#still played. or have something similar to like

[dnpbeats]

I feel like dan and phil still kind of play up the dichotomies between them when actually they are soooo similar and I find it rly interesting. Or idk, maybe they don’t even play it up anymore but the vestiges of it are still there. They definitely don’t do it to the extent they used to, and like obviously there ARE differences in their personalities/interests/etc, but I feel like there are also so many examples of the phandom (myself included) assuming something was decided by one of them when actually it was the other

like okay, the song in tatinof. The whole joke within the show was that phil really wanted to sing this song and dan was like 🙄 and dragging his feet until eventually he’s like “okay fine we can sing.” Now obviously this was a bit for the show, but it definitely fit with the personas they presented at the time with phil being all fun and whimsical and dan being the more serious one. The bit felt like a reflection of real life/their personalities as we knew them… and then story of tatinof comes along and dan is like “yeah I was the one who insisted on there being a musical number.” Now idk, looking back i’m not shocked it was dan, but at the time it was definitely surprising yk! Something that had “phil” written all over it (which they KNEW, which is why Phil was the one who wanted to sing within tatinof) was actually dan

but I find myself still today sometimes being surprised by things like this. with the dapc slime video, I (like others) assumed phil was the one who came up with the concept/directed it because phil is the horror guy! And it was somewhat reminiscent of phil’s old school YouTube stuff. like you think of the basket and dapc slime coming from the same person, it checks out. But turns out nope, it was dan who came up with the idea and directed it. And then with the phouse, everyone felt like the style was very “dan” bc there was no color anywhere it and was so sleek and modern and then phil was like no this is my taste too 😭 I think he talked about it once in the context of the living room but he also specifically said the entryway was his idea, even though to me it's something that's very "dan"

of course at the end of the day dan and phil are separate ppl with different personalities and i’m not trying to say they like have no identity separate from each other. Just like. I feel like sometimes I get so caught up in the idea that they’re day/night dark/light grumpy/sunshine etc that I forget they’re also like. idk. two vines that have been growing together for so long and are so intertwined that you can't tell where one starts and the other begins

[spamblog-w]

that's why I love Red, white and royal blue because book was a piece of shit, sorry not sorry, and they created a masterpiece with a movie - it hardly ever happens but honestly... I can't stand how book was written and can't even believe someone could like it so much besides for an idea to make it appear on the screen

it's full of boring political facts, characters are overly sexualised without much depth and love factor, there is no symbolism that you can see in the film version, everything is out of place/logic/time to the point I didn't even catch when they fell for each other nor that they truly care so I'm super glad I've watched it first instead of reading and as soon I finished the book - I sold it

nobody has to agree with me but this movie means so much to me you can't even imagine! how the actors play, how they formed a good story out of chaotic scraps, how you showed things without telling them - it's everything including how much I relate to the prince himself

so...

yeah I totally agree with the fact that it's important to stick to the original in a way like I'd love to finally see War of the worlds that is what it should be or I miss some important things from books I've read that turn the whole movie into something else (I try to separate medias - treat them as similar yet different things even if they have the same title as I guess that's just a vision of a director and not everything can be showed the way a reader wishes nor even the author as it doesn't work this way) but still would love people to make it better if it's already crap if you know what I mean

also am one of those people who absolutely hate when characters don't look like on paper - I have aphantasia so it's hard for me to SEE them but still when I see a blonde guy who used to have black hair and was for sure shorter and with scars to make him prettier my eye starts to twitch

The real problem with books-turned-movies isn’t “omg they didn’t include every single word in the book” it’s “omg they completely overlooked the main theme, threw out any significant allegories, took away all the emotional pull, an turned it into a boring action movie with a love triangle in it”

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

Hi, I hope this is an okay question to ask. I am s l o w l y exploring and learning what kinds of kinks I like. I’m drawn to taboo kinks and I’m really curious about ageplay, but I’m worried that if I open the door to letting that be hot, I’m going to start seeing actual kids as hot. Obviously that doesn’t mean I would do anything about it, but I’m still not sure I want that in my head. Is there any truth in this fear? Could that happen?

well much in the same way that the majority of pup players aren't trying to hump real labradors on the street, D&D players generally aren't running around pulling swords on random shopkeepers, and my years doing Warriors Cats rp online never made me want to live in the woods pissing in the dirt and eating mice, I suspect that what you're attracted to is the safety of fantasy and play rather than the actual, literal thing. pretty big line between those two things, actually, and most people are pretty clear on the difference between stuff that's made up and harmless and stuff that's really really bad. I use this example often, but I assure you that my abiding love of Batman using his billions of dollars to dick around doing lawless bullshit has not softened my feelings on Elon Musk in the slightest.

I assume that, like most well-adjusted adults, you aren't attracted to children. what you're into is, presumably, adults acting in ways that are characterized as immature, carefree, cutesy, helpless, bratty, etc, and the dynamic of those playacting adults might have with others who take the role of their caregivers. that is... so, so, so far removed from being attracted to an actual human child. I don't know if you've ever actually, like, hung out with kids, but they're pretty different than adults. I mean obviously they're little humans who have their own opinions and ideas and personalities and have a right to autonomy and making their own decisions as much as is safely possible, but they are REALLY different from age appropriate, sexually compatible adults. someone doing ageplay is, like, a million miles from an actual kid.

it's kind of like how when Riverdale was on I'd see gifs of that insane redheaded lesbian and go "yeah, she's hot." like, sure, the character's a teenager, but that actress is an adult woman who's only two years younger than me and we all know that. the idea of fucking an actual teenager is vile. even if I were to see someone and have an initial aesthetic appreciation, the second they open their mouth and start saying 17 year old things the attraction is gone because I've realized that's a child.

(no offense to the teens in the room! you're great and I'm sure your 17 year old stuff is really important to you! but adults should not want to fuck you, is the point.)

so what I'm saying is: seems unlikely!

also, okay. let's assume the absolute worst case scenario happens and you experience a twinge of sexual interest towards a child. that's understandably alarming; that's not an urge most people want to harbor within themselves. that may require some dialing back from ageplay, or a chat with a kink-friendly mental health professional, or seeking out some community and advice from others in your kink scene who may have struggled with something similar. but please, give yourself some credit: you have some shred of impulse control within your body, yes? you're not going to make the leap from having a thought to being an active child predator in one fell swoop. the choice to harm a child, or to seek out pornographic material of child sexual abuse, are still choices that you would have to actually make. and it's making those choices to do harm that actually make child abusers a danger, not just having thoughts. having a thought all by itself doesn't hurt anyone; it's the way you act on it that has the potential to cause harm.

but again, I want to emphasize, sexual behavior is by and large a pretty easy wire not to get crossed with other things. please note the brave billions of people who manage to get through every day without groping their colleagues and random strangers because they understand it's not the appropriate time, place, or partner!

[hotchnersangel]

MATILDA

Aaron Hotchner

-----

cw; childhood trauma, panic attacks, illusions to drinking, abuse, self-worth issues, mentions of the bau's traumas, hurt, blood, violence, bit of a persistent and overbearing hotch at the end. PLEASE DO NOT READ IF ANY MENTION OF THESE THINGS TRIGGER YOU. This is a very deep and raw piece.

this has not been edited because it feels a bit too personal to reread lol

you have been warned.

You were always conditioned to brush off your feelings. It became a coping mechanism to get through the torment of your past. Physically you were fine but emotionally you were bruised and tainted with the colour indigo, that led to the bottled up pain.

No one knew your history or the treatment you went throuh as a child, in fact you often believed you history inferior due to your friends' upbringings. With Morgan being manipulated and molested, Emiy being dragged city to city to escape bible bashings, JJ losing a most beoved sister, Penelope losing her parents, Spencer's father leaving and him becoming a prodigy of the education system, Rossi watching his friends die right in front of him and Hotch. Well, Hotch's past had been a blurred line to the team, similar to yours. Though they knew something had happened to destroy you mentally for you to be where you were today- it was practically alien to have a member of the bau come from a happy home.

Your team had lost people around them, family, friends- life's true tragedy. But, you didn't. You lost no one but yourself.

You could argue that you lost you parents but it would be insensitive, they were still alive but they simply were never parents to you. They were strangers who barely even knew of your existence when you were present and a burden now that you were no longer around for them. No longer there to be their punching bag, no longer there to be their outlet of anger and cutthroat insults.

When the topic comes up, you deny, deny, deny.

"It's no big deal really," you would tell them with a large smile, diverting their attention and you had given them no reason to doubt you until one case.

A case that focused on parents abusing their children. You had almost gone quiet but it was not noticed, you played it off as exhaustion considering you had all been working back to back for weeks straight.

The jet felt colder that Tuesday morning, the seats glassed with a coat of ice as you sat down, letting out a shiver, Hotch takes his usual seat besides you and raises an eyebrow at you. "You okay?"

You nod with a smile, "Yeah it's no big deal, just a bit cold." You shrug, looking out the window, ready to set off for New Orleans. Midway through the flight, you feel a material rest over your legs, seeing Hotch reading the case file and hardly even looking at you. `like he could sense your need for some sort of comfort, whether it be from the sudden breeze or the pain inside your heart.

You arrive swiftly at the precinct, everyone getting up and getting to work. The team rarely struggled on a case but as you were all slumped around a board finishing your takeout. You look over the case files again and look up, causing eyes to dart over to you.

"Oh she's on-to something." Morgan exclaims.

"Let it download, almost there." Emily smirks slightly, watching the cogs turn in their head.

"A child can form a negative sense of love from super young, right?"

"Yeah, it's called our 'love map', it's the ideology of our internal software being developed from around the ages 5 to 6 based on our surroundings and the environment we grew up in." Spencer adds and agrees, seeing where you are going with this.

"And am i right in saying that it is effects our ability to process, receive and distribute love?" You inquire and Spencer nods along.

"Yeah, the result of a healthy development of self-cohesion, self-constancy, and self-agency is self-esteem. Positive affect becomes integrated with self-representation. A negative love map, essentially a distorted internal representation of what a healthy relationship looks like based on negative past experiences, can lead to significant issues in romantic relationships, including difficulty forming deep connections, distrust, emotional withdrawal, anxiety, and a tendency to repeat unhealthy patterns." Spencer nods along.

"So, this unsub had a broken home? Let's get Garcia to check records of social service calls to residents with multiple visits." Emily says to the team as they dial Garcia and are met with a sigh at the vast load she has to sieve through.

"I wouldn't rely on it there are so many left unreported." You added, shaking your head. "Look for school reports, teachers may have noticed suspicious behaviour and markings on a child- it's not much and hardly narrows it down but it is something."

The team nod impressed and you catch Hotch's eye as he narrows his eyes softly, like he was trying to read into your soul. You were, simply put, a book he could read one hundred times and still be unable to decode every last detail.

"Garcia, cross check school reports with silent 911 calls." You heart ached as you say the words, a rush of memories flooding back to you as you ran up the stairs of your house, hearing your father shouting up at you and your mother knocking on your door harshly. You'll never forget those knocks, like a constant reminder that you were always wrong. You had stolen the landline phone, really scared for your life in that moment. You were sat in you closet, knees tucked to your chest as silent tears glass your eyes.

"911, what's your emergency?"

Silence.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

"Hello?"

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

"This is 911, are you in danger?"

Yes, help. Please. I'm scared.

Your shallow breaths cut through the silence before the call ended and your inevitable fate had drawn closer.

"I've cross checked teachers note with 911 calls and i think i have something." Garcia informs the team over the phone, "It may be a long shot but a man named Dane Kirighan called 911 twice but they were both silent, as our pretty girl said." She starts. "His mom Janet Kirighan recently passsed away... it says... oh- she was bludgened to death by a flat object four months ago.."

"That could be our stressor." Aaron nods at the team as Garcia continues.

"It gets worse, his father was sentenced to life for the murder of Janet Kirighan but he was deemed deceased only last month."

You stay silent. "He has abandonment issues, as much as he hated them both for the pain they inflicted, they left him again..."

"What's his address?"

The case was long, almost a week long and you were sure it was torturous. Memories came back in floods to the point that you could no longer focus on the situation at hand but rather the pain in Dane Kirighan's voice as he screamed in the line of crossfire.

One harsh scream then silence.

That silence you knew all too well, you left the scene quickly, getting into the back of one of the SUV's. You talk to no one, you look at no one, you react to nothing. Right now, you're as lifeless as Dane. The little boy who was manipulated and formed into a killer. You shouldn't but you empathise for him. You sympathise.

You knew that there were two sides to a coin and you and Dane Kirighan were one of the same. Heads vs Tales, you saw different lives but deep down you were made from the same foundations and ou were terrified.

You excused yourself from the car, heading into the bathroom to freshen up. No one joined you, which you were grateful for because currently, you hamd was stretched against the painted wall, clawing for something to hold you body up as your other dug into the skin of your chest as if it would help you breathe. Suddenly you were back in that closet, rocking back and fourth as you hear footsteps growing nearer to you.

You heart rate picked up at the memory, you breathing becoming shallow and uneven and suddenly the all too familiar burning sensation infiltrated your lungs. The need of oxygen grew stronger as you slid down the wall of the bathroom, feeling pathetic and completely naked on that tile flooring.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Your mind became your biggest enemy as your heartbeat rung through you ears like a cry for help.

Footsteps.

The echo of your parent's footsteps grew louder in you mind as they neared the bathroom door.

Your heart was racing. Fuck. Breathing. You need to breathe. Come on. You gotta keep trying. In and Out. They're not here. You're safe.

Until silence, once again.

A laugh echoed from outside and you realised you were safe, you were home. Not all family was bad, but you didn't know how to be in the family. What was your role?

You walk back to the team after freshing up a bit, swearing an oath to yourself to avoid the topic of your panic attack.

You walk up to the team and they greet you with warm smiles.

"Nice call kid, you may not feel like it was positive but you helped." Rossi pulled you into a hug, a tight hug and you realised that the team knew. Fuck, they knew.

"How did you know?" Emiy inquires, breaking the ice to the topic. "How did you know to check for 911 calls?"

"I did it a few times," you shrug, being honest. This is what a family des right. "I knew nothing would come out of it but it felt like I was doing something."

Faces softened and you hated that.

You pull you hair into a ponytail and smile, though it is far from real. "it's no big deal."

"You were abused." Hotch's voice cuts the silence and zones his vision on you. "Do you hear me?"

"Hotch man-" Derek tries to intervene but Hotch cuts him off.

"You were abused." he repeats.

"Stop."

"You are a victim." he states so boldly with no judgement whatsoever.

"Stop," You repeat, urgently, feeling your emotions swell.

"It is a big deal. You. Were. Abused." He repeats and you are getting angry now, you hardly notice that Hotch had gestured for the others to leave.

"Hotch- stop it."

"Why are you defending them?"

"I'm not."

"The people you should trust the most hurt you, in every way they could."

"Hotch-" you feel tears threaten your eyes.

"That's why you don't trust easy. It's why you don't talk about your experiences. It's why you never miss a deadline because you think you will be punished. You think that your a burden and you bottle up your feelings and belittle them until they are overwhelming for you. Its why you can tell who is nearing you because you have our footsteps memorised. Do you know what these are?"

"Stop profiling me." You burst, your voice echoing through the walls.

A tear.

He lifts his hand.

You flinch.

He moves gently.

You look down.

He tilts your head up.

"It's all trauma responses. You are a victim of abuse and you're too thoughtful to ask for help because you don't want to gain friendships where people will leave you."

Your eyes are full of silent tears as you look up at him.

His heart breaks.

"You can let it go." He whispers to you, resting his hand on your cheek. "Do you hear me?"

You nod, you eyes rimmed red and glossy with pain.

"You-" he points at your chest, more specifically your heart. "You don't have to invite your blood related family to the party of your soul."

"Your heart, honey, truly is a party. It is beautiful, it is flourished, it is fun and it reflects every ounce of who you are. Your parents never showed you love but I do, we all do. Never be sorry for growing up surrounded by pain, never belittle your past experiences until you are on the edge okay?"

"What are you asking of me?"

"I'm asking you to let me love you... let me take care of you. You talk of all this pain like it's alright, it isn't so stop. A part of you feels like a lost cause but baby, you shine like the brightest star. You showed me a power that is strong enough to bring sun to the darkest days."

"I'm asking you to let me into your heart, your mind."

In that moment, you realised that you were starting a family who will always show you love and though it will be a long process, it will be worth it in the end.

[mejaemin]

bf!jungwon headcanons

day five of my valentine’s day countdown! ♡

wc: 1.5k

summary: self explanatory!

warnings: definitely very rushed and not proofread (you will probably find more than a few mistakes), fluff, very lovey dovey n flirty, the second to last one is very suggestive !!!

an: happy birthday jungwon !!!! one out of seven of my first loves in kpop is getting older :333 i hope it was spent full of love, here is this to celebrate !!! (adding colored text later)

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bf!jungwon who’s drawn to your presence, gravitating towards you even without noticing

you’re both very normal about not needing to be all over each other, mutually agreeing that it’s okay to have space sometimes

however… just because you guys came to that agreement doesn’t mean you have to listen, right?

he says he’s not clingy, yet he somehow always ends up by your side

“i’m not following you, i swear! i just.. ended up here!”

you’re at a hangout with jungwon and his friends, and you’re sitting on the couch with sunoo when all of a sudden you feel a head on your shoulder. platonic skinship is common between the eight of you, so you didn’t mind, but the feeling of said person’s head nuzzling into you like a cat immediately raises a flag as to who it is.

“wonie, are you tired?” you look down at him, running a hand through his soft locks.

he looks up at you from his phone, a content smile on his face as he shakes his head. “no, i just.. actually, i don’t even know when i came over here. i think i was on autopilot. i just felt like sitting down for a little.”

you giggle before returning to your conversation with his friend. jungwon relaxes into your side, perfectly okay with just cuddling into you while you chat. the day started off as a hangout for him that you just so happened to tag along to, meaning he would be more focused on his friends (which you didn’t mind), however he still manages to find his way to you even when that wasn’t the goal.

bf!jungwon who isn’t afraid to kiss you when you’re wearing lip products

you were used to dating men who would avoid kissing you when you had something on your lips, so you avoided wearing them around jungwon, assuming he was the same

however, he’s sitting with you while you do your makeup, and he sees your entire drawer full of lip products.

pulling it open, he looks through the piles in shock.

rather than saying something problematic, all he does is ask why you don’t wear them, and letting you know he doesn’t mind having a little tint on his lips

you’re sitting at your vanity doing your makeup, and jungwon pulled a chair from the dinner table to sit with you while you do so. he’s fairly quiet throughout the routine, watching intensely in a manner eerily similar to that of a cat. every once in a while he’ll ask a question or two, nodding at your response before going back to his trance.

after a while, it falls into complete silence, save for yours and his humming to the music playing and the shuffling of your hands and various makeup products. it’s quiet but comfortable, and jungwon finds his head falling against your shoulder as he falls in and out of sleep.

eventually, you pull open your lip drawer, sifting through the products before changing your mind and shutting it. he sits up in shock at the sheer amount of products in there, gaping before speaking up. “you’re not gonna put anything on your lips?” his head tilts.

“no, i don’t want it to bother you if i kiss you.” you pinch his cheek, shaking your head.

“oh please, i don’t mind a little bit of lip gloss. come on.” he opens the drawer, looking through it before he finds a shade he likes and pulls it out, taking your chin between his hand, he applies the product. pressing a kiss to your lips he pulls away to look in the mirror, rubbing what came off onto his own lips in. he admires the look, “see? i look good with a little pink anyway.”

bf!jungwon who is reminded of you with every little thing

he may or not be a little obsessed with you…

every time he goes out, he finds something to take a photo of for you, saying something like ‘us<3’ or ‘this is so you :3’

it could be something as mundane as a strawberry, but seeing it will trigger the thought of you

he was never an impulsive spender, but once you started dating, he couldn’t help but blow his money on everything that reminded him of you

you’re minding your business, laying around at home. jungwon is out with friends, doing whatever they might do with one another while you stay home. you just weren’t up to going out, so you let him go on his own. he felt bad, but you forced him to go on the agreement that he’d send updates throughout the whole day.

he said he’s on his way back now, and when you scroll through the messages from when he was out it brings a smile to your face. he has many photos of random things like his pretzel that was shaped like a heart, and a cat shaped puddle that was on the sidewalk. many other photos were sent of stuff you liked that he saw in stores, all captioned with the same ‘:ooo’ or ‘you want this?? it’s so you !!! :3’. it was the cutest, and you told him to leave them but when your front door opened, followed by the loud noise of crinkling shopping bags, you knew he didn’t listen.

he makes his way to you, a sheepish smile on his face as he sets the bags down in front of you. he gives a haul of all your gifts, animatedly explaining why he got them. the last one is kind of strange though, as he pulls out a container of expensive strawberries.

“um.. i know we already have strawberries, but i saw them and they made me think of you, so… we have more now?” his cheeks are flushed, but you kiss right over it at his cute tendency to buy something at the mere thought of you.

bf!jungwon and his lovely shoulders <3

his shoulders are your favorite thing about him, and for good reason of course !!!

they’re perfect for resting your head on when you’re tired, and he’s always willing to give one up for you

some people never skip leg day, but he never skips shoulder day because he knows how happy they make you

seeing the definition in his shoulder muscles when he takes his shirt off too… lord

the pool party you’re having with yours and jungwon’s friends is going surprisingly well, yours and his friends mixing very well. it’s perfect, and you’re all getting along well. right now you’re at the outdoor table with your friend and sunghoon under the umbrella, talking about god knows what when you see jake and jungwon reach for the water guns. the older fills his up, and your boyfriend begins removing his shirt before following suit.

“yeah, and it’s so dumb because why would…” you trail off, zoning out at the sight before you.

his back is to you, muscles flexing as he pulls his shirt over his head. your mouth falls open without you realizing, your eyes trailing over every chiseled line and divot in the muscles in his back and shoulders. his skin is smooth, glistening under the sun. you’re brain is already turning to situations where he’s over you, and your nails leave dark red lines across the smooth skin, drawing blood as he…

sunghoon’s hand waves over your face, completely unamused at you. “save the heart eyes for after we go home please, god.. and i thought i was bad with the zoning out..”

bf!jungwon who wants nothing but time with you for his birthday <3

it’s a little corny, but when you ask him what he’d like for his birthday the only thing he says is that he wants you!

no gifts, no material things, only you to hold and love on

of course he’s grateful for whatever you buy him anyway, taking the best care of his gifts

but his favorite is you being by his side for what he hopes is forever

jungwon’s bedhead is ridiculous as he sits up in your shared bed, the blanket falling to reveal his bare chest. you sit down on top of the sheets, leaving kisses all over his face and lips before setting down his gift bags next to him. you also have a miniature cake, decorated with paw prints and cats.

“happy birthday wonie!!! i know you said no gifts, but i can’t help it.. i went to the store and just went crazy!”

you stick the candle in the cake, lighting it before singing to him. his smile is bright, albeit tired, as he enjoys your voice. once done, his eyes shut, and he blows the candle. when his eyes open, he swipes a finger through the cake to eat.

“thank you so much, lovie, this is all so amazing.. you know what i wished for, though…” he whines, putting the cake down in the nightstand to pull you into his arms and onto the bed.

“hmm, do i?” you giggle.

“yeah, you do.. all i wanted to do was spend it with you, y’know? you didn’t have to spend any money… just stay with me, right here…” he hums, already getting sleepy. you don’t mind, giving him what he wants, you, and more simply because you can’t help it.

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[isaspsp]

I think my parents did pretty similar things. I'm feeling sensitive right now so, story sharing time.

I did misbehave every now and then, as all kids do. I don't remember this incident, but my mom does. I was doing whatever naughty thing, and she hit me to make me stop and discipline me. I stopped, started crying, and went away. My mom never hit me after that. She says it's one of her biggest regrets.

I remember when we got our big TV. I was maybe 8-9 and we had been at the store all day. I wasn't particularly interested in picking out a TV cus that seemed like adult business, and children have no right to poke their nose of that. But then, my dad crouches next to me, points to the final two tvs they were deciding between, and asked me which one I thought was best. And I do remember asking, "Why are you asking me this? I am a child." He laughed and said something among the lines of, "Children are always honest." And that gave me all the confidence and reassurance to choose what would be our TV for the next 10+ years.

They took the effort to see my side aswell. I grew up with my cousins. We were 6 kids in total, and with two of them being older, we 4 youngsters played together a lot. Of these four, the oldest used to bully me a lot (I bit him really hard once as revenge, but that is another story) and I had two younger cousins, the youngest of which, was the one I saw most often. He would come with us to trips and such. But he was the younger child, so he had preferences over me. If I had anything he wanted, I HAD to share. If he wanted to sit where I was, I had to move, lest he makes a fuss. But, if he had something that I wanted? He was under no obligation to share. It was Easter time, I was about 13 (?), and we had gotten ourselves fancy chocolate eggs. My aunt had gone along with us to shop. I'd done my research at the site of the store we were going to, so I knew exactly what I wanted. My aunt didn't know what to get my cousin, so she followed my lead and got him the same two eggs. My aunt used to be paid to clean our house once in a while and just so happened that that week my little cousin had come along. I was going to travel that weekend, and my eggs would be left behind, I'd only have them when we came back. So, having been thinking and fantasizing about the chocolate eggs for weeks, I sneaked around, opened one of the boxes, grabbed a piece, ate some, and put the rest in the refrigerator My aunt saw me do this. Later, my parents confronted me about it; my aunt had told them what happened, that I tried to hide just so I wouldn't have to share. I started crying about how if I didn't sneak around I would've had to share with my cousin, who had the exact same egg at his home, who wouldn't have to wait to come back from a trip, and that I would never get the same kindness back, the piece he would've taken from me, the egg that I so researched to get, that I beheaved and did well in school to get, I would have to give away, even if it was a small piece, and tgat, even if I asked nicely, my cousin wouldve said no, and nothing would be done anout it. And the damn was broken, so I mentioned also all the other times I had to give in because I was older, he was younger and I was bigger and could hurt him more. They looked at each other... and agreed with me. I was forced to share less after that. I still shared, of course, but now... I wasn't forced as much. (At least by my parents, we couldn't control everyone or course u_u)

I genuinely remember very VERY few times of my parents taking away my stuff or banning m3 from activities. If I remember at all, because all I have are "vague feelings" that it happened. And honestly, I think I turned out better for it.

I am exceptionally lucky in that my parents never hit me, grounded me, confiscated my things, banned me from my hobbies or threatened any of these actions to make me behave as a kid. as an adult it has made me realise how very very long a road most people have to traverse before they can take a statement like 'no rule that must be enforced by threat is legitimate' seriously.

[alacants]

Ok you might not be interested in this but you seem to be the tennisblr discourse person and your takes are so great so feel free not to answer haha - but I feel like this fandom collectively is sleeping on the potential of Novak/Carlos? Something about this Fedal baby appearing when all Novak's real rivals are gone who is openly affectionate with Nole like neither of them were. & the pain of Carlos losing matches he's expected to win very publicly to him all the time & getting criticised for falling for Novak's "mind games" (lol) but still not making any effort to stay away from him. And all the titan/titanito stuff IDK it compels me

kdlfjakldjf idk if i would describe my niche in the ecosystem in such maximal terms but. flattery will get you everywhere.

most importantly, you are RIGHT. there is massive potential here, in both their on-court history and their off-court dynamic. in fact there's so much material that i'm struggling to shape my thoughts into a coherent answer SORRY IN ADVANCE. ← need to stop acting like this isn't the norm.

ok first of all. rpf aside, this rivalry is fascinating because carlos alcaraz is doing more than anyone else around to validate novak's current day stature as a tennis player. and novak's at the stage of his career where you start to think about your legacy not just in the wider world but within tennis—how will you be remembered and talked about by those who inherit the sport from you. 

roger federer is the very, very obvious measuring stick. take this video (obligatory zverev & kyrgios warning). in a vacuum you'd never know who barely played half these guys versus who was out there making mincemeat of them on the regular while also holding every record known to man. such minced meat that those achievements aren't necessarily seen as a success for you so much as a referendum on them. 

and then along comes carlos alcaraz. and for reasons fair or unfair, tennis fans are so hungry for his arrival. they want to a new star, they want to see him dominate, and they want it to look exciting. and some tennis fans, in particular, would love to see novak djokovic get washed. 

which at first is what looks like is gonna happen. carlos wins his first wimbledon final at novak's expense. the emperor's been toppled, ding dong the witch is dead—and then cincinnati. then wimbledon again, and not even close, he's really for real dead, this time it's gonna take—and then the olympics. which is the first major final loss carlos has ever experienced, tears and all. and then the australian open, where carlos has set his sights loudly and uncompromisingly on the title and the career slam and the record. only guess what. not yet. 

and now novak is indisputably part of carlos' narrative, an active agent in a living breathing rivalry with a flesh-and-blood player instead of ghosts and record books. everyone says carlos alcaraz is the real thing. and that means that so, still, is novak. 

(meanwhile, in the space of 12 months jannik sinner happened. but i can't get into that or this post will REALLY get out of control.)

that's on court. where carlos plays not like rafa but like roger, and there's no way novak doesn't see that. ("spanish never die" notwithstanding.) off court, it's like falling into a mirrorverse. carlos isn't just willing to share the spotlight he's eager to have company. he is singlehandedly trying to yank the player he's identified as his closest peer up there on the same level with him well before anyone else gets it. and he thinks novak is one of the greats.

like yeah man WHAT IF time-traveling roger federer actually loved you. here's round two with a certified tennis genius who doesn't resent you and everything you represent and does laugh at your jokes and respect your achievements and speak in glowing terms about how you play tennis. it's gotta feel good, right?

and yet. not good enough to stop novak from doing what he has to do to win.

there's something similar yet very finely distinct about novak and carlos as top players and people persons. i'm boiling it down to, for novak it's being friends won't stop my talent and for carlos it's my talent shouldn't stop us from being friends. (i would say that's also roger coded, except imo roger's initial take, in the mid-00s, was that his talent very well MIGHT stop you from being friends and that's okay, he doesn't hold it against you. <3) in both cases, the feelings are genuine, and so is the confidence. 

novak's always wanted to be liked. he's the funny guy, he wants to make people laugh, he wants to be friends, but he is absolutely and totally unwilling to compromise the things that might make it easier to keep those friends. given a choice, he will always choose being the best. and if someone, or someones—especially someones—doesn't like him, well. for better or worse, he's learned to feed on it. this is no different. friendship and respect and affection and praise are not going to stop novak from using every tool at his disposal to win. every bit of understanding he's gained about his opponent as a person and a player. 

(my take on this is not actually negative by the way. if you're a professional athlete it's your responsibility to use those tools and to play the person as well as the player. also coming to the mind games sport and complaining about the mind games is like going to the circus and complaining about the clowns.)

i think that ao qf moment was so telling—the moment carlos was faux-limping and looking over at novak's bench with this sort of injured confusion like, why are you doing this to me. betrayed dog vibes to the max. the comments afterward as well. the tear was very real, but the reaction says a lot. like welcome to the novak djokovic experience kid! bff phrased it as "the phenomenon of accepting novak djokovic's overtures of friendship and inadvertently letting him into your psyche just enough for him to fuck with you the next time you play. he should talk to rafa about it." this isn't the only interpretation, but it sure is a tasty one.

and yet. carlos is demonstrably a lover not a hater. i would bet anything that—especially with the injury details out there—it's not going to change anything even if, like, IT SHOULD. there is this bit in anon's fic one is silver and the other gold, which is one of my favorite carlos & novak dynamics: Carlos wants to hate him. It would be easier; everything would be easier if he could hate all the people he's supposed to, for "proper competitive mindset" or whatever. But as usual, he just doesn't have it in him.

idk i think there is a ton of fascinating stuff to dig into wrt regret and cycles and second chances and novak's impending mortality and the nature of genius. i do think it's ultimately doomed but it's still really interesting. 

(or alternatively i mean. maybe the impending mortality DOES make the difference. maybe novak does get out of the time loop! like, i am most personally compelled by all of the above with the invisible presence of andy murray haunting the narrative BUT there is a pretty funny romcom alternative with novak's friend (!!!) and coach andy murray immediately clocking what's up and being like nole please don't get your heart broken by a twenty-one year old, which, HEY novak's been around the block a few times he's not gonna do something stupid… <- he is absolutely gonna do something stupid.)

[teaandjumpers]

Occasion (obikin ficlet)

Summary: Obi-Wan gives Anakin a gift. Rated G. - - - -

“I thought we agreed you’d wear goggles at the workstation,” said Obi-Wan, sidling up to stand beside Anakin at his workbench.

The younger man was hunched over the table, soldering something, his face too close to the tool to be considered safe. 

“I thought we agreed you wouldn’t creep up on me like that,” said Anakin, not bothering to glance his way. 

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes, leaning against the workbench. He had broadcast his approach through the Force, and he knew Anakin was aware of his presence, the younger man sending him a slightly annoyed ping across their bond. 

Anakin was often hard to reach when he was working on a project, immersing himself completely in a task and finding it difficult to refocus when he was interrupted. 

He felt bad for a moment, but he had a good reason for disrupting his former Padawan. 

“I have something for you,” he said, keeping his voice light. 

Anakin’s head shot up at the words, his shoulder-length hair whipping about him. 

Oh, how he’d grown into those curls. When he had first started growing his hair out, the dark, golden strands beginning to coil near the ends, Obi-Wan knew that his soft-eyed Padawan was going to be a heartbreaker. 

He just didn’t realize it would be his heart Anakin would be breaking. What a cruel fate to fall for your former Padawan. And a crueler fate to have half the galaxy fall along with you. 

Obi-Wan had done all he could to rid himself of his feelings—the attraction, at least. 

He had given up on not loving Anakin long ago, maybe even as early as that day on Naboo, standing beside his new apprentice, the young boy having been through so much already, standing tall alongside him as an entire planet cheered them on. 

He had asked Yoda once, years before Qui-Gon took him on, what it was like for a Master and Apprentice, what shape a bond took. 

“Different every Master and Padawan relationship is. Find your way there perhaps one day you will.”

And find his way he had. Or rather, it had found him. 

He had loved his Master dearly, his Master’s presence in the Force always grounding, a warm fire that made him feel forever safe, like nothing bad could ever truly happen. 

But Anakin—Anakin was like a supernova, an unending, thunderous storm, a screaming bright star that was impossible to ignore.  

In those early years, he thought of little else but Anakin, his welfare and whereabouts. 

Had his own Master woken repeatedly in the middle of the night, sheets drenched, a blind panic thundering against his chest as he searched the Force for his Padawan’s location? 

Anakin had always been close. Almost always safe. And though Obi-Wan felt him in the Force, he always had to check, confirm it with his eyes, that Anakin was alive, healthy, there.

He was eternally grateful that his apprentice was strong in the Force. It meant Obi-Wan would never have to confront who he would be, who he would become if his Padawan was ever in any real danger.  

Standing beside Anakin now, perhaps one of the strongest Force users in the galaxy, he felt silly, wondering if it was too late to take back his words. Wondering if the younger man had seen the small bundle he was clutching in his right hand. 

Of course he had. 

Obi-Wan wordlessly handed the package over, watching with some trepidation as Anakin untied the string holding the linen fabric in place. 

The cloth fell away to reveal a model ship. It was still grimy despite Obi-Wan’s best efforts to clean the thing, the ship’s insect-like design making it difficult to thoroughly clean its delicate, spindly limbs. 

He had bought the toy on a recent mission, passing by a storefront on a mid-rim planet where a child who looked remarkably like a 10-year old Anakin from behind had stopped him in his tracks, the young boy’s palms pressed against the smudged window pane as he gazed at the model ships neatly displayed on the other side.

How many times had a similar scene played out with Anakin, his Padawan’s gaze straying, fixing on a toy he would never have. 

“It’s a Jedi Vector ship,” said Obi-Wan, the words clumsy on his tongue. “It was a High—”

“A High Republic ship,” finished Anakin, turning the model over in his hands, smiling as he did so. “I know.”

Anakin smiled up at him sweetly, and if Obi-Wan didn’t know the man, if there had been no planet-wide history between them, he would have grabbed him by the face and kissed him. 

A ‘pathetic life form’ he had called him once. Anakin would have been a complete stranger in a different life, a speck of sand in a large desert of people who deserved better. 

It was selfish, and very un-Jedi-like, but Obi-Wan was grateful that Anakin’s fate had been different. 

“But what’s the occasion?” asked Anakin, still smiling, still looking up at him, still, somehow, every bit as spirited as he was before the war. 

The occasion, thought Obi-Wan. The occasion was every occasion, every year, every month, every day, every breath the Force sought fit to gift him, here, alongside Anakin. 

But he simply said—

“You are.”

[gallowdancingmuck]

Analyzing W(e)yler: Part One

The first thing I would like to discuss is Tyler’s role in the whole story. While we can debate on whether he is the best love interest or not (I’ll get to that) I think it can be accepted that he is a foil to Wednesday. A foil is meant to act as a contrast to the protagonist and is not always necessarily the antagonist. The difference between foil and antagonist is that the antagonist opposes whilst the foil exposes essential beliefs and characteristics of the protagonist. Something often forgotten in terms of foils is that they are extremely similar to the protagonist, but a critical factor causes a ripple effect that diverts the foil’s path from the protagonist’s path.

Lets look at how exactly Tyler and Wednesday foil each other:

Grumpy x Sunshine

Tyler showcases a positive and soft side, but hides the darker aspects of his personality (Hyde, anger, sadness, resentment). Wednesday showcases her dark side proudly but is ashamed of the softer aspects of her personality (love, affection, loyalty, sympathy). If Tyler (and people around him) were more accepting of his darkness, Hyde would not be as easily manipulated and he would probably be able to leverage more emotional control. If Wednesday accepted her softness she would also be able to exert more control with her emotions. Her “getting in her own way” comes into play because she doesn’t reach out for help and when things go wrong she makes impulsive decisions that hurt her relationships (think about how Enid and her fought because Wednesday just didn’t ask for her help in an honest way). Raw emotions are hard for Wednesday but her care for other people is always used against her and her denial makes things 10x harder for her.

Family Dynamics

Tyler’s family is broken. His mother died and his father shut down, leaving Tyler with anger, sadness, and abandonment issues. The neglect from Donovan has caused Tyler to develop severe daddy issues and a mommy complex. Tyler is chasing affection, which is why he falls into Laurel’s grasp. Wednesday’s family on the other hand is pretty functional if not a little overly expressive, however she finds their constant affection suffocating and is running away from it. She has mommy issues in the fact that she looks at her mother as competition (which I hope the reasoning behind this is explored more because it really confuses me, what led to the riff between Morticia and Wednesday?)

Outcast Status

Tyler has been forced into outcast status. As a hyde he was already predetermined to be isolated, add onto it his family dynamic, Tyler is alone and he does not know how to deal with that. He wishes he was normal as seen through the way he interacts with other characters and in Jericho. Wednesday, while seen as strange by the world, is still accepted. I think it has been seen that as long as you are a pretty girl, you can be as weird as you like (Manic Pixie Dream Girl vibes) and with the Addams family wealth and status added, Wednesday truly will always have a place. She despises this. She wants to be an outcast, but as seen in the show, her assuredness is magnetizing, so people flock to her despite her best efforts.

Wealth

Tyler comes from a working class family. While he may not be struggling to get by, a sheriff and barista’s salary is not much. The Addams family has so much money it's comical. This matters because when Tyler beat up Xavier he got sent to bootcamp. Wednesday maimed the swim team and got sent to a private school. Money affects circumstance and punishment. It begs the question of what would happen if the roles were reversed and Wednesday was a hyde? Wealth affects power, and the hyde is in constant danger of power dynamics being manipulated.

Masking

Faulkner’s diary points out how the hyde is an artist by nature, this relates to how they are actors, switching personalities or parts in society. Hydes are naturally manipulative because it is an adaptation to the tumultuous personality changes. For the most part, Tyler can act through social interactions and delight people. and that is why he successfully tricked Wednesday. He is able to save himself a lot of trouble. Wednesday on the other hand is honest to a fault. Brutal and straightforward, Wednesday scares people and causes herself a lot more trouble than she needs to.

Emotional Expression

Both Tyler and Wednesday have difficulty with emotional control. Tyler lets his emotions explode while Wednesday diminishes her’s. Moving forward I think Tyler is going to be going through therapy where he learns to not suppress the hyde, but regulate it and all the emotions that fuel it. Wednesday has been put through a lot of emotional wringers (Thing almost dying, Eugene being attacked, the attraction and betrayal with Tyler, Enid being Enid) that I think she is going to soon realize she has to manage rather than ignore them. I think learning to cope with this regulation will happen as Wednesday and Tyler reconcile and learn to work together again.

Control

Due to the nature of the hyde and how it was unlocked, Tyler has never been in control. Even before that, he had no control in his family due to neglect and secrecy. His development is about gaining a sense of control and autonomy in his life. Learning to be alone but not being forced to be. His story I think has to revolve around choice and empowerment. Wednesday is a control freak. She hates emotions due to the unpredictable nature and she can’t handle relationships because you can’t healthily control another person. She needs to relinquish control because it stands in the way of her softer qualities and often gets her in trouble.

Tyler and Wednesday are the same, but the way they approach life is different and is linked to an overall theme of Wednesday (and the Addams Family in general). The Addams Family has always been a satire about how despite the family being macabre and gloomy, they love and support each other more than the average nuclear family. Never are we expected to understand the family but more so to accept and appreciate them. If we look at Tyler’s Hyde, this character is exactly what happens when we don’t do this. The filial bond is damaged because Francoise’s hyde was never accepted and it caused this generational trauma. The hyde I think is a representation of the things that haunt people and families when they are not addressed or accepted. Wednesday is just as much about the hyde as the Addams family, so with the tragedy surrounding the Galpin family and the state of the hyde as a species, I do think that Wednesday and Tyler will reconcile (maybe not romantically) and work to resolve the stigmatization of hydes.

Plus if Wednesday wants to be odd and outcasted she would refuse to be outdone by Tyler! Not for a second time.

[infimace-blog]

Keep coming back to this and thinking about the asker's perception of the Weatherlight Saga, because it's definitely not free of 'identity first' storytelling.

Tahngarth's entire plotline revolves around his identity as a minotaur, a racial characteristic in Dominaria. He's forced to question whether he's still himself, still a minotaur after Phyrexia captures and disfigures him, and the payoff for that is that a minotaur tribe starts decorating themselves after his new, distorted form when he helps rescue them from Phyrexia later on. So, you know, having identity issues during a apocalypse, like having a gender crisis during a Bolas invasion.

Mirri was discriminated against for having heterochromia, forcing her to leave her birth family. The desire to belong weighs on her so much that one of her big choices is whether to abandon her best friend and secret love for another tribe of catpeople who do respect her. It's less of a factor in her story than her doomed love for Gerrard, but, frankly, her willingness to get herself killed over a nice white boy for whom she was third-place (after Hanna and Rofellos) makes a lot more sense if if you take abandonment and isolation issues into account.

Maybe the asker didn't notice because these identity issues were put on the non-human side characters. But, you know, they were still there. They're some of my favorite parts of the Weatherlight Saga to talk about, besides the competition to become evincar and Urza's bizarre behavior. And while this happened with funny animal people, the structure is analogous to things the anti-woke crowd would hate. Tahngarth's identity issues are reminiscent of those of black people living in largely white societies. And there's a lot of people under the 'DEI' banner who've had to deal with getting kicked out of their home for being born wrong, often queer or disabled or neuroatypical people.

This is how you give characters good storylines, especially with Magic's limited ability to get the story in front of people who just play the cards. You find an aspect of themselves that they care deeply about, something fairly obvious and easy to communicate, and see how the external world impacts that. And we're still seeing that now. Chandra's putting herself through death-defying adventure in Aetherdrift because it might help her lover, and her love for her is a major part of her identity. Tone's certainly different than the lovelorn motivations of Mirri or Gerrard or Ertai over the course of the Weatherlight Saga, but it's the same building blocks.

I think more of that kind of characterization would have been beneficial for Sisay, honestly. I can't speak for Mark or Michael, but I've never really been interested in her because most of her story is about what she does rather than who she is. Gerrard bores me for similar reasons; I find it difficult to get a read on his personality besides 'heroic' and 'white savior'. It strikes me that the two greatest heroes of that era were raised and, in one case, born from Jamuraa, Dominaria's stand-in for Africa, but that never really comes up in the saga. Gerrard's background exists to give him an evil black stepbrother and the most important part of Sisay's is growing up owning the Weatherlight - I generally forget that she even fought in the Mirage Wars.

So yeah, I think anyone on the same page as the guy who asked this is not interested in getting good stories out of Magic. I'm regularly unimpressed by Magic's story output over the past decade, but I can't tolerate anybody who thinks the answer to that is 'make the characters less interesting. Shave their identities down'.

I want to speak out against the whole push towards DEI. I feel that ever since you made the push to make identity the forefront of a character it has hurt the stories you tell. Captain Sisay's race was never the focus of her character and she was a complete badass! And I fear if you did it over again Gerrard would be trans, black and disabled just because. It also cheapens the stories of world devastation when characters worry more about their gender than Bolas destroying everything.

The reason I started this blog is so we can have frank conversations about things, so please let’s talk about this.

Imagine if every time you turned on the TV or watched a movie, no one looked like you. For some of us, that’s never happened. We see ourselves constantly, so it’s hard to truly understand what not seeing yourself represented in media is like.

I do have a personal window to this experience. While I am white and male, there’s an area where I am the minority - my religion. Jews are just under two and a half percent of the US population. I have had many experiences where I’ve been in situations where everything is geared towards a group I do not belong to, and zero consideration is given that not everyone at that event is part of the majority.

You just feel invisible and like an outsider. It’s not a great feeling. And I just experience it a tiny portion of time, only things that are geared specifically towards something religious. Most minorities have this feeling all the time, whenever they’re outside their personal community.

Now imagine, after years of not seeing yourself ever, you finally see someone that looks like you, but nothing about the character rings remotely true. They don’t sound like you, they don’t act like you, the facts about their day-to-day life are just wrong. It’s clear whoever wrote the character didn’t truly understand the lived experience of the character, so the character feels fake.

You bring up Sisay. Michael Ryan and I didn’t technically create Sisay (she played a small role in the Mirage story), but we did do a lot to flesh out her character as the creators of the Weatherlight Saga. We turned her from a minor character into a major one.

And while I’m proud, in general, of our work on the Weatherlight Saga, I don’t think we did justice to Sisay as a character. Neither Michael nor I have any knowledge of what it’s like to be a black woman. Nor did we ever talk to someone who did.

And if you’re someone like us that has no knowledge of that experience, you probably didn’t notice. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing.

Imagine if we made a movie about your life, and we just made everything up. We invented people you never knew, we gave you a job you never had, and we had you say things you’d never say. The movie might even be a good movie, but your response would be, but that’s not my life - that’s not me.

Now imagine we put the movie out, and people that never met you assumed that was what you were like. When people met you for the first time, they assumed things, because, you know, they’d seen the movie.

That’s what misrepresenting people does. It not only makes them feel not seen, it falsely represents them, spreading lies, often stereotypes, making people believe things about them that aren’t true.

Our move towards diversity is just us trying to better reflect the world and the people in it. We’re trying to do to everyone else what a certain portion of people get every day without ever having to think about it.

But why are we “making it the forefront of their character”? We’re not. We’re making it a part of their character. But in a world where you’re not used to ever seeing it, it feels louder than it is. Things that are a natural part of the world that you’re used to feel like the background of the story because you understand the context to it.

If a man kisses his wife before going off to a battle, that’s not a big deal. It’s just a thing a husband might do to his wife when he leaves. It’s not the forefront of his character. It’s just part of his life. But you’ve seen it hundreds of times, so it feels normal.

When someone does something that isn’t your lived experience it pulls focus. It seems like a big deal, but only because it’s new to you. It’s just as mundane a thing to that character as the man kissing his wife is to him.

Even the turn “pushing” implies that it’s unnaturally here, that we’re forcing something that naturally shouldn’t be. But why? That thing exists naturally in the real world, and it doesn’t make the real world any less. Maybe you’re less aware of it, but is making you aware of how others live their life “pushing” something on you?

How you live your life is represented constantly, everywhere. Why isn’t over-representing your experience at the expense of everyone else’s “pushing” it? Why is media only being the experience of those in power the “proper way”?

Having more depth and variety doesn’t lessen stories. It makes them deeper, more rich, more nuanced. In short, it makes them better stories. In my former life, I was a professional writer. I took a lot of writing classes. One of the truism of writing is “speaking truth leads to better stories”.

There’s another famous quote: “When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” You’re used to being over-represented, so being a little less over-represented feels like something has been taken from you. But really it hasn’t. Having a better sense of the rest of the world comes with a lot of benefits.

I’ll use food as an example. Let’s say all you were ever exposed to was the food of your heritage. Yeah, that food is really good, but sometimes isn’t it nice to eat foods of other nationalities? Isn’t your life better that you have a choice? Isn’t your exposure and access to the food of other nationalities a positive in your life?

Exposure to variety is a positive. It allows you to learn about things you didn’t know, experience things things you’ve never experienced, and get a better sense of understanding of your friends and neighbors.

Our actions are not to harm anyone, and if you think that’s what we’re doing, please take a minute to actually absorb what I’m saying. You’ve spent your whole life metaphorically eating one type of food, and we’re just trying to show you how much you’ve missed out on.

And while this might not impact you directly, we’re making a whole bunch of people felt seen. We’re bringing joy. Think of it this way. We make a lot of cards. Not every card is for you. But if it makes someone else happy, if they get to include it in a deck, and it makes Magic better for them, how is it harming you that we include it? You have so many cards that you can play.

To this poster or people that share their viewpoint, the narrative that a gain for someone else is an attack on you is just not true. As I just pointed out above, you play a game all about personal choice, about players getting to choose how they play and enjoy the game. Why should life be any different than Magic?

Thanks for reading.

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

Weekend Ramblings

GelBoys Episode 1

Great first episode. I like that they're using public transport and walking outside a lot, it feels more alive and realistic even if I have no real frame of reference. I like that the nails are telling the passage of time and this is going fast. The first episode spanned 3 months at least judging from that, probably more.The visuals are really good and I really like the editing, and the way it's shot almost makes me feel like I'm watching a documentary. Seems like this will be messy and angsty teenagers kinda bl and I'm ready.

Perfect 10 Liners Episode 16

I'm still comfortable in my hypocrisy and will use this gif whenever it suits me. Cause Faifa is me, in any other show but this one.

There's something about a brooder begrudgingly falling for the ray of sunshine he swore he’d never need, that I just adore. Add to that the fact that the brooder is played by Perth and I'm in uni bl heaven. I loved this arc so damn much. These two make such an adorable couple and Perth and Santa are great together. I'm surprised with their chemistry but also not, cause I think both of them can probably have chemistry with anyone. If they stay a pair for now I'm on board. Although I do enjoy seeing Perth kissing different boys. We had another parental forgiveness moment which I hate but at least she's moving away and I won't have to see her again. I love Faifa and as much as I hate saying goodbye to YothaGun, it's gonna be fun to watch him and Wine. I do hope just like ArcArm, I still get some crumbs from those two.

Boy Next World Episode 6

Say what you will about Mame but she can deliver a sex scene like no one else. I like that Phu has agency here and that there's real communication happening around and during the nc scenes. Boss and Noeul also deliver as usual but I find the dynamic a little too similar to LITA, and I don't love that. I think it happens more when it comes to Noeul, although I concede that I'm often too distracted by Boss's face to notice much of anything at all, but there are moments that I'm seeing Rain instead of Phu. Fake dating seems to be the go-to these days to keep psychos away and I'm not mad about it. That mother though. His stalking tendencies notwithstanding, it’s a wonder Cir is a functioning human at all. I really like the sides and I adore Jin.

Sangmin Dinneaw Episode 7

This show continues to be the weirdest. And I don't know what I did to deserve this but I think I got a double prize today. Amnesia plot my beloathed and some noble idiocy to follow. At least when it comes to the amnesia we were warned. Although I'm not sure when he actually remembered, so he might not have had amnesia at all. Honestly, who knows with this show? Half the time, I have no idea what's happening, and the other half, I wish I didn't. That scene with the sides gave us the usual whiplash, and the scene with the mother was just insane. It's psycho mom's day, apparently. At least with this one, we got to see some mom-on-mom fighting. It's all bonkers but at least there's only one more episode to go. Sangmin better have a damn good reason for leaving, although I doubt it. At least let me have some fluff from these two, cause they are cute. Also why is the hotel dude still breathing?

[qtea-69]

Ok what like date ideas do I think the brothers would have for like a date? Well here are my ideas!

Lucifer: becouse he is so prideful he would definitely try to impress you on the first date and really give the wow factor, but still simple so it's not too obvious he is trying to really impress you. He would probably take you to a nice restaurant that's more on the upperclass side becouse let's me honest I doubt Lucifer would be caught dead in any restaurant that's less then at least a 4.5 star rated restaurant. He'd likely dress classy but simple in a simple suit and he'd wear cologne too, and the kind? He would probably wear fahrenheit, it smells great that or if he already knows the scents you like he would wear something similar.

Satan: now this would take a different route from a classy and simple date. He would probably have a 2 step date. You both would likely go to the library and dress nice but still casual like a nice shirt and jeans, you both would pick a few books to read together like he would pick one book and you'd pick another, and from there you'd both go to a cat cafe. The date would consist of you both sitting at a bench together at the cat cafe as you lean into him as he holds the book infront of you both reading together drinking coffee and eating pastries too and Satan is probably a fast reader so you'd likely insist on having a reading tracker so he isn't reading too far ahead of you as you both pet cats and eat.

Mammon: being the demon of greed I definitely think his idea of a date would be taking you to the casino and gambling to prove to you that he doesn't ALWAYS lose and does win, and when he does win he would probably splurge a bit and get you a expensive necklace too, and before the date he would probably get you a dress that's pretty expensive and sparkles on you. So your all shiney and pretty for him, he would also like have you close to him the whole time and he'd be holding your waist as he waits for his spins or he'll hold you in his lap when you sit down to drink a bit too.

Asmo: now he would probably have like a spa date where you'd get couples massages, your nails done together, asmo is probably also pretty romantic too so he'd probably also take you to a small restaurant too, and at the end of the night (on par for the king of lust) he'd take you back to his room where there is romantic candles and petals on the bed as well as some of your favorite toys by the bed ready to be used for a lust filled night of passion between you both.

Levi: well he rarely goes outside of his room but I think this would go in one of two ways. He would either set up a date at home in his room where he buys all your favorite snacks as well as his favorite snacks and both of your favorite drinks and he would set up two beanbag chairs infront of his computer with two controllers and you'd both dress pretty comfortably in sweatpants and a shirt/hoodie and you'd decide to kinda tease him and dress in in tight yoga pants and a tank top that shows a bit of cleavage and you'd spend the night playing Minecraft. OR he would get the courage to dress decently in a hoodie and pants looking just nice enough for the date and you'd dress in something nice but also casual too and you'd both go to like GameStop and buy a new game to play together, and you'd pick out a figure to take home each together, when you get home you'd sit on two beanbags and play the new game together!

Beel: ok beel would definitely try to make a picnic. And I mean TRY. but he gets a bit too hungry while trying to prepare everything. He spends basically all day in the kitchen trying to make something to bring but because he is so nervous and excited all he does is become really hungry and eats what he made! So he takes another angle with it and he in the end asks belphie to help him as he would order takeout to bring to the picnic, when the time of the date comes by beel takes you to what is basically the PERFECT spot at a park on what's basically the perfect day too. He brought a really soft blanket and spreads it out on a spot in the shade under a tree and its on a small hill that overlooks a beautiful lake and there's a lot of wildlife like ducks and other birds too. When beels brother belphie drops off the food to beel for the picnic he would likely tell you *why* he had to order take out which you'd probably laugh off as it's cute and funny at the same time. To beel you look beautiful in this environment and as you cuddle eachother feeling the warmth of your bodies together he could do this forever and pretty much tries to get you to stay there forever too. And for the most part he succeeded and you stayed there for 5 hours before you fell asleep and he brought you home to cuddle even more!

Belphie: I think he would probably take you star gazing, he would pack in a bag with some soft blankets and a thermos of hot chocolate and you would go to a spot where the stars can be seen the best and could probably point out which constellations are which to you. And you both would wrap up in the blankets and share the hot chocolate just watching the stars. A simple and fun date that doesn't take alot of prep. Basically perfect for the sloth demon lol

[xesnox]

(Post fall) Ancient builder x Illager toxic old man yaoi when

WIP, was planning on doing a ref for every human race but a mutual of mine practically begged me to post these two on their own so you’re probably gonna see this image again. Colors are not yet where I want them to be so I’ll definitely go over it a few more times.

I’d like to take this moment to point out that the way you summon allays in legends, where you play as an ancient builder, is pretty similar to the way evokers summon vexes.

Design / AU rant below cut, as always.

This one’s a little worse written than usual, I’m just rambling.

I practically have an infinite amount of Ancient builder designs because I draw them differently with every piece depending on how I’m feeling, but for this design I got more genuinely speculative and turned on my pattern recognition.

Steve and Alex are canonically 6’2, both of them, and all undead mobs seem to be the same height, if not taller than they are, so I made them average around 6’5. To add to that, all undead builder mobs either don’t have eyes or have solid coloured glowing ones, so I went with the latter.

Minecraft isn’t a stranger to making lifeforms appearances change drastically depending on circumstance, this render is of an Ancient builder post wither attack, around ancient city time, which meant I could adopt the idea the devs mentioned about villagers/illagers, of human skin turning desaturated if they stay out of the sun for long enough, which, if the single generation of Illagers already show signs of I bet the god knows how many decade long underground escapades of the builders probably hit ‘em hard with that trait.

I also for the longest time for some reason forgot cosmetics were very likely a thing, so they’ve got some protection spells and luck enchantments tattooed, both of them do. Doesn’t work very well, as one can probably guess. But they’re superstitious so it felt in character enough.

For the post wither attack Ancient builders I also tend to think of them as more frail, not only because they had no access to their former overworld food supplies and had to rely on the little stuff that did grow in complete lack of sunlight underground, which definitely wasn’t a lot, but also because beyond the military force that did seem to remain from the nether war (ancient city structure name: Barracks, disk 5 marching.) they definitely were no longer strong enough to properly defend themselves against the wither or the warden/mourner on their own accord.

And because they were cowards and skedaddled when the overworld was in danger AND got beat up by the piglin despite being the main kingdom in power which I just find really funny. So think tall and boney but hiding it under a lot of clothing layers to still appear strong. Definitely can’t put on armor anymore though, that back would snap like a twig.

When it comes to the robes I used some of my older armor template designs for reference, made them black and blue to fit the most well known ancient builder sprite as well as vaguely match the one of the evoker. Because, oh well, you caught me, I do believe the cargo cult theory. Got my own interpretation but I’ll leave it at that till the next bestiary entry.

I generally want the villagers to look more varied, and human, while the builders, both neo and ancient, look more unsettling, as if they’re clearly a person, but something just looks, or moves wrong. They’re too symmetrical. Too far removed from what once was flawed but sincerely their own.

A lot of villager beauty standards are inspired by medieval-renaissance era Europe, like for an example having a larger visible forehead and appearing more boxy in shape being seen as more visually appealing, I think despite the illagers trying to subvert that they do still live in a society, so having grown accustomed to it as children they probably still at-least somehow adhere to the beauty standards they know, whether consciously or not.

They perform similar experiments on themselves as the builders, they’re just ever so slightly worse at it, as they haven’t been doing it for as long, so it leaves marks like scarring or visible stitching, though I believe they wear these with pride.

There’s gonna be a dedicated post about them at some point, as I said so I don’t know how much of my design I want to pick apart for now, but I’ll just leave it at that for now.

Here’s some alternative versions.

[wherearedagrapes]

@ficsinhistory I started to reply to you and then it got way too long, so I hope it’s okay if I do it this way instead! Sonic has reservations about revealing himself as an alien. But I definitely think Tom’s (initially kind of hidden or downplayed around others ig) silly, eccentric side appeals to Sonic, among other things.

Before they meet, Sonic gets to see Tom’s most authentic self — who Tom is when no one else is watching (that Tom knows of). And what Sonic sees is someone who’s not always cool, sarcastic, and witty but goofy and… weird? Loony? Embarrassing? Like I said, there’s talking to donuts, and then there’s creating characters out of them, crafting little arms and legs, and playing pretend with them lmao Tom has a donut buddy named Sergeant Sprinkles, and he eats the other donuts “when they get out of line.” (Think about how regularly this must occur for Sonic to define Tom by this, comparable to Maddie doing routine yoga on the back porch… 💀)

We see Tom acting like a goober when he (thinks he) is alone in other ways too, like pretending he’s catching speeding cars with his radar gun before accidentally hitting himself in the face or joking around with the turtle crossing the road or just loudly proclaiming, “I’M BORED,” to no one. This is how the movie introduces us to him. Our first impression of Tom is a Tom that thinks he is alone, a Tom that only Sonic sees: A goofy, restless guy that’s bored with his job, that wants something exciting to happen.

I’ve no doubt that Sonic seeing that side of Tom makes Tom feel approachable and safe. Sonic admires Tom because Tom looks out for the town. He’s strong, brave, and compassionate, heroic, “defender of creatures big and small.” But Sonic wants to be Tom’s friend because Tom’s funny and weird and cool (and they both like action movies!) I think — much the way Sonic calls Maddie “Pretzel Lady” because they do yoga together and she’s flexible — the same is true for Tom being the goofy and weird “Donut Lord.” These are things that Sonic both finds funny about them and likes about them, and it’s how he connects with them.

Tom and Sonic share the same values and they have similar personalities. Sonic can certainly relate to a guy that goofs off, makes bad jokes, and talks to himself when he’s bored lmao (and in the novelization, I heard Tom acknowledges that Sonic reminds him of himself when he was a kid). In the following movies, those similarities become more pronounced imo, as Sonic matures and as Tom leans more into his inner cartoon. Which is another thing I love. Sonic awakens Tom’s paternal instincts, but he also pulls Tom’s existing silly, eccentric “Donut Lord” side out.

Tom goes from being embarrassed and irritated to embracing the nickname and his connection to Sonic. He’s still a little embarrassed at the end of the first movie, as he refuses to elaborate when Maddie questions why Sonic calls him “Donut Lord.” But fast-forward two movies and Tom’s knitted a goofy sweater with the title spelled proudly across the front. He’s graduated from Sergeant Sprinkles to Little Tom, a weird puppet he teases his family with. That silly, eccentric side of him is not so hidden or downplayed anymore, and he’s never seemed happier :) But anyway.

This is all a long-winded way of saying I agree with you! lol I think Sonic relating to Tom is the biggest reason Sonic grows emotionally attached to him over all the other people in Green Hills. Basically like ‘that guy’s so funny and weird. He’s just like me fr’

[soneybeee]

Sweet

Summary: Privacy is hard to come by on the Tulpar. Daisuke and the old porn magazine he found while cleaning a storage closet are harder.

Sub!Daisuke x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 1.9k

Warnings: Smut, NSFW, 18+! Very minimal plot. Sub!Daisuke, needy!Daisuke, fem!reader, Daisuke is very sexually frustrated, Daisuke jerks off to a model that looks like reader, little bit of hair pulling, some degradation + praise, oral (F receiving), face sitting, kind of thigh riding?, male masturbation, choking, premature ejaculation, slight overstimulation, use of "good boy", cum play?... I think that's all!

Daisuke flips through the pages of the stupid magazine he found. At least half of them are ripped out - Whoever left it in the storage closet must have kept the ones they liked. That doesn’t leave much material for Daisuke. He’s left with half-dressed, bikini-clad, censored models. He has a good imagination, but not when he’s trying to jerk off! He just wants something to look at for fuck’s sake!

The very last page is the jackpot. She’s naked except for her panties - Daisuke can work with that! It helps she has similar features to you. Really helps.

Really, really helps, apparently. He’s already leaking precum when he gets his dick free, smearing a glob on the inside of his boxers. He shudders and curses under his breath, wrapping a shaky hand around his throbbing cock.

“Fuuck…” He groans, holding the magazine tightly enough that it bends in around his fingers. “Y/N…”

He bites down on his lip. He can’t be making any noises right now. His quarters don’t have a lock. The very last thing he needs right now is someone walking in - Especially you. If you heard him saying your name while he jerks off, you would not only hate him, but you could report him! His career would be over before it even began, and he’d be outcast on the Tulpar for the rest of the mission. Even Jimmy would hate him.

Daisuke lets his eyes shut so his imagination can take over. The model who looks like you is posed with her legs spread, her underwear covering her vulva but her tits out, ripe for viewing. He tries to imagine you sitting in front of him like that, your perfect boobs and your warm pussy just inches away, on display just for him. He would bury his nose in that thin, damp cotton and just breathe you in for as long as you’d let him. He would pull the fabric aside with his teeth and lick your slick away until it’s all replaced with his saliva. 

If you’d let him, he would fuck you. Oh, he would fuck you. He hasn’t had sex in a couple years, but he thinks about it constantly, especially since he boarded the Tulpar. It’s been torture being trapped in space with no privacy and no material. This magazine was supposed to be his saving grace, but it’s just not doing it for him.

Imagination just isn’t enough for him. He needs some porn or something, something where the plot is already there for him to enjoy. He’s not good at coming up with it on his own! 

He huffs out a frustrated breath. This is so not fair. He’s basically still a teenage boy, he shouldn’t be subjected to this kind of torment. It’s painful, truly painful. 

He tries to stroke faster, squeeze harder, fuck up into his own fist. It doesn’t do much. He just needs something more.

“Daisuke?” A voice calls from the hall. There’s only two women on board, and that’s definitely not Anya’s voice. Daisuke’s eyes go wide with panic. He crumples the magazine in his hand and tries to pull his pants up as quickly as he can.

He’s not fast enough.

“Daisu- Oh! There you are, I’ve been looking for you!” You only spot his face at first. His guilty, flushed face. That expression makes you look him over, from head to toe. “Oh.”

He swallows, trying to subtly cover his unzipped fly with his forearm. “Hi. Hello. You were looking for me?”

“Uh-huh…” You narrow your eyes, unconvinced by his innocent act. “Yeah, I was… What’re you up to?”

“Um,” He looks around aimlessly. “Nothing.”

“Right.” You step into the room and close the door behind you. Daisuke tenses. His dick twitches in his pants. “Nothing.”

He nods weakly, his eyes locked on you as you walk closer. And closer. And then you’re right in front of him, cocking your head to the side as if you already know everything he was doing.

“Nothing,” You move his arm out of the way, planting a knee down between his thighs on the creaky mattress. He tries to move it back, cover up the tent in his pants, hide the evidence, but you don’t let him. “You weren’t doing something dirty, were you?”

He lets out a shallow little breath, a failed attempt at a laugh. “N-No. Of course not.”

You move your knee higher up between his legs, letting it press against his bulge.

“You sure?”

He whimpers. Truly fucking whimpers. It’s pathetic and guilty and so inviting. 

“Thought so…” You murmur, grinding your knee into his clothed cock, watching the way he starts to squirm. “Did I interrupt?”

“I wasn’t…” He tries to deny it - It’s a real, honest attempt - But it’s no use. You know. “Yes…”

“Oh, you poor thing,” You coo, resting your hand on his cheek. He leans into your palm like a cat. “Were you close?”

He shakes his head. “No… Can’t do it…”

You smirk, tilting his head down so he’s watching you knee his dick. You press your forehead into his so you can watch as well. “Aw, you can’t? Do you need some help?”

His groan is more than enough of an answer. He looks up at you, his head still tilted down. It’s the prettiest fucking thing you’ve ever seen. 

“Please.”

It’s the prettiest fucking thing you’ve ever heard. 

Your hand wraps around his throat, squeezing gently at the sides. You can tell by the way his lips part and his eyes unfocus that he likes the feeling. 

“I’ll make sure you’re taken care of.” You whisper, moving your other hand down to his pants. You only have to pop open the button and tug the denim down. He’s straining in his boxers and started soaking through the fabric. 

But you don’t take his dick out. Instead, you start to take your own pants off. Daisuke is half expecting (and hoping) you’re wearing a strap-on or something - The way you take control is making him think of things he’s never considered before. If he was gonna let anyone peg him, it would be you. 

But there’s no silicone instrument under your pants. Just a pair of blue underwear, which is even better right now. Daisuke wants to lick you.

And then your underwear is on the ground and Daisuke really wants to lick you.

“Y/N.” He mumbles, his eyes locked on to what he can see of your cunt. He feels spit pooling in his mouth. If he opens it again, he’s sure he’ll drool.

“Daisuke,” You climb onto the bed on your knees and slowly push him down onto his back. “Are you gonna be a good boy? Gonna lick my pussy?”

Oh, fuck. He whines, shifting impatiently on the bed. His hands have a mind of their own. They find the back of your thighs - God, your thighs - And urge you up towards his face.

“Sit on my face,” He pleads softly, feeling desperate. He’s never felt so foggy before. All he wants is to taste you, feel your thighs around his head, breathe you in. “Please.”

You thread your fingers through his hair, holding his head in the right position. You slowly crawl up towards his head, setting your knees on the shitty mattress on either side of it. You don’t sit down just yet.

“Make me come,” You tell him, no room for disagreement. Not that he would ever dare to pass up an opportunity like this. “If you don’t, we’re never doing this again.”

He tries to lick you, lifting himself up as much as he can before you pull his hair and guide him back to how you want him. 

“Did you hear me?” You sound stricter this time. 

“Yes, yes…” Daisuke shuts his eyes, frustrated. “I’ll be good, I’ll make you come. I’ll be a good boy.”

“Mm… that’s what I like to hear.” You purr, slowly lowering yourself down onto his face.

His mouth is ready. He’s licking messy stripes up your cunt before you’re even down all the way. The round tip of his nose bumps your clit. You can tell he’s going on passion alone, but it makes you feel good, much better than you were expecting.

You don’t tell him that, though.

“C’mon,” You chastise, voice breathless. “I know you can do better than that.”

He whines into your pussy, sucking your clit into his mouth and flicking his tongue across it until you moan. He’s proud of himself for getting that reaction out of you, laving his tongue down your folds until he’s at your hole. He pushes his tongue past the pulsing muscle, his eyes rolling back as he gets a good taste of you. You’re heady and sweet and so fucking delicious.

“That’s it…” You tighten your grip on his hair, absentmindedly rolling your hips against his face. “Good boy.”

Fuck, that gets to him. He feels his hips buck up off the bed, his cock twitching, achy and leaking. 

He could stay between your legs forever, lapping up your juices and nuzzling your clit for hours on end. If you’d let him. Maybe you would. You are letting him do this, after all.

All of his focus is on making you come. He’s never made a girl finish before, admittedly. Not for lack of trying, but simply lack of skill. But he feels confident this time. What he lacks in skill he makes up for in sheer need.

He wraps his hands around your thighs, pulling you further down onto his face. He can barely breathe, but he doesn’t need to breathe. He needs to get you off. Needs to prove to you that he deserves your attention, your touch. That you should let him do this again - Everyday, if he can.

It’s actually embarrassing how quickly Daisuke gets you off. It feels like almost no time has passed when your legs start to shake, your back arches, and your thighs tighten around his head. He makes a noise, a high-pitched keen, almost a squeal, but you barely even notice it as you come. You gush onto his tongue, into his mouth. He’s squirming under you, lapping your wetness up and kissing your damp skin as much as he can. 

You lift yourself up onto shaky legs, holding the headboard to keep yourself upright. Daisuke is panting under you, trembling even more than you are.

“Did you come?” He whispers, looking up at you pleadingly, his pretty eyes genuinely worried that he failed.

“Mhm,” You brush his hair out of his face. “You did… so good, honey…”

“Tell me I’m a good boy…” He licks his lips, and then around them, trying to get his tongue to reach his chin and nose. 

“You’re a very good boy,” You coo, wiping your slick off of his face with your thumb. He eagerly sucks your thumb into his mouth. “A very good fucking boy… Jesus…”

You sink back onto your butt, trying to catch your breath. It’s then that you let your eyes drift down to his boxers.

His soaked boxers. 

You push your palm down, feeling the cum stick to his dick under the fabric. He twitches and gasps, sitting up onto his elbows.

“Oh, honey,” You purr, smearing his cum around in his boxers, ruining the cotton and coating his cock in his release. He’s not fucking real. He came from eating you out. “You’re fucking perfect.”

He mewls, his legs squeezing together and bending at the knee, trying to push your hand away from his sensitive bulge. “Y/N…”

“Alright, alright,” You smile, taking your hand off of his boxers. You give his thigh a comforting squeeze and feel him relax under your touch. “Next time.”

Maybe Daisuke won’t have to worry about being pent up anymore.

[shadowonwater]

Every Instance I can find of Wild Kratt Bros Being Affected by Animal Instincts

I love it when they show animal instincts so here's a collection. If there's something I missed, let me know!

Season 1:

Bass Class (Martin as a bass kept getting attracted by fishing lures)

Tazzy Chris (This is THE instinct episode. Chris gets a suit malfunction that turns him into a T-Devil without a power disc. He's still himself but he keeps trying to eat rotten meat and growling)

The Blue and the Gray (squirrel Chris burying acorns)

Falcon City (Chris as a pigeon, trying to eat a random fry on the ground, preening his feathers, using the power of homing to get back, Martin as well also seemed to be briefly affected when first transforming and ate Jimmy's pizza. They were both also cooing like pigeons)

Cheetah Racer (Chris eating grass as a gazelle)

Flight of the Pollinators (when Martin was wearing that Bee Antenna Headband he was strongly attracted to the smell of flowers)

A Bat in the Brownies (when Chris and Martin entered the dead tree where the bats were they felt safe and secure and fell right asleep alongside the bats)

Maybe?:

Voyage of the Butterflier XT (this is a maybe. It's just I have no idea how they managed to hibernate with the butterflies they weren't even using power suits though)

Octopus Wildkratticus (not the bros but the octopus. I think it was being effected by animal instincts of the other animals)

The Food Chain Game (Chris tried eating grass as a gazelle again but found it gross, I think Aviva might have patched the gazelle disc after the last time)

Little Howler (all the howling, but considering the amount the brothers will howl while not transformed tells me that this is more just enjoying howling. Tell me none of y'all have howled like a wolf before)

Season 2:

Groundhog Wakeup Call (Aviva eating a bunch of grass and dandelions and then hibernating)

maybe?:

Termites Vs Tongues (Chris joining in with the termites defending themselves, could be seen as just helping out the creatures he's with)

Happy Turkey Day (the frequent gobbling like a turkey while transformed)

Rainforest Stew (not sure if the slowness of the sloth suit is instinct or if Chris physically can't move quickly in that)

Season 3:

The Hermit Crab Shell Exchange (the bros being scared as hermit crabs when they don't have shells, being extremely focused on finding a shell)

Opossum in my Pocket (Martin fainting aka "playing possum" when we was scared of Gourmand)

Chameleons on Target (blending in with background when scared, walking in the slow way that chameleons walk after first transforming, since they were able to control the tongues with concentration suggests that maybe it's not a malfunction but rather instinct?)

Maybe?:

Where the Bison Roam (Martin taking a bite out of a dirt and grass cake as a buffalo)

Season 4:

Stars of the Tides (Chris as a hermit crab getting nervous when he loses his shell)

Maybe?:

Panda Power Up! (Martin being very tired and hungry as a panda)

Season 5:

Maybe?:

Elephant Brains! (Chris being extra empathetic towards the elephants after transforming)

Season 6:

Deer Buckaroo (Martin trying to get the velvet off his antlers)

The Real Ant Farm (when first transforming into the different roles, Aviva, Chris, and Martin all mention feeling like doing the role of that specific ant)

Uh-Oh Ostrich (baby ostrich Chris following the mom ostrich)

Cats and Dogs (Martin doing the African Wild Dog warning call, he looks noticeably surprised when he first makes that sound)

Maybe?:

Adapto the Coyote (similar to Little Howler, the coyote howling may be less instinct and more humans having fun making animal noises)