#thank you for the discussion

[vaya-writes]

if you identify as ace and write the character with your experiences i think that's fair :)

like, ultimately it's about sexual attraction, and i feel like that can't necessarily be specifically pointed out or included always. asexual people can have the same sex drive and libido as allosexual people.

i personally find that when in stories specific physical features are pointed out as being hot or whatever, especially on strangers, i really do not relate (especially butts ahshsg). and with other things it's more about the... context or concept? like. hands and holding me down or choking. y'know. but that's usually not a thought I'd have about anyone in any context bc that'd be weird, and I'm not... like. attracted to hands? idk.

sexual attraction in general is a weird concept and i do occasionally question if i don't maybe experience it after all? but demi- or greysexual people exist so.

also also i personally think of myself as like aceflux (i at least think that's the right word but terminology can be confusing in itself) bc i can fluctuate between being sex (or specifically genital ahshsh) repulsed and neutral. also to me it's really mostly concepts and ideas etc that like turn me on, even when talking to real people, and not the person?

was an issue with my ex bc even though he knew from the get go I'm ace and said he understood it, he did end up being insecure because i "wasn't attracted to him" - not true, i just wasn't sexually attracted to him, which had nothing to do with actually wanting to have sex lmao

so

yeah

you do you tbh <3

RIGHT????

That explains my attraction perfectly, tbh. I’m attracted to concepts and acts. The people doing them? 🤷‍♀️ eh. It might be nice if they look nice. But it’s not the focus of whatever is going on in my brain and pants.

Grinning at your perfume mention in the comment by the way. Like. I’ll be like “huh that girl is pretty”. But like… that’s about it? Am I meant to feel something else?

Asexuality is so weird even for myself.

[egophiliac]

GET LOVED, IDIOT

GET LOVED SO HARD YOUR KIDS HOLD HANDS AND POWER-OF-LOVE YOU BACK TO LIFE

sorry guys, this is just my brain now. this is going to be the only thing I think about for the next week at least.

oh and also this

FIVE YEARS IN AND IT'S FINALLY CANON 🎉🎉🎉

WE DID IT

[i-just-want-to-destroy]

how to build compelling characters

[roydeezed]

One thing for those who have watched The Boy and The Heron or will watch it. The Japanese title for it is How Do You Live? And Miyazaki stated he was leaving it for his grandson, saying, "Grandpa is moving onto the next world soon but he is leaving behind this film".

The deaths of contemporaries and friends such as Satoshi Kon and Isao Takahata and also the expected successor of Yoshifumi Kondo were things that have always weighed heavily on the back of Miyazaki's mind.

He recognizes the industry and the occupation for how soul crushing it was, grinding up either the spirit or the physical body of those who work in it. He loves and hates the industry he stands on the peak of and fully recognizes how it will probably be the death of him. And he knows it'll leave him unable to say a lot of things to his Grandson.

So How Do You Live? is a lesson. For his grandson. For himself. For his two sons. And probably for anyone else willing to pay attention.

Hayao Miyazaki is a flawed man that makes things so important to so many people. And I think more than any other film of his, in this you get to pull back the curtain a bit and see him at work. And what should be this giant unblemished titan can be seen for what he is, a sad old man who had higher hopes for himself and has even higher hopes for the people he makes his work for.

It's a beautiful thing to see another's humanity in their work. To look past the artifice and glam of commercialized art and find humans behind it. And humans willing to show their humanity and mortality is even rarer. And something to be celebrated. So when you watch it. Or if you've watched it already. Understand that this film is Miyazaki kneeling down, weary after years of weaving dreams and making mistakes, reaching out and saying to you that he hopes you can do better. It's an old man who's made all the mistakes of the world passing it on to you, hoping you do better, and making sure you know it's okay if you don't.

How do you Live? By making mistakes. By messing up. But still moving forward. And still reaching out.

[teratomatica]

you always land on all fours

[lala-blahblah]

I get why people headcanon that Trucy would call Edgeworth "Uncle Miles" because it represents how close he is to Nick and Trucy and how he's basically part of the family etc. HOWEVER I cannot help but imagine the shock and horror of passersby who hear Trucy call one man "uncle" and one "daddy" as they watch Nick and Miles interact lovingly in public and come to the conclusion that Nick is openly cheating on his spouse with his spouse's brother.

[nachobsns]

Hello - I was impressed and extremely relieved by what you wrote in the post about the cult mentality of the Left RE Israel and accusations of genocide. You mentioned that you bought into the mindset until recently. If it's all right for me to ask, what was it that helped you break out of it? (Please feel free to delete/ignore if you'd rather not answer!)

thank you!! and no worries about asking— i think i put something in my pinned post about how people are welcome to send asks about this stuff, although my story isn’t super interesting. i fell down the typical online rabbithole, a couple weeks after october 7; i knew what had happened, at least vaguely, but the posts trickling onto my dash were all about the (undeniably tragic) loss of life in gaza, with little to no acknowledgment of the hamas atrocities that had started the war, so my narrative was pretty one-sided from the beginning. it just continued to snowball as the months went on and people became more radicalized, calling into question the reality of the 10/7 attacks and the humanity of all israelis. i never went all the way down the pipeline to full-on endorsing hamas or justifying their attacks, at least on a personal level, thank god, but i would reblog other people’s posts referring to hamas as a “resistance movement” and calls to boycott starbucks and mcdonald’s and condemnation of the “zionist media” etc etc etc. what pulled me out of it wasn’t any one thing— if someone had directly called me on my flawed logic and antisemitic biases while i was in this mindset, i doubt it would have done much, just reinforced my belief that i was on the “right side of history” and zionists were aggressors who couldn’t be reasoned with. it was mostly just passive observance and a slow exposure to other perspectives. i’m pretty sure the first post that led me to question my thinking was an ask on jewish-vents, which popped up on my dash in like, late july. this led me down another rabbithole, first scouring every single post on jewish-vents, then moving on to more popular jewish blogs that i had seen on “zionist blocklists” (applesauce42069, xclowniex, and spacelazarwolf were probably some of the blogs that influenced me the most, though i told myself i was just hate-scrolling at first, lol). i felt incredibly guilty seeing all the harm the movement i was a part of had caused to random jews and israelis just trying to live their lives and i realized how it went against everything i believed about how minority groups should be treated. from there, the aspect of actually undoing my thinking and changing my behavior for the better still took several weeks. denial of jewish indigenity to the levant in the face of tantamount archeological and cultural evidence was the first to go, as well as any ambiguity in my feelings about hamas. after that, it’s mostly been a slow process of redefining the idf’s actions from a “genocide” to a “war.” i still believe that what’s happening in gaza is unconscionable and horrific, and that too many innocent civilians have died, but i also understand how difficult it is to fight against a terrorist group that systematically embeds itself in civilian populations, and that the ratio of militant to civilian deaths is incredibly low compared to most urban warfare. i quietly deleted my old blog in early august— if i had directly engaged in harassment against jews, i likely would have kept it to make amends to the harmed parties and put a face to my actions, but as was, i had just contributed to the larger atmosphere of antisemitism on this site, and i felt uncomfortable knowing that i had a blog full of sentiments that no longer matched my values and beliefs. i decided i would be better if i took my endorsement out of the equation entirely, because when you’re looking through the notes of a post, it obviously doesn’t matter if someone who’s reblogged it no longer agrees with what was said— their notes still count as tacit approval, and i did not want approval of this “activism” attached to my online presence. i still have unwanted kneejerk reactions that crop up sometimes, particularly around the fundraiser posts from people “in gaza”; even though i know logically that they have all the markers of scams, there is still a part of me that really wants to believe i could help.

[fafodill]

On Snape depriving himself sexually...

SO, I got hyperfocused and I hope you'll enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I needed only one person to tell me they were interested so thank you @severus-snaps haha. And thank you @wisteria-lodge for encouraging me !

This is a continuation of my previous post about Snape's relation with intimacy. I'm always a sucker for the pent up and deprived trope and I feel like Snape could fit the profile perfectly. Of course this is complete HC, as we literally have zero information about him having any personal life whatsoever so... pure speculation and meta discussion. Let's have fun, buckle up, here is why I think he'd make a great candidate for it :

Early teens: Many of us tend to interpret Snape as sexually inexperienced. This of course comes partly from his unpopularity in school, a time where teenagers start experimenting a bit. It's hard to imagine the little scrawny greasy potion nerd getting a lot of action. Though I'm open to thinking something might have happened here and there. I mean, girls also like smart and scrawny guys, I would love to read a fic where a Ravenclaw or Slytherin has a crush on him and he's utterly clueless because he's too engrossed in his books and when he realizes he's so flustered and clumsy about it. And they snog in the library and he's so afraid of getting caught by Mrs Pince. But being consistently bullied would have hurt his reputation, thus making people avoid being associated with him to not become targets as well. Also, his bullies were good-looking guys and it may have contributed to highlighting his bad looks in the public eye way more than if he had been left alone. And just with the nickname alone, but you won't tell me James and Sirius never insulted his nose, his hair, his complexion or his thin frame.

So one of the first core belief that might have emerged and latched itself to his sexuality would have been: I'm ugly/repelling.

But we don't have any proof in canon that he wasn't interested in romantic/sexual interactions back then. For all we know, he was a socially awkward teenager going through puberty. Even if he was certainly anxious and angry due to the bullying, he was still going through the same hormone cocktail as everyone.

HC : I've been wondering how the students find places to masturbate in peace and of course we don't exactly know why he invented the Muffliato charm but give me a Snape who was too whimpery to be completely silent and used it for this.

Post SWM though, I think it's safe to assume the trauma scared him unconsciously regarding the subject. Being perceived before wasn't easy, as he was aware he wasn't exactly good-looking and his self-esteem was impacted for sure, but after... oh boy. I can imagine him so traumatized that the mere idea of undressing in the vicinity of people was making his blood freeze. This may have led to hygiene issues as well, or only feeling safe to shower in the dead of night or at times where the dormitories where utterly empty. The shame linked to having his body and underwear exposed could have definitely stunned his sexual awakening as it happened at such a crucial age. How can you safely explore your own sexuality if every time you think about how ugly you are and that so many people saw your body and laughed at it ? (and the adults doing nothing to punish the people who did that hammered the beliefs that he was indeed laughable)

So second core belief added: I'm ridicule.

Also the SWM incident might have triggered his need to cover/shield his body from head to toe at all time and nobody can convince me otherwise.

At the very least I imagine masturbating would then be heavily linked to the anger and shame of that moment. The memory would either unlock or at least impact it unconsciously in some way, marking the act with a profound bitterness or stopping it altogether. The result: every time his body would ask for attention, he'd be overcome with very intense traumatic feelings and have no idea how to deal with them; so he'd start recoiling instinctively from any sexual thought. Also, since undressing/changing clothes became a triggering act, being even partially nude to touch himself would also stress him immensely.

So instead of indulging, he'd start developing coping mechanisms like focusing on anything else that brought him a sense of pleasure to trick his brain : potions, the dark arts, creating spells etc.

And of course, we can assume that even if someone was trying to approach him at that point, he'd recoil like a wounded animal, expecting mockery and reacting very aggressively.

After Hogwarts: We don't know what might have happened during his 3-4 years after school. We have a lot of creative space, though we know he got a Potion Mastery (??) so he must have studied somewhere and he was active within the DE circles. As @maxdibert pointed in a few posts - which I think is an astute point - the Dark Lord was aware of the affection/attraction Severus had felt towards Lily and, to prove his disinterest, he might have engaged with a few pureblood women. We could speculate on different situations here (and if anyone's interested we could explore this), but as I'm going for deprived!Snape, I'd say it wasn't helpful. At this point he's a young adult, torn between his inexperience and his limboing self-esteem. On top of that he's a deeply proud individual, obsessed with controlling the way he's being perceived. He's already occlumenting his emotions to remain safe, and well, engaging sexually does require some sort of vulnerability he isn't capable of at that point.

Maybe he said some harsh things to his partners when confronted with his clumsiness (even if they were kind), maybe he got bit back (and deserved it). He'd use these instances as confirmation bias to convince himself intimacy wasn't something emotionally safe, interesting nor even remotely pleasant enough.

Then there's Lily's death, and I personally don't see her as having a lot of influence on his sexuality directly (except maybe for the fact that when he had feelings for her, he might have felt she was 'too pretty for him', which fed the first core belief), but it did fuel a ton the last core belief which is : I'm undeserving (because I'm a bad person).

The undeserving part existed prior to her death. It stemmed from his upbringing (undeserving of care), of his social status (undeserving of material comfort), his blood status (undeserving of opportunities), his social awkwardness (undeserving of friendship), his special interest in the dark arts (undeserving of respect).

Lily's death crystallized such deep guilt inside of him that he devoted his life after that to atoning. I'm a firm believer that there's a clear before and after regarding the way he treated his body. Not that things were drastically different, but it made it worse. He ate less, slept less and touched himself even less. Probable not at all for a good few months, maybe even up to a year or so as he was extremely stressed from his new job, depressed and overcomed with grief. Honestly, at that point in his life he was barely functioning.

Then we have his adult life at Hogwarts: at that point in his life he's working and living where his worst trauma occurred. Not great for healing. During those years, he mastered the art of shutting down with occlumency everything he couldn't deal with, including his body's basic needs. He had excuses for everything. Sleeping? How could he rest when he had so much work to do dealing with the little shitheads and that infuriating Headmaster? Eating? Pfft, he had been fine all his childhood, so now he'd eat what he needed to function, but craving something and getting it wasn't something he'd allow himself. Masturbating? Tricky part, because he almost never thought about it anymore. He would not even treat it as a basic need. Like, sleep and food were still required to function, even in limited amount or he would pass out, but he could function without sex. Bottom line is, deep down he would feel undeserving of any sort of pleasure.

Rewarding his body, taking care of it wasn't allowed. It was part of his self-inflicted punishment.

But it would be still natural for his body to seek sexual release from time to time. He'd have hard-ons sometimes in the morning and ignore it until it went away, maybe take a cold shower or - why not - even take a potion he'd have invented to calm it down (or worse, to make it hurt so it would go down, if you want to go the masochistic way). The way I see it, every time he'd have an unwanted sensual/sexual thought (oh, this person at the Three Broomsticks has disarmingly pretty lips, this other person's got very elegant hands, or this one's hips look live they're meant to be grabbed), he'd shut it down immediately.

Fantasizing wouldn't be pleasant either. Each time, it would trigger the self-depreciating thoughts. Who are you fooling ? This person would never touch you, never look at you. And if they did, you wouldn't deserve it and would fuck it up anyway. Faceless people then, but it would still always be tainted with the ghost of years of bitterness, loneliness and unmet needs. So it'd be easier to pretend he doesn't have them or doesn't care. Of course this would do nothing to soothe his sour mood (and here talking from experience: I've been sexually frustrated quite a lot in my twenties, and I can definitely say that the mental relief you feel alongside the physical release when you get it is quite something. Like, I'd be a changed person, just because chemically my brain would finally be swimming again in endorphins. So yeah, at that point in his life I believe he's in dire need of a good shag and is partly always on edge because of this).

And when he would indulge in masturbation, it'd be because he's too tired to fight it or just because he knows that if he does, his body would leave him alone for a while. It would be quick, mechanical, in the dark, the mess cleaned up immediately and then forgotten about. The less thinking involved, the better so it wouldn't trigger the core beliefs. Maybe it'd happen when being tipsy after a night out with the other professors, or just when he was too stressed or exhausted at the end of terms and it was his body's way of asking for a break and a distraction.

I think he'd be also more prone to having his sexual needs resurface when he's not at Hogwarts and the mental toll of being there isn't weighing on him (maybe during summer or maybe even if he goes into the Forbidden Forest to gather potion ingredients, or a trip to Diagon Alley). He would find it really annoying, not realizing how the two are linked.

Then how would he be dealing with the constant tension and redirecting the release ? (fun stuff)

I think he could get a sick pleasure from being able to not indulge for long periods of time, thriving on his sense of control. He'd maybe even feel shame when he finally does, chastising himself for being weak.

When too tired to notice, late at night in his office, his body would hijack control a little bit and he'd start rubbing himself unconsciously with one hand while correcting essays and immediately stop upon realizing.

He'd be a GREAT candidate for edging. Like telling himself that if there's no release it doesn't count and he could get some pleasure whilst still shaming and punishing himself. Maybe sometimes even without touching himself directly, just letting the fabric rub on him, while shifting his hips just a bit. A good compromise he wouldn't want to analyze too closely.

Being pent up all the time makes one irritable, so some of that tension is fueling his already short-tempered nature and getting out by lashing out at idiots. It would also be a way to... spill out but with words (classy I know).

I don't see him doing any sport to get endorphins and relieve tension (though he does prowl the castle at night, that counts as walking haha).

The only part of his body I could see him pay attention to would be his hands as he uses them for potion work. He could be proud of their dexterity and I can imagine him taking care of them. Like, once of twice a week he'd put a cream or an ointment (self-made ofc) and massage his fingers and palms. Nothing sexual about it but it would be the closest he has to a gentle self-touch.

But mostly, his sole source of pleasure would still come from focusing on his interests. Working all night on improving a new potion, loosing himself in the method and appreciating his own skills, or reading about and experimenting with the Dark Arts (I don't think he ever stopped seeking knowledge, which is why he was able to save Dumbledore's ass from Marvolo's ring). These two things are his private garden, something that's inherently his despite everything, and it would be his way of pleasuring himself in an acceptable way: intellectually.

But what about the people around him or potential partners ?

He'd hate any sexual jokes or comments about him or in general. Sexually open people would make him angry (jealous). It'd irk him. As it's such a loaded and repressed subject for him he'd see them as flaunting their unspoken good experiences. He'd try to unconsciously shame them into silence by telling them they're being inappropriate. At the end of the day, it's just his way of protecting himself because he wouldn't know how to navigate the conversation, and his pride wouldn't let him feel ridiculed again.

He would also hate being looked at, even clothed. People judging his body would definitely trigger the awful memory from SWM. He would struggle immensely to accept the possibility of being looked at in an appraising way. If someone was sincere and stubborn enough to convince him they're not lying, he'd be extremely confused and wary.

And if he was to be attracted to that person as well, he'd have to deal with an almost second puberty on top of his core beliefs. He'd be so clumsy, so out of touch with his body and very frustrated with all the unwanted sensations he's not used to deal with. And that's such an interesting and fascinating subject aaaah.

At the end of the day, deep down he doesn't believes he deserves pleasure or comfort in his life so a partner would have to be patient with him. There's a lot of strategies they could try and I'd be delighted to explore them but I'm gonna stop here because this essay is so long already haha. SO, in conclusion:

He needs a good shag.

Thank you for reading.

I'd love to discuss how it would go with different characters trying to approach him, or I could talk about the classic trope of losing control because of his short temper but with him deprived, so many possibilties aaah, I love it when he's angry AND horny AND clumsy-

Also, my current favorite oneshot of deprived!Snape here : Cursed into Temptation by @marvel-snape-writes (very smutty, amazing, I'm on my knees)

[kazz-brekker]

even though he only appears in 1 dunk and egg novella, daeron the drunken IS a genuinely interesting character to me. a lot of asoiaf is about exploring the more realistic outcomes of very traditional fantasy ideas (what if the vows the loyal knight swore required him to stand by while his king horribly abused people? what if the beloved prince eloping with a young lady caused a massive civil war? what if the warrior who overthrew the evil tyrant had absolutely no interest in the actual job of ruling?) and daeron is an exploration of what it would actually be like to have prophetic visions. would you find them fascinating and try to understand what they meant and what would happen in the future? or would they be frightening and overwhelming and not actually provide any guidance, only a horrible sense of dread that something is going to happen that you don't understand and can't prevent? would you embrace being able to know what was going to happen, or is it something you would try to forget at all costs if there's nothing you can do to change it?

[royalarchivist]

Love lore-based SMPs with creative stories, lovable characters, and fun events? Then you'll love Arkanis! Whether you're new to the series or a long-time viewer, now is a great time to support the project so Arkanis can have a second season and continue doing amazing new things.

It's amazing to see how much love Pac and the entire Arkanis team have poured into this project. Apart from all the cool stuff they do lore-wise, I appreciate that they're just as invested in making sure their team is fairly compensated as they are in creating a great SMP and a good overall experience for everyone.

There is one month left to back the project, so you still have time to help out! 🎭❤️

Step-by-step guide for international folks who need help navigating the fundraising platform.

Translations of Arkanis’ fundraising goals / stretch goals.

[nikolutke]

I may have drawn this over a year ago but TRUST, Pittwins have still been rotating around my brain on a microwave plate

Original Post Date: 08/02/2023

[egophiliac]

Hi it's just to let you know that the official romanization of Revaan's name is Raverne ! Also they have romanized Baul's name to Baur !

Twst coming back at us again with the least expected romanization! thank you everybody (oh god my inbox) (no it's great, I literally asked for this and the reactions have been INCREDIBLE, thank you all!)

I do like Raverne though, I think it's got a nice fancy sound to it! (I had kinda suspected it was going to be an R instead of an L, so the fact that it's SO close to Laverne except for that is hilarious to me personally.) and Dragoneye Duke is honestly probably the best translation for his title, I wasn't envying the localizers that one. :') Baur instead of Baul I was NOT expecting, but in retrospect I think his name's supposed to be a reference to the Bauru crocodile, so that actually makes way more sense!

someone else also said Meleanor has become Maleanor, which is the REALLY weird one to me, because I was so surprised it was written as Mel instead of Mal in the first place?! oh god no I can't decide which one I like better. 😭 (I wonder if they might change it to Mal...they have made romanization changes before) (like I remember House of Distraction being corrected to House of Destruction in Playful Land) (I did check and she's still Mel for now, but I dunno, they might Mal her up and some point and save me from having to make a decision about which one to use) (HECK I CAN'T DECIDE)

uhhhh thank you for letting me ramble about anime names, let's just say MONOGRAMMED SWEATERS FOR EVERYONE

[sunlitpath]

Apollo, god of knowledge

Thank you for holding me accountable

Thank you for pushing me to be better

[codenameregnar]

Not to be too gushy and take silly gay aliens too seriously, but the fact that I get to type the phrase 'canon Garashir' is so powerful. Especially after decades of two very clearly queer characters being denied their personhood and forced to fit into a heteronormative mold that was so clearly ill fitting, all for the sake of the comfort of bigots. It's such a win and it is more gratifying than I can put to words. And the fact that they're allowed to be happy and comfortable and get to contribute in such meaningful ways withing their lives. It really does feel like every queer and neuro-divergent person who ever saw themselves in such rich and complex characters is now getting told "We really do see all of you. And you deserve a happy ending too."

[anbaisai]

WAAA HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! today u were born out of soup

SOUP... I can't believe it I'm at soup... why didn't anyone tell me (I get booed for making a reference to an extremely ancient meme)

[fafodill]

Everything began upon @snapey's request and what I thought was going to be a tricky but fun dive into Headcanon territory became a full on fascinating (and frankly a tad depressing) deep dive into Hogwarts and 1970's social classes living conditions.

Because what Severus Snape might enjoy eating as an adult or as a teen would be influenced firstly by his childhood and oh boi put your seatbelts on my little rats.

- So, a bit of context first -

Snape grew up in the slums in the 60s. His family was from the working-class and we canonly know they didn't have much money (Severus didn't have his own clothes as a child), and so they might not had much to eat either. And the Snapes weren't just working-class poor, they were dirt-poor (go here if you want to see photos of what the slums could look like back then). Living in the slums was not a choice. We're talking people working for a desperately low wage and barely making by. They were stuck there, at the bottom of the social and economic chain, living in incredibly difficult conditions.

So we're talking homemade meals, sometimes only once a day or none at all. Cheap vegetables (potatoes, carrots, beans, greens etc), a cheap cut of meat sometimes, tinned soup or meat, sometimes sausages. They had to make it last as long as possible and of course never let anything go to waste. Sometimes when he got hungry, he'd only get beans on toast or buttered sandwiches with cheap white bread. No sweets, no snacks for the whole day. Sometimes he just went hungry. He was familiar with the sensation of an empty stomach.

It's possible that he learned to chew very slowly from that time, to trick his mind and stomach into thinking he was eating more that he truly was.

One can wonder if he went to muggle primary school. It's hard to say if there was one near Spinner's End or if maybe his mother homeschooled him. It could make sense if he went as it would mean getting one (even bad) free meal that day. We're talking pies and maybe pudding, but considering the area was poor it might not even have been any good... but at least it was food. Maybe there wouldn't be enough for everybody, or not much. Food poisoning might have been frequent too.

In any case, what becomes clear is that food wasn't a given for Severus. It was rationed, of poor quality, little variety, maybe even flavorless if not bad tasting. Not saying his mother was a bad cook, but there's so much you can do in these times with no income. I'm sure sometimes there would be a special meal, for a birthday or a Holiday (Christmas maybe?) but that wouldn't be the norm.

So Severus grew up without eating much, which has little to do with his natural body frame, but I wouldn't be surprised if it had stunned his growth at least a little (if not a lot). I don't have any difficulties picturing him as too little and too scrawny for an 11 year old when he left home.

And since food wasn't a given it wouldn't be surprising if he integrated deep down that he couldn't eat too much at every meal or else it would mean he (and his parents) wouldn't have enough for the next one. Maybe there was even an unspoken rule that his father needed more food because he was the bread-winner of the family and Severus saw his mother eat less purposefully and mimicked her. I'm sure his mother wanted him to eat, but if he said he was fine maybe she wouldn't argue too much, as that may also mean Tobias would be in a better mood. And Severus might have also wanted for Tobias to be in as much of a good mood as possible back then.

He might also have stolen food back then. Sometimes from the pantry (very tiny, strategically unremarkable things) or from the outside.

We know the Evans family was better off than the Snapes, so it wouldn't be surprising if through Lily he was able to experience some nicer things (maybe candies, licorice or even chocolate) or maybe he was even invited a few times for dinner.

Could be really cute to imagine Lily introduced him to some new flavors that left him speechless and so fricking happy as he got home with the taste still in his mouth. Maybe she'd give him a candy and he would just lick it a few times then carefully put it back in the wrapper to make it last as much as possible. For days. It's be a treat after dinner, just one, two licks, letting the taste fill his mouth, closing his eyes and hiding it back under his pillow.

In any case, taking into account what we know from canon and the reality of what living in the slums means, we could - in my opinion - safely assume that Severus Snape knew what Hunger was.

- When he first went to Hogwarts -

With all of this in mind, can we take a second to stop and imagine what finally coming to Hogwarts might have been like for 11 years old Severus Tobias Snape? Of course he was excited, his mother had told him all about it, but nothing could have prepared him for the reality of the sheer amount of food appearing before his little eyes when the Sorting Ceremony was over. Nothing.

His first meal in the wizarding world was a proper feast. This is something a starving child doesn't forget and this might have played an early role in strengthening his resolve of embracing his magical side instead his muggle heritage. The magic part of his life was literally abundant and nourishing.

I won't go into detail here but there's this incredible post detailing every food appearing in the books that we know of (so in the 90s). Here is an extract from it that I think is important to give a bit of context:

Probably to give a subtle wave to the fact that Hogwarts is the magical version of a public school, nearly all the food consumed there is traditional and British. A public school here is NOT a state-maintained school, it is a private, extremely expensive, prestigious, boarding school, e.g Eton, which only the children of people with a lot of money and a lot of influence attend. By default, these people are usually upper class or aristocracy. (Obviously in the wizarding world money isn’t a factor in school attendance, but nevertheless that is what Hogwarts is modelled on.) There is never any mention of processed foods at Hogwarts except chips and a few common desserts.

When the food appeared, I can totally imagine him being so stunned that he couldn't move for a few minutes. Too many smells, so much variety, everything overflowing everywhere. And as he looked around, people were just... digging in. And it took him a moment to realize he was allowed to. Because of course he was. He was a student, he was finally at Hogwarts.

So he slowly plated himself something, looking around expectantly as if someone was about to get angry at him. Of course it didn't happen but he couldn't fight off years of conditioning so he might have not eaten much that evening. Anyway, he was already so overwhelmed with nervousness and happiness from being here that it didn't matter.

In the weeks that followed though, as he settled in, he might have eaten more. Way more. He wanted to try everything, even stuff that looked almost suspicious since he had no idea what it was. I think he discovered the pure joy of just stuffing his face. It was great, the freedom of not expecting to lack, of just reaching out for an apple whenever he was hungry. And I'm pretty convinced he got a few stomach aches for 1) eating too much/too fast and 2) trying things his stomach wasn't familiar with. That's when he discovered you could also get a tummy ache if you ate too much. Huh.

Maybe he even discovered that he was like... allowed to take some food with him (like I could see him stuffing one? two? three??? apples in his bag, bewildered that he was allowed and could just... snack on it whenever he wanted??? WHAT A LIFE.)

And it was like discovering a never ending new world of savors through the seasons as the meals changed. So exciting. Abundance but also a journey of tasty discoveries.

This being said, talking about food with other students might have been a strange and alienating experience. He might have gotten strange looks (because who was that feral child eating everyday like it was his last meal and asking what mince pies were?) and felt self-conscious when sharing his home life. He might have stopped doing that real fast, especially if he was surrounded by wealthy slytherins heirs.

His big discoveries might have been (please remember I'm talking out of my ass here since I'm trying to imagine the big differences he might have perceived in the 70s from his childhood in the slums):

-Fresh vegetables.

-Being able to eat meat at every meal if he wanted to.

-Actually good gravy.

-Spices.

-Deserts.

This being said, I wouldn't be surprised either if Hogwarts was a lot to deal with. Talk about his life doing a 180°. So maybe he also developed coping mechanism to deal with the onslaught of stress/socializing/work and one of them might have been... eating a bit like at home: eating things closer in taste to things he had back there (comfort food?) and to run on very little. It could have been a way to control soothe his senses.

I have a headcanon that when he went home for Christmas that first year (maybe the only time he did), when his mother welcomed him at the station she almost wept when she saw her little boy with fuller cheeks. He was still thin, still a little too small for his age, but he had some colors on him and sparkles in his eyes and so much to tell her. She was so proud. Of course he told her about the food as well - it made her happy and able to relive some of her own memories, but she also grew sad and regretful that they couldn't offer him a 'proper Christmas meal' (which was ridiculous, he perfectly knew what their usual Christmas dinner was like, he was just happy to see his Ma, but from this point on he refrained from talking too much about it as to not make her sad).

Speaking of that, going back home might have been a cold shower (metaphorically and figuratively)(he had also discovered the joys of hot showers and indoor plumbing) and as he went back to school in January, food might have tasted different again. Maybe tainted with the ever growing question: why would his mother embrace Muggle culture if it meant revoking such privilege ? And what could it say about his own future?

We could imagine a lot of different things about how his relationship with food would change over time. He might have slowed down his eating pace again after that trip home and chewed very slowly again because food=privilege and he wouldn't take it for granted. Maybe he'd eat very little because unconsciously he wouldn't feel deserving of it? Maybe he'd starve himself then binge and get himself sick?

I'm going with the idea that over his school years he normalized his eating habits. He's not a big eater (and I headcanon this being a consequence of his childhood conditioning) and has a fast metabolism (part genetics, part stress). For sure though, his upbringing impacted him and we canonly know he has trouble separating himself from his childhood (since he kept the house in Spinner's End).

- What about after school? (aka studies+DE days) -

We have literally 0 clues regarding his studies after Hogwarts (tho to become a Potion Master he must have done a Mastery of some kind) but we could assume it was as another Potion Master's apprentice, who could have been an honorable witch/wizard and thus, he might have had decent living conditions.

But we also know (or we assume more like) that he might also have been introduced into the DE circles around that time, maybe as a protégé of Lucius Malfoy and so now we're upgrading from Hogwarts's food to aristocracy-tier meals. We're talking expensive alcohol in crystal glasses, multiple courses meals, foreign delicacies, sculpted magical deserts... I have a few headcanons about that.

-He knew the basics of etiquette from his mother but Lucius and Narcissa trained him on everything (tables manners, conversations, pureblood customs, posture, voice inflections, etc.) He learnt fast and asked a lot of questions.

-As for the food... don't get me wrong I'm pretty sure he must have been blown away by some stuff that tasted incredible but I can't shake the feeling that he also must have struggled due to the invisible class barrier from his upbringing. In their world, food had always been a given. They never experienced the joy of stuffing their face after starving for years, had no idea what discovering chocolate at 10 years old was like, the weeping joy of not being afraid to skip meals. He might have been envious of them but also maybe a bit angry because they had no idea how easy they had it.

-Also yes, the food was good but could we not spend an hour blowing smoke up each other's asses about that filet? Yes it's good, but at the end of the day it's meat. Yes yes, caviar is expensive but it's just fish eggs and the texture is disturbing as fuck, can we just not?

Deep down Severus Snape isn't refined, though he tried hard to hide it back then. Underneath controlled inflections was a thick accent, underneath that elevated pinky were rude but earnest table manners and behind the compliment about the vinaigrette was a yearning for some fucking boiled potatoes. Despite everything, despite his efforts, despite himself... at the end of the day inside of him he was still that poor gruff man from the Midlands.

- Adult life (back to Hogwarts) -

No we venture into what he might have enjoyed eating. Honestly, it's so difficult and subjective because I'm so not-versed with British food, having never tasted anything so projecting what this specific guy might have liked or not is just me blabbing so I will focus more on eating habits and, big likes and dislikes and a few specific ones. (feel free to give me your own headcanons in the comments!). Here we go:

-Severus is still not a big eater. It's part residual conditioning, part metabolism, part nerves/anxiety/depression. But he works a lot and needs energy so he rarely skips a meal, except for his bi-annual depressive episodes.

-Little breakfast, medium/big lunch, light dinner. Sometimes a late-night snack if he works late.

-With age and after his time with the Malfoys, he went back to enjoying simpler food again. It wasn't so much nostalgia as much as feeling more 'himself' that way.

Breakfast

-He always has the same breakfast for long periods of time (which goes in hand with my autistic headcanon) going from two to six months until he's bored of it. Sometimes it's two buttered pieces of toast. Sometimes it's one egg and some beans but always with one cup of black coffee.

-He finds porridge's texture deeply unpleasant as it reminds him of the sludge his mother used to make.

-He also enjoys crumpets a lot. Sometimes as a late-night snack.

Lunch/Dinner

-He's not difficult with food, really. But he prefers his meat tender (because it's better than the rubber shit he ate as a kid) and his vegetables a bit crunchy.

-His mother made good sausage rolls and he still enjoys it quite a bit.

-He likes chicken but thinks it's way tastier if you eat it with your hands (childhood memory) but he has a reputation to maintain so..

-He often gets stomach aches if he eats too much at dinner so one of his go-to is soup.

Sweets

-As a teen he didn't have money to buy stuff from Honeydukes (he always told himself he didn't care anyway)(he did)(someone heal his inner child please). He still considers sugar as something a bit luxurious even though it's both available and affordable to him now.

-He doesn't necessarily have a sweet tooth per say but he enjoys the... practicality of sugar. Since he doesn't eat a lot and works long hours he relies on it to get his energy boosts.

-He's got a little tin of biscuits in his office (plain ones or with cinnamon or ginger) for when he drinks tea by himself and is in the mood for a tiny treat after a long day.

-Dark chocolate. He bites and lets it melt slowly under his tongue. He especially likes the kind with sea salt.

-Treactle tart is one of his favorites as it still reminds him of Christmas with his mother (it was one of her specialties and he always helped her make it. It's one of the nicest memories he has with her).

-He makes his own candied flowers once a year. When he goes into the Forbidden forest for ingredients in Spring, he also picks some violets and makes three jars. (He gives one to Minerva.)

-He enjoys grapes, mostly because he likes spitting the seeds.

Drinks

-First coffee of the morning is taken black. Don't talk to him, don't breathe near him. In fact, don't exist it's better this way. The second one is taken with sugar and in the afternoon he switches to tea. Then coffee again at night at the end of semester when he has too much work.

-As a teen he drank a lot of pumpkin juice. Less so as as an adult (he almost completely stopped when he became teacher because he wanted to appear as mature as possible in front of his colleagues and the students) but later on he would rarely say no to a cup.

-He rarely drinks alcohol and maybe got hammered twice in his life (once he got angry-drunk and it reminded him way too much of his father and another time he got depressed-drunk, which was pure shite as well).

-He likes his tea black, sometimes with sugar. Will judge heavily anyone who fails to prepare it properly (Minerva makes a great one).

Dislikes

-Stringy meat. It gets stuck between his fucked up teeth and he abhors the sensation.

-Sticky stuff (like caramel). Same issue.

-He hates corn.

Unrelated you won't convince me he's not a constipated bitch. I don't think I need to explain myself here. The man is a walking knot.

Here you go! I'm finally done. If you made it this far, thank you... I'm tired and I hope this was mildly interesting to you. I'd love to hear your thoughts and headcanons about this so feel free to reblog or comment ! <3

Big big thanks to @dirty-dirty-muggle, @wumbocroft, @historycat for their precious help and contribution on that topic. Also thanks to @arkadijxpancakes again for showing me this incredible post about Hogwarts's food.