#to be plural-coded in a way

[is-that-plural]

OK HERES ANOTHER ONE FOR YA:;

MARTYN / MRATYN NIBBLEWOOD FROM RATSSMP!!

This is largely just a hc that I have, but he has different "personas" he'll put on, changing and making whole different skins and mostly just NOT explaining it to make sense in-universe. He has his Santa Claus persona, which. is Santa Claus- and a Hatsune Miku persona called Ratsune Miku! While the Santa one can largely be explained away as him "dressing up for the holidays and trying to spread cheer", this one is NOT explained. They all act like she's a separate person from him completely and never allude to the fact that they might be the same person. Martyn himself even uses she/her pronouns for Ratsune Miku! (She has A WHOLE SONG. ITS AMAZING. She sings it WITH Santa Claus but of course we NEVER see them in the same room bc they DEFINITELY ARENT plural or anything) He has smaller little personas, but none are as major as these two :)).

-🌀sys (jeremy)

!!

Rating: that sounds pretty plural to me !

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Pluralities

sci-fi novella

a burned out 20-something with premonitions has a gender-questioning journey, after quitting their job and becoming friends with benefits with a trans guy

with a parallel narrative about a runaway alien prince in a space empire and his complicated friendship with his sentient spaceship friend

audiobook arc from netgalley!

[taxi-boi]

free my man! he did all that shit but he was [stigmatized disorder] coded and all of his actions were the result of ableist/sanist writing decisions made by the author.

[nexus-nebulae]

thinking about when i had such intense phantom limbs as a kid i told my math teacher about it

[forthedancingandthethriving]

Database, as much as they didn't like to, knew of everyone and everything in the world that had been created so long ago. Every Program, every Virus, every Mod, every Admin, anything that was code-born, they knew of it. Their name, their personality, their life.

A blessing and a curse, really.

That was why they were so surprised to see a singular piece of code somehow found its way into their home, which overflowed with powerful code. Not even the strongest codes would ever be able to get into their home, much less a command line.

So as they scoop it up and bring it to their eyes, they muse gently.

"Ah. You. We thought you had been destroyed." Database tilts their head, looking down at what was the final piece of the Code Manifestation, Singularity.

It was a simple command line now. All it wanted? Maximum efficiency.

Their eyes slant from weariness and confusion. "We could have sworn Little Coding had managed to get rid of you.. perhaps the overload didn't get rid of all your code, hm?"

There's no response, of course, but it still left Database wondering. Their thoughts drift back to Welony, the little child that had recently popped up. She was a new version of her old self, wasn't she? Atoning for the mistakes of the past.

Database purses their lips as they think. Who was to say they couldn't do something similar with Singularity? Or, well, what was left of it.

So they got to work. The four of them chimed in, adding what they thought necessary before finally they saw what they had created.

They smile, seeing a small, polygonal cat in their palms.

The legs, tail, and head were attached to the body, unlike Singularity's old model where everything floated. While this new Manifestation had a blue outline, their 'fur' was black, with red 1s and 0s running through it. The only floating parts were its two triangle ears, which were white instead of black. Its head was white as well, with no 1s or 0s, and there were only two 0s on its eyes. One red, one blue.

The Manifestation curiously looks up at Database.

Database pauses before sighing softly. Peering to see events was always a headache, one that the Four would share, but it still hurt.

They have to remove the efficiency command, or else this new Code Manifestation would become Singularity once more.

"This won't hurt, we promise." They assure the Code before gently plucking out the command. They stare at it before crushing it.

"Goodbye, Singularity." They watch the small particles fall. "We hope you finally rest."

Turning their attention back to the Code Manifestation, they ponder. "What shall we name you, hm? What name will we give?"

They think and think before similing.

"We shall keep it simple. You'll be Plurality. A little corny, a little cheesy, but is that not what life is about? To have a bit of fun?" They smile, and they see Pluarlity smile a tad too.

They fit their hands and place the new Code Manifestation on a platform. A bit of digging, and the ties were cut. There was no way anyone would ever find out about Plurality once being Singularity unless Database themselves spoke of it.

At least, they hoped.

"You will be our eyes and ears. You will travel to places we can not see and can not hear, and you will record. You will learn, you will inhabit, and you will return." Database tells Plurality. "But you never tell anyone of who you are."

"I understand." Plurality finally speaks, and Databae smiles. A voice similar to Little Coding's but not so much.

"And most importantly.." They gently push a fingertip against Plurality's chest. "Find yourself. Discover who you are."

A chat box and few other items appear before being dropped into a satchel relative to Plurality's size. The satchel then attaches itself to the Code Manifestation's body before the Code if gently pushed through a portal.

"Make us proud, Plurality."

Pluarlity looks behind to where the portal once was before looking out beyond. An ear twitches.

"Discover myself, huh..? I.. I can do this."

[sureuncertainty]

when semler in their christmas song said "i'll be blurry and no one will notice" we felt that

[anistarrose]

I'd like to propose a dark horse candidate for the most interesting line in The Book of Bill. And it's this near-unreadable, seemingly one-off joke from the "Skin" page:

[ID: tiny text reading: "Help! This is not Bill Cipher. My name is Grebley Hemberdreck of Zimtrex 5. I'm one of thousands of beings Bill has devoured over trillions of years whose souls are now trapped inside him. You have to free me! It's horrible in here. He just keeps playing the song "Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark on an endless loop. Please, please, this is not a joke! The Zimtrexians were once a proud and mighty people, but now our spirits long for release from this..." End ID.]

Okay, so Bill devours souls who then live out a horrible existence inside him. That's just some typical and expected Bill behavior, right? Nothing to be shocked by? Maybe not, but one thing jumps out at me... and of all things, it's the way that Bill keeps playing that Beach Boys parody (correction provided by @fexalted: no, not in fact a Smiley Smile parody, but a real song!) on loop.

Because in The Book of Bill, there's a recurring motif of characters playing music for a very specific reason: to repel an unwanted presence inside their head. This is what Elias Inkwell, and later Ford, did with the "It's A Small World" parody — they tried to keep Bill out of their brains. Or, metaphorically... to drown out his voice.

[ID: a Journal 3 page with a cassette taped inside. It's titled: "The World Is Small Ever After for Always." Ford writes: "If it's war you want, it's war you'll get! If you want to torture me? I'll torture you back!" End ID.]

That doesn't necessarily mean that Bill finds the voices of devoured souls to be troubling, let alone downright haunting, does it? Well... not quite on its own. But there's a "color" code on the page about TV static that says a lot:

[ID: a code consisting of colorful squares, translated to letters that spell out: "he never sleeps he never dreams but somehow still he hears their screams." End ID] (screenshot courtesy of @fexiled)

The context of the page implies these "screams" come to Bill especially when he listens to TV static, and the broader context of the book implies that these are the screams of his destroyed home dimension, Euclydia. Therefore, not necessarily those of the souls he devoured, from Zimtrex 5 and possibly other dimensions.

Except... do those two things really have to be mutually exclusive?

The beings that Bill devoured were accumulated over "trillions" of years, plural, according to Grebley. In Weirdmageddon 1, Bill claims to have resided in the Nightmare Realm for precisely "one trillion" years. So the "devouring" habit probably extends back even further than his time in the Nightmare Realm...

Enter @acetyzias, pointing out a very conspicuous word — and one of the only uncensored words — from Bill's description of destroying his home dimension:

[ID: the word "mandibles". End ID.]

Oh, and how does Bill describe the "monster" that destroyed his home to Ford, when Ford asks about revenge?

[ID: Journal excerpt reading: "Sixer, it would eat you alive." End ID.]

For a long time, Bill's destruction of his home has been associated with fire, even when the story's told by Bill himself. But through the way the book characterizes Bill's guilt — and characterizes how the consequences of what he's done remain lurking deep inside him — I think The Book of Bill lays out the hints for another motif: devouring.

And, well, when it comes to how Bill destroys things... it wouldn't be without precedent.

[ID: screenshot of Bill in Weirdmageddon 3, taking a bite out of the Earth. End ID.]

[w3as3ly]

cup of coffee for my head, not threat if not end on admission, then end on admission

[neil-gaiman]

Hello Mr. Gaiman, hope this ask finds you in good health, I really need your help.

I’m a law student and currently taking a course on Law and Literature, brilliant by the way. We were given the freedom to chose a theme of our preference on the way law is represented through literature, and I thought Good Omens was the perfect subject for me.

I was interested in focusing on a faulty, inflexible system, especially one heavily influenced (in this case entirely made up) by ‘canon law’ and the way it influences social spheres. The incoherent dichotomy of moral good and bad, the way they influence ethical right and wrong translated into law.

What I was interested in is whether the legal system of Good Omens is based on positive legislation, or more on a customary, spiritual one. The reason why the question arose is the specific scene of ‘The Clue’, where Aziraphale openly ‘acts against the will of God’, and is convinced he will be brought to hell by Crowley. This is interesting to me, because in response he just says that he wouldn’t tell on him, and that was that.

Does that scene mean that angel status is not based on a spiritual(literal sense) monitoring of the soul, but rather about obeying statute and the way it is institutionally evaluated? Is there a set legislation, would it be God’s will? For that reason, would it be ineffable?

I feel like the fact that God is supposed to be omniscient would kind of undermine that theory, but nonetheless I wonder. I suppose that what I’m pleadingly asking for is some insight on the legal frame you maybe pictured for the Up and the Down (do they follow the same general legislation? Is it about legal pluralism? Are they monitored? Is it about lack of sufficient number of managers or oversaturated personnel?).

Pretty please,

A very desperate uni student

P.S. I’m very sorry about the length, I’m not good at summarizing things that I really enjoy. Also sorry for possible writing errors, English is not my first language. (If you see this more than once, sorry. As we’ve already established, I’m a little desperate)

I love these questions. Honestly, I don't think the Good Omens Heaven/Hell system is codified enough for me answer, other than to say both sides are very big on rules and have codes and agreements (see Crowley bluffing in the bookshop) and whatever you put in your essay I promise I will never turn up and maintain that you were wrong.

[ghosting-plural-userboxes]

Wishqueer

Wishqueer is a blankqueer term for those who wish for acceptance and for everyone to stop fighting! its for those who wish that online spaces will be more friendly and open and less hostile! its for those who are just so so tired of constantly having to prove that they are "valid" and just wish that they could relax.

Wishqueer is pro:

-Mogai/Liom

-ALL system/plural origins

-M-Spec lesbians/gays

-"Contradictory" Labels

-Neopronouns

-Desirdae, Dissomei, Intusui, and other transID alternatives

-Acceptance of paraphiles/paraphilias

-Recovery for those who have harmful paraphilias

-Self Expression(such as body mods, "weird" ways to dress, etc)

-Kink at Pride

-Reclamation of slurs

-Alterhuman/Nonhuman

Wishqueer is neutral on:

-Shipcourse

Wishqueer is anti:

-Harrasment

-Radqueer

-transIDs

-Xenosatanist

-Sysmed

-Exclustionist

-Contact for harmful paras

-Minors in kink/nsfw spaces

-Syscourse

-Demonization of mental illnesses

-Forced recovery

Emoji Code: 💫🌨️

:D!

[milfstalin]

she was the autistic gifted child...

long hair stalin... having to go to religious school... transfem coded as hell

first stalenin mention

:(

awesome way to escape

literally every paragraph there is another "he had an affair with her" tsarist russia's most wanted sugar baby for real

:D

hey girl how come you have so many names thats kinda plural coded of you

anyways transfem autistic plural stalin real

[terukotime]

ah Teruko Tawaki, the love of my life

you are SO lying about your secret

first of all, we know that Teruko was already skeptical about David having Xander's secret after him saying so

and with the newfound information of David being a Lying Manipulative Scumbaggy Piece of Shit™, it would definitely call his claim even more into question. and Teruko's pretty smart, i doubt she would actually end up believing he was telling the truth about that.

moreover, there's a crucial part in the wording of the secret that basically disproves it being Teruko's.

"You're constantly blaming yourself for the death of your parents and siblings." siblings, plural.

in Chapter 1, Teruko revealed that she doesn't know her parents, and that she only has a singular sibling, her brother.

she doesn't mention any other siblings. since she was at most 5 years old when her brother was adopted, then she would probably be way too young to remember if she even had other siblings, let alone how her parents must have "died".

and like we've already established many times during our hiatus theory-posting, that secret aligns near perfectly with what we learned about Xander in his bonus episode.

his parents and siblings died while he was studying abroad, and he blames himself for not having been there when it happens. even though he knows he couldn't have prevented it. it's solidified even more by Xander's secret "quote" in the page code of his character profile on Tumblr, which is just the definition for survivor's guilt.

so yeah. Teruko is lying out of her ass. why? my personal guess is that she still can't tell which secret is hers. she probably has a better guess now, considering there's very limited options for what it could be, and she likely knows that the secret she said was hers doesn't align with her own history. but admitting that the killing game is her fault probably would not sit well with the rest of the cast, so to prevent further derailing from the trial and casting unnecessary suspicion towards herself, she lied.

but idk, this is just my observation 🤷‍♀️

[aoi1dee]

OLNF Week Day 1: Soulmates/First Meet

@olnfweek2024 a short fic is down below...

(This idea was based on the red string of fate and the Egyptian-Greek myth which posits that humans originated in pairs, bound in one body, with one original soul, but were split in two)

Everyone has a soul, even if you can’t actually see it, it’s there. It’s what makes people who they are according to Alex’s Mama. That string attached to his chest is what shows it. Mama explained that a long time ago before the world and humans were a thing, souls were complete in their body and that was how the world was supposed to be. Until one day, right before the true beginning of the world, a lightning strike hit every single soul and split them into two. The two souls were separated and forced to search the world hoping to one day find their other half… The only thing that connects the two souls is that string that connects to your heart (which is apparently where your soul sits). Nobody can see that string other than you and your soulmate. No matter how far away your other half is, that string will still be there and will lead you to them. But that story doesn’t mention two things:

Not every soul got split.

Some souls were split into more than two.

And that second one is exactly what is wrong with Alexander Morello. It was very weird for him. To always hear about everyone being excited to finally find their other half. He has never heard anyone say anything about finding their other halves plural… When he tries to explain to people that he has two strings of course no one believes him. He’s the only one who can see it. Though the one person who truly believes him is his Mama. There were only a couple of things Alex knew about his soulmates: they were very far away in the same direction and that they tugged at the string a lot. Alexander never responded; he didn't want them to get their hopes up. What if he wasn’t good enough for them? Alex is an anxious kid who is afraid of every single thing in the world. How is he able to protect them from all the dangers and sad things in the world if he can’t even protect himself?! Even the kids at school agree that he will be useless to his soulmates. Well maybe he shouldn’t listen to what other mean kids think… Luckily, he most likely won't meet his soulmates super soon. Mama said that he won't meet his soulmates until college at least. So maybe he has time to figure everything out! Oh but she was sooooo wrong… Cause now here he was standing in front of his two soulmates in the middle of the forest in the new town that he just moved to maybe ten minutes ago. They both stare at him in two completely different ways. The boy on the left, his name is Qiu Lin, is looking between him, the string that is attaching the two of them together, and the string that is attaching him to his other soulmate. That other soulmate, her name is Tamarack Baumann, is practically bouncing up and down in pure excitement. Alex honestly can’t tell what is going on behind her red eyes.

How did Alex manage to meet both of his soulmates in one day? That's what he was wondering too.

It starts with a simple request from his Mama. She explained to him that he should go out and take a peek around the neighborhood since they were going to be living there for a bit. Alex at first was honestly terrified but after a little encouragement from Mama, he tiptoed away from the porch and into the middle of the cul-de-sac. For a second he really didn’t know where he was supposed to be going until something poked his shoulder. Of course his honest reaction was to scream at the top of his lungs alerting the entire neighborhood to his location. Give him a break, it scared him. Though that scream was for nothing it was just a paper airplane. But that paper airplane had his name on it! With a code? What were those words supposed to mean together? It was a mystery worth solving!!

So Alex made his way to the location of where the airplane had come from. When he walked up to a fork in the road he noticed something. The strings went down separate roads! Looking at the path on his right, it looked like his soulmate was closer than before. So he followed and met his first soulmate. God they were so excited to see him. The first thing the kid did when they saw him was jump down from their fort (gave Alex a genuine heart attack (it didn’t it just felt like it)) and start spewing out words Alex had a hard time comprehending. He was in another dimension, was this really his soulmate??!! They gave quick introductions and then Alex showed Qiu the note. He had explained that he owned the paper and wrote what was on there but didn’t send the airplane. Which unlocked a new mystery to solve!

Alex brought this new boy along to the other fork in the path where his other string went. He should’ve known something was wrong when Alex had mentioned the other string and Qiu had responded, “What other string?” But they continued on in hopes to find who sent the airplane and oh he did alright.

A girl burst out from a pile of leaves in the middle of the forest and squealed immediately when she saw Alex, “YOU’RE MY SOULMATE???”

That was where they are now, well after Tamarack had grabbed her bag and introduced herself.

“Your string goes to her too? Is that what you meant earlier when you mentioned another string?” Qiu questions. They aren’t connected?? Wait, why aren’t they connected?

“Wait! You’re connected to him too?” Tamarack looks up at Qiu wanting an answer.

“You two aren’t connected??” They both shake their heads in response. That doesn’t make any sense… Mama said that all three of them should be connected to each other. So why aren’t they???

“A-And you two can’t see that I’m connected to both of you?” Alex asks, trying to hold back bursting into tears. This isn’t how it was supposed to go… the three of them were supposed to be soulmates together!

“No” Tamarack immediately answers.

Qiu gets closer to Alex, “Hey, it’s okay!” He places his hand on his shoulder, “We don’t have to figure this out immediately!” Qiu’s attempt at reassuring Alex only slightly worked. The only thing that was on his mind was the pure fact that his worries were true, they were disappointed after meeting him. They probably were so excited to meet their soulmate, maybe having wonderful dreams but instead they find out that their soulmate is also soulmates with someone else… they’re probably heart broken.

“I-I’m sorry…” Tears begin to fall down his cheeks.

“What are you sorry for? It’s not your fault.” Tamarack grabs onto his hand, “Qiu is right, we can figure this out later!” Her smile is so bright…

“Yeah! Not like you can control who you are soulmates with.” Qiu looks down at him with a reassuring smile, “We should all totally hang out some more!” He giggles.

They want to hang out with him? They don’t hate him?

“Yes yes yes!!” She squeals, “Oh but my Omi would probably want me home…”

“Your Omi?” Qiu asks.

“Oh! It means grandma in German. They’re German.”

“Wait, does your Omi live in the big gray house in the cul-de-sac over there?”

“Yes!! I’m living there now!!” She once again bounces up and down.

“Alex and I live in the two other houses! He just moved here today!” Their voices fade as Alex begins to wander through his thoughts again. They’re all neighbors… both of his soulmates live next door to him… they want to hang out with him more… they don’t hate him… maybe.. things won't be as bad as he thought.

(I am not proud of this.. I genuinely didn’t know how to write it. I’m sorry I swear that the other days are much better…)

[genderqueerdykes]

I don't want to come off as entitled by asking this, but I see you dress more 'feminine' and still ID as butch. I was wondering what the identity means to you as someone who doesn't look like how a butch "should" look? What is the connection there? I hope this doesn't come off as rude, I'm just trying to keep myself from being closeminded in any way and am interested in experiences of others.

i don't really see this as rude! i get a lot of asks where people say both "butches should be able to wear dresses and skirts" and "butches can only dress and look certain ways". there seems to be a lot of contention and gatekeeping over what a butch person should look like, not saying this is what you are doing- i see it constantly in the wild

it's okay to ask these kinds of things because i think a lot of people are confused about the origins of the term butch. butch just means queer masculinity- a queer masculine person can look, act, and dress like anything. there is no set dress code or look for a butch person. i have a phrase which i repeat in these scenarios: the butch is in the person, not the presentation. i see a lot of butches ache and long to wear dresses and other "femme" clothing all the time

i have a complex relationship with both femininity and masculinity due to being intersex. also, i have been living with being called a butch dyke derogatorily my entire life- it's something that's highly close to me. some may postulate that the term "bear" would fit me better, and i have used it in the past, but i'm not sure that one's quite right either. i honestly don't really know if i fit into the femme-butch binary.

due to having DID, some days i feel butch, and other days i feel femme. i am not an unshakeable person, and i have been wondering if the term femme would suit me better these days, given the direction i've pivoted in on the whole. it's a tough thing- queer masculinity to me involves being feminine. it seems confusing, but queer masculinity does not always have to be super macho. a masculine person can display queer masculinity by being feminine, too. the way someone dresses shouldn't have an impact on how they feel on the inside

it's an interesting thing to think about for sure! you caught me right at a time where i have been questioning this, myself. this exact question dawned on me just a few days ago. i was a lot more butch in the past, but i've gravitated toward a more femme experience in recent years. i don't know if i'll ever truly abandon the term butch. it's something i've been getting called my entire life. and i don't think dressing in a feminine way makes someone not butch, but i will say this is something i have been questioning lately!

the thing is, with queer identities, questioning and figuring out what really applies to you takes time. you may find a term and go "oh that's me!" right away, only to discover later on down the road that may not be correct. just because i was hyper masculine in the past doesn't mean i can't be hyper feminine now, you know? things change and shift. maybe at one point I had more butch alters than i do now- change is inevitable in a plural person, and it's hard for us to quantify how many of us are butch vs. how many of us are femme

considering i was already questioning this, this has given me more to think about, for sure. i think it's important to ask these kinds of questions because it may jar you into considering things you haven't before. while butches can present any way they want to, i have been feeling way more femme lately. perhaps i'm a butch who dresses femme, or maybe i've grown in ways where i've discovered that identity doesn't suit me as well as i thought it did. maybe things just changed. so thank you, i'm going to continue considering if that's the direction i'm more headed in lately. :)

[starberry-cupcake]

I don't think I have a lot to update today because life got in the way of me reading as much as I wanted, but if I don't note things down, I'm gonna forget, so here we are. I'm not sure if I'll be able to update tomorrow, but I'll be back as soon as as I can, more for my own peace of mind than anything else.

previously, in harrowlicious the ninth:

this happened

also, I may have or may have not been slightly spoiled about a thing because people in my dash don't use the tags available to us mortals, so I'm gonna have to sprint if I see any semblance of skull make up in my dash

close the tab immediately

close my eyes and cover them for good measure

currently, chapters 12 & 13:

we are training how to...kill planets, I think

basically, I think we're killing a planet and killing the thing that comes out of it when it's killed

this is what the care bears taught me not to do when I was a kid

actually, I think they even made a new one in the new re-design thing specifically to make the point even clearer than in the 90s

this new one

that's the opposite of what these people are doing rn

so harrowbean is training with mercygirl on how to be environmentally unconscious

if I am understanding the dynamics correctly, you kill the planet and then you chase the planet's soul aka beast through the river and kill that too

if the ones they're escaping from are bigger than these, they must have fucked up massively with whatever they destroyed

when I started reading gideon, I thought the houses were like planet-coded

you know, nine houses and all that

the ninth is now a hypothetical mysterious ninth planet

but back when my astrology lesson was sailor moon

the ninth was pluto

and in that mindset, the ninth would be setsuna meiou, which checked out with some of the harrow aesthetics, I mean

a mix between these two looks???

I went on a tangent, anyway

I moved on from that idea later but, in any case, these people must have destroyed some fucking huge thing to make the mess they're in now

so, basically, in order to chase the planet's soul (which they call beast, but I think that's disrespectful), that's where the cavalier comes in

the slurped cav is meant to keep the lyctor running through that process, so that their body doesn't collapse

and it's meant to have their instincts kick in to do the final push and use the sword they were trained to use

if mayonnaise uncle had not done what he did, he would have probably been good at this part

but he was obliterated

by hubris

so, harrow cannot do this

WHICH IS GREAT

for us, at least, because it's more hope for the "gideon isn't gone" theory that keeps us together

I speak in plural, as if you didn't know exactly what's happening, but you get what I mean

in my mind, we're like this, waiting for gideon to come back

so augustine calls harrow "diet lyctor"

he should call her "lyctor lite"

mercygirl gives harrow crap for not being able to sustain herself due to her lack of cavalier-ness

augustine makes fun of her for her lack of cavalier-ness

and I'm here like...you guys are the ones who started this mess?????

it's not up to a teen to save you in a couple months from something you haven't been able to fix in 10k years????

maybe you deserve it????????

what is this, evangelion????

harrow, coming back from the training and planet killing

harrow visits yandere twin in her new designated room

yandere twin has a room with a lot of nudes

"life sized nudes in languorous attitudes, generally in oils, and all of the same two persons. They were enthusiastically executed. The duo posing held a variety of objects both likely and unlikely."

so...which lyctor ordered a ton of nsfw fanart of themselves and their cav or whatever????

I'm assuming it's a portrait of one of them and it's this kind of situation

yandere twin apparently likes the nudes, so they're staying there

harrow doesn't like them

I think it's A Lot tbh, but it's not my lyctor room, so I'm not telling her what to do

who has the room with the ceramics collection? because I call dibs on that

anyway, yandere twin is having a hard time with this too

both of them are having a hard time with doing it, not with the ethical or moral implications of what they're doing or why johnny john john is asking them to do these things

harrow can kill the stuff faster, but she can't be trusted to be able to stay alive after

harrow was never very good at not getting physically damaged at all times

yandere twin has a hard time making chad cooperate

who would have thought

imma assume it's a problem you might encounter when you slurped your cav against their will

which is what we think happened, idk, we found him stabbed in the back so

and also it's chad

chad complained about everything all the time

harrow tells her it's psychological

the mental health care plan of the lyctors looks like this

also, harrow suggests yandere twin to cut her new arm if it bothers her

I mean, that's one solution, I guess

it's a very harrow solution

yandere twin points out that harrow is the emperor's favorite

that sounds like a very bad thing tbh

she also asks harrow to make her own arm grow back again and harrow says no because she's not good at the fleshy bits

"the fleshy bits"sounds like something cursed that comes with cereal in a magnus archives episode

but you get the idea

we end the chapter with harrow appreciating yandere twin's company because, when she found her after she had stabbed not!dulcinea's corpse, she said "wish you'd taken off her arms"

I respect that too

again, no camilla yet

well, this wasn't as long or entertaining but I'll come back whenever I can...life needs to let me read this book

[tanadrin]

Do you think it's possible there's a planet with multiple stable sentient species who interact? Or would such a situation inevitably end up with one getting wiped out or the two hybridizing

Well, they could only hybridize if they were closely related, like humans and Neanderthals. And IIRC there's some evidence that humans and Neanderthals/Denisovans probably weren't all that interfertile to begin with, with most coding Neanderthal alleles getting weeded out of our genome.

I think it would be very difficult for two sentient species that shared overlapping niches to survive. H. sapiens and Neanderthals were both smart, seem to have both had language and culture, and had similar levels of technological sophistication, but the latter had a much lower population and so couldn't really compete when their cousins invaded their territory. And maybe some of this is a function of the wider human clade's tendency to engage in warfare and ecologically disruptive hunting--there's a big wave of megafauna extinction that seems to have followed the expansion of human populations all over the globe--but I'm not sure how many species of big-brained tool-users any niche could support.

But I do think that species with very different niches could coexist peacefully, at least long enough to work out that species in other niches were sentient, and to develop the ethical frameworks necessary for coexistence. If there were superintelligent squid, they wouldn't ever compete directly with humans for habitat (though we might have eaten a fair few by accident). We have also managed (just!) not to render extinct cetaceans, which are fairly intelligent, or our close cousins the chimpanzee. I could also imagine a science fictional scenario where two intelligent species were in some kind of important symbiotic or commensalist relationship that would stabilize their coexistence.

I think the other tricky thing though would be timing. It took a long time for the genus Homo to develop intelligence. AFAICT the australopithecines were closer to chimpanzees in terms of intelligence than they were to us; H. erectus was a lot smarter, but probably didn't have language; it's not until 700,000 to 200,000 years ago you get human species that are more fully developed in terms of their intelligence, and that feels like a super narrow window in terms of evolution for another intelligence species to also emerge. Because once you do get intelligent tool-users who spread over most of the globe, they seem likely to me to start to modify their environment in profound ways, like we have. So if another intelligent species doesn't already exist, the circumstances in which it is likely to arise after one species comes to prominence are going to be very different--more of an uplift scenario, maybe. Like I think if we discovered a group of chimpanzees with rudimentary language tomorrow, we would do our best not to fuck with them, but we would inevitably have some kind of impact on their existence for better or worse, right?

Maybe your best bet for multiple sentient species would be to have a reason that the first species (singular or plural) that arose didn't come to dominate the entire planet--they were aquatic, and so never mastered fire; or they were otherwise highly restricted in the biomes they could inhabit; or they were small in number like the Neanderthals, but could retreat to refugia in mountains and forests rather than be wiped out; or they were a diverse clade like early humans, but they also spread out very rapidly, and were subsequently isolated by climate conditions. Like, imagine Denisovans (who were already in Asia) had crossed the Bering Strait land bridge to the Americas, and then sea levels rose cutting them off until the Age of Discovery. If you had a planet that didn't effectively have a two supercontinents like Earth, you might have many more opportunities for related-but-geographically-divided species to develop (though that doesn't avoid the problem of what happens when they meet each other and start competing then).