#which means a) i tend to get most of the side effects including some of the Real Fun ones

[thisbrilliantsky]

just found out my psychiatrist already recommended to me the highest safe dose of melatonin. devastated

[alfredojesta]

CANDY POP

MANSION HEADCANONS PT. 1

I'm not going to add a backstory portion here because it'd be too much to write. I only have the fun facts! With some brief character analysis like always. I'll have a second post for his relationships!!!

CW: references to traumatic events, S/A, talk of hypersexuality (below the cut)

GENERAL HEADCANONS UP HERE!

♡ Age locked at 500 years old. Equivalent to an adult Genyr. Candy Pop was born 6000 years ago in the Forest of Light—a magical place located in a fantasy world.

♡ No birthdate, but he celebrates July 12th.

♡ He/Him, Trans Male, Bisexual.

♡ 5'8, but his heels add 2 inches which makes him 5'10, but his ponytails add 2 inches which makes him 6'0. So in theory he's 6'0.

♡ His name is Candy Pop, with the Pop. He's very insistent that everyone adds the Pop. No one is allowed to call him Candy unless he lets them. People like to call him Poppy or Pops.

♡ Candy Pop and Night Terrors are no longer fused together. Night Terrors has since been sealed away (within the object of Candy Pop's heart), but the effects of his corruption remain. For that reason, Candy Pop's emotions and his morals tend to fluctuate. He's inherently good, but troubled with dark thoughts, and a past of sin he can't repent.

♡ The corrupted (NT) traits come in flashes. It can be compared to mood-swings, lasting five seconds or five months. It's easy to distinguish for the most part. His cheerful, childish, sweet side is Candy Pop—he's somber and reflective, but hides it. He can be annoying, but it's easier to shut him down as he's more understanding. His over-dramatic, flirtatious, and violent side is all NT's influence. Everything is exaggerated. His emotions are all over the place, and it's way more difficult to calm him down.

♡ Candy Pop is a soul collector (a trait passed down by his father). He's mastered soul magic, and has the ability to steal powers from others. However, power stealing works the same as if he were to learn a new skill. He must perfect a stolen ability before he can use it efficiently.

♡ His hammer is named Pamela. She's magic! She can shape-shift into any object! Pierrot, an old friend, forged her. He harnessed the mana from crystals and fused it with the hammer.

♡ Candy Pop's eyes are naturally teal, like his mother's. After he fused with NT, they became magenta with a teal pupil. When he's happy, his eyes go teal. But when he's upset, his eyes go purple. Base state is magenta though.

♡ Candy Pop isn't a proxy, given he's strong enough to withstand Slenderman—equivalent to Zalgo's strength. He's under Slenderman's protection. Slenderman is aware that Candy Pop has Night Terrors sealed within him, and to prevent that from being exploited, Candy Pop gets to stay at the mansion (under a very detailed contract).

♡ He calls Slenderman "king" and acts as his jester, breaking into his office just to perform circus tricks. Candy Pop loves playing into the act, while Slenderman wants him to stop. Stop bowing down to him. Stop calling the mansion a kingdom. Stop delivering him scrolls and owl letters. BUT CANDY POP DOESN'T FUCKING LISTEN—

♡ Candy Pop used to have a room on the third floor, but a petition was signed to kick him out because he kept setting up traps in the hallway to catch Jason. Everyone fell for the traps except Jason.

♡ His room is now located on the first floor and has the best view of the courtyard. Candy Pop can be found there in his leisure. Sitting by the pond, talking to animals, climbing trees, or drawing with chalk. He gets to interact with a lot of people, too.

♡ Candy Pop loves Shakespeare! He sprinkles Elizabethan words into everyday speech. His vocabulary makes him difficult to understand, so he simplifies himself around illiterates. He has no distinct accent. Maybe British. He can speak all languages, including that of animals.

♡ He prefers to have intellectual conversation, therefore he speaks in long blocks of text. This basically means he yaps a lot and needs to be physically shut up.

♡ Candy Pop is involved with nature because of April Fools (his dead girlfriend). He gardens a lot. His favourite flowers to plant being roses, marigolds, poppies, and daisies. He keeps the Slender Forest clean and encourages proxies to work toward a better environment. Humans die there, but they can at least have a peaceful burial ground. (Candy Pop hates that humans have to be killed. He wants to keep them safe, but isn't able to. This sentiment was given to him from his time in the Forest of Light.)

♡ Candy Pop's soul-hunts can take anywhere from a day to a month. NT's cult attacks Candy Pop here and there. Major set back. Candy Pop also gets distracted by little things. That part is just him. But he can't help it that humans are so interesting! :(

♡ Hobbies, other than being a jester, include confectionery, baking, gardening, singing, arts and crafts, playing instruments (banjo, fiddle, harp, bells, etc.), reading, writing. He picked up knitting and crochet from Jason and Jill, which he's trying to perfect to impress either of them (mostly Jason, but Jill's reactions to his craft are more encouraging).

♡ He's banned from the mansion's kitchens after exploding it with Laughing Jack.

♡ His room is like a colourful library. There are shelves upon shelves of books. Random clutter everywhere. Trinkets, streamers, toys. Literally anything that goes missing in the mansion will be in Candy Pop's room. He likes collecting! :D

♡ Candy Pop doesn't always sleep in his room because he prefers to go to Nathan's house, or Jill's cabin. He tends to pass out in the forest after his hunts, so Jill picks him up.

♡ Candy Pop's fashion sense is experimental, but it keeps its circusy theme no matter what. He likes frilly clothes. Overdresses himself with accessories (hairpins, earrings, bracelets, and the like). Colour palette can either be pastel or gothic—both if he's feeling it. Candy Pop does simple makeup—unless he has a performance lined up. He curls his eyelashes so they look a bit swirly! ^_^

♡ His hair falls down to his calves. It's usually kept in three ponytails or a braid. He loves his fruit scented shampoos! Candy Pop lets the mansion kids put flowers into his hair. Lazari and Ben especially enjoy experimenting with giving Candy Pop funky hairstyles.

♡ Candy Pop sucks at using technology. He's forgetful, always needing to ask for assistance. It frustrates him, so he'd rather communicate via letters, or in-person meetings. However, he thinks videos and movies can be entertaining! He has NO idea how they work, but they're so silly!

♡ His use of slang is influenced by Nathan and Ciara. Otherwise, he speaks formally, and with as many references to Shakespeare as he can fit into a sentence.

♡ Spicy food will kill him instantly.

♡ He's vegan but makes an exception for dairy ice-cream. His favourite food is fruit salad and cabbage stew. But he tries inedible "foods" all the time. Like bath-bombs, or soap, or chalk, or lipstick. He gets shocked when they taste bitter.

♡ Candy Pop is terrified of mirrors. He refuses to look at his reflection. NT is always there. No matter what. He can't get that image out of his head. Candy Pop keeps away from reflective surfaces in general. Any and all mirrors tend to be covered when he's near. He gets others to check his makeup and outfits.

♡ He doesn't trust people easily, even though it may seem like he's gullible. Most people only know him on a surface level. Candy Pop hates talking about his past. Nobody knows the full story, not even his closest family. Because of how much hell he's lived through, Candy Pop can provide astonishingly good advice.

♡ Candy Pop's body is scarred from battles, self-inflictions, and little scuffles. He also has two scars on his back from Genyr wings that failed to grow on. Candy Pop likes to consider all his scars to be "battle scars"! It gives him a warrior-like image!

♡ His courage comes from his mother, who he believed was a warrioress. The stories his uncle told about her were the reason he kept going in dark times. Unbeknownst to him, those stories were made up.

♡ Candy Pop enjoys sleeping. He can control his dreams, so it's equivalent to going into an alternate universe for the night, where his life is a bit better. He experiences night terrors... from time to time, which sets him into a panic because they're always too realistic.

♡ One consequence of NT's corruption is that Candy Pop is involuntarily flirty with people. It isn't anything he's happy with, and creates lots of future issues if someone becomes attached to him. Candy Pop ends up feeling gross and yucky even if he doesn't go farther than flirting with people. He struggles to find any worth in himself outside of romantic or sexual desire. He can't help but believe everyone in his life will use him. He has to make himself useable, or else he'll get discarded.

♡ While they were fused, NT and Candy Pop never had a bond. NT put Candy Pop through so much emotional and physical distress. He despised that jester. For taking away his body, and replacing it with a weaker one. He couldn't even stay in his regular form for long... But he could shapeshift when he was in Candy Pop's form, and that meant he could enact his plans. Only thing is, since they shared the same body, they shared a consciousness. The first several months—years—decades—they shared a body together, it was horrifying for Candy Pop.

♡ Candy Pop was still young. Putting things into perspective, his entire life was stripped from him, along with every ounce of innocence he ever had. He didn't have anyone who could save him. Not a soul. All the other Genyrs were wiped out. His mother was dead. His father couldn't care less about him. The Gods weren't listening. It wasn't until centuries later that Candy Pop formed reliable connections.

♡ When Candy Pop finally grew "comfortable" with sharing a body with NT, NT became more and more insatiable. Candy Pop started giving into everything NT said, not refusing because if he laid low and gained NT's "trust", it'd be easier to get rid of him when the time came. But NT was also arrogant, angry, aggressive. And he'd take out his frustrations onto not only his children and partners, but also Candy Pop. NT found other ways to torment this one.

♡ Candy Pop has moments where he's averse to touch—severely. He'll distance himself from everyone. Only a few people can help him out of this. It's appreciated, because he thinks he's going to die alone. Candy Pop is, otherwise, a physically affectionate guy. He doesn't let just anyone touch him though. Again, his trust can be difficult to earn.

♡ Candy Pop copes with his trauma by being a jester. Surrounding himself with friends and family. Pretending like things aren't as bad as they are. And that's about it.

(dividers by dollywons) ☆

YAY! THAT'S ALL FOR THIS!!! backstory stuff would in fact take me a million years to do so that's going to be in another post i'll make at... some point. thankkk you!

[gynandromorph]

i feel like jessie would be the kind of person to make it so that, if this doesnt already happen in the idletryverse by extension of its format, sound effects play to accompany her actions. imagining her bursting open shilohs door with a vine boom sound, or her smiting someone with an extremely cartoonish explosion noise, and it is absolutely delighting me

i have, with a sort of pathetic desperation, tried to figure out a good way to include sound effects in this comic, and so far i've failed. i wanted to draw pictographs for more complex sound effects, like crickets chirping or even the vine boom, but unfortunately, apparently the vine boom is just some random metallic impact sound with nondescript objects... so i couldn't even draw a recognizable visual depiction for the Sensible Educated Viewer like drawing a bowed cymbal reality tv sound effect. sound effects are a really interesting phenomenon in comics, because they aren't really necessary most of the time, and when they are necessary, it's usually because the artist was not skilled or creative enough to get an action to feel right and look legible without the sound effect. when i can tell someone wrote a sound effect in because the drawing is bad, it really cheapens the whole comic for me. i feel like i'm reading a 2002 crackship rp and not a story. so i tend to err on the side of. not inducing that effect by leaving them out. the other component of sound effects is they take up a lot of real estate, which is already spread super thin in comics.

i tried drawing the cricket chirping here, which obviously isn't recognizable... i could make it larger, but then it's gonna take up more of the panel space. writing it out also doesn't look great.

and we have more obvious sound effects like explosions

where it works well enough to just draw the explosion

but somehow it's still kinda funnier with a boom sound effect anyway.

anyway what i mean to say is it's weird and complicated but i'd love to have more comedic sound effects in idletry in general. i think they would just be part of their world naturally. but i'm bad at everything so i don't know if that will happen--

[directdogman]

Hey dogman, idk if you answered this

Who, out of both DSAF and Dialtown, was your favourite to write and/or create?

It's very hard for me to pick favourites with my characters because I don't tend to give characters a lot of screen-time unless I find a character interesting or fun to write. You've caught me in a talkative mood, so warning, there's an onslaught of text coming!

DSaF: Dave was the most fun to write for, as I remember it. I mean, the guy is the walking personification of chaos and even when he's being constructive (eg, rigging robots to do insane stuff), it's usually in a destructive capacity. Dave will do LITERALLY ANYTHING but contribute to society in meaningful/valuable ways.

In terms of what character-writing I was most 'proud' of, I was also pretty happy with Dr Henry Miller, as a villain. Namely the research he embarked on, described in his logs in DSaF 3 (which the fandom evidently agreed with, as I got really strong feedback on those logs.)

One issue a lot of people (including myself) have with canon William Afton is that he's this kind of mad scientist character but his research doesn't really seem to be... idk, going anywhere? Other than using remnant (soul nectar?) to make kids possess robots, it's kind of a mystery how he got to this point he did from running a bad fast food restaurant. William gets fleshed out motivations in TSE and even then, it mainly revolves around his relationship with Henry Emily, iirc. It's actually pretty accurate to how real serial killers think, imo, but there's a pretty wide berth between this kind of serial killer and becoming a sci-fi fast-food mad scientist... So, I decided to try to bridge that gap.

DSaF Henry's logs actually mention where the idea for his research came from, namely the fact that he existed in a world with normal scientific rules just like ours and seemingly discovered something supernatural, and he approaches it like an amoral scientist would - trying to figure out how to figure out more about the fabric of reality using the newly discovered phenomenon of possession. The 'joy of creation' phrase people pulled from Golden Freddy's phone call in FNaF 1 is given context - Henry is trying to find out what's on the other side (and eventually, how existence itself formed.)

There's other aspects to his character that make him more interesting too, like the implication that his research is partially an excuse for him to act on an underlying sadism (with scenes implying that he inflicts damage on others than can't be justified as assisting with his research.) His background as a dissident/quack laughing-stock scientist (thanks to pushing his soul theory in a best-selling book, which is considered pseudoscience) BEFORE he embarked on his journey to become a fast food tycoon also makes it less farfetch'd that he'd be capable of y'know, harvesting human souls intentionally to continue his research?

I had more for the character on paper that people haven't seen but some of it wasn't revealed due to it feeling a bit too disturbing to publish. None of the contents would've been all that controversial, more just too tonally disturbing when written about in detail (like a omitted part from his backstory/lore post where he managed to pick up a hazy audio of his wife + son's crying from the radio of the car his wife/son drowned in and reacted with genuine elation upon realizing he'd discovered a new scientific phenomenon (as this was the first time Henry witnessed soul-possession.)) Yeah.

I don't feel much of a need to revisit Henry as a character because as a series villain, he was pretty thoroughly-written and he did his job effectively... And his fate was well earned! (He even got an epilogue short-story a few years back, further cementing his fate!)

Dialtown: From the characters/writing that the fandom has seen? Tough to say. I genuinely really like every DT character. Gingi and Mayor Mingus are two of my favourite characters to write for because they're both really insistent and react to adversity in a really comically indignant way. Mingus is more like Gingi than she cares to admit in very specific ways, which is the core hypocrisy of her character - she's one of the most abnormal things IN Dialtown, and spends the game on a quest opposing abnormality that she, herself, can't stand.

Many absolute rulers have debilitating physical and/or mental cruxes and despite that, usually have the final say on what is/isn't okay, often guided by arbitrary preferences. It's funny to remember all of the ancient kings and emperors who dictated how others should act, talk and even think, when very many of them themselves were anything except a good reflection of their own subjects! It's an irony I quite enjoy and leads to a fun character to write for!

My favourite DT writing is probably some of my Callum Crown speech drafts. I have a definite bias here since Crown's character is based on many figures I've encountered in my own reading (and his story relates to topics I enjoy reading about.) A lot of that is real nerd shit that wouldn't be interesting to 99.9% of DT fans (like a long conversation where Crown + Milt discuss a campaign speech Milt wrote for Crown and they bicker about if the wording/arguments used are truly honest.) Again, not super relevant to Dialtown-proper, but it explains a lot about why the world of DT ended up the way it did.

Realistically, the story of Dialtown itself is basically a weird little epilogue to a story that ended decades upon decades ago, centered around a bunch of small-town nobodies circling around the carcass of the last surviving main character of the old story.

I'm also very happy with Gingi's character partially because I know more about Gingi's past/future than you guys do. Gingi has such rotten memory that Gingi's backstory before DT's story begins is basically a complete mystery. Thanks to Gingi never getting close enough to any humans before laying its eggs, there's nobody in Gingi's life that can fill in the gaps. Companionship means so much to Gingi because prior to meeting The Gang, Gingi is aware of a massive and unknown block of time that's a complete mystery precisely because Gingi had nobody in its life. To Gingi, this time was basically akin to being non-sentient or dead, and Gingi would never go back.

While I was making DSaF, I drafted a ton of other stories on paper. I considered making most of them, but decided not to for various reasons, despite getting some solid feedback from collaborators. Bits of almost all of those project ideas made it into DT, with Gingi having traits from several other main characters I prototyped years and years ago. This includes where Gingi came from and what exactly Gingi is. I don't want to mislead people into thinking Gingi is more important than it is, like Gingi is the key to unlocking DT lore (I promise there's a LOT of aimless scuttling/devouring in Gingi's past and relatively little else!) BUT: Of everything from those old scrapped projects, Gingi is what I decided deserved to survive the most. And that has to count for something.

One day I'd love to make sequels to DT and perhaps explore some of the stuff I've described above, like why the hell the world of DT is the way it is or maybe where the hell Gingi spawned from. Thanks

[listentoace]

Hey, I wanted to address a couple of things.

I have been receiving several asks regarding some of my recent posts. I admit they are darker than the usual stuff. That was a decision I consciously made, because I do tend to have darker fantasies and wanted to see how they would be received. I consider most of the criticism I received to be valid points. Here are a few of them:

The whole idea of "ruining yourself"/"ruining your body" as you're gaining weight can be found fatphobic

Connecting feederism to habitual behavior, addiction, loss of control, and even brain damage can be found scary or even disturbing

Encouraging people to embrace health issues (both physical and mental) because of feederism can be found toxic

Constantly connecting feederism and weight gain with the negative side effects (sluggishness and laziness, health issues, societal judgement, etc.) can lead to the conclusion that feederism, obesity, indulgence, etc. are generally bad things

I won't try to defend myself. In fact, I completely agree with (most) criticism I received. The only kind of "criticism" I don't recognize are attacks toward me personally, but that's just reflected in a minority of the asks I receive. To all people who have sent me asks: it's great that you're sharing your opinion and thoughts, and I encourage you to keep doing so!

I think it is necessary to mention again that I don't mean anyone any harm. I am not fatphobic, and I do not mean to force any kinks upon anyone. This is just me writing and recording some horny ideas I occasionally have for those people who are into the same stuff. It is also very important to mention that in many cases, the fantasy of something can be very hot, while the reality of it could be very stressful and traumatizing. This is especially the case with more intense fantasies and kinks, e.g., being kidnapped and fattened. Everything I write takes place in "fantasy land". Nothing I post is meant as a threat, actual encouragement for dangerous behavior or self harm, or other harmful behavior. Pleae keep this in mind!

Getting back to the criticism: Yes, I like the dark stuff. I am very intrigued by the idea of feedees getting fatter for pleasure, despite all the negative consequences that can come with weight gain and obesity. I also enjoy calling people out for it, both with mild teasing and with very direct "you're damaging yourself" claims. I know that this is not everybody's cup of tea, which is why I already tag all posts with darker topics related to self-destruction, severe health issues, permanent damage and even death with "#death feederism" and "#death feedist". This is also mentioned in my pinned info post under "My Content", encouraging people to hide these tags who are not into certain content I post. However, it is quite clear that this isn't a great solution – otherwise I would not be receiving these asks.

I am very open to solving this issue together. After all, it always has been my personal ambition to write and record content for your enjoyment and pleasure. I want to make you – the readers and listeners – feel good and excited. I don't mean to scare or disturb you with my darker fantasies and kinks that don't appeal to you. Nonetheless, I do enjoy causing "holy shit, this is really bad, but it just feels so good!" pleasure and horniness.

In the past, I occasionally made use of trigger warnings at the top of my posts. If I recall correctly, I did hide the main content behind the "Keep reading" button. This was not consistent, but I am open to generally implementing this for all future posts that include sensitive subjects, such as death feederism, consensual non-consent, heavy conditioning and brain damage, or severe degradation and objectification.

However, before I do that, I first wanted to recognize the asks I received and open the conversation by addressing these issues. I encourage you to share your thoughts on this with me in the comments, asks, or my dms. Please let me know whether you think the combination of a trigger warning and a "Keep reading" button is sufficient and reasonable. I will still be tagging my posts accordingly, like I've done in the past, so filtering through hiding certain hashtags will remain an option either way.

I'm looking forward to your feedback and ideas, thank you for the criticism! :)

[cerastes]

What are some of the greatest/most impressive feats of strength in Arknights’s story?

Taking the overall narrative and worldbuilding into account, I believe the most effective aspect of Arknights' narrative is that they managed to make Terra feel like a breathing, living world and setting instead of a vehicle for the point-of-view character to exist in and act upon. This is specially remarkable for a mobile gacha game, as settings in these tend to be exactly that sort of vehicle instead of world that give any hints of existing when outside the player's immediately vision. The way I like to think about it is, "if a tree fell somewhere in this setting while my intended point-of-view or self-insert character isn't there to see it, did it make a sound?”. In Arknights, Girls' Frontline and SIGH Epic Seven (credit where it's due), the answer feels like a yes to me, whereas in every other game of this kind, it feels like a no, if you know what I mean.

This is intrinsically tied to the cast of characters: It is an inevitability that games where a guiding principle is to release an immense number of characters throughout its lifetime will have characters that will never have any relevance whatsoever besides existing as a minor piece in the world, and Arknights is not immune to this. Even other works of a different base nature and with a much smaller casts will be victims to this: In Trails of Cold Steel, for example, you have a pretty big cast of playable characters, some of which are very well developed and have a lot of screentime and development, and others who are Gaius Worzel. However, this leads to two aspects of Arknights as a narrative and as a game telling a story and fleshing out a world that I appreciate:

The first is that those characters that do get used, are for the overwhelming majority fun and interesting to see and accompany throughout their narrative, and rarely for me, I include the usual point-of-view character in this, Doctor. I tend to have a pretty big dislike, if not disdain, for characters you're meant to self-insert into, I sincerely cannot stand them. Doctor definitely has a big of a self-insert nature to them, but there's also a lot of the Doctor that is actually pre-established, such as them being a weirdo, tending to be very effective but also causing troublesome aftermaths that others then have to clean up, and being particularly good at bonding with assassins and underworld types, among other things. More importantly, Doctor is not present in most side-stories. This is fantastic and leads to the second aspect I appreciate.

This second aspect is that the cast has legs to stand on without needing the protagonist or POV character. You'd think this is a problem mostly limited to gacha games due to their usually flimsy narratives and structures, right? Except, this is actually a huge problem in pretty much every corner of narrative art! I can think of countless comics, manga, cartoons, anime, light novels, novels, and much more, eastern and western, that just tend to have worlds and casts that center entirely around the protagonist, for the protagonist. Whether it be a US author writing out their post-apocalyptic hoarder fantasy or a Japanese author detailing the trials and tribulations of a relatable nobody that a myriad of girls want to have sex with, and even some other pieces of art perhaps not so comically easy to make fun of, it's a consistent aspect of them that the protagonist is the center of the universe, both in terms of events and what the rest of cast thinks about, talks about, and takes action upon. Obviously, this results, in my opinion, in weak worlds and weak casts that have no legs to stand on. I appreciate that even without Doctor around, Arknights does a good job of having protagonists of their own little stories in the side stories: Olivia Silence is a joy to follow when she takes the lead in a Rhine Lab story, Kroos has been one of my favorite characters to be able to experience events through with the Sui stories, Skadi and the Abyssal Hunters are exciting to watch in Abyssal Hunter stories, and the latest event as of the writing of this post filled me inspiration, seeing Reed star in a character piece that tells us more about someone so immensely reticent to open up. It's by having interesting world events occurring throughout Terra that don't have the input of Doctor, and thus lets us see more and more of this huge cast of characters taking the lead that I think is a fascinating experience for me as a reader that keeps things fresh. It's even allowed me to come to appreciate characters I initially didn't care about, such as Bagpipe and Magallan, and see, in most games of this nature, if I don't care about a character frame one, it's probably going to stay that way because, well, if I didn't care about what their limited assortment of pre-cooked lines had to sell me on, then I'm likely not going to care about that character likely not showing me a new aspect of themselves impactful enough to change my mind in an event they'll likely just be an accessory to.

It's upon this base that I think Arknights stays interesting and fresh: A solid foundation that I can agree with and that keeps things dynamic and interesting. Specific events and story beats that I think are interesting are a natural result of these baseline aspects, but it all traces back to the cradle, to these baseline aspects that facilitate those cool narratives in the first place.

[koorinokujira]

Logs from the OC Database: Sunrise ( TF IDW1)

(Finally decided to make a little introduction post for my main Transformers OC, Sunrise. This will most likely get updated often as I keep reading the IDW comics and learn new information).

The lovely art below is made by the amazing @the-prince-of-vos, aka Akkalis! Thank you again for bringing him to life!

"No matter how far I travel from it, Earth will always be my first and only home. After all, home is where the spark is, eh?"

Bright, loud, cheerful, and so energetic that it causes concern; those are just a few ways that the Autobots have described one of their newest additions to the faction. This friendly, large mech is sure to steal your attention with his cheeky personality, unapologetic love for the things and people he's fond of, along with the desire to do good, no matter how impossible it gets. A skilled fighter with a fondness for learning new things, Sunrise is definitely someone you call when you need a helping hand, or just a friend to talk to.

Names, Nicknames, Designations...

"Sunrise is the name, and brightening up your day is my game!"

Sunrise was a name chosen by himself, shortly after his unceremonious crashlanding to Earth. While it was mostly the natural phenomenon itself along with the color of his frame that inspired the designation, it is also a reference to his late predecessor and doctor, Sunset, and the small sliver of hope he felt that he refused to lose. It holds great significance to him, and he is more than determined to live up to it.

In the past, he was referred to as Aeroflare, or simply "Patient Zero", as he was the first (and only) documented case of a condition simply referred to as an "Acute Partial Spark Disconnect". While he doesn't actively use either of these (the second one for very obvious reasons), some Cybertronians know him as such thanks to the aformentioned Sunset and his Conjunx, Cloudwave, who took care of the unresponsive Sunrise. The name "Aeroflare" was created so they'd have a better way of referring to him.

As for nicknames, those tend to be either shortened or slightly altered versions of his name (Sun, Sunny, etc.). However, some humans have also likened his appearance to that of a moth because of his headshape, finials and the way he folds his wings. Variations of nicknames that include the insect aren't too uncommon thanks to that.

Important Physical Attributes

"You know... I worry about the humans sometimes. I'm pretty good at moving around them, but... what if I step on one on accident?"

Discounting his finials, Sunrise is around 36 feet (10.97 meters) tall. While his exact weight is unknown, he seems to be on the heavier side, despite being a jet. His bulkier, sturdier build easily supports his weight. The main color of his frame is a warm orange, with red, black, and sometimes even yellow/gold as his secondary colors. His face is mainly a lighter, metallic grey, with the sides being a grey-ish white. His optics seem to have a color somewhere between yellow and orange, and are particularly bright in comparison to some other Cybertronians.

Sunrise's alternate mode is based on a Canadair CL-415 plane, which is designed for aerial firefighting. Of course, his altmode is quite a bit smaller than the regular plane (which has the length of rougly 65 ft/19.81 m and a wingspan of rougly 94 ft/28.65 m), so the length of his altmode is almost 36 feet with a wingspan of around 52 ft (15.84 m). So, not as big, but forest fires still cower before him!

As for his weaponry, he prefers to get up close and personal, which tends to mean a blade or two. He eventually gets an inset blade in his right arm. But his firepower is nothing to scoff at, either, as his most used weapons are two massive energy cannons. Those are separate from his body unless he is in his altmode, however. In that case, they tend to take up some space in the compartment where the plane stores water. More often than not, his servos are also an effective weapon because of his large size.

Sunrise's spark is of a bright orange color, which occasionally seems to fade into red or blue.

His holoform is that of a young, tall man with freckled skin and wavy, fiery red hair. His eyes have a very light brown, almost orange color. His physique is nothing short of impressive, and even appears to have some tattoos and scars. Sunglasses are an often used accesorry.

Oddities and Anomalies

"Me? Oh, c'mon! I'm just a regular guy. Or mech? Ah, doesn't matter. Just don't treat me like I'm something special or awesome. Others deserve that more than me."

While Sunrise seems like a fairly regular (albeit tall) mech, many of his fellow Autobots very quickly found out that he's anything but ordinary. After some time of debating, Ratchet eventually classified him as an outlier. Everyone, including Sunrise himself, is still struggling to make sense of how his abilities make sense and come together. Most of them seem to have to do something with the spark itself. These are anomalies that have been verified to happen at least once:

Extreme stamina: While he is not that much stronger than his comrades, everyone will tell you that he can do everything for much longer than anyone else. He does need to refuel more often, but his body seems to distribute it with almost concerning effectiveness. His recharges are short and rare. And as any medic in his vicinity quickly finds out, he doesn't seem to realize when he's tired, either, which tends to result in him collapsing every few days (and sometimes even longer than that) in the middle of whatever he's doing. It has been debated whether this is an actual outlier ability, or some strange side effect of the Acute Spark Disconnect, or the current lack thereof.

Spark-hearing: Sunrise's hearing is already extremely good (purely through meddling with his audials and processors), but this ability is something completely different. It is a type of hearing focused purely on sparks; as he himself puts it, every spark has its own unique rhythm that can tell you a few things about its owner, and he insists he can hear it even without the use of any external tools. This was already a bit strange, but it got all the stranger when he admitted that from Optimus' Prime he not only hears a beat, but a melody as well. A short experiment proved that even when he was deprived of regular hearing, he could still hear sparkbeats of others around him with incredible accuracy. He never really divulges what exactly the rhythm tells him, but he has been known to be more perceptive to the moods of others, and many internal ailments have also been discovered when he noticed that someone's spark beats "wrong".

Spark-meld: So far, there has (luckily) only been one instance of this happening. An occassion where Sunrise's spark completely melded with two others despite a ridiculous distance between them. This essentially allowed him to "be" those other two mechs, as he heard, saw and felt all they did, and he even had access to their memories. It was, of course, an overwhelming and traumatizing affair that he had zero control over, and whenever he speaks about it, he insists that he wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy.

Faction and Role

"Mhm, I'm a proud Autobot! Whatever that means..."

Sunrise is an Autobot, though he could have been counted as neutral for a few years. He takes loyalty to his allies incredibly seriously, but he doesn't mind extending a friendly hand to a Decepticon that wishes to redeem themselves. He's quite disconnected from the entire conflict, and has been known to abide by a certain moral and honor code (such as not killing an opponent who cannot fight back).

As for his role in the faction, he is somewhat of a universal helper. He doesn't mind doing menial tasks if it means everything runs smoothly, and often goes around asking others whether they need help with something. He's an avid learner, so he slowly becomes a jack of all trades over the years, with a bit more focus on medical support as Ratchet teaches him how to help others. He's also unanimously considered to be a morale booster, as he's a great listener and his positivity is infectious to most.

Personality

"Well 'course I'm all happy and smiley! I'm not named after the Sun for nothing!"

On the outside, Sunrise is a bright, happy-go-lucky mech that often acts before he thinks. Boisterous and sometimes even a bit mischievous, he unapologetically goes through life doing whatever makes him the happiest. He's a friendly chatterbox, and every room is full of him once he enters. While he is a tad annoying to some, most don't say anything, as he's too endearing to interrupt while he speaks. However, this also often has the effect of some thinking he's a mech of the... simpler variety, and that he's very naive, which he most certainly isn't.

However, this bright exterior hides many complexeties, many of which aren't exactly happy ones. He often feels disconnected from his fellow Cybertronians and the entirety of their conflicts, leaving him feeling left out and lonely. Thanks to his previous ailments, he has missed much, and so he struggles to keep up with his peers. He rarely shows it, but his self-esteem is quite low and he tends to put others miles above himself. His ability to express negative emotions is also not the greatest, which he usually resolves by walking out of the conflict and losing himself in one physical activity or another. As more and more fellow Autobots come to him with their troubles, he feels trapped and a need to constantly appear strong, until he finally reaches a breaking point.

Some traumas have left him with some underlying feelings of paranoia, and he often needs guidance because he feels lost. Anger issues have been a problem in the past, not so much now.

Interests

"Did you know-"

If you ask Sunrise about what he likes the most, he'll probably pretend he's thinking for a few seconds, before he excitedly yells out "Earth!" or "Humans"! If it's related to our dear blue planet, he'll adore it, or at least be interested. He finds humans to be extremely adorable, even after years of living among them, and will talk your audial (or ear, if you have those) off about this or that human culture, or express his admiration for their inventiveness.

But his interests don't just stop with humans, as he's really into learning about nature, particularly animals. Nature documentaries are his favorite genre of film, and Sir David Attenborough may as well be a saint to him. His favorite books are sappy romances and he mostly likes upbeat, energetic music genres. The only exception are chansons, which have a calming effect on him.

He's also always interested in learning more about the home planet he never really got to know, and talking with older Cybertronians about what they've seen.

Tinkering with whatever he gets his hands on is therapeutic to him. It only becomes concerning when he learns more of Cybertronian anatomy and tries to give himself strange upgrades...

Relationships

"Hi there! No need to be scared, I'm harmless, just really big! Wanna be friends?"

The jet makes a point to always start out friendly and respectful when meeting someone, and to not judge a book by its cover. He considers all Autobots to be his friends, and tries to give a chance even to some Decepticons when they seem harmless.

He has a talent for awakening something akin to paternal instincts in most older mechs, which often causes humorous misunderstandings and someone always being there to try to teach him about this and that. This effect was always particularly strong with Ironhide, Kup, and even Ratchet to some extent, as he feels responsible for his wellbeing.

Sunrise is quite close with Optimus Prime and Ratchet and trusts them with everything. Hot Rod and Jazz are always welcome company to him, and he later also becomes good friends with Drift, with an extended friendliness and respect to the other Wreckers.

His relationship with Ultra Magnus is cordial, though it can't be said they're the best of friends considering Sunrise's ignorance of most laws and tendency for harmless mischief.

The only Autobot Sunrise has a fairly bad relationship with is Prowl. At the start, the both genuinely despise each other, until Sunrise lets it go and is satisfied with driving Prowl up to wall with his antics and witty banter. No one really knows where they stand in their relationship currently, and everyone is too afraid to ask.

An important part of Sunrise's inner circle is also a very unlikely friend; a troubled Decepticon seeker named Dustbite, with whom he forms an unlikely friendship based on them both sparing each other's lives. With mutual respect and understanding, their bond eventually becomes so deep that they become each other's Amica Endurae.

As for who he cares more than just a friend... well, only time will tell.

Other Fun Facts

When it comes to the chansons, Sunrise's favorite singer is Jacques Brel.

He himself is a fairly talented singer, though he mostly just hums to himself.

Sunrise's Cybertronian somehow has a vaguely Canadian accent.

He speaks Hand very fluently and uses it to express himself when speaking is difficult.

Even though he seems very innocent, the mech swears like a sailor when he can, even making horrible amalgamation of human and Cybertronian swear words and insults.

He dislikes Primus, blaming him for his previous illness.

Later on, he becomes a good friend and "calming agent" to Fortress Maximus.

He uses his (usual) enhanced hearing to check malfunctions in all sorts of machinery, including cables running through walls. However, he still struggles to find an appropriate way to announce it. "I hear it in the walls" is not something he should say to alert someone of a fried cable, he's been told.

His optics can get blindingly bright when he's very happy. On the other hand, they grow dim when he's feeling under the weather.

His voice claim is Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds.

Story/Story Involvement

(Empty for now... but some short scenes and chapters from his life will hopefully come soon).

[arkus-rhapsode]

Sony wants to buy Kadokawa, what does this mean?

So this is a post I didn't think I'd ever have to make, but I guess I will because it concerns two things I'm invested in: anime and video games. And it concerns how we may potentially be seeing those industries get even more consolidated.

Yesterday on November 19th Reuters reported that Sony was in talks to acquire the massive Japanese media conglomerate Kadokawa. As of November 20th, we see that Sony has indeed sent a letter of intent for an acquisition.

Now look, I know we all tend to see Sony as a video game and technology company first and foremost, and I think that has led to a tendency for reports on this story to frame this story as "Sony wants to buy the parent company of FromSoft, what does this mean for Armor Core and Souls games going forward?" Now I don't necessarily blame gamers from focusing on the game aspect of this purchase, but its massively underselling that Sony is a multimedia entertainment company with plans outside of video games and Kadokawa's holding on other forms of media. For just a taste, here is just what Wikipedia lists as some of the subsidiaries of the Kadokawa Corporation.

As you can see, numerous light novel and manga magazine publishers, anime studios, and even news sites like Anime News Network fall under the umbrella of Kadokawa owned operations. And Sony themselves have been no slouches in the anime industry either. Having bought Aniplex, Funimation, Crunchyroll, RightStuff and more Sony has had a foothold on the distribution of anime outside Japan for quite a while. If this acquisition goes through there is no doubt that this will make their grip even tighter on the anime industry. Basically now controlling all the means of taking a work from the page to the screen to overseas to the merch to follow.

Obviously, I don't necessarily blame video game journalists and personalities for not going this deep into it, video games and anime fans may have overlap, but it's pretty clear there's a level of separation between the two in the same space. However, this focus on FromSoft honestly reminds me of the Microsoft-Bethesda purchase where most people talked about it like Microsoft only bought Bethesda. No, they bought Bethesda's parent company, Zenimax Media, which owns Bethesda and also numerous other studios like Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, Obsidian, Roundhouse Studios, and Alpha Dog Games. Note that all those studios except Obsidian saw a closer this year. When dealing with a massive merger/acquisition like this its important to keep in mind the full scope of it.

Kadokawa and its video game sector which includes FromSoft, Spike Chunsoft and recent acquisition of Acquire being purchased by Sony would be pretty rough. Particularly Spike who have made a reputation for themselves as one of the still AA studios that are into developing and publishing niche games like Ai The Somnium Files, Master Detective Raincode, and Mystery Dungeon. So having Sony, who have spent basically the last decade and a half moving towards huge blockbuster AAA games and who have just incurred a massive loss and shuttered a studio like Firewalk after one disastrous game, makes me fear for a lot of the safety of any new company being brought on.

And of course, there's the very real possibility that one acquired Sony will make many of these games these studios make exclusive to their Playstation platform. Or at the very least require a PSN account to access these titles on things like the PC. I know there's a lot of people who like to turn stories of Sony and Microsoft acquiring companies into pissing matches for whoever's team is "winning" by buying up more, but setting aside the console wars nonsense, the adverse effects of the major third party publishers on the industry would be bad for all platform users.

However, even more worrisome is what will happen on the print entertainment side of things. Kadokawa isn't a small time publisher of works. When it comes to their Light Novel prints they include series like Sword Art Online, Haruhi Suzumiya, Irregular at Magic High School, Classroom of the Elite, Re:Zero, No Game No Life, and even Slayers

There's also Enterbrain, a much smaller publisher known for its cult fanbase and publishing of niche series like Delicious in Dungeon!

Now, all of these series in Japan are typically protected by much stronger creators rights laws in Japan. With the series creators owning their work and not the publishers. But it doesn't change that now Sony will essentially have ownership of their publishing outlets and a seat at everyone of their production committees I regards to adaptations of their work. And then we get into how those products might leave Japan. Yen Press and Book Walker aren't small outlets, they are a big deal in making several of these series legally accessible to non-Japanese readers. Yen Press has even taken it upon themselves to bring over series from other magazines like Oshi no Ko, which Viz Media had failed to bring over for years.

And speaking of Oshi no Ko, this acquisition would mean Sony would now own the studio that makes it, Doga Kobo. Along with Cinema Citrus, the studio behind Made in Abyss, Rise of the Shield Hero, and as I was writing this, just was announced for Star Wars Visions Vol 3. Now lets add onto the fact Sony currently owns Crunchyroll which is one of the three main players in the North American anime streaming and distribution game along with Netflix and Hi-Dive. Sony could in theory now cut out the need to bid for airing certain anime overseas and instead just have a pipeline that leads directly from Kinema Citrus all the way to Crunchyroll's servers.

And speaking of Crunchyroll, we haven't even talked about how Sony has been acting in regards to this one streaming platform. Initially, Sony had acquired Funimation and infamously we had a neck and neck streaming war with Crunchy and Funi, but eventually Crunchyroll would be sold off to Sony where they proceeded to fold Funimation into Crunchyroll's brand. Erasing years of Funimation's own identity and most egregious of all, shuttering the Funimation website which deleted loads of digital content. Especially annoying when one of the perks of purchasing a Funimation Blu-Ray was offering a free digital copy that could be used on their website. So all those purchases? Gone. Hope you saved the physical media.

Crunchyroll themselves have also been no shortage of controversies lately, from the implementations of AI subtitles that are not only inaccurate, but also a pretty transparent attempt to eventually phase out subtitle writers. Then there's the allegations by actors as recently as a few weeks ago that Crunchyroll Studios has acted unprofessionally and illegally with their treatment of staff. But I think the most controversial of all was what happened to RightStuf. RIghtStuf was an anime merchandise outlet that would be shut down after purchase by Sony and then redirected users to go to the Crunchyroll merch store. If that doesn't sound like an attempt to monopolize a hobby, I don't what does.

I know this post has been very alarmist sounding, I legit was shaken when I heard the news, but there is some small silver lining to this dark cloud. Kadokawa hasn't made any decision either which way to go with this intention to acquire. They are capable of doing they're due diligence and seeing if this acquisition is opportune for them or not. Do I think they are going to reject it? I don't know. I'd prefer to not have this go through, but its out of my hands.

Once again, we must unfortunately watch more consolidation in the animanga and video game spaces. Which in the year 2024, we've seen full display of what has happened with the shrinking AA space of developers and publishers as they've been eaten up by guys like Tencent, Embracer Group, Microsoft, and Sony. We've had so many lay-offs and shut downs in this year alone its disheartening. Combine that with how this will effect how many people outside of Japan's accessibility to the pass time that they are passionate about and how this will inch us closer to only a few big players making all the choices for the anime industry is also disheartening.

There's a very tangible future where corporations like Sony own so much of our art and entertainment.

[untameddwildsunseen]

Introduction

Welcome to the untamed wilds traveler. Take a rest by the river and speak to this wolf all your worries.

Anyway, hello there! You all may call me The Fenrir, or Fenrir when not using formalities. I have many identities, but this one is where I will chronicle my journey with my alterhumanity. That, answer asks about our knowledge of the communities I inhabit, or just generally whatever alterhuman posts I am feeling like posting about.

I do not know everything as I am not a therian and I am not physically alterhuman (to my knowledge at least). So I cannot talk about experiences on those. I have only been awakened fully since this year. I presume I have been awakened longer, approximately 2-3 years, without knowledge of the terms. Though, topics I am open to talking about are what I am, which I will explain later in this post. I am also willing to talk about my own experiences and how my alterhumanity affects me and my day to day life. Though, I should warn that I will talk about the negative sides as well. Things such as negative shifts (as I experience them) and the negative sides to my alterhumanity. Though, I will combat those posts with positive ones.

Some more information, I am 21 years old and have several queer identities. The more important ones being that I am a (trans)demiboy, demiaroace, and polyam with 3 lovely partners.

Identities

In this portion I will be explaining my experiences with my identities. Is it a lot of labels? Perhaps. Though, I think it's generously also organizes each one. In each label I will explain what they are for anyone awakening or wanting to know about linktypes.

Otherkin

A basic understanding is that otherkin are those who involuntarily identify as something not of this world. Such examples include gods, aliens, elemental, dragons, vampires, zombies, et cetera.

Type(s):

Drago~ Specifically a chaos/space dragon. I get intense shifts, especially of the phantom and astral variety. I am naturally carnivorous and I have only experienced primarily good feelings during shifts.

Copingkin

To note: This is a term underneath the otherkin umbrella, as otherkin includes coping based identities. I prefer to separate these two terms due to how different my experiences with these terms effect my day to day life.

My understanding of copingkin in that one involuntarily identifies as a certain being as a means to cope. This could be for a variety of reasons. One can be a domestic breed of dog, another can be a character from Baulder's Gate 3, and maybe someone identifies as the nemean lion.

Type(s):

Fenrir~ Ah, what this blog is based on. Anyway, I intensely awakened as the fenrir this year due to what I perceived as severe betrayal where I reacted in a way similar to the Norse story "The Binding of Fenrir." I only Identify as the Norse myth version as it was the closest to my feelings and shifts. My shifts tend to be very negative. Perception shifts tend to be the most common and the hardest to come down from for me. It's not all bad though.

Fictionkin

Those identifying as fictionkin are those who involuntarily identify as a character from a piece of media. From books to shows/movies, to video games. Is it a fictional character one involuntarily identifies as? They could definitely be fictionkin.

Type(s):

Julian Devorak (The Arcana: A Mystic Romance)~ This is my oldest type surprisingly. His martyr personality and his fatal flaw of sacrificing himself and working himself into the ground is what made me connect and see me as him. Along with uncanny similarities between our lives. I don't shift often with him. It is more of a situation where if I see art of him, I just think 'Oh hey, that is me.'

Otherhearted

This is a touch different than a kintype as you involuntarily identify with something, rather than as that something. Can be anything, or multiple anythings. It's what you involuntarily identify with that matters.

Type(s):

Lucifer (Clado?)~ There is no real one depiction of Lucifer I do not identify with. Though the strongest ones tend to be closer to the biblical depiction and the Netflix show Lucifer. This is possibly because of my journey with religion (I am not Christian in any sense other than agnostic). I don't have a lot of shifts to my knowledge, but that's fine by me.

Otherlink/Copinglink

Note: I have combined them due to what I have now learned.

Otherlink and Copinglink are synonyms. Normally used interchangeably. These are terms when one links to, or voluntarily identifies as, something for any reason. I tend to associate copinglink with coping with something, but that isn't the case for all. Use these terms however you wish. Anything can be linked to for any reason, like if it is for the fun of it.

Type(s):

Anatolian Shepherd/Saint Bernard Mix (Copinglink)~ I aim to please and am used to wrangling others together. I linked specifically to a domestic mutt as a means to cope with my copingkin and the negative feelings it brings about at times. Seeing myself as a big, goofy, lovable dog makes me feel at ease. Especially with my eagerness to please. It is also due partially because of how I love, like a dog. Even if I'm hurt.

Telemachus (EPIC: The Musical/The Odyssey) (Otherlink)~ I took some time to read The Odyssey (still in the process of it as well) and have been listening to EPIC. Telemachus reminds me of myself when I was younger and had more of an optimistic and ambitious outlook on life. He is partially a copinglink as I envy he and his father's relationship. The way he looks up to his father was the same way I did with my own. I knew something was there, but it didn't fully connect as a hearttype or as a kintype. So, linktype it was.

Questioning/Considering

Considering (Linktypes): Odysseus (EPIC: The Musical/The Odyssey)~ I am currently doing research by finishing the book and waiting for the musical to finish, which will not be until the end of this year I would assume for the musical. This is because some of the things that happen to him in The Odyssey I have never experienced (besides fighting off monsters) personally. Though, there is a part of me that feels a connection there somewhere.

Questioning (Theriotypes/Kintypes/Hearttypes): None at the moment.

Boundaries

Now, onto important information on this blog. My boundaries are to be followed. I am not afraid to block if someone completely disregards them.

I do not want to deal with drama. If I am wrong, respectfully let me know by sending a message, by reblogging the reply, or by commenting. I am learning and some labels I do not know much about. I am constantly learning, and constantly pursuing my own self-education on certain topics.

I still bleed the same blood. Do not harass me under any circumstances. Respect me and I will respect you in return. I enjoy a good jest every now and again, but even every now and again I do find some things over the line. Do not joke at my, or others, expense for laughs.

Do not harm others who are on my blog without just reasons. I am one who believes in innocent until proven guilty. This is due to some issues in my own past. I do not enjoy drama either as stated before. So if something is going on with a certain user, respectfully let me know and I will fix what I need in the way I choose to do it.

When doing asks, keep away from NSFW topics. While I am above the age of consent, I do not want to go into that on this blog. Nor am I interested in sharing any accounts as such. What I do is private, and is not exactly appropriate for my blog.

If I say to quit it, I mean it. When I say "quit it" I mean to cut it out and act your age. As it may be seen in my boundaries, you must give respect to earn respect. We talk thing out if something happens. I will not argue if someone is acting like a toddler with their arguments. (For example: an Anti telling me to end it. I consider it childish, showing that you have the emotional comprehension for others on the same level as a young child who knows no better.)

If you interact with the ask box, please be kind. While I may seem to be able to handle those who are acting like pains, I can be surprisingly sensitive. Coming at me guns-a-blazing or keyboard warrior like, I get extremely anxious when reading them. I spiral quickly. I tend to understand if people are upset, but if I feel threatened, I will bite back with a block. No questions asked there.

DNI

This will be interesting. Lets see how many respect my do not interact list. I will block anyone who doesn't respect my interaction boundaries.

Harmful paraphilias. Those who claim to be MAPs or Zoos and other similar paraphilias. I find them disgusting. I do not care to know if you are in recovery. Stay off of my blog.

Anti-Alterhuman (and others like them). I believe this is reasonable since this is my alterhuman blog. I do not want to interact with you, and the same for you to me. Out of mutual dislike, simply do not interact with me and just block me. Simple as that than telling me how I identify.

Transmeds/TERFs/Transphobes. I believe me stating that I am trans and a demiboy is simple enough to understand why I do not want these interactions. Though for those who are wanting more, I find them ignorant. I have dealt with enough people disrespecting my gender identity to have a short fuse with them. Especially if they bring up Christian rhetoric to back themselves up.

Homophobes. I also group up people against polyamory here too. But because my sexuality and romantic orientation are more complicated then I have stated, I do not wish to interact with closed-minded individuals. I respect you, you respect me. Once again, Christian rhetoric against the LGBTQ+ community are not welcome. As for those against polyamory, it's okay if you have been hurt or it is not your style. It does not mean you have a right to telling me how to live my life. I will not tell you how to live your life. Give me the same respect.

Proshippers and the likes. I find them disgusting as well. While it may be fictional, it doesn't make it morally correct. I do not like what is there or the impact it has on the youth. The possibilities of normalizing unhealthy dynamics is extremely harmful. I lived through the box office openings of Twilight and its fanfiction movie (I will not give out the name). This ruined how my generation saw love (Not everyone, but looking back at what was coming out at the time).

Racists and other harmful ideologies. I think this is pretty self explanatory. While I am not POC myself, I have friends who are and I will always have their back. Sentient beings deserve respect as much as the next. Let us respect one another in this shared space we call the internet.

Hardcore Christians (extremists, cults, et cetera). Seem weird or a bit ironic being Luciferhearted. Though I have good reason for this in my "Do Not Interact". I have dealt with Christian rhetoric before, and I don't exactly appreciate being told something I don't exactly believe. I'm agnostic/pagan. Abrahamic religion need to give me proof of their beliefs. Though I do believe their figures and god have a place. Though, I actively choose to believe more in the pagan gods of old. Such as those of the Nordic and Hellenic pantheons.

Minors (Below 18 years old). With me being 21, I do not feel comfortable being in an area around minors. Even though the blog is safe for work, I would like users interacting being a minimum of 18 years of age.

(User boxes made by: @/kthecritter)

[lunar-wandering]

ALRIGHT. LETS GO. LIST OF CHARACTERS IN THAT RIDICULOUS MONSTER OF THE WEEK HERO AND VILLAINS STORY I GOT SO WE CAN GET SOME NAMES FOR EM

PLEASE send me names for these guys cause im dying just referring to them by titles

i didn't want to just go "villain 1, villain 2," so i assigned them colours

we'll start with the ones in the polyam relationship and then do the other characters

Our Hero!! think more magical girl themed than DC Comics. he/him pronouns, transformation item is a butterfly hairclip (and most attacks have a butterfly theme) (the butterfly specifically is a Red Lacewing). In civilian form his hair is purple and his eyes are blue, while in hero form his hair is blonde and his eyes are red. He is SO tired and stressed, but it's only visible in civilian form (aka he's got dark shadows under his eyes and his hair looks like it hasn't seen a brush in months). He goes to university, and works in a tea shop beside the university. Due to an incident early on in which a monster of the week caused him to temporarily be split into two people, since his brain couldn't handle the double perspective of information, he does have another personality- they're basically the same for the most part, but the other him only takes control when he's really stressed out (in the middle of a hard battle, or in the middle of a difficult exam). He's basically just slightly more serious overall. It's harder to surprise him and stuff like that.

Pink Villain!!! tbh he's the funnest one to me. he/him pronouns. when i say pink i mean PINK. symbol is a heart and the monsters he summons cause physical effects. he can drain energy, and give energy to people via kisses (does not need to be on the lips). (the more power he stores, the longer his hair gets). he's just a silly guy, he's having fun with this. the first one to figure out the hero's secret i.d. Actually he knows WAY more than he should. he's like, the secret keeper. he Knows Things. keeps a piece of the Hero's energy that he took early on stored in a locket.

Blue Villain! ???/??? Pronouns (any pronouns). symbol is a teardrop, and the monsters they summon cause psychological effects. nobody knows SHIT about them. not even what they look like, they wear one of those like- hats with a veil so their face and hair is completely covered. (well. i say no-one knows- Pink Villain actually does, but only cause he goaded them into kissing him once.) They don't tend to talk a lot either. In reality they're just shy- and also the only one to have a civilian form. They also attend the university the Hero goes to, albeit they look completely different.

TECHNICALLY she could also be called Pink Villain but for the sake of not confusing people, Yellow Villain!! she/her pronouns. her colour scheme is actually mainly pink but there's enough yellow in there for her to be called this. her symbol is a lightning bolt, and the monsters she summons affect nature itself. arguably the most powerful of the villains excluding the Big Bad. she has an electrified whip, btw. the coolest person here by far. she's the only one capable of one-upping Pink Villain. also the only one that goes into the tea shop to actually get tea and NOT chat with the hero (looking at you Pink Villain).

Okay!! That's the polyam gang!! now. other characters.

The Science Team- there's like, a bunch of people included here, but only two of them are really important. They're on the hero's side, they help him figure out the weaknesses of the monster of the week and all that, but they're also constantly trying to figure out who the hero is. He's close enough with two of them to consider them to be friends, and the team has narrowed down what university he's going to, but not who he is. Funnily enough, the two he's closest to actually started working at the same tea shop he does in order to like, get Info, but they don't suspect him in the slightest.

Purple-Blue Villain, a 16 year old girl who was brainwashed by the big bad at the very beginning of the series. She doesn't have a symbol, nor does she summon monsters. Her main job is to act as a spy on the science team- since she's the daughter of one of them.

The Big Bad, a ruler from another dimension who's big on the idea of having another dimension bend to his will. The Hero's butterfly hairclip actually was brought into this world by him, but he accidentally lost it during portal travel. He brought the other villains here with him as his "trusted generals".

Hero's Clone, he/they pronouns, initially created by the Big Bad just for, yknow, the typical "lets clone the hero" reasons. Was highly unstable and dripping black goo everywhere. After being stabilized, the only differences between him and the hero are that one of his eyes is pink, and the tips of his hair is pink. After stabilization, the hero has him stay with the villains, cause he doesn't trust the science team to NOT try to experiment on them, but he DOES trust the villains to be able to effectively hide them from their boss. sometimes gets involved with plans as the hero's body double to confuse people.

[becauseimanicequeen]

Why do you often write about contrasting colors? Do you think there's a reason the show creators use contrasting colors on the set and characters?

Hi, Anon.

I first want to point out that contrasting colors can mean different things.

I often write about complementary/contrasting colors, which are colors on the opposite side of each other on the color wheel. So, for example, yellow and purple, red and green, blue and orange.

If we just talk about contrasts, however, it can include what I wrote above, but it can also mean:

Contrasting value (dark vs light), where the combination of black/white is often used, but it can also be, for example, dark blue/light blue if the same color is used or yellow/dark green when different colors are used

Contrasting temperatures (cool vs warm), where, simply speaking, the warm side of the color wheel (all the colors from yellow to red-purple) is set against the cool side of the color wheel (all the colors from purple to yellow-green), and a common contrast here is ice/fire

Contrasting intensity (saturated vs muted), where, for example, an intense, saturated red might stand against a dull, muted red, or a saturated orange might stand against a muted blue if different colors are used

In other words, there are several ways to use contrasting colors in visual media.

I tend to focus on complementary/contrasting colors, contrasts in value, and sometimes contrasting temperatures (if that seems significant to the story).

If I were to make a guess, I would say that the complementary/contrasting colors and contrasts in value are the techniques used the most (and most intentionally) in visual media.

And, in terms of complementary/contrasting colors, I would say that the blue/orange combination is used most often, followed by the red/green combination, and lastly the yellow/purple combination.

Now, to get back to your questions.

There are definitely reasons why creators of QLs (and other visual media) use contrasts.

When complementary/contrasting colors are used together (when they're in the same frame in a show we watch) they pop and grab attention. Since we're talking about visual media, one of the goals of the creators of these shows is to keep the viewer's attention on the screen. Using complementary/contrasting colors is an effective way to do that.

(Using contrasting colors is definitely not the only way to grab and keep the viewer's attention, of course, but it is an effective technique.)

Contrasting colors can be used in set design, lighting, hair colors, clothes, color grading, etc. Color is used everywhere and it's (mostly) intentional.

Now, let's get a bit detailed with some examples.

Contrasts can make the most simple scenes visually pleasing and attention-grabbing. Like this scene from The Rebound:

There isn't much happening in this scene. One person is visible and three items stand out (the basketball more than the whistle and the cup). But the eyes are still engaged because of the contrasts that are at play:

Contrasting value (dark/light): The coach wears dark colors while the window behind him is bright.

Complementary/contrasting colors: He has a blue whistle around his neck and lines on his jacket, which contrasts against the orange ball and the area on the wall behind him.

Contrasting temperature: The warm orange against the cool blue.

Contrasting intensity: The saturated orange of the ball against the muted blue cup.

Another example of the blue/orange combo is this scene from To Be Continued:

The intensity of the orange Ji is wearing compared to the muted blue of the comforter pulls the eyes toward the orange and, in turn, to Ji and the puppy (who are both the focus of this scene as they were abandoned by Achi who decided to run away).

Contrasting colors can also be used in subtle ways that still say a lot about what's going on, like in this scene in I Told Sunset About You:

Here we have the red/green combination. The green coconuts with the red flowers stand between Oh and Bas to pull the eye toward what's happening between them.

Also, Oh is using a green pen while Bas is using a red pen, which is a small detail that makes the color-loving artist in me so happy. That's because Oh, who lives in a (mostly) green world, is drawn to the red. Here he's drawn to the red in Bas, but he's also drawn to Teh who lives in a (mostly) red world.

In other words, contrasting colors can be used to make a scene visually pleasing, pull attention toward the focus of the scene, say something about the characters and what's going on beneath the surface, etc.

When it comes to, in particular, characters and contrasting colors, the black/white, dark/light combination often connects to their overall mood/vibe when used to show contrast. In other words, the character connected with black/dark is usually moodier and more mysterious (often due to hiding some secret or other type of information), etc. While the character connected with white/light is often more open and peaceful, etc.

This can also be used to show that one character is the light in/lights up the other character's dark world. Like Bai Zong Yi (white) and Fan Ze Rui (black) in Kiseki: Dear to Me, and Lee Hyun (white) and Kim An (black) in Love Class Season 2:

When it comes to the complementary/contrasting colors on the color wheel and character pairs that are color-coded in this way, these characters often have contrasting aspects in terms of their personality as well.

To give some examples:

I've previously written about Yak and Dee's (Wandee Goodday) contrasting colors (yellow and purple) and personalities so I won't go too deep into that here. But, to give an example, Dee (purple) is mysterious while Yak (yellow) is more clear/direct.

For some reason, I could only find this example of the red/green combination right now, and that's Rak and Dino in Dinosaur Love. Dino (red) is dominant and a bit temperamental while Rak (green) takes his time (just like plants/nature) and is more even/balanced.

Nuea and Toh is Secret Crush on You display the blue/orange combination. Nuea (orange) is a bit impatient and dominant (which is the red coming out in the orange) while Toh (blue) has a calm (ish) demeanor and is more passive (since he's more focused on his secret crush remaining a secret than believing he can actually have a relationship with Nuea).

There are obviously many more examples, but these were the ones I could remember and find right now.

So, with all that said, I often react to/write about contrasting colors because I love them, because they're visually pleasing, and because they (often) say something more about what we see on the screen or what we hear the characters say. And I absolutely love it when they're used intentionally.

Thank you for your ask.

[vellaphoria]

As someone whose read Tim Drake comics can you answer a question for me? I've seen two troubling tags about Tim on AO3, Stalker!Tim and 'Tim's incel tendencies', and I was wondering are these purely fanon characteristics? I only read Tim's robin run through Identity Crisis before getting out of comics and into manga (I did read his Red Robin run as well later). And from what i read, I never got stalker or incel vibes from him. Like at all.

I read Tim following Dick to NY as showing off his detective skills and not stalking; He wasn't actively following Dick (or keeping track of where Dick was) before he decided to ask Dick to be Robin again.

And Tim stalking the bats on rooftops as a kid is purely fanon.

As for the incel thing... I can't think of anything from the comics I read that could explain this. He never pressured his girlfriends for sex (quite the opposite actually), and he never shown any signs of hating women as a whole.

Did they make changes to his character after Flashpoint that would explain the prevalence the stalker and incel tags for Tim?

Thanks for asking!

The short answer: of those two characterizations, I’d say that Tim being a stalker has sort of a basis in canon but is mostly down to interpretation, but Tim being an incel directly contradicts canon.

Please note that this is referring to post-crisis continuity because after flashpoint I stopped reading 😌

The long answer:

Part 1: Tim a stalker?

It’s a matter of perspective, but you’re absolutely right that most of that stems from events in and around A Lonely Place of Dying. What I mean by that is that Tim essentially got the job as Robin by proving to Dick that Bruce was going off the deep end after Jason’s death and subsequently impressing Dick and Alfred enough that they vouched for him as being Robin (though he still had to go through a bunch of training before he was allowed on the streets rip).

Things that qualify as stalker-ish that Tim’s done

Took pictures of Batman to prove that he was going off the deep end so that he could make his case to Dick (Batman #440)

Went to New York and Titans Tower to look for Dick, but didn’t find him. Ft. Creeping on the Titans (Batman #440)

Went to Kory’s apartment to ask her where Dick was, leading to her being fairly confused and kind of worried (Batman #440)

Broke into Dick’s apartment and went through his stuff/broke into his safe in order to steal the picture of him and Dick and the Circus (New Titans #60). Which is kinda creepy, not gonna lie

From there, it was following Dick to Haly’s, recognizing him when he’s dressed as a clown, Judo flipping him before Dick flips him right back, and helping him solve a crime/freaking him out enough that he brings him back to the Manor (New Titans #60)

He also has a somewhat later tendency of figuring out peoples’ secret identities (i.e. Huntress, Wildcat, others), but that kind of comes with the territory for Bat-adjacent people So, there’s an argument to be made that he has some stalker-ish tendencies, though they tend to be overblown by fandom (including me, because I think it’s fun lol)

Part 2: Is Tim an incel?

No.

Tim being an incel has no basis in canon. While an incel is a person who is involuntarily celibate, a direct reading of the text would mean that he’s voluntarily celibate; like you said, people have often pressured him for sex and he keeps saying no. It’s worth noting that a lot of this is pretty much Chuck Dixon’s ideas about sexuality and purity coming through a Tim-shaped mouthpiece. In his mind, Tim not having sex with his girlfriends made him a good person/hero, so Tim would therefore not express an interest in having sex with his girlfriends. This also had the side effect of making Tim read as having no interest in women, which many queer fans picked up on. (It's also worth noting that now that Tim is canonically queer, Chuck Dixon is throwing a fit about it because he’s a homophobic asshole).

Dixon is also pretty sexist, though arguably not much more so than most of the people writing comics in the 80’s and 90’s. As far as hating women, in some Chuck Dixon issues, Tim says some mysoginistic things on page, though I’d also chalk that one up to Dixon being insufferable.

Examples of Tim not having sex when it was directly offered and/or when others are trying to pressure him into it:

In Robin #40, Tim’s girlfriend Arianna Dzerchenko tries to pressure him into sleeping with her for a variety of reasons, none of which are relevant here:

So I suppose it’s most accurate to say that he’s waiting for marriage or something. (And also accurate to say that Dixon doesn't understand how doors work).

Their relationship doesn’t really go anywhere, and Tim goes on to date a variety of other people including Stephanie Brown (on and off throughout Robin), Zoanne Wilkins (late Robin), and Tamara Fox (Red Robin).

But, while we’re on the subject of people offering to have sex with Tim and him turning them down, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the time that he walked into his room in Titans Tower and Ravager was naked in his bed (Teen Titans 2003 #35). She clearly has excellent timing, since this is in the middle of Tim’s repeated (and failed) attempts to clone Kon after he died in Infinite Crisis:

Anyway he handcuffs her and puts a stop to that. Sort of.

(Dis)honorable mentions go to both Steph (Robin #37) and Darla Acquitsa (Robin #126) for non-consensually kissing Tim and not knowing how to take no for an answer. And an extra dishonorable mention to the Daughter of Archon who tries to rape Tim in Red Robin #25 before Cass fights her off.

It’s possible that there’s some basis for either of this in post-Flashpoint continuity? I’ll have to throw that one to the comments, though, since I haven’t read much of DC’s post-flashpoint stuff and tbh I don’t really intend to.

tl;dr: in post-crisis continuity, Tim could arguably be seen as a stalker for how he got Robin, but anyone arguing he’s an incel probably hasn’t read the source material. Like, at all.

[wishing-stones]

Have fun in Disney land!

Also! Imagine the gang and ren at disney land. They’re just out there having fun but also freaking out everyone and get kicked out in like, 2 days

Thank you! I had a ton of fun!

This is a fun one to think about, lol.

Killer causes trouble, but somehow never gets caught at it. He's really good at vanishing into crowds, so he tends to trip kids who are being obnoxious or shove adults into one another. The bigger the commotion, the shorter the line for whatever he wants to get on. Dust has his hood up and some sound-dampening earplugs stuffed into his acoustic meatus because he and crowds don't play well together. With something to cut the noise level, he's a little more agreeable. He helps Killer make quick escapes from scene-causing sometimes, but mostly sits back and watches the chaos. Almost better than the attractions. Axe is the one having the most fun, arguably. Everything is so bright and colorful and full of life! None of the cast members look at him oddly, either, and his condition is respected. He chooses to wear a hat while here, so he doesn't frighten someone without provocation, although he does get a little bit of malicious glee in thumping on the outside of Doom Buggies in the Haunted Mansion to get extra scares in. Cross is a little overwhelmed with crowds but generally sticks with Axe, who has the most fun here. Cross enjoys thrill rides, but most enjoy some of the more tame rides. Catch him unironically enjoying Small World. He likes Pirates of the Caribbean too. Baggs... might or might not skip the trip entirely. He might go some days and just hold down the fort others. He's not a huge people person, and the thought of so many crowds isn't very appealing... but if he gets in to see the technical side of how everything works, he's pretty fascinated. Also in the psychological aspect of how the entire park makes use of its assets and theming in different areas to immerse guests. Nightmare won't go within twenty miles of the place. The "Happiest Place on Earth" and the guardian of negativity don't play well together. It's a shame, really; he'd probably enjoy some sense of wonderment here. He's still an old curmudgeon who doesn't mix well with too much tech, and a lot of the things that go on at the park, especially visual effects and illusions, would fascinate him. ...Which means that Ren is in charge, more or less. They have to keep everyone in line. They threaten to put everyone on leash backpacks if they don't behave. But... it's also fun for them because they haven't had the chance to go. It's an expensive trip, but with the resources (and favors to hackers) put in for them by Nightmare, money isn't an obstacle. Nor are the tickets, reservations, or hotel stays.

With Ren around, they don't get kicked out. Killer might be if he ever gets caught, but... That won't happen.

Other fun activities with these idiots here include:

Killer, Axe, and Dust spinning a teacup as fast as they possibly can (which... is pretty damn fast.)

Everyone posing for a pic on Splash Mountain

...And the other rides that take pictures too

Getting stupidly competitive at rides that incorporate scores. No one ever beats Dust at them, but Baggs gets pretty close when he figures out the mechanics of the Astro Blasters and how to aim and never miss.

Lapping Indiana Jones until they get all the routes. Killer enjoys being in the driver's seat, even though the wheel doesn't move.

Feeding Jungle Cruise skippers more puns and jokes for later use.

Also lapping the Incredicoaster until someone gets sick

Making it a contest to see who has to squish back to the hotel room to change after any of the major water rides (especially Splash Mountain and Grizzly River Run)

Getting stupidly competitive on Radiator Springs Racers, even though there's no way to ensure your car wins

Doing laps on Star Tours for aforementioned route reasons

Absolutely killing it on Smuggler's Run. Everyone gets really good at a designated task, although their party is so big they have to be split into two groups.

And lots and lots of other fun little things. no one will admit to it, but they also all like the dark rides in Fantasyland.

Everyone was skeptical of the trip at first, but they all wind up enjoying it so much that it becomes a sort of annual thing. They'd wind up going to the other parks, too.

[chounaifu]

While most people are aware of of MISSINGNO. and the other assorted glitch Pokemon that exist in generation one's title games, there are also a variety of glitch moves. Glitch moves are known by these glitch monsters, and have various effects-- though, most of them either do minimal amounts of damage to opponents, softlock the game, or even crash the game entirely.

The "Super Glitch" attack, also known as TM TRAINER or the Exclamation Point effect, is a particularly destructive glitch move, because using it corrupts the game's RAM, resulting in major corruptions to the overworld, menu options and battle system.

You can cause all sorts of effects in different videos on YouTube, but, the one I tend to reference is from MissingNoXpert's 'Let's Glitch Pokémon Yellow' series, found here, which focuses on the battle effects. TheZZAZZGlitch goes in more depth and shows the technical side of how this RAM corruption works, which is found here.

Credit: MissingnoXpert

Now, when it comes to applying this to roleplay worldbuilding, I'm going to explain it as a sort of "broad corruption" move used by certain glitch anomalies. It's likely that this is the attack that was used against Proton and his squad when they were attacked during The Out-Of-Bounds Incident. "Super Glitch" is inconsistent in how it effects the overworld, your Pokémon, your items and your menu options-- but, it DOES consistently insta-kill any Pokémon that it targets, by "freezing it solid" and inflicting it with the the burn effect, knocking it out immediately.

This means that "Super Glitch" is collapsing the nervous system from the inside out, killing the target. It's like a potent blast of radiation toxicity.

Credit: TheZZAZZGlitch

Some of my other favorite "Super Glitch" corruptions include:

Reverting the first Pokémon in your party to level 1, changing all of their moves, and giving them infinite HP.

Loading your party up with hundreds of unseen Pokémon. Attempting to open your party menu, or healing your Pokémon at the Pokémon Center, results in softlocking the game due to the sheer amount of team entries that it's trying to load.

Random Pokémon in your team evolving into OTHER random Pokémon after a battle.

A constant poison status condition on one of your party members.

The overworld NPCs becoming glitchy monstrosities???

Eating the ENTIRE RAM by trying to load the ENTIRE GAME ALL AT ONCE onto your screen, and just collapsing the whole game entirely.

Fragmentation Syndrome explores the "duplication glitch" that occurs when battling MissingNo. in RBY, but it also explains the endless duplication effect and "system eating" nature of Super Glitch's corruptions. Random, unpredictable bullshit, and the person suffering from it never knows what sort of symptoms they're going to experience on a day to day basis, unless Fragmentation Syndrome is stabilized.

As you see though, "Super Glitch" cannot be stabilized, it eats the game's RAM. This is why saving the game while using this glitch is NOT RECOMMENDED. While it doesn't always have game breaking effects, abusing it two, three, four times in a row certainly does.

That being said, people afflicted with Fragmentation Syndrome should avoid interacting with glitch anomalies entirely, or else their condition is only going to get worse, and eat away at their system.

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Lore Post: The Deity of Love and Hope

Considering the story being updated the most right now, it seems ridiculous that I haven't shared anything about this Divine. The theme(s) of Passion and Plasmatic Plague, and all of its future sequels, have to do with this particular being. I have a story involving one of their Relics, and the sequel of Passion involves a curse derived from material beings interactions with this Divine.

So, let's get to know the Deity that rules the Ideal of Love and Hope below!

Ceris-Óengus is a dual aspect Deity of Love and Hope, changing forms and genders by all who behold them to the form most pleasing and attractive. The ruler of all sorts of love, not just the sexual or romantic, they are considered to play an important role matchmaking, holding together a family, or binding lasting friendships.

They are especially called upon after bleak circumstances, in recognition that love and your loved ones give you hope for tomorrow. Although Ceris-Óengus rules love of every type, most people pray for their matchmaking guidance. And because many ghost desire a mate, as do many in the Living World, Ceris-Óengus is considered moderately powerful, able to influence the hearts and minds of those in the Zone and out of it to fall in love.

Possessing many acolytes and temple attendants, but much fewer servants than most deities, Ceris' shrines are on the larger and more elaborate side, stuffed to the brim with offerings of gold, incense/perfume, flowers, sweets, and silks, anything that could potentially win the eye of a lover is placed upon altars in their temple. Their altars also see used to celebrate certain family occasions, like the birth of a child, and dates/festivals that celebrate members of the family.

The expense and rarity of many of the offerings to the Deity make their temples a potential target for robbery. As a result, their temples are the most well-guarded in the Zone. Despite the fact they will not punish a parishioner for a stolen offering, most believe their gifts will not remain effective if removed from the altar before it is formally acknowledged. (There is some truth to this for certain specific rituals.) Formal acknowledgement is completed by either the Deity, or one of their Incarnations directly—which is unusual—or by the Head Acolyte of a temple. One might imagine a simple solution is to deal with the offerings quickly, however, offerings come in daily, at a pace that far exceeds the ability of their temple workers to attend to them quickly, so strict security is used instead.

The lavishness of some of the gifts and the gifting culture surrounding the temples mean Ceris’ temples in Lenaindros and Kingdom Drazi are especially well-appointed. That being said, the Deity experiences the highest level of popularity in small villages and towns throughout the Local Zone. This is because, despite their opulence, many of the temple goers in more established areas marry or become involved for reasons outside of pure love. Political, and other arranged, marriage fall far more closely under the purview of Coitreb with the offerings in more established areas tending towards family obligation and festival days. Worship of the Deity is also more popular among Afterlifers than Neverborn in general, as a history of worship on Love God(desses), romantic ideals, and newer habits of love marriages have always been more present among the Living than in the Spiritual Realm.

Though Ceris has few Servants, and even fewer Incarnations, those that exist possess a number of unique signs. These include unusual or rare hair and eye colors for their species, an especially appealing voice, or an oddly charismatic appeal that convinces others to do their bidding. When the Deity does work among the living, though this is always indirect, they are credited with being the source of epic tales of love and devotion(both filial and romantic). These tales often take on a life of their own through the ages, but there is always a grain of truth…

[papercutsunset]

but i'll be honest: in the end, the character's feelings on how they are, in body and mind, have to come first. i don't care.

if we have to go about it this way, im speaking as someone who is, in all technicalities, disabled here; and you can leave your debate of that fact at the door when i say this; so it's not like im saying this for no reason. im also saying this the way i am because i tend to put the character and their journey above most else in my full-process writing, meaning that's my first priority.

realistically, they shouldn't be making it out of so many things unscathed. if she gets shot in the side three times, she should feel the lasting effects of that. we don't have to hook her up to machinery for weeks and send her to physical therapy if you don't want to, but does she feel it when she strains? does the once-fractured part of her skull and the injury to her brain have any sort of ramification? these are things that you did to her.

your characters are accumulating injuries. they are. and the story still needs to happen, so what do they do?

because, to be frank, and we have to be frank here, there are a lot of disabled people who don't treat themselves gently. they just full-out don't. they don't have the time; they don't have the money; they don't have the energy or the patience or the self esteem or the whatever. or maybe your character does treat themself with some grace when they fucking need to, right? maybe they do. because let's be honest: there are limitations to their life now.

i can admit that the reason i didn't want to write about tiff's (or denny's) anxiety in the beginning (which, outside of government purposes, isn't really counted as something disabling) was because the thought of writing something so vulnerable that could make someone else uncomfortable was terrifying to me. and you know what? sometimes you have to step out of your shell and write it anyway.

conversely, the reason i didn't want to write about migraines later on before i gave in (oddly, mid-migraine, though i didn't mean to be) was because i... well, aside from not wanting to mess up, knowing that my migraines aren't one-to-one with those that everyone else has (whose are, really), i didn't want to have to deal with thinking out every trigger and counting out the hours of postdrome and having the thought of readers looking at this character slurring her words and rambling more incoherently than usual and going, "why is this necessary? why include this? and if you're including this, why is she fighting ben on getting her pajama shorts on? why is she fighting ben and elton on taking a nap? why is she staying awake and trying to do things instead of taking a nap and trying to stop it from happening? this just feels really out of character."

listen, man. it's already happening. might as well dim the lights and try to be useful. might as well try to get through it. and sometimes you look back on it and you're like "... why did i eat a bowl of strawberry ice cream? i hate strawberries. i hate them so much." you are out of character. you're in pain; your brain is messed up; the sun wants you dead; and it's nothing if not true to life. leave it be.

so i think, honestly, you can and should think through your own biases, but thinking through the biases of the characters themselves is just as important. why don't they want to lay down when their blood pressure is tanking? why do they want to push through massive blood loss? why is their instinct to down a fistful of painkillers and slap on sunglasses and then go to literal hell instead of laying in a dark room like everyone says you should? and so on