#thread: big brother mode activated

[raijintosworn]

Ryoma is a little lost.

The monastery is huge - sort of like Castle Shirasagi, he guesses. Well, it doesn’t matter if he’s lost: he doesn’t have school to go to. He can run free, as far as his little legs will take him. There’s only one problem: he hasn’t found anyone to hang around with. Well, that’s fine. He’ll make some new friends somewhere around here, he’s sure of it.

Just as he thinks that, he sees a girl. Her pink hair reminds him of Hinoka, a little, if her hair was a little lighter. She seems just as lost as he is. Perfect chance to make a new friend! He runs over to her.

“Hi!” He knows he should be more polite. He knows he should be more like the Crown Prince of Hoshido, be a perfect little noble, but he’s got all the time in the world to do all that stuff. His dad will die when he’s like, fifty (how old is he, anyway?), and by then, Ryoma will be an adult. Then he can be boring and polite.

“I’m Ryoma. What’s your name?” he asks. “Are you okay? You look a little lost. I’m lost, too.” Hey, maybe they can be lost together! This is a fantastic idea.

@spinnerofhope

big brother mode activated

( TOA anniversary board - any skill +1 )

[oceanbreathessaltyx]

Charles never thought he'd get sick of coin, but what's the point of it when there's no time to blow it on tits, opium, and booze? These endless raids have long grown old. Every score is lighter than the one before it. They're bleeding men and resources, and Charles is nearly out of excuses to feed a restless crew.

It's a lucky thing he and Teach are generally stationed on opposite ships of their modest little fleet of two, because Blackbeard's pissy attitude is grating his last fucking nerve on the occasions they do interact.

So it's safe to say Charles Vane is in a mood as he stalks through the port's market. Normally he'd send any deckhand without shit for brains to deal with resupply, but he has to do something to get out of his head before he knocks someone out.

Sharp eyes scan the crowd he mostly towers over, managing to unclench his jaw somewhat when he spots Ely amongst the throng. Charles shoves and shoulders his way through bodies as he makes his way over to the kid, whatever else he'd been up to instantly forgotten.

"You look like shit," Charles grunts by way of greeting. His tone is as gruff as it always is, but he can feel something like concern on his own features; easily missed if Ely weren't familiar enough with him to recognize it.

@swallowsandamazons

[dragonmasterhiccup]

She laughed. “‘Deep and even?’ Are you kidding me?! With the way you talk it’s hard to even tell you’re a man, because you sound like a little girl— no, you sound like me when I get upset and I sound all like, congested!”

“Oh, yeah, he- she, she and I were each gonna take our own dragons, for safety… and all that fun stuff…”

Nodding a little, she answered, “Yep, just wanted to, y’know, try something new, work more on close combat.”

Turning her head around and looking at him, she raised an eyebrow. “Uh, no, no I do not, why…? Is it someone I don’t like?” The thought of it being Snotlout hadn’t even crossed her mind.

(Lol 😂 it’s going to be hilarious when she finds out!)

He scoffed. "No way, absolutely not. I don't sound like that at all!"

That he noticed. Pausing, he looked at Danny. "Camicazi doesn't have her own dragon yet. You're not camping with her, are you? Who is this 'he' you're going with?" He crossed his arms, waiting for her to answer truthfully.

Making a face, he finally said, "...It's Snotlout...he teaches the swordfighting class."

[steddieholidaydrabbles]

Week 3 Masterlist

Week 3 is over and it feels like this month is flying by! Every submission has been a gift 🎁

Check below the cut for submissions for week 3 and please make sure to check the tags, like, and reblog if you enjoyed so others can enjoy too!

DAY 15 - TIME TRAVEL

A Christmas Message by @paperbackribs | Rated G | no cw | tags: getting together, minor angst, first kiss

Untitled by @lingeringmirth | Rated T | cw: temporary character death, accidental manslaughter | tags: time loops, angst, steve harrington's bisexual acceptance, partial fix-it, open ended, steve dies a lot, red thread of fate

if i could turn back time by @steddieas-shegoes | Rated T | cw: mention of canonical character death | tags: fix-it, light angst, happy ending, first kiss

Blast to the past by @just-my-latest-hyperfixation with art by @house-of-the-moving-image | Rated T | cw: mild blood and gore, mild horror, monsters | tags: steve harrington whump, time travel, magic, royal eddie munson, steve harrington needs a break

What If? by @thisapplepielife | Rated T | cw: mentions of other relationship | tags: time travel, fix-it, second chance, el is meddling, eddie pov

Wake up every morning to this groundhog day by @atimeofyourlife | Rated T | no cw | tags: time loop au, pre-steddie

ghosts of christmas future by @cranberrymoons | Rated M | cw: canon-typical violence, s3 torture (not in detail) | tags: fluff

DAY 16 - MODERN AU

sir, this is a wendy's by steddieas-shegoes | Rated T | no cw | tags: established relationship, proposal, kinda silly

bad boys do it better by @starryeyedjanai | Rated T | no cw | tags: dating apps, innuendo, bad flirting

Too hot to be true by @just-my-latest-hyperfixation | Rated T | no cw | tags: modern au, podcaster!eddie, steve and dustin are brothers, sexual tension

Same Time, Same Place by @thisapplepielife | Rated T | no cw | tags: modern au, rideshare driver eddie, slightly injured steve, meet-cute, eddie pov

have a happy holiday by @cranberrymoons | Rated T | no cw

Unprofessional by @lingeringmirth | Rated M | no cw | tags: hairstylist steve, rock star eddie, past high school crushes, getting together, inappropriate boners, happy ending

tangled with what i never said by @sidekick-hero | Rated M | no cw

All For His Love by @klausinamarink | Rated T | cw: brief description of corpses | tags: established relationship, inspired by This Is How You Lose The Time War

We've met before, it's different now by @atimeofyourlife | Rated T | cw: mentions/fear of transphobia | tags: modern au, tinder au, transfem steve harrington, transmac eddie munson, pre-steddie, first date, t4t steddie

DAY 17 - PLATONIC STOBIN

teach me your kingly ways by steddieas-shegoes | Rated M | cw: referenced sexual activities | tags: established steddie, awkward robin, buckingham

How to define a dingus by @paperbackribs | Rated T | no cw | tags: humour, clueless and pining steve, robin's turn with the braincell, steddie end-game, requited love

Best Part of the Day by @thisapplepielife | Rated T | no cw | tags: s4, platonic stobin, ride to school, pre-steddie

Just another manic Monday by @just-my-latest-hyperfixation with art by @house-of-the-moving-image | Rated G | cw: monsters | tags: urban fantasy au, magic au, creature au, background steddie, background buckingham

The Highwayman, The Stableboy, & The Christmas Bride by @katyawriteswhump | Rated T | no cw | tags: historical au, minor steddie, crossdressing, a bit silly

connubial bed by @lingeringmirth | Rated T | no cw | tags: established steddie, platonic bed sharing, fluff, banter, eddie being dramatic and using big words, future fic

tis the season by @cranberrymoons | Rated T | no cw | tags: road trip, bickering, fluff, one daddy joke

Untitled by @runninriot | Rated T | no cw | tags: best friends steve and robin, established steddie, steve's in crisis mode but robin is here to help

Home to you by @katyawriteswhump | Rated T | no cw | tags: chronic pain, ocd, platonic soulmates

Lost in time, lost in space, and meaning by @atimeofyourlife | Rated M | no cw | tags: platonic stobin, dr who au, minor robin/vickie, minor steve/tommy/carol, minor buckingham, minor steddie, alien fucker steve

DAY 18 - HURT/COMFORT

sew you up by steddieas-shegoes | Rated T | cw: injury | tags: post-vecna, someone finally takes care of steve's bat bite, getting together

a home for the holidays by @cranberrymoons | Rated T | no cw

That First Terrible Step by @thisapplepielife | Rated T | cw: injury | tags: post-s4, eddie munson lives, physical therapy, recovery, pre-steddie, building friendship, caring steve, eddie pov

We got each other (and that's a lot) by @just-my-latest-hyperfixation with art by @house-of-the-moving-image | Rated M | cw: violent imagery, aftermath of injury | tags: steve got vecna'd, angst, trauma, fluff

Never let me go by @katyawriteswhump | Rated M | cw: mild kink and bondage, sexual content, panic attacks, ptsd, flashbacks | tags: emotional hurt/comfort, trauma, fluff, whump

i'll remember for us both, if need be by @lingeringmirth | Rated G | cw: hospitals, head trauma | tags: steve's history of concussions, angst, established steddie, hurt/comfort

Come one, come all to this tragic affair by @atimeofyourlife | Rated M | cw: minor character death, car accidents, death of parents | tags: established steddie, emt steve, death of steve's parents

DAY 19 - ENEMIES TO LOVERS

that's what friends are for by steddieas-shegoes | Rated T | cw: mention of hospitals and injury, mentions of selling and using recreational drugs | tags: enemies is more implied than anything, getting together, canon events happening in the background

sugar cookie daydream by @cranberrymoons | Rated T | no cw | tags: baker steve, shop owner eddie, rivalry, flirting

To the victor the spoils by @just-my-latest-hyperfixation with art by @house-of-the-moving-image | Rated T | cw: light blood and violence, steamy kissing, very light dubcon if you squint | tags: fantasy au, magic au, guard!steve, thief!eddie, sexual tension, flirting, fighting, first kiss

Excitable Boy by @thisapplepielife | Rated E | cw: 18+ only, horror genre, violence, murder, assault (not steddie), mental disorders, biting, choking | tags: murder boyfriends, dark au, outdated terms, rough sex, unsafe sex, dub-con (consensual, but not negotiated), steve pov, obviously out of character, unhealthy everything, happy ending?

Lap Dog by @runninriot | Rated T | cw: implied violence (punching), smoking weed | tags: tommy "the guard dog" hagan, steve "the king" harrington, eddie "the freak" munson, fighting and making amends

DAY 20 - MAGIC AU

an army of bees by steddieas-shegoes | Rated M | cw: off-screen violence, implied sexual content | tags: medieval magic, warlock eddie, apprentice steve, established relationship, secret relationship

The Night Creature by @paperbackribs | Rated M | cw: monster au, prey and predator

A flower for a flower by @just-my-latest-hyperfixation | Rated T | cw: sexually explicit language | tags: fantasy au, knight steve harrington, witch eddie munson, repaying debts, open ending

that old black magic by @cranberrymoons | Rated T | no cw | tags: fortune telling, witch/appalachian eddie, post-season 2

Elf You by @thisapplepielife | Rated T | cw: language, sentient toys | tags: elf on the shelf au, elf!steve, elf!robin, elf!eddie, elf magic, platonic stobin, crack taken seriously, silliness, the magic of christmas

In Thunder, Lightning, Or In Rain by @klausinamarink | Rated M | cw: major character death, mild gore | tags: witch steve, necromancy, rituals, brief appearance of possessive steve

DAY 21 - SNOW

the magic of snow by steddieas-shegoes | Rated T | no cw | tags: snow activities, making childhood memories as an adult, fluff, established relationship

Who warms your soul by @just-my-latest-hyperfixation with art by @house-of-the-moving-image | Rated M | cw: nudity, sexual innuendo, implied monsterfucking | tags: fantasy au, king!steve, dragon!eddie, established relationship, soul bond, bathing together

Taking Over the Neighborhood by @thisapplepielife | Rated T | cw: language | tags: fluff, neighbor meet-cute, snow, platonic stobin, cat people, eddie pov

stranded in snow by @lingeringmirth | Rated G | cw: hypothermia | tags: omegaverse, omega steve, alpha eddie, angst, hurt/comfort, soulmate au, historical setting, mystery

The weather outside is frightful by @atimeofyourlife | Rated T | no cw | tags: fluff, childhood memories, steve hates the snow, eddie loves it

same old lang syne by @cranberrymoons | Rated T | no cw | tags: angst, open ending, post-break up

[wcvensouls]

while joonwoong had a rather busy life and didn't always have the time to see the people he cared about, he still tried his best to be there for them when they needed it — and hyesu was someone he very much cared about, especially with how he had seen her grow up. seeing her like this was truly upsetting, and he immediately felt the urge to hug and comfort her. however, for now, joonwoong simply placed an arm around her shoulders, bringing her a bit closer to him as he looked down t her. " why do you think you have no choice? you know, i can always help out if you need. "

from: question prompts ♡ | @wcvensouls ♡

         ꒰ ͜͡➸ “ you’ve been so quiet. what’s on your mind? ”   

          she was near tears at this point, knowing that the one person she could talk to about her woes in life was joonwoong. thankful that he took time out of his busy schedules to accommodate her, hyesu hugs her knees to her chest and gets comfortable on the couch, " i think i'm just stressed with life. i don't know how i can possibly juggle school and two jobs, but -- i don't think i have a choice ? " gazing up at one of the big brother figures she has in her life, she juts her lips out into a pout, " what do i doooo, oppa ? i'm so overwhelmed. "

[abookishdreamer]

Character Intro: Sophia (Kingdom of Ichor)

Nicknames- Soso by her brother & girlfriend

Age- 33 (immortal)

Location- Little Athens, New Olympus

Personality- She's intelligent, analytical, confident, & ambitious. She loves actively pursuing knowledge. She's a lesbian and is currently dating.

She has the standard abilities of a goddess except shapeshifting. As the goddess of thought her other powers/abilities include telepathy, thought projection, mental manipulation (manipulating the minds of others by force or will), having an eidetic memory, and intelligence reduction.

Sophia's abode is a stylish brownstone in the Little Athens neighborhood of New Olympus. The interior design strikes the perfect balance between historic charm & modern elegance. There's a rooftop terrace with a small garden, dark oak flooring, and two ornate fireplaces. The color scheme is cream, royal blue, oxblood, & chocolate brown with wood countertops in the kitchen as well as lots of linen and leather furniture. Everything is immaculately organized.

She has a single pet, her animal companion being a she-dragon named Azurine. Most of her scales and wings are a dark cobalt while her claws, crest, & belly scales are bright copper. Azurine is Sophia's primary mode of transportation.

A go-to drink for her is tumeric tea which she brews herself. She likes to add a bit of honey and lemon juice to it. She also likes cranberry juice, hibiscus tea, homemade kale smoothies, mint infused water, champagne, martinis, & pinot grigio. Her usuals from The Roasted Bean is a medium iced green tea and an olympian sized mango orange splash.

Sophia always starts off her mornings with a session of acupuncture then a session with her masseuse.

Her immediate family includes her older brother Favian (god of philosophy). They have a close relationship with her bringing him meals she cooks. She secretly looks forward to their passionate conversations spanning many topics.

For breakfast her go-to is the whole wheat breakfast burrito from The Bread Box added with sliced avacado, extra spinach, and black olives. At home she'll settle for a bowl of rizogalo, a couple of lightly toasted & buttered onion bagels, or a big bowl of Earthly Harvest raisin crunch cereal.

The most notable feature of Sophia is her long, thick, curly, & glossy raven hair. She attributes the health of her hair to a homemade hair mask she makes (that she puts on her hair for an hour every month) made with tumeric, sweet potato, olive oil, manuka honey, mango pulp, and a few drops of the Glory's Crown healthy hair oil blend. Her other go-to product is the Hairology 2-in-1 eucalyptus & mint shampoo/conditioner.

A guilty pleasure for her the lamb gyros from Olympic Chef. She sometimes orders three or four at once!

She also loves the mandarin orange green salad (drizzled in poppy seed dressing) from The Bread Box.

Sophia' main source of income comes from being Headmistress at Polus Preparatory- a school for youngsters started by Coeus (Titan god of foresight, intellect, & knowledge). The school is in the state of Delphi, a nearly two hour ride on dragonback. She expects nothing short of excellence from her students and faculty. For other means of income she endorses/models for Threads of Wisdom (is a fan of the slingbacks and crossbody bags), Olive Visibly, & White Lily Gallery. She's also a contributing writer for O Dianooumenos.

Her favorite frozen treat is the red velvet cake ice cream waffle cone sundae from The Frozen Spoon.

Sophia's been dating her girlfriend Eikono (goddess of iconography & literature) for a few months and she really enjoys spending time with her. Their first date was an early evening stroll and picnic at Eaglepoint Park where she won Eikono over with her homemade macaroni salad. Whenever their schedules permit, they're always together. A moment of sheer bliss for Sophia is them laying in bed on a quiet lazy morning reading the paper & drinking tea.

Her mentor was Mnemosyne (Titaness of memory & language).

In the pantheon Sophia's friends with Iaso (goddess of cures & remedies), Neicus (god of debate & appeal), his sister Dimósia (goddess of debate), Mesembria (Bria) (goddess of the afternoon); despite the breakup with Favian, Sophrosyne (goddess of moderation, temperance, & restraint), Hesychia (goddess of quiet, stillness, rest, & silence), Pistis (goddess of trust, reliability, & good faith), Nomos (god of laws), Amphictyonis (Amy) (goddess of diplomacy), and Aletheia (goddess of truth). Sophia also admires all the accomplishments of Athena (goddess of wisdom). She also respects her girlfriend's father Logos (god of stories).

As an induction gift, she recieved a pair of designer heels which had a lined paper print design (along with a pencil themed strap) from Kéfi (goddess of mirth).

Sophia prefers wearing cologne than perfume, her favorite being REIGN, the most recent one from Zeus.

Her favorite dessert is the portokalopita from Hollyhock's Bakery.

In her free time Sophia enjoys reading, writing, poker, chess, yoga, doing crossword puzzles, football (soccer), cricket, tennis, going to museums, going to the opera, and visiting art galleries.

Her favorite meal is white rice with butter chicken.

"A being is but the product of their thoughts. What one thinks, one becomes."

[catflowerqueen]

Security Cam Moon: Sun POV, part 1 of ?

I still have no promises as to if/when the entire fic will get written...

But.

I did write out Sun's POV of the moment he found out Moon was missing in the Security Cam Moon au.

It's below the cut, if you're curious.

(Mostly this is the lead-up to the actual moment--I do have the actual moment written as well, but it isn't typed up yet. I will try and get that out at some point tomorrow... or, technically, later today, I guess... but for now I really need to try and get some sleep.)

As always, this takes a lot of inspiration from @madcatdaderpydrawer-blog's Redemption au. As such, one of the things to keep in mind is that Sun and Moon had their own bodies from the start.

Sun POV, part 1 of?

After your most recent birthday party, you’d made a promise to yourself regarding your semi-estranged twin. And tonight, after the third time the stitches snapped and the head of the plushie lolled to the side, held onto its body by only a thin, frayed strip of fabric, you knew it was time to bring that promise to fruition. You could no longer fix the plushie by yourself; you needed to bring in the big guns.

It was time to talk to Moon.

 You took a moment to steel your courage and realized, to your secret delight, that it hadn’t actually taken you even the short amount of time it took to safely stow away the needle and thread in order to do so—and most of the fear you’d had to steel yourself against was in anticipation of how awkward the upcoming conversation and favor-begging would be rather than because of any lingering fear of seeing Moon again in the synthetic flesh. In fact, as you looked into the faded, lopsided face of the plushie with your brother’s visage still delicately held in your hands, you realized you held no fear at all anymore over seeing Moon’s image. Not that you’d ever had any fears of this plushie, even when things were at their very worst—it had always been one of your most favorite toys, and you’d owned it since practically the first time you’d been activated and let loose onto the theater stage. Much like Moon and his tragedy/comedy mask pillow, you couldn’t have a peaceful rest mode without it. But as for other things that bore Moon’s image…

Things were… better now. Obviously—or else you wouldn’t be so delighted by the lack of fear, or even considering talking to Moon again, let alone asking him for a favor. But you can’t deny that for quite some time now things had been… bad.

You know deep down—and have known since the whole Gregory thing—that none of what happened was Moon’s fault. Or at least… not the majority of it. Certainly not the parts that actually got the Daycare shut down for those terrible months. But knowing that didn’t erase how terrible it had all been. How long you’d felt like it was somehow your fault that Moon was behaving so terrifyingly. It didn’t erase how controlling he’d been, or the cruel things he said about you. How he hadn’t felt like your brother anymore.

How he’d outright told you that he hated you.

And knowing that the reality was that he literally wasn’t in his right mind at the time certainly did nothing in the aftermath, when even just glimpsing a cartoon or toy based on Moon out of the corner of your optics—your beloved plushie aside—and seeing that familiar and once-comforting shade of blue all but sent you into a panic attack.

But slowly—achingly, agonizingly slowly—you’d gotten better. The passage of time dulled those fears. As well as Moon being so understanding and accommodating. You know it probably hurt him to stay away from you—heck, it hurt you, too, to stay away from him, despite the terror—but he did it, for your sake. He stayed out of sight, he didn’t try to approach you, and he even changed his resting and charging times despite how inconvenient that made things for him given how his programmed duties often put his schedule at odds with yours in terms of when you needed to be active.

At least… you assumed he’d changed his charging and resting routines, since you never saw even a hint of him sneaking around the periphery of your room to get to his. Which is something he would have needed to do to get anywhere, seeing as your room was the only one with an actual connection to the rest of the Pizzaplex. …Though, now that you think of it, you really hoped Moon was getting enough rest, since in retrospect it was actually a little concerning that you literally hadn’t seen any sign of him sneaking around despite your having stayed up later than usual these past few nights trying to fix your toy.

Well… you guess that was just one more thing to ask Moon about, in addition to getting his help with the plushie. And, really, the important thing was that you now had the ability to even ponder those sorts of things and wonder what Moon had been up to now that you felt better. And now that you did feel better, you were actually really looking forward to reconciling with Moon. To getting to be brothers again. And… to hopefully be able to help him reconcile with the others, too—assuming he hadn’t already been working on that himself. You didn’t really know; he didn’t really get brought up much in conversation much whenever you met up with one of the Glamrocks, but considering everything—especially Moon’s part in their infection, unwilling or unintended as it might have been on his behalf—that could have just as easily been for their own benefit as it was for yours. Either way, you were really looking forward to things going back to normal again.

…Or at least as normal as things could be, considering naptime in the Daycare was still cancelled for the foreseeable future.

Those thoughts and hopes in mind, you glanced at the curtain concealing Moon’s room and consulted your internal clock. Altered charging schedule or no, it was still rather late in the evening, so Moon was probably still doing his security patrols and wouldn’t be in his room. Rather than wait up for him, you decided to just go into rest mode and set up an early alarm so you could catch him on his way in. Even if you didn’t get the chance for a prolonged conversation, you would at least be able set up a better time to talk and could inform him of your mental state and that he didn’t need to be so sneaky anymore—which would also go a long way in assuaging your worries over him not getting enough rest.

Unfortunately… things didn’t go to plan. Even though you woke up extra-early… Moon never showed. You waited until the very last minute before you had to greet the Daycare kids—even calling into the tunnel leading to Moon’s room a few times in case he’d just gotten in while you were still in the deepest part of your rest mode—but… nothing.

You weren’t too worried—not yet. You figured that maybe your brother had just encountered some sort of problem and gotten delayed making his report. Or maybe he’d just gotten in late enough that he’d thought you’d be awake already and decided to crash in the nap room—which was still inaccessible to the kids—rather than risk startling you. Which, well, you guess wouldn’t be too unreasonable of an assumption given that you had stayed up way later than usual the past few nights trying to fix your plushie. But you wouldn’t have been startled!

Anyways… point was, you just assumed you’d run into a timing issue last night and resolved that tonight you would try and catch your brother on his way out for patrol instead.

But… that didn’t work either. You watched the Daycare entrances like a hawk, but Moon was either so sneaky that he managed to get past you despite that, or he just never actually left the daycare at all today. Or maybe… maybe last night he never actually came in? Moon wasn’t really supposed to interact with guests anymore, but that wasn’t really a problem—his role as a security (the only security they had after Vanessa… left) meant he knew tons of secret nooks and crannies he could hide in to stay out of sight of guests. If that was the case, though, surely it meant he would have to come in tonight. You both had fairly long-lasting batteries, but not that long-lasting. He would have to charge eventually, and the only really viable chargers he could use were the ones in your rooms. Surely you wouldn’t have to wait too long… right?

[spencer-hux]

closed: @spellbxnd (tyson) location: The Siblings’ +1 Flat

“Knock Knock Ty, it’s big brother Spency for your semi-regular TYdiness check.” Spencer stood outside the flat, one arm rested against the doorway lazily.  He knew Tyson would be home today, but wasn’t sure of the other two who lived at the flat.  He had dinner with Hayden earlier that week, so it would be fine if he didn’t see her today.  No, today’s purpose was visiting the older of the two siblings, checking to make sure they were taking care of things.  

Spencer had told Tyson that if they were going to move in with Hayden and whomever else they fancied sharing a house with, they needed to be the one to try and keep things in order.  This very clearly fell by the wayside almost immediately, leaving Spencer the one to clean things up when he visited every so often.  As soon as the door opened, he surveyed the flat.  

“Well...” He sighed, rolling up his sleeves, “at least this isn’t quite as bad as last time.  The kitchen hasn’t started to smell yet.”  

[deadlydiviniity]

@simonxtolch​

“Simon.” Alaric folded his arms across his chest, smiling down at the other werewolf. “Why am I always the last to hear the gossip in the pack?” He sighed heavily, clicking his tongue. “Who is Elena and why haven’t I met her yet? Is she nice?”

[master-thief-gray-shadow]

So I finally tried watching Sarah Z’s video about the McElroy brothers again, and while I did tune out during a couple segments because I just cannot bring myself to care about these deeply average white men who branded themselves as folksy and wholesome but really came off as more safe and boring, it did get me thinking about something.

A while ago--I can’t put my tongue on when, but it was a while ago--I saw a post on here saying that while the McElroys’ content was safe enough that the brothers could all be embraced as uwu wholesome beans, there was one popular internet person who was not susceptible to such sanitizing: Jerma985. The reasons were basically that 1. most of the content he made was just kind of weird and shitposty, and 2. he would be frequently bullied by his twitch chat. Yes, these were the reasons given that Jerma was somehow safe from the perils of internet parasociality. And somehow at the time it seemed believable.

The more I think about it, though, the more it falls apart. Firstly, everyone makes weird shitposty content these days. It’s what gets clicks. Secondly, and I think this is the big thing, is that the fact that Jerma’s chat bullies him doesn’t really mean anything, and is in fact parasocial in itself. A streamer on twitch has full control over what goes on in chat. They can set the rules to be as lax or as strict as they like, and they can ban whichever chat members they choose to for any reason. If all of chat is misbehaving they can even do things like switch it to emote-only or subscriber-only mode. The streamer doesn’t even have to do these things themselves, they usually have a handful of mods to help them out with this kind of thing. If a streamer, like Jerma, is being “bullied” by their chat, it’s because they are allowing the chat to treat them like this. Why? Because it’s entertaining, of course. Obviously with a streamer there’s a bit more authenticity on display than, say, a comedian hosting a talk show, but it’s still very much a performance. Just one that you, the viewer, can be a part of.

Jerma isn’t even immune to that uwu wholesome bean crap, either. Obviously it’s great that he’s an ally to the LGBT community, but the fact that people seem to jokingly refer to him as an LGBT icon despite him being, y’know, cishet is a little odd. Even some of the more shitposty stuff about the guy on this site lean in a very weird direction sometimes (that thread following that clip of him eating a whopper is deeply uncomfortable, for several reasons).

This all seems to have happened in the past year and a half or so, coincidentally around the same time that the McElroys’ star has been falling. Is this related? Is Jerma moving into the space once occupied by the McElroy brothers? I can’t say for sure. But I feel like eventually, maybe not tomorrow, or next week, or even next month, but some time in the future, Jerma is going to fuck up. It will be an honest mistake at best, and maybe something genuinely insensitive at worst, but it will likely not be actively malicious. And he will be eviscerated for it.

Do I want this to happen? No, of course not. But he’s been put on some kind of pedestal now, and who knows how long he can stay up there.

[plan-d-to-i]

Hot take I never really see in the fandom, but Lan Jingyi is a bigger supporter of Wangxian than Lan Xichen. Lan Xichen just wants Lan Wangji to be happy whether that involves Wei Wuxian or not. He literally calls Wei Wuxian Lan Wangji's biggest mistake. Of course that's protective big brother mode being activated, but still seems like there is some resentment against Wei Wuxian. Lan Xichen also denounces Wei Wuxian at Nightless City. He tells Lan Wangji that Wei Wuxian essentially committed unforgiveable crimes and that Wei Wuxian is wrong like right after he finds out about Lan Wangji being in with Wei Wuxian. It's never stated if he was at the siege or not, but if he was after knowing Lan Wangji's feelings that's not exactly supportive. He'll always be civil to Wei Wuxian because he's like that with everyone, even people he hates. Also it would greatly upset Lan Wangji if his brother hated his husband. I don't think Lan Xichen hates Wei Wuxian, but that doesn't mean he likes him either.

Totally agree about JingYi!!! I love him so much.

LXC was not at the siege LQR was.

I honestly never gave that much thought to what LXC said to WWX by the temple pre fandom because he didn't let it affect his actions. To me clearly LXC's devotion is firstly to LWJ's safety, wellbeing and happiness. I've seen people say: how come LXC isn't blamed as much for what happened to WWX as jc hypocrites >:-/... LOL because LXC didn't grow up together with WWX?! LXC had JGY pouring poison into his ear about WWX's heart changing AND jc- the guy who was supposed to be closest to WWX- visits the Burial Mounds and comes back saying he's a traitor to the Clan, the YunmengJiang Clan will have nothing to do w him and he's the enemy of the entire cultivation world? What was he supposed to think? LXC spoke up for the Wens more than jc did and his home was burned down by them, his father died, and he was never helped by WQ and WN??!!? He didn't try to ban LWJ from bringing WWX into the Cloud Recessed to be healed in his second life, even after his identity was revealed; or from sheltering him and helping him and leaving with him. The guy has just gone through some harrowing days. He's found out his sworn brother killed his other sworn brother and made him into a jigsaw puzzle and did all this other terrible stuff. Now he's sealed his power and taken him as hostage. His little brother's boyfriend shows up and acts like he doesn't even know he's his little brother's boyfriend! LXC is holding on by a thread. Now none of this would be an excuse if he'd truly acted heinously BUT the reason I find his anger forgivable is that he didn't shut down communication. He doesn't tell WWX to go to hell and die or try to hit him etc. He actually explains everything and lays it out for him so WWX can finally understand what's happening. He calls him LWJ's only mistake, which may not be the nicest thing to hear but it makes sense in the context of LWJ protecting him ended in 33 strikes of the whip that kept him injured for three years...

"ZeWu-Jun had always been an image of grace and carried himself with a mild temperament, but when it came to his younger brother’s affairs, he could not help but lose his calm. Yet, upon closer inspection of Wei Wuxian’s reaction, his anger dissipated slightly, and asked again, “Was your memory…damaged?” (chapter 98)

I think people don't quite realize how impressive it is to still retain one's logic and relative calm in a situation like this. LXC is upset over something so personal: the wellbeing of his little brother. He could have so easily prioritized making himself feel better by just venting out all his frustrations and anger of these many years on WWX but instead he holds his anger in check and prioritizes his little brother's happiness by trying to clarify things and untangle any misunderstandings between WangXian:

Lan Xichen replied, “Whatever Wangji did then, if you can’t remember it yourself, then I’m afraid he would never bring it up in this lifetime, and you wouldn’t ask him either... Very well then, I shall tell you on his behalf.”

I don't get why fandom thinks he was so brutal?! He's not shown being mean again to WWX after things are finally settled between him and LWJ. He seemed to like and approve of WWX in his time studying in the cloud recesses. Now that the misunderstandings have been cleared up I can't see why it wouldn't revert to that. When the two bunnies are playing around him and LWJ, LXC says it's not bad to be boisterous, etc. Like jc's most heinous actions are perpetually excused w "omg it's sibling love" -EW no and LXC who actually shows a nice example of protectiveness and love gets dragged.

[phynali]

Canonization and Fandom Purity Culture

I wrote a 1k-word twitter thread (as proof that I am Not made for Twitter and it’s goddamn 240-character limit) and am pasting it here with edits and updates (it’s now 2k words). 

I have thoughts to share (which I know have been stated more eloquently before by others) about this trend of demanding/obsessing that certain ships become "canon" and how it overlaps with the rise of fandom purity culture.

Under the cut.

Here in 2021 there is a seemingly large and certainly loud and active contingent of online fandoms who desire (or even demand) "canon validation" for a given interpretation of a source material. This is more true with shipping than anywhere else.

First, it is important to note that the trend is not limited to queer ships or to any single fandom. In the past few years I've seen it for Riverdale, Voltron, Supernatural (perhaps most extreme?), The 100, etc., and less recent with the MCU, Sherlock, Teen Wolf, Hawaii 5-0, etc. It is a broad trend across ships, fandoms, and mediums.

So if it is more common for queer ships, it is hardly unique to them. Similarly, pretending that it is about queer representation is a clever misdirect to disguise the fact that it is most often about ships and shipping wars. If you ever need proof of that, consider that a character can be queer without being in a given relationship or reciprocating another character's affections. Thus a call for more/better queer rep itself is very different than a call for specific ships to be made canon.

Also note that when audiences frame it as wanting to recognize a specific *character* as queer, it is almost always in the context of a ship. Litmus test: would making that character queer but having them *explicitly reject* the other half of the ship be seen as a betrayal?

(Note: none or this is to say we shouldn't push for more queer rep and more *quality and well-written* queer rep! Just that that isn't what I'm talking about here, and not what seeking canon validation for a specific interpretation or a specific ship is almost ever about.)

Why does this matter?

the language of representation and social justice should not be co-opted to prop up ship wars

it is reciprocal with a trend toward increasing toxicity in transformative fandom spaces

Number 1 here is self-explanatory (I hope). Let's chat about 2.

Demands for canon validation correlate with a rise in fanpol / fandom purity culture. What is fandom purity culture (and fandom policing)? This toxic mentality is about justifying one's shipping preferences and aiming to be pure (non-problematic) in your fictional appetites regarding romance and sex.

Note that this purity culture is so named as it arises linearly from American Protestantism, conservative puritanical anxiety around thought crimes, and overlaps in many ways with terf ideologies and regressively anti-kink paradigms.

It goes like this: problematic content is "gross" and therefore morally reprehensible. Much like how queer sex/relationships get labelled as "gross" (Other) and thus morally sinful, or how kink gets labelled as "harmful" and thus morally wrong. The Problematic label is applied by fanpol to ships with offset age or power dynamics, complicated histories, and anything they choose to label as "harmful". As such, they would decry my comparison here to queerphobia itself as also being harmful, because their (completely fictional) targets are ~actually~ evil.

(The irony of this is completely lost on them).

This mode of interacting with creative works leaves no room to explore dark or erotic themes or dynamics which may exist in fiction but not healthily in reality. Gothic romance is verboten. Even breathe the word incest and you will be labelled a monster (nevermind Greek tragedy or GoT).

As with most puritanical bullshit, fanpol ideology only applies these beliefs to sex and never to violence/murder/etc, proving what lies at its core. It also demands its American-based values be applied to all fictional periods and places as the One True Moral Standard. It evangelizes – look no further than how these people try to recruit others to their cause, aim to elevate themselves as righteous, and try to persuade (‘save’) others from their degenerate ways of thinking. 

“See the light” they promise “here are our callouts and blog posts to convince you. Decry your past sins of problematic shipping, be baptized by our in-group adulation and welcome, and then go forth and send hate to others until they too see the light.” In many ways “get therapy” by the antis is akin to “I’ll pray for you” by the Christian-right (and ultimately ironic).

(Although it has been pointed out to me that these fans are likely not themselves specifically ex-evangelicals, but rather those who have brushed up with evangelical norms and modes of thinking without specifically being victims of it. In many ways they are more simply conservative Christian in temperament and attitude without necessarily being raised into religion by belief).

What this has to do with canon validation is that these fans look to canon for approval, for Truth. On the one hand, if it is in the canon then it must be good / pure or at least acceptable. The authority (canon) has deemed it thus. It is safe and acceptable to discuss and to enjoy watching or consuming. In this way, validation from canon means a measure of safety from being Bad and Problematic. 

For example, where a GoT fan could discuss Cersei/Jaime's (toxic, interesting) dynamic in depth as it related to the canon, fans who shipped Jon/Sansa (healthy, interesting) were Gross and Bad. The canon as Truth provided a safety net, a launch point. "It's GRRM, not me, who is problematic." It wasn’t okay to ship the problematic bad gross incest ship, but it being in the canon material meant it was open for discussion, for nuance, for “this adds an interesting layer to the story” which is denied to all non-canon ships labelled as problematic.

(Note: there are of course people who have zero interest in watching GoT for a whole slew of very valid reasons, including but not limited to the incest. That’s a different to this trend. A less charged example might be The Umbrella Academy, where a brother canonically is in love with his sister and antis still praise the show, but if you dare to ship any of the potential incest ships then you are the one who is disgusting).

On the other hand, a very interesting alternate (or additional) explanation for this phenomenon was raised to me on twitter. (These ideas aren’t mine originally, but I wholly endorse them as a big part of what is likely going on): Namely, as with authoritarian individuals in general, they see themselves as right and correct, but the canon (which has not yet validated their ship) is not correct, and is in fact problematic, and so they can save the canon from itself.

As mentioned, these fanpol types see their interpretation as Good and Pure. So if they can push (demand, bully) the canon into conforming to their worldview and validating their interpretation, then they have shown the (sinful) creators the light and led them to the righteous path. This only works if the canon allows itself to saved though, otherwise the creators remain Evil for spurning them.

How is this different from fans simply hoping for their ship to be canon?

For a second here, let’s rewind to the 90s (since Whedon has been in the news recently). This “I want it to be canon” thing isn’t 100% new, of course. We saw this trend then for the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but it was different then. At the time, fans who hoped for a ship to be canon might have been cheering for a problematic one to begin with (Buffy/Spike). So shipping was still present, minus vocal fanpol.

(And Buffy fans learned that canon validation...can leave a lot to be desired. A heavy lesson was learned about the ways that fan desires can play out horrifically in canon, and how some things are best left out of the hands of canon-writers).

These days, this is still largely true. Many fans hope for their ships to go canon, as they always have. There are tropes like “will they/won’t they” that TV shows may even be designed around, which a certain narrative anticipation and a very deliberate build up to that.

But while shipping *hopes* occur for many fans, almost all ships fans that *demand* to go canon and obsess over are now the ones deemed as Unproblematic, or as Less Problematic. I’m talking here about the ships that aren’t necessarily an explicit will/won’t they dynamic but do have some canon dynamic that leads them to being shipped, but which the creators aren’t necessarily deliberately teasing and building up a romantic end-game for.

These ships often have fans who are happy to stick to fandom, but there has also been a huge uptick in the portion of fans who are approaching shipping with an explicit lens of “will they go canon?” and “don’t you want them to be canon?” and now even “they have to go canon” and “the canon is wrong if they don’t make this ship canon”, to a final end-point of “if the ship doesn’t go canon, the source material is Wrong and Bad.”

These latter opinions are the one we see more by extreme fans (‘stans’), hardcore shippers, but especially by fanpol-types, the ones who embrace fandom purity culture at least to some extent.

Why them?

In pushing for canon validation, fanpol types seek to elevate their (pure) interpretation of canon. As mentioned above, it’s validation of their authority, a safety-net, and a way to save the canon from itself if only they can bully the canon into validating their right and good interpretation. 

There’s also another reason, which is that canon validation is a tool to bludgeon those seen as problematic. They can use it to denounce other (problematic) ships as Not Being Canon and therefore highlight their own as Right and Good, because it is represented in the True Meaning of the Work.

Canon validation then is a cudgel sought by virtuous crusaders to wield against their unclean enemies. It is an ideological pursuit. It is organised around identity and in groups sometimes as insular as cults.

How does this happen?

Fanpol tend to be younger or more vulnerable fans, susceptible to authoritarian manipulators. As many have highlighted before, authoritarian groups and exclusionary ideologies like terfs are very good at using websites like tumblr to mobilize others around their organizing beliefs. Fanpol tend to feel legitimate discomfort, but instead of taking responsibility for their media engagement, ringleaders stoke and help them direct their discomfort as anger onto others; “I feel ashamed and uncomfortable, and therefore you should be held accountable for my emotions.” Authoritarian communities endorse social dominance orientations, deference to ringleaders, and obedient faith to the principles those ringleaders endorse.

As these fans attach more and more of their identity to a given media (or ship), and derive more and more validation and more of their belongingness needs from this fanpol community, they also become more and more anxious about being excluding from this group. This is because such communities have rigid rules and very conditional bases for social acceptance. Question or "betray" the organizing ideology and be punished or excommunicated. If that is all you have, you are left with nothing. Being labelled problematic then is a social death.

What this means is that these fans cannot accept all interpretations of a media as equally valid: to do so Betrays the ideology. It promises exclusion. And, in line with a perspective around ‘saving’ canon and leading others into the light – forcing and bending the canon to their will is what will make it Good (and therefore acceptable to enjoy, and therefore proof of them as righteous by having saved others). As was also pointed out to me on twitter, endorsement from canon or its creators also satiates that deep need they have for authority figures to approve of them.

Due to all of this, these fans come to obsess over canon validation of their own interpretation. In a way, they have no other option but to do so. They need this validation -- as their weapon, as their authority, as their safety net, as their approval, as their evangelical mission of saviorship.

Canon validation is proof: I am Good. I am Right(eous). I am Safe.

(In many ways, I do ache for some of these people, so wrapped up in toxic communities and mindsets and so afraid to step out of line for fear of swift retribution, policing their own thoughts and art against the encroaching possibility that anything be less than pure. It’s not healthy, it’s never going to be healthy.)

In the end, people are going to write their own stories. You are well within your rights to critique those stories, to hate them, to interpret them how you will, but you can never control their story (it's theirs).

Some final notes:

This trend may be partially to do with queer ships now being *able* to go canon where before so no such expectation would exist. Similarly, social media has made this easier to vocalize. Still, who makes these demands and the underlying reasons are telling. There are also many legitimate critiques of censorship, queerbaiting (nebulous discussions to be had here), and homophobia in media to be had, and which may front specific ships in their critique. But critique is distinct from asking that canon validate one's own interpretation.

[astudyinfreewill]

I posted 6,235 times in 2021

378 posts created (6%)

5857 posts reblogged (94%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 15.5 posts.

I added 7,310 tags in 2021

#spn - 3371 posts

#dean winchester - 830 posts

#destiel - 705 posts

#castiel - 556 posts

#deancas - 439 posts

#spn cast - 398 posts

#art - 309 posts

#fanart - 261 posts

#jensen ackles - 224 posts

#ambra.txt - 217 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#prev tags it’s the ‘you are not you’ for me hands down. how do you know someone so intimately that at one glance at their soul you can tell

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

I took the boys, said good-bye to Missouri, and got the hell out of Lawrence. If I never go back, it'll be too soon. Not for Dean, though. The first thing he wanted to know was when we would go home. But we don't have a home anymore, Dean. The sooner you get used to that, the better. We don't have a home until we find what killed your mother.

John Winchester’s diary, November 16th 1983

1017 notes • Posted 2021-01-14 12:17:08 GMT

#4

the gaslighting experience of being a supernatural fan includes being accused of being a conspiracy theorist for suggesting that the cw might be silencing the cast only for one of the main actors to reveal that THEE WARNER BROTHERS literally silenced him

1272 notes • Posted 2021-03-16 19:54:18 GMT

#3

“did you get fucked by a whole baseball team dean” is the new “did you fuck the michael sword castiel”. send post

2470 notes • Posted 2021-02-18 23:16:52 GMT

#2

so you're telling me that the moment castiel came back from the empty dean INSTANTLY turned from a miserable depressed bastard into little mr sunshine?? and you’re telling me that all it took was cas coming back to restore his faith and optimism in life and to even suddenly see jack as family?? asshole to nurturing parent in the blink of an eye??

and on a separate note: you’re telling me that the moment jack mentioned dodge city and dean got all excited it was castiel who locked eyes with him and immediately got a look of alarmed recognition that oh no dean has entered cowboy fetish mode?? castiel, and not sam who literally grew up with dean and should be infinitely more aware of his cowboy kink? just HOW many cowboy movies did dean force cas to watch?? was that their only downtime activity?? (as a result of that-- you’re telling me cas put on a silly little hat and then said the silly little line from dean’s silly little movie?? just like THAT?? just to make dean happy, which it visibly did???)

but hang on you’re also telling me that cas told jack not to wake dean up because somehow he knows dean’s an “angry sleeper” despite the fact that that’s not exactly established canon? and then made dean coffee?? and then waited patiently and penitently for dean to drink his coffee??

and wait let me just backtrack for a second you’re actually also telling me that dean told cas “welcome home” before wrapping him in his arms in the middle of a deserted road? and that when asked how long he was gone he only said “too damn long”?? and then went on to crow about what a big damn win it was to have cas back with such obnoxiously relentless cheer that even sam was baffled?? because this is embarrassing now. i am embarrassed for him. it is embarrassing to witness

3718 notes • Posted 2021-01-03 23:08:57 GMT

#1

anyway i just think it’s interesting that castiel’s possessed-by-an-archangel-and-trapped-in-his-own-mind contentment fantasy is hanging out in the winchesters’ kitchen and dean’s possessed-by-an-archangel-and-trapped-in-his-own-mind contentment fantasy is hanging out at his bar waiting for sam and cas to come home.

so, for dean, contentment is being in a place he calls his own, where he can shelter and feed the people he loves. for cas, contentment is being in the place dean calls his home, specifically the place where dean shelters and feeds the people he loves (we know he does the cooking at the bunker).

it’s worth noting that neither of these fantasies constitute a happy ending. they’re more a situation of stasis, of “bare minimum requirements” for contentment, as i mentioned in my 14x10 meta. cas is in the winchesters’ kitchen, but they themselves are not there. dean is waiting for sam and cas, but they never seem to arrive (until real life sam and cas show up). the common thread? they both want something they subconsciously think they can never have. 

specifically, dean wants to be somebody’s home, and wants people to come back to him and stay with him, and he’s willing to be that for somebody -- that’s what makes him feel content and at peace -- but on some level, he doesn’t believe people will ever choose to make a home in him. cas, on the other hand, wants to be invited into a home, wants to be part of dean’s (and sam’s, but mostly dean’s lbr) life, but he doesn’t really believe that that’s ever in the cards for him. we never really see him settle down in a room of his own in the bunker, so he hangs out in the kitchen, where a guest would stay.

and they’re always waiting for each other. and they don’t believe the other will meet them in the middle. but the distant, unspoken hope that they might is enough to create a place of contentment for them.

4371 notes • Posted 2021-01-12 12:14:08 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[vs-redemption]

who are your favorite top ten black clover characters & ships? talk about them! ~tat!

From Cindy: Hello tat! I hope you are doing well today and thank you for visiting my blog. It was really fun to write this because I got the chance to really think about the characters in depth. I’ll be honest, I’m not much of a shipper so I couldn’t come up with 10. I did my best to think of and write about as many ships and brotps as I could though.

Also, I got your other ask about BNHA as well! I have a Japanese lesson I need to prepare for this evening, but I’ll definitely get that posted tomorrow sometime!! Thanks again!!

This is very long, so I put it under a cut :)

Top Ten Black Clover Characters

Yami Sukehiro

I love everything about this guy. He’s hilarious, number one. Everything he says cracks me up and the nicknames he uses for people are gold. I like that he insults people and makes toilet jokes so casually. He comes off crass, but it’s the fact that he treats everyone equally that makes me respect him so much. He holds everyone, including himself, to the same standards. He doesn’t care about your past, wealth, appearance, gender, unconventional magic abilities or wacky personality. No matter who you are, he will call you out if you’re not acting the way you should, but will also back you up and support you when it’s needed. He’s a great leader because he treats everyone equally and is also very accepting that everyone is different.

Luck Voltia

Luck was one of the first characters I fell in love with. I don’t have a lot deep meaning behind how I feel like I do with Yami though. I just really enjoy his chaotic energy and the fact that he wants to fight people all the time. I also think his magic is super badass. His little lightning boots and gloves are so cute. I just wanna cuddle him and ruffle his hair.

Finral Roulacase

I feel so bad for Finral. This poor love starved boy doesn’t deserve the heaping amounts of anxiety he always seems to be feeling. I know he’s supposed to be the ‘perverted’ character, but compared to characters from other anime (Mineta [BNHA] Meliodas [SDS]) he’s not that bad. He tries so hard to be a gentleman by taking people on dates, complimenting them, giving them flowers, and not physically molesting them lol but they never give him a second glance. I also love his character growth so far. Watching him find self-worth beyond being just a mode of transportation, and confidence enough to stand up to his brother has been really fun to watch. I’m so proud of him and I think he’s amazing!

Zora Ideale

This guy. Haha His blunt honesty is so uncomfortable but hilarious at the same time. Like Yami, he calls people out but is somehow so much more offensive about it. I love how he just gives people unsolicited criticism and then adds injury to insult like “oh by the way, here’s a freaking stink bug in your nostril.” To be fair though, he is just as harsh on himself and will acknowledge (to himself) when he made a mistake. His backstory is also so tragic! It is seriously messed up what happened to his dad, but I love that Zora uses that trauma to try and change the word for the better by being the best magic knight he can be and also encouraging (threatening?) other magic knights to be better too. He could’ve so easily become a villain, but he didn’t and I think that’s really honorable.

Mereoleona Vermillion

Oh my god. I love this woman so much. The fact that she was supposed to be the captain of the Crimson Lions but said “nope” and then just went off by herself to live in the most dangerous places in the wild to get stronger is just phenomenal to me. I also really like that, even though she’s a royal and a member of the Vermillion family, she doesn’t just focus on her own squad. It was great when she showed up at the Black Bulls hide out and straight up kidnapped them to have them join her training. I’m just in awe of both her physical and mental strength. She was so cool when she went up against all those elves by herself. I’m not caught up with the manga, but I think I saw a spoiler about her recently and I’m very excited to find out more about it. I pretty much wish I was Mereoleona. She is my spirit animal.

Charmy Pappitson

There is a lot to adore about Charmy. First and foremost, she is an adorable badass. I love that her passion for food is something she shares with her allies and friends instead of being something that makes her greedy. I feel like Charmy is underrated because her magic is great for restoring mana, defense and offense. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t she one of the highest ranked knights in the black bulls? I also love how she gets away with a lot of shit just because she’s cute. The episodes where she straight up just hops onto the wizard king’s lap and feeds him snacks without anyone batting an eye get me every time!

Vanessa Enoteca

Sometimes I think about how Vanessa was willing to give up her own freedom just to save Asta’s arms, and how she gave up drinking for a few episodes in order to focus on a way to not only make herself stronger for upcoming battles, but the rest of her teammates as well. I like her dedication to the Black Bulls. Her thread magic is also pretty cool and I like the clever ways she’s learned to use it.

Fuegoleon Vermillion

Poor Fuegoleon is so calm and sensible compared to his siblings. I like that he’s a fair leader that makes sure to consider all angles before passing judgement on someone. He is also a dependable captain and full of great wisdom that aids in character development for important characters like Asta and Noelle. I love how he competes with his sister though, and watching them bicker in the episode where they throw a birthday party for that nun lady was silly.

Asta

How can you not like Asta? He has such a big heart and the best self-discipline out of anyone in the show. He would always rather talk things out before resorting to fighting and likes to understand the motivations behind the actions of his enemies. He is unashamed to be himself and continues to pursue his goals even when other people mock him or put him down. I also like that he is more perceptive of how people think or feel than it would seem sometimes.

Sekke Bronzazza

His personality is pretty much the worst (and I think he actually tried to kill Asta after the magic knight exam… asshole) but the way he always manages to fit “ha-ha” into his speech is so funny to me and always cracks me up. And the way everyone calls him the “ha-ha” guy is very amusing to me, especially when he tries and fails to politely correct them. I also love how he always ends up in the most random situations (in Yami’s bathroom or working for the king).

 Top Ten Black Clover Ships/BroTPs

Finral x Vanessa

I guess I just think back to that fight against the Despair guy from the Third Eye because both Finral and Venessa sort of worked together and pushed past their limits for the first time. I think Venessa is also the one that put the green in Finral’s hair, right? I don’t know. Venessa is good for Finral because he’s so insecure and she’s so supportive of other people. They’re cute together.

Yami x Charlotte

I think everyone ships this? lol Charlotte’s independence and personal strength are important to her, and the fact that Yami acknowledges and respects those traits in her makes them a great match. He also constantly encourages her to show her softer side, saying that it’s okay to lean on other people and ask for help. He could help her find balance and be comfortable in her own skin.

Asta x Mimosa

Mimosa is a much better match for Asta than Noelle because Noelle constantly needs validation and attention that she’s just never going to get from Asta. His brain just doesn’t work that way. Mimosa is content with supporting Asta with her magic as best she can, and doesn’t get jealous or competitive in the way Noelle does. Mimosa is soft and gentle which is a nice contrast to Asta’s loud and rough personality.

Yuno x Charmy

I know this is almost like a crack ship, but I can’t help but like it anyway. Like Asta, Yuno isn’t going to be the type of guy to actively pursue a relationship or be overly affectionate. This doesn’t seem to affect Charmy who seems fine with even the most minimal of interaction haha. I think it’s so cute how much she supports and roots for him when she sees him in a fight. And Yuno doesn’t seem to mind her trying to feed him and take care of him either.

Magna x Luck (brotp)

Lucky’s personality is quirky, chaotic, and frankly just difficult to understand, so I think it’s hard for people to get close to him. He comes on so strong with the pranks and desire to fight, plus he doesn’t really know how to hold back. The fact that Magna can endure all that while also seeing Luck as a person on a deeper level than just being some spazzy boy is really wholesome to me. I think it’s good for Luck to have someone who can respect him that way without asking him to change his behavior. I do not think this would work romantically though. Magna is actually pretty sensitive and emotional, and gets pretty upset when Luck is stronger or does better than him in something. It ultimately just drives Magna to work harder, but I think that sort of competition might be bad news in a romantic relationship if he’s always feeling inferior.

Yami x Jack the Ripper (brotp)

I want their friendship! I really do. The way they go from relaxed and having fun to ready to beat each other’s asses is hilarious. And there’s literally no reason for it, they’re just like unnecessarily competitive and I’m living for it. Whether they’re celebrating at a festival, about to have an important meeting with the wizard king, or in the middle of a huge fight with a major bad guy, it doesn’t matter. They will trash talk each other and probably end up brawling. I love it.

Gauche x Grey

The episodes where Gauche had to fight with Gordon and Grey were really cool because those three are probably the oddest oddballs of the Black Bulls. I don’t know if I ship them romantically or just at friends, but the development of the relationship between Gauche and Grey has been interesting and I wouldn’t mind seeing more. Also, please give Gauche something else to obsess over besides his sister lmao

Mars x Fana

I don’t have any strong feelings for them as characters individually, but I like that they fought so hard to protect each other as kids and how they continued to fight for and protect each other after being reunited.

[an-ordinary-roach]

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑬𝑻.

repost, don’t reblog

basics !

FULL NAME. Nathanial Montay Costa  Barbor PRONUNCIATION. Bah-Are Bo-or NICKNAME. Bor, Roachie, Pest  GENDER. Transmasc agender HEIGHT. Veries, [ 2′ - 4′ as a roach or small fae, 5′6″ glamored, normal-sized fae, happy buddy bor.  7′1″ Base bor,  8′1″ - 9′1″ Bug boss / Plague goat] AGE.  137 ZODIAC.  Gemini SPOKEN LANGUAGES. Italian, English, latin, spanish( still very new to it and confuses it with latin and italian), Sylvin(for when they’re in Jabberwock’s forest.)

physical characteristics !

HAIR COLOR. grey with a magenta/cyan shine when light hits it EYE COLOR. can turn white when surprised or excited but other than that it’s all black, plague goat got black sclera with white pupils BODY TYPE.  skin in bones in most forms, cockroach bor is pretty plump and well-fed, fae/ glamored/ happybuddy is athletic and lean, but looks a tad underweight ACCENT.  sounds like a new yorker’s accent though that hint of italian seeps in whenever they’re thinking out loud VOICE. Can’t verbally speak it but has an amalgamation Collection ( overlapping with young, old, femme, masc, androgynous)  small roachie and base form, this for  fae and glamored(dossa’s/first part), and plague goat/ bug boss DOMINANT HAND. ambidextrous  POSTURE. slouches in fae, glamored, base form and happybuddy, the rest is usually straight   TATTOOS. sigil of them on all their forms but base (can be seen when their asleep, them not thinking they can’t shapeshift in their base form keep’s it away)

BIRTHMARKS. As a human, they had a foot-shaped birthmark on their foot MOST NOTICEABLE FEATURE(S). Proto eyes on all their forms( even happy buddy n glamored fae), face can split vertically in all fourm’s (even base form), can survive without a head(same as base form, they dunno they can do either of the face split or head removal), uses their wings to work their necromancy,  chewed up antennae(on the left I think),  back as a human they had  Heterochromia, the missing eye was hazel but they barely remember even having it since they lost the eye at a young age

childhood !

PLACE OF BIRTH. in or near the hospital’s elevator- HOMETOWN. New york, new york city BIRTH WEIGHT. average  BIRTH HEIGHT. chubby bab FIRST WORDS. ‘Fuck!’  supposed to be fork because they kept seeing their fam use it and they want it~

SIBLINGS. 2 older brothers, 1 younger sister (all deceased ) PARENTS. Mother &  Father (also deceased! ) PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT.  mother and father were good to them, though their mother wanted Nat(pre-human bor) to keep them away from the mob life with the help of afterschool music classes and singing clubs. They oddly enough the only time they had fun in the church is when they're either playing the organ or singing in the choir.  While it took some persuading on Nat’s part to have him even allow them in some missions, though he eased up on his control on what they do once they got into the mortician line of work. They helped their dad get rid of bodies safely and discretely, patched up fellow gang members' wounds, and helped them get some extra money.

adult life !  

OCCUPATION.  Freelance Cadaver removal, on-call doctor, necromancer, jewelry maker, sells potions for Jeze at the Canopy Market, familiar  CURRENT RESIDENCE. has a heck ton of common rest stops!  Usually, in these places, they’re in their mammoth femur bone or matchbox hidy hole CLOSE FRIENDS. Eerie , Jeze,  Xaallo, Stanley, Burt, Kavi, Bill(another bill!) and a few others I may be forgetting?? ;w; RELATIONSHIP STATUS. single ( depending on the verse) FINANCIAL STATUS. if they can’t steal the money they’re middle class, but if so they’re technically rich?? DRIVER’S LICENSE. nope got wings and portals! CRIMINAL RECORD. petty crimes, theft, shoplifting, murder, arson, robbery, vandalism, restraining arrest, property damage, smuggling, trespassing, money laundry, accomplice to any one of these. (these are during their days in the mob, most of these are unchecked after being a demon, though magic places are a tricky spot too though) VICES. long-lasting grudges, impulsiveness, sometimes don’t learn from their mistakes, can be childish and a bit wishy-washy, sometimes putting their work before others, sometimes. (Only if they’re not friends with a person.) can’t really leave that gang mentality behind.

sex and romance !

SEXUAL ORIENTATION. pansextual  ROMANTIC ORIENTATION.  Pan-aroflux? they’re romo positive but it isn’t always on their mind most of the time. PREFERRED EMOTIONAL ROLE. submissive  | dominant |  switch   PREFERRED SEXUAL ROLE. submissive  | dominant  |  switch LIBIDO. mid-high (spring-summer)  mid-low (fall-winter) TURN ONS.  peeps giving them gifts( doesn’t gotta be high end, could be things that the person reminds of them), confidence, peeps who know their way around science, smooches to their antennae or beak/snoot by their crush, peeps who are good with their hands(I’ve noticed the trend with them)     TURN OFFS. rich people, CEOs who think their hotshots, peeps on their grudge list,  there’s probably more to this list but I dunno ;w; LOVE LANGUAGE. gift-giving(It’s a grab bag of actual valuables or random knickknacks they remind them of the person), starts requesting to join in their activities, actively makes things for said person instead of poofing them in, loves to cook for peeps, allows close ones cover their small little eyes, please squish them full access, grooming is a big thing for them either by tongue or offering to paint nails, brush hair, etc RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES.  always eager to please( genuinely doesn’t mind the rejection or isn’t doing it out of anxiousness), can and will tease but mostly can’t take what they dish out(so it’s probably why they do it randomly), Does have a habit of dipping away without a word(mostly bc of work or a knoxonk hunt going on) Gets anxious about future commitment stuff may be reaaaally slow with that stuff (mostly bc of what happened to their last relationship as a human). or anxious if the loved one still enjoys being with them, the feeling comes and goes honestly. If sick will want to find a way to help you out first before seeing a doctor (if it’s not too serious. If they die they will revive them). They can be jealous if they don’t like someone and the partner does. will say ‘want me to fuck them up’ in case there’s a person giving their loved one a mild inconvenience. Will have a set form for that particular person, if it’s in a multi relationship it’ll still be a common set form. 

miscellaneous !

CHARACTER’S THEME SONG. 1. Superbug · King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard 2. Necromancin Dancin - Bear Ghost 3.  Gravedigger's Chant - Zeal & Ardor 4. Voltaire - The Headless Waltz 5.  Mr. Pinstripe Suit -  Big Bad Voodoo Daddy 

HOBBIES TO PASS TIME. Jewelry making, music playing, spelunking, singing, urban exploring, working on their virus / fleshscape, testing on peeps(with their consent), medicine & illness research, collecting wine and variety of things MENTAL ILLNESSES.  not sure if this counts?? but they have ADHD,  if there’s anything else I gotta workshop and do research on! PHYSICAL ILLNESSES. visual snow syndrome( had it as a human but it’s non-visual symptoms carried over into their demon life: tinnius, brain fog, depersonalization(you’ll see them in roach mode aka: act like a common pest roach you’ll find in the kitchen, this usually last for a day if it does come about)  and the very rare occasion of tremors.) LEFT OR RIGHT BRAINED. right-brained FEARS.  phobia of dolls, rejection, future biz, some failure, being trapped against their will, being ‘fired’ and having their friends/family get the brunt of the punishment, this is specific but the saying ‘money survives all hardships’ SELF CONFIDENCE LEVEL.  fake it till they make it (it fluctuates but it’s usually in a good place) VULNERABILITIES. iron, holy stuff, red rope/thread to make wards against knoxonks, some mystery substance to limit their power(mun gotta work it out), their kill word, magic nullifying items Stolen from: @idjibivdu​ thank!~ tagging: steal it!~

[sciencespies]

What Neuroscientists Are Discovering About Stuttering

https://sciencespies.com/nature/what-neuroscientists-are-discovering-about-stuttering/

What Neuroscientists Are Discovering About Stuttering

Gerald Maguire has stuttered since childhood, but you might not guess it from talking to him. For the past 25 years, Maguire — a psychiatrist at the University of California, Riverside — has been treating his disorder with antipsychotic medications not officially approved for the condition. Only with careful attention might you discern his occasional stumble on multisyllabic words like “statistically” and “pharmaceutical.”

Maguire has plenty of company: More than 70 million people worldwide, including about 3 million Americans, stutter — that is, they have difficulty with the starting and timing of speech, resulting in halting and repetition. That number includes approximately 5 percent of children, many of whom outgrow the condition, and 1 percent of adults. Their numbers include presidential candidate Joe Biden, deep-voiced actor James Earl Jones and actress Emily Blunt. Though those people and many others, including Maguire, have achieved career success, stuttering can contribute to social anxiety and draw ridicule or discrimination by others.

Maguire has been treating people who stutter, and researching potential treatments, for decades. He receives daily emails from people who want to try medications, join his trials, or even donate their brains to his university when they die. He’s now embarking on a clinical trial of a new medication, called ecopipam, that streamlined speech and improved quality of life in a small pilot study in 2019.

Many famous people have a stutter or did so as a child, including (left to right) presidential candidate Joe Biden, actor James Earl Jones and actor Emily Blunt.

(Left to Right: Michael Stokes; U.S. Embassy photo by S.J. Mayhew; Gage Skidmore)

Others, meanwhile, are delving into the root causes of stuttering, which also may point to novel treatments. In past decades, therapists mistakenly attributed stuttering to defects of the tongue and voice box, to anxiety, trauma or even poor parenting — and some still do. Yet others have long suspected that neurological problems might underlie stuttering, says J. Scott Yaruss, a speech-language pathologist at Michigan State University in East Lansing. The first data to back up that hunch came in 1991, Yaruss says, when researchers reported altered blood flow in the brains of people who stuttered. Over the past two decades, continuing research has made it more apparent that stuttering is all in the brain.

“We are in the middle of an absolute explosion of knowledge being developed about stuttering,” Yaruss says.

There’s still a lot to figure out, though. Neuroscientists have observed subtle differences in the brains of people who stutter, but they can’t be certain if those differences are the cause or a result of the stutter. Geneticists are identifying variations in certain genes that predispose a person to stutter, but the genes themselves are puzzling: Only recently have their links to brain anatomy become apparent.

Maguire, meanwhile, is pursuing treatments based on dopamine, a chemical messenger in the brain that helps to regulate emotions and movement (precise muscle movements, of course, are needed for intelligible speech). Scientists are just beginning to braid these disparate threads together, even as they forge ahead with early testing for treatments based on their discoveries.

Slowed circuitry

Looking at a standard brain scan of someone who stutters, a radiologist won’t notice anything amiss. It’s only when experts look closely, with specialized technology that shows the brain’s in-depth structure and activity during speech, that subtle differences between groups who do and don’t stutter become apparent.

The problem isn’t confined to one part of the brain. Rather, it’s all about connections between different parts, says speech-language pathologist and neuroscientist Soo-Eun Chang of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. For example, in the brain’s left hemisphere, people who stutter often appear to have slightly weaker connections between the areas responsible for hearing and for the movements that generate speech. Chang has also observed structural differences in the corpus callosum, the big bundle of nerve fibers that links the left and right hemispheres of the brain.

These findings hint that stuttering might result from slight delays in communication between parts of the brain. Speech, Chang suggests, would be particularly susceptible to such delays because it must be coordinated at lightning speed.

Chang has been trying to understand why about 80 percent of kids who stutter grow up to have normal speech patterns, while the other 20 percent continue to stutter into adulthood. Stuttering typically begins when children first start stringing words together into simple sentences, around age 2. Chang studies children for up to four years, starting as early as possible, looking for changing patterns in brain scans.

It’s no easy feat to convince such young children to hold still in a giant, thumping, brain-imaging machine. The team has embellished the scanner with decorations that hide all the scary parts. (“It looks like an ocean adventure,” Chang says.) In kids who lose their stutter, Chang’s team has observed that the connections between areas involved in hearing and ones involved in speech movements get stronger over time. But that doesn’t happen in children who continue to stutter.

In another study, Chang’s group looked at how the different parts of the brain work simultaneously, or don’t, using blood flow as a proxy for activity. They found a link between stuttering and a brain circuit called the default mode network, which has roles in ruminating over one’s past or future activities, as well as daydreaming. In children who stutter, the default mode network seems to insert itself — like a third person butting in on a romantic date — into the conversation between networks responsible for focusing attention and creating movements. That could also slow speech production, she says.

These changes to brain development or structure might be rooted in a person’s genes, but an understanding of this part of the problem has also taken time to mature.

All in the family

In early 2001, geneticist Dennis Drayna received a surprising email: “I am from Cameroon, West Africa. My father was a chief. He had three wives and I have 21 full and half siblings. Almost all of us stutter,” Drayna recalls it saying. “Do you suppose there could be something genetic in my family?”

Drayna, who worked at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, already had a longstanding interest in the inheritance of stuttering. His uncle and elder brother stuttered, and his twin sons did so as children. But he was reluctant to make a transatlantic journey based on an email, and wary that his clinical skills weren’t up to analyzing the family’s symptoms. He mentioned the email to current National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins (director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at that time), who encouraged him to check it out, so he booked a ticket to Africa. He has also traveled to Pakistan, where intermarriage of cousins can reveal gene variants linked to genetic disorders in their children.

Even with those families, finding the genes was slow going: Stuttering isn’t inherited in simple patterns like blood types or freckles are. But eventually, Drayna’s team identified mutations in four genes — GNPTAB, GNPTG and NAGPA from the Pakistan studies, and AP4E1 from the clan in Cameroon — that he estimates may underlie as many as one in five cases of stuttering.

Oddly, none of the genes that Drayna identified have an obvious connection to speech. Rather, they all are involved in sending cellular materials to the waste-recycling compartment called the lysosome. It took more work before Drayna’s team linked the genes to brain activity.

They started by engineering mice to have one of the mutations they’d observed in people, in the mouse version of GNPTAB, to see if it affected the mice’s vocalizations . Mice can be quite chatty, but much of their conversation takes place in an ultrasonic range that people can’t hear. Recording the ultrasonic calls of pups, the team observed patterns similar to human stuttering. “They have all these gaps and pauses in their train of vocalizations,” says Drayna, who cowrote an overview of genetics research on speech and language disorders for the Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics.

Still, the team struggled to spot any clear defect in the animals’ brains — until one determined researcher found that there were fewer of the cells called astrocytes in the corpus callosum. Astrocytes do big jobs that are essential for nerve activity: providing the nerves with fuel, for example, and collecting wastes. Perhaps, Drayna muses, the limited astrocyte population slows down communication between the brain hemispheres by a tiny bit, only noticeable in speech.

Researchers created mice with a mutation in a gene that, in people, is linked to stuttering. The mutant mice vocalized haltingly, with longer pauses between syllables, similar to what’s seen in human stuttering.

(Adapted from T.D. Barnes et al./Current Biology 2016; T.Han et al./PNAS 2019; Knowable Magazine)

​

Drayna’s research has received mixed reviews. “It’s really been the pioneering work in the field,” says Angela Morgan, a speech-language pathologist at the University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Australia. On the other hand, Maguire has long doubted that mutations in such important genes, used in nearly all cells, could cause defects only in the corpus callosum, and only in speech. He also finds it difficult to compare mouse squeaks to human speech. “That’s a bit of a stretch,” he says.

Scientists are sure there are more stuttering genes to find. Drayna has retired, but Morgan and collaborators are initiating a large-scale study in the hopes of identifying additional genetic contributors in more than 10,000 people.

The dopamine connection

Maguire has been tackling stuttering from a very different angle: investigating the role of dopamine, a key signaling molecule in the brain. Dopamine can ramp up or down the activity of neurons, depending on the brain location and the nerve receptors it sticks to. There are five different dopamine receptors (named D1, D2, and so on) that pick up the signal and respond.

During the 1990s, Maguire and colleagues were among the first to use a certain kind of brain scan, positron emission tomography, on people who stutter. They found too much dopamine activity in these people’s brains. That extra dopamine seems to stifle the activity of some of the brain regions that Chang and others have linked to stuttering.

Backing up the dopamine connection, other researchers reported in 2009 that people with a certain version of the D2 receptor gene, one that indirectly enhances dopamine activity, are more likely to stutter.

So Maguire wondered: Could blocking dopamine be the answer? Conveniently, antipsychotic drugs do just that. Over the years, Maguire has conducted small, successful clinical studies with these medications including risperidone, olanzapine and lurasidone. (Personally, he prefers the last because it doesn’t cause as much weight gain as the others.) The result: “Your stuttering won’t completely go away, but we can treat it,” he says.

None of those medications are approved for stuttering by the US Food and Drug Administration, and they can cause unpleasant side effects, not just weight gain but also muscle stiffness and impaired movement. In part, that’s because they act on the D2 version of the dopamine receptor. Maguire’s new medication, ecopipam, works on the D1 version, which he expects will diminish some side effects — though he’ll have to watch for others, such as weight loss and depression.

In a small study of 10 volunteers, Maguire, Yaruss and colleagues found that people who took ecopipam stuttered less than they did pre-treatment. Quality-of-life scores, related to feelings such as helplessness or acceptance of their stutter, also improved for some participants.

Ten adult volunteers who stuttered were given ecopipam, a drug that blocks one version of the dopamine receptor, for 8 weeks. They stuttered significantly less when they were on the drug than they had before the treatment.

(G.A. Maguire et al./Annals of Clinical Psychiatry 2019/Knowable Magazine)

Ecopipam isn’t the only treatment under consideration. Back in Michigan, Chang hopes that stimulation of specific parts of the brain during speech could improve fluency. The team uses electrodes on the scalp to gently stimulate a segment of the hearing area, aiming to strengthen connections between that spot and the one that manages speech movements. (This causes a brief tickle sensation before fading, Chang says.) The researchers stimulate the brain while the person undergoes traditional speech therapy, hoping to enhance the therapy’s effects. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the team had to stop the study with 24 subjects out of a planned 50. They’re analyzing the data now.

Connecting the dots

Dopamine, cellular waste disposal, neural connectivity — how do they fit together? Chang notes that one of the brain’s circuits involved in stuttering includes two areas that make and use dopamine, which might help explain why dopamine is important in the disorder.

She hopes that neuroimaging can unite the different ideas. As a first stab, she and collaborators compared the problem areas identified by her brain scans to maps of where various genes are active in the brain. Two of Drayna’s genes, GNPTG and NAGPA, were active at high levels in the speech and hearing network in the brains of non-stutterers, she saw. That suggests those genes are really needed in those areas, bolstering Drayna’s hypothesis that defects in the genes would interfere with speech.

The team also observed something novel: Genes involved in energy processing were active in the speech and hearing areas. There’s a big rise in brain activity during the preschool years, when stuttering tends to start, Chang says. Perhaps, she theorizes, those speech-processing regions don’t get all the energy they need at a time when they really need to be cranking at maximum power. With that in mind, she plans to look for mutations in those energy-control genes in children who stutter. “There are obviously a lot of dots that need to be connected,” she says.

Maguire is also connecting dots: He says he’s working on a theory to unite his work with Drayna’s genetic findings. Meanwhile, after struggling through med school interviews and choosing a career in talk therapy despite his difficulties with speech, he’s hopeful about ecopipam: With colleagues, he’s starting a new study that will compare 34 people on ecopipam with 34 on placebo. If that treatment ever becomes part of the standard stuttering tool kit, he will have realized a lifelong dream.

Knowable Magazine is an independent journalistic endeavor from Annual Reviews.

#Nature