#the most incorrectly pronounced of the three...

[conspicuous-clown-car]

hi sorry for disappearing ive been hyperfixating on roblox pressure

this game is so bad for me bc i have extreme thalassophobia and (because of the searchlights) just now realized i have megalohydrothalassophobia as well. yet i keep playing bc its a good game and im trying to do exposure therapy so i can eventually watch markipliers movie iron lung without feeling like im going to throw up or pass out. also they just added an accessibility feature for thalassophobia and when you click it you just straight up get kicked out of the game, which is hilarious.

literally the only reason i started playing this (obsessively now, btw) is because i kept seeing sebastian everywhere on twitter lol. fishe :]

[intimidating-fettuccine]

Do you think any of the creeps that are originally not English, still have small difficulties with certain words? Like maybe using the wrong past tense or not pronouncing some words incorrectly?

I feel like the answer to me would be Helen. While he is presently fluent in both French and English (born in France) I feel like he’s probably a little shaky on English sometimes. He was out on his own after killing his parents at 14, and he didn’t meet Slender until he was 17, so he had three years by himself to try and keep learning things.

I feel like he could partially speak English by the time Slender found him, but I think he had to really focus on learning things after being introduced to the mansion, since Slender homeschools all of them if they never finished their education.

I think he’s good most of the time, but he definitely still has a bit of a French accent and sometimes has a hard time saying words, and I do see him sometimes just forgetting what a word is in English. I think the problem for him is if he forgets something in English or messes something up he gets embarrassed and doesn’t want other people to know so he just tries to figure it out himself.

[v171]

English people say most things incorrectly, but I have listened to three audiobooks narrated by British women in the past week, and in every one the word "yogurt" has come up multiple times and the way it is pronounced makes me gag.

[random-musings-of-life]

A (Mostly) Comprehensive List of Tumblr Holidays

I saw this post about Tumblr holidays/celebrations, and there were a ton of them, so I decided to make an organized list and their meanings. I am also adding famous "fandom holidays" to this list. Feel free to point out any I missed/explained incorrectly and I'll add them!

Tuesday:

Supernatural Tuesday --- an episode of Supernatural was about a time loop where it was always Tuesday. Can be posted on any Tuesday.

Leave the Bog --- a meme with a drawing saying "When it's safe to leave the bog" and an arrow pointing to Tuesday. Can be posted on any Tuesday.

Thursday:

Out of Touch Thursday --- a video of the cast from the anime Lucky Star dancing to the song "Out of Touch" by Hall and Oates. Can be posted on any Thursday.

Thursday the 20th --- a screencap of a rapper in The Simpsons with a gold necklace that says "Thursday the 20th". Can only be posted on Thursdays which are also the 20th of their month.

February:

Galentine's Day --- February 13th. From an episode of Parks and Rec where Leslie dedicates this day to celebrating female friendship.

March:

Pi Day --- March 14th. The first digits of pi, 3.14, line up with "March 14" or 3/14.

The Ides of March --- March 15th. The day that Julius Caesar was assassinated. Many memes and jokes are made about him, the assassination in general, or bad luck.

Evergiven/Suez Canal Anniversary --- March 23rd. Refers to an event where a ship, the Evergiven, got stuck in the Suez Canal.

94 Meetings Day --- March 31st. From an episode of Parks and Rec where April doesn't think this day exists and books all of Ron's appointments then.

April:

April Fools --- April 1st. Also a real world holiday. The most popular prank is Rickrolling.

Mishapocalypse --- April 1st. On this day, Tumblr users spam one specific photo of Misha Collins, who played Castiel on Supernatural, where he is looking at the camera wide-eyed.

Neil Banging Out the Tunes --- April 13th. Refers to a photo of a rat by a children's keyboard with the caption "Neil banging out the tunes April 13th 2006".

Homestuck Day --- April 13th. The birthday of Homestuck, a web comic. It is/was one of the most popular fandoms on Tumblr.

It's Gonna Be May --- April 30th. Comes from a GIF of Justin Timberlake singing the song "It's Gonna Be Me". In the song, he pronounces "me" like "May".

May:

Star Wars Day --- May 4th. It comes from a pun between "May the force" and "May the Fourth".

Revenge of the Fifth --- May 5th. It comes from a pun between "Revenge of the Sith" and "Revenge of the Fifth".

June:

Let Papyrus Say "Fuck" Day --- June 16th. Someone who was annoyed with mischaracterization of Papyrus from Undertale established this holiday and it caught on.

July:

Dashcon Anniversary --- July 11th. Dashcon was a poorly organized attempt to hold a Tumblr convention.

September:

21st Night of September --- September 21st. The day referenced in the catchy disco song "September" by Earth, Wind, and Fire.

Frodo and Bilbo's Birthday --- September 22nd. The joint birthday of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings.

October:

Mean Girls Day --- October 3rd. This comes from the part of the movie where Cady's crush asks her what day it is.

Treat Yo'Self --- October 13th. From an episode of Parks and Rec where Tom and Donna have a day to pamper themselves.

November:

November 5th --- Multiple holidays. It's Guy Fawkes Day (a holiday in Great Britain where effigies are lit to celebrate the failure of a traitor), and some people post screencaps of the movie V for Vendetta, where it's mentioned. November 5th, 2020 specifically had three huge news items: rumors of Vladimir Putin's resignation, Destiel (a ship from Supernatural) becoming (one-sided) canon, and the controversy over counting electoral votes in the U.S. election.

Life Day --- November 17. The equivalent of Christmas in Star Wars.

December:

Christmas Adam --- December 23rd. It comes from a Tumblr post making a pun on "eve" and "Eve" (from the Bible). As the original Tumblr post describes, it "comes before Christmas Eve and is generally unsatisfying".

Almost Christmas (Means It Wasn't Christmas) --- 11:59 P.M. on December 24th. This is from Ace Attorney, a video game where you're a defense lawyer. The fact that it's not quite Christmas is a crucial piece of evidence in one of the cases.

DL-6 --- Christmas/late December. This is when one of the most famous cases from Ace Attorney (mentioned above) occurs.

Other:

Annoy Squidward Day --- either January or February 15th. This refers to an episode of Spongebob where Mr. Krabs votes for Employee of the Month; a screen cap shows Spongebob pointing to the 15th day on the calendar with a sticker of Squidward on it.

Fuck this Post and Happy Birthday [Fictional Character] --- any character's birthday. The original Tumblr post starts out with a user saying "People who celebrate fictional character birthdays are annoying, pass it on", and another retorts with "FUCK this post and happy birthday, Sonic". "Sonic" can be replaced with a character of your choice.

[prodigal-explorer]

how to write speech impediments

(this is part of my series, how to write children in fanfiction! feel free to check it out if you want more info like this! though this guide is mostly directed towards writing children, it is also helpful for writing about speech impediments for people of all ages, since speech impediments don't always go away in childhood.)

there are a lot of different speech impediments out there, but the main one i see represented in children in fanfiction is what's known as an articulation error, mostly in the letters "r" and "l". this leads to the child saying the word "playground" and pronouncing it like "p-way-g-wound". while this is a speech impediment that is common in children, there are other speech impediments that are just as common. here are a few:

1 - stuttering:

now, i see a lot of stuttering that is written incorrectly. most of the time, stuttering is not just repeating the first syllable of the word three or four times. stuttering is a condition in which your muscles twitch or move uncontrollably while you talk. a lot of people interpret stuttering as a nervous tic, but the term for that would be stammering. stuttering is a different ballpark. here are some possible symptoms of stuttering:

repeating sounds or syllables. this is the one i just talked about. while it is commonly the first syllable that is repeated, this isn't always the case, and this is only one symptom. here is a bad and a good example of this symptom in writing: -bad: "w-when will my leg f-feel better, d-daddy?" -good: "wh-when will my leg fe-ee-feel better, d-d-da-daddy?" there are a few subtle differences between the bad and the good example. the first difference is that instead of just the first letter being written in the stutter, it's the entire first syllable that is either being stuttered from the get go, or it is being developed through the stutter. this better illustrates for the reader what the stutter actually sounds like to a listener rather than just showing a reader that it's there. also, in the word "feel", the stutter is placed in the middle of the word rather than the beginning. since stuttering is an unpredictable and uncontrollable muscular movement, it is highly possible for a stutter to show up in the middle of the word versus purely in the beginning. this will make the stutter more accurate. the last difference is that there are more beats in the stutter than just one. not all stutters are the same, and sometimes, it takes longer or shorter for the muscle movements to stop. this also adds accuracy. 

holding or drawing out certain syllables or sounds, or pausing for a long time in between words. this one is a little tricky to write, but it is completely possible. this is when the word gets "stuck", so the word draws out for longer than what's intended, or there's a longer pause than what's considered normal. i'm not totally sure of the scientific reason why this happens since i don't see how a muscle spasm could affect the length of a syllable or pause, but if you want to write about it, i think that would make the stutter more rounded out. in this example, let's try combining the first symptom with this second one: -example: "wh-when will myyyy-...leg feel bet-better, d-d-da-daddy?" i changed the example a little bit, because too much stuttering at once can be overkill in writing. though it is possible in real life for stuttering to be word after word after word, it isn't always the case, and too much stuttering in writing can come across as mockery. anyway, in the word "my", the child draws out the letter "y", as their brain is stuck on it as it is trying to figure out how to create the words that follow it. again, this one is a difficult one to put into writing because it isn't a common stuttering trait, and it's hard to place. but if you want to, it would be an interesting one to try out. 

blocking. blocking is very frequent pauses in between words, whether it's a silent pause, or there's a filler word (such as um, or ah), that takes up the space. from my experience with stutters, when blocking is involved in the stutter, it is usually the primary trait in the stutter and the other possible symptoms are either absent or minimized. this means that if you did include blocking, it would probably replace a lot of the other stuttering symptoms that are in place. here is an example of blocking in writing: -example on its own: "when, uh, when will my leg, um, feel better, daddy?" -example mixed with other traits (not impossible, just less common than the former): "wh-when, uh, when will m-my leg feel, uh, better, d-da-daddy?" a common misconception with blocking is that it only appears in speech when the child is nervous, guilty, or otherwise in an anxious state of mind. though this is sometimes true, since emotions affect some speech impediments, this is definitely not always the case. all symptoms of stuttering, including blocking, can occur at all times, no matter how the child is feeling. also, common filler words vary based on location. for example, in america, the more common filler words are "um" or "like", while in western europe, "ah" and "uh" are a bit more common. 

word switching. this is the last specific symptom i will touch on, but i'm sure there are more. feel free to do your own research! word switching is especially common in children with larger vocabularies because they have more words to choose from. word switching is when the stutterer realizes they are struggling to get a word out due to the spasms, so they try to change the word into a shorter/easier one. here is an example in writing: -example: "it's actually a really c-co-com-com- hard thing to do." in the example, the child was trying to say a longer word, "complicated" or "complex", but the stutter was getting in the way, so the child switched to the word "hard" since it's shorter. something to keep in mind with word switching too is that it doesn't always work. and usually, word switching is a sign of embarrassment about the stutter, or frustration with the stutter, or a general rushing in trying to get the sentence out.



alright! now that we know a lot more about stutter symptoms, we can talk about the other characteristics of it:

-stuttering affects the whole body, not just the mouth. the muscle spasms can occasionally "spill over" to other parts of the body such as the face, neck, shoulders, and arms.

-sometimes, stutterers develop physical habits that they do while stuttering such as excessive blinking, avoiding eye contact, making certain facial expressions, or clenching the fists.

-emotions can affect stuttering. though stuttering doesn't only happen when one feels strong emotions such as fear and stress, such emotions can worsen stuttering, making symptoms more prominent. also, fatigue can affect stuttering. usually, relaxed and well-rested stutterers have less stutter symptoms.

-sometimes, stuttering doesn't occur during certain vocal activities such as singing, reading out loud, or talking to inanimate/non-human subjects.

-stuttering can lead to a lot of insecurity, which can attribute to mental health conditions down the line such as depression and anxiety.

congrats! now you know a lot about stuttering! feel free to do more research, this is just a basic guide to it. let's look at some other speech impediments now!

2 - articulation errors:

articulation errors are the most straightforward and common speech impediment traits. the trick to these, though, is knowing that there is a wide range of different types of them. articulation errors occur when people struggle to form certain speech sounds because they have trouble putting their tongue in the right positions to do so. lisping, for example, is a type of articulation error.

here is a list of different sounds that are common articulation errors:

the letter "l". this can make words like "library" sound more like "why-brary" or "i-brary".

the letter "r". this can make words like "tired" sound like "ti-oh-d".

the syllable "th". this can make words like "earth" sound like "ear-f", or words like "that" sound like "d-at".

the letter "s". this is known as lisping, and it can make words like "sit" sound like "th-it".

these next articulation errors are most common in children just learning to talk, so typically under five years old:

cluster reduction, which simplifies a word that has two or more consonants in a sequence. this can make words like "spoon" sound like "p-oon".

velar fronting, which is a complicated thing to describe, but essentially, it is replacing certain consonant sounds that require a certain tongue placement with other consonant sounds that require less effort to access. this can make words like "go" sound like "d-oe" or words like "cup" sound like "t-up".

final consonant deletion, which is exactly what it sounds like, not pronouncing the final consonant of a word. this can make words like "dad" sound like "da".

palatal fronting, which is essentially taking sounds like "sh" and "ch", and replacing them with a sound that is produced closer to the front of the mouth. this can make words like "sheep" sound like "seep", words like "chair" sound like "tair", and words like "bridge" sound like "brid".

there are more articulation errors than just these, but these are more common ones. now that we know a lot about articulation errors, let me tell you how to write them: don't. while for stuttering, it makes sense to write out the stutter, it's unnecessary and slightly offensive to write it out phonetically every single time a child makes an articulation error. instead, my recommendation is to only write it out occasionally, and to mention at a point in the story (not through speech) that the character has an articulation error. something else you can do is simplify the sound of the speech impediment, making it clear that there is one without writing out the exact phonetic errors. here is one bad and two good examples: -bad example:

"mama, my teef hurt! i don't wanna go to bed, i'm not tiohwd!" -good example #1:

"mama, my teeth hurt! i don't wanna go to bed, i'm not tired!"

four year old roman spoke with indignant sharpness, though he clearly struggled with pronouncing a lot of his syllables, leading to words that took a moment for virgil to decipher as he heard them.

-good example #2:

"mama, my 'teef' hurt! i don't wanna go to bed, i'm not tired!"

the key to articulation errors is subtlety. the issue with the bad example is that it sacrificed contextual clarity, flow, and respect. somebody who struggles with reading phonetics might not be able to understand that strangely written out version of the word "tired", and if somebody reading does struggle with articulation errors, seeing their struggles written out in such a way can come across as very offensive, especially when such articulation errors in the context of the story are seen as valid reason to infantilize or coo at a character for how "adorable and childish" they are. it's also just lazy. if the only sign that indicates that a character is a child is a written out articulation error, then you are not writing with specificity or respect.

the first good example is a lot better than the bad example, firstly because it doesn't sacrifice contextual clarity. anybody reading the story can clearly comprehend what the child is saying, and also has it explicitly spelled out for them that the child has articulation errors, so that part of the child's character is not sacrificed either. the only potential problem with it is that a fast reader could accidentally glaze over the explanation, but that is not the writer's responsibility, and a way to help prevent this issue is to mention the speech impediment periodically throughout the story.

the second good example is a good one as well, especially when combined with the first good example. not every word with errors is spelled differently, but the one word that is spelled differently is put in between apostrophes to symbolize that it is purposefully spelled wrong to imitate the sound of the articulation error. i would still be careful of overly offensive spellings, but for a simple error such as the one i wrote, it's a little less obnoxious, and it is clearly just a way to further express the impediment's existence.

i know it's a little complicated, and there's some gray area when it comes to what is or isn't offensive, but a good rule of thumb is to try and put yourselves in the shoes of someone with articulation errors. would you want to read something like this? does it make fun of or infantilize your impediment? or does it simply acknowledge its existence?

3 - other speech impediments

now, the first two types of speech impediments are the ones i went to the most detail to in this guide because they are the most common ones, and they are the most common ones that are written incorrectly. but there are other types of speech impediments that are less common, but i encourage you to research them anyway. i will be posting links at the bottom of this with all my sources, as well as some additional resources!

now, here are some other speech impediments that can be found in children:

-tongue-tie, aka: ankyloglossia. this is a condition that makes it difficult for children to move their tongues, in which the tongue is stuck to the roof of the mouth. it is a congenital condition (people are born with it), and there are different types of tongue-ties that create different difficulties. it doesn't affect speech as much as it affects the breastfeeding process, but it still affects speech considerably. speech therapy can help with tongue-tie, but sometimes, surgery is necessary.

-developmental verbal dyspraxia or apraxia. these two things are similar, but what makes them different is the severity. the cause of this impediment is unknown, but it is essentially when children know what they want to say, but they are physically unable to form the words. developmental verbal dyspraxia is having partial inability to speak with accuracy, while apraxia is the complete loss of the ability. this condition is quite rare, and it requires very intense therapy compared to other speech impediments.

---

if you're still here, thank you for reading all of this and educating yourself about speech impediments! i hope this helps you on your writing journey! i am someone who had a lot of speech impediment issues as a child, and still continues to struggle sometimes with these things, so it means a lot that you plan to do research to make your interpretations of these struggles more respectful and accurate!

sources + additional resources:

speech impediments

stuttering

types of articulation errors

tongue-tie/ankyloglossia

developmental verbal dyspraxia and apraxia

my personal experience with speech impediments

[purplesurveys]

1784

Do you own anything from Victoria's Secret "Pink" line? Do you really think the clothes are worth the price? I don't. And maybe for some people yeah but personally it's not my style so no.

What does your last incoming text say, who was it from, and how do you feel about that person? It was a delivery rider just asking for specific directions going to our house. I don't have any feelings about the guy since I never ended up meeting him as I was out when he texted.

Did you have a New Year's kiss? No, I've always been with family in celebrating the New Year.

Are there any words that you cannot pronounce or that you pronounce incorrectly? For some reason I struggle with enunciating 'beautiful.'

After a long day at work or of doing something physical what tends to hurt more? Your back or your feet? Back and shoulders, which is why I always have a supply of ointment to coat all over my body at the end of the day lol. My legs only really hurt on days I do a lot of walking, which don't happen a lot.

Do you have a smart phone? If so, what's your favorite app? Yes. As for my favorite app, I always find myself checking in on Reddit multiple times a day, even when mid-work.

Who would you say is the overall best person you know, and why? Angela is the most reliable person in my life. I trust her inputs on literally everything – just this morning I messaged her asking for help on how to use Carousell LOL – and apart from that she has the kindest heart and I know she'll always have my back no matter what, whether it's in the form of listening to me or calling me out when I'm on ther verge of doing something stupid.

If you had to choose between being a Nurse or an English teacher which would you choose and why? English teacher. I know I wouldn't be the best with kids/teenagers but I feel like I nevertheless have enough people skills to get by. Plus I feel like I'm okay when it comes to explaining and teaching things, so it'd work out better at least compared to being a nurse.

Do you have a specific gas station you usually go to? Or do you stop wherever? Yes, there's a specific brand I always go to. I'm not good with car stuff so I don't want to risk going to a different station and potentially going with the wrong kind of gas and damaging my car forever.

How much older than you was the oldest person you have dated/had a relationship with? I've only ever been with one person and they are my age.

Is anything stressing you out at the moment? We have a family Christmas party/reunion this weekend and I have not wrapped a single gift. I might just buy a bunch of paper bags tomorrow since there is simply no time to individually wrap everything hahaha.

What is your opinion on dating someone who already had a child/children from a previous relationship? I know it shouldn't be a problem at this age but personally speaking it might intimidate me. I'm nowhere near ready to be a mom/stepmom.

Have you ever actually found a mascara that makes a huge difference for your lashes? I don't use mascara. I like my eyelashes enough as they're naturally long already and don't really feel the need to make it look ~aesthetically pleasing~

Would you rather have one or two great facial features that stand out, or have just an overall pretty face but have no special features? I'd take the pretty face. Pretty privilege is real and can take you places.

Do you have any plans for Valentine's Day? Did you do anything last Valentine's Day? I haven't had plans for Valentine's Day in three years and don't feel the need to celebrate it alone.

Do you check your horoscope daily? If so, did you relate to your horoscope at all today? I do not believe in horoscopes.

When you need to remember something, how do you usually go about doing so? I use my Notes app and just note down a bunch of stuff in there, whether it's a dream I don't want to forget, or a random thing a client would say during a meeting that I'd need to remember. That's why I often get confused when I look through my archives haha everything lacks context.

Do you think you're a confident person? In your opinion what makes someone "confident" anyways? I'm confident in some ways, like how I feel comfortable with my own company and am not in an active search for a relationship; or how I'm always ready to bite back if a relative tries to be condescending with me (because Filipino family culture means always trying to find reasons to indirectly insult one another hahaha). But I'm also no stranger to insecurity every now and then.

How would you describe someone that is your type of guy/girl? I like someone no-nonsense, a bit on the serious side and have an air of confidence and being able to take care of themselves. Someone who tries to make jokes every 10 seconds just sounds exhausting. I also prefer a friend than setups or online dating as it's more comforting if I already know the person.

Do you read books often? What is your all time favorite book and author? I used to but stopped reading a very long time ago. I just lost the time for it at some point until eventually I also lost the passion for it. That said I never was able to find my all-time favorite book or author.

Have you recently accomplished anything that you are proud of yourself for? I've been having a difficult time coming to terms with my promotion until literally today when I encountered a Reddit thread of someone who's in the EXACT same situation – got promoted but doesn't feel like they're cut out for the job, and them feeling like they only got promoted because a couple of seniors in their workplace had just resigned, and them ultimately thinking of leaving.

I honest to god thought everyone in the thread was going to be supportive of OP resigning, but it was the complete opposite. People were raising points like "they trust you enough to promote you, make the most of it," "they've seen your past mistakes and still promoted you," "discomfort is inevitable with change, just stick with it and grow from it" and it really felt like they were talking to me. Anyway, I'm for sure still thinking of resigning but stumbling upon that has also helped me start to cope with and embrace (for now) where I'm at.

So speaking of for nows, I'll try to be proud of my biggest achievement this year which is getting promoted to director – something I literally never even strove to achieve since I only ever targeted becoming a manager.

Are you still friends with any of your exes? Do you still communicate with any of them at all? I'm not friends with her and cut off all contact the year immediately following the breakup.

What is your opinion on people that shop at Sephora for makeup as opposed to buying makeup from the drugstore? I don't care.

When you enter a store like Target or Walmart where is the first section you go? We don't have those.

Are you the type of person to fight for someone or walk away? Depends. I used to be the kind of person who would, regardless of the circumstances; but after some things I've been through I'm a little less...dedicated to people in general now.

Is marijuana legal for "recreational use" where you live? Also what is your opinion on the recent legalization of marijuana in certain states? It's not, and I don't have much of an opinion on marijuana tbh since it's never been a hot societal/cultural concern where I live.

Do you live on your own or with your parents/a roommate? Do you think you'd like to live alone? I live with my family, so that's parents and siblings. I'd love to live alone one day, but I'm not in a rush because how the hell can I live anywhere with these condo prices lol?

How often would you say you use Microsoft Word? I use it around 4-5 times a week, but I'm predominantly on Google Docs as it lets me work on files in real-time with teammates at work.

What is the last online purchase you made? Last few gifts for my sister, which includes a Spongebob pajama set and a couple of FNAF plushies. She's into so many fandoms that I just got her something from each haha. Before I checked these out I also had gotten her a few Resident Evil fanmade merch.

Do you usually have bad symptoms around "that time of the month"? I just get very emotional and feel like crying every 0.5 seconds, but as far as physical symptoms there fortunately aren't any.

Is there anyone you have to see on a daily/weekly basis that you really dislike? Not really, no.

Is your hair thick or thin? Would you say it's easy to manage? It's very thick and is quite difficult to manage, especially after I had it bleached. It's always been on the dry and frizzy side and don't think it will ever get to a healthy glowing state.

Have you ever had to deal with any type of long distance relationship, whether it be a romantic relationship or a friendship? Yes, 10 years ago I had a tight-knit group of Internet friends; we were all into wrestling and were pretty much part of the first wave of stan Twitter when it wasn't even a thing yet, lol. We slowly fizzled out when the main two people we were stanning left WWE and went off the radar for a bit.

Are you procrastinating doing anything right now? Yes. Can you believe I still have a deck to work on, so close to Christmas? This is my first December where work is still on a peak. It's gross.

How do you feel about being called sweetie/dear/honey/etc.? It's okay as long as it doesn't come from a man who's being disgusting.

Have you ever had a thing for/relationship with a coworker? How did it end? Never have. Seems a little irresponsible to me.

What type of deodorant do you use? Do you notice any difference between powders and gels? I have a local brand and I've never used powder so I can't compare.

What would you say is your worst habit? Peeling off nails. I've gotten more than one bleeding nailbed because of this.

Do you have a place you go to a lot that you may be considered "a regular" at? Not a restaurant, but I guess the FamilyMart below our office? They already know what kind of coffee I get hahaha.

Do you ever read the articles posted on the home page of Xanga? Has there ever been one that has really stood out to you? I was never on Xanga.

What is the weather currently like where you live? It's sunny and it's started to get cold on mornings and late evenings, but the afternoons are still brutal. I suppose it won't get Christmas-cold until January.

Is there anyone that you text on a regular basis that you do not have saved in your phone? If so, why don't you have their number saved? My mom. I just never saved it before and now it's always just been her number hahaha, and I don't feel like changing it anymore.

Do you have any plans for Mardi Gras? No.

[darraghoconnors]

[ paul mescal | 27 | cis male | he/him ] Hey, look! It’s [DARRAGH O'CONNOR] at [MYSTERY QUEST ESCAPE ROOMS]. Did you know they [WORK] there as a [CHARACTER ACTOR]? I guess they’re from [DUBLIN, IRELAND] and have been in town for [FIVE], living in [SUTHERLAND PARK]. I also heard they’re a little [HOTHEADED], but also very [SOCIABLE] which definitely makes sense. 

tw teen pregnancy, death, abandonment

RAPID FIRE.

Full Name: Darragh O'Connor.

Nicknames: D, Dar.

Pronouns and Gender: He/Him, Cis Male.

Birthday: March 19th, 1996.

Birth place: Dublin, Ireland

How long have they been in Vermont: 5 years, as of Nov 2023.

Sexuality: Bisexual.

Neighborhood: Sutherland Park.

Occupation: Character Actor @ Mystery Quest Escape Rooms / Amateur Boxer.

Family: Aishling O'Connor (Mother, deceased), Murphy Doyle (estranged birth father), Cormac Doyle (half-brother), Cian Doyle (half-brother), Caoimhe Doyle (half-sister).

OVERVIEW.

-- Darragh was the only son of a single mother who struggled for most of her life. Aishling O'Connor became a mother for the first and only time at seventeen years old, and was ill-equipped to handle it after being cut off by her family for deciding to go through with the pregnancy.

-- Despite growing up in uncertainty, for the most part Darragh had a happy childhood. They didn't have much, but they had each other.

-- As far as schooling went, he never displayed much of a natural apt for it. He found classroom settings too restrictive and there was no specific academic subject that held his interest. The only days he would definitively be guaranteed to show up at school was when he had P.E. or football.

-- After a number of calls from his principal and run ins with other mothers on their council estate over fights and scrapes Darragh found himself involved in, his mother enrolled him in a local boxing club when he was ten, and it fostered an interest in the sport that has stayed with him through adulthood.

-- He found something of a father figure there in his coach and trainer, Tom. The discipline of the sport kept him on the straight and narrow, even though there were some run ins in his teenage years with the Garda for being present in robbed cars and where drug deals were occurring.

-- Darragh's whole world shifted on it's axis at his mother's death when he was seventeen years old, and then again a few days later at her funeral when he discovered that his biological father was both alive and well and a man that had three other children who were all older than him and a wife to boot.

-- This news rocked the foundation of everything he thought he knew about himself and his ma, and made him question every word she had ever spoken to him. As soon as he turned eighteen, after a few months of staying with the family of his best friend, he set off travelling rather than having to share a city with a man who knew of his existence and chose to ignore it entirely instead.

-- He initially moved to Australia with two school friends who aspired to do the same and lived/worked there for just under a year and a half before deciding it wasn't for him. Leon and Karl stayed on, while he set his sights on the next continent he would search for some semblance of a new start.

-- The United States were next and after spending a few months on the west coast, Darragh eventually found himself in East Haven, Vermont and decided to settle down there a while after deciding he liked the vibe and the people there .

-- To this day, he still keeps a pretty rigid training regime when it comes to boxing and devotes most of his free time to training / improving his skills in the ring as well as taking on amateur fights.

-- To make ends meet, he works as a character actor at Mystery Quest Escape Rooms. He loves to scare the shit out of people where possible and has been known to be a little generous with hints if he watches a group particularly struggle.

SORTA FUN FACTS.

Has heard every variation of his name pronounced incorrectly. His favorite is Darg. "And what's a Darg when he's at home?"

His official boxing stats as of Nov '23 are 9 matches and 9 wins (4 of which are by KO).

Was supposed to be due on St, Patrick's Day but was born 2 days after his due date, which he's grateful for because he likes his birthday being just about him.

Of his half-siblings, he's only met his half-sister and that was just once. It did not go well and there's been no contact since.

Has been known to lie when asked can he speak Irish if he thinks it can benefit him to pretend to.

CURRENT CONNECTIONS.

roomate of @sasika-lg

cheated on his ex with @scottienolan, semi-complicated

fan of @pruexcassidy's radio show

frequent flyer to the ER @norasinclair works at

friend of @thesarahruiz

friend of / thinks @samxbradford is the best dj in the bizz

SPECIFIC WANTED CONNECTIONS.

former roommate/maybe someone who let him crash with them when he first moved to EH.

recent ex-gf that he cheated on.

a current roommate would be fun.

an older male that he lowkey idolizes / wants to be like.

weed buds. 🍁

would dig someone he was formerly super tight with that now hate each other (reason can be plotted!)

a best friend. probs the only person he would make a sincere effort to make time for.

co-workers! get litty at the escape room lmao

former co-workers?? pretty open ended, i imagine he did some bar work to get by when he first got here but then made the switch because the hours didn't suit his training

gym-buddies. he practically lives there.

exes. he's def a difficult person to be in a relo with so could have ended on varying terms from good to bad. feel free to come hurt my feelings.

hookups, fwb, usual jazz.

GENERIC WANTED CONNECTIONS.

connections wise he’s pretty much an open book right now, but some baseline ideas that can be springboarded off are:

friendly.

a best friend / ride or dies / close friends / childhood friends from ireland / pseudo-siblings / friends / drunk friends / new friends / former roommate / people he knew from london / people he met on his travels / people who were in aus at the same time as him / people who he only gets along with and vice versa when drinking is involved.

romantic

flirtationship / friends with benefits / one time hook ups / tinder matches / unrequited crush (can be either way) / exes on good terms.

antagonistic.

enemies / former (best) friends / exes on bad terms / frenemies / rivals / negative influence / people who don’t fuck with him.

[kyndaris]

The Treasure of King Priam

The tale of Troy is well-known among many. For some, the tale of the Trojan Horse was simply the start of Odysseus’s journey back home. For others, it was the tragic end of Achilles after his friend, Patroclus was killed by Hector, which led him to seek revenge before losing his life to Paris (which helped spawn the best selling novel of The Song of Achilles. At least, I think that’s what it’s about. I have yet to read Madeleine Miller’s book). 

According to the Romans, of course, the war with Troy also led to the founding of their city. As to whether there is any truth to that, who’s to say. But a displaced group of people finding a home across continents does sound plausible.

But the tale of Troy is not simply a fight between two warring human factions. It was also a battle between the Greek Gods. In fact, the entire story of woe began with Eris, Goddess of Strife and Discord, and her being slighted by the other Gods. In turn, she created the Golden Apple on which was was inscribed: For the Fairest.’ This, in turned, sparked competition between the three main Goddesses: Hera, Athena and Aphrodite.

Not wanting to suffer the anger that would come as a result of choosing who the apple would go to, Zeus nominated Paris, prince of Troy, to choose in his stead. And, as the story goes, he chose Aphrodite. And thus, he was rewarded the love of the most beautiful woman in the world: Helen of Sparta. 

The problem, of course, was that she was already married to King Menelaus.

And so, from one simple choice, war sprung forth for ten long years. After all, Helen’s face was the one that led the launch of a thousand ships to bring her back home. The war the raged was one where heroes rose and fell on the battlefield until, at least, Odysseus came up with the most clever of ploys: hiding Greek troops in a wooden horse that would be presented to the Trojans as a symbol of the Greeks’ surrender. Feigning retreat, they would return in the dead of the night to an open gate and storm the city.

Ever since playing Age of Mythology and becoming obsessed with such stories, the tale of Troy was one of the very first to capture my imagination at a very young age. But I was the first such individual. In the 1800s, an archaeologist by the name of Heinrich Schliemann was also intent on uncovering the lost city.  Though a dedicated scholar, he was also something of a treasure seeker and smuggled away many precious valuables out of Turkey for his personal gain. In his excavations, he also damaged quite a bit of the city and also incorrectly pronounced that Troia II as the one from the Iliad, though later scholars would grant the honour to Troia VI based on the defensive structures an imposing citadel.

While not as impressive as the remains at Ephesus, I still enjoyed my time exploring the ruins of Troy, or Troia as it was written, despite the cutting wind. There was even a statue of a wooden horse (not the original) created by the Turkish artisan: Izzet Senemoglu.

Another interesting fact about Troy/Trioa/ Hisarlik is that it isn’t very far from the Dardanelles Strait. Now, a student of modern history, and in particular, the world Wars, will know that this is where the famous battle of Gallipoli was held. And it was here that the allied forces launched the attack against the Turks in order to take the waterway linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.

After we finished looking around Troy, we drove to a restaurant in Gelibolu (Gallipoli) for lunch before taking the scenic route along the Sea of Marmara back to Istanbul for our second last day in Turkey.

Tomorrow promises to be an interesting day where we will visit a mosque and maybe do some shopping before heading to the airport for the long flight back to Sydney.

My time overseas has felt both long and short in equal measure but all such things must come to an end. I, certainly, am eager to go back home and bask in the familiar, even if the idea of returning to work and the stresses it promises doesn’t seem very appealing. 

Still, I’ll be starting in a new position (which at time of writing this post, has been about a week and it’s going okay!). And there’s also the Toymaker story that I’ve been writing which needs to get finished before I can editing! Then onto the next the next story project that I’ve been meaning to write for a while now!

Oh, and games. Can’t forget those video games. During my time overseas, I was playing through quite a bit of Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line and there’s an impressions blog just waiting to be written up and uploaded!

[theaologies]

Nobody in the club cares about Caduan and Aefe. I do though. One, Caduan’s last name is Iero, like My Chemical Romance? Two, Aefe is like the most bizarre bastardization of Aoife and I listened to the audiobooks first and was furious they were pronouncing Aoife so slightly incorrectly (whoops). Three, it’s a Solavellan AU. It is. It’s just Solavellan I am not crucifucking around

[24hrfrog]

Thats it imma take all the tgm asian characters and adopt them

some headcanons for my kids (+ I’m basically just channeling my own family/friends/myself onto them <3)

They all have ethnic names period even if theyre not listed in the movie, they have them. (most of the time growing up asian american you will 100% have a name given to u by ur parents/family member/close family friend/grandparents, the only bad that comes out of that is only members of ur family use the name and are the only ones who can pronounce it most of the time and when it comes to papers u sign, u dont rlly include ur asian name bc its like a middle name and isint always necessarily which is p shit, we are given such American first names because they’re easy to pronounce when coming over :/)

Yale has a tradition of inviting flying friends over to his place for New Years for a Korean celebration and makes a seaweed soup thats always eaten for the new year! (something my own family does)

Yale taught Harvard Korean and always has Harvard tag along on Korean trips to visit family! They love Harvard and Harvard loves the food lolol!!! and them ofc!!!

Halo met Fritz first and they stuck together like glue being two of the few asians, when they met Yale they made their own little friend group (i think other pocs can relate, when being in a place where there are ppl who make u feel alienated, finding people who are the same as u is comfortable and its easier to relate to each other, at least in my experience)

Fritz has a small lil “asian glow” when drunk LOL meanwhile Yale is head to toe bright red 💀

Yale bought Halo (and later on Phoenix!!) a hanbok as a birthday present (she would look so pretty in one omg, a hanbok is a traditional korean clothing, they are rlly pretty, its like a flowy dress)

Halo incorporates Mandarin in her english

Yale has no siblings so he basically adopted Halo and Fritz to be like his family, he act like a big ol older brother to them, a lot of his own family is in S. Korea

When Fritz’s grandparents immigrated over, the ones taking down peoples names wrote his last name incorrectly as Avalone (this is a true story from my family, my last name is incorrectly spelled and hence its pronounced incorrectly as well honestly this hc can also go with Halo)

Fritz is the youngest of the three, Yale is the oldest

They all taught each other swear words in their language AHAH

Fritz has a younger sister who got him into kpop (lol my own sister) and he has a lot of photocards, Halo teases him about it even tho she herself is into a lot of jpop and cpop groups

Yale always picks up a kpop album for Fritz and his sister on his Korea trips! 💚

When Yale gets angry he rants in Korean (when someone talks super fast in korean its so entertaining, like speak ur truth bro hell yeah but also dont yell at me or ill cry MCNDJD)

Yale’s guilty pleasure is watching Chinese dramas, he and Halo’s mom get together and break down the latest episodes of their shows they bringe whenever he’s in town HAHA (i think Yale would be a hit with Fritz and Halo’s parents)

Fritz is re-learning some of his Mandarin from Halo since as a kid his parents didn’t enforce their languages onto him but he does know more Filipino!! (me shaking my fist at my own parents, i couldve been a fluent bilingual lol)

Sometimes on comms Yale and Harvard will switch to Korean and annoy their flying partner for fun AHAHA

[fatehbaz]

It is spring in Houston, which means that each day the temperature rises and so does the humidity. The dampness has darkened the flower bed, and from the black mulch has emerged what looks like a pile of snotty scrambled eggs [...]. I recognize this curious specimen as the aethalial state of Fuligo septica, more commonly known as “dog vomit slime mold.” Despite its name, it’s not actually a mold -- not any type of fungus at all -- but rather a myxomycete (pronounced MIX-oh-my-seat), a small, understudied class of creatures that occasionally appear in yards and gardens as strange, Technicolor blobs. Like fungi, myxomycetes begin their lives as spores, but when a myxomycete spore germinates and cracks open, a microscopic amoeba slithers out. [...] When the amoeba encounters another amoeba with whom it is genetically compatible, the two fuse, joining chromosomes and nuclei [...], growing ever larger, until at the end of its life, it transforms into an aethalia, a “fruiting body” that might be spongelike in some species, or like a hardened calcium deposit in others, or, as with Stemonitis axifera, grows into hundreds of delicate rust-colored stalks. [...]

These creatures exist on every continent and almost everywhere people have looked for them: from Antarctica, where Calomyxa metallica forms iridescent beads, to the Sonoran Desert, where Didymium eremophilum clings to the skeletons of decaying saguaro cacti [...]. Throughout their lives, myxomycetes only ever exist as a single cell, inside which the cytoplasm always flows -- out to its extremities, back to the center. When it encounters something it likes, such as oatmeal, the cytoplasm pulsates more quickly. If it finds something it dislikes, like salt, quinine, bright light, cold, or caffeine, it pulsates more slowly [...]. It can solve mazes in pursuit of a single oat flake, and later, can recall the path it took to reach it. [...]

How do you classify a creature such as this?

In the ninth century, Chinese scholar Twang Ching-Shih referred to a pale yellow substance that grows in damp, shady conditions as kwei hi, literally “demon droppings.” In European folklore, slime mold is depicted as the work of witches, trolls, and demons -- a curse sent from a neighbor to spoil the butter and milk. In Carl Linnaeus’s Species Plantarum -- a book that aspires to list every species of plant known at the time (nearly seven thousand by the 1753 edition) -- he names only seven species of slime molds. Among those seven we recognize Fuligo in the species he calls Mucor septicus (“rotting mucus”), which he classifies, incorrectly, as a type of fungus. [...]

These “ladders” or “scales of ascent,” in turn, inspired the “Great Chain of Being” -- the [...] worldview central to European thought from the end of the Roman Empire through the Middle Ages, that ordered all of creation from lowest to highest [...]. Over time, Linnaeus revised his classifications of Homo sapiens, naming “varieties” that at first corresponded to what he saw as the four geographic corners of the planet, but which became hierarchical, assigned different intellectual and moral value based on phenotypes and physical attributes. The idea that humans could and should be ordered -- that some were superior to others, that this superiority had a physical as well as social component -- was deeply embedded in many previous schema. But Linnaeus’s taxonomy, unlike the systems that came before, gave these prejudices the appearance of objectivity, of being backed by scientific proof. When Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was published in 1859, it was on the foundation of this “science,” which had taught white Europeans to reject the idea of evolution unless it crowned them in glory.

But the history of taxonomic classification has always been about establishing hierarchy [...].

I did not learn until college about a taxonomic category that superseded kingdom, proposed in the 1970s by biologists Carl Woese and George Fox and based on genetic sequencing, that divided life into three domains: Bacteria, Eukarya, and Archaea, a recently discovered single-celled organism that has survived in geysers and swamps and hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean for billions of years. 

Perhaps a limit of our so-called intelligence is that we cannot fathom ourselves in the context of time at this scale, and that so many of us fail, so consistently, to marvel at any lives but our own. [...]

A few years ago, near a rural village in Myanmar, miners came across a piece of amber containing a fossilized Stemonitis slime mold dating from the mid-Cretaceous period. Scientists were thrilled by the discovery, because few slime mold fossils exist, and noted that the 100-million-year-old Stemonitis looks indistinguishable from the one oozing around forests today. [...]

One special ability of slime molds that supports this possibility is their capacity for cryptobiosis: the process of exchanging all the water in one’s body for sugars, allowing a creature to enter a kind of stasis for weeks, months, years, centuries, perhaps even for millennia. [...] The only other species who have this ability are the so-called “living fossils” such as tardigrades and Notostraca (commonly known as water bears and tadpole shrimp, respectively). [...]

In laboratory environments, researchers have cut Physarum polycephalum into pieces and found that it can fuse back together within two minutes. Or, each piece can go off and live separate lives, learn new things, and return later to fuse together, and in the fusing, each individual can teach the other what it knows, and can learn from it in return.

Though, in truth, “individual” is not the right word to use here, because “individuality” [...] doesn’t apply to the slime mold worldview. A single cell might look to us like a coherent whole, but that cell can divide itself into countless spores, creating countless possible cycles of amoeba to plasmodium to aethalia, which in turn will divide and repeat the cycle again. It can choose to “fruit” or not, to reproduce sexually or asexually or not at all, challenging every traditional concept of “species,” the most basic and fundamental unit of our flawed and imprecise understanding of the biological world. As a consequence, we have no way of knowing whether slime molds, as a broad class of beings, are stable or whether climate change threatens their survival, as it does our own. Without a way to count their population as a species, we can’t measure whether they are endangered or thriving. Should individuals that produce similar fruiting bodies be considered a species? What if two separate slime molds do not mate but share genetic material?

The very idea of separateness seems antithetical to slime mold existence. It has so much to teach us.

-------

Headline and all text published by: Lacy M. Johnson. “What Slime Knows.” Orion Magazine. August 2021. Photos by Alison Pollack and published alongside article.

[eddiemetalheadmunson]

mahsa amini | nika shakarami. countless others participating in the protests sparked by both of their murders.

mahsa's crime? wearing her hijab "incorrectly". after she was taken into custody by Iran's morality police for three days, video footage shows that she collapsed and was later taken to the hospital where she eventually died by cardiac arrest. security forces claim that mahsa died of health related issues, but the hospital has admitted that she was already brain dead before ever reaching the hospital. she was severely beaten during those three days. all because of her hijab supposedly being worn inappropriately. she was 22 years old and had plans to attend university to study microbiology.

nika's crime? participating in the protests that followed mahsa's murder. after being taken into custody, she was missing for 10 days with zero communication by police forces, despite her terrified mother and father's pleas for information. after those 10 days, her lifeless body was returned to her parents after they were shown a glimpse of her face (they refused to show her entire body) at a detention morgue and confirmed that it was her via a birth mark. it was later discovered that she had been brutally physically (and most likely sexually) tortured, and there was a large cut down her chest that was stitched back together, suggesting the possibility of some of her organs being removed (mostly likely to later sell). 10 days of what must have been the most horrific kind of hell on earth, simply for using her voice. her body was later reclaimed (stolen) from the detention center by security forces and buried in a village about 25 miles from the city. the family was denied a funeral for nika upon the threat of death by security forces, and members of her family have now also been taken into custody for not cooperating with the demands. i've read that there have been claims by security forces that she fell from a building to her death, or that she was captured and tortured by a group of construction workers, but the last text nika sent to her aunt was that she was being chased by the authorities. she was 16 years old, and was buried in a shallow grave one day after what would have been her 17th birthday.

we can't let this fade into the background. young women are risking their lives in unity to honor mahsa and nika by fighting back against their government and the morality police, knowing that it may very well cost them their lives. the least those of us can do across the world is KEEP TALKING ABOUT IT.

if you have a platform, USE IT.

WOMAN. LIFE. LIBERTY.

rest in power, peace and paradise, sweethearts.

* i apologize in advance if there are any discrepancies in the above text. there are small variances among different sources available but i've tried to conglomerate what i've researched so far to the best of my ability.

[tiaramania]

The French Crown Jewels, Past and Present

Van Cleef & Arpels’ L'École: School of Jewelry Arts is hosting a webinar about the French Crown Jewels with Paul Paradis and Léonard Pouy.

Established on the occasion of the marriage of King Francis I to Eleanor of Habsburg, his second wife, the institution of the Crown Jewels of France experienced three and a half centuries of acquisitions, but above all twists and turns. Deeply affected during the Revolution, then definitively dispersed at auction in 1887, they continue to arouse the fascination of collectors and historians alike given their many secrets and mysteries. Similarly, while some of the most beautiful pieces of the collection are now preserved in the Galerie d'Apollon of the Louvre, others are still awaiting rediscovery and remain eagerly sought after.

There will be three sessions with different languages

Wednesday, May 5 at 6:00 pm CEST - French

Thursday, May 6 at 1:00 pm CEST - English with Cantonese and Mandarin translations available

Thursday, May 6 at 7:00 pm CEST - English

The webinar is free and you can register here.

Update: They have posted both the French and English version of the webinar on YouTube.  I really liked this one.  It started off a little slow for me with the discussion of the individual gemstones but then picked up when they moved onto the jewelry.  The French Crown Jewels was such a huge collection that they couldn’t really go into depth about all of the pieces but I thought it was a nice overview.  Of course the biggest thing I’ve learned from all of these pandemic webinars is that I have been pronouncing words that I’ve only ever read in books really, really incorrectly.

[subvertliterallyeverything]

MISSED SOUNDS AND NAMING CONVENTIONS AND OTHER JUNK

So @the-person-of-the-screen makes a lot of good points. What about different dialects? Will every different dialect spell words differently?

Well since I’m just a poor cowpoke from Texas and don’t know or care about all the other dialects, i’ll just say that I assume they won’t spell words differently, but • will be an optional thing or not even present at all, which changes the pronunciation, obviously. OR, they just straight up say the letters incorrectly different. They’re chill.

Also, apparently another sound like th exists. “Eth. It's thorn but unvoiced. Thorn is the th sound in THe, Eth is the th sound in baTHtub. Looks like this ð

And zh, like in treaSure. That's my favorite sound. Never had a letter, IPA uses a symbol that looks a lot like 3.m”

uhm. I see the difference after literally minutes pronouncing them both and unfortunately for me I can’t just ignore this. Great. Well TH (þ) and SH (ວ) will both also be vowels, bringing our vowel count to a perfect 10. (A E I O U Y Q R TH SH) so easy and also probably not an exception, and I don’t even need to add more letters!

“You say y is a vowel, does it still say the yuh sound, or does it make the i sound exclusively?”

Y says the y sound in yes, yo you and y’all. EE takes care of most of those end sounds. Y. Hm. If it has an extra pronunciation other than that that that letter E doesn’t cover we’ll let Y have it. If I don’t find one soon though I might just make Y a consonant again. Y is really pulling a Pluto rn.

“SUGGESTION: H makes a stupid sound and it should be replaced with doin a funky little dance when you would say it. This will help deaf people with lip reading.”

YES. unfortunately as amazing as this idea is I can see how SOME people SOMEWHERE might not want to dance for 85% of their sentences, SO — since I have full executive power over anyone who speaks English, I’m taking control of a small island somewhere in the pacific and naming it state-of-the-English (that’s it’s Modern English name) in which that comes into effect. Huzzah.

NOW NAMES.

now it will be confusing to keep referring to the different languages as both English. I’m perfectly okay with strange people continuing to use English since “it’s what they grew up with” but I’m making a new and improved version. So, a quick google search tells me that there are three major Englishes. Old, Middle and Modern. So, I’ll refer to the annoying English as Modern English, and my new English as Vertickay (VERRTIK). , (or just new English)..

Alright I definitely probably forgot something so, make sure you yell at me okay goodbye

[antiloreolympus]

11 Anti LO Asks

1. TBH to me im also confused reading LO bc it both takes itself way too seriously but also not at the same time? like it wants us to feel like its this grand dramatic epic that takes serious issues and all, only to be so full of slapstick and juvenile "humor" and hip "relatable" humor that its like?? well which one is it then??

2. Im glad im not the only one who noticed, at least in terms of their relationship to hades, persephone and minthe are exactly the same. the difference is minthe has everything to lose, has no support and she doenst "deserve" him, meanwhile persephone has everything, gets everything, and "deserves" hades because she coddles him and she conforms to him & his wants, which minthe never do. im not saying minthe doesnt have her issues, but her not doing exactly what he wanted lead to her demise.

3. i love the excuse of constantly making lo persephone naked is "being accurate to ancient art" because one thats not how ancient art was?? only aphrodite and maybe amphitrite were depicted without clothes, but even that most of that was a post-antiquity/roman trend to show they could do anatomy correctly, but more so persephone specifically (minus the bernini statue which wasnt in ancient times) was always clothed? like yall just make up whatever to excuse rachel being wrong no matter what, huh?

4. LO is hardly the only romance comic to have this issue but it def runs off he fact the readers knowing theyll get together in the end to excuse its actual lack of developing them as a couple. rachel basically made two characters who wouldnt even talk to each other under normal circumstances and is just running off them being well known instead of making their relationship actually make sense. if we didnt know they were a canon myth couple, would anyone buy theyre in love? Probably not.

5. i see an excuse that LO's characterization should be excused because "rachel is making them complex" and its like ... the greek gods?? need to be made complex?? what are you lot on to think rachel is "improving" on the gods, esp when theyre just made into one note assholes with her deciding if theyre "good" or not depending on if they kiss persephone and hades' ass or not.  thats not complexity??

6. rachel literally cannot help herself to overemphasize how child like persephone is while also doing the same to emphasize how old and weird hades is and then still acts shocked people think its a creepy relationship? like you cant constantly make a point hes an old man lusting after a barely legal young woman and then be up in arms that people get weirded out by it.

7. oh my god the trial IS going into december and maybe even longer. she literally stretched it over months when it could have been at most three weeks. i hate it here.

8. RS is really just throwing whatever she can at the wall at this point isn't she. Here, now Hades has titan powers for no reason! He can turn into a spider now! Persephone made elysium now and has to teach him torturing the dead is wrong! Meanwhile other plots are either rushed (Daphne, Minthe) or that should be wrapped up by now or even have a little focus on them is just ignored, dropped, or retconned in some weird way, Like girl, take a month off and plan this out on a google spreadsheet.

9. the funny part about how pissed rachel gets at being accused of "stealing from percy jackson" is ... she unintentionally does? like PJO popularized "persephone was a b-tier nobody before marrying hades", promoted demeter was irrational helicopter mom, and also (incorrectly) popularized titans being literal giants, all of which rachel put in LO. now she probably only picked these up from tumblr posts but those are from PJO, so in a roundabout way she did kind of steal from PJO, just unknowingly.

10. this is nitpicky but i hate the in universe and fandom "joke" kore is some corn joke bc one) corn is from mexico, but so wouldnt wheat or barley be more accurate? but two) kore is not pronounced "core", its pronounced "core-ey", so the joke doesnt work on both a food or a pronunciation front. like this is supposed to be so well researched and accurate yet it doesnt know how to pronounce the main characters name or knows what actual food grows in greece and was connected to demeter.

-----FP Spoilers/Mention-----

11. FP// Hades being a grown adult and not realizing torturing the dead for eternity especially the innocent is in fact a bad thing to do is not cute, it confirms hes a deranged psychopath and having some random 20 year old having to "teach" him that is even worse?? esp bc that same 20 year old doesnt care about the dead, she only cares about her own conscious. idk how rachel took complex beings and made them straight up evil but expects her to "sympathize" w/ them but here we are.

[justanotherblonde23]

Ok ideas for writing...Iris and Marcus talking about her legally adopting the girls and then asking them for permission? Love your writing!

Will You Be My Daughters? - A Marcus Moreno Story 

Author’s Note: Ask and you shall receive, my sweet Autumn. Yes, Part V of ‘It’s Time to Be a Hero’ is coming. I’ve just been extraordinarily stressed this past week or so with school starting and having to balance that with taking care of my mom who is healing from some major surgery. I needed to write something fluffy and cute, so this is what happened! I really hope that you all enjoy this; it made my heart happy and I hope it makes yours happy too. As always, I don’t give physical descriptions for Iris so that you can hopefully see yourself in her xoxo

Warnings: None

Marcus and Iris had been discussing this for months. They both knew that they wanted to be together for the rest of their lives, even if they hadn’t made anything official yet. Iris didn’t want to pressure her boyfriend into moving faster than he felt comfortable. He still struggled with feelings of abandonment and insecurity since his ex had up and left not long after Jules was born. How could he not have a hard time when something like that had happened to him? 

The doctor was content to be Marcus Moreno’s partner; she had no pressing time frame. She wasn’t going anywhere. Missy and Jules called her “Mommy,” and everything in her soul screamed that she was their mother. She did everything a mother would do and spent her time going above and beyond for those children. The only thing left was to make it official. 

  They could just file the paperwork and call it a day, but that didn’t seem right. Missy remembered the woman that gave birth to her, and she remembered when that woman left without so much as a goodbye. She was old enough to know that Iris was the closest thing she had to a mother and remembered when she had first come into their lives. Jules was a year and a half old by now and only knew Iris as her mommy. Whatever they did was mainly for Missy and to remind her that she was loved, cherished, and special. 

Eventually, they settled on making a day out of it. Both parents agreed that their girls deserved something special. It was Iris’ idea to ask Missy if she would like to be formally adopted. She wanted the little girl to feel like she had a say in the matter and that she was the central figure. 

One Friday, the good doctor took her two girls out shopping in search of a dress. She told them that it was for an extraordinary occasion, some sort of surprise for them. Naturally, both girls were thrilled. Missy insisted on finding matching dresses for her and little Jules, stating that it was always the best to have sister sister matchy time. Jules wanted to be just like her big sister, so she was thrilled. 

Three children’s shops later, a pair of matching dresses were found. They were this gorgeous peachy pink, Missy’s current favorite color, with a tulle skirt full of sparkles and perfect for twirling. The sparkles were at Jules’ insistence; she could never say no to anything sparkly. The silver sparkly matching shoes were a great addition, too. As exhausting as it could be carting around an eight-year-old and a toddler, Iris was satisfied with a job well done. 

As much as the girls begged both of their parents to know what the surprise was, neither of them would cave. Missy wracked her brain, trying to figure out what it could be. There weren’t any birthdays coming up that she knew of, Christmas was over, and Valentine’s Day was next week. What could it be? 

Saturday came around, packed full of all of their favorite activities. The Moreno family had a brunch picnic at the park, played on the swings together, and even spent a few hours at the Natural History Museum. Jules was extremely obsessed with all things dinosaur at the moment. Every skeleton they saw left the little girl giggling, “A dino! It’s a dino! What it name, Momma?” 

Marcus watched as his girlfriend would carefully explain each fossil’s name to her, pronouncing it slowly so that his daughter could understand how it was said. Then she and the little one would pronounce it together, a little incorrectly, but Jules wasn’t even two yet, so who could blame the kid. He loved how gentle and caring his partner was with his kids. He could have never expected to find someone like her, not in a million years. He was thrilled to be finally taking the next big step with her and making his children officially hers too. Family was something that he treasured beyond everything else in his life. The fact that he had a family that was whole again made him thank his lucky stars. 

Their time at the museum went on like this for the next few hours. Each girl had their favorite exhibits, and the couple made sure that everyone got to see what they wanted most. Anyone looking at the four of them would see a regular happy family out for a Saturday outing full of laughs, giggles, and hugs. By the time they were done for the day, both girls each sat in a parent’s arms, cuddled close to the people that loved them the most. 

Last on the agenda for the day was dinner at their favorite restaurant. At least twice a month, the little family ended up at a local pizza joint called LJ’s Pizza, named after the founder and owner of over 40 years. The kids inhaled the pizza every single time they visited, danced around to the local music on the weekends, and their parents always enjoyed good conversation with the owner and his family. It was a win-win in every sense of the word. 

 As they walk into the restaurant, both girls gasp, taking in their surroundings in awe. The customarily packed restaurant was empty. Every single table had a photograph of the two little girls and Iris or the entire family together. The one table that didn’t have pictures was covered in all the girls’ favorite dishes. The owner, LJ, smiled at the kids, opening his arms as they barreled into him for a hug. After they had gotten their hugs from the older man and a piece of candy each that he slipped them, they turned back to their parents. 

“Mommy, what’s going on?” Missy wondered, looking around the room. 

“Well, Missy, Jules, your daddy and I have been talking recently, and we wanted to ask you something,” Iris began to explain. 

Everyone sat down at their table, the girls each crawling onto a parent’s lap. Once they were settled, Iris continued. “I’ve been your mommy for a while now, right?”

Both girls nodded simultaneously. Jules was a little confused because she had never really known any other mommy beside Iris, but she kept quiet and nodded. Her mommy was using her serious voice, and she knew better than to interrupt her. 

“Well, I want to be your mommy forever, if you’ll let me. I’m not ever going anywhere, and I wanted to make it official. What I’m asking is, would you like for me to adopt you and be your forever mommy?” 

Missy squealed, jumping off her father’s lap into Iris’. She grabbed her mommy’s face in her little hands and covered her with kisses. Even at five, she understood what Iris was asking her. “Do you mean it? You’ll stay with me forever and be my mommy?” 

“Yes, I promise that I’ll stay with you forever, Missy Mae. I love you with all my heart, and I never ever want to be without you. Thank you for letting me be your mommy, little one.” She pressed a kiss to Missy’s forehead and then rubbing the girl’s nose with her own. 

Jules was happily sharing her mommy’s lap with her big sister, not a care in the world. She leaned over and asked, “Daddy, Mommy is my mommy, right?” 

Marcus couldn’t help but break out into a grin, seeing his girls so enamored by his dear Iris. “Yes, baby, Mommy is your mommy.” 

Apparently, that was a satisfactory answer for Jules because she nodded, snuggling up in the woman’s lap, content with watching everything around her. She popped her thumb in her mouth and reveled in the palpable joy in the room. 

The family dug into dinner with enthusiasm. They had forgotten to grab lunch during the whirlwind museum adventure. Not much was said as they ate, everyone far too busy putting food in their mouths and gobbling it all down. Now and then, Missy would stop to say, “Mommy, Daddy, I love you,” and then hope right back into her food. Once dinner was finished, and the kids were cleaned up, Marcus grabbed the girls’ attention. 

“Mommy and I decided to get you both something to mark this special occasion. Would you both like your gift?” 

Jules lit up like a Christmas tree, her umber eyes sparkling. “A present? For meeeee?!” she asked, full of excitement. She reached out her chubby toddler hands, ready to open something. 

Her father handed her a box, which Iris helped her open. Nestled inside was a silver heart locket that matched the one that her mother wore around her neck. Opening it up, the little girl found a picture of both her parents. “So that Mommy and Daddy can always be with you, even when we’re apart,” he murmured. 

“Like Mommy’s! Same same!” she giggled, absolutely delighted to be matching her mommy. When Iris put it on her, she squealed, touching her own locket and then her mother’s. 

Missy was up next, curious as to what she had gotten. The box her father handed her was a different shape from her sister’s, so it wasn’t a locket. She opened her gift to see a silver bracelet. Picking it up, she realized that it had her initials in the middle of it. She looked up, grinning ear to ear. “MM, for Missy Moreno?”

“You betcha, Missy Mae,” Marcus replied. “Your mommy made this just for you. Those stones are moonstones because you are our sun, moon, and all the stars in our sky. Also, it connects to my watch and Mommy’s bracelet so that you can get in touch with us any time. All you have to do is press these two buttons on the side, and you’ll be able to call us.” 

She beamed, slipping it on her wrist and examining it proudly. It wasn’t just the fact that she had received a gift from her parents. It was that her mommy made it, all by herself, just for her. Iris was known for her inventions, and the fact that she had made something exclusively for her little girl made Missy’s heart overflow. She looked up to the woman and loved her dearly; the only thing she wanted was to have both parents loving her and taking care of her. This was Iris’ promise not to leave, and it meant everything to her daughter. 

Monday morning came, and the family of four went to the local courthouse to submit their paperwork and make everything official. The girls insisted that they wear their matching dresses once more and have Iris do their hair. Jules had her brown curls tamed in a little half ponytail on the top of her head that Marcus lovingly nicknamed “the fountain”. Missy’s hair was in an elaborate braid that fell over her shoulder. Both girls couldn’t stop grinning and giggling. Marcus was wearing a nice suit with a blue tie that matched that blue floral of his girlfriend’s dress. They were all dressed to the nines and ready to make their family of four official. 

The whole affair was brief, taking less than an hour to have everything submitted and filed away properly. Once the registrar told them they were all set, Iris burst into tears. She knelt down on the girls’ level, gathering them up in her arms, holding them tight. She kissed both of them, drying her eyes, and standing back up to embrace her boyfriend. Marcus scooped her up, twirling her around and kissing her soundly, the happiness contagious. Finally, they were a family both in name and in their hearts. 

A county clerk came up to them, offering to snap a picture of the precious moment. Iris stood, enveloped in Marcus’ arms, with her two beautiful little girls clinging onto her dress. That picture sits above the mantle in their home as a reminder of the day they became the Moreno Family of Four.  

Let me know if you’d like to be added to the tags list for the Marcus + Iris Universe series. It’s ongoing and I have SO MUCH more planned for our favorite little family <3

@autumnleaves1991-blog @the-purity-pen @cinewhore @f0rever15elf @pascalispunkie @frannyzooey @hdlynnslibrary @theclanof2 @jollyrancher87 @mrschiltoncat @cyaredindjarin @randomness501 @twomoonstwosuns @rosiesimone819 @hillarymurray4 @qhbr2013 @phoenixhalliwell @ahopelessromanticwritersworld @theoutsidelandhere @chouetteschaussettes @maharani-radha @maybege @moriamithril @revolution-starter @paniclana @flightlessangelwings @bisexual-space-slut @thewayofthemandalorian @stressed-the-fudge-out @evans-dejong @supernaturalcat7 @salty-sith-bitch @poguesvixen @plants-are-better-than-humans @omggiannarosa @theocatkov @roseuchiha97 @cheesehead0622-blog @impala1967666 @lydiascottage @themarcusmoreno