#thinking that being skinny is the most important thing i should go after and i really wanna die

[omanu]

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[bogleech]

I completely missed that a Mortasheen book was getting kickstarted! What's the best way to get updates on that? Is there some way to sign up for a bogleech.com news letter? I don't want to miss when it comes out

Oh it was kickstarted three years ago, but with the intention of coming out in only one year. A lot of stuff happened :( It's a tabletop RPG that's actually been in development by other folks for now a grand total of I think 15 years, with me just being the art and concept side. I was never really let in on 90% of that development or what caused it to go on that long but now I have enough stuff together that I should be able to get the book out for real in 2024, with the help of the remaining gameplay dev Morgan Mullins, a huge boost of additional development help from @gutsygills, and a dozen different artists I've paid to contribute.

Having sunk so much of my life into it, I won't make it at all possible for people to miss when it comes out. It's basically the thing I have to bank on as my main career for the foreseeable future, the first book is only intended as the start of a series of expansions, it'll have its own official website and get pitched to actual gaming stores. I've been really sweating to make it look as professional-ish as possible.

Like the core D&D books it will have to be fairly pricey, we're looking at 200-300 pages, but I'd also put out much cheaper digital versions, and maybe little skinny "monsters only" books for people who just want to look at those :)

The stats/abilities on these pages are already a little out of date, the gameplay system had some last minute updates following a lot of backer playtesting!

I dunno how many people reading this have maybe never heard of Mortasheen yet but it's a horror-comedy flavored homage to Pokemon and Digimon set in a world sort of like ours, thousands of years from now where there's goofy monsters and mutants and biotech while humans are very rare and endangered. Actually the setting most similar to it now is Adventure Time of all things, if it had a whole lot more body horror and no magic (but lots of biotechnology indistinguishable from it). But when development of this game began, Adventure Time was just that weird short pilot Nickelodeon passed up on. Now it will be coming out after Adventure Time had a finale, sequel movies and the first season of a followup series. It has literally taken more than an entire Adventure Time to get this done :( I did not mean for an answer to an ask to go on this long but it occurs to me as important information for my followers in general!!!

[star-dust-shark]

important

I have something very very important to share. Please pay attention. It won’t take long.

The other day I was scrolling through YouTube shorts.

I found a video of a plus size woman, lip syncing to a trending song. I liked the video, and out of curiosity went to the comments.

Most of the comments were absolutely horrible.

“You’re disgusting”

“Just go on a diet already”

“Kill yourself”

“Stop posting already”

“What the hell is this”

I was so upset. This woman, just trying to live her life freely, trying to do something she was passionate about, being bullied and made fun of. 

I was the only one who said anything to stand up for her.

No one else cared.

To make matters worse, I continued scrolling for a while, and I found a woman who lip synced to the same audio. It was essentially the same video. 

The difference?

One was plus size.

One was skinny.

And when I went to the comments, there were amazing comments.

Glorious praise.

“Oh my god, you’re so pretty”!

“I wish I could look like you”

“Ur so talented! Keep going”

“I just subbed, ur incredible”

I scrolled. 

Not one hate comment.

See, here’s the thing.

People ( after the devastating George Floyd incident ) began to realize that  prioritizing the “Black Lives Matter” movement was vital, and that the crimes pushed upon black people were wrong.

BLM was essentially  a campaign encouraging people to treat others with kindness and respect, no matter how they looked.

This campaign changed lots of things worldwide, making the world a better place. Not perfect, do note, but better. Improved. 

It was incredible, really, considering black people used to be seen as a disgrace, and were seen as criminals.

So why shame people who are bigger? On how they look?

Black people can’t just change their skin.

I mean technically, they can, but they shouldn’t have to. They’re beautiful the way they are.

So why should bigger people be forced into feeling ugly? Forced into thinking that they have to change?

They’re beautiful.

As is any human being.

I believe that if some people realized this, maybe we could make a change.

I’m sick of hearing jokes about obesity in school hallways.

I’m horrified by how many people are scared to become larger because there’s some notion in their head that they’d be ugly.

I hate how many plus size people hate their bodies and wished they were skinny.

It’s horrible and wrong, and it needs to end. 

Please consider re-blogging this so we can get the word out.

Thank you.

[ahsokasupremacy]

Alright, here are my Top Ten funniest guesses (+1 that I bet nobody ELSE will guess) for who Inquisitor Marrok actually is!

You are most welcome to correct me or let me know who YOU think is most probable.

And just to challenge myself, I’m NOT putting Ezra. Because that would be too obvious.

1. Barriss Offee

I’m serious when I say that this is probably the most likely.

We know that she is a very important character in Ahsoka’s life, the writers could be trying to mislead us into thinking that the Force User is a man when really we have no confirmation that they are. Plus Dave Filoni has said in interviews that he refused to have the character make cameos just because he wanted to save her for later. Also, many people already speculated that Barriss became an Inquisitor after Order 66, explaining the double-sided Inquisitor lightsaber.

2. Darth Maul

Their build is a little too skinny for Darth Maul, and also wow, he must really be getting up there. And also, he died in Rebels. But when has that really ever stopped Disney from resurrecting him? I just think they should keep bringing him back. For the bit. I want the opening scroll for the upcoming Daisy Ridley movie to contain the words “Somehow, Darth Maul returned…”

3. Bo Katan

I highly doubt this because her character arc on the Mandalorian is already concluded, but I can kinda see her doing this as like, a side gig. Homegirl is probably broke from paying off Mandalore’s restoration fees. She’s not a Force User unfortunately, but when has that ever stopped her? I like to believe that Bo Katan simply woke up one day and decided to be Force Sensitive and it all kinda worked out for her somehow.

4. Lux Bonteri

If this is the option David Filoni is going with, BOOO. Yet another character who isn’t Force Sensitive. If you really think about it, Dave Filoni probably wants to include someone with an important history with Ahsoka, someone close to her that she held dear and that betrayed her and that she still has lingering feelings for.

Well actually that person is Barriss, and yknow, she kinda went MIA. Sooo the next best thing we could get is Lux, I guess!

5. Anakin (Force Ghost)

Daaaad, what are you doing here?

Well, the ghosts of Obi-Wan and Yoda told him to fuck off and get a job. So here he is. He’s putting in the work! He’s logging onto his Zoom! Ahsoka is gonna be sooo surprised when he finally takes off the mask and reveals it was him along. Just you wait! It’s gonna be so funny!

6. Korkie Kryze

Now we’re really starting to get big brained here.

In Legends, we have Jacen Solo. In the sequels, we have Kylo Ren.

But in the Brand New Republic era? Hark, a new villain arises. Korkie is embittered about being left behind and forgotten by his biological parents, Satine and Obi-Wan. And now he is out for revenge against all the Force Users and Mandalorians who abandoned him. Mwahahaha. We should’ve known he would turn out like this, he’s a ginger after all.

7. Ventress

This would technically make Dark Disciple non-canon? But I don't think Dave Filoni cares, considering he hilariously made the Ahsoka novel non-canon. Ventress is obviously very powerful and capable of dual-wielding and she would make a great candidate for an Inquisitor. Plus her and Morgan Elsbeth are both former Nightsisters so points for rapport.

8. Anakin’s Evil Clone

Hey, I mean Palpatine HAD to start somewhere, right? He didn’t just create Snoke without practice. I like to think he tried making a second Anakin at first, only to discover that Clonakin was a huge pain in the ass and doesn’t wanna follow orders just sit on the couch all day eating the space equivalent of Hot Cheetos.

9. Cal Kestis but he’s evil now

This one pretty much goes against everything we know about Cal but hey, I’ll take a live action Cal cameo any day now. I’ve been on the frontlines defending my babygirl Anakin since day one, don’t even try to lecture me about the ethics of stanning Darksider Cal.

9. Mara Jade

OK no more messing around!! I'm serious this time!

EVERYONE LISTEN CLOSELY!

I think the reason why Dave hasn't made any references to Eli, or Ar'alani, or Vahnya must be because he grew up on the 80s Legends trilogy (not the canon trilogy). Whenever Thrawn is mentioned, there is a direct reference to Heir to the Empire. The same novel where Mara Jade is introduced as the Hand of the Emperor. Coincidence? I think not! Obviously, this must be part of Dave Filoni's master plan to softlaunch the upcoming top secret Thrawn series adaptation.

10. Starkiller

My only real proof is that his name (Marek, Marrok) kinda sounds similar?

Making Starkiller canon would create a whole bunch of problems for the Star Wars timeline. I think his origin story is too Mary Sue-y for even Dave Filoni to try and integrate into current canon.

However, it would be interesting to see a showdown between Anakin's two former apprentices. Interesting, but unlikely.

And finally, for my last guess, I will tell you exactly who Marrok REALLY is. Kathleen Kennedy told me personally, so don't get mad at me! She said it, not me!

11. Luuke (the clone Palpatine made out of Luke's dismembered hand)

This is the ONLY correct answer.

Us Timothy Zahn enjoyers know that this was really Luuke all along. I told you, Snoke isn't the first clone that Palpatine made! I imagine he had a lot of downtime and got bored and decided to fuck around, and that's how we got Luuke.

And yes, I would cast Sebastian Stan to play him because I'm petty AF.

[dragonsdendoodles]

Dunno if this has been mentioned, but can we talk about (in A Map of Days) Enoch teasing Horace about gaining weight when he complains about the sodium content in pizza?? 😭

So that scene is... weird. To me. Because that part specifically I don't particularly know how to feel about, but the scene itself is my favorite scene in the whole series.

Talk of whatever the fuck was going on in this bit below the cut. Trigger warnings in the tags. (This one is long. There's a TLDR at the bottom.)

This is also a pretty tricky subject, so if I say something stupid, please please please correct me.

Before anything else: a very common interpretation of this scene is that it's hinting at Horace having an eating disorder. I am not here to tell you that interpretation is invalid, because it's not. It was not my interpretation, but it makes complete sense to me. I am not the right person to talk about that interpretation because while I do experience body dysmorphia and dysphoria, I have never had an eating disorder. So I'm not gonna do that.

My personal interpretation of this scene was that Horace is a picky eater and also has body issues and/or body dysmorphia, because those are both things I can relate to. That has always been my interpretation, and after several rereads that's what makes the most sense to me personally. I could be wrong. This is entirely my own interpretation and opinion.

Completely literally, this is what the full conversation tells the reader, before it's brought around to Millard being sent out for the second half of what we want to joke about:

Claire likes pizza.

Horace does not. He picks at it, commenting on the sodium content.

Enoch jokes that Horace doesn't want to get fat and laughs at the mental image.

Horace corrects him, claiming it's more about his clothes, then insults what Enoch's wearing, comparing his clothes to flour sacks.

Enoch specifies where he got his clothes in an effort to dispute Horace's point.

Claire further specifies Enoch's clothes came from a corpse.

Enoch makes a joke about getting clothes at funeral parlors.

Horace loses his appetite at Enoch's comment.

Miss Peregrine scolds Horace for not finishing his food. Horace reluctantly complies.

Horace expresses jealousy over Millard's peculiarity, stating that he could gain as much weight as he wanted without anyone noticing.

Millard clarifies that he's actually decently skinny.

The conversation moves on to Millard's lack of clothes.

If we go over it point by point and dig a little more into it, we get a few more details, which I think are relevant for the most part, so that's what I'm gonna do.

Claire likes pizza. Not particularly important to the scene other than starting it, but a cute detail nonetheless. We love cute details about Claire.

Horace does not. He picks at it, commenting on the sodium content. Horace does not like pizza and Horace does not like olives. (Agreed on the pizza point, but I will gladly take those olives if you don't want them, Horace.) The big thing here is that "There's more sodium in this than in the whole Dead Sea" comment, which isn't a concern someone his age should be having.

Enoch jokes that Horace doesn't want to get fat and laughs at the mental image. The problem child of the scene, because that's a really mean joke to make about someone, Enoch. Thus far the sodium comment makes it debatable how affected Horace would be about it, but still, not cool, man.

Horace corrects him, claiming it's more about his clothes, then insults what Enoch's wearing, comparing his clothes to flour sacks. This is the interesting part to me, because in seemingly trying to return Enoch's rude joke, Horace somewhat confirms that Enoch hit close enough to home to get under his skin. The specific line in question is, "That I'll bloat. My clothes are tailored just so, unlike the flour sacks you wear," which brings up another thing--these books have a habit of finding ways to call Enoch fat. Occasionally it'll be through deliberately calling something about him pudgy, and more often than not it's through stereotyping (you have twelve important characters and you picked the one established fat kid to be the one constantly talking about and stealing food? Really? Olive or Horace would've worked just as well, but whatever,) but this is one of the only times it comes from another character's mouth. This isn't just a comment, this is deflection. Horace is hurt by Enoch's comment, so he takes the first opportunity he gets to turn it back on him. This is deliberate. (We'll touch on this and the last point again later.)

Enoch specifies where he got his clothes in an effort to dispute Horace's point. He's focusing on the "flour sack" comment, not the implications of it or anything else about what Horace just said. It's just Enoch being Enoch and responding to Horace taking his bait. It reminds me of the scene in MPHFPC where Horace and Enoch suggest gross things for dinner to tease Olive and Claire. (Which I can confirm was them, but that's a different post.)

Claire further specifies Enoch's clothes came from a corpse. Again not super relevant, but not uncommon, fun fact. During the French Revolution when someone died they would immediately start taking the clothes off of them because I mean they're dead, they don't need it anymore. Just something I think is cool.

Enoch makes a joke about getting clothes at funeral parlors. Back to my MPHFPC point, Enoch has been established to be willing to say things just to freak people out. Just because Horace did it with him does not make him immune to it.

Horace loses his appetite at Enoch's comment. Reasonable reaction. I don't want to hear about leaking corpses when I'm already being forced to eat something I don't particularly enjoy. Like pizza.

Miss Peregrine scolds Horace for not finishing his food. Horace reluctantly complies. Classic parent move. It does suggest that the previous conversation isn't very concerning to her, because if it was she'd have said something during it, and she isn't someone who would hear that about one of her kids and just not care if it was something bad. Personally this lowers my concern level a bit, but I also like Miss Peregrine a lot more than other people I've talked to about this, so take that with what you will.

Horace expresses jealousy over Millard's peculiarity, stating that he could gain as much weight as he wanted without anyone noticing. The other concerning comment Horace makes. It all but confirms he is struggling with body image issues of some kind, though we don't know how severe they are. It confirms that Horace's reply to Enoch wasn't just about his clothes, and that if Enoch didn't hit the nail on the head he came pretty close.

Millard clarifies that he's actually decently skinny. This is something we kind of already knew, it just clarifies Millard's body type a bit more. In MPHFPC when he faints Enoch says it's because he "ain't as fit as he pretends to be," so now we have a little bit of detail on that. Regardless, I don't think it particularly helped the situation, but that's unfortunately a theme for Millard in this book.

The conversation moves on to Millard's lack of clothes.

Essentially, the big things we learn from this conversation are that Horace is insecure about his body and that he will tolerate Enoch poking fun at him about it.

The whole conversation, at least Enoch and Horace's contributions to it, revolve around their insecurities or lack thereof. Horace all but confirms he has body issues, and Enoch could honestly go either way: he doesn't react at all to Horace's jab back at him, he only focuses on the insult about his clothes. Enoch could not care how his body looks at all, or he could have avoided responding because Horace's comment had the same effect that his had. We can't tell from that alone, but I'm leaning towards the first option, because in the same book Horace comments on Olive eating a lot and Enoch jokes about her gaining weight as well. (Olive doesn't respond, Olive doesn't care.) His comment to Olive is more lighthearted than this, which I don't think it would be if it were also an insecurity of his.

The reason my feelings are conflicted about this scene is the way Horace and Enoch talk during it. This is played as a joke, it's very obviously meant to be comedic banter between two characters who are known to take shots at each other for the sake of comedy. That's all well and good, but this scene also proves that Enoch touched a decently sensitive nerve here, and Horace doesn't respond particularly uncomfortably. Yes, he deflects, but it reads as if they can only have this conversation because of how comfortable they are with each other. Horace avoids situations that make him uncomfortable, so if he was hurt too badly by Enoch joking about his body issues he'd have shut the conversation down instead of biting back. Enoch is also established in nearly all of the books to care very deeply about his loopmates and their feelings--if he genuinely hurt Horace, he'd have stopped completely, as shown with Bronwyn about Victor in MPHFPC. They've also known each other for what is implied to be nearly if not the whole time the initial Cairnholm loop was open, after seventy years being as close as they are shown to be they would know each others' insecurities. Enoch's significantly more likely to test Horace's limits, but he's absolutely smart enough to know what buttons he can and cannot push: look at the fight he has with Jacob at the end of AMOD. He cuts pretty deep at the end there, but had he not known (or cared) about Jacob's issues with Abe, he'd have said a lot more than, "You're not Abe, so stop trying to be," and he'd have said it a lot sooner.

It's a conversation that flows somewhat naturally and is portrayed a lot lighter than most people would take it, and arguably lighter than it probably should be. The way it reads to me is similar to how my boyfriend and I would talk and joke about our own insecurities, which leads me to believe they can only do this because they know they both know the boundaries. No boundaries appear to have been crossed here from both of their reactions, and this scene is all but forgotten when it's over. If anything this solidifies to me that the narrative wants us to interpret them as very close if not best friends, because a conversation like this wouldn't have happened otherwise. Horace doesn't let random people bully him. He threatened to bite someone, remember. He threatened to hit Jacob once too.

Personally, their exchange is far from a normal conversation, but I think that's the point. Narratively speaking, Enoch and Horace's friendship is fucking weird--you tell me why the nervous yet arrogant neat freak spends most of his time with the jerkwad who probably doesn't shower unless he's forced to and frequently bullies him. Their entire dynamic revolves around lovingly picking on your best friend. The whole point of this conversation is to strengthen that idea in the reader's mind, that they're close enough to be able to take these shots at each other without worrying they're going to hurt the other. Yes, Horace is implied to have gotten hurt, but at most it's only slightly. He doesn't react too much to it other than making a couple of concerning comments about his own image, which are pretty much immediately moved on from because at the end of the day it's really not all that important.

TLDR: It's a weird conversation about a touchy subject that is promptly forgotten about afterwards, which implies neither Horace nor Enoch think it's too big of a deal. Ultimately, it doesn't matter to anything other than giving us insight into Horace's character and Enoch and Horace's weird-ass friendship. It's not a comfortable conversation for anyone except them, and I'm pretty sure that's the whole point. The whole scene overall is still my favorite in the series, because I think it sets up what AMOD's going to be pretty nicely and my juvenile sense of humor means Enoch's singular allotted dick joke was a lot funnier than it probably should've been to me. (Sorry, Millard.)

[chemicahs]

Ive thought about this theory for a while, I honestly think part of the reason people don’t want to accept fatness as a normal part of being human is because it disrupts their vision of what a human is supposed to look like. We all know from art tutorials that having a readable silhouette is important, and a skinny person has the most readable skeletal structure from just a silhouette. Toddlers often draw people as round oval shapes, but as we grow up we only see simplified humans drawn by adults as stick figures. But shouldn’t round figures be just as readable as human? It’s what a new human brain perceives as “human shaped” after all. Why do we not continue to draw people using ovals as the default? Growing up always seeing textbooks with clip art and diagrams etc the human silhouette is always a skinny person. “That’s because it’s most relatable” you might think. But there’s no reason it should be the only body type represented in simple diagrams or clip art. When people think “human shape” the only thing that comes to mind is a skinny person. So when they see a fat person existing they go “Woah what the fuck is that. This must be inhuman” at a subconscious level. This is hard to explain but I hope it makes some kind of sense. Representation is important. People are not used to the silhouette of a fat person as being a person

[artoriarts]

Ok I don’t want to go make art and I don’t want to go find something good to scrounge up and post so I will instead spout assorted madcom headcanons. these are far from the last you will see from me.

- sanmos 4 lyfe (big sloppy heart emoji) they are both like playfully flirty in diff ways with other people but also so so monogamous at the same time they love eachother sooo much have the healthiest relationship known to man. ignore all the killings.

- 2bhank with the same energy as medic tf2 x heavy tf2. but like also 2b is catboy herder for hank. he holds the laser pointer in the relationship. hank isn’t like full creature I’m still the kind of girlie to place him solidly as kind of the stoic and dysfunctional sociopath but he’s got some of those beasty tendencies in him. the two have such strong attachment to each other but they both have such difficulty expressing it. hank doesn’t know how human well and 2b simply isn’t a soft person even when he wants to be. but they work with what they have. deimos and sanford are so invested in their relationship they chitchat about it constantly. in the most supportive way they want it to go well they just talk about the two being cute and try to help when they hit rocky points. the power couple is so stable they can take on other couple’s drama.

- I don’t know what the ship name is for tricky and hank but there’s like a tiny bit of that too. tricky is hank’s crazy ex but they were never in an actual relationship clown has just been desperate for the dick day one and has not let up for a single second. especially after the halo fiasco literally everyone hates them but they stay silly

- whitehank exists because of something along the lines of hank’s genome getting copied to aahw database when he went in the magnifier and using that agency got the bright idea that if they can’t beat hank. they can make their own. I don’t know actually how she should fit into everything but I like the idea it feels appropriately silly for madcom. the only thing I’m really decided on is that she eventually switches sides and 2b, carrying the entire trans community of nevada on his old man spine, hooks her up on titty skittles and him and hank informally adopt her because cold sad clone babygirl needs parents. she’s like all of hank’s feral swagger if you made it sopping wet and also like garage band punk. I can’t decide if she’s musclegirl as I’ve drawn her before or make her skinny legend I need to lock down the vibes. One important design thing that i know is coming however is that since she’s a copy of mag hank specifically, while hank gets demagnified in my little post canon design shit, she does not, so she is de facto tallest out of the. what do you even call the gang. just the gang? agency for hank wimbleton? the motley crew. the dnd party. nevada’s most wanted. that one actually works we’ll go with that

- funny thing I’ve considered for sheriff is that after whatever happens in project nexus dude just. pisses off somewhere. half hooks up with jeb to make a neutral party for people who just want to fuckin live. while jeb’s on the offensive side of that trying to actively stop the madness sherrif is the defensive side just making settlements for normal people to live they lives. something along those lines. it’s quaint. him and whitehank get together maybe. little guy woos the giant cryptid lady with his southern charm.

- the auditor is workplace sexual harassment personified. simultaneously in the fanfic suave way and the restraining order kind. they talk like stephan weyte. they think they’re soo cool and when someone doesn’t think they are when they want them to they run away and cry.

- I wish I could come up with something for jeb to like round out the primary cast but like honestly he’s the one I spin around in my head the least. I like his motive of make shit normal but maybe he’s just like too clear cut. he’s already got a full character there’s nothing for me to add.

thank you for coming to my ted talk

[paradoxcase]

Chapter 1 of Nona the Ninth

Apologies for the AI interlude, back to your regularly scheduled Locked Tomb liveblog

So Nona is a child or childlike person in Harrow's body, and I guess she is maybe having dreams about Harrow's memories, in the case of this chapter, the memory of the pool scene. At least, I think this was a dream, this happens right after she wakes up and after recounting it she says "it's gone already", like she's having trouble remembering a dream

I wonder if Harrow is actually short/skinny enough to pass as a ten-year-old well or if people just think Nona is weird? I guess we will find out exactly how irrational all of that "she's only nine years old!" stuff was from Mercy in that last book

I notice they seem to be using actual paper here. In As Yet Unsent, Judith said that Camilla and Corona both hated the texture of paper, but it seems like Camilla at least has gotten over that. Presumably Pyrrha has actual experience of using paper from 10,000 years ago

It's not clear what kind of recording device Camilla is using, but from what we do get it sounds like an old tape recorder from the 90s. With any kind of modern technology, she would surely be recording Nona with a phone or some similar device that doesn't have physical buttons and is multipurpose rather than just being a recorder, wouldn't she? The Nine Houses seems to be technologically stuck somewhere in the middle ages and probably this is John's fault somehow, but I don't think BOE has that excuse, they seem to have relatively modern technology available and it's been 10,000 years. So why are they using a tape recorder?

Is it important that she not have another tantrum just because she doesn't like them or doesn't like how they make people treat her, or does she do some unconscious necromancy thing during them that puts them all in danger?

So Harrow obviously wasn't like Gideon-level buff or anything, but we never heard anything about her having trouble or getting sore just from walking around. Or is this related to the thing that Judith mentioned, where necromancers get used to supporting their body with necromancy and then when they go to space and don't have any available thanergy they're a bit disabled? Was Harrow supporting her muscles with necromancy all her life and now that her body is occupied by someone who seemingly can't, or doesn't do necromancy, she has trouble with basic things like walking? It didn't sound from Gideon's POV in the last book that Harrow was that weak

You know, Gideon called it a "watch" way back in the very first chapter of Gideon the Ninth:

Is this a Sixth House thing? Or is it trying to do something where Nona only knows whatever language BOE speaks, and somehow the House word that Camilla uses sounds like or means "clockwork" in the BOE language? That doesn't make a lot of sense, those languages should realistically be very different regardless of whether either of them is actually Modern English

So she has been shown multiple alphabets, it sounds like, but she can't recognize letters, at least in handwriting. I wonder if it's an issue with handwriting in particular, or if there's something funky about the way she perceives shapes and lines. She certainly doesn't seem to have any issues with language

I like how they're keeping a tally of Pyrrha's ass jokes, haha. It sounds like they might be tallying other things too

This sounds like some more weird Christian-inspired religious flimflam. I wonder what kind of religious flimflam BOE has, and if it's actually significantly different than the Houses' religious flimflam aside from obviously not being about necromancy

So I guess Camilla and Palamedes got updated by Pyrrha about how she and G1deon achieved Lyctorhood and said that sounds rad, sign us up? Or did something different happen here?

I mean, Palamedes already broke into the fanfiction scene, he's most of the way there to the poor-quality erotica, really

I seem to recall from Dr. Sex that there was some required erotic poetry writing on the Sixth. I wonder what Camilla thought of that

So they're not entirely sure what the actual extent of her cognitive abilities are. I wonder what their theories are about who or what she is, or how this soul came be in possession of this body? I guess possibly her body could have gotten possessed by a ghost from the River at the very end of Gideon's POV in the last book, John did say at the beginning of the book that if Harrow's soul went missing while they were physically in the River something else would come and take its place. But Nona being a random ghost is not very interesting, and thus probably not actually the case. I seem to recall that the last thing Gideon saw before we lost her POV was Alecto, who does indeed seem to have been haunting Harrow at least at some point, but the way that Mercy and Augustine described her as being before John enTombed her is nothing like how Nona is

Who is "her"? Nona? I've gotten the feeling so far that BOE don't know that Nona's body used to belong to a necromancer, they seem to be trying to keep this a secret

So, I guess BOE has captured a Nine Houses barracks that is maybe on a planet or space station or something and are besieging it while they negotiate with the Houses for something? Are they on the thanergy planetoid that Palamedes mentions later? I'm not sure from this conversation exactly what Palamedes thinks should be done with the barracks and exactly what Pyrrha is advocating for instead, and I can tell already that the Nona POV is going to be even less helpful at telling me what is going on as the POV in the previous two books was

Presumably "she" in that last bit is Wake

I'm not sure what the status of this planet they're on is. Is it a refugee planet? Is it involved in the siege?

Nine million people in a city is like, a little bigger than New York City, it's not that crazy. Is the 16 million the rest of the population of the planet? That's really not much for an entire planet, the combined total of 25 million is still 12 million less than the population of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. And the whole Seventh + Eighth is not even much bigger than New York City, the Nine Houses really is tiny. I guess this is the effect of thanergenic planets on population growth, but like, it sounded from Gideon the Ninth that the Fourth House was relying on a have-as-many-children-as-possible-in-the-hopes-that-some-don't-die strategy, and they are using vat grown babies to accomplish this rather than relying on natural reproduction, so in theory they should have a large population, at least

Kind of interesting, when I was googling the population of Tokyo, google showed me this:

Based on the Wikipedia article, I think this number is the population of Tokyo proper rather than the whole Tokyo Metropolitan Area, but many other sites that document the "population of Tokyo" use the 37-40 million number, possibly because it's more crazy sounding. So the information extraction is technically accurate, but then you look at the first four results:

And you can see that a different information extraction algorithm has highlighted what it thinks is the correct answer in the snippets of these results, and three out of four of them give the bigger number, which is very different than the number that appears at the top of the search results. This overall does not provide a clear answer to the question without actually clicking through to the results, so IMO google's attempt to use information extraction to deliver a quick answer to a simple question has failed, here, even though the algorithm worked. It's also not surprising that the one source that gives the lower number is the actual Japanese government source, they probably have a reduced interest in wowing people about how big Tokyo is

Anyway

So possibly this planet is about to become a casualty of this war, although I still do not understand the politics of this situation, and I gather that We Suffer is a Waker, and now that Wake is gone some other political faction has taken over, possibly the one responsible for nuking John's fleet. Ctesiphon is an ancient Iranian city, and Merv is also an ancient placename in Iran, this seems to be a theme. I guess BOE probably have records of pre-Resurrection Earth and just name everyone and everything after all of that stuff, but based on Wake's name they seem to have lost some cultural context for a lot of it. But Ctesiphon and Merv are actually names that were used as names on Earth, whereas the names for the actual people are not

Lyctor healing abilities are pretty convenient for shaving, haha. Also, I gather this means they do not actually require necromancy to function (although I think it was established in the last book that Pyrrha maybe heals more slowly than G1deon would if he were in control) and I think it was implied at the end of Harrow the Ninth that Nona also has some residual instahealing abilities, although I'm guessing that whether or not Nona can do necromancy is not currently known with certainty by anyone

If Nona is not supposed to be rescuing any animals, I wonder where this specific category of animals to be saved came from? Also interesting that she says this when she probably knows it's not the answer Pyrrha wants. It's not like she can't lie, she said earlier that Pyrrha and Palamedes were speaking loudly, but they weren't

Man, I can tell this was written by someone who has never had to wear glasses regularly. I've switched back and forth between glasses and contacts at various point in my life, it's really not a big issue to adapt to not wearing glasses ever after having worn them every day for a long time, in my experience it's the not being able to see things part that is what primarily reminds you that you aren't wearing glasses and so when you can see things because you're wearing contacts you don't feel the need to put on glasses before going out. You also don't wear them 24/7, you take them off to sleep, it's totally normal to veg out around the house or leave to get the mail without your glasses, your glasses are not a phantom limb that you miss, what prompts you to push them up your nose is the feeling of them slipping down, you don't get the urge to do that if the glasses are not on your face at all. If I woke up in a new body with 20/20 vision I would never wear glasses again and I would not miss them, or probably ever think about them again

So maybe this planet is about to get eaten by a resurrection beast, and it's not to do with the war at all? Also, like, Gideon killed a bunch of Heralds in the last book, while in an unfamiliar and not very strong body, I feel like Camilla could do perfectly well against them in her own body, though it might be a problem if Palamedes surfaces during that event

I just want to finish by saying that it's pretty funny that there are four people living in this apartment, and not a single one of them is the singular occupant of their original body

[daitranscripts]

Sera Cutscene: Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts

Should Have Used Bees

Sera Masterpost Related Quest: Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts

The PC walks up to Sera’s room in the Herald’s Rest. As they approach, the sound of arrows can be heard.

Sera: One for the empress. For Gaspard. Briala. The duchess.

Another arrow pierces the door before the PC enters.

Sera: And Coryphefuss, right in the dangle-bag!

Dialogue options:

General: What’s wrong? [1]

General: Remind me not to get you mad. [2]

General: You think they’re the same? [3]

1 - General: What’s wrong? PC: All right, you’re clearly annoyed. What can I do? Sera (high approval): You’re doing fine. It’s the dead piled up in Halamshiral that’s nagging at me. Sera (low approval): Don’t bother. Got enough pissing me off with all the bodies from Halamshiral. [4]

2 - General: Remind me not to get you mad. PC: Well, remind me to stay on your good side. Sera (high approval): Don’t worry, you’re sparkling compared to that lot. Sera (low approval): Pfft, like you’d listen. It’s not you, it’s the pile of dead in Halamshiral. [4]

3 - General: You think they’re the same? PC: You think all those people should be treated the same? Sera: After Halamshiral? Kind of. They all get little people killed and don’t care. [4]

4 - Scene continues.

Sera: A cook here, a footman there. What’s it matter, right, so long as there’s a butt for the throne?

Sera (Briala rules with Gaspard): A skinny elven puppet arse at that. Wonder how long before she forgets her “poor elves.” Sera (Gaspard rules): And a total arse, too. I thought Gaspard was tired of that Game, but he settled in real easy. Sera (Celene rules): A pretty one, sure. But how many lives are worth one empress’s arse?

Sera: Ugh, that place. Should have just thrown in some bees and slammed the doors.

Choice dependent dialogue:

Non-romance [5]

Romance route[6]

5 - Non-romance:

Dialogue options:

General: We made important decisions. [7]

General: Earwigs. That’d stop a ball. [8] + Sera slightly approves

General: That wouldn’t have helped. [9]

7 - General: We made important decisions. PC: We decided the course of a nation. I think it was worthwhile. Sera: Right, Orlais will never be the same. Except for everything they say and do. Ugh. You know the most important thing I got out of all that mess? The one thing? Don’t sleep with empresses. That’s what that was all about. [10]

8 - General: Earwigs. That’d stop a ball. PC: I don’t know. You want to stop a party, I think you go earwigs. Sera: (Laughing.) Eww, I hate those things, with their little pinchy butts! Josephine should add that to her paper threats! You know the real lesson from all this? Never sleep with an empress. [10]

9 - General: That wouldn’t have helped. PC: And that would accomplish what, exactly? Sera: Stinging around the face and neck? Can’t assassinate empresses if your eyes swell shut? I don’t know. I’m just trying to get this junk out of my head. These people, they’re the worst. Ugh. You know the most important thing I got out of all that mess? The one thing? Don’t sleep with empresses. That’s what that was all about. [10]

10 - Scene continues.

Sera (Briala and Celene reconciled): We patched their spat, Briala and the Celene. But without their breakup, none of it would have happened like that. [Typo??? It’s in the files like this lol] Sera (Briala and Celene not reconciled): That and Briala being an idiot. The whole thing would’ve gone different if that little piss-up wasn’t in the middle.

Dialogue options:

General: It’s not that simple. [11] - Sera disapproves

General (Celene rules): The empress was right. [12] - Sera disapproves

General (Gaspard Rules alone): Gaspard put an end to that. [13] - Sera disapproves

General (Briala rules with Gaspard): But Briala is in charge now. [14] - Sera disapproves

General: Their mistakes made it worse. [15] + Sera approves

11 - General: It’s not that simple. PC: There was a lot more going on than a lovers’ spat. Sera: Oh, sure. PC: There was. Sera: Because of the hole in the sky? Pfft. Plenty of idiots around before, and there’ll be plenty of idiots around after. Better save some arrows, yeah? Scene ends.

12 - General: The empress was right. PC: I think Celene did the right thing for Orlais. Sera: Right, because that was all the plan and not dumb luck. Dumb luck named you. Watch out, yeah? The hole in the sky didn’t start their war. Stupid people did that. Still going to be plenty of those after Corypheuns is dead. Scene ends.

13 - General: Gaspard put an end to that. PC: It’s over with Gaspard in charge. Sera: Right, because that was all the plan and not dumb luck. Dumb luck named you. Watch out, yeah? The hole in the sky didn’t start their war. Stupid people did that. Still going to be plenty of those after Corypheuns is dead. Scene ends.

14 - General: But Briala is in charge now. PC: You don’t think much of her, but Briala came out ahead. Sera: Right, because that was all the plan and not dumb luck. Dumb luck named you. Watch out, yeah? The hole in the sky didn’t start their war. Stupid people did that. Still going to be plenty of those after Corypheuns is dead. Scene ends.

15 - General: Their mistakes made it worse. PC: That was a mistake on their part. It made everything worse. Sera: Wrong way around, Inquisitor. It started worse. Lots of people died before there was a hole in the sky. That’s who you’re saving. If you get a chance, maybe remind them not to be idiots. Scene ends.

6 - Romance route

Dialogue options:

General: We made important decisions. [16]

General: Earwigs. That’d stop a ball. [17] + Sera slightly approves

General: That wouldn’t have helped. [18]

16 - General: We made important decisions. PC: We decided the course of a nation. I think it was worthwhile. Sera: Right, Orlais will never be the same. Except for everything they say and do. [23]

17 - General: Earwigs. That’d stop a ball. PC: I don’t know. You want to stop a party, I think you go earwigs. Sera: (Laughing.) Eww, I hate those things, with their little pinchy butts! “Concessions, or we unleash the earwigs!” Heh. Pinchy butts. Well, that was stupid. Want to go roll around until I feel better?

Dialogue options:

General: Yes. Yes, I do. [19] + Sera approves

General: You’re trying to distract me. [20]

19 - General: Yes. Yes, I do. PC: Why are we even still talking? Sera: Good question. Shut it. Scene ends. 20 - General: You’re trying to distract me. PC: That was quick, even for you. What’s going on? Sera: What? Can’t do anything else until we shove an arrow up Coryphenus. Figured I’d keep you close. Dialogue options: - General: About time you asked. [21] + Sera approves - General: Why? [22] + Sera slightly approves 21 - About time you asked. PC: I was wondering when you’d finally ask. Sera: Can’t rush all these feelings. Have to work it out. She makes a face. Sera: All right, done. Scene ends. 22 - Why? PC: It’s just a really sudden shift. Why? Sera: Because the real lesson out of this is never sleep with someone powerful and then end up like Briala. It’s real easy to get from power to stupid. You have the first part covered. I’m watching out for the second. So, you know, try not to be an idiot. They kiss. Scene ends.

18 - General: That wouldn’t have helped. PC: And that would accomplish what, exactly? Sera: Stinging around the face and neck? Can’t assassinate empresses if your eyes swell shut? I don’t know. I’m just trying to get this junk out of my head. These people, they’re the worst. [23]

23 - Choice-dependent dialogue:

Sera not brought to Halamshiral [24]

Sera brought, not danced [25]

Sera brought, danced [26]

24 - Sera not brought to Halamshiral Sera: Ugh, this isn’t working. You didn’t mope like this on the balcony, did you? Rather do pretty much anything. You want to go do anything for a while?

Dialogue options:

General: About time you asked. [27] + Sera approves

General: Why change tone so fast? [28] + Sera slightly approves

27 - General: About time you asked. PC: I was wondering when you’d finally ask. Sera: Can’t rush all these feelings. Have to work it out. She makes a face. S era: All right, done. Scene ends.

28 - General: Why change tone so fast? PC: It’s just a really sudden shift. Why? Sera: Because the real lesson out of this is never sleep with someone powerful and then end up like Briala. It’s real easy to get from power to stupid. You have the first part covered. I’m watching out for the second. So, you know, try not to be an idiot. They kiss. Scene ends.

25 - Sera brought, not danced Sera: The only fun bit was with you, after. I forget how much you drank.

Dialogue options:

General: Less than you think. [29]

General: I lost count. [30]

General: Don’t change the subject. [33]

29 - General: Less than you think. PC: I had less than you tried to pour, I’ll say that. Sera: Hey, no one was charging. ’Tender was probably dead or something. You tired of talking? I’m tired of talking. [33]

30 - General: I lost count. PC: It’s a little hard to remember. Sera: In a good way, right? Because I think so. You tired of talking? I’m tired of talking. Want to do something about that? [33]

26 - Sera brought, danced Sera: Ugh. You know the most important thing I got out of all that mess? The one thing? You can’t dance.

Dialogue options:

General: For you, I do it anyway. [31]

General: No, Sera, you can’t follow. [32]

General: Don’t change the subject. [33]

31 - General: For you, I do it anyway. PC: Maybe not, but for you, I try. Sera: Aww, that’s so twee. (Mock gagging.) But thanks. That part was fun. You want to roll around for a bit? [34]

32 - General: No, Sera, you can’t follow. PC: You’re the one who doesn’t know how to follow a good lead. Sera: Oh, “leading and following.” Save it for a fancy who thinks wines taste different. You tired of talking? I’m tired of talking. Want to do something about that? [34]

33 - General: Don’t change the subject. PC: Stay focused, Sera. You can’t jump around like this. Sera: Too late yeah? Thinking about your arse. Want to do something about it? [34]

34 - Dialogue options:

General: About time you asked. [35] + Sera approves

General (After “don’t change the subject): I’m angry, but yes. [36] + Sera approves

General: Why change tone so fast? [37] + Sera slightly approves

35 - General: About time you asked. PC: I was wondering when you’d finally ask. Sera: Can’t rush all these feelings. Have to work it out. She makes a face. Sera: All right, done. Scene ends.

36: General: I’m angry, but yes. PC: Yes, but this is my angry face. Sera: Still pretty. Come here. Scene ends.

37 - General: Why change tone so fast? PC: It’s just a really sudden shift. Why? Sera: Because the real lesson out of this is never sleep with someone powerful and then end up like Briala. It’s real easy to get from power to stupid. You have the first part covered. I’m watching out for the second. So, you know, try not to be an idiot. They kiss. Scene ends.

[heavensmtl]

TNGDH 42

I endured it for just a day, and then popped my head into the capital the next morning.

Of course, I didn’t forget to place the replica hamster inside the house while I was using ‘summon’. I asked the system to make the crying sound believable, so it should be ok for a while.

‘Still, I should go back quickly……’

Kyle, he’s so perceptive, he’ll probably call the vet again, saying our beast is acting strange. For the sake of the poor veterinarian who was trembling in front of the Grand Duke, I had to resolve the issue as briefly and quickly as possible and then return.

“Okay then.”

I ‘summoned’ to a deserted bush outside the castle, and the first thing I did was find out the location of the top of the castanets with the help of the system. Fortunately, it wasn’t too far away, and if I went straight, I’d be there in less than 10 minutes.

However the real problem was different.

I don’t know how life can be such a clogged sewer. Even if I sold my country in a previous life, honestly, it wouldn’t be any worse than this.

[⁄(⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄]

Ha……

I squeezed my eyes shut and took a few deep breaths before I looked down at my body.

The sweater knitted by hand, stitch by stitch, was riddled with holes. An embroidered strawberry so large it could be seen from 50 meters away. And, of course, my skinny thighs that felt like they were basking in the warm breeze of the Imperial Palace. 

It’s the icing on the cake, it’s the icing on the cake.

I sank down and put my head in my hands. Then I let out a soundless roar.

At this point, I think I’d be happier as a hamster. At least my dignity wouldn’t be hurt!

“.......”

Nope. Isn’t it more dignified to be a hamster?

“.......Ugh.”

I sighed and stood up.

In any case, it was better to acknowledge the situation quickly. I had some work to do, and I couldn’t waste time here.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and looked around. The first thing that caught my eye was a family home with a wall as high as my waist and a simple but beautiful rose flower bed.

“I’ve never committed a crime in my life, and I can’t believe I……”

I muttered to myself as I walked up to the wall of the house. Then, I raised my tiptoes and, after failing around a few times, I finally managed to grab a pair of shorts that were lying on the clothesline.

Just the pants, please, just the pants, I’ll wash them and return it to you.

My eyes were also drawn to a shirt hanging right next to the pants, but I held back. If I can just get to the top, I’ll find my clothes, and then I can say goodbye to this nemesis, the strawberry-embroidered sweater.

Right. Even if there were people at the top, how many would there be?

*

“......”

Damn castanets top. I should have known when they said they had branched all over the place to move stuff.

[The Castanets Shipyard is the fourth largest shipyard in the Meinhardt Empire, and the largest transportation business!]

I hit my chest. 

You should have told me something that important beforehand! Then I would have stolen the shirt! I thought there would be a couple of receptionist at most!

“Look over there…”

“Bare feet and a strawberry-print sweater.”

“......It’s really unique.”

It’s not that I’m unusual…….

Ah, Kyle Jane Meinhardt, for real!

I wanted to tear off this strawberry embroidery, but if I did that, I would become infamous in the capital as a true pervert wearing nothing.

Let’s calm down. You need to stay calm.

“But, those bare legs…… No way, he’s not wearing pants?”

I shouted, my patience quickly running out.

“I wore it?!”

What are you looking at, man? Did you see it? Don’t follow me! Don’t even whisper. Just stop paying attention to me!

“......ha.”

Being treated like a pervert by strangers was not part of my plan, but I managed to retrieve my money and items safely.

After changing into normal clothes, I returned to the palace as quickly as possible. I only have a penny or two, and it would be a shame to lose it,

“Oh, Shu. Are you here already? Your Majesty said it would take a little longer…”

As soon as I entered the imperial palace, I ran into Sen, who was strolling through the gardens. It was a stroke of luck.

I approached her with a happy expression. After a quick hello and a quick “How are you?” we reached out to shake hands.

[The overdue miracle figure is settled all at once!]

[Person, ‘Serena’ has been deleted]

…….What?

Serena, deleted? 

Who is the person in front of me then?

[A character not in the original work, ‘Sen’, has appeared.]

[To the extent that it contributes to the character’s change, it is reflected in the miracle value.]

Because I became involved in this novel, her fate changed over the course of the winter.

But what does it mean that Serena has been deleted? Sen becomes engaged to her prince, Belial… Does this mean that, unlike the original, Belial will not become the emperor this time?

System windows began to appear mercilessly before my confused eyes.

[Current miracle value 31.0%]

[Current miracle value 34.5%]

[Current miracle value 37.0%]

[Current miracle value 39.2%]

“......”

I got a little tired of that bright blue light, so I hesitated and took a step back. The instantaneous increase in miracle value seemed strange. 

Is the change in Sen’s fate a good thing for Sen? Would she be able to find her own happiness this time, without killing Kyle…..?

Whether it knew my thoughts or not, the system window, still glowing menacingly blue, just came layer after layer.

[This person is not in the information!]

[You cannot view the person’s story!]

It was a strange thing to say.

From the beginning, this story was about the contents of <Heart of Winter> being reconstructed  due to my appearance and actions. But what happens if someone becomes a different person to the point where they can’t be viewed at all?

‘Serena’ is the term for empress.

But just now, the ‘Serena’ of this story disappeared.

Why?

You don’t know the future. It can change. There are three princes of the Meinhardt Empire. Lorenz, Belial, and Kyle.

Kyle has no interest in the throne, but Belial does. He’s not dead, and he hasn’t broken off the engagement yet… Why did fate make ‘Serena’ into a non-existent person?

“Shu?”

Sen stretched her arms out to me. Seeing that worried expression, I bit my lip and took a step back.

I didn’t know what to say. What the hell had happened to the Imperial Palace while I was gone, and what would happen to Sen now that she was no longer a character?

Sen approached me. I took a step back.

Sen approached me again. I took another step back.

“......Wait, Sen. I’m sorry. I’m…..”

What expression should I make?

What should I say?

As I hesitantly stepped back, my body hit something, hard and warm. When I lifted my head to the shadow overhead, Kyle was staring down at me.

“Shu.”

In a flash, my vision snapped back. He grabbed my shoulders and spun me toward him.

Grabbing my chin and lifting it, Kyle looked at my expression, then pressed his body close to me, almost as if I was half-hugging him.

“Did you take a carriage on the way here?”

“.....No.”

I wondered for a moment whether I should tell him that I rode a horse or a donkey, but Kyle didn’t ask anymore questions, looking like he’s just asking for a good excuse.

“Okay. You must be tired.”

“......ah. Yeah, I guess so. You said we got separated halfway through, right?”

Sen smiled awkwardly, as if apologizing.

“I didn’t think of that, sorry, Shu. We’ll talk about it later, but first, let’s go inside and get some rest. The room is……”

“I’ll show you, it’s next door.”

“You sure?”

“Mhm.”

I looked up at Kyle. There was no expression on his clean-cut, stern face.

What are you thinking? He still doesn’t ask me anything. He just watches my expression, then walks away, his arm around my shoulder.

“Your Majesty.”

“.......”

“....... Your Majesty.”

“Just a little.”

He said, matching my pace.

“Just a little while. This way.”

There was more than one thing suspicious about me.

Not only did I show that unnatural expression to Sen, I arrived much earlier than expected despite not getting on the carriage, and I looked neat……

But Kyle doesn’t ask me anything. I’m a little taken aback by his attitude, as if nothing is more important than my current state. 

Rattling.

The door opened, and the two of us were gently sucked into the darkness. The curtains were closed, so I could barely make out the outlines of the furniture.

“You must be tired.”

Kyle said, placing his chin on the top of my head and hugging my waist.

“You’ll feel better when you wake up after a nap. I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep.”

It’s not that I’m not suspicious. There are so many questions I want to ask. But I don’t ask because I don’t think it’s the right time.

“I’m okay……”

Kyle cut me off with a low laugh.

“It doesn’t look very good.”

“.....”

“I’m just tired.”

Kyle would get away with anything with that excuse. At least, for today.

“You’re right.”

In the end, I responded with a light sigh.

“I’m just tired, and maybe a nap will help.”

Turning my head slightly, I saw the system window floating in the air.

There was less than 10 minutes left until ‘summon’ ended. I slipped out of Kyle’s arms and obediently laid down on the bed, and turned to him.

“Don’t worry, just go back.”

“I’ll watch you fall asleep.”

“......”

I quickly closed my eyes tightly. He was so determined to see me fall asleep, so I had no choice but to pretend to sleep. It’s awkward even thinking about it, and I don’t know if he’ll fall for it, but…….

I heard footsteps walking towards the bed. With my eyes still closed, I felt him move closer.

Stopping in one spot, Kyle gently brushed my forehead, then leaned in close enough for our lips to touch.

However, the lips that seemed like they could touch did not. His hand slowly moved away and pulled the covers a little further, and then he walked away with a small voice.

“Have a nice dream.”

The door closed, and the room was filled with silence. I lifted my hand to touch my forehead, where his fingers had been, and where his breath had grazed.

“It’s…… hot.”

Yes. It was hot.

It was as if he had transferred his heat to me.

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

Caelum's Note

This chapter had me giggling ahhh I love them so much (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄). I think I might have a somewhat schedule. I'll try to get chapters out every Wednesday and either Saturday/Sunday. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please look forward to the next one °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°.

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[darling-answers]

I love your Cute style and fanfics of Cassidy and reaper! May I ask for you to write about Echo with a creator Mother figure! The one who gave Life to her!

Owner - Thank you for liking my Cassidy and Reaper! Honestly I love writing Overwatch! And I love playing echo! So let me give it a shot!

- Spending your whole life making echo took a lot of mental Energy and Physical Stress. But boy did it pay off, Creating echo not only helped you with man kind but it also helped show others the hope of not giving up on your dream.

- when you programmed echo and turned on her power module, the first thing she was greeted was you. The first little steps that were so important to a newborn baby was Exactly How it worked in the beginning. She didn’t understand how to perform basic tasks as walking and flying around. She a fast learner, when you get her to learn basic walking and talking her programming copies you.

- As her mother figure she has only known you as a human, you didn’t let her outside of her environment until you felt she was ready. She found nature and animal beautiful. The first time she met humans she didn’t understand. “ why were the those small people scared of me? Did i do something off.” She would ask in the most sincere tone? Her programming copying how you would talk.

- when finding out that she is different she was upset as first but she understood that She just need to make a difference by showing the world she not like others! When she first joined Overwatch she still stayed in touch with you through her programming! All the Overwatch agents knew about you and especially Winston, as Echo was very fussy and wouldn’t let anyone touch her program unless it her own mother! So after a Mission you will definitely have to come in and make sure she is alright!

- I definitely think she tried to drink or eat something before seeing you doing it and getting upset when she learned she didn’t have to survive off the same stuff you do. “ Do you mean that humans naturally Eat and drink but robots can’t do the same? So why don’t you become a robot so you don’t have that weakness?” When telling her that being a human or a robot has their own perks and benefits. She definitely “cried” when she found out you won’t be with her the rest of her life.

- she tried to help others like you do! Learning how to cook, clean and bake and when you grow older and sometimes have it harder to get around she definitely doesn’t allow you to do more chores, “ I think it time you go rest.” She would say with a smile on her face.

- Echo never gets angry or frustrated but if you were to be insulted by anyone even one of her own teammates she will definitely bring out the feisty tone you gave her when you found her smashing a Glass plate cause she thought that was normal cause you did it.

- You will definitely be making her accessories for her body to give her more human like features! Like a Ballerina Tutu! Not only does she appreciate it very much she definitely will hug you and knit a sweater for you in no time! She learns that everyone is different and that while there definitely a good side you shouldn’t judge anyone for choosing a side as everyone has there reasons.

- She will definitely compliment you if you even try to point out your chubby ness or how skinny you look. She doesn’t care how you look or how different you might be from other people. She loved you the way you are, YOUR her creator the one who gave her life to experience and explore so why should anyone but especially you try to judge yourself!

- That scene were Cassidy and Echo meet up after Cassidy takes care of Ashe Really falls to me as echo will ask Cassidy to pick out a gift for you, something you enjoy! Even if Cassidy doesn’t know who you are! She will introduce you to him to! So that you get to know the people she surrounds herself with people who takes care of others and Helps Humanity

In Game Conversation

Echo - My creator made me to inspire good in people, why do you wish to harm the people around you?

Moira - Did Mummy ever tell you that her fantasy is a delusion, I can make you into something greater.

~

Cassidy - Hey Partner, Didn’t you say it was your creator Birthday, let stop by The House and give her a Pie, she deserve it.

Echo - You know cowboy, she doesn’t like pie, but thank you for trying to help :D ask her what she likes next time you try and take a shot at asking her out on a date.

Cassidy - *whistles* That was brutal Ma’am.

[liquid-geodes]

yayayayayya bestie link allowed me to screen shot this. ok listen listen listen. im writing it here bc ik for fact link's followers, some of yall are willy afton simps. (which like hi yall how is your husband on this fine evening :D)

THIS. Why do so many people only draw him skinny? Do you refuse the flesh? Is it not apart of him too? He was fat yall, not lightly chubby, mans was fat. And I think more people should draw or write him as such. An example is a lot of yall claim to like dad bods but the moment a father is not abed up on a Friday afternoon or The Most Fit Man, you kinda just...ignore him. Tbh this goes for thin man William too. Man is a STICK sometimes he got no muscle. Sickly pale and all.

Idk it just feels like the second someone isn't the typical standard of "hot bod" then a lot of people ignore it. I understand taste is a thing, I'm more talking about like the imperfections of a person. Cause another thing I've noticed? There's a little more now but within the past year, many people overlook the chipped tooth, or the fact William limps. Or his scars. Or the color of his teeth. Or anything that honestly makes William Afton, William Afton. It just feels like his imperfections are largely overlooked and I don't like it. Feels ICKY to me.

So yeah, kiss your fat handsome man cowards, for people who talk about liking man tits, a lot of you largely overlook you own man's

So true bestie, honestly I thought you were going to drag ALL the screenshots over because it's all very important to this conversation

The long and the short of it is, yall need to stop erasing canonical fat characters. You can have a preference, you can prefer William after he lost the weight, but you need to acknowledge that he lost that eight through unhealthy means. He lost his weight by overworking himself while hunting remnant and to better disguise himself as Dave once he came back. But at the time of the murders? When he was most active? He was fat. If you're going to draw him from that period of time he NEEDS to be fat.

YES the fan made depictions of William are nice, yes we've all seen squid nuudel and thats FINE. But yall can NOT erase a canonically fat character JUST because the artist they hired is problematic

And I'm not asking you to SIMP for her version of William either. Yes it was problematic in HER COMIC to make him a pedophile, yeah he looks like Peter Griffin because she was into that for some reason, but SHE was not in charge of the original novel

William was fat with or without PinkyPills, that was never changing, she did not get to choose that.

I'm sick and tired of the ONLY times we see William drawn the way he was intended being in gross fetish art. Just let him exist the way he was supposed to, acknowledge that he has two VERY DIFFERENT body types for two VERY DIFFERENT points in his life. There is a REASON Dave was detached from his life as William Afton, there is a REASON he looks different as Dave Miller.

William Afton was FAT and that's okay!

[quietwingsinthesky]

I mean rn I wish you would write a fic w a description of 11089 so I can draw them 👉👈 :lookingaway:

bold of you to assume i even know what they look like alsjfjgljdksk

things i know about 11089’s appearance (revealed to me as if receiving prophecy):

1) You know those posts about how the ultimate image of androgyny in our society ends up being people who are skinny and hairless and sexless? so there’s our starting point, the horror story of that being forced upon you because it’s more useful for you to be as similar to the rest of the crew as possible because then you can simply be quantified by the amount of resources you can provide versus those you take. because every single time i think about this spaceship, it becomes an even more dystopian situation because how else would they survive when they were underprepared and have no way of getting help.

1a) what i’m saying is there’s a very good reason they’re instantly fascinated by visual modes of self-expression like dyeing hair. (similarly fascinated by other bodily changes, whether natural, like when Donna gets a burst of freckles across her face when she’s been out in the sun, or unnatural, absolutely transfixed by piercings and good for them.)

1b) they are going to be so much better off once they’re living on the TARDIS and can put on some weight and some muscle from running around with aliens and let their hair grow out all fluffy and uneven (and eventually accidentally turn it orange through hair bleach mishaps and keep it that way)

2) related, but they tend to prefer bright colors on other people rather then themself, for the most part. fun sometimes but attention-grabbing in a way that layered shades of gray are less so. so however they dress, it’s with a trend towards darker colors with little splashes of brightness from accessories or such.

3) set in stone for me now is the idea that where this story ends up going is ‘Someone Has To Keep An Eye On Donna And Her Completely Human Friend, John Smith’. If a Donna can’t survive being a human metacrisis or whatever with all the Doctor’s memories in her little human brain, why should Ten 2.0 be any different. Donna gets mindwiped, but Ten Again goes voluntarily to keep living, to stay near her, a measure that will mean if her memory starts itching her about some ‘Doctor’, she’ll associate his face with John instead and stop digging.

Which wraps back around to 11089 because I’m now very attached to Another Ten getting FOB watched and 11089 wearing it on a chain at all times. It’s definitely a totally normal and reasonable burden for them to carry their friends’ lives around their neck. this is very healthy behavior and does NOT show a lack of ability to set boundaries in situations that will end up hurting them or a need to prove that they can be useful that overrides everything else. they’re fine. this will not end up going horribly wrong as the guilt of hiding these things from people they love gnaws at them, and they start looking for any other solution only to find dead end after dead end and get desperate enough to start thinking ‘well, if the doctor couldn’t figure it out, maybe if we had another timelord-’

3a) but that’s not important. what’s important is watch on a chain that they can never ever open.

[augustus-hater]

An essay on why Octavius from NATM is NOT Augustus

It is evident that I hate Augustus. However, hating Augustus does not mean I should support misinformation about Augustus. There are many characteristics that Octavius from NATM has that do not match up with Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Here's why I believe they are completely different people:

1-Appearance

First of all, let's compare their physical appearances. Augustus has been described by Suetonius as pale, dirty bllonde and blue/grey eyed. He was quite skinny and short, most likely due to his asthma preventing him from going out in his childhood and teenage years. While Octavius from NATM has dark hair, dark eyes and is well built. They don't look alike at all. I see no reason as to why the creators of NATM changed his appearance other than because 1. They are different people. or 2. NATM Octavius is a made-up ancient Roman. Of course, there may be other reasons such as Octavius' appearance not being important enough for them to do research on it but I insist that if he really were Augustus, he would not be a general at all.

2-Personality

Second of all, they have different personalities. NATM Octavius is stubborn, brave, a leader. Just your average roman general. Augustus, on the other hand, is not a man to be put on the battlefield. Augustus is said to have been completely disinterested by all things military and often fled the battlefield due to an affliction (sometimes stomach aches, sometimes asthma attacks). An example of this could be the battle of Philippi, when he fled into the marsh because he was feeling ill. He left his battles for his best friend Marcus Agrippa, who handled them with his outstanding military mind. NATM Octavius seems to have no problem with leading an army and fighting during the first movie. Another distinction between their personalities is their composure. Augustus is said to be strangely calm, no matter how bad the situation is while Octavius seems to get pretty hostile sometimes, like he did with Jedediah in the first movie.

3-Name

Third of all, their names don't exactly match. This is a very important thing, because there are many romans named "Octavius" and NATM Octavius could have been any other Octavius. Augustus' birth name was Gaius Octavius Thurinus, but he eventually changed his name to Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, after finding out that Julius Caesar had adopted him and named him as hjs heir. Since then, this Roman politician has been referred to as "Julius Caesar". You may think that they called him Octavius to differentiate him with Julius Caesar but that is also wrong, because if they did change his name, they would change it to "Octavian", the name that historians used to call him before he was Augustus. They could've also used Augustus. There is nothing that really indicates that NATM Octavius is Octavian before Actium.

4-Agrippa

Because I love Agrippa, I will give him his own paragraph. NATM Octavius can do what Octavian/Augustus could not do : excel in the military domain. However, that is what Agrippa is for. Let's say Octavian learned strategies and logistics and becomes a good general. What the hell happened to Marcus Agrippa? Did he die from some illness? Perhaps gout? Did he betray Octavian? Where is he then? Is he safe? Is he alright? This paragraph is about Agrippa but Agrippa isn't Octavian's only companion. There is Taurus, another of Octavian generals. Maybe he wasn't important enough to be shown. But what about Livia? Octavian's wife? Where is she? At home? They don't really have one. Does she approve of his affair with Jedediah.? Maybe she listens to the album Be the Cowboy by Mitski because she is so sad that her husband is going on adventures and sleeping with a cowboy. What about Maecenas? What about the poets? What about Octavia? Marcellus?

The fandom doesn't acknowledge those people. However, you know which roman they remembered? Julia the elder. I was so mad when I found out you people draw them together, doing wholesome things. Augustus would never. Your fanfiction is super cute but it doesn't change what happened to Julia (TL ; DR for people who don't want to search it up : she got exiled because of Augustus' misogynistic policies against adultery (cheating)). NATM fans who mention what really happened to Julia, I like you and thank you.

Though this may be subjective, I believe that NATM Octavius is not Augustus because he does not have those essential allies that Augustus had.

Conclusion

NATM Octavius is not Augustus because he does not have the same physical appearance, qualities, names & titles, and friends as him. I don't understand why people believe that Octavius is Augustus when they only share a nationality and birth nomen (not even his real name). I'm not saying this because I want to hate on Augustus without hating on Octavius because I hate Octavius too.

[discountalien-pancake]

Kay i have rainboxed and i have half a spoon and that’s gonna have to be enough, so if you spot any typos, no you didn’t. Let’s get on with it. Body talk under the cut, as usual. Here’s why spanx is evil and needs to die.

Modern elastic shapewear is the underwear equivalent of “no make-up makeup.” It, at its core, is about trying to look “naturally” slimmer. It is enforcing the ideal of a body with no lumps or bumps or fat rolls, but more importantly it is reinforcing the idea that that is how your actual flesh and blood body is supposed to look. Which is never going to happen! It is making you chase after an impossible ideal while making you feel bad for being unable to achieve it! Elastic shapewear is evil because it makes you feel guilty about not having the “right” body for what you want to wear.

Elastic shapewear makes you feel like a failure for not being able to naturally maintain a certain shape through diet and exercise. They are literally guilt-tripping you constantly. I fucking mean it when I say shapewear is evil.

The reason this isn’t a problem with historical corsets is that the point of a corset was not to look natural. A point of a corset is openly acknowledged artifice. It’s fake and it’s not pretending to be real. It’s not trying to convince you that that is how your real, actual, flesh and blood body is supposed to look. The shape of the clothes going over it is the shape of the corset, and not the shape of your body. The shape of the corset and the clothes is what was fashionable, and not the shape of your fucking fleshpuppet body. I’m going to keep repeating this because it’s important!!

Putting on a corset was like putting on a pair of shoes. No, that’s not the real actual shape of your foot, and it’s not trying to be! You were not expected to have the perfect body. You were not expected to physically look like a mannequin. Clothes were not designed with the expectation of the wearers being human coat-hangers. Shapes came and went out of fashion, but they were silhouettes and not sizes.

A lot of women and fem-presenting people talked about how covid changed their relationship with makeup, because they spent so much time with their faces covered by masks. No one could see your face, and so it didn’t matter what your face looked like under it. The fact that it was socially acceptable to hide your face was so freeing for so many people.

But shapewear does the literal fucking opposite of that. It is worn with the premise that your body is flawed and needs to be corrected so that when you wear these tight, clingy modern clothes that show every lump of your figure, you look effortlessly skinny and lump-free. It’s just as artificial as corsetry, but the catch is that you’re expected to actually look like that. It’s fake that should be real, according to society. And if you don’t look like that, it’s because you aren’t working hard enough, so why don’t you shove your defective fleshpuppet into this horrible thing so you can trick people into thinking you’re not a failure of a human being (heavy sarcasm)? It’s horrifying that this is the mindset that pervades society without most people ever consciously realizing it.

In an ideal world, we would stop caring about whether someone has fat rolls or if their stomach bulges when they sit down. In this imperfect world, where people spend way too much time staring at each other and judging other people for their perceived “life choices”… shapewear is just evil. It is a “solution” to a “problem” that doesn’t exist and only makes you feel worse for failing a test that is rigged.

[whichcouldmeannothing]

my sisterly remorse confute mine honour (m4m snippet!)

(this chapter has grown so much bigger than i had planned, so im taking longer for it, sorry! but here! have this snippet <333)

-

‘She’s going to hit you,” he hears from behind him. On reflex, his fingers flex inward, as if he could hide the smouldering cigarette in between them. He turns around and Irene just grins at him. 

They were the closest in age, and thus the tightest growing up. The two years she had on him vanished soon enough once he grew taller than her, and he took on the gruff big brother he was always meant to be. Of course, that hasn’t stopped her from ruffling his hair and pretending like he was still a skinny twelve year-old, but he’s offered to beat up plenty of people for her. He thinks its a fair trade, really.

“Which is why Ma won’t hear anything, won’t she?” She walks up to where he stands in the backyard. He’s at least five inches taller than her, so if he blows smoke right now, he would actually smother her. He doesn’t do that, of course, but. The instinct is there. 

“She won’t, if you give me one.” His eyes widen as he looks down at his sister. She looks up at him, eyebrows furrowed and lips formed into a pout. She extends a hand, and John places one in her palm. He lights it once she’s held it between her two fingers, and she takes a long drag from it after wards. 

For a minute, they stand together in the backyard, the only source of warmth being the fire chasing their lips on the cigarette. 

“When did you start?” He’s heard of twin telepathy, and he gets it, but siblings have a very deformed sense of it. Instinctual things like who should do ditches and who should throw out the trash need no words. But real communication is always the most stilted. Yes, I know how you take your coffee and which pajamas are yours in the wash, but I don’t know why you smoke. 

“Not because of you,” She flicks off some ash. “You’re not that important.”

“I’m the brightest spot in this fuckin’ family,”

“We did just fine without you.”

“You didn’t cry over me?” 

“Knew you’d make it.”  It must be more vulnerable than what she was trying to go for because she takes another pull. She stares at the grass, and her college heels are stark black against the browning green. 

“I started because I went over to my friend’s house. We had a fight, we didn’t talk, and by the time I came around, she’d booked herself off. By the time I went over to her house, she was gone.” Her eyes stare off into the ground.

Like a good brother, he puts a hand around her shoulder. As her brother, he pats it twice. He knows he should comfort her, but he doesn’t know what to do. 

But she does lean on him. She takes a shaky breath. “It got worse when we got your MIA notice.” 

“Sorry,” He’s been saying that a lot lately. He doesn’t think it’ll be ever enough to convey how he feels. 

“Whatever. You’re here now.” She looks up at him.  “And you’re not gonna ditch, are you?” 

“I’ll try not to.” She hums contentedly. 

They continue smoking in silence for a while. It’s peaceful, staring out into the night sky with someone you love right beside you. 

“How ‘bout you?” She asks. “Why’d you start?”

He started because a boy offered him a cigarette once. The boy had looked at him with captivating blue eyes, blonde hair windswept, and the tip of the cigarette still wet from his lips. He took it slow, lingered around the stick until he could choke down the cough shoving up his throat. But he could feel his eyes locked onto him, enraptured and watching John like there would be nothing more captivating in the world. 

“Pretty boy offered me one.” He never talked about it with his sisters. Why would he tell anyone?

But he’s survived a war. He’s ruined enough of his life. He thinks he’s okay with this one detail escaping its cage. 

Her mouth drops open in surprise at his openness, but she takes it in stride. “Lucky you.”

He’s been smoking long enough for Irene to know he’s been smoking, starting when he still lived in Wisconsin. He still bikes when he needs an escape, still kicks and shouts and throws his tantrums. “Jesus, I haven’t changed at all.”

“Yes, you have.” Irene is almost the same way Marge is. They’re both bright, but Marge’s hearth is nothing like his sister’s sparklers. He’s used to how she flashes, and can burn your fingertips. But her voice attempts to comfort him, soft like a blanket. “We all have.”