#they make so much more of an impression to bc we follow often for the personality

[chaddicus]

see the longer I play with my understanding of my transmasc experience and dysphoria, the more I grapple with the conflict between mocking fragile masculinity for refusing to allow the use of 'feminine' things vs knowing more and more keenly how much dysphoria I would and do get whenever someone associates something I do or use or wear with femininity. and no amount of people insisting that using "feminine" things doesn't invalidate someone's gender, man or otherwise, seems to have any impact on that dysphoria

we do need to untangle cultural perceptions of masculine vs feminine and respect for a person's gender, manhood in particular in this discussion, but I almost feel like knowing that means it's my responsibility to refuse to engage with those ideas for my own gender — and the problem is that knowing this is not the common understanding means knowing that other people *will* associate my use of feminine things as some sort of contradiction with any masculinity I may wish to express or identify with, and no amount of understanding the concepts and holding the principles can erase the revulsion and pain and fear I feel at the thought of people associating me with some concept of womanhood that I adamantly *do not experience or identify with.* fuck.

[moonstruckme]

hey mae! it’s been awhile since i’ve sent an ask but im always reading your work girl! i love how you write tbh. if you’re up to it do you think you could write something with poly marauders, where the reader has trouble eating and making themself eat due to poor appetite. my appetite really does come and go and ever since covid (maybe before) it’s like eating makes me feel revolted. sometimes i just don’t feel like eating bc of other things like depression, adhd, anxiety. i was just wondering if you could write something with the boys helping out the reader with finding out what sounds good, cooking, and eating if possible. sometimes having someone around to talk to and hang out with makes it so much easier to deal -🌶️

Hey Pepper, thank you sm! And thanks for being patient with me <3

cw: lack of appetite, mention of skipping meals

poly!marauders x gn!reader ♡ 1.1k words

The sun’s going down, the last dregs of its light spilling brilliant and golden over the book in your lap, and you can feel your boyfriends starting to get restless. Well, two of them.��

“If we’re missing half the ingredients,” Sirius says, trailing James into the kitchen, “it’s not going to be any good.” 

James only tsks. “Ye of little faith. That’s what improvisation is for.” He starts pulling things down from the cabinet. 

“You’re not even going to glance at the recipe?” 

“I don’t need to. I know the general vibe.” 

“Help!” Sirius calls towards the living room. “He’s gone off the rails. Remus, come fix it.” 

Remus turns around to look over the back of the sofa, his shoulder brushing yours as he does. He’s sitting right up against you despite the couch being empty, not that you mind. Remus is sort of like a cat that wants to be near you but not always to be pet. His touches are often like this, passive gestures like a hand on your head or his thigh pressed against yours. It works for you just fine; you can feel the affection bleeding into you from any point of contact. 

“Don’t you think we should just eat out?” Sirius asks, tilting his head and doing that thing with his eyes that you all pretend doesn’t work on you. 

Impressively, Remus keeps his face impassive. “I’m having leftover brussels sprouts,” he replies, “so it’s not really my concern. Anyway, James has a good history with not following recipes.” 

“Exactly,” James says, grinning at Sirius, who scowls. But then he fixes his gaze on Remus. “So why are you having that, Rem? Have what I’m making.” 

“Because they’re going to go bad, and I’m not hungry enough for a big meal.” The last part is said somewhat quieter, directed towards the living room as he turns back around and picks up his own book. 

Out of the corner of your eye, you can see James frown, but he glances at Sirius and they seem to collectively decide not to push it. Remus’ appetite isn’t much better than yours. He has his better days, but it’s not uncommon for him not to feel up to what your other boyfriends would consider a whole meal or to eat only chocolate until Sirius hounds him into something more substantial. 

James looks to you hopefully. “You’ll have some, won’t you sweetheart?” 

You wince, hating to let him down, and from the look on James’ face he clocks the guilt in your expression before even you get a chance to say, “I don’t think I’m really up to it tonight, either.” 

James deflates, but he’s clearly trying to put on a brave face. “That’s alright. I think I’ll just save it for another night, then.” 

“I’m sorry,” you say, setting your book facedown on the armrest and turning around to face him more fully. “You could still make it and just put leftovers in the freezer. Maybe I’ll have some tomorrow.” You wince again as soon as you say it. No promises, though.

The smile James gives you is comforting if not totally satisfied. “It’s okay. I’ll just make it another time, it’s not a problem.” 

You return his smile, close-lipped. Sirius is looking at you with narrowed eyes, arms crossed like he’s sizing you up. 

“What are you going to eat?” he asks. 

“Hm?” 

“What are you going to have instead?” You hesitate, and he tilts his head knowingly, a piece of hair slipping from behind his ear to drape over his shoulder. “You need to have something, especially since you didn’t have lunch.” 

From the kitchen, James looks at you. “You didn’t?” 

“I just…don’t feel like it.” It’s a feeble argument even to your own ears, and the look Sirius gives you says that he thinks so, too. 

“You can’t miss two meals,” he says obstinately. “Even Remus is having some brussels sprouts.”

You look to Remus to be offended at the even Remus comment, but he only shrugs. You’re on your own. 

“What sounds good?” he asks you. 

You try not to pout. “Nothing. Everything sounds gross.” 

“C’mon, baby.” Sirius leans against the countertop. “It doesn’t have to be strictly dinner food, yeah? Just anything that sounds like you’d be willing to eat it.” 

You think for a minute. Remus touches the back of his hand to your leg, knuckles soothing over the skin beside your knee. 

“I guess…ice cream sounds okay,” you say hesitantly. “But I know that’s not exactly nutritious…” 

“Would a milkshake be close enough?” James pipes up. 

You shrug. “I guess.” 

He grins. “I can do that for you, lovie. Just gimme a sec.” 

James is a loud cook. You go back to your book while cabinet doors slam and the blender whirs and there's a muffled “oh, shit” as something is undoubtedly dropped on the floor, but a minute later he’s bringing you a glass of something thick and chocolate-y looking. You smile at the added garnish of mint and a straw, reaching for it. 

“Thanks, Jamie.” 

He winks. “Anytime.” 

Remus is the only one courteous enough not to obviously watch while you take a sip, and you feel your eyebrows raise as you look up at James. 

“This is really good,” you say. He practically glows at the praise. “I didn’t even know we had chocolate ice cream.” 

Sirius barks a laugh, and James’ smile widens. 

“What?” you ask. 

“We don’t,” he admits. “Will it ruin your appetite if I tell you it’s not actually ice cream?” 

You shake your head, sucking at the straw. “I’m already drinking it, so.” 

James beams. He really is looking very proud of himself. “It’s a protein shake. A pretty balanced meal, actually.” 

“Oh, nice.” You grin at him, taking another hearty slurp mostly because you know it’ll please him. “It’s perfect, thank you.” 

“Gotta keep our sweetheart fed,” he says, bending down for a kiss. Sirius and Remus’ hums of approval nearly harmonize, and you and James share an elated look while they both do their best to pretend like it didn’t happen. 

“Can I try?” Remus asks, and you tilt the cup towards him in invitation. 

He wraps his lips around your straw, sipping hesitantly. He looks mildly impressed. 

“Could you make me one of those too?” 

From the look on James’ face, he’d be delighted to. “Course, love.” He plants a smacker on Remus’ cheek and nearly knocks Sirius over as he beelines for the kitchen. 

“This is just excellent,” Sirius gripes, but you see the satisfaction in his expression. “Now that you two have blown up his ego, I’ll have to eat something he makes too.” 

“Correct,” James says brightly. “And you should be so lucky.” 

[bugflies00]

sorry this is referencing a few month old post/s you made about the dream situation and a question you’d asked about dream stans, you can delete this msg if you want since it’s not as relevant anymore. Again I’m sorry if this is weird or you don’t gaf (that’s fair bc who does lol)

TW for grooming and dream being fucking gross. You can just scroll fast and delete if you don’t want to read or deal with this, I understand that

-

To preface Im about Tommy’s age now, when I was 15-17, used to be a huge dream stan, and I was very vocal about defending him online. —I was extremely parasocial and weird, and looking back on it I really regret how I acted.

So. Idk how much people who weren’t stans of his saw, but dream- as stupid as it sounds- was our friend.

He had bath calls with us, sleep calls with us, he told us in depth about his personal life and his health issues and his trauma and his moods and his habits and just basically everything. Most of his interactions with us was through his discord, and then someone in the fandom would stream his discord calls for people who weren’t there. A running joke was that dream had a parasocial relationship with us. there was absolutely no gap between creator and fan, he followed me more than once, he brought fans onto his discord streams and talked with them and he knew a good amount of us by name. He called us cute and talked about how much we all (as individuals) meant to him,

when drama happened he’d usually either do a space/call or go on his private and vent to us, there were I think two separate times he’d have full panic attacks over drama happening, and we’d have to talk him down. He also would, when responding to callouts or accusations, use arguments that his fans were making.

He did this during almost all his pitfalls, including the grooming allegations, his wording was often taken word for word from tweets by people I was friends with. I dropped him after the initial allegations, but for a while after i still checked in bc i was really hoping he’d be innocent (he wasn’t) and i can confirm he still does this. He also regularly dmed his fans, mostly his black fans, to ask for “help” on being less racist.

I don’t use the word “grooming” lightly, but dream was and is absolutely grooming his audience. Thats why dream stans seem so cult-like these days. The amount of guiltripping, lying, forcing an us vs them mentality, and manipulation I saw this man pull was actually sick. He’d frequently, privately, to us, vent about tommy or quackity, and about how “all his friends hated him” and “we were all he had left” (legit, not joking). He is extremely good at emotional blackmail, he is good at making his fans hate other creators and turn on them, he is very good at utilizing his tears and using wording that he knows will make his mostly teenage fanbase think he’s a good kind person.

He wants to impress on his fans that he really was just a kind person, the only kind person and the only voice of reason. That’s why when the Cantu thing happened, he started posting “messages” of him being so kind to the Uber driver. He needs his fans to think he’s a kind and loving person, and that Tommy and quackity and literally everyone who’s pulled away from him was just a fake friend who couldn’t be trusted. He somehow was always, always the one being fucked over.

I remember when I told my friend about dream (this friend had a completely neutral opinion on him and barely knew the guy beyond his manhunts) and he told me that sounded like grooming.

He gradually isolated his (primarily young, female) fanbase using private accounts, discord calls, Snapchat, and whatever else. He got extremely personal with us far beyond the level any creator should be, he used kindness and flattery (like calling us “mature”. Also legit) to make us feel genuinely loved by him, again, NOT in the way a creator loves their fans. In the way a friend loves their friends, even in the way a partner loves their partner. He lashed out at us and had panic attacks when we did criticize him, he used tactics to make us think he was always right and good, and more than that, make all his detractors seem like terrible people out to get him AND us, he played himself out to be the perpetual victim and used carefully cut clips and emotional manipulation (like how he brought up his ~poor innocent family~ when harassing quackity. Weaponizing trauma like that was something he did ALL THE TIME to us whenever he was criticized.) in order to use us against people he didn’t like, making us take the bullet for him.

He uses his kindness and supposed goodness as a weapon, he used Tommy’s own trauma around doxxing against him when Tommy dared to criticize him (“I supported you when you were getting doxxed, yet you won’t do the same for me?”)

He used trauma to relate to his audience, making us feel like he was the only person who got it.

It’ll sound stupid, but it was genuinely really scarring. The way he made me and my friends feel was so confusing. I often found myself feeling used and violated, but also like I was in debt to him. I dreaded when he’d have fans on call, I dreaded him but also he felt like all I had. The tone of him and the fandom was that “we have to defend him at all costs, they’re out to get him and we’re the last line of support he has”. It was embarrassing, it was stressful, it was horrible. I wasted so much fucking time and energy on him.

it was really traumatic and distressing, especially as a teenager who’d already been at a vulnerable point and used him as an escape originally. I know that sounds melodramatic but I mean it.

He is a groomer through and through. He’s barely getting any new fans, but he’s barely losing any either bc the grasp he has on them is so tight.

Worst of all, if you leave the fandom, you’ll lose your friends and become an enemy. He encourages that behaviour and that mentality. He encourages harassment of his ex-friends, he encourages harassment of anyone who doesn’t like him. He wants you to feel like he’s the only good person, and like he’s the only one who will care about you. And I know at least in my experience that the way I acted when I was a fan of his did genuinely cause me to feel alienated in my social life. I lost friends, I felt like I couldn’t talk to anyone “safely”. That’s how he wants his fans to feel, because at some point he really is all you have.

And that’s why dream stans are still sticking around. It’s at the point where the only way they’ll leave is on their own volition, and the more publicly fucked shit he does, the less hope I have that they’ll do that.

i don’t have much to add but i agree, and several people i know who used to be big dream fans also agreed that there was a heavily insidious ‘us vs them’ atmosphere

[sl-ut]

even more streamer!ellie hcs

part one | part two

ellie is not at all embarrassed to admit that a large portion of her own fame was largely due to her connection to y/n

like ofc she was already fairly popular on twitch but its not like the average person who didn't watch streams would recognize her

she ends up making a new priv instagram bc she gains like 50k new followers in a month

she only has like maybe 100 followers on the new one and basically just posts random photo dumps, family photos, and especially the literal cutest and/or horrendous photos of her gf

posts a LOT on her ig stories on both accounts

her main pfp is deffffff some screenshot that she took of their happy little sim family or like their little minecraft guys standing side by side lol

ik i said before that she loves playing like the sims w her gf on stream, but she also LOVES playing roblox together

starting drama in dress to impress, causing havoc in bloxburg, making friends and enemies galore in tdi

her avatar is definitely so dumb like its probably the hamster or squirrel or like the most basic ass starter avatar with a shirt that has her gfs face on it

and her username is def like "y/nstan420" or something

when she's streaming alone she's more focused and serious (but still her silly little self) but when she's with others, esppppp if her gf is on with her, she defffff gives weston koury vibes like im actually giggling at this so hard

they both make tiktoks of each other

y/n once did the "watch my gf for me" trend and she came back to find ellie holding the phone and ranting about something so random like she was probably explaining her favourite theory about how the dinosaurs went extinct or something about planets and space idek

ellie doesn't really follow trends as often, instead just posting videos of her scaring her gf or pranking her or maybe even like mukbangs or something

loves to post fit checks before they go out to do literally anything

also likes to lipsync to dirty audios

the video always ends as she's about to get smacked upside the head

idk if i ever actually gave much backstory???? but here we go anyways lol

i think we've established that y/n is an up-and-coming actress

they met through a friend of dina's, who was a costume designer on the set of y/n's first big film

dina visited her friend on set on the last day of filming and she ended up getting an invite to the cast/crew party that night

jesse was tooooo busy to hang out with his bombshell gf ig???? so ellie got to go with her

she already knew who y/n was since she was starting to gain popularity and was immediately adopted by lesbian twitter

she was so nervous when she clocked her on the other side of the room

spent the whole night shuffling around the room to gain the courage to go talk to her

also spent all of that time trying to come off like the coolest chillest most confident masc ever like she wasn't constantly wiping the sweat from her palms lmaoooo

she finally was forced to lay on the moves when y/n came over to join in on the convo with her castmates

ellie made her laugh and vice versa

she shocked herself when she offered to grab another drink from the kitchen "for the pretty lady"

she immediately considered throwing herself off of the impossibly high deck

was even more shocked when the girl only laughed and hopped up to join her, fingers curling into her bicep

she totally wasn't flexing the whole time

dina was wandering around looking for her, way too drunk to be there much later considering that it was almost 2 am and had to work a ten hour shift tmr :(((

she didn't have much luck bc she never thought to check the upstairs guest bathroom

ellie constantly be fighting them uhaul lesbian rumours

but she actually was ready to upheave her entire life to follow y/n around the world

reposts any and all posts of her gf on her story

adds little hearts and stars and little taglines that earn her a scolding

like that one time she wore a tight-fitting corset on the red carpet that had the girls lifted to the heavens

she captioned it "i <3 my gf('s boobs)"

fights with haters in her gf's comment section

wears her gf's merch

omg the way she SCRUMPT when she saw the paparazzi pic of her girl wearing ellie's merch out on a random thursday

they hadn't even made it official yet

flirts with her gf in random comment sections lol

like y/n comments on dina's selfie and ellie is instantly replying to her

"u come here often?"

they have def been caught in compromising positions soooo many times

like by their friends, cast and crew members on set, y/n's manager, even the paps

ellie felt so boss when tmz posted a pic of her pressing her gf against the wall outside of the club they'd gone to on ellie's bday

els had her tongue down her gfs throat and both of her hands jammed up the front of her top, very clearly grasping and squeezing her breasts

they got a stern talking to from y/n's pr team but ellie actually didn't care

she def has phantom dick disorder in literally all aspects of her life

lets not forget that this version of ellie does not have experience in fighting and has not lived through an apocalypse so she's contextually less tough than normal ellie

but that doesn't stop her from mouthing off to assholes three times her size

don't get me wrong, she can hold her own and still works out on occasion, but she fr looks like a chihuahua barking at pitbulls when she gets yapping

speaking of, stoned!ellie absolutely loves when her gf be yapping

i love the dynamic of ellie doing a chat stream w her gf where ellie's got her in her lap, leaning back with droopy eyes and a dopey smile, still giving her gf all of her attention while her gf ends up being more of a "alert and yappy" stoned and is rambling about strangely philosophical topics and answering questions in chat

ellie is just sitting there just giggling and when her gf turns to her she just goes "ur so smart baby" and "u look so pretty rn"

omg omg omg i luv this pairing im never gonna stop writing them like

bonus: this is the vibe of the ck campaign i mentioned in the last part

[variousqueerthings]

omg dude (gn) you got into due south? I've followed you for a long time bc mash, I love it when people I know from other fandoms get into my most beloved stuff <3 check out @ds30below btw if you're interested, it's an anniversary fest I run with a lof of fun stuff etc etc! and have funnnnn it's such a great show!

helloooooooo

yes, a bunch of mutuals have been going wild over it for a hot sec and it was Time!

I'm on episode 3 (not counting the pilot) and I have a lot of initial Thoughts to bring over from the discord onto this illustrious site, so i will use this ask as An Excuse:

Frasier is really introduced as an Archetype of masculinity, which is almost immediately subverted by his being completely without machismo -- his machismo is so in the negative that he goes around and becomes this Ideal of masculinity instead

the fact that his ethos is kindness, but it's not necessarily guileless. it is selfless in that he's not necessarily expecting to get returns on it all the time, but it's also -- to him -- often truly the most effective means to an end: if you're kind to others, people will often become kinder. this can be useful in the shortterm (if you give this kid a nice sandwich and don't threaten him with jail time and help him out a bit, he'll try to help with a case...) and in the longterm (this kid will stay in school and have a better future ahead of him, hopefully)

(i will get to ray btw, need to just get all the frasier thoughts out first)

frasier really embodies autistic swag. he takes things incredibly literally, he follows scripts (in this case, The Mountie Script, and also within that some kinda Code Of Gallantry), he's an incredible people-reader of the "autistic savant" type arguably (except there's more to him so the savant trope doesn't quite hold, which is good), his relationship with his dog Diefenbaker, the fact that although he is nigh-effortlessly kind of charming (because he's clark kent vibes!!! he's charming in a way as if he stepped out of a novel set 100 years ago in which kissing women's hands was the norm) he doesn't really make close friendships easily, because there's an Otherness to him that keeps him at a distance to others (except ray. WE WILL GET TO RAY STAY TUNED)

speaking of Distance, a lot of the aroaceness i've read into him so far (and we're literally only three episodes in!!!) really does feel like his autism is triggered by come-ons in the "this is not in my script!" kind of way. his charm is tripped up by the obvious step of "charming man is charming, I will shoot my shot," it's happened several times and every time he tries to extricate himself in the most awkward way possible. can't go on a date, you see. i have.. a dog. and no phone. um. ok. bye.

lot of thoughts on his hero-worship of his absent father and how much of his script comes from wanting to make his father proud

frasier also tastes things a lot of the time and ray thinks it's gross and i think that's something too. the doctor (doctor who) autism coded

OKAY TIME FOR RAY

he reminds me. of gonzo. he has the same transmasc swag. as gonzo. his shirts. his ties. that fuckn. OVERSIZED SO OVERSIZED MASSIVE STUPID JACKET. he's transmasc swag/fail coded in the same way as gonzo. he is gonzo

ray spends so much time in the beginning admonishing frasier for his consistent kindness to others, and the thing is. The Thing Is. he met frasier and (barring the immediate impression) decided to nearly immediately invite him to a massive family dinner. then he saved him from a bomb and got himself hospitalised. then he followed him to canada to help him. and that's only in the pilot! ray is so kind to frasier constantly. he's such an abrasive man to pretty much everyone except to frasier from day one

when frasier asked him to get a special pass for his wolf and at the end of the episode he did, and frasier was like: "i only asked you once and you got it 🥺" "of course i did, you asked me for it 😍"

just. nigh. constantly. kind. to. him. currently frasier's in hospital because he got stabbed and we had ray running to see him, forcing his way into his room, comforting him, sir you make fun of the way all the girls fall at his feet (and how frasier never notices) I think you are one of the girls!

MY MAN GOT HIM FLOWERS WHILE HE WAS IN HOSPITAL JUST BECAUSE??????? SIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (he also makes him take aspirin, he's giving real caretaker in this episode)

so far we know less about ray than about frasier, but im glad the show has him be mouthy, sarcastic, pessimistic, but he's not cruel or callous -- arguably he wants frasier in his life in order to challenge him on his cynical worldview, he's nourished and inspired by frasier's approach towards the world as much as everyone else

misc: I really like that the world being presented isn't necessarily kind, but the main characters (ray learning to be softer via frasier) are kind as a response. it's got some Coolness Factor Shorthand stuff going on ofc, but it is fundamentally a story about facing a relatively realistic world with kindness in order to make it better

I'm sad eric schweig was only in the pilot but the main thrust of the show does take place in chicago i guuuuuuuesss. his role in that pilot was great though, a lot of interesting stuff about taking away frasier's rose-coloured lens of the world, and especially canada, but he also gets what's his at the end, so he's not just there to "offer advice" (although there is a bit of that trope for sure, especially as he doesn't seem to have a name). great character, if I write fic where they go to canada he's definitely gonna be in there!

me and @gjdraws were talking about how ray clearly likes spoiling frasier -- he's the one with the money, he gets him the wolf licence, brings him flowers in hospital, carries aspirin for him.... I'm just saying we were robbed of a "ray takes frasier shopping and there's a montage" bit, considering how frasier only has two fuckn outfits in the first few episodes. who took him shopping??? there's no way he went on his own steam. that was ray all the way! private runway show

[creatingblackcharacters]

For the follow up questions, I wanna give my two cents on 6. "If everyone only hangs around people who aren't antiblack, why is the space still so overwhelmingly antiblack?" Part of that is bc people are def just bad at judging from the inside whether their group is racist or not, absolutely. No one likes admitting they or the circles they're in are racist, so there's a bunch of ppl who'll do their best ostritch impression and ignore it. But imo part of it is because the ppl who are racist are probably not following this blog or thinking about questions like this. In my experience talking about fandom racism (or sexism) is preaching to the choir, since the ppl who need to hear it rarely run in the same circles as people who care to talk about it. Not always ofc, but if ur the type of person who only thinks about white boys, ur probably not following creatingblackcharacters.tumblr.com, even if u nominally agree fandom racism is a problem. Bc at the end of the day, ur gonna flock to the corner of fandom talking about white boys and nothing else. And if ur the type to actively deny fandom racism is a thing, ur DEFINITELY not following a blog like this. A lot of the time I feel like ppls antiracism efforts in fandom get nowhere not just bc ppl are unwilling to consider they themselves might be racist (THOUGH THAT TOO!!) but also bc the antiracists and the racists genuinely DON'T run in the same circles as much. We just block and/or avoid each other. Which, ofc, makes it even more important to confront racists directly, something I've admittedly not done as much myself. Thinking this through has def made me reconsider that. I wanted to answer this question specifically bc I've driven myself nearly insane over the years asking myself exactly this, very glad to see someone else asking the question and starting this discussion, helped me reach the conclusion that although it may be unrewarding and often unproductive, the only way to combat fandom racism rlly truly is to confront racists directly, individually, on their posts. I obvs don't expect everyone to do this, but I think it might be the only way to pierce their echo chamber.

Hm!

[aplpaca]

tell me another bird fact please,,

White-throated Sparrows have 2 color morphs: one with white stripes on their head, and one with tan stripes on their head. Both males and females can be either white-striped or tan-striped. White-striped individuals are more aggressive, outgoing, and territorial, while tan-striped individuals are less outgoing, and have been found to be more "attentive" parents. Pretty much all mating pairs are composed of a white-striped individual and a tan-striped individual. However, its been found that all females prefer tan-striped males and all males prefer white-striped females. But because the white-striped females are more aggressive, they end up getting the tan males first, and then the white males and tan females end up pairing up.

Vultures in the Americas evolved separately from vultures in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The have similar traits from evolving into similar niches, but theyre not actually closely related

Personal anecdote rather than a Fact, but when I interned at a hawkwatch, we would set up a big fake owl on a pole solely for the purpose of seeing if we could get the migrating raptors to fly in closer to try to scare it off. The larger birds like Red-tailed Hawks and Red-shouldered Hawks and the larger falcons like Peregrines would usually only dive in on the fake owl when they had already been flying directly overhead of it. The American Kestrels however, which are about the size of a Mourning Dove (or like a twelfth the size of a Great Horned Owl, which is what the fake was representing), would make 90 degree turns from 2+ miles out of the way to come in and divebomb the fake owl before continuing on their migration path. And I just always found that really funny. Heres a female and male American Kestrel (male has the grey on his wings)

Green Herons often use bait to catch fish. They'll toss a bug or a smaller (dead) fish or something into the water and wait till the fish gather around it, then grab ones that are the right size for them. Here's one doing it with bread

Theres a population of about 2000 Rosy-faced Lovebirds in Phoenix, AZ (theyre native to Africa) that have learned to use air conditioning vents to stay cool. They only use them when temperatures are over 90F/32C

Mourning Doves can fly up to 55mph/88kph

Woodpeckers dont just peck stuff to find bugs. They also do it to attract mates and mark territory. And the louder the noise is, the more impressive it sounds to other woodpeckers. So when they peck metal pipes and utility poles and stuff, they're not looking for bugs in the wrong place, they're being loud on purpose

Theres a family of birds in Central and South America called Antbirds. Not bc they eat ants, but bc they, to varying degrees, follow ant colonies and eat the bugs and small animals that are running away from the ants. Some, like the Bicolored Antbird, are obligate ant-followers, and get the vast majority of their food this way. Heres a Bicolored Antbird

male Temminck's Tragopans (a type of pheasant) have this bright blue bib thing they can unfurl/inflate in their mating display. Also this pheasant species nests in trees, which is uncommon for pheasants (they usually nest on the ground). but seriously look at this shit

[strqyr]

I'm curious - what do you think Raven and Ozpin's relationship looked like, before she began to distrust him? She agreed to let him magic her into a bird once, and I always felt that out of Branwen twins she has always been the more cautious one. He gave both of them a chance and his trust - as much if not more (because birbs ≈ maidens; he had to trust them in a "I'll give you part of my magical powers" way I think) as anyone in his inner circle had. I don't think they have ever spoken to each other on screen in the present, but in RWBY Beyond she and Oscar stand on the same side in that one meeting where Winter is too.

it's difficult to describe, but something along... there's obviously trust, but also this distance due to raven's past (and possible trust issues), which would then be compounded by ozpin's own trust issues, if that makes sense?

like. thanks to the tribe, qrow's whole deal is that he wants to belong, to find people who accept him, semblance and all, and when he gets that from someone, they also get his near blind loyalty (which can reach unhealthy degrees) as well. with raven, i get the feeling it's more "treat me like a person rather than a tool to be used and discarded"—raven's practically an open book, so her view of salem only using people and the "two children you've tricked into following you" give that impression to me—so when ozpin gifts them shapeshifting, yes, it's a sign of trust, but it also makes them more useful for him; it's give and take.

and because of that distance, i don't think raven had as strong of a reaction to ozpin's lies as qrow did (not to mention i don't think she went out looking for more information bc she suspected something; it was just pure curiosity): qrow had dedicated his life to oz's cause and now it was torn to shreds; in contrast, while whatever trust there was being broken would have hurt, raven would have also on some level been proven right, that just like the tribe wanted to train her to be a killer for them, ozpin found them useful in other ways in his (seemingly) unwinnable war against salem.

("are we heroes keeping peace? or are we weapons pointed at the enemy so someone else can claim a victory?" <- basically sums up raven's doubts re: being used.)

even afterwards, i don't think raven necessarily hates ozpin; her reaction at haven, and like you said, the fact that her and oscar are standing on the same side, just don't give me that impression. being "proven right" about something you suspected all along (be it true or not) due to past experiences (and trauma) often gives enough emotional distance that you're not really mad, just disappointed (because there was hope it could be different, but alas).

[somer-writes]

Hey hey hey you should talk about your blorbos

OH BOY BLORBO TALKING

idk what to talk about i have so many things i could talk about so uuuuuh TWILIGHT & WARRIORS RELATIONSHIP *flash bangs you*

(this is all hc ofc ofc)

so my warriors was born an only child and later adopted into a family he never felt at home with. twilight was also born an only child and then found ordon and became Brother Ever.

wars: oldest sibling energy. likes to be in charge/have control over the situation. kind of a worrywort. dependable and sassy. sometimes says things he doesnt mean. feels responsible all the time always.

twilight: older middle sibling energy. reliable but prefers to follow. independent and stubborn. has a temper but is fiercely loyal. yk, dog things /j

wars has wind but they have a sort of mentor/ee relationship. wind is plenty capable on his own and sees wars as a kind of goalpost. he does of admire wars and all that but their relationship is more like twilight & times than say twilight & wilds.

wars and twi have lots of friction up front. theyre pretty opposite people in terms of methods of attack and demeanor. they disagree on a lot of methodology but they enhance each others strengths and cover for one anothers weaknesses.

wars adopts twi as Kid Brother Supreme as the journey treks on. hes not really a mentor to twilight but wants twilight to look up to him and rely on him. twis one of the few heroes he doesnt mind being vulnerable in front of. its that balancing act thing again - wars gets into fairly hectic thought spirals and twilight is grounding for him.

twilight naturally falls into Kid Brother Supreme role. hes not used to not being the eldest sibling and i think he finds it somewhat freeing to let go of some of his usual responsibility. he can goof around with wars but trusts the guy to have his back in a pinch.

that said, siblings fight. A LOT. usually its just for play but it does tend to go a little overboard pretty quickly. wars isnt used to goofing off and twi struggles to rein himself in sometimes. i think they often have heated arguments where they go for low hanging fruit but they make up within a day usually

the wrinkle in this equation is time! so we have wars who sees time as a once baby brother now grown up. ofc he wants to impress time and be reliable and perfect for the guy. he wants time to praise him and depend on him. twi ofc has shade and sees time as a mentor. he also wants time to praise and depend on him but in a much different capacity.

the issue between the two arises when theres only one time but two of them. wars i think struggles with some resent bc twilight is sometimes an obstacle between him and time. it can be hard to get alone time with time and twilight monopolizes it often. wars also struggles with his own superiority complex. twilight doesnt have his formal training or pedigree but is better at some things naturally and wars does not like not being the best at things.

twilight understands that when there are other people around, they might need more support than him. he struggles to put his own needs first and downplays his own issues for the sake of others. twilight wants to be the one time chooses first but never voices it and ends up hurting his own feelings. plus he feels badly when he takes up times time from the others bc he feels undeserving fairly often. he resents wars bc wars is, in twis opinion, the gold standard. time naturally defers to wars much more often for things in twilights blind spots.

their sibling rivalry isnt really all that competitive per se but there is some underlying friction that holds them back. link needs therapy lmao

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 10/10/2023

by dry volume, this post is 80% talking about gallery walls. tl;dr : do not buy or hang up things you do not like in a vague attempt to make your house look more grownup ONLY put up things you love, mat your art to give it visual room to breathe.

listening

had a playlist of the james bond theme songs on while i was deep cleaning my kitchen and the line "YOU GOT TO GIVE THE OTHER FELLA HELL!!! " from SPECIFICALLY the guns 'n roses cover of live and let die (even though the playlist had the correct mccartney version) has been THOROUGHLY stuck in my brain for forty eight hours.

-

reading

academic transphobia to follow:

an anti-reading section, for once. Retraction Watch (site that tracks academic paper retractions and major academic beef like when someone is stripped of tenure for fraud, formerly my beloved) published an op-ed by an anthropologist TERF who is Big Mad she got called out by her professional association for trying to submit a conference talk that amounted to hate speech against her trans colleagues in the name of the stupid fucking largely disproven sexing skeletons thing. the comments have devolved into the professor sock puppeting anyone who goes "hey RW why did you platform this?"

would be very interested to hear from RW about how a retracted conference talk has the same impact on the scientific community as a retracted paper, but we'll fucking see. i think RW provides an important service to the scientific community (they are the most indepth and thorough tracker of retractions, more so than the actual publishers) but this is a fucking weird move

-

watching

rewatched Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988, dir. Zemeckis) for fic research. GOD this movie is fucking good. it performs a minor animation miracle every thirty seconds.

-

playing

nothing to report

-

making

by popular demand (four people), some thoughts about gallery walls. some discourse on the method, if you will. i went with a gallery wall bc i like the look and i had an extremely large blank wall to fill bc this apartment is slightly too big for me. the string lights remind me very much of my dorm rooms but cool lamps have been few and far between down here.

how to get art (and why/caveats)

i honestly don't have a ton of direct collecting advice here other than "have you tried going to a lot of thrift stores". i cheat bc both my parents were architects who collected art, everyone in my family dabbles in fine art, and my sister has her bachelors in art history. so i am awash in paper, constantly. i grew up with a set of flatfiles and a closet full of spare frames. i recognize most people do not grow up like this.

with that caveat out of the way, how do i actually get my art? usually one piece at a time over a very long period of time. there's a postcard on my gallery wall i got in 2009. this is a game you will be playing for the rest of your life as you discover things you like and your tastes evolve.

it is VITAL that you love every piece on your walls. no filler ikea canvases unless you actually like them. the instant you start thinking "oh i need a landscape to look Grownup" you have to strangle that thought in the cradle. there are no rules, especially in art. put whatever the fuck you want up on your walls with no regard for the public's taste.

i feel like "i should buy and put up more art" is something that often falls into a vague Grownup Improvement Goal (like budgeting) bc it is an Grownup Improvement Goal and not bc they actually want to buy and put up more art. fortunately for everyone, you do not have to buy or put up Morally or Socially Improving art that will impress some vague category of grownups, bc we don't fucking live in victorian times.

most importantly you do not need to spend much (or in some cases any) money to put things on your walls. getting the effect you want (fancy washi tape, matching frames) may take some money, but using the printer at work and stealing some scotch tape is free.

how to get art (actual advice this time)

i feel a little silly typing this all out but i really like reading other chewsdayposters' processes, and it is really helpful for me a lot of the time to have someone say: actually there is this complete other way of doing something you have never considered bc u did not grow up with it

i ask you: do you have a stack of sentimental papers somewhere in your home? congrats you have some frameable items. a thing does not need to be Fine Art to be in a frame to go on the wall and make you happy. tape up a birthday card. put a quilt up on your wall. pushpin a label from a jar of pickled herring bc it reminds you of your grandma. frame a beloved tshirt. this is a martha stewart ass statement but things that are not traditional paper art on your walls will add variety and whimsy to your home.

other places for art that are not thrift/estate/yard sales:

i do believe that making your own art, including a $3 paint-by-numbers kit, will fix something in your brain. it's very similar to how i personally have to go stand with my feet in a body of water twice a year or THE SLUDGE smothers my brain

your favorite weird indie bands are almost certainly selling posters on bandcamp even if they're not currently on tour

i like the artists' co-op justseeds for art that deals with "social, environmental, and political engagement" like my beloved "fuck space tourism" poster

start a "good lines" or equivalent "art i like" tag on here and buy prints when u have the money. even if artists here don't have a shop open or don't have the specific piece u want as a print, ask if u can throw them an appropriate amount of money on venmo or something and get it printed locally or online. ive had good luck with vistaprint and they have rolling sales

do you like a piece of art in the public domain, like something from a museum? print it out. put it in a frame. no it's not as nice as a professional print but it's free if you do it at work and now it's on your wall

fuck around on wikimedia commons and the internet archive. i particularly love pulp magazine covers and little illustrative insets for out of date astronomy books

non- and semi-consumable supplies

if u put $25 into supplies u can use for many many other projects (i assume you probably have some of the following list), you can make any frame nice and save approximately a gajillion dollars.

good utility knife and extra blades

hammer

tape measure

level (comes with most command hook packs, you can also use your phone)

stepstool, sturdy chair, or patient tall person

assorted nails (you can buy a little tackle box with assorted nails from most big box stores)

little squeezy tube of DryDex spackle ($5) and putty knife or honestly old credit card to fill in nail holes when you move out

OR command strips and hooks

matboard that is white on one side and black on the other (~$8 at big box craft stores). you can use this to cut your own mats and/or replace a kind of weird back on an otherwise good frame

most printer paper these days is acid free. steal some from your workplace.

assorted small brushes

little thing of acrylic paint in whatever color you want your frames to be (~$1.50 ea). you can also spray paint your frames for a different finish but i don't have the space or patience in this apartment

sandpaper or sacrificial emery board

i would further recommend a little set of letter size desktop drawers/mini flatfiles like this to keep all the small stuff you want to frame in one place. i have sentimental art i don't want to frame in one drawer and things i do want to frame in the other. this has been very good for my brain bc it's all safely and flatly contained out of sight, and it's easy to flick through a stack of things i already love when i need one more small thing or one warmer thing to fill a gap

frames

the good news for us is that frames and art are a fucking bitch to move and people frequently give them away. your local discount and thrift stores are going to be fucking awash in small frames 8.5"x11" and under for under $3 each. when you are thrifting or estate saling or yard saling or generally gallivanting about on a weekend, pay little attention to any art actually in a frame. is the frame in okay shape? can you repaint it without too much trouble? will it clean up all right? does it have the glass? can you insert the glass from a different frame into the one you actually want without any thrift store employees noticing?

for weird sizes above 8.5x11 and outside poster size that cannot be easily found at thrift stores, the big box craft stores here in america have roughly quarterly frame sales and frequent coupons. do NOT get your shit professionally framed at michaels bc they upcharge by about 3x compared to other local framers (both on the east coast and here in tx).

i went through two periods of seriously buying frames (last year of high school and the year i moved into the original lair, when/where i thought i was going to stay for a few years) and ive swapped in out and between those dozen or so total. once you have built up a little stock of frames that fit the general sizes of art you tend to collect, ur pretty good for a while. the only new "frame" i bought for my gallery wall was a little floating shelf.

mats

the absolute biggest fucking thing u can do to make your art look nicer is mat that bitch, which gives it room to breathe. if your art does not have a built in border or a lot of white space (see 9, 12, and 13 in the gallery wall below, as well as 8 which has a ton of negative space with the car door), you need a frame bigger than your art. you can google the suggested proportions yourself or decide with your heart.

i am a big fan of a very slapdash floating mat, which means cutting a piece of printer paper to size or flipping around the paper that tells you what size the frame is and slapping your art right on top of that, sometimes with a lick of gluestick to keep it in place. generally a floating mat means a sort of 3D matting technique but we don't have time for that. do not do this printer paper technique long-term with a particularly beloved or expensive piece of art.

u can also buy pre-cut mats at Michaels or Joann’s for not too too many dollars, or cut your own with the acid-free matboard ($10 for a poster board sized piece) and a new utility knife blade and a steady hand. or, if you're lucky, it comes with the frame.

gallery wall specific advice

there aren't any rules. actual galleries and museums tend to put the center of a piece or group of pieces at 57" from the floor. you may want to fuck around with that depending on your own height, the space you have, and the pieces you own.

a gallery wall does not need to be 24 pieces like this one. it can be any number.

this is the first one i have done mostly by myself and it is the most color-restricted one i have ever put up. it is also the one with the most successful repeating motif (circles). usually i grab the art i want most to go together and send pics to my art historian sister who will then arrange it for me and say shit like “do you have another small blue thing for the top left” or “do you have two pieces that are warmer and larger” or "different frame for the middle left"

look at a lot of other gallery walls. personally i like the ones that have non-framed and non-square things in them. ideally mine would have photographs and taxidermy in it for maximum weirdness. but u cannot go wrong with a grid, or all horizontal pieces, or all vertical pieces. for a full wall puzzle piece like this, u do not generally want an american southwest four corners meeting situation. stagger it. lay everything out on the floor and move it around eighteen times (this is the worst part). the gallery wall as a whole does not have to be perfectly aligned to the ceiling or the back of your couch or what have you. it can be sort of an organic blob shape along the top and bottom edges.

my wall

this soothing blue and green wall with wood tone pops has pieces from almost half my life. it skews later in college/recent acquisitions, as i sharpened my taste for limited-number prints and had a car to go to thrift stores with, but that’s just how this specific wall came together

the list below should tell you what each piece is, how much i paid for it (and the cost of the frame if applicable), and when i got it. this wall has most of the Nice Art in my collection that is signed/numbered/in some way slightly fancier bc it is the wall i stare at when on my couch.

embroidered Scorpio constellation hoop, birthday gift from my sister (free, came with hoop, i used some makerspace felt and batting to properly back and finish it much later so free with my tuition), nov 2016

numbered and signed print of an italianate cityscape, $5 and came with the frame and mat from an estate sale, i put a new back on it with scrap matboard so the back of the print wasn't just naked, fall 2021

signed print of a new england landscape, came with the frame and the mat but is stained right over the signature :( $2.50 from salvation army, one of the last things i bought in spring 2023 before i moved

signed original multimedia on board collage by my sister from her like second ever gallery show, $69 in winter 2022 for the art, the frame was from a free pile i gave a new acid free back with scrap matboard. that was such a good free pile i got a huge pile of frames from that

magazine page (idk which one either) i saved in high school (i graduated in 2013) or very early college, frame was from a free pile by the side of the road in summer 2021 and repainted with some white acrylic paint. it is float matted with printer paper. maybe a dollar for the paint? i definitely did not buy the magazine

this is an out of print poster by one of my favorite living artists (Josh McPhee) so i emailed him and asked if i could get it printed myself if i threw him $25 and he said yes. i think it cost $22 to get it printed professionally, the frame is basics by studio decor ($20 for a 2-pack) (i spent so much money and time on this one bc i wanted a very specific look for a very specific space in my kitchen in the old apartment), feb 22

signed numbered woodcut by Roger Peet ($20 in august 2020), another studiobasics frame that was i think $8 in summer 2022. float matted with acid free matboard and not printer paper.

gigantic fuckoff unsigned unlabeled poster i bought bc she reminds me of the Barnes & Noble murals, $10 at goodwill (came with the frame, half off) sep 2023

star chart from the US Naval Observatory that was on a free shelf at Amherst College when i was taking a class there in fall 2018, another studiobasics frame (idk when i bought this one) so under $10. float mount on acid free printer paper.

plaster frog mirror from an estate sale in spring 2021, i do not remember how much i paid for it but it was not more than $5

oh goddamnit this is a new block so of course it restarted the numbering. fatal off by a power of ten error, very typical for astronomy. poster from a show i went to in college spring 2015, do not remember when i bought this sub-$10 studiobasics frame either, float mount on acid free printer paper.

signed poster from my roommate-at-the-time’s cousin’s band in fall 2014 (i can’t actually find the receipt but i did find an email from her cousin letting me know he shipped me and my roommate’s orders together lol) let’s say $20, another sub-$10 studiobasics frame of mysterious provenance.

moon map out of an old science book in high school, let’s be generous and say $10 for both the book and the frame (another studiobasics)

numbered but unsigned new year’s print from a local-ish print shop in massachusetts, $12 at savers with the frame, fall 2022

cover of a very fragile vintage paperback copy of raymond c/handler’s The Long G/oodbye i acquired in high school (could not have been more than a dollar or two), with a frame and mat that came in an ikea multipack my dad bought me in high school bc i had a set of l/ackadaisy miniposters i wanted to hang, looks like the closest modern equivalent is the EDSBRUCK, a single will run you about $12 today

postcard inherited from my grandpa’s collection of loose paraphernalia in 2010 (free but at what cost etc), frame is a studiobasics that come in a pack of 6 for $20 (less if you have a coupon) so let’s round down a smidge and say $3. don’t remember when i bought this frame either, it is matted with real matboard bc the postcard and the back of the frame are so thin

“my heart is a fish” cross stitch (a reference to the imperial radch trilogy of books) i made this and did not date it but i know i blogged about it on here at some point between 2014-2018, i remember having to buy five colors of thread but owned the hoop already, again back and finished it properly much later with maskerspace batting and felt, let’s say $5 not counting my time

postcard from @believerindaydreams last winter in another studiobasics frame and float mounted with acid free matboard.

tiny moon mirror from salvation army in early spring 2015, under $5

CD mirror from Vapor95 ($125? preorder in fall 2021), came with velcro command strips which was very nice of them

a $300 original multimedia collage (the first one my sister ever made, when she was in middle school) i bought in spring 2021 from her first show, sitting on a $5 acrylic shelf from five below i bought last month

22-24 are national geographic maps, 50c each at an estate sale last month, had to buy $7 worth of binder clips and pushpins to put them up bc i don’t fucking know what box they’re in and didn’t have time to rip the whole closet of boxes im ignoring apart

a slightly longer tl;dr: do not buy or hang up things you do not like in a vague attempt to make your house look more grownup ONLY put up things you love, thrift and repaint your frames if possible but you can get very cheap studiobasics ones if you want them all to match, acid-free mat your art for preservation and to give it room to breathe, keep a little drawer or box of stuff you love and might want to frame

[saturnniidae]

As someone who loves both httyd and wakfu I am BEGGING you to talk more about this

Well it wasn't much more than a passing thought I wrote down before i forgot it and I was gonna apologize and say I've not thought of much but character classes, but I blacked out and went into a frenzy.

So for character classes:

Hiccup: Eliatrope and Toothless is his dragon brother

Astrid: Feca or Cra (though I could maybe see her being a Iop too?)

Snotlout: Iop

Twins: Iops as well (I'd say most of Berk's population is)

I'm kind of stuck on what Fishlegs would be. huppermage? Maybe? Idk

Dagur: Sacrier

Heather: Sram

Undecided on what I'd want Viggo to be, or if I'm even going to include him but I'm open to any suggestions.

And for a Rotbtd version (bc I contracted that disease recently):

Merida: Cra

Jack: Rogue

Rapunzel: Eniripsa

But I don't have much more than that for this version rn.

And then I have some story ideas for it but I'll put them under the cut because it's kind of a lot

Berk is a a small coastline port village known for its fishing and inhabitants with ridiculous names and violent tendencies (most of them are Iops).

(Debating on its actual location but I can't for the life of me find a map for the World of Twelve that's actually labeled 💀)

Stoick is a Iop and chief of the village. He found Hiccup when he was an infant. He's never actually sat Hiccup down and given him the "you're adopted" talk, but they're both aware of it. This doesn't really have any strain on their relationship though (they love each other, but like in canon, are shit at actually showing it) the fights they have are over other things, mostly Hiccup's hazardous passion projects. And later, Hiccup's desire to leave Berk.

Hiccup is the village blacksmith's apprentice, but is often distracted with his own projects.

He is more focused on making inventions powered by wakfu than honing his own abilities beyond portal making (because of this, they often explode). as well as seemingly having a lack of interest in finding out about himself and what he is. Beyond the fact that deep down, he knows he is not human. He still wants to get out of Berk and dreams of exploring the World of Twelve.

Hiccup lost his left leg below the knee in an accident he indirectly caused when he was 14. Part of why he doesn't like using his powers.

(If you've watched the show, you'll know that when Yugo makes two portals and puts them in front of each other, it creates a beam of energy that essentially decimates whatever it comes into contact with. And iirc it's mostly been used on machines and such, so I don't think organic matter like bone muscle and flesh would stand a chance.)

Fishlegs is the closest thing he has to a friend. they'll eagerly talk about his inventions, until Fishlegs asks Hiccup to go more in depth on how his powers work, then Hiccup shuts him out. Usally after a few days of silent treatment things go back to normal and they act like it never happened.

Snotlout is Hiccup's cousin who used to bully him but has stopped (doing it outright anyway, ofc he's still rude and we love him for it <3) due to a begruding respect for Hiccup, not that he'll ever admit it (and perhaps out of fear, after all blowing your leg off and accidentally destroying half the village, intentional or not, is an impressive feat). The twins follow Hiccup around in hopes to see what disaster he'll cause next. They're the reason Hiccup moved his 'Workshop' out of the smithy and into a remote clearing in the forest miles away from the village proper.

Toothless is Hiccup's dragon brother and has been searching for Hiccup for years, but Hiccup is so out of tune with his wakfu their connection was almost completely severed and Toothless is unable locate him. Until recently Hiccup had no idea Toothless existed, beyond a lifelong feeling of something being very distinctly wrong and the occasional vague prodding sensation in the back of his head (Toothless trying his absolute hardest to get through to him).

I have no idea what I want to do for Astrid tbh. I want to do her justice which is why I'm so indecisive.

And I have nothing for Heather and Dagur beyond what their classes would be honestly. Something will come to me eventually though.

If anyone has any questions (especially abt wakfu if you're only familiar with httyd) feel free to shoot me an ask and I'd love to elaborate!

(Also a lot of this is subject to change if I have any better ideas)

[microsuedemouse]

13, 21, 38, 49 pleeease

<3

Abbey ily thank u <3

13. Do you prefer to write in pen or pencil?

This is kinda funny to me, bc until I was like 19 probably the answer was 100% pencil all the time. Like, in high school, people knew me as someone who Would Have Pencils When They Were Required For Scantron Tests when half my classmates only ever carried like a single pen. (I was a full pencil case kinda kid all the way through my school years, and in some ways I still am lmfao.) But when I started keeping a bullet journal in university - a practice which I now just refer to as my journal because it’s evolved so far from the original bujo format - I really liked the look of pen spreads, so I started getting more comfortable with that, and I’m a lot better than I once was! I used to hate not being able to make changes or fix my mistakes, but I’ve learned to get around that (or make peace with it) in most ways haha. So these days I’m happy with either, though it may vary a bit with what I’m doing!

21. What’s your favourite period in art history, your favourite famous work and/or your favourite style of art?

OOH I love this question. In high school art we did a handful of assignments about various historical art movements, and I fell SUPER in love with Fauvism. The colours! The feelings! The various realistic/representational movements through history are all really impressive, but rarely get me hyped like styles that tend a little more abstract or imaginative. Colour is probably the single most engaging element of visual art for me, so if the colours characteristic of any given art movement were bright and bold, it’s absolutely got my heart.

38. What’s one show you watch or musician you listen to that your friends know nothing about?

Lmao. I’m kind of not sure how to answer this, because I typically talk a lot about my favourite things, which means my friends learn about them whether they wanted to or not. 8) like, flor doesn’t especially fit into any of my friends’ music tastes (excluding, of course, the number of friends I’ve made THROUGH flor), but because I often talk extensively about them, most of my friends do know something about them - at minimum, they definitely know who my favourite band is, hahaha.

I think it’s fair enough to say that my taste in media isn’t extremely influenced by my friends’ tastes, and that watching TV or listening to music are very much activities I do for myself rather than for the sake of sharing that with other people. Like, I love talking about what I’m watching, but that’s why I post incessantly about it and let others interact with or ignore me at their leisure? And then my friends can either follow along with me for the laughs (or possibly, occasionally, for intelligent insights), or they can roll their eyes at me and carry on.

I’m not sure whether this question means ‘know nothing about’ as in my friends aren’t aware of what I’m watching/listening to at all - which doesn’t happen much, because I talk openly about what I’m watching/listening to/enjoying all the time - or ‘know nothing about’ as in if I tried to strike up a conversation about it my friends would have nothing to add - which DOES happen all the time, because my tastes are decided by strange whims that have little to do with what other people are into at the moment.

49. What’s your favourite thing to do when it’s raining?

Crack my windows open and hunker down to do something cosy while I listen. I love the sound of rain in general, and in the house I’ve lived in for the last couple years, we have a good number of trees near my windows, plus the back deck right below me, so lots of good surfaces for the rain to be hitting. It’s a lovely backdrop to a lot of the things I’d be doing anyway!

[drifloonz]

Hey bestie✨love your fanfics! May I humbly request a Glitchy Rex x insecure reader? Perhaps autistic too? If not thats cool ✨

im gunna answer this in a bulleted headcanon typa post, which is hopefully fine bc if i write One more fanfic, esp w glitchy i Will explode ( and yes i am still procrastinating on the one i have a draft of. i got two of my back teeth pulled out and am recovering so thats my excuse + its so long and too much writing for me to comprehend rn + I do not have many "new" ideas )

newayz, ofc ofc!! we love our autistic couple

glitchy red x insecure ( and autistic ) reader !

♡ guess who's also autistic. thats right babey its glitchy!!!!!!! he's the ADHDtism creature. along with a lot of other stuff. but rlly whatd u expect. he's a red.

♡ due to this, he'll happily listen in on your rambles or partake in activities that make you happy. you got special interests? he might not understand a word of any of it for some things, but he'll happily listen and intake the info and try to add to the conversation by asking questions. he likes your voice as its an extreme comfort of his, so your rambling is very nice.

♡ i like to imagine before he somehow gets out you twos day to day life when hes still inside of the cartridge is just turning it on and you idly rambling to him while he listens, gives input, and updates you on how he is over there. you are a v comforting presence to him and you give him a reason to want to leave.

♡ he himself would ramble so much abt pokemon to you. my mind is mentally metronoming glitchy hcs between "he would hate a lot of pokemon stuff" or "he would be so autistic abt pokemon" . prob changes depending on the time of day and what he's talking abt specifically, but he does like at least explaining or talking about his whole... living situation in the cartridge, along with pokemon and their stats and whats the best for certain gyms, and strats and stuff like that, along with really obscure facts. he's seen it all and he's seen a bunch of different players playstyles, so it's natural to him to have absorbed that kinda info and be interested in it. competitive mf...

he is literally this image.

♡ if you're ever self-deprecating around him or something of the sort, he's going to verbally attack you with compliments. moreso responding with like "What? That's stupid." and maybe following up with a compliment to the part of yourself you insulted, eg "Your face is the prettiest thing I've set eyes on. It's not ugly." he'll also be sure to kiss around that spot more often and compliment you more often and more casually.

♡ similarly, if anyone insults you intentionally or not he is on their ass, like a fucking rabid guard dog if he was present for when it happened. he'll be yelling at them, or quietly telling them off with like, a simple "Shut up." or something, depending on how bad it is. if you feel bad about it he'll once again try to reassure you that you're perfect the way you are to him and that whoever told you that was scum. he likes to be aggressive and make clever yet insulting quips since he doesn't have much of an outlet for his internal rage, and it also makes him act all cool so he sort of enjoys when somebody is being a dick because it just means he can make you watch him verbally destroy them. and he likes to impress you.

♡ if this happens but its like, prolonged harassment, he is literally going to doxx whoevers being a bitch towards you /hj. moreso, he's going to track them down and try to threaten them so badly that they don't do jack shit to you after that.

♡ i like to think glitchy is constantly moving some part of his body. he's pretty impatient, and will usually resort to thumping his foot quietly or drumming his fingers along a table. stuff like that. he will also often shove his hands in his pockets and play around with the fabric inside of it. give him a stressball, that shit will be popped so quickly. he also likes to idly throw something up in the air and catch it if hes reaallly bored. he usually does this w/ his pokeballs.

♡ this is good in a relationship if you like touch, cuz' glitchy will put his attention on you when hes bored or zoning out, and will instead often touch you or kiss you or talk to you. one of his favorite things is brushing his thumb over your hand, or running his hands through your hair or something.

♡ because you are probably pretty open with your interests to him, finding gifts for you comes pretty easy. he also just has a good natural sense for gift-giving, i'd think. like he subconsciously sees something and goes "oh, maybe you'd like that" in his head. don't ask how he gets these, he probably doesn't have money ( he manipulates his glitchy powers to duplicate the item like missingno, or just straight up teleports it to you/your home or something. likely both. )

♡ he really just thinks your the sweetest thing ever, and also you know a looot of stuff he doesn't. he's new in the real world, so watching you explain very specific things that happen in real life to him fascinates him, genuinely... its another reason why he loves your rambles. he could listen to you explain anything with a lovestruck expression ( ...which is constantly a resting neutral expression with a small smile sometimes, he's not super expressive unless hes mad. )

♡ if you're averse to certain foods or textures, he'll learn that quickly, since he does try to cook for you on occasion... maleeewife.. on first impression to most people that aren't you, he acts like he doesn't really care about you but he really really does - he's just not that expressive a lot of the time and he also is awkward with PDA.

♡ he himself probably gets overwhelmed with or icked out by a lot of food tbh so he eats pretty slowly and also has to gradually get used to certain foods with overwhelming flavors. he's used to literally not eating anything so this makes sense. its also the 'tism tho.

♡ he likes to cuddle while you do any activities you like. its comfy and he gets to see what ur doing. win/win.

♡ he's touchstarved but also hates getting touched suddenly. if you are the same he relates. due to this, early on in the relationship he'll instinctively flinch if you touch him w/o warning probably. but the further u get the more he follows you around like a lovesick puppy yearning for your touch

♡ overall he just loves u soooo sooo much.. you can say literally anything to him and he'll hum and nod and go "Uhhuh." with a small tiny little itty bitty smile on his face... this is where he feels safest. in your arms or holding you in his own while you just talk to him.

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

honestly sometimes just think about how there was a whole episode dedicated to cleo and frankie hanging out having fun together, with the two playing off in all sorts of cute ways,

but the point WASN'T "oooh giggle giggle awkward crush"

and how nice that was? Refreshing??

the ep was like "hey these ghouls are real comfy together, watch them be silly and admit their admiration out loud, but not in a tense way, just in Blurt It Out Like It's The Most Normal Thing And Then Go Back To Laughing Together way, bc they ARE friends actually"

crushes or no crushes, the vibe between them is Good. Good Vibes. Happy Supportive Slightly Ridiculous Vibes

and yeah frankie's thing for cleo is pretty clear to us, the watchers, the whole time, what with the bushing and the *looks at cleo* "pretty!" comment and the mumble mumbling cleo makes everything nicer other comment

still, it's not until the Very End Of The Ep that the actual vibes get Romantical, with the Looking and cleo's narration and frankie's little hand touch spark and the More Looking Hmmm

a lot of the other cute stuff was Normal Cute Stuff. not trying too hard stuff or acting out of character to impress cleo stuff

frankie IS the kind of monster who'd hum a tune and dance with a friend to cheer her up! that's just them being themselves around cleo, and cleo smiling to see it!

(the spin tho, the twirl, THAT was GAY)

likewise cleo is just being her over-dramatic and very specific party planning self all over the place, again not Trying to be cool or pretty or fun or anything,

instead she's this super fangirl dork, so excited about this Thing she loves, and frankie's just following her around with hearts eyes the whole time- or slight panic, while trying to keep cleo's phone alive for her

like, cleo's into this ocean-themed jewelry designing influencer, and frankie looks at that and is like I Shall Create A Coral Themed Jewelry Stand For For Fav Influencer- they having fun joining in on what CLEO'S having fun with! cleo also just gets to be herself and frankie's so into it!

what im saying is

we got to see cleo and frankie as they would be AFTER dealing with all the feels

sweet and settled and relaxed w/ each other

normal with each other

sometimes in media, the moment Feels come up, it all goes to tension and awkward and trying to be the person they think other other will like most (we'll see if that happens here too),

but usually, a lot of times, especially if the relationship isn't the Main Part of the Story, there isn't much build up for the ppl involved, how they'd interact when not silently freaking out all the time, so you're left wondering What WOULD They Be Like Together Even?

and that can be really fun! To imagine or look forward to!

problem is often there's not much time spent on showing the After, or any at all, if the Getting Together is saved for the very end

so with clankie, im just... really glad there was an ep of them being friends

yes yes, friends where one is clearly Gay for the other and the other later goes Wait Oh My Ra They're So Cute Send Help, you CANNOT ignore the gay in this ep it is Glorious

but from a non-meta view, from cleo and frankie's perspective, it really just was a fun night of shenanigans together

together, with someone they really really like

and CLEARLY get along with Very Well

idk. it tickles me. i smile as i think about it. they're sweet and we got to see it in a very natural sort of way. it's Nice

[gffa]

Oh my word, thank you for such a lovely, detailed reply to my ask about comics???? I was expecting to be redirected to some links or blogs, which is ofc great too, but thanks so much for taking the time to type out and formulate all that for me?? I’ve never actually read a comic before so your first paragraph was a bit mind blowing (I had no idea comics worked like that, I thought each comic was like a chapter in the same book ahaha). I also had NO idea about the different eras but it already makes so much of what I’ve seen from the fandom make so much more sense, so thank you for that! (It’s reminds me, like, where people in history never bothered to write down stuff they thought was obvious bc it was obvious to them and then people came along and went ???, so following with this metaphor, thank you for making me “???” lol)

Anyways, sorry, super rambly ask, but thank you so much for taking the time and effort to reply so succinctly and also thoroughly, and also explaining what pieces of media are significant and why so… like seriously, that was so nice of you and I’m??? Ajahwjehrh??? Thank you sssm, once my exams are over I’m definitely gonna have a new media obsession :)

Aww, you're very welcome! I'm glad that I could help ease the way for you! As someone who started with Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond as my first real understanding of these characters (cultural osmosis doesn't count!), it was kind of a hard leap into comics, trying to understand how all of this fit together. To be fair, I don't want to give the impression that there's no coherency in comics from one author to another--it's very clear that a lot of authors are big fans of other authors' runs or they're building on stuff that came before their own run, but I emphasize the lack of consistency between authors because you absolutely cannot rely on that consistency being there, even if it often happens. You cannot pick up a comic from 20 years ago and expect the story to be exactly the same, because it's constantly being retold--authors want to be able to tell flashback stories at multiple points in the timeline, like take Dick Grayson, that "Robin & Batman" series I recommended is a retelling of their early days, of how Dick came up with the Robin costume, and it changes things (like gave him pants this time around, which I'm fine with) and I love that we can get retellings, because now I get to choose if I want to read that one or one of the older ones! We get a lot of really fun new stories able to be told, updated versions that weren't written back in the 1940s with different social norms, and I think that helps keep the comics fresh and interesting! And you're not wrong that some comics are like a different chapter in a single book! That's what Star Wars comics are aiming to be (well, within their own three distinct continuities) or what a lot of non-mainline DC/Marvel comics are like. It's just the main shared world superhero comics are a constantly shifting landscape! (To be fair to fandom not talking about a lot of this, it's also because the different eras are HELLA complicated to talk about if you haven't been reading comics regularly and broadly for 20+ years, like I had a solid grip on things until I left, and now I've been back for five months and I'm STILL fuzzy on just what Dawn of DC even is. It's hard to talk about stuff when you have a fuzzy idea of something, enough to pick up a comic and read, but can't explain high level detail in a post that would take you an hour just to write out all the weird little connections that lead up to an event!) But also thank you for letting me know your level of familiarity with cultural osmosis and what you're interested in getting into! Often times it's hard to know, "Okay, do I have to explain the different Robins or has cultural osmosis taught you enough that we can skip straight to the finer details?" because I love writing out broader views of the characters, but I don't want to patronize someone who is just looking for recs for starting places when making the jump to comics! I want to drag you guys in, but sometimes that requires tailoring things a bit more to where a given person is at/how much they know/what they're specifically intrigued by! Give me more info and I won't shut up in trying to reel you in. :D

[naraven]

team comp: my edition!

stealing @throwaway-yandere's idea bc i thought it would be fun and i was brainrotting about scara/xiao anyways :D

my most recent 5 star is xiao, who is now level 90 with semi-leveled up talents! he's so fun i'm even more upset that i lost him to the 50/50 a year ago (i'm sorry diluc i don't hate you, but please stop coming home i just wanted the silly jumping adeptus,,,)

wahoo! here we gooo

wanderer / bennett

Probably didn't like Bennett AT ALL, most likely saw his bad luck as a nuisance to the rest of the group.

But then he saw Bennett just trying his best, fully-charged burst boosting him as he demolishes everything in his path (god i love his ult ily benny)

(He cares ok, I'm not taking constructive criticism this stupid puppet cares for people)

Bennett was scared of the wanderer as a whole at first: with his intimidating and somewhat quiet first impression, he gets even more scared when he laughs maniacally while turning a hilichurl camp to dust in a minute flat.

I think he probably admires his strength and Scara now becomes a semi-motivation for Benny to become stronger LOL

"I wish that kid would stop yelling so much. His shrieks are shrill on the ears. I'll probably get used to it after a while, what with his luck being as atrocious as it is."

"He's so strong! I'll admit the way he fights is somewhat terrifying, but I don't mind it as much anymore. It's cool to know that such a strong person is a part of Benny's Adventure Team!"

~~~

"Hey, kid, watch my back. I'm too busy to be watching yours."

"Wo-ah! Alright, go wild Mr. Wanderer!"

"Don't call me that."

"Eek! Yes, sir!"

wanderer / zhongli

Wanderer wouldn't know that Zhongli's the former geo archon, so his long monologuing about Liyue culture are just the ramblings of a guy who has an ancient soul.

Every once in a while, Wanderer will listen in on Zhongli's stories of the adepti or about the land they currently stand on.

I think Scaramouche would like the stories of the different flora and fauna (no this isn't about fall in fall his teapot lines have him admiring the Sumeru forests ok).

Zhongli finds the strange Wanderer to be somewhat of an enigma. From letters that the dendro archon sent him, his mental stability was not the best before he started traveling around Teyvat.

At first, he was careful to make sure the others were safe and that the Wanderer's temper wouldn't go out of control.

But the more he travels with him, he sees the care in his eyes when he picked up Bennett when the boy accidently tripped and almost fell off a low cliff.

In a flash, the Wanderer has the back of Bennett's shirt in a tight grip with two circles hovering behind his head.

"He talks so much, but sometimes that nonsense can be somewhat entertaining. I've learned more about Liyue in the short time I've been near him than I have in my centuries long life."

"His words are quite frank, but I have no worries that he will harm anyone that I care about. Even if he is often harsh and without filter, I will make sure he doesn't hurt anybody."

~~~

"Old man."

"Ah, apologies. I didn't realize we had already arrived. I will continue the story at a later date."

"No, keep going. We'll probably have to wait for that adeptus to save the kid from something on the way."

"Haha, of course. Then, where was I? I believe I was telling you about the followers of the goddess of salt..."

xiao / bennett

As usual, Xiao is cautious to be around normal humans; his karmic debt isn't great for them to be around for long.

But then Bennett happened, which caused those plans to throw itself down the chasm.

Is this human... doing this on purpose? The amount of times that the anemo adeptus had to save the unlucky boy has probably exceeded the number of years Xiao has been alive.

On the other hand, Bennett has actively tried to avoid getting into any difficult situations. He's scared that the adeptus will show up out of nowhere and hear him sigh for the nth time.

In return, he tries to make him almond tofu, which somehow ends up wrong in so many different ways (the pudding part is too hard, it's a bit misshapen, but when Xiao takes a bite it tastes like the sweetest of dreams).

"He's just like any other foolish mortal, putting himself in danger to prove his worth. But, in his case, I don't believe he's doing it intentionally..."

"I thought Adeptus Xiao would also be somewhat scary like the Wanderer, but he's really nice! Only when I don't trip and fall into the water again..."

~~~

"Adeptus Xiao! Do you wanna come with me to grab some Cor Lapis for Mr. Zhongli?"

"What for? This seems rather spontaneous."

"Well, I thought it would make a good gift! Besides, I think he wanted to get a bit stronger too."

"...Is that so? Very well then. I'll help you find some on Mt. Hulao."

bennett / zhongli

As the two supports of the team, they often sideline while the two anemo DPS go wild.

Bennett being the youngest of the team looks up to Zhongli, the oldest, and tries to listen to Zhongli as much as he can. He thinks it would help him in the future.

Of course, he learns a lot about the rich history of another nation, but Bennett finds himself becoming an overall better person to the people around him.

Zhongli also has a soft spot for the clumsy Mondstadtian boy. His optimism and bright outlook often has Zhongli smiling at the energy of the youth.

Rambles to him about rocks. Every single rock Bennett brings to him he could talk about for hours. Third-Round Knockout's storyteller has learned so much from these two eating meals there.

"Mr. Zhongli always has something and interesting to say! I've learned a lot from him and I want to be like him someday."

"As a child from Mondstadt, he's very free-spirited. Barbatos' people have no problem speaking their mind, which is very different from the mora-centered businesses of Liyue. I enjoy his company very much."

~~~

"Hey Mr. Zhongli! How are you today?"

"I'm doing alright. I was on my way to accompany the adeptus Xiao to Wangshu Inn. Would you like to come?"

"Wangshu Inn? Sure, I'm down! What for?"

"Just for a quick talk and visit. It won't take up too much of your time."

xiao / zhongli

Poor Xiao still isn't used to acting like Zhongli is a stranger, occasionally slipping up every once in a while and calling him "my Lord."

It just feels so... odd to be addressing him as anything else. Of course, he means well, he's trying his best to accommodate for his now-human Lord

Zhongli is glad to see Xiao doing well, despite his karmic debt. While he feels upset that he can't do anything to help with Xiao's pain, he tries to remind him to take his medicine every once in a while.

On the battlefield, they work as harmoniously as melody and harmony. As Xiao takes care of all the enemies, Zhongli is right beside him to make sure nothing catches him off guard.

(Not that Xiao needs it, but he's just happy that Zhongli is there :D)

"Ah yes, Rex-the consultant. I often find him talking to the director and more recently that young Mondstadtian. I wish that I could talk to him a bit more loosely, and yet..."

"Have you talked to Xiao recently? I worry he hasn't been taking his medicine recently. Perhaps I should go to Bubu Pharmacy myself sometime soon."

~~~

"My L- Zhongli. Bennett and that Wanderer are waiting."

"Ah, my apologies. Please tell them I might take a while longer. The bamboo and meat are simmering still."

"I will. However, while the Wanderer has yet to say he craves to eat anything, the mortal's stomach is grumbling..."

wanderer / xiao

(i purposely put this one last LMAO what do you get when you put two an-emos together on a team)

They might seem to get along, but they're the most tense on the team.

While Wanderer is often taking center stage, Xiao isn't a selfless offensive member either.

When they aren't competing to see who kills more enemies, they get into the pettiest of arguments.

Wanderer still retains the part of himself that likes to tempt people to becoming angry, and while Xiao knows that he still often scowls and glares at the other anemo vision wielder.

One time, Zhongli wanted them to get a bit closer by having them eat a meal together. When he came back, he found the food cold with Xiao unleashing attack after attack on the hovering Wanderer.

When asked, Xiao refuses to answer what happened and the Wanderer is smiling awfully.

"I find it hilarious when that adeptus tries to look at me. What is it about other long-living beings and finding me so suspicious? Maybe later I'll steal his kill again to see how he snaps back."

"That man is nothing but trouble. I heard from... Zhongli that he almost wrecked havoc in Sumeru. It doesn't help that he's often an insufferable brat-"

~~~

"Hey there Adeptus Xiao. Care to spare a moment with little ole me?"

"What do you want."

"Calm down, I just wanted to see if you knew where that pharmacy assistant was. The zombie one?"

"What are you planning?"

"Ugh, I regret asking you. You're like an overbearing mother."

"Come back, I asked what you were planning on doing to her."

"You know, if you asked nicely I would have given you the fight you wanted."