#when they just aren’t

[foldingfittedsheets]

Imagine you were roommates with someone who didn’t speak your language. And like. You guys are best friends, you love your roommate so much. You hang out all the time and it’s great.

But sometimes when you go to scratch an itch they suddenly get so upset. Like they’ll yell or clap or make weird sounds. You have no idea why because you’re itchy. You gotta scratch the itch! But it makes them so upset that you only scratch itches when they aren’t around.

Otherwise stuff is fine, they feed you and you’re happy living with them. You play games and stuff and even though you don’t speak the same language you both have a lot of fun. It’s just that sometimes they’ll burst out for no reason and you just get to deal with it.

That’s basically what it’s like for our pets, I think.

[planariaareneat]

How The Nocturnal Bottleneck and Nipples Make Us Human

Almost every post here considers what humans do have, really. It’s a little tiring; realistically every world has its harsh environments and vicious species and a sophont to match. We probably wouldn’t be unique for our adaptability or our persistence or even adrenaline

But our evolution is fucked up as hell, to put it lightly.

Mammals went through what’s been dubbed the nocturnal bottleneck essentially since the start of the mesozoic right up until the Cretaceous ended the archosaur’s exclusive hold over the daylight. We lost a lot of things from every mammal spending most of its time in either a cramped, suffocating burrow or scrounging around in the faint hours of nighttime. Our blood cells lost their nuclei to hold more oxygen while we spent time deep underground, we lost protections against ultraviolet rays in our skin and eyes, we can’t even repair our own DNA using the light of the sun. Most aliens probably wouldn’t have such traits unless their evolution followed a very similar path to ours. They’d be able to see ultraviolet and wouldn’t have to worry about sunburn and all the wonderful privileges essentially all fish, birds, amphibians, and reptiles enjoy as we speak. 

There’s also what we gained from spending so much time in the dark.

Brown fat is only found in mammals, it’s a special type of fat which bear cells with several oil droplets and are utterly jammed with mitochondria. This lets it make heat, a lot of it, fast. We don’t even need to shiver to induce this heat generation from brown adipose tissue - factor in our downright hyperactive mitochondria, and we can warm up quickly. Sure, it doesn’t have too much use in adult humans, but it keeps our infants warm and still provides a little boost the whole run we have in this universe.

Unless aliens also went through a time where their small ancestors had to face cold nights, they’d have to produce heat the old fashioned way when chilled. Aliens might have to shiver the whole time they’re in a cold room while the human watches in confusion, quite literally unshaken, and wonders if the room is a lot colder than the thermostat set to 60 says. The aliens stare at their companion in confusion, it’s just a normal temperature to shiver at after all, how is the human sitting so still?

Our small ancestors spending all their time out foraging at night is also why we have such a good sense of touch, smell, and hearing. They were more important senses than vision (we’re lucky to have even redeveloped basic color vision, frankly) at the time and place and simply ended up continuing to serve us well. Birds and reptiles rarely have acute senses of smell and the latter especially are lucky to have acute hearing, and birds rarely have impeccable hearing themselves either. Our skin is free of scales and honed to sensitivity, and our external ears and complicated ear bones provide an immense range of hearing (from 20 all the way to 17,000 hertz!).

Aliens might not be able to pin down the chirp of a cricket or the light click of a lock being picked. The human might be the only one on board a ship that can pick out the finer sounds of the engine’s constant thrum and know the critical difference between when everything is fine and when something is wrong. The human could probably pick out the sounds of an approaching enemy’s careless footsteps - they’re only as light enough for *them* to stop hearing them, after all - and be the one to see the horrified expression (well, more on that later) on their face when we get the drop on them in spite of their perceived stealth. 

But perhaps the most versatile, convoluted, amazing, and utterly unique trait we have is right on your face this instant. Lips.

Lips in most animals are a simple seal to hold in the mouth’s moisture and protect the teeth, even if they’re supple they’re NEVER muscular except in mammals, and we have only one thing to thank for it; milk and nipples. Lips evolved exclusively to allow babies to suckle, it required a vacuum to be created in the mouth, and with no other animal having anything like a nipple it never happened in other animals. Many animals make milk, to be frank, but no other animal has nipples.

Your cheeks and lips are a marvel among tetrapods, no other animal can suck like mammals can. Aliens wouldn’t have straws or even be able to sip from the edge of a glass, they’d have to have a proboscis or simply tilt the whole thing back. Aliens likely won’t have woodwind instruments or balloons you can blow into. We take so much about our lips for granted. Hell, our muscular faces are vital for expressions, we’re probably absolute facial contortionists among a cast of creatures with mandibles and beaks and expressionless scaly maws. Aliens might find us ridiculously easy to read, if anything, compared to their own kind (all the better to deceive them) - or perhaps they’d find us hard to decipher anyways, with our lack of color-changing skin or erectable crests of bright feathers. Baring teeth might not be seen as a sign of aggression in most of the universe, smiling would be all too distinctly human. 

Perhaps with how infectious we are sometimes, that’s what we’d contribute to the universe; others might have to make do with opening their mouths just enough to show their teeth or splaying their innumerable mouthparts with just the right curve, but perhaps we’d teach the galaxy to smile, one ally at a time. 

Wouldn’t that be amazing?

[nonbinary-vents]

I remember that when everything was happening with Noah Schnapp, so many people were saying that ‘he’s a white coloniser!’ ‘he’s clearly European!’ and ‘how are we supposed to think he’s indigenous to the Middle East when he looks like that?!’ They were screaming so much about he couldn’t possibly be from the swana region due to being pale, despite the fact that… wait for it…

Noah Schnapp is a Moroccan Jew.

The exact the same thing happened with Jerry Seinfeld too, despite him being a Syrian Jew.

But what this tells me is that so many American and European leftists fundamentally do not understand what North Africans and Southwest Asians look like. They do not understand that many Middle Eastern groups are pale, many Middle Eastern groups share features with Europeans— I mean, the Middle East literally borders Europe, did you not expect us to have similarities? This stretches back to the ancient world too. We know that in Yehuda there were gingers, as shown by King David*. Iirc, studies on Rameses the second’s remains show that he most likely had an olive tanned complexion and reddish-blondish hair, similar to a European Mediterranean look— which makes total sense seeing as Egypt is literally a Mediterranean country as well

It’s not just Jews. Persians, Kurds, Assyrians, Copts, Amazigh, Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula**, all of these ethnic groups are incredibly diverse in their features, even without any significant genetic influence from other areas. You cannot just project American and European black and white concepts of race onto the Middle East and act as if that is reality. The world is not split into pale people in the north, brown people in the middle, and black people in the south, and if you genuinely believe that then you really need to look at some pictures of the groups that you’re claiming to be the defender of. Please. I’m so tired of this bullshit lol

*I know that the historical evidence for David is shaky at best and we’re not sure if he was real or not (I personally believe it’s a King Arthur sort of situation where there was a real person here that got turned into legend), what I’m trying to say is that if the Ivrim could have a figure like this who was ginger, then the Ivrim clearly had gingers. Nobody come for me please

**not adding other Arabs because there tends to be genetic mixes with other groups, and my point is about how even without distinct genetic markers from each other, middle easterners groups can turn out with a super intense variation in appearance, especially skin tone

[knockknockwhosthereartistism]

Family Photos

[charcoaldustonmyfingers]

Finding Draxum

A little comic of Mikey finding Draxum in the street after he got drained by the Shredder suit. The original idea for this storyline was that Draxum would align himself with the Hamatos for a time while The Shredder took over the city, until his ego and obsession with prophesy led him to betray them once more. This time he would get no third chance, and Mikey would be the one to draw the line and tell him so before making him leave the city for good.

I love TMNT for its found family! But having had to cut off irl blood relatives before despite how many chances they were given, I kind of like Draxum as a villain despite him being the creator of the turtles. But that’s just me!

This doesn’t lead to his nice canonical show self in my mind , though it can totally still be read that way :)

[shepscapades]

Thanks to artfight, I’ve finally finished a detailed, official dbhc cub reference! :D

(I’ve put his Artifight description below the cut, which has a more detailed explanation of his timeline, lore, and aesthetics! >:3)

-ˋˏ ༻ ❁  OVERVIEW ❁ ༺ ˎˊ-

Name: C.B.F.N.4000 (Cub) Pronouns: He/Him Species: Android Height: 5’9’’ Associated Visual Themes: vex, ghosts, explosions, mischief, scientist aesthetic, potions, potionmaking, sleepy/tired aesthetic, conspiracies

-ˋˏ ༻ ❁  ABOUT ❁ ༺ ˎˊ-

CBFN4000 is an au version of MCYT Hermitcraft’s Cubfan, set in my DBHC (or Detroit Become Hermitcraft) AU! This au is inspired by the 2018 game Detroit Become Human, but not because it really has anything to do with DBH—I simply yoinked the android mechanics and incorporated them into the world of Hermitcraft. It began as a S8 au, and has roughly followed the hermitcraft timeline up to the present! 

Cub was the last android made during Season 8. While many of the hermit androids were made at the beginning of season 8 and a few were made for season 9, Cub was finished and activated mid-late Season 8, around the time when Hermits started noticing the Big Moon. Cub’s model ended up being a sloppy experiment in deviation, as Doc suggested they try to transfer deviancy to an android upon activation to try and avoid traumatic situations that might cause an android to deviate violently or upsettingly, such as Etho’s, Tango’s, or Mumbo’s experiences. While this went relatively well initially, it clearly wasn’t very thoroughly thought out, as Xisuma (who is normally so adamant and detail-oriented when it comes to assuring the androids’ safety with experiments like this) wasn’t truly himself due to external manipulation and mostly left a relatively young-deviant Doc to carry out the project himself. 

Cub, though adjusting to sentience rather well at first, very quickly became wrapped up in the Big Moon happenings on the server, new personality and inexperience to emotions like fear and ignorance completely overwhelming his young system. He became obsessive over the implications and consequences of the Season 8 Moon Apocalypse, joining the Mooners and spreading his conspiracy theories religiously throughout the server as he descended into madness. The insanity was like a virus to his programming, pervasive and all-engulfing, and Cub’s final attempt to free himself from the Moon’s impact with the Earth—to launch himself on a llama into space via potion-powered TNT(insane btw)— left his hands and feet singed and cracked to ruin.

The experiment, considered a horrific failure by a deeply shameful—and more awake—S9 Xisuma, left Doc and Xisuma with the decision to reset him for the new season, and they ended up pairing him with a hermit like they had done with the other androids until they had found deviancy enough to pursue their own projects. So, at the start of season 9 and fresh after a reset, Cub was paired with Scar. Naturally, because Scar is… Scar, Cub deviated almost instantly after being given to him, and very quickly adopted the iconic lazy, stoic, amused attributes normally associated with Cubfan. Scar’s tendency towards mischief and general shenanigans grew instantly on Cub, and the two were an immediate inseparable pair. So much so that when Scar began rambling one day about his Season 5 Hermitcraft Shenanigans (where deals with the Vex may or may not have been involved), Cub immediately stated he was interested in being in on it. Whatever “it” means. It’s unclear if Cub also made a deal with the vex or became connected to them in some other way, but… well, he got Doc’s help to trick out his eyes, hair, and back to best fit the part. Scar is very jealous that he can't magically make himself have the same features to match.

Cub is closest with Scar, but he gets along just as well with any of the other hermits! He’s close with Jevin and many of the other redstoners like Etho and Doc, who are the other two androids I’ve put on artfight!

-ˋˏ ༻ ❁  EXTRAS ❁ ༺ ˎˊ-

Cub's eyes can light up in the dark, and he’s the only android who has edited his programming so that the default state of his LED is white, not blue. It still will go yellow and red if his processors are working particularly hard, but he’s replaced the blue setting on his LED with white to better match the Vex vibe. Cub has all of the vibes of a fae. If that’s anything <3

[chloesimaginationthings]

Okay, but Elizabeth being an absolute savage girlboss isn't something that's talked about enough.

Love how you're spitting facts for our girly pop. 💪💪💪

TBH I go off the personality baby has, and gotta assume some of that sass is definitely Elizabeth

[rosesbleachblondehair]

It is interesting how fandom understands that Rose influenced the Doctor to heal after the Time War and that she changed him for the better, but when it comes to how Rose shouldered the trauma of a veteran who came out of an incomprehensibly horrific war and how the first place that veteran takes her is to see her own planet get destroyed and how later she stands between that veteran holding a gun and a Dalek (she even has dialogue explicitly pointing out that the Doctor is the one who is pointing a gun at her), nobody in the fandom thinks about how any of that would have influenced and changed Rose.

It’s all why is s2 Rose different from s1 Rose? instead. And I think there’s an answer for why she’s different right in front of you.

[aria-greenhoodie]

WOE, NEXT SUMMER DESIGNS FOR SOME OF THE GRAVITY FALLS KIDS, GO!

Click for Quality!

Pt 1/2/?

[ivyithink]

“His name was Magnus. He took me from my room in Paris, as I kicked and screamed.”

bonus version with the shadow of magnus but no text, because I’m indecisive and, after debating with myself over which one to post, decided to just post both…

[casually-eat-my-soul]

You’d know what be really fucking funny, okay so stick with me but you all know that general idea that stiles has a spark and his spark works on his belief / willpower yes? Yes? Good

Now imagine the saying of “kissing it better” + plus stiles spark.

It’s starts with his mother — whom stiles claimed was magic, but everyone truly believes that their mother is magic. Stiles doesn’t really take it super seriously until after Scott gets bitten and deaton calls stiles a spark — but that’s besides the point.

Anytime stiles got hurt via bump, bruises and cuts, as any rambunctious child would - his mother would help him dry his tears and clean the wound before “kissing it better”.

So stiles just grows up assuming that kissing a wound will make it heal faster. And for all intents and purposes it does, unbeknownst to him because of his and his mother’s magic. But he doesn’t really think to much about it because he’s 1. Not around a lot of injuries and 2. not going around kissing people to help heal them.

Well until Derek fucking hale drops half dead in front of his jeep from a gunshot.

Derek doesn’t know enough about humans to argue with stiles, but he’s still not a hundred percent sure. Especially after he got kissed by him and it healed a gunshot??? That was poisoned with wolfsbane??? He gets ever more confused after he overhears a mother in the grocery store consoling her child by telling them that mom will “kiss it better”.

Peter calls Derek an idiot but never actually confirms or denies anything. Scott isn’t any help because he grew up around stiles and just acclimated to it over time. Sheriff Stilinski just sips his coffee in silence.

[let-roman-bite-someone]

“janus is so out of character, he’s not supposed to act like that!”

but it’s totally normal and in character for the literal personification of logic to dramatically break into a musical theatre song and serenade a jar of fruit preserve?

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 258

Halfas are like selkies. Or more like they’re similar to many animal spouses of myths and legends, trapped in (mostly) human forms should they lose their cloak. 

That at least, Vlad warned Danny about within the first time of realizing what the other was. It’s a line neither will cross- not even the timeline where Dan came into being. An unspoken acknowledgement of not crossing such a boundary no matter what happened. 

Even after his parents’ deaths. After Jazz’s near-death and coma. 

It’s not exactly something Danny thinks of, really, especially not that he’s now survived highschool and practically moved across the country. Not to mention the fact he has Ellie and Jordan to care for. But it definitely comes to mind the moment Dan- only five at the moment- screams for him. And he’s not going to let anything happen to his kids

[ljbrary]

The New York Times is a fucking joke of a paper. Recently I literally cannot look at a headline without feeling utterly hopeless at the state of the world… because of the state of journalism. It’s honestly heinous, and quite frankly terrifying.

“Israeli Rabbi who Disappeared is Found Dead”

No. Try, “Rabbi was KIDNAPPED and MURDERED in the UAE by TERRORISTS.”

It’s genuinely not controversial to tell the truth. He did not “disappear” — he was kidnapped. By terrorists. He was not “found dead” — he was fucking murdered for being a Jew. Call it like it is or don’t call it at all.

Genuinely insane and disgusting that the nyt can claim to have journalistic integrity after this past year. When it comes to anything Jewish or Israeli, this isn’t an outlier of a headline; it’s the fucking rule.

[hiyyihrts]

“For how long have you had feelings for him?”… Lord the way they keep making Eloise this non-observant clueless friend to everyone is crazy to me… especially continuously with Pen (and now Cressida also). She never fathomed that Pen could want to participate in ton events, want to be married, want to have even the bare minimum opportunity to be entertained by a man, and yet anytime Pen goes against anything Eloise always talked about she’s so surprised?? Maybe if you talked with your friends instead of at them we wouldn’t be running into this situation continuously El…

[bixels]

Hey, I need some advice. For anyone experienced with kids, how do you deal with young children with hyperactive ADHD. I’m doing well babysitting but I’m afraid of being a pushover and letting these two kids get away with too much, especially when they’re rough-housing.