from the elements in time for it to heal. that will also cover up the skin while the bleeding heals up. keep the wound as closed from infection as possible.

check up on the injury consistently especially since the burn probably wasnt sterilized on impact the way most burns are. a messy injury like that one can go south very very quick.

realistically i doubt that skin grafts are readily available. its recommended that you stay out of the sun and avoid lots of exercise that might risk reopening the injury. and that...is going to be nigh impossible if youre a zonerunner lol. its likely that improper treatment can lead to infection and then death. it is also likely that too much agitation of the injury can lead to the wound reopening, infection, and then death.

if you get stuff like light grazes, where the bolts clip you but dont fully impact you, that means youre like to get some surface-level burns that cover a larger surface area. theyll heal quicker if you treat them right, but thats a larger area thats open to infection. burns that go deep into the skin have more immediate fatality risk. there could be variation here as well! maybe a laser gun with a lower or dying charge will do less damage. maybe some guns have fancy “stun” settings that don’t do permanent damage.

the human body is surprisingly resilient and can recover from a lot. but burns are no joke and a raygun blast can easily be fatal either immediately or a little bit after the fact. even if you survive the blast, there are likely to be a lot of repercussions to taking a serious hit, which im again basing on the noted consequences of major burn injuries

likely consequences of surviving a raygun hit in the zones:

scarring. especially without skin grafts, this ones gonna be a gimme, and likely permanent. serious burns can leave lots of color changes to the skin as well as keloid tissue (which is a raised, lumpy kind of scar tissue. you can google it if you want but as i warned before: images might be pretty grody). this would also prevent the growth of new hair in those areas. most hospitals try to excise this and replace it with skin grafts to speed healing but like i said thats not likely to be an obvious solution in the desert.

nerve damage. burns that go super deep can permanently remove the feeling from the affected part of the body. this is likely to be permanent. deep contact usually remains intact but stuff like subtle pressure changes can be outright impossible to sense. this can also cause contractures in the affected area.

weakness in the affected area. related to the above point, damage to muscle tissue and nerves can reduce range of motion, strength in that area, and more.

itching and pain at the site of injury. pretty self-explanatory. that one might get better as you go on depending on how good the medical treatment was at the time of injury.

inability to sweat. the destruction of sweat glands in affected areas are possible if the burn goes deep enough. in the desert this can be very bad news lol

psychological trauma. a given. any traumatic injury can have long-term psychological effects.

my main takeaway here is that killjoys who’ve been in lots of serious firefights are gonna have a sHITTON of scarring, some of it obvious. lots of killjoys looking pretty fucked up. lookin wiped out. my other takeaway is that surviving a raygun blast is pretty dependent on getting care for it as soon as possible, cause the infection/hemorrhage risk seems pretty high.

ofc this is just me analyzing this shit to hell and back and it’s probably nowhere near that scientifically DENSE im just detail-oriented as hell. so take or leave this answer, whichever you like lol. i like writing the nitty gritty details of injuries since i generally wanna emphasize how rough life in the zones can be so this is something im interested in exploring.

[dreamychick]

Me and Tai have been Discussing Hogwarts again and were talking about classes. Obviously everyone would have their favorites and ones they'd be good at.

Charms would be my best and Favorite subject. It's mostly practical not theoretical. It's the most useful in everyday wizarding life. You learn a huge assortment of stuff from a knitting spell to a bubblehead charm. Like there are all different kinds of charms out there. And I feel like there's no end to what you can do. If something doesnt exist, you could make new charms and Prof. Flitwick would guide you along the way. He seems like one of the nicest teachers and most patient.

Even though I'd be a Muggle born coming into a world of Magic for the first time and I'd be excited for everything I'd probably hate HOM.Cuz like History of magic is taught by a guy who bored his own self to death. So thats probably a class id sleep through even if the subject matter were interesting. Goblin Rebellion sounds interesting as hell until you hear it being taught in a monotone voice and then you're suddenly being shaken awake and have a pool of drool on your face that you have to hastily wipe off bc it's time for the next class.

Divination is a wooly discipline. You have to have a given gift its not really something that can be taught. If you dont have an aptitude for it you cant hone anything. If you do have a gift for clairvoyance I think the class is a good one to take, it's not useless. Just useless to me. I'm not the sort who would have the sight. So prophecies and future and stuff is beyond me. So divination would be a waste of my time that I could spend doing something else.

Arithmancy is magic math who wants that?

Herbology is plants and I kill plants only these ones may try and kill me back. I think I'd find it interesting, I wouldn't be bored but I wouldn't retain it. It's used alot for potions ingredients. And I'd be fuckin useless at Potions.

Potions is cooking/science/math all in one. Anyone who has ever seen me try and do math or science knows I should not be allowed to create something that could potentially poison someone if done incorrectly. Also. Ive only been allowed to cook breakfast foods my whole life bc my sister runs the kitchen and doesn't let me try things so now I'm to lazy and don't want to. I cook rice in the microwave. It would be a miracle if I could scrape a passing grade for Potions at all.

Astronomy may be a good one. Staying up late. Learning the stars and the constellations. The placings. Charting and mapping. That would be helpful for adventuring, could navigate at night, by knowing where the stars are in relation to each other in terms of directions.

I feel like Id get super frustrated with Transfiguration bc id be over thinking it. To worried about the actual molecular structure of what im trying to transfigure. And stressing out cuz im not good at math and science. So i have no idea how to make it work. And when i do make it work its by dumb luck not bc i actually understand how im doing it. And when i TRY to understand it I just end up stressing out more bc i cant.

DADA I'd be good at. It's a practical class with practical application. Yes it requires some research for things like the creatures/beings you go up against, but once you've fought a Boggart you'll know how to fight it again. The situations may change but you'll know the spell. And it's something that requires action not as much sitting down and studying. My brain is broken. I need the classes I can move with.

Care of Magical Creatures I would love. New animals? Yes. Sign me up. I have 8 cats, 2 dogs and a turtle at home. But over my life we've had rabbits, lizards, hamsters, guinea pigs, fish, rats, birds and hermit crabs. I would love the hell out of new animals. My problem would be, like in the HP game now, I'd adopt these animals on the Reserve, take care of them and then it would be time for me to graduate and my ass would be like, "ok everyone into the magic bag, yup, yup once we get home Ill let you out. But come on, in you get." And Id take all of them.

Any muggle classes Id pass on, cuz I'm muggle born so that's a waste of time.

Ancient runes  is a book course. Like. All studying and memorization. Boring. I mean. It could be interesting I guess. But in the way that like studying Heiroglyphics is inyeresting. In that I think its interesting in theory. I think the subject matter is fascinating. Id love to learn more. But you put the book in front of me and my brain shuts off. I'm not gonna be able to focus on this man.

.....It has just come to my attention that in order to obtain my desired job of Curse-breaker I have to take

 Arithmancy and Ancient runes.

Well. Fuck me sideways.

I guess that makes sense, seeing as Curse breakers work for the banks most of the time but still. Can I be exempt seeing as how I'm a chosen one from Hogwarts? I've been finding Vaults and breaking curses for 6 years w/o this shit. May I be excused?

What do you mean no exceptions? But I have a recommendation from Bill Weasley! Plus! In a few years Harry Potter wont even Take his N.E.W.Ts but that bitch gets to be an Auror. Wtf.

Oooooh so you die ONE TIME for all of wizardom and you get a pass. Bitches.

Fine. Sign me up for both classes then.

I also MUST get an O on Transfigurations and Potions to get into the NEWT classes and an O or an E on Charms and DADA (The Classes Id probably pass with an O np) Luckily I only need to take the Arithmancy Owl no NEWT required. It doesnt say specifically if a NEWT is required for Ancient Runes. Or if Id need an O or E to get there. But lets hope I dont need it and that I can just take both with the OWLs and get an E. The NEWTS are Probably preferred but not necessary. So if I only just pass my OWL no biggie.

Someone better break out the Monsters and chocolate. And be ready to tutor the fuck out of me the week before exams to cram as much info into my head. Bc Im not retaining shit throughout the year.

[sol-falloutblog]

Actually, nevermind I retract an earlier tag of mine, I do have other problems with FO games (3, NW, 4). Specifically the sexism (and not just the racism).

TW for mentions of murder/death, violence & brief mentions of racism & biphobia

Some might try and argue they aren't but please, everyone and I mean EVERYONE makes fun of the recurrent theme of the dead Wife/Girlfriend within the series and if we don't limit it to just partners the number of times this occurs goes up even more. Boone is the main one that everyone always talks about but I also like to include Raul in this because even though the women/girls in his life weren't romantically related their back stories in his life are just so violent and it doesn't escape me that most of them were Mestizo. In F3 their is literally an Asian girl with a Evil Karma requirement whose a sex slave to a Black man who is also the main enslaver (just... so much going on in that game ). Also would like to include the FO3 protagonist, the character we play has a Dead mom who died shortly after giving birth. Im probably missing A LOT but I don't remember much of anything from FO3 and despite having played FNV plenty of times a lot of my memory is still lacking or needs to be refreshed so this is as far as I'm going into these games for now.

Moving on to FO4, we got Deacon with a murdered partner, Pre-War Nick Valentine had a fiance that was shot in head used as motivation for Synth Nick Valentine, MacCready with a Dead wife killed violently by feral ghouls, Longfellow's partner who was abducted, brainwashed, miscarried then murdered and the Sole survivor if you're Male.

Also not to mention the fact that most women companions or any that show attraction to men are used more so to pander to male audiences then to be their own unique characters. Piper, Cait, and Curie all have no prior relationships, Cait is the sexual one who may even count as biphobic representation in some aspects similar to how Cass is within FNV (over sexualized and shows passing interest in women to mainly titillate the player). I don't know what to say about Piper, I don't think she's as bad as the others at least & she might even be okay however, I do still think she lacks in unique characterists & somewhat agency & even though she might not count as biphobic representation I still feel it is mainly there as entertainment for a specific group of their audience. As for Curie she very much falls into the "born sexy yesterday" trope.

I would like to add real quick that having a dead, beaten, or whatever wife, girlfriend, mother, sister or just any women character isn't automatically sexist the problem is that this is something done over and over and over again normally only to further the mens stories as motivation for them OR used purely for shock value. Not to mention that non-white characters tend to get more devastating or violent backstories or plots compared to their white counterparts or are given hardly anything of there own & used only to further white characters stories.

And also keep in mind that there are probably plenty of instances besides just the few I mentioned in which race and sexism intersect I just for now don't plan on going further then what I've said (but I would like to add one other example like Marcy Long from FO4). I would real quick like to point out though that of all three of these games there are only 2 WOC companions in total and their representation is not even good (if we count the temporary companions in NV then we would have one more but the one from Honest Heart is just done so poorly all around as well & no I don't see C). Also just the enormous lack of Companions of color IN GENERAL within these games (and/or just lack of DECENT portrayals). But thats not what this post was for.

Anyway yeah, sexism is to be expected of course with how most industries are but I just felt like I had to talk about it a bit. I could also go more indept with this but I don't want to have to do too much more research at this time. I might one day but probably not because most likely other women have talked about this already and too a much better degree then I could ever but maybe this will be interesting to someone.

Edit:

Hmmm... i guess I also have problems with the biphobia even though there isn't much but it is still there. And, even though the courier could *technically* be Bi+ in NV I don't believe it makes up for the other instances I've talked about and I'm actually not sure how I feel about it counting as actual representation honestly but that's something I need to research a little bit more before I make a solid judgement. However, at this moment I don't believe it does any better then FO4 in this regard. And, look, I understand Cait and Cass both aren't confirmed Bi+ & that one is definitely suppose to be straight because of things I've read about it BUT considering Bisexuality isn't really a thing thats talked about or referenced at all in these games I have to go off the little that is there. If there was other actual instances of good rep these could be looked over but because there isn't I can't.

ALSO even though I don't believe very many games have done this well, or any mainstream media but let's not forget sex workers are probably VERY poorly represented within the series but Im not that great at analyzing that specific stuff since I'm not one and don't know much about the issues and such sex workers face.

[prorevenge]

After months of putting up with my roommate from hell, I got the revenge of lifetime and screwed her over out of a fuckton of money and got her to pay rent and life has never been sweeter! (This is a long one)

This is a long one but very much worth the ride, so buckle up. (also, English isn't my native lang, sorry if there are any mistakes)

This story takes place a couple of years back. During college, I lived with several roommates, all of them were nice and we got along well, except for this one bitch, let's call her Karen. if Satan and Hitler had a child and that child had a child with Stalin and Cruella de Vil, that would be Karen for you, she is a loud-mouthed stupid, egocentric bitch who has the face that scare the shit out of a toilet. She would never clean up after herself, she would always leave her plates and things at the spot where she last used them. I have lost counts of how many times, I caught her stealing my clothes without asking and if you so much as touch her clothes she loses her shit on you, or her drinking our lactose-intolerant roommates almond milk and any time we confronted her for drinking it, she would shrug and say "I only had a sip, stop being so stingy." She plays her music loud at night, invites stranger without giving any heads up, a time or two she didnt pay rent even though her parents are FILTHY RICH and she is wearing gucci and prada shit, Karen also fucking lies about everything, even things that are not worth lying about. like if she woke up 7, and you ask her, she'll lie through her fucking teeth and say she rose with the sun rise because she is a natural. (ps, this is something i actually heard her say to her parents while she was skypeing them....so cringy, who the fuck says that? but i digress)

Months we have fucking put up with her, of course we tried to get other roommates but unfortunately when we all moved in everything, all documents and contracts were done in her name so kicking her out would require a lot of effort and most of us were busy with school and work and life happens. So we ignore it as much as we can and try to move on.

We are now all seniors and in our final semesters, meaning graduation was coming, AND Karen is planning a backpack trip across Europe with her friends as a graduation gift to herself, this is important so remember this.

One of our roommates and my closest friend, Sasha, has had a crush on a guy that lives down the hall. Any time the two of them are together, Sasha and the Guy keep giving each other googly eyes and blushing faces; it was sooo cute. Sasha is a verbal autistic person and has never dated anyone because she has a hard time with socializing and understanding social ques and subtlety, which lets face it, that is the core of dating, especially flirting but with a lot of encouragement from me and the final roommate, Lola we got her to ask him out. He said yes. She was so happy, you guys, she flew back into the apartment and did an hour of happy dance with her arms flailing about and a shit eatin grin on her face; needless to say we were all so happy. Karen caught wind of this and it just so happens at that time she was having relationship problems, I guess her bf finally realized he's dating human garbage. Not one to be outshined, Karen behind all of our backs went to the guy's place and spun lies about Sasha, saying she is a serial cheater and even made a fake account for Sasha's so called bf. the guy never called Sasha, and eventually weeks passed by he told us why but by then Sasha felt like the damage was done and lost interest in him.

I. WAS. FUCKING. FURIOUS.

This, this level of dickery and bloody pettiness is the straw that finally broke the camel's back and I vowed I wouldn't fucking leave until I served my slice of justice. Here's another character that you must know about, Prof C. His wife two years ago was in a horrible car accident and as a result is in a wheelchair, this is especially problematic because she was a stay home mom that took care of their two special needs kids and they have a toddler at home. Home life is a mess for him, he is running ragged between working and single-handedly is taking care of his family, the uni took pity and also feared the workload would see one of their best and most beloved teachers leave the school struck a deal with him to help him out. In all of his classes there will be quizzes and midterms, this doesnt change, but assignments you submit and he corrects at the end of the year, this is important cuz our uni has zero tolerance on proffs that dont constantly update the students course works so that students have the chance to improve their grades.

Karen, the lazy and stupid bitch she is, is somehow skating through his assignments, even though they require a shit tone of research and writing. I accidentally learned that one of her older friends told her that she only needs submit the paper on its due date and to only write the first 3 pages and use a paraphrase tool for the rest of the paper so the plagiarism software wont detect it and would think its original material and when the end of the year comes, submit a hard copy but with the first pages being her actual work and the rest being completely plagiarized, professional work. Prof C won't know cuz the likelihood a man as busy as him thoroughly checking the work of 120+ students is pretty low. I grinned. A plan was beginning to formulate in my head. Oh, sweet mother of Jesus, she is going down! All semester long I let her do this for all of the 7 papers, one of them which is a term paper that has 20% on it alone, all the while I spied and gathered all of her pass codes, social media, her student ID, everything.

The end of the year came and I compiled all of her assignments, both the original one with the paraphrasing tools she used to circumvent plagiarism and the one she finally handed them in, and I even made photos were there are side-to-side comparison of the assignments. This is a good start but not enough. So, One day chillin at the living room I open a conversation about relationships, Karen is two timing her new boyfriend and is sleeping with some other Person. so, I ask her questions like "don't you feel guilty for cheating?" and "You do realize this is wrong?" and I even paraphrase my words in a way that is vague but also clear, for example I would say "It's not fair, so many people work so hard everyday to be successful and you are here cheating and lying your way to success." Karen, narcissistic as fuck, would respond with snippets of I dont care and how she isnt cheating, she is only having fun and that everyone does it so why not her too. This is too good to be true, even her answers are vague, its like god put his hand on my shoulder, looked me right in the eyes and said, "burry this bitch". and Id be damned if I didnt. As you probably have guessed it by now, I was recording EVERYTHING. The recording plus the photos, and her assignments were more than enough evidence, I sent an anonymous email to the Professor, and i tell the girls so that they can prep for the shit storm thats coming. Three weeks later, results are out. she failed and LOST HER SHIT. She was screamin, crying, wailing, what a sight to see! you best believe, the girls and I were laughing. She tried to talk to the prof, but he was not having it. she cried and begged for a second chance but he said a hard no. So now she has two options: she goes ahead and doesn't graduate with us, and takes on a whole 'nother semester for one measly course or take summer course and cancel her trip to Europe, which mind you she spent a fuckton on, something like 13, 000$ and I know it could have been much cheaper but Princess Karen only wanted the best so yh. The next couple of weeks she spent sleepless nights because she was calling and cancelling all the reservations she made, tryin to get her money back BUT (again, GOD really was out for blood that day) because the cancellation was so close to some her trip most places refused to refund, or some charged her cancellation fees. She only managed to scrap 5.5 K back together, lossin 7.5 K. OUCH!

Its not over, having damning evidence I, with earned gusto, told her she was going to pay all of the bills till we move out, which was in two months, payback for all the times she was late on payment or defaulted and she would from now do her part of the house chores or else Im gonna send it all to the admin and faculty dean and she will fo sho be kicked out and all those uni years will have been for nothing. She hated it, she fucking threw tantrums and cussed me out but my god if she didnt do whats told. she cleaned her stuff, apologized to Sasha for what she did, I forced her to come clean to her BF (dont know the guy but the few times i met him he was super sweet to us and i felt bad for the guy), I watched her actually do the dishes for the first time in like years. IT was fucking amazing and I don't regret it one bit. In fact, anytime I feel sad now as an adult, i kick back my feet and reminiscine and a slow shit eatin grin draws itself upon my face.

tl;dr roommate was super mean, i found out she was cheating on her assignments and so i snitched on her and as a result she had to stay the summer and retake the class again or else she wouldn't graduate.

(source) story by (/u/let-the-write-one-in)