#which no one does and this is more of a spectrum than one hard line but also

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

every time i see someone say “proshipper dni” they always mean. like. very specific ships from very specific fandoms theyre in. like they dislike certain ships that you can argue are morally objectionable from a certain perspective so they put it under the umbrella term of “proshipper” like im supposed to know wtf theyre talking about.

likewise every time i see someone say “antishipper dni” it’s always because they like very specific ships from very specific fandoms they’re in. and other ppl in the fandom don’t like the ships that they do so instead of saying what specific ships they don’t want to argue about they just say “no antishippers” like im supposed to know wtf that means.

like babygirl vaguing ppl like that is only if you dont want them to know youre talking about them. just say you like/dislike certain ships/types of ships and ppl who disagree with you can take the hint or get blocked it’s okay.

[luveline]

I read the Derek and Spencer fainting bit and now I want to complete it with Hotch :)))

If that’s alright of course…

thank you for your request ♡ fem!reader

Aaron knows you harbour more affection for him than anyone else on the team, which is a true compliment to him, as you adore Spencer. He can never tell if you're friendly or loving, if you want some or all or nothing, the line between you blurred. 

When Morgan and Garcia first began their flirtatious friendship, Aaron thought they were seeing each other on the sly for a whole fortnight. He's a profiler, but he doesn't know everything. 

He does, however, know that something is wrong with you today. Hand held up over your eyes, you squint out over the crime scene with a wrinkled nose. The lakeside smells as bad as it looks with gore blackening the surrounding grass. He's been telling you for months to get some shades. You've been ignoring his advice. 

Your disapproval of the smell is normal. Your unsure footing is not. You take his forearm when he offers it and step across the muddy bank to the body without audible complaint, though you give him a 'this fucking sucks' narrowing of the eyes when he gives you the time. 

"Agent Hotchner," a deputy greets, "Agent L/N. We found the second body here. Bystanders pulled the first out thinking she was still alive, but that was unfortunately not the case." 

You shift unprofessionally close to Aaron. He doesn't really care. The sheriff barely looks at you both, his attention on the corpse hidden between overgrown cattails. 

Aaron hates to admit that he gives you more of his attention than is helpful. You seem odd. Call it intuition, call it plain old profiling, Aaron reads the next minute of events in the smallest twitch of your finger.

You put your hand on his back and he doesn't think, he just grabs you. The sheriff deputy startles as you fold over Aaron's arm like a marionette with strings sliced, exhaling hard as your body does its best to hit the grass beneath your feet. 

"Agent L/N!" The deputy yelps. 

"I got her," Aaron says, easing you down to the ground. He keeps a hand behind your head to lay you down flat, the other quick to leap from your side to your cheek. You'll likely have bruises in the shape of his hands at your waist. "Y/N?" 

He rubs his thumb under your eye. Quick, he leans down with an ear to your lips and relaxes at the sound of your shallow breathing. He pulls away, resting a hand atop your chest. 

"Can you hear me?" he asks, conscious of and ignoring the copious pairs of eyes watching over you. 

You don't respond. Aaron goes into emergency mode, flagging down a cop who races for a paramedic, hands at your throat unbuttoning the first button on your blouse, the second in an overabundance of caution. 

"Y/N, if you can hear me, I need you to open your eyes. Can you do that?" His tone wavers somewhere between demanding and desperate. "Come on. Come on." 

Fainting is one thing. Fainting with no signs of dehydration and little sun exposure is another, especially considering you hadn't moved from one position to another. You've passed out with no obvious cause. Any number of things could be wrong. 

He doesn't slap you —it works in the movies and not often elsewhere. In fact, Aaron finds himself at the opposite end of the spectrum. Patient outwardly and insanely panicked on the inside, he holds your face in his hand and waits for someone to tell him you're alright. 

Your breath catches, your head lolling into his palm. He straightens it, weary of your airways. "Y/N? Tell me you can hear me." 

The whirlwind of your fall and the eternity of your recovery has him holding his breath. 

"I can hear you," you mumble, again attempting to turn your head. He lets you this time. He's so relieved, he'd let you do anything. 

He fights the urge to shout, Where's the medic? instead following your face, tilting his head to the side. "Open your eyes, honey," he murmurs, for your ears alone. 

Your lashes twitch against his pinky index finger. You frown as though you're in pain and finally rouse to attention. 

"What hurts?" he asks, brows furrowed.

"Nothing hurts…" Your frown worsens. "You look really unhappy." 

"I'm not ecstatic about this," he says. He gives in, shouting, "Where's the medic?"

"Oh, no, please," you say, trying to sit up, "that is so embarrassing."

Aaron pushes you flat to the grass beneath you. "Stop, you need to stay flat. You passed out. This is the solution–" He puts his hand flat over your chest as you put in some effort. "Hey, this is what you need to do. Listen to me, agent." 

"What happened to honey?" you ask quietly. 

"That's when you were doing what I wanted." 

You close your eyes in a faux strop. "I guess I'll have to do what you want more often, sir." 

"That's enough." He sounds fond. Why does he sound so fond? 

The deputy clears his throat. "Paramedics are here." 

You groan. Aaron hides a smile. Through everything, his hand has stayed on your cheek. He doesn't pull it away until he absolutely has to, and even then, he holds some part of you. Your elbow, your wrist. He has the sense to be sheepish about it when the paramedic ushers him back, but even then, he's thinking about when he'll get to touch you next; he needs the assurance that you're okay. 

He gets it a half hour later when you're sipping on a gatorade in the back of an SUV. 

"Do I still get paid for today?" you ask, smiling playfully. "Or is this a write off?" 

He wants to joke about it with you, but there's work to be done. He sends you back to the hotel with a frankly unprofessional hug and a demand to take it easy. He's sure you'll be back stepping on his heels by late afternoon. 

[luunamoona]

the way community handled queerness is honestly so peak. like, there're 3 main moments i can think of in the show where queerness was apparent and mentioned: advanced gay, queer studies and advanced waxing and britta's pitch in emotional concequences of broadcast television.

in advanced gay, the cornelius hawthorne is seen as a villian for having traits like being abusive towards his son, pierce, him being really racist and him being homophobic. this acknowledgement of homophobia being a bad thing is definitely good for the early 2010s, as many shows treated being queer as a joke back then. also cornelius being fucking murdered at the end of the episode solidifies the fact his actions were deemed immoral and he therefore had his comeuppance.

community only ever uses queerness as a punchline in the context of troy and abed's relationship, the punchline usually being "look at how romantic these 2 friends are how silly", which could be seen as homophobia as the same context with a man and a woman would be treated differently by the showrunners as it'd be turned into a romantic subplot.

the next example i have is from queer studies and advanced waxing. having the dean tell richie and carl that he "isn't openly anything and gay doesn't begin to cover it" is much more progressive than many other media at that time, and even now, as they'd usually have the queer character just be gay for convenience. this need for convenience is commented on in the episode with richie and carl basically coercing the dean into adopting a label that is inaccurate but convenient for his straight peers. back to my previous point, presenting queerness as being more complex and having more nuance than just gay and straight is something that is very useful to queer viewers as it presents an option beyond these 2 ends of the spectrum. unlike what other shows may do with this concept, community treats it seriously, showing the dean's inner conflict with presenting with an identity that isn't his, with lines like "i feel sick". (also side point, the line "i make gayness look like mormonism" goes so hard)

finally, there's britta's pitch in emotional concequences of broadcast television. in this, the dean protests britta's decision to make him transgender and not "all this other stuff". something i love about that scene is the ability to critique queer represention without insulting it. as a trans person, i've seen a good amount of transphobia is television. this isn't one of these times. being able to have trans identity be a part of the punchline without it being insulted is something that is apparently very hard for screenwriters of sitcoms to do, so i commend them for being able to do that. as well as this, this scene acts as a criticism of how basic queer representation in media is, how they like having one distinct, easy to understand label to give their token character, ignoring "all this other stuff". it's telling us that, like in queer studies and advanced waxing, queer idenity isn't black and white, it's a wide spectrum of identities that comes in many, many different colors.

all in all, community's representation of queerness and how it treats insults to queerness is something a lot of other shows should try to strive for. in my opinion, it has some of the most nuanced takes of queer identity and representation out of any sitcom that doesn't have queer people as a target audience. it feels very fitting, since the show is literally called community and it about a group of misfits who bond over their shared messed up-ness. this show is all about finding your people and accepting everyone, as pierce says in for a few paintballs more, "flaws and all". i think the showrunners had an impression this show would speak to a lot of queer people and i love that they were able to make us feel welcome just as greendale does to the study group.

[riding-the-sunset-bird]

Hello again~!

Last time, we talked about Cove's appearance and what choices influence it, but for this post, we're discussing Cove's warm/moderate/cold traits and what choices add to them. I'll be listing every single instance in Step 1 that affects whether Cove is warm or cold, along with how the game uses that information to figure out what Cove you get in Step 2.

As a bonus, I'll also be showing a few instances from Step 2 as examples/reference of the different types of Cove you can get.

First things first, Cove's appearance has nothing to do with his personality... technically. With or without the Cove Creator, a Cove can have any appearance while also being as warm/moderate/cold as you end up making him.

Now, I say technically because there are options in the game that will influence both his appearance and if he gets more warm/cold, but that's more along the lines of those choices happening to line up (I'll note them when we get there, of course) rather than a personality trait being intrinsically linked to his appearance.

Secondly, warm (affable), moderate (candid), and cold (quiet) are how Cove reacts to things. According to assorted posts from GB Patch themselves:

Warm Cove is more friendly and thoughtful, Cold Cove is more closed off and blunt, or Cove can be somewhere in-between the two. Warm Cove is more likely to make jokes or hold conversations, whereas Cold Cove is more straight to the point and quieter. They'll treat the MC in a similar way to everyone else unless they're particularly close or romantically involved, in which case Warm Cove is more willing to tease the MC/give them a friendly hard time while Cold Cove will more clearly side with/support the MC.

What Cove does to initiate things in his relationship with the MC isn't based on being warm or cold, but what the status of their relationship is and how long they've been in it. Warm Cove will just be more teasing/bold about it, unlike Cold Cove who will be more straightforward/longing. In addition, a Cold Cove will be clingier with the MC and prefers time with them without others (though there will naturally be exceptions).

Moderate Cove is as close to Step 1 Cove as he can be, not gaining any new traits in particular.

Whether Cove is warmer or colder won't largely impact his relationships with important people: only how he expresses his relationship to them.

The tutorial of the game also has its own descriptions of how a warm/moderate/cold Cove works:

A moderate Cove remains straightforward and candid with how he tends to interact with people. A Cove on the 'warm' side can be more polite and personable, might have longer conversations or add in some lighthearted teasing. He's affable. A Cove on the 'cold' side tends to say things more briefly, especially with those he isn't close with, be needier and more serious. He's quiet. It's possible to have him fall somewhere in between, rather than only being at one extreme end or the other. No matter what, Cove is an introvert who is sentimental and tends to get flustered when it comes to romance.

Thirdly, Cove has five states on his spectrum between warm and cold: Warm, Warm-Moderate, Moderate, Cold-Moderate, and Cold. He'll never say something on the warm side of things if he's cold and vice versa. For the most part, the game only cares if Cove is cold (any degree of cold), moderate (not cold nor warm), or warm (any degree of warm), with some variation if Cove is a little less cold (Cold-Moderate) or a little less warm (Warm-Moderate). These are shown on the Cove Creator but can also be done by the player under certain conditions.

The general "rules" of how to get a cold or warm Cove without using the Cove Creator vary. You can't act in only one way and hope to end up with the right Cove.

Again, according to GB Patch, to get a warm Cove you have call him out/scold him, tease or crack jokes with him, and include other people or talk about them when possible. Encourage Cove to do new things or things he might be hesitant about, to be more outgoing, and to be nicer overall. However, if your MC is on the shy side or won't stand up for themself, Cove could also become warm simply because he's being prompted to be more protective/outgoing because you won't defend yourself.

It's the opposite with a cold Cove, where you should be protective of him, affirm his mindset/agree with things he says, speak up for him so he doesn't have to, and try to keep other people out of your personal bubble with him as much as possible. At the same time, abandoning Cove or leaving him by himself can also make him cold in certain circumstances, and a quiet MC could lead to him also being quiet if he gets the feeling that he doesn't have to be loud himself.

Sorry for the ramble, just wanted to get out all possible information since it's far more complicated than changing what Cove looks like. Now, onto the actual internal mechanics that everyone was probably looking for.

How it works in the game's code is a point system. For simplicity's sake, we'll call them Cold/Warm Points and say that we're doing all of this in Step 1.

When you choose an option in the game related to these points, it will add a single (very rarely more) warm/cold point depending on which it was. If you're playing blind, going through more moments in order to pick more options increases your chances of getting a warm or cold Cove, whereas a moderate Cove is more likely if you're only zipping through the game while playing as few moments as possible.

The game will look at the final points you have at the end of a step to decide whether your Cove is warm, cold, or somewhere in the middle. If you have the same amount of both warm and cold points, the game will essentially flip a coin to choose between them rather than outright giving you a moderate Cove.

Having 12 or more points in either Cold or Warm locks you out of Moderate Cove. You'll end up with either a Warm-Moderate or Cold-Moderate Cove from having 12-19 Warm/Cold Points (again, whichever you have more of, or whatever the game decides on the coin flip if the points are even), then are guaranteed a fully Cold/Warm Cove once you have 20 or more points.

If you've ever been confused why you have a fully cold or fully warm Cove when you felt like you'd been doing an equal amount of either, that's why. You likely had 20+ points in either of them and the game threw away your points in the other trait. The game only focuses on which you have more of.

In terms of Moderate Cove, one way to consider it is that the moderate trait is not something to achieve. As stated before, moderate is the closest to Step 1 Cove, so it's the equivalent of doing nothing/keeping Cove as he is. You need less than 12 points in Cold as well as Warm in order to get a Cove exactly in the middle.

It's a balancing act. You still have wiggle room where you're free to choose options you know won't match up to the Cove you want so long as you're watching your points. If you want a fully cold Cove, you can choose as many warm options as you want so long as you make sure that you have more cold points in the end.

All the props to anyone who has the dedication to read all of these, by the way, because these are all the chances you have to make Cove warm/cold.

Step 1 - Prologue

The MC first meets Cove and is asked how they know his name (if you agreed to help Cliff):

"I met your dad." [warm +1]

"I'm all-knowing!" [cold +1]

"Lucky guess." [warm +1]

The MC first meets Cove if you chose to run away from Cliff:

"Who are you? I've never seen you." [warm +1]

"What's your name anyway?" [no change]

You waited for him to say something. [warm +1]

Cove asks if poppy hill is owned by the MC:

"Yep." [no change]

"You can't own a hill." [cold +1]

You shook your head. [warm +1]

Cove vents to the MC and says that he wants his real life and mom back:

"I'm sorry..." [warm +1]

"Your dad seems kinda nice." [warm +1]

"You'll like it here, you just have to get used to it." [cold +1]

"Stop crying." [cold +1]

Cove tells the MC not to call out to the parents because he doesn't want to go back to his house in Sunset Bird:

"You can handle it." [warm +1]

"You have to go." [warm +1]

"Don't worry so much." [warm +1]

"Sorry, I have to." [cold +1]

"It will be okay!" [cold +1]

Cove apologizes and says that he still doesn't want to go:

You called out yourself. [warm +1]

You waited silently with him. [warm +1]

You tried to convince him. [cold +1]

Cove points out one of MC's pictures and says he likes it:

"Me too." [cold +1]

"I drew that!" [warm +1]

"Thank you." [warm +1]

"I don't." [no change]

Cove brings down the MC's box of shells without their permission:

"Great." [warm +1]

"Okay, but be careful." [cold +1]

"You should've asked." [warm +1]

Cove takes one of the shells and says that he thinks it's the best:

"That's my favorite too!" [cold +1]

"I like a different one best. I can show it to you." [warm +1]

"You can take it." -> You insisted. [warm +1]

"You can take it." -> You let it go. [no change]

Cove tries to escape the house after hearing about Shiloh:

"Do you want to break your other arm?" [cold +1]

"Shiloh is the least scary person alive." [warm +1]

"Cheer up. Shiloh's gonna like you." [warm +1]

"Please don't get hurt!" [cold +1]

"I'll come with you." [no change]

"Good idea! Let's go." [no change]

Cove talks about how he doesn't want to see Shiloh because he doesn't know him:

You teased him. [warm +1]

You comforted him. [cold +1]

You encouraged him. [warm +1]

Cove being fearful at Lizzie's comment about the mean grandparents hating kids:

"Only some of them don't like kids." [warm +1]

"Stop saying stuff like that. You're gonna upset him." [cold +1]

"Yeah, they're really bad." [no change]

Shopping

Cove offers to buy the MC a keychain:

"Really? Really?" [warm +1]

"Are you sure...?" [warm +1]

"Hooray!" [cold +1]

"You don't have to." [cold +1]

"I don't want you to get it for me." [no change]

The casual comment MC makes to Cove while Cove is examining his new sand pail:

"Why is your dad always giving people money?" / "Your dad gives out money a lot, huh?" / "Does your dad always give out money like that...?" [warm +1]

"Thanks for the keychain!" / "I really like this keychain." / "Thanks for getting me it." [cold +1]

"Forget it." / "Never mind." / "Nothing..." [cold +1]

Cove's balloon pops and he starts to cry:

You made a joke. [cold +1 on Indifferent, warm +1 on Fond or Crush]

You offered to find Alexander. [warm +2]

"You offered to give Cove your balloon." [cold +2]

"You didn't say anything. He would be alright." [warm +1]

Grown Up

Lizzie asks the MC what they think of her idea of playing pretend:

"Cove said it. That doesn't sound fun." [cold +1]

"I bet we could come up with something else." [warm +1]

"I don't know..." [cold +1]

"I want to." [warm +1]

Lizzie continues to try and convince the MC if they're unsure about participating:

"I'll try it, but that sounds boring." [warm +1]

"Okay, okay, I'll stay." [cold +1]

"Sorry, I have other stuff to do." [warm +1]

You kept hesitating. [no change]

(the game will also add and extra cold +1 if you choose not to participate in playing pretend while on Fond or Crush with Cove)

Cove and Lizzie argue about mansions versus being on the beach:

You'd prefer a mansion. [no change]

Being on the beach was cooler. [no change]

You wanted to agree with Lizzie. [warm +1]

Cove was right. [cold +1]

You were tired of deciding between either of them. [warm +1]

Long Day

MC seeing Cove crying on the street:

Defended Cove. [cold +1]

Took a moment to make a joke. [no change on Indifferent but warm +1 on Fond or Crush]

Accused Lizzie of causing trouble. [warm +1]

Carefully asked about what happened. [warm +1]

Cove and Shiloh talk about their situation with their parents:

You joked about Shiloh's mom getting together with Cove's dad. [no change]

"Even if they're all different, our parents are good in their own ways." [no change]

You didn't say anything. [warm +1]

Sandcastle

MC makes a mansion sandcastle and Shiloh comments on the "house":

"It's not a big house. It's a mansion." [warm +1]

"I guess mansions are just really big houses..." [cold +1]

"Thanks!" [warm +1]

You just looked at him. [no change]

The MC is confused by Cove's story:

"...Okay." [cold +1]

"Why did you want to tell the story if nothing happened?" [warm +1]

"You really gotta get better at telling stories." [no change]

"That was a pretty bad story." [warm +1]

"Thanks for telling me." [cold +1]

Cove asks the MC why Shiloh got upset with him:

"You were being rude to him." [warm +1]

"He's just being a baby." [cold +1]

"You shouldn't make fun of him."

"I don't know. It's just Shiloh." [cold +1]

"He gets embarrassed." [warm +1]

You shrugged at Cove with no answer to give. [no change]

Fireflies

The MC gets the chance to ask Cove if he's joining them for fireflies:

"Cove, are you going to catch fireflies with us?" [warm +1]

"You could come outside with us, if you want to..." [warm +1]

You weren't sure what to say now. [no change]

The MC notices that Cove is lagging behind the group:

"Are you not gonna come?" [cold +1]

You tugged him along. [cold +1 on Indifferent but warm +1 on Fond or Crush]

You walked with him. [cold +1]

You waved at him to hurry. [warm +1]

You ran off. [no change]

A firefly lands on Cove's head:

Shiloh couldn't help but giggle. [no change]

You and Shiloh couldn't help but giggle. [warm +1]

You quietly looked on. [no change]

You shooed the bug away. [cold +1]

The MC catches a firefly and watches Cove fail at one:

You encouraged him to try again. [warm +1]

You told him about the firefly you had. [cold +1]

You made a joke about what happened. [no change]

You did your own things. [no change]

Cove accidentally scares the MC's firefly away:

You scolded him. [warm +1]

You forgave him. [cold +1]

You teared up. [warm +1]

The MC watches Cove fail another firefly (if they chose to sit out further firefly hunting):

You cheered him on. [warm +1]

You scared him. [cold +1]

You waited to see what happened. [no change]

Library

The MC is given the choice of whether to go with Cove or Lizzie:

"Cove's idea is more fun." [cold +1]

"I'll stick with Lizzie." [warm +1]

"I'd rather go exploring." [no change]

"The quiz sounds better." [no change]

Go over to Cove. [cold +1]

Stay next to Lizzie. [warm +1]

(the game will also add an extra cold +1 if you choose to go with Cove and an extra warm +1 if you choose to go with Lizzie)

Ghost

The MC notices a sleepy Cove the morning after choosing not to go outside:

"Cove?" [cold +1]

You made an awkward noise to try getting his attention. [warm +1]

You poked him. [warm +1]

You shook him. [warm +1]

Cove admits that he went outside the night before when the MC didn't:

"Really?! That was brave." [warm +1]

"You did? That sounds like it was a risky idea." [cold +1]

"What did you find?" [no change]

The MC chooses to go outside after hearing the scary noise:

"Did you hear a weird noise?" [warm +1]

"You should be in bed." [warm +1]

"Because what?" [cold +1]

"I'm glad you're here." [no change]

Cove asks if the noise scared the MC:

"Yeah..." [warm +1]

"No." [cold +1]

"A little." [no change]

The MC speculates on what the sound could be from:

"It could be anything." [no change]

"It had to be a ghost!" [cold +1]

"There's gotta be a regular reason for it." [warm +1]

The MC and Cove hear the noise again:

"You stayed frozen to the spot." [no change]

"You took a deep breath to calm yourself." [warm +1]

"You ran to hide behind Cove." [no change]

"You comforted him." [cold +1]

"You offered him your hand." [no change]

"We don't need to be scared." [warm +1]

You focused ahead. [warm +1]

Cove offers his hand to the MC if she gave specific responses:

"You accepted his hand." [cold +1]

"You didn't take his hand." [no change]

"You gripped his arm instead." [warm +1]

Cove complains at the park about his dad's garlic flakes in a jar:

"Flakes might be easier to use." [warm +1]

"It's still real garlic, just already chopped up." [warm +1]

"That can't taste as good." [cold +1]

"We won't need it anyway." [cold +1]

Cove tells a story at the beach about fake teeth he found that his mom took:

"Too bad. Think of the prank opportunities!" [warm +1]

"The right thing to do." [warm +1]

"Gross." [cold +1]

"Way stranger than the stuff I've seen." [warm +1]

"Still not as strange as things I've found." [cold +1]

The MC speculates on the type of story she and Cove would be in while they're at the park:

"It's a horror story." -> "You stopped." [cold +1]

"It's a horror story." -> "You kept the tale going." [warm +1]

"It's an action story." [warm +1] {note that this will put on Step 2 Cove's left pink beaded bracelet}

"It's a fantasy story." [warm +1] {note that this will put on Step 2 Cove's left pink beaded bracelet}

"It's a documentary." [cold +1]

Cove complains about his dad never being happy with him:

"You sympathized." [cold +1]

"You encouraged Cove to see it more positively." [warm +1]

"You stayed out of it." [cold +1]

"You didn't know how to react to that." [warm +1]

Barbecue

Cove tells the MC about his fish and talks about needing an extra thermometer (if the MC stayed with the parents instead of chasing the kids):

"I'll find one." [warm +1]

"I know all about that. I'll find one." [cold +1]

"I'll ask my moms. Can I help you test it?" [warm +1]

"I'll ask my moms." [warm +1]

"It'll be fine. You don't have to do that much checking." [cold +1]

"I don't think so." [no change]

The MC, Lizzie, and Cove get sprayed with water by a kid at the park:

"Don't spray people!" [warm +1]

You laughed. [warm +1]

"Watch out! He has a cast!" [cold +1]

You pushed her away. [cold +1]

The MC decides to hang back and watch as the kids chase after the water sprayer:

"Go, go!" [warm +1]

You clapped. [no change]

You watched quietly. [no change]

Lizzie and Cove argue over whose choices of ingredients are better/wrong:

"There isn't a wrong choice." [warm +1]

"We all made good choices." [warm +1]

"Same to you, Lizzie." [cold +1]

You sighed. [no change]

Noelani (Mommy) asks Pamela (Mom), Cove, and the MC if they want to get drinks:

You nodded. [cold +1]

"Okay, I'll get all the stuff we need." [cold +1]

"No. I want to help pick the spot!" [warm +1]

"I don't wanna get drinks..." [warm +1]

You considered your options. [warm +1]

Runaway

Cove being surprised that the MC wants to go with him and asks if they don't think it's a bad idea:

"Nope. It's like we're going on an adventure." [cold +1]

"It's not a big deal, right? We're gonna have fun." [warm +1]

"I don't know. But if you're doing it anyway, I should too." [cold +1]

"It might be a bad idea, but..." [warm +1]

Cove gets upset and storms away after the MC tells him that they'll tell their moms what he's doing:

"Come back!" [warm +1]

"You're so stupid!" [warm +1]

"I'm sorry!" [cold +1]

"Please don't go!" [cold +1]

You were frozen from shock. [no change]

The MC goes to look for Cove after being told that he's run away:

"There you are!" [cold +1]

"Are you crazy?!" [warm +1]

"I'm so happy you're here!" [cold +1]

"I've been looking everywhere for you!" [warm +1]

"I knew you'd be here." [cold +1]

You were just as stunned, and it left you silent. [warm +1]

The MC talks to Cove after finding him:

"What are you gonna do now?" [warm +1]

"Are you okay?" [cold +1]

"We should head back now." [warm +1]

The MC tries to convince Cove to go back after finding him and he refuses to go:

"Why not?!" [cold +1]

"How come?" [warm +1]

"Why? Why can't we just go?" [no change]

"You're stupid!" [warm +1]

"I don't understand why you can't go back." [cold +1]

Cove explains to the MC that he's trying to go to his mother's house:

"How are you gonna get to your mom's place?" [warm +1]

"That's such a bad idea!" [warm +1]

This was all just too much, and you started to cry. -> "No. I want to go home." [warm +1]

This was all just too much, and you started to cry. -> "No. I don't feel good." [cold +1]

This was all just too much, and you started to cry. -> "No. I don't want you to go." [cold +1]

This was all just too much, and you started to cry. -> "No. You shouldn't do stuff like this." [warm +1]

This was all just too much, and you started to cry. -> You simply shook your head "no". [warm +1]

"Do you know the directions to your old house?" [cold +1]

"You're being selfish." -> "I was only trying to help." [cold +1]

"You're being selfish." -> "I came 'cause you're my friend and I like you. Don't you like and care about me, too?" [no change]

"You're being selfish." -> "You're horrible." [no change]

"You're being selfish." -> "It isn't just me. You're making everyone upset for yourself." [warm +1]

"You're being selfish." -> You couldn't even reply to him after that. [no change]

Cove denies the MC's claim that his mother won't forget him:

"Everything will be okay if we just go home." [warm +1]

"We can't stay here forever, and we can't go out there. We've gotta go back." [cold +1]

"Then we'll stay out here. I'm not gonna go back." [no change]

Cove non-seriously says that he wants to run away again so he doesn't have to see the people who were worried about him:

"Hey, maybe I should try that." [no change]

"That isn't gonna help." [no change]

"They'll forgive you." [warm +1]

"Please never run away again." [cold +1]

Cove apologizes for fighting with the MC over his running away:

"And you won't do it again?" [warm +1]

"I'm sorry, too." [no change]

You took in his apology wordlessly. [cold +1]

Sleepover

Lizzie brags about "winning" the race with the MC:

"You didn't win, 'cause you were racing by yourself." [cold +1]

"Because you cheated." [warm +1]

"Okay, you won." [no change]

You didn't bother trying to talk to her about that. [warm +1]

Cove debates on where to sit at the table:

"Sit next to me." [warm +1]

"You can sit anywhere you want to." [warm +1]

You stayed quiet. [no change]

Cove is torn about eating the food the MC's moms are serving:

You let your moms handle this. [warm +1]

"I think you would like the pineapple chicken. It's yummy." [warm +1]

"Give me your plate." [cold +1]

"You should try something new." [warm +1]

Cove sighs in his sleeping bag, distressed:

"What's wrong?" [cold +1]

"What was that?" [warm +1]

"Could you be less loud?" [no change]

"Could you be quieter, please?" [no change]

"Stop that." [no change]

MC talks about the storybook that Cove picked up:

"I love the main character 'cause the squire's really brave and funny." [warm +1] {note that this will give Step 2 Cove the white and bright pink jacket}

"It has cool pictures. Some of them even take up the whole page." [cold +1] {note that this will give Step 2 Cove the gray and black jacket}

"Mommy reads it to me. She uses different voices for every character." [warm +1] {note that this will give Step 2 Cove the white and bright pink jacket}

"There's a dragon in it and crazy things happen." [cold +1] {note that this will give Step 2 Cove the gray and black jacket}

Step 1 - Ending

(warm +1 if the MC chooses to go home instead of staying with Cove)

The MC watches Cove skip a rock across the water:

"You can't skip rocks in the ocean." [warm +1]

"What are you doing?" [no change]

You looked for your own rock. [cold +1]

Cove sulks about the cast on his arm:

"When do you get it off?" [cold +1]

"How'd you get it?" [warm +1]

Cove says that he still wants to go home:

"Do you hate it here?" [no change] {note that this will give Step 2 Cove the middle-parted hair}

"This can be your home." [warm +1] {note that this will give Step 2 Cove the fluffy hair}

"It'll be alright." [cold +1]

Cove asks the MC if they're not going to leave:

"Of course." [warm +1]

"I don't know." [no change]

Cove says that he can't see himself feeling better:

You held his hand. [cold +1 and warm +1]

"I can." [warm +1]

"I'll make sure you do." [cold +1]

​

And that's everything in Step 1!

Now, as promised, I'll also give some examples from Step 2 to showcase the different reactions of different Coves depending on the situation (most are obviously on Fond/Crush).

​

Step 2 - Intro (Cove's first appearance where he presents the fruit bouquet)

Moderate Cove

Cove: "This thing was definitely dad's idea. I would've gone for something else. But, if you can't eat it all, I wouldn't mind taking a couple skewers." He smiled, looking amusedly at the gift then back to you. You called that one.

Warm/Warm-Moderate Cove

Cove: "I hope you and your family like this. It's a pretty good gift. I think so, anyway." He smiled earnestly. Cove: "Dad spent a lot of time picking out the best size and design. There were so many options to choose from."

Cold/Cold-Moderate Cove

Cove: "Well. That's everything..." Though he said that, he made no move to go. You could tell he was reluctant to.

​

Wave (after Cove accidentally splashes the MC)

Cold Cove/Cold-Moderate Cove

Cove: "Did that hit you? Sorry." You could tell he really did feel bad that you had gotten caught in the crossfire.

Warm/Warm-Moderate Cove

Cove: "Sorry!" The apology did not come across as especially repentant, as he was practically laughing when he said it.

Moderate Cove

Cove: "Huh? Oh. Sorry." The apology did not come across as especially repentant, as he was smiling the entire time he said it.

​

Family (if the MC chooses to speak to Cove about their adoption story and Cove hugs/touches the MC's shoulder, giving them his sympathy)

MC: You don't have to do this.

Cold/Cold-Moderate Cove

Cove: "Yes I do."

Warm/Warm-Moderate Cove

Cove: "I want to."

Moderate Cove

Cove: "Nobody is making me."

​

Dinner (when Cove walks into his living room and sees the MC talking with his parents)

Warm/Warm-Moderate Cove

Cove: "You made it! Thanks for coming." Cove's voice was unnaturally loud, as if he thought you wouldn't be able to hear him from where you were, only a few feet away.

Cold/Cold-Moderate Cove

Cove: "Hey. Thanks for being here." There was nothing unusual about the words in his greeting. But you could tell something was wrong from the way he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there.

Moderate Cove

Cove: "...Hi. Thanks. For, uh, coming here." Cove's greeting was unusually stiff. You also noticed that he had yet to say anything to his parents.

​

Road Trip (during the walk through the Redwood National Park)

Elizabeth: "I can't believe our families are actually on vacation together." She threw her arms out, speaking with a genuine sense of bewilderment. Elizabeth: "I would've joked about something like this happening, but now I'm not sure I wanna give them any more ideas."

Warm Cove

Cove smiled at her, even if it was a little awkwardly, and continued walking along.

Cold/Cold-Moderate Cove

Cove ignored her completely and continued walking along.

Warm-Moderate Cove/Moderate Cove

Cove spared her a look but said nothing, and instead continued walking along.

​

Mall (when the MC asks for a sip of Cove's smoothie; Fond only)

Cove smiled softly, and finally, he offered the cup to you. You held the cup in both hands and took a sip. MC: "Thanks."

Warm/Warm-Moderate Cove

Cove: "You're welcome. It was kind of a sacrifice, you know. This is really good." Taking his drink back, Cove's smile seemed to grow bigger. His teasing tone made you grin. MC: "It is."

Moderate Cove

Cove: "This is really good, but I could give some up for you." Cove's smile seemed to grow as he took his drink back. He wasted no time and started drinking it again.

Cold/Cold-Moderate Cove

Cove: "I can't say no to you." He took his cup back still with a tiny smile and got back to drinking it again.

​

Birthday (as the gummy bear toss is starting and people are pairing up)

Cold/Cold-Moderate Cove

He just stared at you expectantly and you knew what he was getting at.

Warm/Warm-Moderate Cove

Cove: "Could we be partners?"

Moderate Cove

Cove: "We're gonna be partners, right?"

​

Summerwork (when Derek is struggling to reach a book that's too high for him to reach)

Warm/Warm-Moderate Cove

Cove: "Do you need help with that?"

Moderate Cove/Cold-Moderate Cove

Cove: "There are step stools. I saw one a few rows over."

Cold Cove

(Cove does nothing at all)

​

Escapade (if the MC refuses Cove's offer to dry off inside his house, not wanting to trouble him)

Cold/Cold-Moderate Cove

Cove: "I want to stay with you."

Warm/Warm-Moderate Cove/Moderate Cove

Cove: "I really don't wanna just leave you out here."

​

Step 2 - Ending (when the MC has the option to hug Cove good-bye)

Warm/Warm-Moderate Cove

Cove hugged you back tightly and his chest rumbled as he laughed.

Cold/Cold-Moderate Cove

Cove took a second to return the hug, surprised. He leaned into you and held on. Then he hovered nearby with a small smile on his face when it ended.

Moderate Cove

Cove hugged you back and broke the hug after a few seconds. He nodded at you and grinned.

​

Ideally, that should be enough to give a rough idea of how each Cove reacts to things if anyone needs it!

I hope this helps everyone understand the code a bit more, or just generally helps out people who maybe want to get a certain Cove without "cheating" via the Cove Creator. This was quite the endeavor to gather all this code because of what I said earlier about it being longer and more complicated than just changing Cove's appearance.

May all your future Coves be exactly as warm, moderate, or cold as you want~

[thekingofwinterblog]

You know what the most annoying thing about the Twists regarding the Elves in Inquisition was?

That all the twists, if taken on their own, would make for a really good story.

The reveals about Solas backstory and how him and his fellow God Kings rose, became decadent, warred with each other and fell, setting the stage for their transformation into the Old Gods is frankly speaking, some of the best lore that Dragon Age ever had, and lines up really well with how the world is structured while explaining how the Old Gods came to be, how the elves fell, and so on.

That the tevinter imperium when it conquered the nation of Arlathan was not the great imperial state lead by mighty mages their descendants liked to think they were, but instead a bunch of weaklings that needed years and years to take on one, measly city-state that had utterly obliterated itself in civil war.

There is so much great stuff here.

So where did it all go wrong?

The answer, is of course execution.

Inquisition overall is a great game... But man did it drop the ball so hard with the Elves that it's pretty much hard to believe that they will be able to tell a nuanced story about them in Dread Wolf.

Everything from the companions, to the world itself as the game presents , to retcons regarding mages that's there, not to tell a story about the elves, but to try and make the Templar vs mage conflict grey.

Starting with the companions, we have a great example of coming so, so close to greatness... and then falling right on it's face.

The game has two Elf companions, solas and Sera... and the contrast between them really illustrates the big picture with how incapable Inquisition is with trying to tell a nuanced picture with the elves.

Solas as a character is perfect. Love him or hate him, he is a fully fleshed out character with very clear, defined, understandable motives that makes sense to him.

And most importantly of all, his way of viewing the world is WRONG. The game acknowledges that he is wrong.

The entire story of where dragon age 4 is heading, is all about how the Dread wolf, for all his knowledge and intelligence and genuine virtues, is at the end of the day, a monster, who is willing to see the world burn to restore the Elves magic and immortality.

He is a racist, he is bigoted, and ultimately misguided. Despite all his development with the inquisitor, he does not manage to grow enough as a person that he manages to abandon his genocidal goals. And the game does not pretend othervise.

That is what makes the story of Solas rise to become the big villain of the sequel great.

There is no disconnect between the story, the characters, or the way the game wants us to view solas.

Solas is far, far more bigoted and close-minded than any of the dalish he so despises, and the game ultimately does not pretend othervise.

Which brings us to the opposite end of the elf spectrum with Sera.

Sera is a very disliked character by a lot of people, but by dalish and elf players/fans more than most.

Just like Solas, she is bigoted, racist, and ultimately misguided in her hatred of her fellow elves, whether they be city elves, or Dalish, or ancient elves.

And that frankly, would not be a problem if the game acknowledged that fact. If her character arc was about it, and either how she could not overcome her own issues, or actually managed to grow beyond them, she could have been a great character.

The problem is the fact that the game is not willing to handle this fact head on. Its not willing to come out and portray Sera as just as bigoted against her own kind as Solas is, and to treat this as a flaw.

Instead the game treats her as if her biggest flaw is that she's annoying, and not the fact that in a game that is in many ways about setting up the rise of the dread wolf, she is just as bad as Solas, just from a different origin point.

Sera should have been a mirror to Solas, both from a story point, as well as a thematic one, but unfortunately she is not.

Hell, she doesn't really overcome her racism either. The closest she comes to doing so, is basically burning out on hating the dalish and other elves in trespasser, not admitting she was actually wrong to hate them so much in the first place.

The game does not treat Sera's disdain for other elves and their culture as a problem, and it does not give a dalish inquisitor the option to tell her to go fuck herself on the topic that you are given with Solas if you really desire to do so.

You are given the option of kicking her out of the inquisition, but not actually stand up for the dalish or even city elves the way the player could against Morrigan's flemeth raised cruelty in origins, anders and Fenris obsessions with, and hatred for templars/mages in da2, or solas ideals in inquisition.

And thats a problem that really illustrates the bigger issue with the way Inquisition took what could have been a great story about the Elves and the reveals about their anceators, and frankly ruined it.

The dalish and city elvea were very thouroughly fleshed in both Origins, Awakening and DA2.

However, city elves largely managed to avoid being utterly destroyed by the narrative the way the Dalish were, for the simple reason that outside briala, we don't get much if any interaction with them at all, making them essentially a non show foe the game for the most part. They don't get a city elf inquisitor, and so we have no point of view to look at them from a pc perspective.

They got off much better than the dalish though.

Starting off with the arguably single worst thing in all of DAI is the retcon that Dalish clans, if there is more than two mages in a clan, sends off the third one alone in the wilderness to fend for themselves. This goes against absolutely everything that has ever been established about the Dalish, and worst of all, wasn't even an addition meant to demonize the dalish, instead being an addition to handwave away the obvious fact that the Dalish had a much better system than the human circles when it came to magic... Which in turn was made irrelevant by the fact the Avvar was later shown to have a much better and more effective solution to the possession question anyway.

It was, in essence, a pointless retcon, that overall only made the dalish look bad, and has now opened the door for the idea that most dalish clans acts like this, and will be portrayed so in future games.

Its bad, but unfortunately it was only the start.

The game goes out of its way to portray absolutely every single person who critices the dalish as having a point, that they brought on their own downfalls, even as they are being the most imperialistic, racist assholes imaginable, while the dalish inquisitor can only offer a token of defence for his people, a far cry from way origins allowed you to handle the same situation wheter your main ethnicity was ferelden, mage, city elf, dalish, casteless or dwarven noble.

But nowhere is it worse than the way the game handles the fall of the dales.

Now the actual lore you learn about it, is not bad. At all. I know some complain that the reveals that ameridan(and presumably other elves) worshipped both the creators and the maker, as well as the fact that the dalish unfortunately did have a bad relationahip with the rest of the world, in particular orlais, is bad storytelling, but i firmly disagree.

No the problem is the execution.

Ameridan is not wrong when he says that The Dales should not have distanced itself from the rest of the world, especially not in the face of a blight... But the Dales of his era were in turn not wrong when they argued that the Orlesians were little better than the imperium, and they would be completely right.

This is not a grey issue, its a grey and black issue.

Orlais was, and still is an evil, expansionist empire with 99% of its population living as serfs, that can be raped and beaten at will, little better than slaves.

The dales were the morally right side of the exalted march on the dales. No amount of new lore we learned in inquisition has changed that fact. We simply get the details fleshed out a bit more to add context.

Orlais was going to invade and enslave the elves anyway, as they proved through their actions against all their other, very much fellow Adrastian neighbors.

The problem is that you are not allowed to express this kind of point of view and stick to it like steel.

The characters you meet having the bigoted opinion that the dales ultimately brought on their own fate is NOT a bad thing in and out of itself... the problem is that you are not allowed to challenge that opinion the way you could challenge Lelliana's view of the dalish in origins, or the way you could tell both Anders and fenris to go fuck themselves on their extremist opinions all through da2, and ending that fuck you by killing them in the endgame.

And thats a real shame, because just looking at characters like cassandra's character development through Inquisition, you could easily have made a really compelling narrative put of a dalish inquisitor who stuck by his or her principles, and actually challenged the people they met's racist views on the dalish the way you could in origins, just with a more fleshed out and(unfortunately something way too many people just cannot emote to a character withouth) an actual voice to raise those arguments with.

I do genuinely like Inquisition, and i think it's overall a much better game than DA2... but man did they drop the ball with the elves so hard.

I feel so sorry for anyone who really got invested in the elves as their favorites factions, and i honestly don't think the elves will be handled particularly well in Dread wolf, especially as the only Dalish we are likely to see fleshed out will be the villains fighting for Solas.

[artificial-sleep]

Saw this post and had a good laugh, but I also want to break this down. Call this my Deanior thesis.

Throughout the show, we see Dean make a lot of compromised decisions and react in a lot of different ways. However, one thing remains true all of the time:

Dean is afraid.

✨ Let me elaborate.

When you really think about who Dean is fundamentally and what principles guide him in making the choices he does, you'll find that he's very transparent with his priorities. First and foremost, he wants his brother to be safe, and he will go to great lengths to achieve that (including giving his own life, sacrificing himself in some way, or even going as far as refusing Sam his bodily autonomy just to save him).

But consider it: Dean's perfect world is one where he can save lives and not have to worry about Sam. Sam is such an integral part of his personality, and the result of this is that he tanks 95% of his time into ensuring that his little brother is okay.

However, due to the nature of their job, he often fails at protecting Sam and then ends up making shit so much worse for him. The nature of the job is that Sam will never be safe, so, by proxy, Dean will never rest.

This is such an important plot point and something that reinforces some of my favorite headcanons of all time. For example, I believe that Dean doesn't actually want to hunt forever, and he'd settle down with Sam in a heartbeat if he thought that's what Sam wanted, too. Look at when he's most happy: when Sam is content and safe and has the things he wants.

I hear these questions circulate over and over: Why does Dean act the way he does? Why would he make the terrible choices he makes? The answer is that he's afraid. He's fucking terrified. There's no security in what he does. Everyday he fears losing his loved ones. He carries the literal weight of the world on his shoulders (see how he internalizes John's warning of 'People are dying' by turning it into his own slogan), and he gets no reprieve. This causes him to go to extremes to protect his support system.

All that he does, he does to bring honor and respect and safety and stability to his family (My favorite example of this being how much time he invests in his car, which was entrusted to him by John, and Dean views that vehicle as an extension of his father, like he's responsible for it in the same way he's always been responsible for his family. This is something he reverts back to in crisis.), but what holds him back time after time is crippling anxiety.

Dean functions on a spectrum of crisis at all times, whether minor or major (but always a crisis, regardless, at least for the average person). He self-medicates with liquor to numb and sedate himself after living through extreme horror and tragedy, and it's also the only time he'll indulge in pleasures for himself (women/getting laid), but other than that? He's not overly hedonistic or abrasive. He's obsessive. Like a helicopter parent. He's overbearing and fussy and needs constant reassurance, and he's in the worst possible line of work for that type of thinking. He's constantly overextended and emotional beyond belief, making any kind of discussion of his problems or feelings overwhelming and unrealistic — not because he's "too manly" (although, this is the facade he uses). He shuts down because it's the only way he can grapple with the intense trauma he goes through on a daily basis (traumas he's been enduring his entire life). He ignores it or represses it because acknowledging it only makes it all the more crippling.

Because of this and because of who Dean is, I find it endearing when Dean gets compared to his father. To me, this man is not like John at all (no matter how badly he wants to be, haha). He's nowhere near strong enough. Sam wants the entire box of Lucky Charms before Dean has had a bowl? Okay, Sammy. You can have it. Whereas John spends his time teaching Sam some hard lesson about not getting the things he wants just because he's passionate about them.

Dean, my beloved, who tightens his robe and demands to speak to Sam in the other room like he's about to bicker so hard that Sam's ears fall off. That's the Dean I know.

Now, I understand that Dean is an older brother who was made responsible for his brother at a young age WHICH HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE PROBLEMATIC (and I do love when it is made problematic in fiction hehehe).

I see a lot of good evidence that Sam has several unhealthy coping mechanisms that revolve around him offering himself up like a punching bag, ever the Christ figure. And while, yes, I agree, I don’t think that's his goal when interacting with Dean.

People will point out how he self-sacrificially offers himself up to Dean as a means to try to get him to relax. One of the popular interpretations here is that Sam knows that Dean takes pleasure or solace in hurting him, and Sam was raised to take beatings from his big brother and has grown to like it to some extent, like a victim of Stockholm Syndrome. Although this is a unique and thought-provoking case to build, I'm not sure it fits into the way these characters are canonized.

When I see Sam tell Dean, "You want to take another swing? Go ahead if it'll help," I see his brattiness, a challenge and test. It's little brother Sam, rolling his eyes and huffing under his breath, muttering, Jfc, Dean, will you calm down? What do you need? Need to blow off some steam? Because holy shit. I can take a shiner if it means you'll STFU. This is a strong and assured Sam, a cocky and certain one that tests his brother and even mocks him to an extent, knowing Dean is blowing things out of proportion and needs to step back and do something to ground himself.

In addition to this, a lot of people note how Sam's whole demeanor changes in later seasons. As far as Sam getting more and more shy and drawn into himself and apprehensive and reclusive in later seasons, I 100% blame Lucifer and the horrors™ of the life. Dean is not part of the problem here. Sam can't always trust Dean, and there are several instances of him feeling betrayed, but the root of betrayal is hurt (not fear), and Dean has the capacity to hurt Sam unlike others can because of how deeply they rely on each other.

But Dean pointblank putting Sam in immediate danger? Purposefully going out of his way to hurt Sam? I doubt it. Dean is harmless. Sam is bigger than him, has been training with him since they were kids. Sam is not some helpless little boy. He's not distressed and abused. He challenges and mocks Dean constantly anytime he tries to bring up the fact that he has seniority or that he's better at certain things because he's older.

I consider overall how Sam treats Dean, how he talks to him. Does Sam worship the ground Dean walks on? Does he revere him and step on egg shells to appease him? LOL, NO. Sam goes away to Stanford and still cops an attitude when Dean shows back up asking for a favor (This is not to shit on Sam. We love a healthy boy setting boundaries. But. I mean, Dean had to beg him. This goes to show Sam has no problem rejecting Dean and/or standing up for himself.).

Some of the strongest evidence I see of this in the series is when Sam has a moment of maturity and gets a snippet of an idea of just how much Dean sacrificed for him.

Sam has legitimately no idea how many sacrifices Dean made for him, has no idea that Dean spent his entire childhood being solely responsible for Sam. HEAR ME OUT, GUYS: SAM IS A SPOILED LITTLE BITCH AND THIS IS GOOD! THIS IS REALLY GOOD! DEAN DID A GOOD JOB BECAUSE, OUT OF ALL THE EVIL IN THE WORLD, SAM ISN'T SCARED, AND HE DEFINITELY ISN'T SCARED OF DEAN.

So, whereas I like to explore the toxic codependency of two brothers, I struggle to see an imbalance in their dynamic. Dean and Sam are each other's safe spaces. Dean has a tendency to blow things out of proportion (see: "Red Meat" lol), and Sam keeps him tied down and sane, anchoring him. Dean is insane to Sam always, but Sam gets it. That's just his overbearing, clingy mother. 🩷

In summation, Dean would have benefitted from anxiety meds, but furthermore, he'd be a completely different character if he had a stable home and a Sammy that stayed close by to him always. Still codependent to an unreal extent but happier.

[yallthemwitches]

“It’s horrid for you, you know.” “No worries–I do loads of things that are bad for me,” he smirks. “Oh? Like what?” He falters, the rushing stream of banter getting interrupted by a fork in the river. Maybe she is imagining it, but she sees the words start to form on his lips. Fancying you. 

Happy New Year! Enjoy a final fic for 2024 and see you on the other side with lots more fluff with these cuties.

Read Below or on AO3!

“Hey, Evans.”

“Hey…quidditch knobhead?” 

He cracks a smile that sends her heart soaring out the window along with the cigarette smoke. 

Like always, he appears as though a vision. Standing in front of her in his quidditch uniform, a crudely made sash slings loose across his torso with the words Quidditch Hero emblazoned in gold, the addendum of knobhead hastily added in Black’s unmistakable elegant scrawl. 

“Thought you would like my new title,” he grins a little wider, his lips looking too soft and dangerous to linger on. 

“Love it—hope it makes it into the awards case.” She offers a smile and hopes he hasn’t picked up legitimacy since they’ve last spoken, otherwise he’d see how the sight of him windswept and sweaty turns all her cognitive function into melting goo.

It’s why she had sequestered herself to the far outreaches of the common room. Under the guise of being nonchalant she can keep her heart at bay and not let the dam holding back all her infuriating feelings come pouring out with one sip of spiked punch. But that isn’t to say she hasn’t been watching him—she doesn’t have the option. For better or worse it had been like that in these past few weeks: the world swirling like brush strokes in an impressionist painting while James stands out, hard lined and striking in the forefront. 

Just another thing not to linger on.

“Was wondering if I could share a smoke,” he says with a lopsided grin. It’s one of the ones that could mean anything and her eyebrows rise beyond her fringe.  

“You don’t smoke.”

“I could smoke—you could teach me. Sirius says I need to find something better to do with my mouth than talk all the time.”

She laughs and her head falls back against the stone—and she’s thankful because otherwise he would see the blush that has sprouted on her cheeks from his rather forward innuendo.

He grins wider, a glowing, ethereal expression she has noticed he always does when he gets her to laugh like that. If I could bottle up a sound, it would be your laugh he had said a few days ago in some murky passageway. I’d listen to it until I went deaf.  

“It’s horrid for you, you know.”

“No worries–I do loads of things that are bad for me,” he smirks.

“Oh? Like what?”

He falters, the rushing stream of banter getting interrupted by a fork in the river. Maybe she is imagining it, but she sees the words start to form on his lips. Fancying you. 

Maybe it was a trick of the light. 

He doesn’t answer, letting the conversation waft away. She had known for years that James was never someone who could hide his emotions well. Even now she watches a spectrum from playful to anxious to yearning cross past his face like watching water ripple in sunlight. A sudden urge to lean forward and kiss them all away one by one enters, but she lets it pass. Just another feeling to push out the window and die in the cold air.

“So,” he prods, shifting his weight, “Did you see the game?”

“Game? What game?” she says in mock surprise. The corners of his mouth twitch upwards.

“Oh, y’know, just some blokes on sticks, faffing around—one of which being myself.”

“Oh, right,” she counters, giving herself a little tap to the head, “yeah that little thing–though I didn’t realize you were playing, seeing as you were very discreet.”

He laughs and his sash flutters at his waist. Removing his glasses, he wipes them against the hem of his jersey and the small sight of skin on his abdomen makes her feel ravenous—derailing her thoughts into many recurring memories of times when her hands have skimmed the exact spot, her lips giving soft pecks on their way down… 

“Yeah, that’s what they say about me. Very humble.” He turns bashful, arching his eyebrow and nearly bursting her heart into a thousand pieces. 

“Apparently 100 points worth,” she snorts.

“So you were there.”

Another break in the banter, another silence. Up until this point, she had been doing a good job at keeping the rest of the room at bay, the noise and shifting bodies just fragments of light refracting in her peripheral vision, but their silence opens a hatch and suddenly it all pours in: the rest of the quidditch team drunkenly chanting ROAST THE RAVENCLAWS, the static of some Orlocs tune wafting from the radio, the swaying and heavy petting of couples on a makeshift dance floor now giving her sensory overload.

And yet, here he is, in the forefront of it all, looking so bloody pleased. 

“Yeah, of course,” she murmurs. It’s not a lie, at least partly.

“But I didn’t see you at the end —on the pitch when we won.” His voice goes soft and she has the sudden urge to reach for him. Stop, you are in public.

“Yeah-–I wasn’t feeling…well.” 

She turns away, hoping that looking out the small window will give some respite from the change in conversation, but instead finds James’ image reflecting back at her in the darkness of the Scottish countryside.

“Are you ok?” 

The sound of his worry just wedges the lump in her throat further. Things were so much easier when it was just them tangled together in some dark space where the world couldn’t come dripping in, but there had been a leak in their safe haven for some time now, slowly letting in feelings that were much more complicated than just the joy of his warm skin against hers. As much as she tried to push them away, they continued to creep back, crowding her like a billowing fog.

In the reflected glass, she watches his mouth reopen, then clap shut like a hinged box. His brow furrowed and frustrated by her lack of response. 

“It’s fine. I’m alright…shouldn’t you be–I dunno– taking broom shots with your mates,” she says quietly, turning back from the mirror to face him. 

James doesn’t even glance behind him at the party, his jaw clicking as though on the precipice of something important. Instead, he downs the rest of amber liquid in his glass in one go— the curve of his neck dangerous enough for her to want to flee. 

Placing the cup down on the sill, he uses the proximity to come in closer, angling his body so they are blocked from the fray. He slides his hand down her arm, soft and questioning before reaching her palm and pressing his fingers into the center. 

“I’m not in the mood for broom shots,” he murmurs, “I’m in the mood to hear what’s bothering you.”

He stops pressing, fingers slotting themselves between hers until her own curl willingly. It’s the first time they have done this: shown any sort of affection towards each other in a public setting. A nervous twinge forces her to look over his shoulder to see if any of the party goers have taken notice of their proximity—of how somehow the class prefect has gained a monopoly on the man of the hour.

James watches her for a moment, eyes darting around her face as though looking for answers in a textbook. She can feel the dam inside her coming loose—the sensation of thousand bats fluttering and gnawing at her insides. It's something they don’t do: talk about it. The future, the war, their secret relationship—these were all just abstract ideas when held at a distance, but to talk about them– invest emotion in them–that gave them power.

“Lily—we need to talk.” 

His face furrows, his lips parted. Inside her stomach, the sensation of a thousand bats flutter and gnaw to be let out.

“It’s becoming hard,” he says slowly, clamping his eyes closed. A pool of blush billows just under his glasses.

“It's becoming hard to not have you around.”

She blinks, trying to keep her emotions steady on the surface, meanwhile the bats in her stomach continue to bite though, piercing skin. 

“What do you mean? I’m right here.”

“You know that's not what I mean,” he sighs, dropping her hand. “When I finished the game—y’know landed and everyone was there on the pitch–the only person I wanted to see was you.” 

His eyes were open again, round and full of something resembling pain. 

“I know it’s silly and I have no right to even dream of it, but I can’t stop thinking about how much I wanted to hold you right then—I didn’t even care about the bloody win, I just kept thinking about the second I could find you and—“ 

He looks almost feral now, the words continuing to tumble out.

“--And you should know, even though I’m horrid with words–yet seem to spew them constantly– that you mean a lot to me. Maybe too much…a scary amount, and I need you to say something to me, Evans because I know this might be easy for you and all but I’m dying he–”

It was as though her body moved on its own accord—some dark annals of confidence bursting forth out of her to lean in and press her lips against his. Underneath her, his body freezes, the noise of the party that had slinked in the outskirts of their senses now rushing in again and making them very aware of how brash, how public, they are being. 

It lasts only seconds and she pulls away, leaning far back into the turret of the window like being repelled by an opposing force. 

“God, I’m sorry,” she gasps, wiping her mouth as though to remove the lingering feel of his lips, “I just—you were sort of spiraling, so–” 

She stops speaking, not knowing where her line of thought was going or if it even had a directive.

James blinks, mouth still slightly ajar in the way he had so neatly slotted his lips with hers. 

“Lily—can you just...”

But she leans back further, the dam that has held her together for this long, kept all those easy nights pressed together a casual thing, starting to evaporate into dust and scatter. 

“I think I’m in love with you.”

He freezes, his eyes going wide and glassy. It feels euphoric, finally putting form to the words that had been eating her alive for weeks now. But it doesn’t make it any more terrifying—and she certainly wishes she had thought it through enough to pick a better setting. 

She can see everything he wants just in his eyes. He wants to say I love you too—merlin fuck I always have. He wants to lift her up and spin her, just like he had imagined doing at his quidditch win. He wants to push in, force her legs to part just enough to let him slot against her like all the times they have done before in the solace of her patrols— she can see it because, unlike her, James has never had an issue showing his feelings. She has held him back. She always took the lead. 

“Lily, merlin–I—”

But she presses a hand against his mouth, trying not to savor how soft and warm his lips feel against her fingers. 

“Please—can you just give it a moment?”

She knows she is asking the world—silence has never been his strong suit. 

“How long?”

“Excuse me,” she stammers. Something lights behind his eyes she hasn’t ever seen before and it burns hot. Hotter than any time they have tangled together.

“How long do I have to give it before I can respond?”

Her eyes widen, and something resembling laughter passes her lips. 

“I don’t know? Three seconds? Wh–”

“Three.” 

He presses in, his arms now snaking around her waist, his sash fluttering against her and rising goosebumps on her arms. Around them, the world begins to swirl—everything becoming unrefined and fuzzy. The only grounding she can find is him—but it has always been him, the one sharp, tangible thing keeping her tethered within chaos. 

“James–”

“Two.” 

He exhales against her neck, tracing his nose up her pressure point to her jaw. She tilts her head back, laying against the cold stone, hands pulling him closer until her back needs to arch to hold the weight of him against her. His lips reach hers and her mouth is already parted, waiting to slot against his. But he takes his time, brushing every last bit of blush off her cheeks with fluttering touches, hands grasping as though, if he let go, she’d fall away into the night. 

Later, he will say it back—say all the things he has wanted to and more since the moment he met her in Kings Cross all those years ago. Later, they can explain to their onlooking friends too. Tell them how all the patrols, all the late night studying has been culminating in this moment: them against all odds in the common room windowsill. Later, they will have all the time in the world, but it is of the essence now. He only has a second left. 

“One.”

[opossumanon]

I'm gonna be so real with you guys I'm a little confused about low/medium/high support needs and the idea of visibly autistic.

It's funny because the reason I'm having trouble understanding is that the definitions don't feel 100% ironed out for me which is peak autism lmao.

Anyways...

For being visibly autistic, the definition I'm hearing is "Support needs are obvious, people immediately know you're autistic", which feels odd because I'm not sure how a clueless neurotypical would be able to clue in on someone with medium/high support needs being autistic, as in actively thinking "Oh they're autistic". Like how people think I'm weird and dumb as fuck, but they aren't consciously thinking "He's autistic" they just call me a retard. Is my understanding of the meaning of visibly autistic inaccurate, is there something I'm missing, or am I just looking too much into it?

And for the idea of low/medium/high support needs, I've always been a little confused as to the hard lines that make these three categories different from one another. I know that high support needs means needing full government assistance, a caretaker, help with lots and lots of things including tasks that need to be done for survival (Eating, bathing, etc.). I know that low support needs means that you can do those tasks by yourself, and that the government won't look at you and see you as someone who needs help. The thing I'm wondering is that for me personally, I mostly fit low support needs, but my energy levels are so low after doing some simple tasks that I struggle to do coursework so hard roughly 50-60% of the time and I'm really doubting my ability to find a job and actually be able to keep it. I'm technically functional, but I can't do too many things before I burn out and become pretty useless. I'm basically a one-trick pony most of the time. Does that still meet the definition of low support needs? Does support needs have anything to do with employment and energy levels/burnout? Are my definitions incorrect?

I'm asking because I am genuinely confused about this and I want to have a better understanding for both myself and others. People all over the autism spectrum please answer or point me in the direction of some clear answers if you can and you want to, especially medium/high support needs folks because you guys would know more about medium/high support needs than the rest of us.

[the-banana-0verlord]

how are you ? hii ^^, I would like to request for the third year boys I think they are rook, leona, vile, malleus, lilia and trey well with a fem mc who is very bad at studies because she had never attended a school before so this is her Taking classes for the first time and taking exams, that's why she works hard even though she failed several times, she never gives up~ one of her favorite phrases is "if I fail 99 times, I'll continue once more, maybe the 100th will be the winner" hehe <33

again, i apologize for the request taking so long 😅

How the third years would react to a Reader who is bad at studies

Notes: Gn reader, i totally forgot idia existed 💀 Either that or it was a conscious decision.

🦁🦁🦁

🦁Leona Kingscholar 🦁

🦁Studies were never a problem for him. He always passed his exams with flying scores without even trying. 🦁So since everything came to him so naturally, it was hard for him to imagine someone not having the same easyness as he did. 🦁You were at the opposite ends of the spectrum: He didn't care about school yet excelled at it, while you were still optimistic when your scores barely passed the passing note. 🦁You made him care again. He helped you with your studies and you got progressively better. 🦁And it's not just your studies who got better, his also. Because of you, he put effort in what he had to do. Under all his grumpiness, he thanks you for it.

👑👑👑

👑Vil Schoenheit👑

👑Sure, you weren't all that good, but you tried, and in Vil's book, that's more than anyone could do. 👑Also, he's not one to pass the opportunity to help someone become their best selves. 👑So he helps you. The time passed with you is enjoyable thanks to your cheerful personnality. 👑He also enjoys teaching you. Why don't you come around to Pomefiore so he can teach you makeup?

♦♦♦

♦Cater Diamond ♦

♦Of course he'll help you, that's what an upperclassman does! ♦But to be truly honest, most of the "study times" are just you hanging out. ♦But when you actually study, he's not half-bad as a tutor. ♦He's not the best, but at least you can see your grades get a little better.

🏹🏹🏹

🏹Rook Hunt 🏹

🏹What wonderful ardor and persistance you have! Oh, how it makes his heart flutter! 🏹A hunt for a good grade is a hunt all the same, and you have the qualities of the best huntsman. 🏹You never seem to catch your prey, though, so he'll just ahve to give you un coup de pouce. 🏹Not all minds work the same, so maybe yours just works differently than the norm of teachings. 🏹You'll be studying school and he'll be studying you.

♣♣♣

♣Trey Clover ♣

♣He's pretty used to tutoring since the underclassmen in his dorm usually go to him for help or advice. ♣He was willing to help from the start, but your positive attitude motivated him more than the complains of the others he tutored spouted every second. ♣He's in the science club, so that's covered, and cooking always help with mathematics. ♣Yeah perfect teacher 10/10.

🐲🐲🐲

🐲Malleus Draconia 🐲

🐲You're asking him, Malleus Draconia, to help you study? 🐲He should be offended, but he finds it so intriguing and amusing he'll indulge you accept your request. 🐲I mean, there is no one better to learn from than from the best.(He's a very terrible teacher though) 🐲Your positive attitude is also refreshing from the gloomy and terrified faces of his daily life.

🦇🦇🦇

🦇Lilia Vanrouge 🦇

🦇Don't ask him for potion making, but he'll be perfect for teaching history. After all, he was there when it happened. 🦇...Except he wasn't. When XXX thing went down, he was hammered with his friend Jerry on the other side of the continent. 🦇He's still kinda helpful with the big lines, but don't really expect much. 🦇That or he'll put you through Silver and Sebek's training regiment. Don't know which is worse.

***

Hope you enjoyed!

Have a good day/night!

[kibblbread]

This is completely aimless and scattered, like more than usual but whatever. Either way it’s just relationship dynamic stuff~ btw pls read the fucking pizza gorl fic —>>> 🍕✨

Random thought but i think exposure therapy might be the best option in aiding Jason to recovery, well, that and gentle coaxing! Jason is very responsive to praise because he’s definitely a people pleaser. I know it might be hard to tell looking at him from a glance; but let’s not be shallow, he gives chance after chance to his loved ones no matter how much they screw him over. He’s simply a lover boy. So I conclude that Jason is a huge people pleaser, and he’s privy to it but ignores himself. He hates digging into his psyche.. it just hurts, poor guy has too many painful memories.

But it’s necessary for healing unfortunately 😔

AK!Jason is extremely.. emotionally.. wrecked. He doesn’t act outside his redhood persona often unless it’s completely necessary— like getting food and supplies, or even to possibly get intel.

At least for a while.

Meeting PG turns his entire world on its head! He’s pretty out of his element as it is while trying to define his persona, the redhood. But PG! Hoo boy— he did not anticipate a partner in crime. A sidekick if you will lol. So essentially his healing process is expedited(just a tad bit); since Jason interacts with his family at a much faster pace than otherwise on his own terms. Dick is very eager to give his younger brother the much needed affection and support that JT deserves but doesn’t want to scare Jason away. So early in the rekindling process, Dick takes a backseat and lets Barbara lead— she’s the voice for not only herself, but Dick & Tim even Alfred for a bit too. Babs knows just what to say and how to say it more often than not! Jason is more relaxed around her than any of his family for a time.

JT’s attitude is still pretty rotten though, he’s suffering so there’s still so much happening within him that slows them down in regaining his trust.

He’ll still snap & even become aggressive toward Barbara if she isn’t cautious and calculated in her approach, which she is, but she’s not a mind reader and can trigger the worst in Jason. However, on the other side of the spectrum, we have pizza. PG seems to never catch any lip, and if she does it doesn’t seem intentional most times— genuine underestimation is the biggest culprit. PG can be reckless, it’s the largest pain point in the fic between these two imo! But you’re not from gotham, you’re truly ignorant, you’re like a second chance to him almost. You don’t know of his sins, not really anyway… A slate as clean as yourself, he’s gotta prove to you he’s not a useless, unworthy, sorry excuse for a person right? He’s gotta prove it to you.

To his family.

To gotham.

No, he doesn’t. But if we are gonna play this game he proved it when he put on his life on the line once as robin, and a second time the moment he decided to become redhood. He’s no less worthy than anyone in reality. Hopefully he’ll see it in this lifetime, but even if he doesn’t, it doesn’t change how you see him and continue to see him. It most definitely doesn’t change how you make him feel either. 🥰 PG is a protective person at heart. She’ll do what she can to help just about any decent human being but especially her loved ones.

Jason sees it. He can feel it too, subconsciously he wants what she wants for him. So he’ll allow her to poke and prod him where he needs to be directed. JT allows a lot from PG actually, from her quick gentle touches to her quips and questioning. He doesn’t take it the same from any of the other bats, when it’s from family it’s nothing short of condescending. Humiliation and anger rises bubbles from his gut straight into his heart. But from you? It’s not something he can quite name.. sometimes it’s annoying, yes, but with you he doesn’t mind feeling insecure as much. You don’t know what insecurity looks like on him just yet so naturally he allows you to suggest things he wouldn’t otherwise acknowledge. The dialogue between you two is allowed to flow freely. To not know Jason’s trigger’s is to not know his anger; which is arguably both a pro and a con.

The closer PG gets to JT the more she sees what he’s capable of.. and how. The why is what she’ll inevitably get to, but how she gets to his truth is much more important. I think PG not being afraid of how Jason will react is her biggest advantage in being so close to him. On the reverse side of things, Jason is more calm because to him, she not antagonistic in his mind. She doesn’t know his past or the extent of JT’s capabilities so why would she, and even if she did, could she? Again I feel JT genuinely underestimates PG as she is a civilian and not held to his impossible self imposed standards. It’s not malicious, he just wants to protect her, his guard is lower than usual which isn’t saying a lot because it’s still extremely high. JT is still distrustful don’t get me wrong, but it’s not personal like it is with his family.

When you tell J he did good, that he’s accomplished something, he’s on the moon. PG’s acknowledgment goes such a long way in the never ending void that is his insecurity and self loathing!

On a less abstract level, when it comes to doing, Jason unintentionally gives PG the go ahead to start pushing his buttons when he inevitably begins clinging to her presence for comfort. For better or for worse, you push many buttons. lol.

“Stay here a bit longer?” Fine, what’s a bit longer?

“Call for back up! We need help!” Im good enough for the job, but maybe some help would be better than none in this instance…

*looks around Jason’s safe house* “Damn bitch you live like this??? Sleepover at my place😝” *complies but serves the most bombastic of side eyes*

The batfam get to see parts of him they haven’t seen before, or at least in a very long time when you two interact in front of them. Jason is still largely argumentative, but thats how it stays surprisingly, he doesn’t boil over and actually backs down or bites his tongue. Which is.. shocking to say the least. Dick & Babs take note of the more true extent of his patience and how willingly he’ll hear your suggestions. They’ll take note of how freely you grab his hand and drag him along. They even notice him suspiciously looking in your direction for prolonged periods while your back is turned. Hmmm very note worthy indeed. Jason is all too aware but doesn’t know what he can do about without you noticing his clear change in demeanor. But quite a few of his new habits fly under his own radar when it comes to being around PG!

He’s less jumpy for one.

Jason isn’t at all more confident in his abilities since he’s still crippled with anxiety and a lot of self doubt but, he’s really focusing on monitoring and guiding you. JT is teaching you to work smarter, teaching you how the streets of gotham work. And above all else making sure PG can keep herself safe! He’s firm and direct, sometimes even sounding like the commander of a militia 🤭 I like to think sometimes he reverts accidentally. Jason also tends to stay close to PG. Most times it’s unintentional but others he’s just watching out for you. You give him a lot of good vibes and reassurance and JT just naturally finds himself hovering over to where you are. Like him and D are side by side on a rooftop, then all the sudden he’s breathing down your neck because you decided sitting on the ledge of a building was cool like a dumbass. But the most notable of all these habits is how much he allows your touch; JT doesn’t squirm away from you either, he stays put. PG will touch his shoulder in gentle support or give his hand a quick tap to pull his attention.

Barbara finds this behavior interesting, Dick thinks it’s adorable but is lowkey in his feelings about it.

Lol

I think thats it for now…

thank u for reading my post bestie 🍕🤪

[confuselibrarian]

Haunting Adeline is bad.

It only gained hype because of the controversial themes because the construction is crap. A poorly written book with shameful dialog and characters shallower than the drain in my sink. The book makes an effort to be profound, showing how cruel and dark the world is, but in the end it tries so hard that it's more like those One Direction fics kidnapping Y/N. Adeline herself as the protagonist seems to have come straight out of a Wattpad self insert. It's also unnecessarily long. There's no justification for this story being 600 pages long, let alone a sequel. If you take away all the unnacessary bullshit, the whole duology could fit into a single book.

Such a long book, but it still fails to introduce us to the basic concepts of the characters. So many things are poorly explained that they basically expect readers to accept just “because...”? For example, Zade's motivation? I finished the book without understanding his backstory and why he would go so far to do what he does. “That's because he's angry about the existence of child trafficking”, congratulations Zade, you're a normal person who is outraged by child violence, so what? One person finding abuse wrong (which in itself is ironic when it comes to Zade, given what he does to Adeline) isn't enough to justify everything he does. He ends up being the author's puppet for action and smuty kinky scenes, rather than a complex character.

Speaking of kinky, I see a lot of people (including the author apparently) who don't know the basic difference between fetish and abuse. All fetish and kinks, including cnc, needs to be done in a healthy, safe and consensual way. These are the basics of the practice and are non-negotiable. Practically all the sex scenes in this book that take place between Adeline and Zade fall into the dub-con (dubious consent) spectrum. Whether it's because he's forced himself on her, coerced her, manipulated her, etc., from the lightest to the heaviest, all the sex between them has a non-consensual aspect in addition to the disparity of power in the relationship that was not negotiated between them. So you can't use the excuse that it's a fetish so anything goes, because that's simply not the reality. If you let go of the dark romance for a second and actually research how this works, you'll quickly realize that the way this book deals with fetish is extremely off the mark.

Lastly, there's the issue of human/child trafficking. I see a lot of people criticize how graphic the scenes are, which for me wasn't a problem, but very few people talk about how the vision portrayed in the book refers to a line of thought that connect whit the crazy right-wing american conspiracy theorist mentality . Whenever there was a scene involving violence against children, I had the impression that H.D Carlton had studied the subject on the QAnom forum. Anyone who does the slightest bit of research on the subject knows that the main victims of this kind of violence are not the white suburban American children of the traditional family, as we see repeatedly portrayed through Zade's missions. It's not a black van that springs up in an upper-middle-class neighborhood and steals away a beloved child while their parents cry copiously over the loss. Those who are targeted are usually non-white, disabled children from very poor areas who are generally forgotten by the system. Not to mention that the book kind of implies that most of the guys involved in the dirty work of kidnapping the children are Mexicans and mestizos. These are the people we see Zade, the white guy, fighting against to save the day. Also I'm not Jewish so I can't say 100%, but the way the author constructed the secret society plus all the strange and conspiracy-oriented things in the book gave me an anti-Semitic vibe. The secret society in this book is literally a ctrl+c ctrl+v of Blood Libel. Maybe I'm going too far with my interpretation, but considering that the author literally had to put a disclaimer at the beginning that she has no connection with conspiracy theory groups, I don't think I'm so wrong to notice parallels.

[xx-j4nu5-c4t5-xx]

WARNING: INCREDIBLY LONG POST AHEAD

The Sims 2 Fitness System: Proposing Reworks and Slowly Going Insane

I. Introduction

The Sims 2 was absolutely revolutionary, both for its time, and even into the modern day, as a life simulation game. The level of detail put into seemingly basic systems and interactions and the love that was poured into every part of the game make it stand out even among titles that released years later.

However, the passage of time halts for no man, and The Sims 2 is no exception. The graphics are often described as looking rough and rudimentary, some of the references haven't aged spectacularly, and it is very clearly a product of its time. Despite this, most aspects of the game translate perfectly fine to today's audiences, except for one system that I've noticed is less than spectacular: the part that dictates the shape of your sim's body.

The fitness slider is a pretty simple framework: work out, and your sim gains muscle, and their body changes to reflect it. Eat too much, and they'll put on some weight. Do neither, and they stay skinny.

Simple enough.

But why is being skinny the default? And why are muscle and fat treated as mutually exclusive, like a human being can't have both?

And why are they in that order? Why would you have to lose muscle to gain fat? Why is being skinny a step you have to go through at all, when someone could realistically transition from muscular to fat or vice versa without ever fully losing either?

Well, a large part of it, I'm sure, was the 2000's and the focus on skinniness, especially among teenagers and young adults (which seemed to be the target audience when TS2 released). Skinniness being treated as a default somewhat lines up with the culture of the time. But it shouldn't have to work like that, right? Especially not now? There's got to be a better way of going about it all.

II. The Proposal

A muscular frame and a heavy-set frame can both be considered extreme values on a scale, and a thinner one can be considered neither. Simply put, if you've got fat, you're chubby; if you've got muscle, you're beefy; and if you've got neither, you're skinny. But that doesn't mean that skinniness is a midpoint between the two other states like on a simple scale, number line style.

In reality, muscle and fat aren't positive or negative values of one variable. They're two entirely separate variables that can be toyed with to create an entire spectrum. Thinness is now no longer a midpoint, but a third state that the body can fall into.

You can be fat, and you can be muscular. You can be neither.

And now, you can now be both. Or a mix of all three states, go nuts.

With this setup, you've got less of a line and more of a triangle, with any point falling inside it corresponding to a different mix of variables. None of the points cancel out or directly oppose one another, and none is treated as the default value of the system.

So what's the default, then?

III. The Catch

The three extremes have to meet at one point in the center, right?

So what do we do if a sim is right in the middle? Does any fluctuation immediately send the poor thing careening into an entirely different body shape?

No. That's a bit much. What we need now is a middle ground between the extreme values. Something that doesn't lean too hard into being muscular, fat, or thin. A nice balance. A default or average body shape.

Would this require adding a fourth, entirely new body morph to the game? Would it even really solve the problem? Would it be worth any of the trouble of setting it up?

Yes, maybe, and probably not, if I'm honest.

But as long as we're dreaming the dream, let's imagine it.

The cool thing about equilateral triangles is that you can divide them into four equal triangles that are congruent with the original one. So, if we take a standard triangle and divide it into fourths, we get our little zones.

A sim, based on some outside stuff I'll get into later, will be assigned a point in the triangle that falls into one of these four zones, assigning them a different body shape. As the sim's point moves through the space, it may land in different zones and change their body accordingly.

But computers can't just look at a cute little diagram and understand it. We need a way to communicate to the program that hey! this does actually make sense and isn't just a bunch of nonsense. We gotta speak their language, and they speak the language... of math.

IV. The Math Jargon

Stick with me. I don't know what I'm talking about either, so I'll try to explain what I'm doing as well as I can.

The cool division thing about equilateral triangles also applies to right triangles as well, specifically the one we're using. Basically, what we need to do is make a graph all math class style so the computer can interpret it into usable data.

To do this, we need a series of steps.

Step 1: Make a graph. Let's say the Y axis is muscle and the X is fat. A Y-value of 1 is entirely muscular, an X-value of 1 is entirely fat, and the origin (0,0) is entirely skinny. Cool.

Step 2: Make the triangle. Let's add our X and Y values together so that, if the result is ever greater than 1, the point is invalid. This means that the point (0.25, 0.75) is valid, but (0.26, 0.75) is outside of the triangle and is therefore a nonsensical value. This makes it so that any point defined must land within the triangle to make any sense.

Step 3: Define the regions. Now we do the thing where we split it into fourths again, creating our zones (and making sure they match the variables we set). I've attempted to work out the math below but I'm a notoriously shit mathematician so don't take my word for it.

If x + y < 0.50, set the body type to Thin.

If .50 > (x + y) > 1, then check the variables.

If x > .50, set body type to Fat.

If y > .50, set body type to Fit.

If x and y are both < .50, set body type to Default.

(I've also tried my hand at writing something that could correct the values if they get out of the triangle.)

If x + y > 1,

If x = y, set both variables to .50.

If x and y are not equal, average both values with .50 over and over until the point is valid.

Step 4: Now, all we have to do is link up the zones with the different body shapes and, if all the math works right, we're good to go!

V. So what does this do actually

Having this system in place not only allows for more realistic and balanced weight and fitness changes, but also for more control over the changes themselves.

A sim's body type is no longer a single variable; it's a dynamic value that can be skewed in more specific directions based on their actions and lives.

For example:

A sim that gets pregnant could have their fat value increase slightly.

A sim that has recently been very ill or has died and been resurrected could lose points in both their muscle and fat values, making them skinnier.

A sim that successfully wins a fight could have their muscle value increase slightly.

A sim that stops working out regularly could gradually lose muscle points over time.

A sim that frequently eats things like takeout and pizza could have their fat value increase over time.

This system would allow for not only more variation in bodies among sims, but also for more realistic reactions to their habits and environments. Would it be tricky to implement? Yes. But maybe it could be worth the trouble.

[42-clocks]

💚 a zine on aromanticism 💚

^an informational zine on aromanticism I made for Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week

feel free to share/print!

(pages and image IDs after the break)

Image ID 1: the front and back cover. The front cover reads, “informational zine — Aromantic: What Does That Mean? — by Peter Z.”

there are two simple arrow shapes between lines of the text pointing in opposite directions.

The middle of the page has a long stripe with the colors of the aromantic flag, which extends to the back cover. the back cover side lists what each of the colors represent: green — aromanticism; light green — the aromantic spectrum; white — platonic and aesthetic attraction; gray — gray-romanticism and demi-romanticism; black — the sexuality spectrum.

The back page reads, “more resources!

TAAAP.org

Aro Spec Week.com

gsrc.princeton.edu (SAM)

aromanticism.org (AUREA)

Elizabeth Brake (aromanticism)

Aggressively Aro Spec Tumblr

Aromantic Guide.com”

End text. Two gray silhouettes of lily flowers act as embellishment. End ID 1.

Image ID 2: pages 1 and 2 of the zine.

Page 1: “Aromantic — or just ‘aro’ for short — refers to someone who experiences little to no romantic attraction to anyone — or experiences it in a different way than others. Alloromantic is the opposite — one who does have romantic attraction.” The text is green and dark teal with light green boarders around the sections.

Page 2: small letters says “this might help to understand” and arrow points to the title “Split Attraction Model” — “a way of understanding attraction by separating it into types: sexual, romantic, platonic, alterous, aesthetic, etc.

“Sexual Orientations: bisexual, heterosexual, asexual. Romantic Orientations: biromantic, heteroromantic, aromantic. — sometimes they match, sometimes they don’t! Words like biromantic and heteroromantic commonly refer to both S. O. and R. O.” End ID 2.

Image ID 3: pages 3 and 4.

Page 3: titled “A-spec Community”. Below is a Venn diagram, the left circle labeled “aro”, the right circle “ace”, the overlap space “aro ace”, this is all within a larger circle labeled “a-spec”.

“Aromantic is not the same as Asexual (little to no Sexual Attraction to anyone at all). The identities and communities are related but distinct”

Page 4: titled “Myths” with dark teal flower silhouettes on either side. Myths include “hates all romance, childish “late bloomer”, not LGBTQ+, unemotional, wants to be alone, can’t be in a relationship, afraid of commitment, can’t also be gay/hetero/etc” End ID 3.

Image ID 4: pages 5 and 6.

Page 5: “Are you aro? some common experiences: made up crushes, flirting doesn’t make sense, hard to identify romantic feelings, dating isn’t a priority, don’t like romance heavy media, dating because you’re “supposed to”, rarely if ever “fall in love”, don’t have celebrity crushes. *these are not exclusive to aros though!”

Page 6: the top of the page has the shape of an umbrella, the text inside reads “the Aromantic umbrella”. The body has four microlabel examples;

“Gray-romantic — romantic attraction rarely or weakly.” Next to it is a small rectangular flag with 5 horizontal stripes: green, gray, white, gray, green.

“Demi-romantic — romantic attraction only after a bond has formed.” Rectangular flag with a wide white stripe, narrow green, and wide gray stripe, and a black triangle on the left side.

“Allo-aro — allosexual and aromantic, no romantic attraction, has sexual attraction.” Rectangular flag with even horizontal stripes: green, light green, white, yellow, dark yellow.

“Aro-ace — aromantic and asexual, no romantic or sexual attraction.” Rectangular flag with even stripes: orange, yellow, white, light blue, dark blue. End ID.

[brekkie-e]

I have mixed feelings on the discussion about how "nice" Astarion gets if you go the Spawn route with him. Now, I am not reading fic so I've not personally seen the extent of how far people are running with the “redeemed” narrative. I might be completely unaware of some truly unhinged “Astarion helps old ladies cross the road with a smile on his face and kindness in his heart” takes. And I will be the first to point out his approval in Act 3 doesn’t always point towards a huge change of heart.

The flip side of that conversation that I’m not seeing discussed that much is the way Astarion talks about himself as well as the way the companions talk about him after choosing the spawn ending. In the scenes directly afterwards, and even in the epilogue a bit- you can see a very changed man. Not necessarily a humane society volunteer, but at the very least someone who’s taking responsibility for their life and viewing the world in a way they hadn’t before. Spawn Astarion’s growth cut scenes were almost jarring for me to watch after years of being comfortable with the bitch boy from Early Access.

Astarion is not the only one talking that way though! Karlach, Wyll, Minthara, Jaheira! They all respond to him as though he is a changed man. I scoured to find the actual lines since I’m away from my computer, but no luck. That being said, I do know that pretty much each companion reacts to his decision not to follow through with Ascension and his time afterwards by essentially saying, “You can’t fool me, we know you’re a good person.” In various degrees of intensity.

I know in his dialogue with Minthara he dead ass says, “Yep, love fixed me. I’m better now.” And he says it with zero shame, he’s happy about it.

At points the way the companions and he talk about it makes me frustrated with certain reactions and approvals that remain in Act 3. The further you get from finishing his plot line, the less of a changed man he really seems. His approvals in general still line up with Ascended Astarion’s. Some of his reactions to things seem out of touch with the man seen in the grave yard. For example, his reaction to being cheated on with Mizzora. Not only does his acceptance of that just seem like a different character than the one we see in his scenes after the palace, a man who clearly views your relationship as a serious commitment that he is proud of. But it also seems bizarre that he would be okay with you betraying Wyll at this point in the story. The man we see telling the spawn to go to the underdark, who thanks Tav for standing by him, and gushes about being excited to live again and embrace the good with the bad seems entirely juxtaposed to the asshole he continues to be.

Which is not to say that I want him to be all sunshine and rainbows. It just seems inconsistent. I think a part of that comes from the need to keep his reactions neutral enough that they might work for both endings. The problem with that being that Ascended and Spawn Astarion are such vastly different people in their main story scenes that it’s kind of impossible to line them back up again afterward. For me, it was hard to find it believable. Either his post Cazzador scenes were out of character, or his continued reaction scenes were out of character- it just depends on which you prefer.

Circling back to my original point, I guess what I’m trying to say is that his graveyard scenes and the companion commentary do make me think that he is still heading in a redemption arc direction. That it isn’t inherently out of character for him to be written as a character with a complicated relationship with morality, but more often than not ending up on the good side of the spectrum these days. The way I interpret it, it’s not so much because suddenly he’s altruistic and nice. It’s that he’s actively choosing change, which feels like a continuation of his recovery. He’s surrounded by people who hold him accountable. He’s trying to be better than he was. He’s trying to do right by the people who have helped him. He’s still going to bitch about it, and act like it’s stupid. But he’s going to independently prompt that the group save the kid from the hag because “that’s just what we do, I’m done fighting that reality.” In his post-Cazzador life, his only real loyalty is to his team. If that team is full of annoying do-gooders? Their his annoying do-gooders. He’ll complain about it, but he’d not trade his found family for anything. It kind of gives Loki in Thor: Ragnorak showing up with the ship. Or Megamind saving the city. I’m here. I’m going to be the hero because I guess I have to. I’m going to be positively insufferable about it though.

I certainly don’t think he’d be nice all the time. I think he’d still be a loose canon that lashes out. He’s in the middle of healing, not at the end of it. But I think if his redemption journey ends where it did in the game, the emphasis on how changed he was in his scenes and the companion commentary was a bit over done.

[ovwechoes]

Can I get some Mauga headcanons 👉👈

Mauga / Maugaloa Malosi Headcanons (General) I'm happy to write some for him! I kept these general, mostly exploring him as a person but if you'd like some relationship-based ones (sfw or nsfw), send another ask through. Thank you for the rq anon, and enjoy (it's under the cut) c:

Which parent does Maugaloa prefer? Maugaloa's definitely a mama's boy, valuing the impact she made on his life and the level of confidence she's gave him. He knows his line of work would disappoint her, though, so he keeps it a secret, and makes an effort to lie and say he's enjoying his life while retired from wrestling. He also values the ways in which she holds him accountable, and has taught him lessons in love that have proven useful in his life more often than not.

Does Maugaloa have any phobias? Maugaloa would never admit to it, but he has thalassophobia (fear of the ocean/sea). He loves to watch it, often finding it beautiful from a safe distance. However, if he was asked to go diving, or to go in the water at the beach, he would refuse with adamance that can only be rivaled by a terrified child. Maugaloa's always hated the ocean after watching Jaws at too young of an age, and will not see reason behind it.

What is Maugaloa's sexuality? I like to headcanon him as being bisexual, with no preference. To him, if he finds someone attractive, he doesn't care if they're female, male or nb. He'll take what he can, and knows everyone is attracted to him as well. It's something he's happy to flaunt, and will often show off his escapades and one night stands with people across the gender spectrum. 

What would Maugaloa say to his past self, if he could go back in time and say one thing to them? Maugaloa would tell his past self that things get better, and that he'll find his purpose in life and come to love himself in a way that no one else could match. I like to think that he used to struggle with his confidence, often finding it hard to figure out what he's on the planet for. That's part of the reason why he got into wrestling, and found it to be something that gave his life some meaning and reason. Talon, though, has shown him more than anything else in life and has given him the chance to become the person he's always wanted to be and more, with a job that satisfies all of his urges and desires. He would want his past self to know this, and to know that they'll get what they want eventually as long as they're patient.

What are some of Maugaloa's worst habits? Maugaloa's worst habit is gloating, often treading the line between being confident and being the reincarnation of Narcissus. It's hard for him to understand what's appropriate, often not caring about that in the first place. So, when people get upset with him and mock his self-inflated words, he doesn't usually take offense until it's apparent that they don't view him the same as they did before. He wants to be able to let his actions speak for themselves, and let his prowess and strength speak above his words, but he enjoys the way his self empowered confidence shines through with his witty sentences and jabs at other people. One of his other less acknowledged bad habits is that he often struggles with prioritisation, and it's something even his mother has spoken to him about. He has a one track mind usually, but the minute something more engaging is placed on his plate, he forgets about his other obligations and priorities to take part in that said something. It's tiring for the people around him, often viewing it as a lack of respect or consideration and is definitely something he needs to work on with himself.

What does Maugaloa like to do in his spare time, when he's off from work? Maugaloa's definitely a gym rat in his spare time, spending hours trying to make himself stronger, faster, build his stamina up, things of that nature. His socials would be littered with shirtless pics of him after his body building sessions, showing off the way his muscles have grown since the last post. It's his way of indulging in his sporty interests, especially since he's been banned from the wrestling world completely. On the other hand, Maugaloa would be the type to read books about building your confidence, military tactics used in battle, and the ways to be a better leader. It's his way of working on himself to be a better soldier in Talon, and proves his determination to continue being stronger, working harder to exceed their expectations of him.

[thekingofwinterblog]

Franken Stein - Anime Vs Manga - Foils

As I've noted before, one of the more facinating things about comparing the later Soul Eater Anime vs the later Manga part is seeing and comparing the ways characters and themes follow similar lines, sometimes with wildly different outcomes, or quality of execution.

And one of the more interesting examples of this is how each incarnation handles Dr Franken Stein's descent into madness, and ultimately rejecting the abyss in it's own ways.

Both rely heavily on foils and contrasts, with the Anime using Stein's lovelife by contrasting his feelings for Marie Mjolnir with his deeply unhealthy attraction to Medusa, while the Manga uses the character of Justin Law to showcase why Stein ultimately rejected total madness.

Both have the same themes, but uses wildly different means to tell their story.

The anime's biggest difference here is that it actually has Stein fall to madness, while in the manga despite all temptations, and just how close he dances at the endge he never falls in.

This by it's very nature changes Stein's story to one of recovery, rather than temptation.

Because Anime Stein gives in, and the anime is not shy about illustrating just what a terrible choice doing so is.

The anime is also different in that it very much builds upon already established character and storylines in order to tell it's tale.

The anime takes the plotpoint of Crona betraying Stein to Medusa, and uses it as a springboard to further both Marie and Crona's characters as they deal with the aftermath of that choice.

This ultimately would likely not have happened if Crona had not fallen back into obeying Medusa again, and so Thematically, Crona's fate and redepmtion is tied to Stein's.

And while Crona is deeply, deeply regretful, Marie loves Stein and so deeply, deeply angry at both Crona and Medusa, while also wanting to reacue Stein.

However, this is just one side of the story, because Stein's actual fall is also rooted in the other character motivation that this direction uses to tell this tale.

And that is Medusa and her genuine, and toxic attraction to Stein.

Stein and Medusa ultimately are very similar people, both love taking things apary, both love chaos, and both are brilliant minds.

Their attraction to each others qualities are genuine... But that is all it is. Attraction. There is no love involved here, as neither actually cares about the other as a person.

These two only compliments the other in that they bring out the absolute worst aspects about the other. It is a relationship built on perverse attraction to their love for destrution and hedonism, very much a mirrior to Maka and Crona, who ends up being very important to this section of the story.

It is also a relationship built upon being the easy road. Whereas all the healthy relationships in the series are built around having to take the hard road with your loved ones, even when it hurts, medusa represents Stein just giving in to his madness, to jump off the abyss because he sees something destructive, tempting and interesting there.

Medusa additionally takes this a step into even further depravity by adding body possession into the mix, adding a third party into this mess, one withouth any capacity for concent... Which is made even worse by the fact that the person in question is a child.

Watching medusa and how much joy she takes in having twisted Stein to her will, it is crystal clear that she not only understands just how fucked up this entire thing is, but she REVELS in it.

It is frankly one of the most disturbing things in shonen anime and manga fiction period, and though thankfully it does not go all the way to the logical and disguisting endpoint, it still leaves the viewer both disguisted, disturbed and impressed just how EVIL Medusa really is.

And on the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Marie Mjolnir.

Whereas Medusa represents everything wrong about Stein's personality, Marie represents the opposite.

She represents Stein's caring side, his loyalty to his side and students, the man who was brave enough to stand alone against Medusa to buy his students time.

Hers and Stein's relationahip was one of genuine love, and understanding, not simply built on nothing but attraction and shared similarities.

Quite the the opposite, Stein and Marie could not be more different... And yet they love each other anyway.

I'll also note that the Anime portrays Marie and Stein's relationship in a different light than the manga does. In the manga, the entire point is to hammer in just how unlikely that these two people could ever fall for the other, while the Anime has the same premise but focuses on something else, namely how well this fits into Soul Eater's themes of different people coming together despite all their many, many differences.

When Stein ultimately makes the choice to go back to Marie, it doesnt feel like it's an unlikely choice, but instead one feels that it's the right one. It feels natural, that these two souls that fell away from each other once more found the other.

They are different people... But so what? They both have the bravery to gice this another shot, because they care about each other.

Also, just a bit of speculation on my part, but we never actually learn how Marie lost her eye in the phsyical world, but it shows up here, when she and Stein reaffirm their bond. That augfests to me that Marie probably lost the eye in circumstances that in some way meant something deep and profound between these two, given how important it seems to Stein.

If so, and especially if her losing it was Stein's fault in the first place, and mayhaps the reason they broke up, would add even more weight to her choice to gice this another go, forgiving him for his mistakes which deeply hurt her personally.

But again, this is total speculation.

Ultimately the Anime take on Stein is one that is defined by this contrast, the parallels and mirrors of Medusa and Marie, and Stein's ultimate choices between them.

Meanwhile, the Manga's foils is not between two differen people close to Stein, but instead about Stein himself as a mirror and foil to Justin Law.

Now let me be blunt. Justin Law is a very boring villain. There is very little compelling about him directly... But there is something compelling about the contrast between him and Stein.

Justin fell to madness because despite his rigid adherence to justice, honor and being a good person, he completely, and totally rejected any and all human bonds, with the only ones he made being made by complete accident, and ultimately he, in his madness, rejected even these.

He had no one to support him or draw strength from in his time of need, and so he fell to madness.

Meanwhile, Stein, despite being far, far more naturally inclined and much closer to madness from the get go, ultimately does not jump over the edge in the Manga... And the reason for that is his relationship with Marie Mjolner.

Ultimately Stein despite all his flaws devotes himself to Marie and helping her avenge her dead ex boyfriend.

And ultimately these two end up reconnecting their love just the anime, even to the degree that they get much further along in their reknit relationship than their manga counterparts.

However there are some massive differences between the two adaptions in this regard.

While the anime plays them getting back together again as a natural thing, the Manga instead plays up just how unbelievable and insane it is that these two somehow managed to reknit their relationahip, to the point where Marie actually protests that Stein is not her boyfriend, even as she is pregnant with his child.

I do actually like this take too... But I do prefer the Anime version, in large part because we actually get to see The critical turning point between Marie and stein, while the manga has their lighting the old flame happen offscreen.

It also helps that while the thematic differences between stein and Law are solid, Law is not a particularily interesting character, nor do him and Law have a deep connection.

Medusa is, and does have that connection. She is a delightfully EVIL and TWISTED villain, and her relationship with Stein makes the climax of Stain's arc, if much less of a spectacle, a much more emotional and thematically satisfying affair.

And thats even withouth factoring in the fact that this fight's outcome is actually about Crona, Maka and Medusa. Stein's fall and recovery is technically the sideplot, buy damn if it's not a great one.