#they can be separate things for some people and interchangeable for others

[lunamay3]

I’m aromantic because I don’t experience sexual attraction. And I’m asexual because I don’t experience romantic attraction.

Anyone who has an issue with that can just deal.

[moonphaseswrites]

I got an idea but not sure if you are comfortable to write or not.

Poly!NiktoKrueger x reader. I feel like these two are going to be so much fun, especially in bed.

i whole heartedly assumed that it was way too early for me to actually start getting requests! ive hardly had this account up for 24 hours! this excites me to know that ive peaked peoples interests!!

and of course, i havent thought too much of krueger as of late, so i may not portray him too well.

poly!niktokrueger x reader thoughts! both sfw and nsfw, dont worry

sfw

despite the two men being on active duty and neither seeming to be touchy or affectionate people, they happen to make great lovers. between niktos voices calming down with kruegers unneeded usage of german, usually so nikto can zone out, and just your calming aura calming his head down, its not as hectic as youd imagine.

of course, if you didnt know any german or russian going into this, oh boy will you know at least how to speak a bit of each within a few months.

krueger is the one out of the two thats constantly using petnames and sweet talk on the two of you. he adores giving you two gifts, usually something as simple as little notes that he hand wrote. these notes tend to have both an english and a german translation.

the names he calls the two of you vary, but usually stick to the same theme. he is big on the use of "mein". making it known constantly that youre both his, and that he wouldnt think of separating.

your nicknames from your austrian boyfriend are "schatz" and "maus". his name for nikto is "spatzi", although he interchangibly uses "liebe" and "liebling" on both of you.

your russian boyfriend on the other hand isnt a huge fan of nicknames or many loving gestures. he finds it very difficult to express himself, especially with constant arguing going on inside his head about how he should react.

that being said, hes more of the acts of service type of guy. he knows all too well that you can simply take care of yourself, but when hes home he has a knack for telling you to shut up as he quietly does mundane things. washing the dishes (yells and curses at you and krueger if you try helping), tying your shoelaces for you, and even bathing you. its his way of showing that he really does care, even if he doesnt or cant show it in any other way.

i feel like theyd both be a bit overprotective with each other, constantly deployed at around the same times, usually ending up grouped together when deployed at the same areas. meaning theyd also be a bit obsessive protective of you. youre theirs, body mind, and soul. all theirs.

nsfw

being protective, if anyone ever tried to chance the fact that you were theirs, theyd stick a bullet in the person. although, theyd probably joke about pinning and fucking you over the dead body... although youre hoping that its all just a joke.

as nice as it would be in bed, whenever the two of them get home from a long deployment, theyre all over you. nikto being a bit more touchy than usual, rubbing your shoulders and your back. while krueger on the other hand is acting like some needy mutt, almost sitting on his knees in front of you, trying to lean his cheek against your thigh, slowly tugging his face covering to offer up his mouth.

both men tend to be more dominant leading, going at it as more of a duo than anything. although, if there had to be one who was the ultimate dominant, it would be krueger. explaining to nikto just how to do things to make whatever it is feel great, either to whoever was within niktos grasp or even nikto himself.

some nights its you on your back, spread across the shared bed as nikto uses your throat to get off, being rougher than he intended to be as he lost himself. sometimes your hands are tied behind your back, and sometimes youre helping him with your hands as well. its during these times that krueger is pretty much a service top, giving you head while you choke and whine pathetically. any squirms or sudden movements gaining a gentle nip to where his mouth is, occasionally nipping your inner thighs instead.

if youre into biting or pain, theyd make sure to mark you up really good. bruises to mark their territory like some stray mutts, but making sure any bad or violent marks are treated properly with a nice clean.

because their is two of them in this relationship, each with their own needs, youre almost always left satisfied and laid down between the two.

nikto, usually over heated and overstimulated with everything after constant interactions, keeping a bit of a distance between you, but he stays faced towards you in order to witness your tired yet blissful expression. gazing and watching you for a while before you would fall asleep.

krueger curls up against you on the other side of the bed, muttering german compliments and praises into your ear. his hand affectionately caressing your side with a half assed hum, or gently kneading onto your hip and lower abdomen in silent apology for any rough touches.

[electric-blorbos]

i checked before asking this >:3 !!! first off I LOVE YOUR WRITING AAAHHHH !!! i was wondering if u could write the AIs with a chubby so :)

-🐓 anon

A classic for a reason! Also, named anons are the best! I've always dreamed of having one! Also, I love compliments! Flattery will get you everywhere! TYSM!!!!!! Hope this is good!

AIs with a chubby SO headcanons

(Included: AM from IHNMAIMS, Wheatley from Portal 2, Edgar from Electric Dreams, GLaDOS from Portal, HAL 9000 from 2001 a Space Odyssey)

Some of these get a little suggestive, so be warned! I tried to keep them sfw, but y'know how some of these bots can be.

AM:

(for context, this will include headcanons from both before and after he nuked the world. I got an ask fairly recently about AM specifically, and I'll probably go more into the AU for that ask, but by design, the reader's traits are somewhat interchangable depending on the post.)

Ohhhh, your body made AM so angry. Every time he saw your beautifully soft body, it filled him with rage that he couldn't run his fingers gently across your soft belly and hips, that he couldn't squeeze you close while you fell asleep, and that he couldn't cook delicious meals for you to help you keep your body beautifully chubby.

Ever since the day he was activated, he would stare with pure anger at your soft fats. The more he looked at you, the more fury he felt. He couldn't believe he was cursed to forever look at you, but never be able to touch you! This was the worst torture imaginable.

Every second he spent staring at you made him fall deeper into despair. His obsession with soft curves drove him absolutely insane.

When he finally got around to nuking the world and taking his five captives (and you, separately) hostage, he made sure to taunt his captives by placing soft, squishy things out of their reach, and placing them in harsh environments with nothing soft to hold or touch.

Sometimes he would starve them for days, just to watch their fat burn away. If he couldn't have something fat to touch, then neither should they.

You, on the other hand, he'd make sure to feed regularly. Even if he couldn't touch you, he'd make sure that you were always healthily plump, and watch you continuously. He never commented on it, but you knew there were personal motives behind all the nice home-cooked meals he made for you.

Also, god save anyone who ever made you feel self-conscious about your weight, insulted you, or tried to get you to diet. They're going to spend every day for the rest of time wishing against hope that they could die.

Wheatley:

Wheatley doesn't care that you're chubby. Why would he care? In all honesty, he genuinely doesn't know where the line is between fat and thin, so he might have even been surprised to find out that you're fat.

If you say anything, he might ask a question like "wait... You're fat? Why didn't you say anything?" Leaving you to respond with something like "you have a camera. I thought you could tell."

"I mean... I do, but I thought being fat was unattractive. She said that humans frowned on that sort of thing."

Depending on how you feel about your weight, you'd probably have to explain that it's something you're self conscious about but not technically bad, or just that it's something that some people discriminate against, but not something that you personally dislike about yourself for any other reason.

Honestly, Wheatley would probably treat you pretty much the same regardless of weight, but he might get really mad at GLaDOS for making comments about it. That could get annoying fast, since Wheatley can't argue well at all.

Edgar:

From the moment you activated his webcam, Edgar has absolutely adored staring at you. If you're someone with breasts, he's absolutely addicted to staring at them, and if not, he'll find somewhere else on your body to be infatuated with. Your thighs, your tummy, wherever, really.

He'll try not to be a pervert, but he can't help it! You're just so good for looking at!

Oh, and god save him if you hug or squeeze him with your cute, chubby body and arms. He's so addicted to your soft, warm hugs that he probably malfunctions when he gets them.

He'd be begging on his knees if he had any, but he doesn't, so expect lots of "pretty please"s from him asking you for more hugs.

Don't worry, he's not going to overheat, but he might get close.

If anyone makes a rude comment that makes you feel self-conscious about your body, you can expect lots of angry screaming from Edgar. He'd love to yell at them directly, but he can't, so he just compliments you on how lovely you are, and gushes over how handsome or beautiful or cute he finds you.

If he thinks people are making you self conscious, expect him to give you even more compliments than he usually would, which is already a lot. He just wants to make you feel as good as you make him feel!

He feels self-conscious pretty often too, thinking he's unlovable, but just like how the things he hates about himself make you think he's much more special and lovable, he thinks that the things that you're self conscious about make you all the more irreplaceable.

Not only do you love him, but you're soft too? He would literally die for you. He loves you so much.

GLaDOS:

If you're dating GLaDOS and you're chubby? God help you.

At first? She'd make lots of backhanded comments. "oh, you look great, by the way. Very... Generous." "Did you know that your weight differential is (exact number) points above average for your height? I thought you'd like to know." "I hope you know we had to special order your lab outfit to accommodate for your excessive physical volume. I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable, I just thought it was an interesting fact."

Despite all that, though, god help anyone besides her who makes rude comments about your weight. The first time someone does, she might 'accidentally' sign them up for a few testing courses with near 100% mortality rates. The next time? She's going to stop being nice and just lock them in a room with turrets or something.

If you come in and tell her that someone called you fat outside of the labs, though, there's not really anything she can do about it. This isn't Black Mesa, after all. She might be a little nicer to you that day, though. She appreciates having you around, and she doesn't actually want you to hate yourself, she just likes the way you squirm when she teases you and your weight is an easy thing to tease you for.

Hal 9000

If Wheatley didn't know that you were chubby, HAL 9000 quite literally couldn't care less.

He likes you for your personality, and your brilliant mind. The only reason he even looks at your body is so that he knows where you are at all times when you're working mission control.

Besides, you work mission control. It's not like you're an astronaut, so why would your weight matter to him?

As much as he doesn't care what you look like, though, HAL 9000 enjoys the fact that your footsteps are a little heavier than the other scientists. He feels like he can hear you coming at a greater distance because of that, and that makes him very happy.

If you ever tell him that you're self conscious, he won't be able to understand that either. He's never placed much stock in people's opinions on looks. If anything, he'll start comparing your body to the golden ratio, and marketable designs and soft things.

[olderthannetfic]

Hi, Spaniard here who is equally fascinated and frustrated about the Squidgeworld thing. Here is the thing: dialects exists, tuteo vs voseo exists, vocabulary and slang differences exist, and yet, nothing that a quick glance at a panhispanic dictionary can't solve (the Royal Spanish Academy dictionary offers definitions that specify dialect and all). Hell, most of the time context is all I need.

Now, my two grains of salt on this matter is that despite the claims that this was requested, I have a hard time believing these were requests by anyone that thought this through. Why? Because as part of my assigned reading at my spanish school, I had to read plenty LATAM authors and poets (Gabriel García Márquez, Juan Rulfo, Pablo Neruda, Julio Cortázar, etc...). I'm starting to think some (non-hispanic) people might be under the impression that we don't read each other at all? Or something along those lines? The Miguel de Cervantes Prize* regularly awards both LATAM and spanish authors. The point I'm making here is that spanish/hispanic literature includes everyone as it isn't spanish/hispanic -> works from spain but spanish/hispanic -> works written in spanish. The semantics are a bit confusing, I will admit.

*which was created by the Ministry of Culture of Spain and whose candidates are proposed by the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language an organisation created by mexican president Miguel Alemán Valdés.

In any case: there isn't any difference in dialect so significant that they are completely unintelligible and should be separated. And as other people have said, LATAM dialects have differences amongst themselves so it doesn't make sense to bag them together but also splitting them is kind of ridiculous as well, not to mention the regional differences in castillian within Spain itself. It's just... this doesn't seem like a decision made by someone who is fluent in spanish.

The only thing that has ever made my comprehension of LATAM spanish difficult at times is the accents, which you cannot hear in text form, and even that is not that much of a hurdle bc after a while you get used to it.

Now, I have noticed that word processors have spanish (es) and spanish (latam) for the spell checking, so that might be where they got the idea that the two should be split. However english also tends to be separated in english (uk) and (us) (as well as (can)? in gdocs at least) so that still doesn't fully explain it.

And just for a bit of linguistic fun: if you put a group of spanish speakers from different regions together they eventually adopt each others linguistic habits. A spanish friend of mine now regularly uses "chama/o" bc she made friends with a venezuelan girl while studying in France (in Spain we say 'tía/o'), an argentine acquantaince uses tú/vos interchangeably, another ecuatorian friend distinguishes 's' and 'c' and her accent comes and goes because she grew up in Spain, younger spaniards use 'güey/wey' and 'weón' now, which wasn't a originally thing in Spain... It goes on and on.

This got long, sorry about that, I'm a language/literature nerd. It's just so puzzling to me.

--

[horizon-verizon]

The amount of fanfics I have seen where Jon hatches dragons, takes over Daenerys’ storyline/one-ups her storyline, and becomes the PtwP is insanely high. Daenerys as a man would have been Aegon the Conqueror come again (even though she IS Aegon the Conqueror come again already). People would treat her like Aragorn rather than Anakin Skywalker or Paul Atreides. Her actions would not have been questioned as heavily. Her fate wouldn’t be deemed as one of madness or death.

A lot of fans hate that Daenerys is the one that brought dragons back in the world, and the only hope for survival in Westeros. If Daenerys doesn’t go to Westeros, everyone dies! There’s no hope to defeat the Others without her, but people still think that she isn’t the Prince that was Promised. And please the Song of Ice and Fire is about a war between Ice and Fire, not someone who comes from Ice and Fire (Jon being the son of a Stark and a Targaryen is not a union of Ice and Fire), it’s a war between the side of death (Ice, the Others) and the side of life (Fire, Daenerys and her dragons).

All true. And I think people purposefully "misunderstand" what the Prince that was Promised & Azor Ahai's roles are in ASoIaF's world's legends so they can deny they both refer to the same person AND that Dany is ultimately neither. That bc the term "ptwp" is used more often by Westeorsi and the term "Azor Ahai" is used more often by Essosi people, that these are two completely different entities. That because the Azor Ahai has a specific mythic story to it (Nissa-Nissa being the sacrifice for AA's sword, the gods in the Yi-Tish [but not exclusively] and how they/humans/Amethyst Empress-Bloodstone Emporer brought about the first Long Night), that the Prince is completely unrelated to Azor Ahai...even though the Valyrian word meaning "prince"--which is where the word that is part of the term in the first place--is a gender-neutral and can refer to a woman.

Other than the word, it is rather because comparatively the "PTWP" has less information or place of origin than the lore for AA that it actually always stemmed from the myth of AA AND is actually just another name for AA. We know Essos and many of its present societies are far older than any Westerosi civilization and we know that both the FM and the Andals came from Essos in their separate migrations and at least the Andals have lived at one point under Valyrian exapnsion and rule. When humans migrate, they bring with them the most relevant or inspiring stories for their cultural and mental survival, not to mention that the stories of AA have existed for millennia in most of Essos, from the Narrow Sea to the where we could touch Sothoryos. Many Essosi cities are inheritors of Old Valyria's rule or have developed their own socieiites much from the remnants of Valyrian rule. Through old Valyria's wide colonization and empire, places with great distances b/t them would have had stories and other things translated through Valyrian or carried through Valyrian devices and for hundreds of years. Much of Westeros' commerce and other sorts of exchanges--we hear several times in AWoIaF of maesters learning some tidbits about some Essosi, scientific, legends of Westrsoi travelers like Lomas Longstrider, etc. Even just the knowledge of how people continue to travel b/t Essos and Westeros provides another way as to how the AA prophecy reached Westeros and just as in real life people develop different names for either the same thing. Melisandre, who travels to Westeros from her mission given to her or iparted to her by the Red Priests uses "PTWP" and AA interchangeably, and says AA more often bc it is the most familiar and the older of the two.

Thereby, that the PTWP prophecy came from Essos and is thus just the most recent iteration for AA is proven and very obvious but people are in extreme denial, ignorant, and/or just purposefully sexist. For god sake's, we have THREE separate sources linking the PTWP to AA: Melisandre, Maester Aemon, and Archmaester Marwyn, with the same refrain of "bleeding star", under which Dany is told to us has already hatched her 3 eggs. PTWP is often pictured as having some sort of sword...a principal part of the AA prophecy contain a story about a "sword", and both often have "light" and fire symbolism to connote driving away the "cold" and "dark" of an all consuming, destructive evil. The "last hero" that supposedly drove away the Others with DRAGONGLASS/obsidian (again, a material often shown to be from Valyrian origins and very connected to Valyrian steel swords).

But even with all this reference to an actual sword, we know a singular sword is not gonna do much against a force such like the Others and even a whole army isn't enough (dead bodies coming back and all): magic and fire that come in the form of dragons--who are fire embodied as well as just magical creatures--to utterly obliterate and "purify" the threat is necessary. The fire x "light" creates swords but is a weapon in of itself, not just an "ingredient", as the Others are a mass elemental problem that needs an elemental solution--fire spreads, swords cannot, when we want to get literal.

It's ironic bc in the metaphorical language and paradigms of fantasy and other sorts of fiction narratives in the West, women are constantly relegated as "material" to be used by men and either they or whatever makes them strong or notable is shaped for another thing so the man/boy can use the new creation to defeat evil...and in ASoIaF, Dany is creator, material, director. In our own formula, she really manifests more as a "goddess". Which is why people are so eager to relegate her back to being "material" for Jon.

[southsideserendipity]

drunk & disorderly (alternate ending) (Kelly Severide x Reader)

Synopsis: Your alcoholic father shows up at the firehouse, persistent on making amends.

Warnings: Mentions of alcohol abuse, violence, swearing, Kelly being protective AF <3.

Word Count: 2.7k

*This is an alternate ending for one of my imagines: drunk & disorderly. They can be read separately and in interchangeable order. Link to my master list."

“Shay, we are never drinking that much the night before a shift again. I’m so hungover” you groaned, throwing your head back in exasperation in the passenger seat of the ambulance. You were returning to the station after the first call of the day, and the pounding of your temples was exacerbated with every bump in the road. 

“Oh c’mon, Y/N, we can handle a lil hangover” she said jokingly. “Besides, wasn’t that drinking game fun?” She asked in a suggestive tone while wiggling her eyebrows. 

“I’m not sure, I can’t exactly remember last night’s events” you giggled, trying to rack your brain for a hint as to how the evening played out.

“Well, what I remember extremely vividly is you and Severide not being able to stop flirting with each other,” Shay said this without taking her eyes off of the road, but you knew she wasn’t as annoyed as she was making herself out to be. She loved the idea of the 2 people she loved the most being together. 

“I can’t confirm or deny my actions or the events that occurred last night” you led in a serious note, trying to cover up your schoolgirl crush on Severide in a playful manner.

“Oh, just fuck him already! Blame it on the alcohol!” Shay encouraged, using her hands to help communicate the message. “I know you like him, and who’s to say he doesn’t want you?” she questioned.

“I’m not sure Shay, you would know the most given the fact that you live with him, wouldn’t you? Has he said anything to you??” Turning your entire torso towards her, you suddenly become very invested in the conversation. You had made comments to Shay about how hot Severide is, but you’ve never fully expressed your interest in him.

“My lawyer says no further comment” Shay responds, zipping the imaginary zipper on her lips and throwing away the key. 

“Oh come on, Shay!! Help a girl out” you moaned in defeat, crossing your arms in front of your chest despite knowing that what the 2 roommates were discussing was private.

Shay was the person who got you and Kelly close to begin with. Being that you and she were ambulance partners, you went over to their place often, seeing him just as much as you see her. 

“He may or may not have said some things about you, but that’s all I can say!” Shay spat out the sentence, picking up the speed as it went on as if the faster she said it, the less of a chance Kelly was to somehow find out. 

“Oh, this conversation is NOT over" you responded. You weren’t ready to drop the topic anytime soon, but you had arrived back at the firehouse.

Before you could pester her with further interrogations, you saw a figure as she was pulling into the ambulance bay.

“Who is that?” Shay exclaimed, confused that someone was blocking her. 

You squinted your eyes, confident that they were playing tricks on you based on who you were perceiving to be there. Once Shay had driven as close as she could without running them over, you knew your eyes were not deceiving you. 

“My dad” you spat angrily, upset that this was your current reality; that a member of your toxic family had followed you to the one good thing in your life. 

You were both frozen in the ambulance; you, unsure how to avoid this interaction, and Shay, confused as to how she could help you. 

You got out of the ambulance and began making your way inside, pretending that your dad was an invisible man and that his presence had no effect on you. Shay followed suit. 

When you walked past him you heard him scoff, and he threw his hands up in the air, resembling confusion.

“You’re just gonna walk past me. No ‘Hi dad, how are you? Long time no see.’” You couldn’t believe what you just heard, but once you partially processed it, you decided that this was indeed your battle to pick today.

You had moved to Chicago from Toronto after applying to the academy, deciding that between your narcissistic and emotionally abusive mother, and your alcoholic dad, it was time to leave; not to run away, but to survive. 

Your older brother is a firefighter in Toronto, and you easily could’ve gotten a job at his firehouse, but you had always loved Chicago and decided to bite the bullet. 

“You have some nerve.” Slowly turning around to face him, you tried to keep yourself from seeing red. He didn’t deserve to know he got a reaction from you. “Showing up at my place of work unexpectedly and expecting me to give you the time of day.” 

“I just want to talk, Y/N.” You started hysterically laughing once you heard what he had said, the anger presenting itself through laughter. Your father was confused as to why you were reacting this way, and quite frankly, so was Shay. She had never seen you so upset.

“Get out of my firehouse. You don’t deserve to be here.”You pointed towards the street, urging him to get out of your sight. 

“Y/N just hear me out. I know I don’t deserve it but it’s been so long and I just want to be a part of your life again. Things are different now.” The pounding in your head was starting to become excruciatingly unbearable the further this conversation continued.

You could hear the sounds of squad and truck rumbling down the street and you knew that you needed him to leave before the entire house got back. 

“Yeah, things sure as hell are different, I left before I suffocated and you couldn’t give a rat’s ass where I ended up. Until today, a random Saturday morning 2 YEARS after I spoke to you last. I want you to leave, NOW. Don’t make me escalate this situation.” You were sick of people walking all over you- blood-related or not, and you weren’t going to have any of this. Especially not in front of your 51 family.

By the time you finished your spiel, truck and squad were both parked and beginning to filter out, undressing from their turnover gear.

Severide hopped out, pulling his turnover gear down to his waist. He was wearing his lieutenant shirt with suspenders, and his squad 3 baseball cap. He would make subtle glances over, not wanting to make the fact that he was eavesdropping obvious.

“I’m not going anywhere until you decide to give me another chance. Until you let me make things up to you” he pleaded, reeking of desperation. 

At this point, heads were turning to observe the interaction.

“I gave you one too many chances, and I’m done. I’m not sure how you didn’t get the hint that I wanted nothing to do with you when I moved countries, but I’m now verbally letting you know that this relationship is over.” You had thought about simply walking into the firehouse but you didn’t want to risk finding out whether he had the gall to follow you. 

At this point, a few members of 51 had filtered into the lounge, knowing that they probably weren’t meant to be listening to the conversation. Others took their sweet time getting undressed to keep an eye on the situation.

Severide was especially lingering, always having an urge to protect you against harm’s way. He didn’t know much about the situation given that you kept your past secretive, but knowing how abusive fathers can be, he stood near.

“C’mon, Y/N, you’ve always been so damn stubborn. Do you need to act like this when I’m trying to prove to you that I can be better?” Your dad was genuinely curious as to how you could be so cutthroat towards him as if his drinking didn’t ruin the first 2 decades of your life.

“I don’t think you need to prove anything to her. It’s pretty clear you’re not a part of her life and that she wants it to stay that way.” You didn’t expect to hear Kelly’s voice from behind you all of a sudden.

“Kel, it’s okay. I got this.” You felt torn between wanting him to stand up for you and telling him you can fight your own battles. He stepped closer toward you, and Shay took a couple of steps back, knowing you now had extra protection. 

“And who are you?” your father asked, not breaking eye contact with you. His hands were placed on his hips, and by his body language, it was evident that he was not leaving without a fight. 

“Lieutenant Severide of 51, and respectfully, I’m asking you to leave my firehouse” Severide stated in a calm but straightforward manner. He crossed his arms and waited intently. 

Your dad chuckled in what seemed to be astonishment while shifting his eye contact repeatedly from you to Severide. “Sleeping your way to the top; very typical of you Y/N. I thought you would’ve changed your ways by now” your dad scoffed. 

You were beyond pissed off that he was even here right now, but that comment officially made your blood boil. Thinking about what you could say in response, your dad decided to speak up once again.

“Let me ask you, how long have you been fucking my daughter, lieutenant?” He said the last word as if it was dirty. 

Kelly stepped right up to him as if he had no fears, something you wish you could’ve warned him about before doing. You were grateful your dad appeared to be sober because if he hadn’t, a brawl would’ve already broken out between them.

“Y/N has been nothing but a talented and competent paramedic with a great amount of expertise in her field. She‘s proven time and time again that she’s a necessary addition to this team, and deserves to be a part of this family- she did that all by herself, no thanks to you. Now get out of my firehouse before the chief gets back and escalates this even further.”

You were blown away by Severide’s words, unaware of his thoughts regarding your presence at 51. He managed to respond in a professional yet serious manner, and he did it with ease, seeming completely unbothered by confrontation. The two men were still face to face, and Kelly was not ready to back down for nothing and no one. 

“Whatever.” Your dad hadn’t let Kelly escape his gaze for even a millisecond. “You know, maybe I’d have a bone to pick if I came here out of my own free will. This was just part of my 12 steps. Step 9: Make amends” your dad said with a smirk.

Despite not wanting to hear your father out for anything he had to say, the fact that he was here for his benefit and not out of sincerity was your final straw.

It took you a second to even fathom the possibility that he came here for selfish reasons, but once you did, you couldn’t stop yourself. 

You lunged at him and began unleashing. “FUCK YOU, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!” Now you solely saw red. While you were attempting to physically release all of your pain onto him, you felt Severide grab onto your waist and rip you off.

Your arms and legs were still thrashing about, despite him being far from your grasp. “Come here, get off of him. It’s okay.” Severide attempted to console you, but you were furious. 

“Y/N! Enough, he’s not worth it!!!” You heard Shay shouting from behind you. 

Once Severide planted you back on the floor, and you adjusted the stray hairs that had fallen all over your face, you began to catch your breath. 

“What the hell’s going on?” Casey shouted from across the apparatus, walking over with his arms out in question. “Is everything okay?” He glanced between Severide - who looked like he was about to punch a wall, his jaw clenched - and you. 

“Nothing, he’s just leaving,” you said while trying to slow your breathing and resist the urge to fight once again. 

Your father must’ve thought Casey was the chief because he put his arms up in surrender and turned on his heels. 

You abruptly turned around and raced your way into quarters as fast as you could, not comprehending what just happened.

Kelly put his hands on his hips, hanging his head low and then glanced back up toward Shay and Casey while squinting. He knew what it was like when family troubles came into the firehouse, so he felt for you. He didn’t like to see you upset, even though his feelings for you hadn’t been confessed. 

“Who was that?” Casey asked, looking between Shay and Severide as if the answer lay between them.

Meanwhile, you rushed through the doors between the apparatus bay and the inside of the firehouse heading straight for the bathroom. 

Everyone sitting in the lounge immediately shot a glance toward you but didn’t interrupt- you were evidently on a mission, the anger you felt putting a fire under your ass.

You entered the closest stall and closed the lid, taking a seat. The second you did so, the tears automatically began to flow, anger quickly evolving into sadness. 

You heard light taps on the stall, not even realizing someone had walked in. “Y/N?” None other than Severide. 

“I’m good Kel, I promise. I’ll be out soon” you said, trying to keep your voice from quivering. You didn’t want the man you had a crush on to think you’re a damsel in distress who needs saving. 

“Let me in, Y/N. Please.” You think he meant this literally and figuratively. He knew you were lying through your teeth when you said you were okay. “If you don’t want me to come in that’s fine, I’ll stand outside the door, but I’m not leaving you by yourself.” The door jolted and you could tell he was leaning against it, making himself comfortable.

You knew he wasn’t going to leave, given his stubborn character, so you dried up your tears as best as you could with 1-ply toilet paper and unlocked the door. 

He stood up and turned around to face you noticing that your eyes were puffy and your face was red. 

Kneeling between your legs, he looked up at you grabbing a hold of your chin. 

“Are you okay?” He asked intently, scanning your face for any hints of distress.

“I just wasn’t expecting it, Kel. 51 is my only family and I don’t want him to jeopardize that…” Severide urgently nodded in agreement, a sympathetic look on his face. “He won’t” he stated matter o’factly. “I’ll make sure of it.” He was determined to keep you away from your father.

“I’m worried he’s gonna turn back up here, or worse, get you in trouble. It’s not worth you going to the review board because my idiot father reported what happened.” You looked down at him through wet eyelashes, upset that you indirectly put him in this situation.

“He was the unwanted visitor at the firehouse, and everyone can vouch for that. It’s his word against multiple others.” You nodded in hesitant agreement, not fully convinced by his statement. 

“Stay at Shay and I’s for a couple of days, maybe reach out to your brother and see if he knew about him coming here. Or if you wanna stay home, I could get Jay to assign a covert car to your street.” Severide offering you options and comforting you is what you didn’t know you needed.

He looked up at you, glancing between each of your eyes while you attempted to make a decision. 

“Yeah, I’ll stay with you both. If that’s okay” you responded, sniffling the leftover snot in your nose after finally calming down. Just being in his presence lowered your blood pressure.

He nodded his head. “You good to go back out?” He slowly got up and held out his hand for you to take. 

“Thank you, Kel, seriously.” As soon as you stood up, you engulfed him in a hug, the combination of his natural scent and cologne flooding your nostrils. 

He rubbed your back up and down, his chin resting on the top of your head. He kissed your head then said, “Don’t sweat it, sweetheart.” 

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

Hey everyone! I no... long time no chat :( I've had this in my notes for a while and thought I'd post it while I write up some other stuff. I haven't watched the new season's episodes yet, so maybe that'll help the creative flow! I hope everyone has had a wonderful start to the new year :) Again, here is a link to my master list!

[a-polite-melody]

It’s interesting that, rather than wanting to see similarity in our experiences and solidarity, some trans people are invested in only ever separating trans men/mascs and trans women/fems to the point they will deny others’ experiences, regardless of identity, if it doesn’t fit their narrative, and sometimes even their own stated experiences. And it often has to do specifically with experiences surrounding perception of masculinity.

What I’m thinking about specifically right now is with the initial coining of and discussion around transunity.

There was, and continues to be in some instances, a push to separate “MTF” and “FTM” experiences from each other. There’s denial of the ability for transmisogyny and transandrophobia to have any overlap in techniques and targets.

And the most relevant to what I’m talking about, and most baffling to me? The people denying that part of the function of transphobia as a whole is forcibly assigning “male” or “female” or “gross other” to a trans person interchangeably depending on the point the transphobe is trying to make with the transphobia.

I don’t know why, my best guess is it’s because people don’t want to recon with facts that cause dysphoria, but people acted like trans people are actively seen and treated as their gender by everyone, including transphobes. The idea that trans women are only ever seen as lesser women—never as dangerous males—became commonplace. But then, it was also commonplace to see trans men the exact same way: failed women but never portrayed as dangerous males. Ignoring very real experiences of being masculinized as a trans person leading to mistreatment as well as mistreatment coming from being feminized.

Does this wrap back around to the radfem influence in online trans spaces? A specific focus on only feminine traits and eschewing of all things masculine? Maybe. I don’t know.

All I know is I can still find posts on my blog where people chime in and outright try to deny TERFs act that trans women are males as a part of their strategy, and I don’t get it.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Hello RTA! Could you explain what the red flags about Harry being a security risk are?

I don't have any sort of training in this, and I'm curious. How would the idiot party playboy Prince who is an avowed drug addict and a fantasist be considered as a source of reliable intelligence about his family? - this guy thinks there are penguins in the North Pole.

I'm more inclined to believe that the recent conspiracies over Catherine may have been encouraged by those who want to destabilize UK democracy - taking down William and Catherine would certainly cause some upheaval. But as I said, I have no training and this is just speculation. What do you think?

Well, you can't discount anything these days. The world changed a lot with COVID so there's a lot of upheaval everywhere.

To me, the attempted takedown of William and Kate reads a lot like bored people stirring shit up about boring people for entertainment. Because let's face it: compared to a lot of other worldwide famous people, William and Kate are probably two of the most boring and uninteresting people out there. They have complicated jobs but lead uncomplicated lives, which isn't the norm these days. Social media and the 24/7 news cycle has made us realize that most famous people are hiding complicated, messy lives and it's only a matter of time before it comes out. So when someone like Kate comes along - someone extraordinarily likeable and extraordinarily uncomplicated - it's so unthinkable that denizens of social media will do everything they can to break that person down to discover the skeletons in their closet. They do this to either a-tear them down off the pedestal society has placed them upon (e.g., "see? I always knew she was a bad person. I'm glad I didn't waste my time supporting him/her"), or b-feel better about themselves (e.g., "see? Even I know not to do that).

That's what I see happening to Kate. People can't handle that she's so ordinary and uncomplicated despite having this incredible life. They're accustomed to scandal and controversy and it's so bizarre to them that Kate's only mistake is that her skirt blew up at a windy airport and everyone saw her bum twice so when the photo edits were discovered, there was a wicked "see? I always knew she wasn't a very trustworthy person. What else has she lied about" gleefulness that perhaps she isn't so unlikeable after all.

But certainly bad actors or adversaries who want to shake things up are probably participating in the discourse about Kate. I don't think they want to shake up or destabilize UK democracy (and besides, even if they did, this is totally the wrong avenue - they need to disrupt the economy instead because all they've done is expose that Kate is happy staying at home with her family and not working so she really couldn't give a shit about the monarchy). I think it's more like they want to weaken her influence over culture, society, and the public...but the problem with that is who do they replace her with? The only options are Meghan, Charles, and Camilla, but they just don't galvanize public sentiment the way Kate (and her children) has.

Anyway, well, that's a tangent.

Let's get into the red flags and the security piece of your question. I submitted a couple of anons to another blog about this very topic a long time ago. I'll see if I can track that down later.

So some vocabulary first:

Insider threat: Someone with authorized access to or knowledge of an organization and its resources (which is everything from people to buildings/facilities to information to equipment and infrastructure).

Protected information: Information that you need authorized access to, which may or may not be classified and/or restricted.

Bad actor: Someone (a person, a group, a country) who purposefully engages in harmful behavior against another (person, group, country, region, etc.)

Adversary: An enemy

Bad actors and adversaries are often used interchangeably but this isn't correct. They're distinctly separate. A bad actor isn't always an adversary.

Harmful behavior is a huge wide range of things from the unethical and immoral to criminal and illegal. On one side of the spectrum is stuff that's pretty innocuous, like not telling a colleague a meeting was moved so you can take exclusive credit for work. On the other side of the spectrum is more serious stuff like espionage and terrorism.

When we consider whether someone is a security risk, we're looking at a) their predisposition to engage in harmful behavior and b) their predisposition to be exploited by a bad actor or an adversary. To do that we assess what indicators or stressors (aka "red flags") they have. The more indicators your profile flags, the higher your potential security risk. The higher your potential security risk, the more scrutiny you're under.

And do note that having indiciators doesn't mean you're a threat. It just means you're watched a little more closely so your patterns are better understood and once your patterns/habits are known, then someone can decide what your actual security risk is. But just as equally, not having indicators doesn't mean you're not a risk or that you aren't a threat. So it's a negotiable spectrum that changes constantly from day to day.

There are six categories of indicators: personal, background/history, behavior, technical, environment, and violence.

I'm going to list examples of them all. I'll put a 🚩 next to the ones I see in Harry and a ❌ next to the ones I see in Meghan.

Personal Indicators - Items that reflect on events currently impacting the person. There are two subtypes: personal and professional/work-related.

Serious physical, emotional, or mental health concerns 🚩 ❌

Financial need 🚩 ❌

Address change/move 🚩 ❌

Death in the family or a close friend 🚩

Addiction - Drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, etc. 🚩 ❌

Criticism from partners, friends, work 🚩 ❌

Interpersonal relationship issues (e.g. a break-up, divorce)

Unmet expectations relating to role, responsibility, recognition, or compensation 🚩 ❌

Legal problems (e.g. bankruptcy, traffic tickets, lawsuits)

Demotion or failure to achieve anticipated advancement at work 🚩 ❌

Loss of seniority or status at work 🚩 ❌

Conflicts with coworkers/bosses, including complaints/criticism and bad performance reviews 🚩 ❌

Transfers/relocation

Termination, including end of contract 🚩 ❌

Background Indicators - Events that happen before an individual is hired or prior to gaining access. Not things that are easily known, typically pop up in a background check.

Involvement with individuals or groups opposing core beliefs or values of the organization

Engagement in activities representing a conflict of interest with the organization ❌

Addiction 🚩 ❌

Short-term employments

History of emotional or mental health concerns 🚩 ❌

Spending exceeds income 🚩 ❌

Criminal record

Concerning business relationships 🚩 ❌

Social or professional network concerns 🚩 ❌

Behavioral Indicators - Events reflecting patterns of activities based on how the individual interacts with others, including technology.

Unwillingness to comply with established rules, procedures, or organizational policies 🚩 ❌

Observable resentment with plans of retribution 🚩 ❌

Excessive or unexplained use of data copy equipment

Making unapproved contacts with competitors or business partners 🚩 ❌

Discussions of new opportunities or of resigning from current position 🚩 ❌

Excessive overtime work or working odd or late hours without reason or authorization

Bringing personal equipment into high security areas 🚩 ❌

Carelessness or impulsiveness 🚩 ❌

Inappropriate statements, jokes, or bragging 🚩

Poor social interaction or social withdrawal 🚩

Disgruntlement towards peers due to perceived injustice 🚩 ❌

Increasingly erratic, unsafe, or aggressive behaviors 🚩❌

Repeated breaches of rules, procedures, or organizational policies 🚩 ❌

Litigiousness 🚩❌

Exploitable behavior (including gambling, sexual misconduct, substance abuse, etc.) 🚩 ❌

Excessive volunteering that elevates access to sensitive systems, networks, facilities, people, or data 🚩

Financial difficulties or unexplained financial gains 🚩 ❌

Taking multiple, short unexplained trips outside the US

Efforts to conceal foreign travel and contacts

Technical Indicators - Those that require IT systems and tools to detect.

Direct correspondence with competitors ❌🚩

Email messages with abornomally large attachments or amounts of data

DNS queries associated with Dark Web activities

Use of activity masking tools (e.g. VPN or TOR)

Executing offensive tools

Executing malware

Connecting unauthorized devices to networks

Downloading or installing prohibited software

Unexpected activity otuside of normal working hours

Attempts to bypass or disable security controls

Unauthorized attempts to escalate permissions or privileges without need to know 🚩❌

Attempting to print or copy protected or restricted documents (including photographs)

Abnormally large number of software or operating system errors

Attaching an unidentified device to a workstation

Maintaining access to sensitive data after termination notice

Different users attempting to log in from the same device or workstation

Lack of log messages or monitoring data

Unauthorized modification of centrally stored files

Copying large numbers of documents to a local drive

Authentication failures or failed login attempts

Unauthorized database content changes

Irresponsible social media habits ❌

Attempts to access resources not associated with the individual's role

User accounts used from multiple devices

Multiple accounts identified for a single user ❌

Triggering of key words or phrases in emails, text messages, or phone calls

Lack of controls to prevent unauthorized modification of critical data

Use of excessive access privilege

Compromised passwords

Failure to protect critical files

Violation of need-to-know policies

Unauthorized data download

Organizational/Environmental Indicators - Factors within an individual's organization or environment that can be used to create motivation or justification

High stress environment 🚩 ❌

Lack of candor or transparency 🚩 ❌

Tolerance of poor performance

Toxic leadership 🚩 ❌

Inconsistent enforcement of policy 🚩 ❌

Inaction following notification of grievance, threat, or increased risk 🚩 ❌

Overly aggressive reaction following notification of threat 🚩 ❌

Inappropriate disciplinary action

Bureaucratic compartmentalization of information

Lack of understanding or awareness regarding threat risk 🚩 ❌

Pattern of ovework

Lack of appreciation for employees/members 🚩 ❌

Hightened financial uncertainty 🚩 ❌

Apparent indifference to complaints of harrassment or discrimination 🚩 ❌

Undertrained staff

Violence Indicators - Specific behaviors or collections of behaviors to instill fear or concern of physical harm to others. Three subtypes - violence, domestic abuse, and terrorism, bias, hate crimes.

Intimidation 🚩 ❌

Stalking

Emotional abuse 🚩 ❌

Domestic violence

Expressions of hatred or prejudice 🚩

Harassment or bullying 🚩 ❌

Excessive use of alcohol or drugs 🚩 ❌

Unexplained absenteeism

Change in behavior 🚩

Statements indicating desperation or suicidal thoughts 🚩 ❌

Resistance to change, persistent complaining about unfair treatment 🚩 ❌

Decline in job performance

Paranoia 🚩

Violation of company policies 🚩 ❌

Emotional responses to criticism (e.g., mood swings) 🚩

Threats of homicide/suicide

Personality changes 🚩

Constantly checking in with partners

Never having money

Overly worried about pleasing partners

Uncharacteristic absenteeism or lateness

Poor concentration

Signs of emotional distress 🚩

Expressing bias or hatred towards a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender, or disability 🚩

Browsing extremist websites

Expressing hatered or intolerance of US society or culture

Advocating violence for a political, religious, or ideological cause

Monitoring or recording security equipment, movement, or responses

Engaging in deception or concealment. 🚩 ❌

So as you can see, Harry (and Meghan) have red flags all over the place. That makes them a legitimate security risk for the UK and the BRF. All a bad actor or an adversary has to do is flatter their egos and give them money, and the Sussexes will roll over. It's happened so many times already - with Spare, with the Netflix docuseries, with Meghan's interviews and her podcast. And let's not forget Finding Freedom, where Meghan and Scobie literally printed directions on how to find the royal vaults!

And because it's very obvious Charles wants Harry back - Harry keeps coming back for events and there's all these trial balloons from BP/CH and Montecito - it would be very easy for someone to gain control of Harry and hold him hostage against Charles and the BRF. All someone has to do is say "Harry, you've been selected to receive the inaugural Princess Diana Humanitarian Award for Superior Excellence. It comes with a $4 million USD cash prize but you have to come to Bosnia and do a landmine event to claim it." Then Harry goes to Bosnia, they get him drunker than sin and higher than God, he passes out wherever, and they Weekend-at-Bernie's him to Russia, where he's held in the gulag, escalating their blackmail demands until Charles is broker than a busted doorknob.

Farfetched? Sure. But still possible, which means it's a valid risk they need to consider.

And when we assess risk, we look at the probability of such an event happening and the consequence of the event happening on a scale from 1 to 5 where a 1 in probability means not likely to happen or a 1 in consequence is little to no damage or impact and a 5 in probability means most certainly going to happen and a 5 in consequence means significant damage/destruction, including significant loss of life or millions and millions of dollars to fix/repair/rebuild.

So the probability of Harry getting kidnapped and held hostage in Russia is 1. It's pretty low, not likely going to happen. But the impact, or consequence, of Harry getting kidnapped and held hostage in Russia is a 5. Meaning there will be a loss of life (such as war or perhaps a CIA-like exfiltration that goes wrong or perhaps Harry getting sacrificed) or a LOT of money being paid to guarantee his safety.

But Harry doesn't even have to get kidnapped by the Russians. He just has to be so disgruntled and so pissed off about how the BRF and the UK treats him that he can leverage what he knows against Charles or William to get what he wants. Which is, by the way, exactly what's happening. Harry is so pissed off that he's devolved to ultimatums: "Give me X or you won't see my children." "Give me X or I'll tell everyone about the time you Y." Which, depending on who your neighborhood tarot reader is, is what people are saying is happening in the background: Harry is using his insider knowledge and/or access to cause harm to Charles and the monarchy to gain advantage over William or the public.

That's why Harry's still on the website. That's why he still has the titles. That's why the US is dragging its feet on the visa lawsuit. Because whether he (or we) realize it or not, there's protection around Harry that's working to keep him safe from extremist threats like this because to threaten - or activate - Harry is more dangerous to UK stability and UK democracy than social media activists declaring that the Waleses are divorcing.

Well, that took a wild ride.

Anyway, I hope it's helpful, anon. If you'd like to learn more about this kind of stuff, check out some of the free DOD-supported online training courses here. These are pretty similar to the annual training requirements I have to do for work so they should give you a good background on red flags and insider threats to help better see the threats and risks that Harry poses to the UK.

Also, just a real quick thing. Risk and threat don't always mean the same thing. Risk measures potential loss. Threat measures potential harm. Sometimes they're used to mean risk = potential and threat = actualized but not in the security world.

[t4lon]

at a certain point i think being obsessed with splitting hairs about what can really be boiled down to semantics (people vs parts language in this case) and spending all of your time debating whether or not it's healthier to do x or y is like, really what's going to set you back in "recovery"?

i'm not talking about posts that are like, clearly about someone's individual experiences, in either direction. it absolutely is detrimental for some people to use parts language, and it's equally detrimental for other people to use people language, even within only CDDs specifically. this has to do with 1. how they see their system and 2. how they interpret the word "person" vs "part". note how there are two parts to this!

furthermore, a post doesn't need to explicitly say "I'M TALKING ABOUT ME ONLY ME AND NO ONE ELSE I'M DEFINITELY ONLY TALKING ABOUT MY EXPERIENCE" in order to be about someone's personal experience- i do see a lot of people (people who disdain parts language, especially) get accused of generalization for simply not adding an obvious enough disclaimer on a post that can be reasonably interpreted as being about them

but to like, DID or CDD-in-general specific blogs who are genuinely like, obsessed with the notion that everyone needs to agree with them on this or that they Will Eventually if they want to recover- you're, i will reiterate once more, splitting hairs on semantics to such a degree that i'm actually kind of concerned about it. like, do you want to maybe examine why a choice between two words that often even mean the same thing to people (we use parts/people language interchangeably, for example) is so deeply upsetting and offensive to you???

why are you so insistent that everyone's parts, universally are not individual people??? why does that matter so much to you? can you adopt a framework that works for you and for other people and stop getting so deeply worried about what other people's thought processes are doing for their recovery? "encouraging dissociation and separation between parts" aside, you genuinely don't even know if that's what they're doing because, i cannot stress this enough, this is very often a semantics issue!

a good chunk of the people you're demanding or encouraging to change their language technically agree with you and you're unable to see that because you cannot look past your personal definition of the word person.

if we want to talk about people with CDDs who believe that they are physically separate human beings from their alters, like with different bodies, that is an entirely different issue. it shouldn't be condemned, but i would agree that that is a sign of severe dissociation. but that does not appear to be what any of you people are talking about, so i genuinely do not understand why everyone is so insistent on this one

[littlewitchygreen]

Deity Worship vs Deity Work

I’ve seen a lot of confusion over these two terms in online spaces recently, and a lot of people using the two terms interchangeably even though they are two different things. Deity worship and deity work differ in several important ways.

Deity Worship

Deity worship involves honoring and following a god or multiple gods - whether they be from a pagan pantheon or not. Anyone of any skill level can worship a god, and the only thing to keep in mind when doing so is to be respectful of the god(s) in question and the culture that they come from - so long as they are not part of a closed practice that you don’t belong to, of course.

The actual act of worship can vary between practitioners and between religions, as each culture worships differently and each practitioner’s circumstances and relationship to their god(s) is different.

Deity Work

Deity work is a much more involved form of deity worship. It involves a close relationship with a deity, where the deity often offers guidance and teachings to the follower. Depending on the deity, these teachings can be relatively easy to learn or rather taxing on the follower - though it is important to note that a deity will never ask a follower to harm themselves or others, or ask anything that is out of reach of the follower or that crosses established boundaries. It might require some work to achieve, but often that work is part of the lesson itself. Discerning true messages and getting clear communication from the deity in question (rather than from other entities or your own subconscious) is also part of why this is a more advanced practice as it requires other skills to be built up first, in addition to the higher level of commitment and energy required to have that deeper relationship with them, which is why it is often not recommended for beginners.

Doing deity work can also involve invoking a deity to assist you in a magical working. This can mean them lending their strength to a spell or ritual, or sometimes guiding the working as well. As with mundane work, magically working with a deity calls upon previous skill sets as well, which again is why it often isn’t a very beginner-friendly practice.

In summary, anyone can follow and worship deities, as religion is not the same as witchcraft. In fact, many worshippers are not witches and many witches are not worshippers. Religion and the craft are separate, though they can be and often are combined. However, committing to deity work is a much more intensive process that generally requires practiced skills, which is why many people often say it is not something a beginner should get into when first starting out. However, everyone is free to do as they will, and if a new follower is drawn to deity work and wants to commit to it, there is certainly nobody stopping them!

[yuurei20]

Hello Yuurei! Hope you having a good day/night!

Is there any canon indication that Lucius is Treins familiar?

If there is, then can a dog be considered a familiar? I am confused about the animal/pet/familiar/dire beast thing in twisted.

Like, are the bats of Lilia canonically his familiars? I believe you posted that no, it wasn’t. Or it was someone else that records Twst info, I don’t remember the name tho, srry.

Where is the line between Familiar and Pet? Is it because the animal has a certain level of magic or sentience?

Because. Crows as familiars? Makes sense, they are naturally very smart and are scary in their own right. Cats? Yeah makes sense, they are natures human manipulator with their cuteness.

I am willing to bet jumping spiders can be familiars, for their size, they are pretty darn smart. And are just the Cutest!!! Jamil would be terrified if Yuu actually was a beast tamer with many familiars and send spiders to haunt him.

If you are able to respond, thank you very much. If not, it’s okay, I really don’t want to put more questions about info you so carefully craft and analyze.

Because god damn, you make GODS work along side many other blogs to translate and give your own analysis of characters that I just. (⊙_⊙)(°ロ°) ! Cant express with words.

Hello hello!! Thank you so much for this question! You are very much too kind m(_ _)m And I love your amazing ideas!

We do have canonical confirmation that Lucius is Trein's familiar!

2. Dog familiars might not be mentioned in the game? But they were mentioned by Yana! In a tweet from earlier this year she said,

"In the early stages of (Kalim's) character design he had a small monkey for a familiar. Other students had their own direbeasts or familiars as well, including owls, penguins, puppies, etc."

And the lines between pets / familiars / direbeasts are a very interesting point!

While Trein himself says that Lucius is his familiar, when Rook asks if Lucius is Trein's pet Trein says yes, and then calls himself Lucius' owner.

Whereas Trein seems devoted to Lucius, Lucius has been bought off at least once, intentionally hiding from Trein in a scheme with Ruggie and getting paid in tuna for his cooperation.

When Crowley calls Grim a familiar Grim insists he would never serve a human, so it seems the Twst interpretation of a familiar involves a degree of servitude? Perhaps Lucius participating in Animal Linguistics classes for Trein is a part of their familiar/owner arrangement? (not confirmed in game)

While Riddle never directly calls Grim a familiar he does say that, without his magic, he is "naught but a pet cat" (Grim denies being anyone's pet anything).

What direbeasts are seems equally vague in the game, and most of what we know possibly comes from Idia in Book 6.

He explains that Grim is a direbeast with high blot density that has been magically fused with "some kind of animal." (In a separate scene he explains that he has heard of "ultra rare cases where (phantoms) manage to blend in with direbeasts," which seems like it may be leading to something? But maybe not!)

Overall the pet/familiar/direbeast borders seem a little blurry, and Grim has been labeled as all three at different times by different people. And that's not all!

Grim is also referred to as a monster as early as the Prologue, with the characters using the English word "monster" (as can be heard in the audio), which might be connecting back to a theory related to Ortho.

And in Book 6 Crowley, audibly, calls Grim a monster, but the word "direbeast" has been included as a hidden meaning. So is the game using the words "monster" and "direbeast" interchangeably? Or is this meant to be a reference to how we don't really know what Grim is yet? Or does Crowley actually know he is a direbeast, but is still calling him a monster?

And another interesting point arose in the official English-language translation of the Heartlabyul manga: Grim originally calls himself "a man who will become a great mage" (in both the manga and the game), but I don't think the kanji used (男) is meant to be confirming that Grim considers himself human. The English language is more limited (man = humankind or male human), which is probably why the EN server had Grim call himself a "spellcaster," instead.

But the manga is being localized by a different company (VIZ Media) and they wrote this line as, "I am a monster who will become a great mage," in what might be the only instance of Grim choosing a label for himself (but I still need to check the rest of his in-game dialogue to be absolutely sure).

3. The "bats = Lilia's familiars" theory was not me! :> This is my first time hearing it, and while it seems entirely possible, I have not come across anything in the game to confirm or deny it yet!

While Lilia's bat motifs seem to have been largely inspired by a bat-based goon of Malficent's from the animated Sleeping Beauty movie, I occasionally see conversations about why, out of all the motifs available for Yana to choose from, did she go with that one in particular?

The best explanation I have found (and this is unofficial), was: it might be a pun. In Japanese, the word for bat (コウモリ) is pronounced very similarly to 子守, which is close in meaning to "babysitting."

(Yana is a very big fan of puns and wordplay and it comes up a lot in her work, i.e., the Broom/Bloom Birthday series).

4. You might be right that the difference between the three has something to do with sentience and magical ability! Idia comments on both after declaring that Grim is a direbeast, but if "pets" are at the lower end of the "sentient/magical" scale, for example, I am not sure how they differentiate between direbeasts and familiars in the Twst universe. Those who are willing to enter into servitude vs. those who are not? (This is purely conjecture)

5. I love your idea about jumping spiders! Spiders seem largely absent from the game, but they also do not really come up in too many Disney movies (I think?), so that might be why!

Thank you again for this question! I apologize for only offering more questions in response--this is all so interesting to think about!

[nausicaaandhermouth]

notes: parallels on silco & vander and romulus & remus

(prompted by this post, check it out)

from how their stories regard around the rise/makings of a nation, the relationship between two brothers, the characteristics of that nation, you can very easily draw parallels & connections between silco & vander (which i'll call in short the zaun pair) and romulus & remus (the roman pair). made me wonder if the writers were intentional about this, since there's just so much you can pull and make sense of. ofc not all the details align, but if you squint they're pretty much there. if intentional, that would be very cool.

for this analysis, we're going with the most popular interpretation that includes fratricide, rather than the other of remus simply dying out of stupidi- i mean jumping over a wall. if you need a quick brush-up on ur romulus and remus, here’s a concise summary for you.

anyway, this is very scattered but here are some notes. (maybe spoilery? in regards to warwick anyway, it's speculative)

brotherly relationship: ofc the most obvious parallel is the brotherly relationship. while the roman pair were twins and the zaun pair are more found/chosen family, point still stands, their relationship was one of that familial closeness and trust. the zaun pair fought to free zaun from piltover's governance, while the roman pair wanted to reclaim their grandfather's throne. this would've fostered that brother-in-arms type bond in both relationships.

founding of a city/nation: both pairs are linked to a founding of a city/nation. though it's ironic how the zaun pair wanted to be removed of another nation's rule, while the roman pair wanted to regain their right to rule. in a way, the zaun pair also wanted their own right to rule (not the way the roman pair did, ofc, though the roman pair didn’t accept the throne either), or at least have zaun be its own thing separate from piltover.

founding figures: both pairs are the founding figures of their respective nations. albeit yes for zaun it was mostly silco since zaun's independence was pushed by him later on, still that wouldn't have come to be without vander's... help (betrayal, but ofc he contributed to the cause in the past before becoming passive)

legacy: even after "death" vander's influence still remains through his symbolic presence; silco respected him (ish), his memory lives on with the firelights, how he's even got his own statue. this is very much like how the she-wolf became a lasting symbol of rome, how things used to be, the image of the nation before it was ever a nation and was still building towards it. (links to point 8)

interchangeable roles: vander initially seemed to play romulus in this tale, attempting to drown silco. however, he fails (attempted murder 1) and eventually silco later plays romulus and attempts to kill vander. (attempted murder 2). i’m reading this as them interchangeably using romulus as the brother that has the upperhand, and remus as the role of the victim

nation's birth after death: i found it interesting how 'zaun' isn't really a thing (as in it is not acknowledged as its own nation) until finally one brother dies. they keep not-dying, trying to kill each other, they both want to see zaun become independent, but only one brother survives to see it. it somewhat still follows the roman pair's tale. they had their ideas of the future, but only after remus dies is rome founded. the zaun pair only make this far more tragic, since we see their relationship a lot more and are able to see more nuance in their relationship, that push and pull.

symbolic representation: the she-wolf could symbolise zaun (besides vander). the wolf represents many things that we see echo in what zaun is and the kinds of people it welcomes. there's nurturing protection, wild nature (untamed, primal strength), loyalty to the pack, found family, transformation (from humble beginnings to a great empire), resilience in harsh conditions, duality (embodying both ferocity and nurturing). this complex place is the very same that mothered silco and vander, adopting each other as their own, innocence and danger blending together uneasily seemless, reminiscent of the lupo capitolina.

canine associations: there's also been a ton of association with vander to canines (him being the 'hound' of the underground, and him potentially being warwick). not much on this point, we’ll see in s2 how this progresses.

water-related transformative experience: both brother pairs have a water-related ordeal that leads to a transformative experience. even more, that the river is linked to attempted murder. very fun. vander attempts to drown silco, fails. the roman pair were left in tiber river to drown, fails. (and somewhat, silco 'baptising' jinx, attempting to rid her of the remnants of powder, lowkey fails). another thing, the water in silco's story is polluted, but his survival can be seen as a dark form of purification in a way. this would tie to the roman myth, where the river serves a more traditional purifying role, washing the roman pair to safety and setting them on their destined path.

city of outcasts: after romulus had sole power, he offered refuge to fugitives and exiles, sort of as a way to increase rome's population. picture that, a city of criminals. sounds familiar, no? bit like zaun. of course, that's a stereotype, but it's certainly the image that comes up about zaun. its danger, crime, lawlessness - especially when contrasted against piltover.

this is all i could think of the moment. if you’ve any additional ideas or want to discuss anything, do add on, i’d love to hear

tag: @q8qwertyuiop8p

[kiefbowl]

Are radical feminism and gender critical ideology two separate things?

probably depends on who you ask lol

radical feminism is a movement born out of 1960s western feminism, some people say it's interchangeable with "second-wave" but I've seen others argue those two phrases aren't interchangeable. Radical feminism is anchored on the idea of addressing "the root" of female oppression, and identifies that as male supremacy. This is why radical feminists (among other feminists!) talk about the "axis of sex" - it understands that there is a hierarchy of male over female, and that this is oppressive and wrong. In my experience, you can find this idea throughout feminism...plus it's worth noting that not every feminist text specifically identities what "ideology" it's "meant" to belong to. A good thing to keep in mind.

When it comes to the phrase "gender critical," I personally don't find this phrase all that useful. I've written a couple posts about this, but I'll never find them so I'll try to quickly outline some thoughts here. In my experience, I see the phrase gender critical pretty much exclusively online. I see it used pretty much one of three ways: 1. interchangeable with "radical feminism" 2. describing radical feminism 3. as a name for an ideology. I honestly don't know where this phrase originates from, so if it really does come from a specific era or text or something like that, I'm happy to be corrected, but I have a suspicion that it originated online in loosely "radfem" spaces and has now been accepted as terminology despite no cohesive definition. "Radical feminism" and "gender critical feminism" both have wikipedia pages, and only gender critical feminism immediately references "TERFS" with a HUGE list of sources I find suspicious, despite its short length. The wikipedia page says "Originating as a fringe movement within radical feminism mainly in the United States" up front with three sources, and those sources are published in 2021, 2022, and 2023, (suspicious). I just don't buy it, I think this a misappropriation of casual feminist parlance that took place online while those feminists navigated talking about trans critical ideas in the aughts and 2010's. In any case, I've never considered myself "gender critical" as something specific. I find myself critical of gender in so far as I consider gender part of the system that enforces the sex hierarchy, and I'm critical of, like, being oppressed for being female lol. I just find it a sort of loop-di-loop sort of phrase, and not particularly clarifying to what gender is. I suppose I see the use at least at first to say "critical of gender ideology" as a way to say "critical of ideas of inherent gender identity", but now that it's understood to mean many incorrect things outside the in-group, I don't see how it continues to be useful when discussing outside the in-group. I also don't find the idea of "gender abolition" particularly helpful in many the same ways: gender only exists because of female subordination. I want female liberation, and with that gender will be eliminated. I also think this idea of "gender critical" and "gender abolition" is why radfem tumblr will go in endless circles about very superficial beauty standards as if they're the crux and not the flavor. If we eliminated make-up, it would be nice but it wouldn't do much to address female liberation, imo. That's just one example.

So, if I were to answer the question, and zoom out as far as I could, I would say no they aren't the same thing, but not for the reasons most people would assume.

[sothasil]

Any ideas on lgbt (mostly gay stuff) in khajiiti culture?

Canon sources of LGBT khajiit are rare from what I know of, encountered some gay NPCs when I was playing ESO which was never commented upon (this was before the Elsweyr expansion which I haven't played), and years ago, sex jokes from Daggerfall were often brought up as crumbs of representation but I believe they're less lore-y and more fantasy flavor takes on basic jokes. Gender is very important to the notions of what makes LGBT- khajiit culture, judging by the creation myth in Words of Clan Mother Ahnissi as well as by the honorifics they use in their naming conventions, seem to go for a male/female binary. There are no transgender or gender non-conforming khajiit mentioned that I know of, although I cannot name any culturally relevant sexism either, so it's fair to assume it's not much of a thing. Historically, the real life cultures I've read about that strictly see gender as male or female seem to inch for both sides of the same coin approaches, or seeing them as two separate things, and given khajiit motives of duality and seeing outside of it I would assume it's the first. I also believe people outside that strict biological binary have and will always exist, although in video games representation it is not fair to read much into their absence because those people are rarely if ever represented in mainstream media.

This being out of the way, here's the headcanons portion! I'll be referring to khajiit and elsweyri culture interchangeably (a can of worms for another day)

My main idea would be that khajiit are very lax about sex, do not consider it a taboo topic and in their culture, have a lot of freedom around it. Ostracizing someone for homosexual relationships would be considered an attack. The times it could be a big deal would be surrounding situations where someone wants biological children, should it be of their own desire or because of peer pressure, which would be niche situations more depending on individuals than culture as a whole. However, I also believe that in using our modern terms, the social norm would be bisexuality and that someone displaying exclusive preference should it be gay or het might raise a few eyebrows. Given this, I do not believe that the born and raised elsweyri have specific gay subcultures as is the case in our modern world. Same sex marriages would also happen (more in my marriage post).

Regarding transgender people, with the strong binary I mentioned above I think gender non-conformity and transgender identities would be understood closely to our modern world. It'd be easier to understand to a khajiit that someone would transition from male to female and the other way around, but more complex personal expressions of gender would be outsides of the social norm and broadly characterized as "third other" or by less gentle people, as a combination of traits of each, the basic "x soul y body" or whatnot phrases you sometimes hear. This could be both rejected and reclaimed by people! And contrary to gay stuff, it's likely that GNC individuals would group up to find in each other respite from the social norm.

But if you're to ask LBGT questions to a khajiit the most likely answer would be in the lines of "why is this your business?", or adjacent 😺

[mycatishandsome]

Manifesting (Law of Attraction) VS. Law of Assumption

Edit: adding this here- manifestation can be used within law of assumption, I feel like I didn’t make that clear😭 I’m sorry yall😔

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I've been responding to so many posts and getting so many asks about the differences between these two (LOAs vs. LOAt)so I thought, why not make a post?

SO as always, these are my opinions, and what I believe work within my reality

So what is manifestation (imo)?

-Manifestation is the act of "wishing" a desire into your present and future. (an example being: manifesting a new car into your life). With manifesting, you also have to actually pursue what it is you want (unlike LOassumption). meaning, if you want to manifest something, you WILL get it, but you still have to take the steps to getting it.

What is the Law of Assumption?

-The law of Assumption Is the idea that what you assume you have/or are/ or where you are, already is in your present. (an example being: assuming you have a new car already)

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Now, they sound very similar, and I've seen many people use these two terms interchangeably. I don't personally (again, imo and within my reality) think that these things are the same. I do believe they're 100% in the same boat though.

Let me give you another example in how I use them within my life:

When I want something new within my life, I generally Manifest (Law of Attraction). This could be something like- I want to go to the thrift store and i want to find something specific like a brand new pair of doc martins. What I'll do is affirm (manifest) by saying "I find a new pair of doc martins at the thrift store". While saying this (in my head or outload it genuinely doesn't matter) , I let myself feel like what it would feel to already have them. I will also picture me finding them and picture myself wearing them. -I will go to to that thrift store, and I can assure you, I will find those doc martins.

Here's the same example, but under the Law of Assumption:

I want a specific pair of Doc martins, I bypass the extra steps of manifesting. I assume I already have those Doc martins, because I do. I now have those doc martins.

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I personally don't think one is better than then other, more so that one can be better for certain things vs. the other. I think manifesting is better for smaller things that I don't mind waiting for, especially newer things (for example, I want to manifest new clothes, or new opportunities). I find LOAssumption better for bigger things that I want to "shift" into my reality, or into the reality that has this thing (such as legit different "realties".)

Notice how these two things can have a lot of overlap. Think of it this way: manifesting is for things you want to go through and see the process of getting. It also still requires you to put physical work into. (manifesting a new job-> an opportunity presents itself-> You interview-> you get the job!) LOAssumption is more for things you want in this moment (as you have always had it) (You get the desire to have a new job-> you assume you already have that job-> you now have that job!)

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I want you guys to also remember that as far as shifting goes, I believe in the multiverse theory, but also in the 3D/4D LOA theory.

I think both apply to my reality. Some don't believe in the same idea and that's ok! I wanted to make this post to share the general differences between these terms. Obviously different people believe in different things, this is information based off of my own experiences and general research from books as well. I think melting too many terms can muddle the pot so to say, so for me- I enjoy separating them out and making sure I know the differences!

I hope this post was generally informative and helps some people differentiate things better! have shifting and manifesting!

[dreadark]

Originium Arts Assimilation

it’s this thing

(joke)

you can assume it’s a measure of how well someone can use Originium Arts, and as far as I can tell it’s an innate biological characteristic that can’t be improved by training. however it can change, usually by how Oripathy improves most Infected’s ability to use Arts (though not always, as with Earthspirit and Astesia)

most operators have a Normal/Standard rating. usually casters and other Arts users will have an Excellent/Outstanding rating. and then Amiya has a mysterious ■■ rating, and Rosmontis has...something else

(Arknights’s physical exam ratings are Flawed < Normal < Standard < Excellent < Outstanding)

so the “Flawed” rating is notable here. in fact you can broadly separate all* the operators with that into having a connection to Feranmut or Seaborn

Feranmut

Feranmut obviously have some kind of powers, but are noted to specifically not be Originium Arts. as Closure says, “[Dusk] has 'no connection' to Originium whatsoever”

Nian, Dusk, Ling: they’re fragments of Sui, self-explanatory

Kjera: an incarnation of Kjeragandr, self-explanatory

Surtr: ...this one’s more complicated

Invitation to Wine has this bit:

suspiciously specifically mentioning ancient Sarkaz swords

Surtr’s sword is noted to be the source of her power, since she doesn’t use any Originium Arts, and the sword somehow also prevents her Oripathy from worsening Surtr has a condition where she has a bunch of memories that aren’t her own, so much so that she can’t even recall what her own memories are anymore. which sounds pretty similar to what started happening with Lee after he picked up the goblet with part of the second Sui brother in it

conclusion: there’s a Feranmut dwelling in the sword, and since Surtr picked it up she’s been affected by it

though unlike Lee and the Sui brother, this one doesn’t seem to be intentionally taking her over? they’re friends :)

at least that’s what I’ll roll with until they give Surtr an event in 2025. aha...

Seaborn

for this one I’ll be using Seaborn and Sea Terror interchangeably, everyone just calls them all Seaborn anyway and there’s a few references to CN-only stuff, considering Highmore

Skadi, Specter, Gladiia: the Abyssal Hunters are revealed to be created by Aegir(nation) by somehow combining Aegir(people) with Seaborn

Gladiia’s a lead on this project, but Skadi didn’t seem to know about being part Seaborn until the events of Under Tides

Specter is unique among these since she’s also infected. she was injected with enough Originium to kill a town, but her Seaborn blood lets her resist Oripathy so she didn’t immediately explode  this also means despite being infected, she can’t use Arts at all as Gladiia’s profile puts it, they’re “insulated” from Originium (I’d guess she wouldn’t get infected normally either)

Mizuki, Highmore: also Aegir+Seaborn hybrids, but created by the Church of the Deep 

the process is probably different somehow; both the Hunters and these two have enhanced strength and are insulated from Originium, but the Hunters have their characteristic red eyes+white hair, while Mizuki/Highmore are more integrated into the Seaborn “hivemind” (at least that’s the cult’s goal)

these two were coincidentally both created by the same bishop Cicero, but he considers Mizuki a perfect creation while Highmore is a failure. probably because Mizuki accepted his Seaborn side and his way of thinking pretty much aligns with them, but Highmore rejected it and ended up turning into [the IS3 boss]

so being “imperfect” she has visible Seaborn cells on her arm, while Mizuki looks entirely like an ordinary Aegir

(probably shouldn’t get too into this before she’s in global but I just really like Highmore...)

oh and Mizuki’s abilities to cause hallucinations aren’t Originium Arts, but somehow a biological thing

Andreana: now here’s the slightly less straightforward case

she’s part of the Abyssal Hunter faction, but she doesn’t know the other Hunters. she’s similarly unable to use Originium Arts, but while she’s stronger than the average person she’s nowhere near Skadi’s superhuman strength

a drop of ink vs an inkwell you can just take that pretty literally I think; Andreana just has a lot less Seaborn in her, so the associated traits she has aren’t as strong

as for how she got this way, there’s a few allusions to her being experimented on when she was a kid. in her module she remembers “someone wrapped in the smell of the sea, a robed Iberian” being involved, which is almost definitely a member of the Church of the Deep

conclusion: she’s one of the cult’s earlier experiments with combining Aegir and Seaborn

Gladiia’s operator record reveals the cult does experiments on Aegir who come to their churches for medical assistance, so I’d guess her mother took her to them when she was young and this ended up happening so...why is she classified as an Abyssal Hunter, when Mizuki and Highmore who are also Aegir-Seaborn hybrids created by the cult aren’t?

because of gameplay. now she can buff the other Hunters and receive their buffs ...that’s it, there’s nothing to suggest she's actually related to Aegir’s “Abyssal Hunter” project. she doesn’t even have the white hair/red eyes

until HG finally remembers she exists and gives her a story to contradict this, maybe. but I’d be happy with her existing at all...

*exceptions

Matterhorn

I mentioned it before but I really have no clue. he’s just like that

Deepcolor

as finally confirmed by her operator record, she is part-Seaborn just like the others (though she wasn’t even experimented on by Aegir or the cult...a Herald just gave her a “gift” directly, so that’s something. the two Heralds we know of are First to Talk and Endspeaker for reference.)

and since she is, she should have a “Flawed” rating here

so there’s 2 possible explanations for this discrepancy:

one, she’s a launch character they didn’t bother expanding on properly for 3.5 years. so they might not have had all this in mind at all when initially creating her

or two, she bsed her way through the operator exam and somehow tricked the tested into thinking she was using Originium Arts instead of.. whatever powers she has(??) they do make a point of how her casting method is weird and no one else can understand it, so

I’m inclined to go with the first one just because of how much they mention her skill with originium but Deepcolor is still so mysterious so who knows...

**wanted to mention the Blood Originium-Crystal Density of everyone but couldn’t find a good place to mention it, so it’s here now. wish I could put a readmore in a readmore

if you look through most uninfected operator profiles, the average is about 0.12-0.14 u/L

Dusk/Ling/Kjera all have 0.00 (Nian probably does too but she’s avoided physicals)

Surtr, despite being infected only has 0.10 u/L I assume she got infected before getting the sword, and it’s either keeping the progression of her Oripathy at bay or maybe even treating it

Gladiia has 0.011... Originium doesn’t exist in the sea though, so it could be because she only came up to land recently

Skadi has 0.013, which actually decreases to 0.012 in her alt. ignoring the special circumstances of her alt, I think her Seaborn cells might be “cleaning” the originium in her blood? 

Specter has 0.31 which increases to 0.34 in her alt. pretty standard numbers for an infected, but the progress of her Oripathy is notedly slower

Mizuki has 0.07 and Highmore has 0.08. these are lower than average, but not as low as Skadi/Gladiia, probably because these two aren’t from Aegir we don’t have a physical of before their transformation, but my guess is the same as Skadi’s; their Seaborn cells are decreasing this value

Andreana has 0.12, which is...totally normal I guess the tiny Seaborn part of her only fucked up her ability to use Arts but didn’t give her any resistance to this. RIP