#the difference between that and actually having it is when those traits become extreme or integral to internal regulation or problematic

[the-blorb-system]

Omg boo- we have a boo as well. I mean that's just one of her three names but it's the most commonly used one.

I would say more about her but I'm afraid of snitchers who'd tattletale me to a gatekeeper.

Oh yeah the imaginary stories. I as a 4 year old heard a story about the lion who wanted strawberries, and then proceeded to apparently babble for 90 minutes about god know who because no one understood a word I said.

..guess who doesn't like strawberries anymore

- Digi

Oooooof

I usually don't like strawberries. Or most fruit, actually, until I tried organic and realized it's because most produce just tastes like chemicals to me. (Autism moment, L)

I don't remember much of anything from being a kid (but I have a handful of pinpoint memories), so I couldn't say whether those home teachers were getting a real story or not XD

I'm also pretty lucky that most of my headmates seem to have decided that what I share on this blog is okay. It's risky, and we acknowledge it, but we've debated making the blog for months, and doing so was a very distinct decision. Hopefully we get to do more with it!

-Lizzy

[star-anise]

Currently getting my socks clean blown off by Rethinking Narcissism, by Dr. Craig Malkin. Which I found, in a roundabout way, from this video on Midsommar, grief, and narcissism.

Tonight I woke up from a nap and accidentally took my morning meds, so I'm going to be up for a few hours because of the meth. In place of sleep, I'll try to roughly sum up some basic ideas proposed by the research the book is based on:

That traits of "narcissism" like entitlement, grandiosity, and feeling special are not inherently toxic. There are times and places they are appropriate and beneficial. If you show up at a hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest, you should not sit and wait to be seen after people with earaches and coughs. (Actually, medical systems are designed to prioritize people with more urgent needs, and you qualify under that system. You are special and are deserving of different treatment than those others, which is why making your needs known, even insisting on it if you're not listened to appropriately the first time, is an extremely good idea. It keeps you from bleeding to death on the floor, and keeps the hospital from getting its pants sued off by your heirs.)

It is more useful to view "narcissism" not as an inherent immutable personality trait, but as a cluster of coping mechanisms. As previously stated, there are times they are exactly the right coping mechanism for the job. However, people we call "narcissists" tend to cling to these ones even when they become detrimental to themselves and others, often because they lack other ways of regulating their emotions and getting their needs met. And that is something they can change, if a person is willing to put in sincere and difficult work. It is not usually fast change; it's a matter of years, not weeks. But a skillbuilding approach turned Borderline Personality Disorder from an immutable curse to a fully treatable (though not quickly treatable) condition, and there's a lot of hope that it can do the same for Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

Meanwhile, there's an opposite end to the narcissism spectrum, and it is also pathological and destructive to hang out there all the time. It's an aversion, or even a resistance, to expecting yourself or other people to treat your own feelings, thoughts, ideas, needs, or preferences as important. For Greek mythology reasons, its proposed name is Echoism.

Unfortunately, because most of the damage echoism does is, by its very nature, localized to its sufferer and their own personal relationships, its downsides aren't often talked about. In fact, it's often seen as an ideal moral state, a kind of altruism or saintliness everyone should strive for. As a pathological coping mechanism a person is trapped in, though, it's often more a fear-based reflex than a conscious and deliberate attempt to achieve some real and specific good. It's not actually as beneficial as being able to recognize your needs, desires, positive aspects, and areas of competence or excellence, and bring them forward in your relationships with other people and yourself.

To me this has all been a cross between a gut-punch and a cool, sweet drink of water. There have been other ways to describe echoism over the years, but this feels like the most concise and useful one I've seen in ages.

It specifically puts its pin down in the middle of the moral debate a lot of people struggle with—"What right do I have to put myself forward? What hope do I have of being seen and accepted? Isn't it better not to burden anybody else?"—and says that the problem is not feeling in touch with either side of the equation, but specifically, the inability to move from one part of the spectrum to another when it's merited by circumstances.

When I was a child, I thought Echoism was the answer. It was my ideal. I thought it was what would get me the love and acceptance I wanted, and would keep me safe from the pain of rejection or not being understood. I had no idea it would actually, in fact, be the primary cause of alienation and loneliness for the rest of my life.

Now I'm so deeply thankful I couldn't fully achieve it, in practical terms. As hard as I tried to erase myself, there were always things I loved too much to suppress. I still found ways to express and discover myself in the books I read, the stories I wrote, the intellectual work of school and the experience of pursuing hobbies I loved, my ambitions to be helpful even when they demanded I stop being selfless, and the relationships where I felt safe enough to experience love and acceptance even if I didn't think I deserved them.

There's this question I found a while back that echoed in my bones: Who am I allowed to be around you? Because that's what I felt like, as a child. If I wanted to engage with other people and minimize my risk of harm, it was my job to bend into a pretzel and fit the shape they wanted. And thank god, thank god, thank god, I couldn't fully do it. Despite everything, there were parts of me too strong and bright to lop off completely to get my arms and legs inside the carriage. I was able to take care of myself and let them grow in secret until I found social places I could let them out again. Despite myself, I found ways to grow and thrive, well beyond the trauma that said I shouldn't have.

[liixlabrat]

hey gang welcome to: me ranting about the differences in fandom satbk lancelot and lancelot in arthurania (in an observational way) + some other things regarding the differences in satbk compared to legend (mostly my thoughts abt the casting. hint: i don't like it)

disclaimers:

- this will be a long post so it will be under a cut

- this will have a HEAVY lean towards the vulgate cycle in terms of characterization because that is what I'm most knowledgeable about.

- satbk is mostly based on thomas mallory and chrétien de troyes' work. there will be inconsistencies because of this

- i am a believer in dldr in fandom spaces. this isn't a critical rant about characterization. this is more about me talking about something I'm passionate about because i find it interesting

- this will also not be about MY characterization of lancelot bc that needs to be its own post (though my own thoughts will be mentioned)

- fandom's satbk lancelot will be called lance and arthurania lancelot will just be called lancelot for my sake

tws (all arthurania): rape, incest, drugging, kidnapping, death. stay safe, most of these are once mentioned in passing.

i find the differences between lance and lancelot absolutely fascinating simply due to the fact of how different they are. while a lot of lance's characterization can be excused by drawing parallels to shadow, it's still EXTREMELY different

the general consensus on lance (from what i can gather) is that he's a loyal knight who sticks by arthur's side through thick and thin, extremely stoic, and unwilling to say no to arthur (plus some shadow traits like being stubborn, prideful, caring etc etc)

and while that conclusion makes sense considering the information given about lance in satbk, it is incredibly different to actual lancelot.

lancelot is the best knight. he goes actively stir-crazy when forced to stay within arthur's kingdom, and knights don't enjoy times of peace because they are people made to fight. so more times than not, he's not in arthur's kingdom, and it's rare when he is. he's also not stoic in the SLIGHTEST. he openly worries (a lot), gets angry (a lot), cries (a lot), and wears his heart on his sleeve. he is DANGEROUS when he's angry, pretty much to the point of madness. he's also protective of those he cares about. at one point he actively left the round table because arthur fucked up (bad) and to be convinced by several people to return back to arthur's court. hell, he isn't even loyal to arthur! at all! that's his THING!!

lancelot isn't lancelot without guinevere. make it romantic or platonic he's still not lancelot without her. because guinevere is who he's loyal to, guinevere is who gives him his strength, and guinevere is who makes him a knight. (this is likely the reason why lance is such an inaccurate lancelot)

now in terms of satbk, transfer these traits to arthur/sonic and yeah, you can make it work. have your doomed medieval yaoi (even though theres already doomed medieval yaoi in arthurania but i'm getting ahead of myself)

another thing that i notice a lot of differences in is backstory

lance's backstory varies from person to person (commonly attributing parts of shadow's backstory) but i don't know how many people who write these backstories know lancelot's backstory??? or story in general?? like i genuinely have no idea

so bam. here's lancelot's story summarized:

lancelot was born in benoic (france) by king ban and queen elaine. his name was in fact NOT lancelot at the time and instead his name was galahad. when he was a baby benoic was overthrown by king claudas (which. king ban sent out pleas for help to king arthur. guess who left him on read. king arthur.), his father dies soon after bc he fell off a horse, nimue abducts lancelot/galahad, and his mother becomes a nun out of grief.

nimue raises lancelot in a place thats disguised as a lake (its not a lake) with two of lancelot's cousins (lionel and bors). lancelot doesnt have a name anymore at this point and is instead called "the child" "the fair foundling" or in nimue's case "my prince." he doesnt know about his actual origins and believes nimue to be his actual mother. he learns archery, swordfighting, academics, etc etc

he grows up, leaves at either 15 or 18, gets knighted, falls in love with guinevere, so on and so forth

in the case of vulgate cycle (i'm unsure if this carries over to other versions) he goes under several identities (white knight, red knight, black knight) before revealing himself as lancelot. he only learns of his name (and origins) when he conquers dolorous guard and finds his tomb. (which. yes lancelot owns a fortress and he renames it to joyous guard) this all happens relatively early on

everything else varies so i'm not going to tell a specific story bc the only one i'm very familiar with is vulgate.

however: something that i've seen several times is morgan (arthur's sister) kidnapping and drugging lancelot. the motivations vary (from wanting lancelot herself or from hating guinevere) and the actions themselves vary but it's a consistent event. i've personally read both him being thrown into a dungeon and him being actively manipulated

anyway after more varying events: the court finds out about guinevere and lancelot's affair, a civil war breaks out and camelot falls

OKAY. so theres a distinct lack of galahad in said backstory and it's like that for a reason. because galahad is an entire thing in of itself

a common thing that i see is lance raising galahad. this in fact didn't happen with lancelot, and while i do think lance WOULD raise galahad, it would also be miserable for lance specifically. (and galahad too probably)

see, while the time of when galahad was born varies from source to source, the time i see most often is when he was freshly a knight or just entering camelot (not in vulgate). the fact that galahad was a result of elaine of corbinec drugging and raping him because he saved her from morgan boiling her (which made her fall in love. but she also knew that she was not lancelot's true love so instead she tricked him) makes the situation much worse. the reason why lancelot spared her was because she was pregnant with his child. events happen again three years later (minus the child and the boiling water) except this time guinevere found out and banished him for a year. during all of this galahad was raised by a convent

(during a fit of madness, elaine showed him the holy grail which cured him. they got married and i am in a pit of despair.)

galahad gets knighted at 15 by lancelot because it was the one time he ever lost a fight, then he dies between the ages of 15 to early 20s because of the holy grail quest. (tldr: he ascended)

so. thats arthurania. time for me to complain about segas casting because HOLY FUCK ITS ASS

the ones i'm not commenting on are lancelot, gawain, galahad and lamorak as shadow, knuckles, silver and jet respectively all of them are bc i think they're fairly accurate with the exception of lamorak because i know fuck all about jet or lamorak

however the largest atrocity is sonic as king arthur. BECAUSE KING ARTHUR FUCKING SUCKS DUDE. benoic fell because king arthur didnt respond, nobody likes him, he's had several affairs, a massive hypocrite (look at the previous point), a shitty ruler, camelot is still running because of lancelot (whos literally only there because of guinevere), and he hates his own kid WHOS MOTHER IS HIS OWN SISTER. I CANNOT THINK OF A LESS SONIC CHARACTER THAN KING ARTHUR. i know in my heart and soul sonic would fucking HATEE him. i'm convinced the only reason why sonic is king arthur is because of being a main character. (but even then the stories are NEVER about king arthur! they're always about his knights!!)

if it were me, he'd be galehaut. a strong, well liked ruler who despite taking over 29 kingdoms their people adore him. hes ambitious, charismatic and absolutely SMITTEN for lancelot. ("i will die if you are not here with me" is something said many times. hes also very serious about this sentiment)

idek who king arthur would be

the next one is amy as nimue. while it's not AS bad as sonic as king arthur, she doesn't fit as nimue. in my heart of hearts she would not be a teasing fae who abducted a kid to be raised as her own. however someone who sounds like they would do that is one (1) rouge the bat. (plus shadow and rouge family parallels!!)

amy would probably be guinevere. it just. makes sense. sweet to her people, generous with her words, a good leader. checks out

blaze as percival is not something i have an issue with but its more like i think her being queen blaye of malehaut would fit her more. (tbf blaye is a vulgate exclusive i believe). blaye took care of lancelot when he was injured from dolorous guard, accidentally fell in love, never confessed, and was planning to get married to galehaut. (however, if i'm being so fucking real guinevere, blaye, galehaut, and lancelot are all in a polyamorous relationship. this also opens the door for blazamy & sonadow so there's a win there!!)

if i had to assign percival to anyone it'd probably be espio. he's close with silver and while i dont know a lot about either of their characters it Just Makes Sense with the minimal research i did.

anyway. this was mostly an excuse for me to yell about arthurania lancelot i'll be real. love that guy. there's absolutely shit that i forgot to mention so if i remember i'll probably tack it on at some point.

[salparadiselost]

i love your itty bittiess can we get some more info on them please? you can take your time lol i know I'm sending this in on the 24th XD

Hey!

More information on the bitties hmmm? I absolutely love the bitties and me, Jube, and Birb have actually developed so much lore about them. Some of it we cannot tell you (secrets for the future stories) but I can tell you some bitty things!

One of my favourite things which I haven’t really talked about in the bitty world is bitties with jobs! Although most bitties are pets, there are certain breeds which have been specially developed for certain jobs. These bitties tend to be cheaper because they are either made from the scrap parts of pet bitties or are so specialised that there isn’t much demand for new bitties. Here are some bitty jobs:

- Guide Bitties: a bitty can be very successful trained into a guide bitty if their training starts young. Older pet bitties tend to be much more distractible so they often aren’t good candidates but young bitties can be well trained if started early. If being synthesised specifically to become a guide bitty, the creators tend to focus on personality control rather than looks, so there’s no defined breed. Guide bitties are often selected to have enhanced intelligence and problem solving skills, but it’s important to pair those traits with extreme loyalty and obedience to prevent them from become too willful. Bitties tend to take well to a harness, form a deep bond with their person, and can understand more complex commands than guide dogs. Bitties are considered the premium guide pet, though their use is rare because of the cost of their creation and specialised training.

- Wildlife Control Bitties aka the “Everglades Cracker” breed: Developed in the Florida, the Everglades Cracker breed was created to control invasive wildlife populations and has boomed in popularity for Wildlife Agencies across the world. Cracker bitties are well-known for their almost otter-like appearance, sleek, waterproof coat, webbed toes, ferocious teeth and relentless pursuit instincts. Crackers were specially breed to identify and eliminate invasive species in the Florida Everglades and have been great partners in controlling invasive reptile populations. Often completely fearless, these bitties will attack pythons 10x their size and kill them through well-placed bites to the skull. Crackers are often a very intelligent and willful breed that are raised to differentiate between invasive and native species and to be independent when needed. In the Everglades, they are often found on stern of a skiff or an airboat, poised to jump into the water at the sight of an invasive species. Crackers are a highly specialised breed at do NOT make good pets due to their high prey drive. Despite this, they still bond deeply to their keepers and are kept as mascots for their respective field stations when not on duty.

- the Wool breeds: Although rare, some bitties have been bred to produce lush coats that are used as textile material. These bitties are often described as “walking throw pillows” and when their coat is fully grown only their muzzles are visible. When sheered, these bitties tend to have average looks and a low to the ground profile, so their full winter coat appearance is often preferred. First established in Iceland and then spread to other wool producing regions, these breeds are characterised by their luxurious fur that needs to be sheered every season for the bitty’s health. Different regions tend to specialise in different coat types and there are about a dozen formally recognised wool breeds. Wool breeds tend to created primarily for looks and personality wise, docility, agreeableness and submission are favoured. These breeds can be good pets, but they should not be kept in hot weather climates with their full coats due to overheating.

[slime-sandwhich-nom]

Don’t suppose you have any headcanons for Cosmo’s parents are their dynamics? I saw your post earlier and felt kinda bad for Mama Cosma (until she got toxic with Cosmo lol)

Also, I don’t mean to make u uncomfortable but I keep thinking about Cosmo blowing up half of Fairy World when he was born so I imagine how rough the pregnancy was.

ALRIGHT SO!

let's see ...

To be honest, in my head Cosmo parents were like those super sappy couples, kind of like Cosmo and Wanda are right now. Or like parents in a sitcom during the 90s.

Then schnozmo came in, and everything was still super great. No toxicity nor abuse, nothing.

Just a family of three in fairy world ( + personally I don't think any of them had any thoughts on godparenting.)

Then Cosmo came in.

I haven't really thought of it but it's kind of like this

happy family + new member of the family + somehow inherited powerful powers from jorgen side of the family and this is where shit goes downhill.

it's a whole series of events where they wanted to take Cosmo away because he was too dangerous (and strong), then the abolition of new babies, then assuming papa cosmo died (in my head it was because of a failing organ after getting turned into a fly, the same cosmo had a surgery on in the og series or something like that) then schnozmo went off and it was just mama Cosma all alone with this power baby she ended up attached on in a very unhealthy way.

it's like if the entire family slowly, very slowly crumbled and she held onto the first and only thing that was left of it, becoming clingy, toxic and neglective of cosmo actual needs.

also I do imagine her being sort of a boy mom in general.

for the pregnancy part I assume it was easier than Cosmo's only because they at least knew what to do.

Cosmo struggled so much because it's been thousand of years since the last baby, and he didn't even know what to do when he went to labor.

also by the baby flashback he seems pretty big for a normal sized fairy (taking poof as a comparison.) so..that was something !

I guess that was because of the jorgan genes.

(it can always be that poof was just odd shaped, though.)

But back to the dynamics (and headcanons)

- papa cosmo was generally a very calm guy, he's the true malewife staying at home taking care of the kids while mama Cosma goes to work.

- always cold for some reason (thank God mama Cosma is a living furnace, much like Cosmo.)

- he always had health problems, which lead inevitably to his death. (Organ failure.)

- there's a tiny bit of size difference between him and mama Cosma, she's taller and bulkier while he is more shorter and skinny.

(if you have seen the design post, you'll get a better idea of the size difference.)

- he gets extremely flustered and very easily too with mama cosma

- he died kind of..WHILE he was a fly because he was kind of already dealing with his organ failing.

To put it short, the organ fairies have that makes them shapeshift (which I don't remember the name for the life of me) was already failing, and when he got turned into a fly he..got stuck like that. leading to him to die because of it.

This means Cosmo failing organ that he replaced with surgery is inherited!

- it's clear Cosmo took the majority of his traits from his father, and this meant mama Cosma was always more attached to Cosmo than to schnozmo (who was also pretty similar but because of his big nose it didn't do the same effect) because she just..saw her husband in Cosmo.

- papa cosmo liked to knit and cook :]

- he probably had those nerd jobs like scientist or something. I remember seeing somewhere someone saying that papa Cosmo's job had to do with researching about humans which would help for the future god parents (assuming they need to learn how a human works, talks and behaves for future disguises and to make sure your god child doesn't die immediately) and its really cool so I took it. So whoever had this idea, credit to them.

- mama Cosma job was probably pretty simple, like a maid.

- in my head, despite mama Cosma putting all of her attention on Cosmo, she was still super clingy to schnozmo too just not as much and this lead to schnozmo desperately looking for a way to get away (since we saw in the show cosmo was like trapped in his own house at that point, assuming schnozmo had the same treatment.) and that's how he ended up in the crime world.

^^^ always assuming that she was starting to get too clingy with her own kids because of papa cosmo dying

- super straight thin hair papa cosmo x super thick curly hair mama Cosma (which lead to wavy hair Cosmo and schnozmo)

- this is a general headcanon for fairies, but I enjoy a lot how in the tinkle bell movie (1953) whenever she gets mad she turns all red, so now all fairies in FOP do.

- also, another headcanon but it's more Cosmo centered.

As much as I enjoy Cosmo, the og show brutally butchered him and since I can't go against canon that he's now an idiot and has a high pitched voice, I present to you these two headcanons.

(more theories than anything but I embrace them as my headcanons.)

vvv for context they're talking about pilot Cosmo and specifically the line "I gotta get this thing (wand) fixed."

And! The scene where Timmy eats part of Cosmo brain, which is also a reason why later on he gets slow and more incompetent.

+ after Timmy they retired and got their very earned vacation, which helped Cosmo a TON as we can see how in a new wish he's back being an actual decent person and competent again, but still has some side effects like the high pitched voice and being rather slow to get things.

Credit to the original commenter of course.

And yes, this doesn't change that he sucked in school. Cosmo was never academic smart, he was always street smart, I can see him sucking ass in school still.

Also with this hc we can have the trope that Cosmo went from awkward shy guy > smug happily married man because I love that trope.

I think that's it, from what I remember at least.

[sporesgalaxy]

I’ve thought about it some more and I want to rephrase: the specific thing about the way Dungeon Meshi handles gender and autism that makes me bonkers is the blunt way the author states the differences between Laios and Falin’s treatment by the world. If Falin had been the one to try and carve out a space for the both of them, she would have been dismissed at best. But Laios was the one to try that, and for the crime of being a big autistic man, he was beaten for it. Many- most, even- aspects of this world and the real world favor men, when a gender or presentation is favored. Misogyny is extremely present in so many of our lives. But it is naive to pretend that there are no downsides to being seen as a man, especially one of color, or one that’s not neurotypical, or any number of things. Falin faces unique struggles as an autistic woman, usually internal, and usually to do with the social pressures placed on her to be seen as nothing but agreeable. But Laios faces unique struggles as an autistic man, like getting the shit kicked out of him or punched in the face or having people plot to kill him.

I’m super not trying to say that either has it better. Facing conflict because you are incapable of not presenting as exactly the kind of person you are isn’t inherently worse or better than being unable to present at all, trapped within yourself. But the way it’s presented in Dungeon Meshi is fascinating to me.

Ok so first of all I want you to know I GET IT. I HAVE SEEN HOW BAD IT CAN SUCK FOR AUTISTIC MEN IN A LOUD AND OPEN AND PHYSICAL WAY and how NO ONE FUCKING DOES ANYTHING ABOUT IT because Guys Are Supposed To Be Tough and You Should Just Stop Acting Weird And Having Feelings and all that bullshit!!!!!!! I watched that happen to someone very close to me over the course of My Whole Childhood. It's fucking dismal and it makes me really happy to see a character like Laios where those struggles are front and center.

BUT! I also want to point out that your wording here, altho it is not your intention to belittle Falin's suffering, makes it seem like her/typical autistic women's suffering is wholly immaterial. Which is NOT true. It's not that Falin's emotional suffering is equal to Laios' physical suffering, it's that their autism/neurodivergence makes them both vulnerable to physical AND emotional abuse, but in different ways because of gendered social dynamics.

•••

(Quick aside: non-autistic men and women both experience physical as well as emotional abuse because of their percieved gender as well, btw. Yes, men get priveleges, but patriarchy harms them, too. You know what, this video discussing the strengths and weaknesses of The Barbie Movie actually explains it really really well. Anyways, back to the main point.)

Due to the different gendered social expectations placed on men and women, yes, men are more likely to escalate social conflict to physically fighting each other. But the same way that doesn't mean that there's NO emotionally abusive aspect to men's social punishment for being too different, the fact that women are expected to use emotionally abusive tactics to address social conflict does NOT mean that there is no physically abusive aspect to the ways that autistic women are mistreated.

The same way Laios' inability to hide his autistic traits puts him at risk for both getting the shit beaten out of him AND being lied to for purely social reasons, Falin's coping strategy of being agreeable puts her at risk for being shunned emotionally AND enduring physical harassment.

If Falin had tried to actively & forcefully carve out a place for herself and Laios in the world, dismissal is NOT the worst that could have happened to her. What Falin's childhood experience being subjected to folk rituals by her mother and rejection from the town REALLY shows us is that, if Falin was TOO unnacceptable to the people around her it would have become someone else's responsibility to "fix" or "cure" her. Her parents', or a doctor's, or a betrothed.

I'll try to find it later, but in one of the bonus comics where we learn more about the Touden sibs' relationships to their parents, one of the things we learn is that their mother tried to "treat" Falin's magical abilities using a variety of ineffective folk cures. Their mother felt pressured to do this by the townspeople's very negative response to Falin's magical abilities, which along with their father seeking advice from a Gnome, proves that the threat against Falin was not completely in Laios' head.

Falin says she saw this as quality time with her mother, but...I mean, girls with unhealthy relationships to their bodies often see childhood dieting and clothes shopping with their mothers as quality time, even if that "quality time" instilled in them a deep-seated belief that they should mistreat their bodies and view themselves as objects to be consumed. Just because Falin thinks of it as quality time now does NOT mean that there was no damage done.

In a world where her social and fiscal autonomy are already highly limited, Falin's physical autonomy is threatened by her neurodivergence, just in a more roundabout way than Laios' is.

[mageknight14]

I loved how NEO pulled the rug out with Rindo’s character. At first, he generally seems much more sociable and outwardly friendly compared to Neku and then the game quickly goes "yeah, nah, he’s a huge fucking mess too." He’s a good kid fundamentally at his core but he can also be whiny, hypocritical, passive-aggressive, and kind of insensitive at times. He has a tendency to be judgemental and harsh to the people around him while not acknowledging his own faults, like when he complains about Beat joining the team even though he saved their lives beforehand because he’s not Neku or when he gives Fret shit for fawning over Eiji Oji and Kanon while falling for Motoi’s BS. He’s so pessimistic about himself and others that not even a death game that heavily emphasizes the value of teamwork can get him to fully come out of his shell, which is where his time-travel powers come in AND EVEN THEN it’s a double-edged sword since on one hand, it forces him to actively step up to the plate and survey the situation to find the best possible solution, which leads to him slowly growing out of his shell, but on the other, it also leads to him becoming overly reliant on his time travel so that he can walk back from potentially life-changing decisions without having to worry about it since he has a magic reset button. Which ends up biting him in the ass. Hard.

He’s one of those types of people who is ultimately a thinker and planner instead of a do-er, but his being young and overly impressionable takes this personality quirk to such an extreme that he's foundationally useless to most groups. He’s the type of person who you have in a group project who sits around and does nothing, but then complains with the project does poorly because he couldn't be bothered to speak.

He's so unconfident and directionless that he uses effectively Instagram as a means to listen to someone who sounds like some 2deep4u philosopher post dumb flowery bullshit that effectively has all the meaning of "Drink water when you're thirsty." and he admits to finding such "deep" meaning in these posts that it supposedly helped him through life. Because he's 15 and doesn't know anything.

However, all of this makes him interesting as a character because he’s, again, still a fundamentally good kid at his core. While he’s shown to have a fuse, he is also the kind of person who has the ability to think his emotions through. That's what we ultimately see when he and Fret finally talk and drop their beef. The game depicting Rindo's capacity for self-awareness and emotional reflection is a positive revelation of his character strengths. He proves that he's capable of recognizing when he's in the wrong and knows how to apologize, a trait he shows quite a few times throughout the story, while also doing everything he can to set things right as well as be more understanding toward how his friends feels.

He’s kind of the guy who will drop everything to help a little kid out, even when there’s no tangible benefit to doing so and he and the others are shown to be on limited time, shows empathy to his friends/fallen enemies, and feels massive amounts of guilt for his actions, even if he didn’t know better at the time.

Hell, the entire endgame is fueled by his selfish yet understandable desire to save the people he cares about most from total erasure, to the point that he’s willing to risk thousands of lives to do so. But not only is he shown to be internally grappling with himself regarding his decision but he’s also willing to take responsibility and ensure that EVERYTHING goes right not just for himself and his friends but the people of Shibuya in general, in a parallel to Neku’s own selfish if understandable decision to put the bonds he formed in the original game (particularly with Joshua) over the actual city.

Characters aren't interesting simply by switching between 2 different character traits. They're interesting when all those traits are being expressed at the same time for reasons that are consistent within their internal logic. You gotta be a good writer to pull that off and you gotta know when to show off these dimensions during your story to achieve proper dramatic effect when the time calls for it and NEO I feel does this pretty damn well.

[eatmangoesnekkid]

One unspoken virus that plagues female bodies due to growing up and being conditioned in a western colonial capitalist patriarchy is the lack of reverence, respect, and honoring we have for our teachers and inspirations/muses. Growing up in a world created out of the male mind and male philosophy, we are groomed to be less collaborative and more competitive and "takers," taking resources from the feminine, without acknowledging our sources, whether it's another woman/femme's work or resources of the earth. We have adapted to being sneaky and slick.

Everything is recorded. We do not get away with anything. The desire "to take" from other women is a 'bottom-feeder' scarcity consciousness. When a woman or womb owner holds this type of consciousness in her system, she births babies who become adults who do not feel like they are good enough and they further the unconscious scarcity imprint into future generations. When you take words I have written like "friendships can be deeply romantic" but do not credit me as the source of your newfound wisdom and simply shift words around, it is still recorded and felt by those with intuitive gifts. I am devoted to letting those whom I love know how much I adore them. Within the last 10 years, there has not a single close friend I’ve had who hasn't received a message of me sharing my love of them at some point. This is the lived experience the quote was birthed from. In the last 30 days, I have sent voice notes to a woman I follow on instagram who writes beautiful things about heterosexual relating and bridging the gap between women and men. I'm not a heterosexual woman, but I love reading her work. She expands my own consciousness of love so I reached out to her just to let her know how much her work inspired my own flow of love in a pure way and thanked her. Reverence for another human can be so activating for the psyche and requires extreme vulnerability, which is one reason it is so hard for most people to honor other people without feeling less than. We have forgotten that we are all Gods, that’s why. 🪶🙏🏿🕊️ Years ago, a couple from Atlanta came to visit me and my lover in Europe. When they arrived, I was the only one at home and when my lover came home from work, I met her at the door as usual—which was really no big deal to us. Ha, I will never forget when we turned around and saw the sheer shock on their faces from witnessing how we greeted each other after being a part for "only 7 hours" —one of them said. They were shocked that we had that so much reverence for the presence of the other. But to me, reverence is human. It is love. It is the nectarous flow of one’s inherent wellspring of vulnerability. Recently I spoke to a past mentor of mine from 2008 who is 22 years older than me, a mentor who I have expanded beyond in consciousness and lived experiences. I find traits of a good mentor to be one who can help evolve students beyond their own capacity and limitations, maybe begin to actually to revere the student’s growing beyond the mentor’s capacity overtime. This is what our relationship is like now. She is genuinely happy for everything I am and everything have become. In all these years, I have felt nothing but sheer love and appreciation from her at different stages of my journey. I told her how much I loved her for who she divinely is. I showered her with compliments and sent her a cashapp for no reason at all. I did not reach out to her to talk about myself. I only spoke about her --her beauty, sass, heart, worth, and value. Women who can not acknowledge the gifts and beauty of other women and only want “to take...” will always be poor in a myriad of ways. Heart-centered womanhood. Women can turn this world around when we begin to get deeply honest about what is living in our bodies and truly become women again and understand the level of power within it. Please consider revering/honoring those women who help to move you forward into new ways of being that will expand into limitless possibilities. Not become envious them, not steal their work but truly hold reverence and love and even cheer them on. Doing so helps to create more and more connection and love stories and less separation, fear and violence in our world. Everything is connected to everything, you see. The aim is to get better at loving and sweetness than we were conditioned to be at extracting and taking. When we do, a secret garden of vitality blooms abundantly, like the generous nectar that Spring and Summer summons from human bodies. Because beautiful people impact us in beautiful ways when we allow. Never forget that. --India Ame'ye

[redbecomesher]

GRACE UPON GRACE E:5

Humility vs. Pride

Hi y’all, today we are going to speak about Humility vs. Pride, which the Bible constantly warns against pride and exalts humility. So we are going to discuss what pride and humility means,also the differences between them,and to show you that maybe you’re acting prideful without even realising.

HUMILITY: “Is the practice of meekness, obedience to God, respect of self and others, submissiveness and modesty.” So humility follows the theme of:

1. Kindess 2. Humbleness 3. Servitude 4. Self-awareness 5. Obedient to God

PRIDE: “Is extreme love and focus on oneself”. So pride follows the theme of:

1. Self-centeredness 2. Superior attitude 3. Immortal behaviour 4. Resisting correction or change 5. Judgemental

There’s so many reasons why we shouldn’t be prideful,one reason is pride can distance us from God and his presence. Pride is something God opposes, He doesn’t want to see His children become self-involved,hateful,rejecting Him or resisting change.We aren’t immortal in this Earth,the only eternal life we have is in Heaven with our Heavenly Father so pride could look like,saying “I can sin now and ask for forgiveness later” which just isn’t how it works. We receive forgiveness because God sees our genuine remorse for sin. If we sin intentionally and feel no guilt, then God will have a hard time forgiving us because true repentance comes from remorse. It’s an ugly feeling of shame and guilt, but it leads to real change. I would encourage you to pray and sit in a quiet place with God. Ask Him, ‘Why don’t I feel shame for sinning?’ You don’t want to stay that way. So, get on your knees and pray, because He can help us in any crisis.

Humility is good because it draws us closer to God. When we give to others, show kindness,love God, and put Him first in everything, we naturally feel closer to Him. God is pleased when we choose to act with humility. God created us to walk in humility before sin entered the world,as He intended us to live in perfect harmony with Him. Jesus was the ultimate example of humility. Even though He was God in the flesh, He humbled Himself to serve others and die for our sins. One way to practice humility is by admitting when we’re wrong and being open to correction. Another is praying and asking God for help instead of relying only on ourselves.

Humility vs. Pride:

The key differences

1. DEPENDENCE ON GOD VS. SELF - RELIANCE

• Humility: acknowledges that we need Gods help, guidance, and strength.

• Pride: makes us believe we can do everything on your own and don’t need God.

2. RECEIVING CORRECTION VS. REJECTING IT

• Humility: accepts corrections and learns from mistakes.

• Pride: refuses to admit faults and ignores wisdom.

3. SERVING OTHERS VS. SEEKING TO BE SERVED

• Humility: puts others first and serves with a kind heart.

• Pride: seeks recognition and expects others to serve us.

4. GIVING GLORY TO GOD VS. SEEKING GLORY FOR OURSELVES

• Humility: recognises that all good things come from God.

• Pride: takes credit for success and seeks praise from others.

I hope y’all learned something new about this subject! If you’re worried that you have some traits from the pride section, that actually is a good thing. It means you have remorse and desire change. Pray to the Lord and ask Him to guide you toward a new and humble heart. Remember God loves you and wants to hear from you! 🤍

PROVERBS 11:2

“When pride comes,then comes disgrace,but with humility comes wisdom.”

JAMES 4:6-

“But he gives more grace. Therefore, it says,’God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’“

PHILIPPIANS 2:3-4-

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather,in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

MATTHEW 23:12

“For those who exalt themselves will be humbled,and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

[foefire-flame]

Does Leo Enjoy being a dragon dad in aurene's younger years? Also, please, literally anything you want to ramble about, I would love to hear! I love ur fluffy charr boi

Once Leo gets over the initial panic of like, inner turmoil of not knowing how to be gentle in a way thats required of a father, to raise a literal child when charr don't even raise their own children...yes. I always joked that Leo was made to be a father but I truly think its just the type of thing hes not only built for (just the entire thing of patience, love, and iron will thats required TO even be a parent) but to Love someone, to guide them and teach them is just something that really just comes naturally to him despite all his fears about it…

In my canon I really expand upon the Champion's relationship with her. I write it like yknow, Aurene IS an actual child, even if shes also a dragon. She sleeps and she cries and she panics if she doesnt understand something, she gets into things and accidentally hurts herself. All the woes and joys of having a young child are things Leo does experience with her, just slightly different. It's not just about shaping her destiny and teaching her great moral philosophy, it's helping her figure out better control of flight, playing with her, measuring her when she gets scared of something bc shes so new to the world, singing a song so she sleeps. I've talked about Leo having the patience of a saint and its what makes him such a good father to begin with. He adores Aurene, he didn't choose to be her champion, but he chose to be a father to her. Ik the Story agrees with the whole "the mc is aurene's parent essentially" but I never felt satisfied bc I felt the connection between the mc and her is extremely rushed, so I Really want to make it feel like that connection is warranted. Even the bigger she grows he never stops acting as her Father.

I do think, one of Leo's negative traits actually Stems from his deep love of Aurene, because he is so Incredibly Defensive over her. He's one of those parents that just doesnt Take criticism about their kid very well, and it's not like he snaps or gets wildly angry, Its just that he kinda brushes it aside or makes it clear its not up for debate. This partially stems from his own insecurities as a father, again, he is a Charr and never experienced parents so has a whole thing of How Is He Supposed To Raise A Kid. Not only that, this kid is expected to defeat the Most Powerful Elder Dragon, the weight of his performance in terms of guiding and teaching her correctly is Immense. And theres a (in the earlier days) small amount of dread that what Aurene is meant to do won't come easy, she will most likely have to fight. Even if she herself becomes okay with that, as a parent who already has existing problems with his culture deciding he had to be a soldier bc he lives in a militaristic society it just doesn't feel great. BUT TLDR:Yes he loves her so, So much, indescribably. And Thank you ;w;

[mdhwrites]

Ever get peeved by Aesop Amnesia? That thing where a character does something that contradicts a lesson they learned?

It doesn't drive me crazy, but it does bother me. To give an example, Anne's behaviour in "Anne of the Year". Anne's declared "Frog of the Year", and Toadstool takes offence to the decision, insulting Anne and saying she doesn't deserve the title. Offended, Anne goes overboard planning the accompanying celebration to prove she does deserve it.

First off, Anne being so insulted by Toadstool's words and this determined to prove him wrong contradicts what she learned in "Wally and Anne" about not caring what others think of her.

Secondly, during her planning for the party, she insists on Sprig asking Ivy out, contradicting another lesson she learned in "Dating Season" about how you can't force people to hook up.

Some argue "hey, we're only human, we always make mistakes". But when a character makes a mistake and claims to learn from it, I'd personally prefer it if they don't make the mistake again. Y'know, to prove they've actually learned.

This kind of thing bother you, too?

Oh look, it's part of what made me eventually drop My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic! Neat to find out the term for this.

It's complicated and Amphibia is a good showcase for how this can be complicated. After all, learning a lesson and being able to apply it are two different things and the whole point of Anne of the Year is actually a statement about being human but striving to be better. That is why she is the Frog of the Year... But also why she fails old lessons in it. She gets swept up in the title, responsibility and pageantry and in the process loses sight of what is important. It's actually trying to invoke past mistakes for the purpose of detailing how we can slide back and disappoint others but not actually becoming worse people in the process. Does that make it the most satisfying watch in the world? No but at least it's doing something with it. It is genuinely trying to have a different point.

I am fine if something wants to tackle a character's issues from multiple angles. I think the difference between Hop Pop wanting Sprig to become a fiddle star and him wanting to be a star student are actually pretty neat in concept. Both are that you shouldn't pressure someone to do something they don't want to but one is following a passion too far while the other is conforming to what society tells you is what a good future looks like. It's a similar flavor of episode that can feel like it's a repeat but there's genuinely something to be done with it. Even here, there's a difference between not caring if people see the world the same as you, as being okay with being at peace if only you believe in the strange and wondrous, and being given a title that is incredibly meaningful for SO MANY REASONS and then having someone question you. Those are two different motivations and essentially instills self doubt/imposter syndrome into Anne. She didn't understand why she was picked after all and by her actions potentially didn't believe it unless she made things perfect but only by the flawed definitions of perfect that she knew (which actually tees up Reunion as the next episode well).

HOWEVER

Amphibia does an example of this that deservedly gets skewered and highlights the reasons why this trope is so awful: Hollywood Hop Pop. I actually have a MUCH fonder spot for S3 than seemingly most of the fandom with this being my one exception. This deserves its reputation. It is a repeat concept from before with a lesson that is extremely similar to before, with little difference in commentary between the two, only in setting, that commits the worst thing this sort of thing can do: This character wouldn't do it anymore. Not just that they should have learned their lesson but demonstrably, their core character traits mean that much of what might push them to do this just doesn't exist. Yes, Hop Pop can be selfish and think about himself but his paranoia and concerns, especially reinforced the last time he tried this, makes him the WORST option for someone to potentially blow their cover in the human realm like this. At least Sprig wore a disguise.

It commits what is genuinely the ultimate sin of any moral driven thing like Amphibia but especially in terms of this trope: The concept came first. Very clearly, they wanted to do a Hollywood episode because they were in LA and Hop Pop was the closest to a character who would fit for the concept, despite it no longer being in character that he would do this. That is just bad because there's no way to buy in that they would need to revisit this, not in this situation.

But that is the trick with this. Sometimes, a shift in context or focus truly can make you go "Yeah, this character flaw would come back because of this." This is especially true if it's just a lesson learned instead of, you know, a big deal moment for a character where they literally promise to their partner to stop doing the thing and then just keep doing it like nothing happened, especially to the person they promised to stop doing the thing to. eye twitch But yes, we are human. Sometimes we do need something hammered home a few times to make it stick, especially if something tempts us towards our bad habits again. I mean, even in S3 of Amphibia, Anne is still going WAY too far for the people she cares about to prove herself as a good friend because the damage Sasha did to her runs that deep and just because you learned to cut out a bad friend, what about a friend that's better, or a friend you feel you've wronged? Those are similar questions but they're enticing questions (Sprig's Birthday and Give a Frog a Cookie respectively btw).

It's complicated but I don't think Amphibia falls prey to this. Not enough to become a real problem at least. See you next tale.

======+++++======

Seriously though, if you make a character promise to stop behavior then if they don't, you better be willing to doll out the consequences for repeating it because at that point, it's not just relapsing, it's breaking their word and trust others put in them. THAT is when this trope is at its worst in my opinion.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[melishade]

omfg i just stumbled upon your account while looking for critiques of mikasa's writing and istg its like i found an oasis in the desert. like FINALLY someone talks about how her attachment to (read: obsession with) eren is pretty much her entire character and subsumes any interesting traits we see. not to mention the lost potential that's been bothering me for years (the missed opportunity of exploring a connection with her and levi, or how she's literally basically a lost princess and nothing is done with that).

whats frustrating about trying to publicly critique mikasa (or other popular female characters in shonen) is that people are like "ERMMM actually YOU'RE the misogynistic one for only tying her to a man! she's literally the strongest character!" and tbh not much was done with mikasa being the strongest either, just like the other missed potential. i think this is because a lot of shonen fans (western ones at least) only criteria for what makes a character/story good is how strong they are, so mikasa graduating top of her class is enough for them to think she's a feminist icon, when isayama does nothing interesting with her at all besides making her strong.

anyway i just wanted to say i'm tuned in to your account now because i like your takes not just on mikasa, but aot's weaker bits. thank you so much for sharing because for a second i starting thinking i was wrong about my observations 😭

I made a crossover work of Attack on Titan and Transformers Prime. I don't know how interested you are in Transformers, but I do address the four year time skip, Mikasa actually going to Hizuru, a bit of an Ackertalk, try my best to expand on Eren's descent to madness, basically all the stuff I wanted to see explored in AOT.

And there should be a healthy dose of criticism for female characters, there's nothing wrong with that. I think with the online world as we know it, it can be hard to determine if someone is actually being genuine with their criticisms of a female character, or if it comes from a place of misogyny.

Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with a strong female character, but I do see it as a problem when your female lead is only known for being strong. Sure, in Mikasa's case, her fatal flaw is her love for Eren, but that becomes a problem when her major character moments center around Eren. Doesn't mean I don't like those character moments, but it would have been so nice if we had gotten more for Mikasa. People have begged for Mikasa to have an extended Ackertalk with Levi, but it never came to fruition. Making Mikasa a royal doesn't really play out because we never even get to see Hizuru. Kiyomi's ultimate contribution was the plane that got them to Eren during the Rumbling. And Mikasa being or not being a royal, I feel it wouldn't have changed anything with the way Mikasa was written. I feel like, at best, it explains why Mikasa is the only asian descent on the island.

Apparently Mikasa and Sasha were good friends, but we don't get many moments between the two of them to show their friendship dynamic. At the beginning of the series, it felt more like Mikasa was messing with Sasha. Also, Isayama stated that Armin and Mikasa were living together while Eren was living on his own during the four year time skip before they went to Marley. Why didn't we get to see some of that?

There are examples of well-rounded female characters that are strong. It's not impossible. A good portion of the female characters in Arcane are strong but extremely well rounded: Vi, Jinx, Mel. Or something as old school as the OG Power Puff Girls. We all know the PPG Trio is strong, but the show went out of its way to explore different aspects of each of the girls. Buttercup literally went to the mountains to learn inner peace from a monk because she was too abrasive in combat. Blossom had an episode where she was trying to lie about stealing gold clubs for Professor Utonium. The fan favorite episode for Bubbles is the episode where she just becomes hardcore because she's so tired of being treated as weaker than her sisters. Not to mention, they are sisters, so there's a healthy dose of fighting and arguing and family nonsense.

I think in Isayama's case it's a bit of a disappointment, especially with the other female characters we've gotten in the past. Sasha's a glutton for food, a skilled hunter, but starts learning to think for others when she joins the military. Historia joining the military under a different name and trying to die a noble death so her life would mean something, only to take her own destiny in her hands, kill her father to stop his reign of terror and ignorance, and become queen of the Walls. Annie is a skilled fighter, the Female Titan, but she doesn't care about the glory or honor of Marley. She knows it's a lie. She only cares about getting home to her father. Other than that, she's chosen to move through the world with apathy. We even get a Lost Girls OVA centering around Annie's day in the life of an MP officer.

And speaking of the Lost Girls OVA for Mikasa and Annie, they adapt the chapters from Annie and Mikasa's perspectives, but we don't get that extended conversation that the two of them had in their 104th days which also explains how Mikasa was able to recognize the ring on Annie's finger that she used to transform into the Female Titan. It would have been so cool if that was adapted to the anime!

Like one episode! Or one manga chapter with Mikasa asking Kiyomi more about her heritage would've been so nice!

[cbsghostsmetasandtrevor]

I know you got an anon about Jay and Sam but can't find it! You're so great with Ghosts UOs--never mean or judgmental - so I wanted to agree with the anon I can't find about Jay and Sam being extremely boring characters now. They used to have more personality or at least potential in the first season? It feels like they have no layers, quirks or distinctive traits. And there's no contrast between them anymore---they're both pleasant and helpful but dull. Having both jay and Sam actually feels redundant because they have the exact same personality - or lack of personality.

I completely get why Flower annoys you and as an asexual I can't relate to her much at all, but at least all the ghosts have very distinctive personalities - a few clear strengths and flaws. Sam and Jay are just generic and flat. And both are too obsessed with external validation in basically every episode, whether it's impressing and getting the approval of a reviewer, a guest, a random person in town, a fake 'friend' they used to know in the city or even the ghosts. They feel like nice but blah high school kids who care way too much about being accepted by the cool kids lol.

A related opinion- I couldn't care less about Jay's restaurant? It's become just another way to remind us in every episode that Jay and Sam are hungry for everyone's approval. Since the restaurant and bed and breakfast are both service industry jobs, Jay having a restaurant doesn't offer any new types of themes and storylines from what the B&B does in my opinion - it's just redundant. If Jay were to become a detective or Sam got back into reporting/journalism or one of them became, I don't know, like a paramedic or teen counselor or online tutor or something else, that could open the door to refreshingly DIFFERENT types of storylines for them and by extension the ghosts and maybe even make Jay and/or Sam more interesting in the process. But a restaurant that might fail on top of their Bed and Breakfast that might fail is just...*yawn*. I hope this make sense!

Hello! I think you're talking about THIS post?

When it comes to Sam and Jay, they are very much just the Ghosts' abilities to communicate with the livings and make their lives better. So, it makes sense to focus more on the ghosts than Sam and Jay, but in the process Sam and Jay have just become *there*.

Like you said, they had distinct jobs and personalities when we started - Sam had a backbone at first! (which she seemed to gain a little bit back in the last episode), but now... they are awkward mouthpieces for the ghosts that put them into situations that make them look stupid.

And on top of those situations, they also don't seem be / want anything else.

Sam hasn't talked about writing (aside from Isaac's Book) in ages, Jay talks about cooking/the restaurant (which I'll get into in a second), but what about anything else? Neither of them have ANY friends (yet somehow managed to through the Halloween Party that Carol died at), and they don't have hobbies or anything and they're both desperate for friends/real people interactions (especially Jay). Their storylines aren't entertaining at all. Sam is once again try to hard and Jay is once again the guy that can't see the ghosts and left out in the cold. Like... they're just the same every episode.

Now, an issue I have with the restaurant isn't that it couldn't bring in new storylines (because I think it could and Jay being anything other than a chef would hurt his character I think), but that they have COMPLETELY abandoned the idea of the B&B and they NEVER got the B&B to a stage where it was profitable before dipping into another business. Like, they are really only able to do anything because of Trevor invested Isaac's "money".

That's not good - they could've done several storylines that involved them LEARNING for the ghosts/other people about how to be better business people. They could've made more use of Jay as a chef within the B&B (like maybe having a tasting event or something) to bring in money and give him something to do BEFORE the restaurant.

Restaurants are EXTREMELY risky business, most restaurants barely survive, so adding THAT to another business that is kind of failing is a bad idea. It's another example of just bad business.

And it's not even necessary because there's so much they could do with the B&B just with visitors/events and I really wish they'd remember that Sam is a journalist and a writer. She could also become a fiction writer. There's so much potential that they just keep blowing passed.

To back track a bit to the ghosts and distinct personalities, YES. OMG that is one thing that I appreciate. They all have different things defining them, they all have their own bit of dialect, and they all have different connections to death despite all being ghosts. I really do appreciate that.

Thanks for the ask :)

[foxleotie]

hi i know this isnt a question but if its ok id like to talk about my intersex experience, i just discovered i have pcos and i am someone who has taken testosterone in the past, just as i was becoming an adult. i know i have pcos but i still have imposter syndrome cause i cant remember exactly how masc i was as a kid, though im certain of a lot of unusual masc traits i had back then (including no period). idk im just feeling like a faker and it sucks lol, hope this wasnt an inappropriate ask

I think a lot of us intersex people experience imposter syndrome, even those of us with very clearly atypical genitalia or chromosomes. I believe the biggest reason for this is because perisex (non-intersex) society does everything they can to make it seem like we do not exist or that we theoretically exist in extremely tiny numbers. When they are forced to confront the fact that we exist, they make sure to label us as “disordered freaks” who have to fit a very specific mold to be their idea of intersex. If we don’t fit that mold (very few, if any, intersex people do), then you just “don’t count” to them.

On the other hand, a lot of people also try to say that intersex people don’t exist, that we’re just “disordered females” and “disordered males”. They stand on the idea that we’re all perisex, just disordered freak versions of one or the other.

Society does whatever they can to convince everyone- including ourselves- that we aren’t real. It can be hard to break away from that mindset, even if you know you’re an intersex individual. I knew for a long time, but it wasn’t until recently that I actually started embracing it. Growing up, I was convinced that I must still be biologically female but just the absolute worst, edge-case version of “female” one could be- because that’s what I was told.

I could honestly write a whole essay about the relationship between the PCOS diagnosis and the prevalent societal ideas I just talked about (and I actually plan on making a YouTube video about this in the coming months!). In my opinion, PCOS is kind of a meaningless diagnosis at this point, especially since it’s usually diagnosed on symptoms alone- symptoms that can be very different from the next person with the same diagnosis. It’s often the only diagnosis you’ll get as a woman experiencing pelvic pain (because women’s gynecology healthcare sucks) OR it’s the label they immediately give you if you’re an AFAB person showing signs of intersex characteristics (such as a lack of periods, facial hair, deepened voice, ambiguous genitalia, etc). It’s the one of the easiest ways to push that idea that intersex people are an extremely tiny group and have very specific traits (“if you are diagnosed with PCOS, you must just be a woman with a disorder, right?”) as well as the easiest way to get AFAB intersex people on feminizing hormones to make them appear as perisex (female) as possible. It’s one of the main tools of intersex erasure and suppression used today.

I apologize for rambling, just know that you’re not alone and the intersex community is often very open to talking about and sharing struggles like this. It took me a long time, but I now love the fact that I’m intersex and fully embrace it. I hope you’re able to get there and experience that love for yourself and your intersex identity, too. 💛💜

Thank you for sharing!

[kaidacrackingit]

PONY FACTS!!!

- all ponies will get a cutiemark, but those who train and use their special talent for longer and are more experienced with their abilities will have their mark spread around their flanks/legs. In extreme cases, marks can spread all around the ponies body

- With the prolonged use of magic the body will morph (this goes for all species in Equis, but for now we’re focusing on the Ponies). Wings will narrow, limbs will lengthen, horns will bend, etc. these effects are barely noticeable and are even associated with growing, but with excessive use these affects will become more apparent and more strange (look at the princesses for example). These deformities can be related to the specific magic in use aswell, a Pegasus adapt with controlling lighting for example will develop feathers that stick up nonstop

EARTH PONIES:

- the most “pure” horses of all 3 breeds. It’s believed that the other tribes branched off from them and are considered living fossils, not changing much for millions of years

- fillies must be careful while playing with their other species; because of their larger size, heavier build, and increase strength, its easy for them to accidentally hurt others. This especially goes for pegasus, who are physically the weakest while younger.

- besides their extreme strength and size, earth ponies also have varying levels of plant control. Some even able to grow plants simply by being around them. Other species lack this ability.

UNICORNS:

- related to goats, cows, and deer/reindeer

- slitted goat-like hooves used to climb mountains. Back in the times when thr tribes were separated, thr unicorns lived on the mountains, so these hooves were very useful in climbing. Nowadays though not as much

- with extreme use of magic, horns will misshapen. The most common form of this is bending into a crescent, but its possibly for most any shape to form. Examples of rounding, uncurlings, spikes, extra horns, and more have been documented. These changes will also affect the way magic is manifested and may require the user to morph their way of magic to adapt to the new changes. This is usually easy because of the gradual change

- Ponies used to believe horn misshaping happened due to age, but because of more research and more ponies delving into more powerful magic the myth was busted. It was realized to be just a coincidence because older unicorns tended to have used more magic over the years.

- regardless of gender, unicorns will grow beards and its a beauty standard to keep them

PEGASUS:

- share many traits with birds, but are not related.

- shapes of wings, feathers, and beaks can vary wildly between pegasus.

- coincidentally because of Convergent evolution, hippogriffs and Pegasi resemble eachother closely. Often times hippogriffs will camouflage within Pegasi society (this can go the other way around, but its less common) and live among the ponies. It takes a keen eye to notice the differences

- Pegasi bones are semi-hollow, similar to birds. You may think this makes them weak and easy to break, but its actually the opposite. These hollow bones are in fact stronger than normal mammal bones while being lighter, making them physically stronger than unicorns. These are only a problem when they’re younger, being so small and still forming, foals are more likely to injure themselves than the other tribes

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[sol-consort]

TALI!!!!! Also they should give Krogans cats I feel like Krogans would like their vibes

yeah it's very cute to think about Krogans cuddling with cats and being best friends!

But realistically... look at their treatment of pyjaks and varren. Nom nom nom or fighting rings. Cats often steal food from humans, yet we don't go blasting them off with military grade rockets... At least I hope we haven't, someone check the history records rq.

That side mission segment never sat well with me in ME2. Especially after that ME1 Pyjack mission where you have to search for important datadisk stolen by a pyjack, having to abandon the mako so you don't accidentally hurt them, carefully search one after another, doing whatever you can to avoid harming these cute monkey-like animals.

Sure, some krogans do keep them as decently treated pets, but those are rare and few in-between. It's a nurtured habit rather than something ingrained in their nature, krogans used to be in the stone ages before they were forcibly "uplifted" by the salarians. As their society develops and gets comfortable with safety, animal cruelty will become a thing of the past... hopefully.

Currently, krogans haven't been big on animals. Cats wouldn't like Tuchanka either, too much radiation and sand storms. Krogans might find snapping turtles adorable, however.

Hanar hold very high empathy to animals, animal fighting rings, and anything unsavoury are forbidden from all of their planets. Believing in every creature having a soul, etc. Cats would abhor their slimy squishy texture—like how they have mysterious beef with cucumbers—but hanar might find them extremely adorable.

Elcor and cats share the trait of subtle body language and highly complex communication that has to be "watered down" for the other species to understand. I feel like they'd get along, cats would love napping on them, they're a big soft heater to them.

Lastly, a portion of our love of cats comes from them literally infecting us with a brain parasite, Toxoplasma gondii. It's meant for cat-prey to get infected, but humans' immune system is far too strong for it to do any harm besides slight flu symptoms at the early stages of the infection. After that, it remains dormant in our brain. We are a dead-end host, offer zero benefits to the parasite, we were never meant to be its target.

But it slightly increases our dopamine, which is nice.

it still has negative side effects, that's why pregnant women are told not to handle cat litter boxes; the parasite resides in cats' digestive system.

If you see a rat being playful with a cat or running towards them, chances are the parasite is well developed in the rat's brain. That's literally what it does, makes you seek cats.

it's why infected people start noticing their cats smelling nice like "baby powder" and have this urge to smooch their fur. In rats, it makes cat urine smell unbelievably good, so they go running towards it.

It just happened that this behaviour in humans translates into a feeling of love, euphoria, and elation when petting a cat, wanting to pick them up and smoother them in hugs and kisses.

Approximately 30% of the human population have toxoplasmosis, chances are if you ever owned a cat and cuddled, you have it. So yay I'm infected, you probably are too.

That alone might deter any alien species from ever interacting with cats. The "crazy cat lover" effect might amplify in species with weaker immune systems, aka quarians, or simply different proteins structures, aka turians.

But eh, it's probably nothing, Sid—a turian—is shown to love cats lots. Infected humans can't spread the parasite to others either—the infected host needs to die for it to happen. The immune system can't exactly enter the brain, only monitor it from outside the barrier for any signs of danger. So the parasite is kept imprisoned and gets bonked on the head whenever it tries to leave.

Btw cats aren't actually infected by their own parasite, they have sort of a symbiotic relationship with it. Toxoplasma gondii has two life cycles. One starts as they're born inside a cat's bowels, they are harmless and mostly beneficial to their original host.

The second cycle starts after they're thrown out in the litter box. Now they seek a new "prey" host to infect the brains of. Releasing chemicals and slightly altering your perspection of things. Increasing your risk of schizophrenia. Subtle agitation in the eyes.

You can also get it from uncooked meat or unwashed vegetables, so it's not that scary or dire of a parasite. It's just that cats are its most successful symbotic host to this day.

But if your immune system experiences a major failure and shuts down for a prolonged amount of time, the parasite will break from its cage and start spreading.

Congestive faculties start shutting down, eye blindness in some cases, until it eventually kills you.

That's also true with any sort of bacteria or parasite you catch while your immune system is down, it's easy to set a village ablaze with nothing but a single match once the castle walls crash down.

Toxoplasma gondii isn't special; anything can kill you! Without your immune system, you're just a bag of flesh and blood, susceptible to rot and being cannibalised by the air particles themselves.

But don't worry! this is normal for your body... sometimes. Only 43% of the human body is actually...uh human. The rest are foreign bacteria, microbes, fungi, some parasites, and other things that we collect throughout our journey of life. We even trade bacteria with other humans we meet all the time without realising it.

The majority of you—the physical you—is in fact, not you. You—cells you create—are a minority in your own body ecosystem.

Why do you think humans are so deadly to turians? We are a walking swamp, A living breathing extremely diverse bio-ecosystem. A dormant parasite or a two is nothing.