#why? and why did I think it'll look good?

[bottledfool]

I don't see any point to you getting pedantic over the word "galaxy," since you used it in the post I was replying to, but yes, you're right, Union doesn't actually control an entire galaxy, not that it actually matters for the sake of the discussion. There also isn't a frame called the Infant Immolater, either, but you didn't seem to care as much about that one.

Anyway, to clarify, when I said "despite what the lore insists," I was referring to the fact that the lore's extremely whitewashed description of Union's actions post Sec-com is ridiculous to the point that it can easily be interpreted as in-universe propaganda. Despite verbally renouncing Sec-Comm's actions, Third Comm still benefits from and continues many of their colonialist projects from that era.

The fact that they have a really good reason for why they definitely need to keep working with slavers does not make integrating slavery into their economy any less evil. Sec-Comm undoubtedly had just as many reasons for why they had to do the same thing, and those reasons would have been just as valid. Instead of just accepting that it's a necessary evil, it might be more productive to consider what sort of government considers slavery to be acceptable as long as it doesn't have to look at it very often. In fact, I'm willing to bet the average Union official personally despises slavery (or at least they'd say they do), but they're not losing any sleep over the fact that Third Committee is allowing it to happen as long as it benefits the economy.

This is what I mean when I say they're Sec-Comm "with the visible edges sanded off:" They still do most of the awful things Sec-Comm did - they're still a neoliberal government entity who rules through the use of a corpo state, so unless one were to throw absolutely all logic out of the setting, it's undeniable that they do - but they no longer have the appearance of an overtly-fascistic government. They're palatable to the average citizen and maybe even to some of the people outside Union. But the long arm of Union colonization still very much exists, and the moment someone doesn't fall in line, it'll reach out and crush them.

The core issue with arguing that Third-Comm are good is that they have an extremely clear real-world equivalent: The EU. On the surface, the EU does a very good job of appearing reasonable and good, but anyone who has paid attention to the history of European politics understands that the EU was formed largely by colonial powers, and despite (frustratingly) gradual efforts at decolonization across the world, the EU's laws were still originally drafted with a colonialist mindset and designed to benefit the countries that formed it. Even setting all that aside, the EU has done some pretty reprehensible things over its lifespan, largely by funding and enabling smaller world powers to conduct these atrocities for them, thereby exporting political violence to a place where they can benefit from it but don't have to look at it.

When I say the lore insists otherwise, I mean that it lists multiple examples of exactly this sort of thing happening under Third-Comm, but just sort of handwaves it away as necessary and tragic. Despite the lore's insistence that these are unimportant when characterizing Union, I would argue that the actions of a government are, in fact, the most important thing to consider when characterizing a government.

And to your final point, yes, my point was that the government owns one of the four corpo states that rule just about everything in the setting. So, like I said, whether you prefer to think of the power structure in Lancer being four corpo states or one corpo states that three others rely on, it doesn't actually matter, because neither is good.

At the end of the day, you can come up with whatever interpretation you would like to use. But if you're planning on discussing the political messaging in a setting, you may want to take a look at what others have said about government entities that function very similarly to the one we're talking about. Look beyond the words the author wrote about their future utopia, especially when their idea of a future utopia is the EU. It might annoy you when some people characterize Lancer that way, but there are a lot of very good reasons for why they do that.

Armored Core: you're a cog in the death machine of capitalism and freedom lies in the hands of those strong enough jam the gears and break the apparatus. you should def use the Baby Flayer 9000 to achieve that goal btw

Gundam: war is fucked man, so much senselss death and killing all in the name of lofty ideals. anyway we'll be rolling out the orphan thresher as soon as next quarter

[kettleworth]

The Best Thing In Ralsei's Room - Another Ralsusie Fic

I know y'all really liked the last one I wrote, so uhhh here's another! I'll write a more 'in depth' fic soon, I just wanted to get a quickie out there in the meantime! I'm submitting this for a server's fiction contest as well, so hopefully others like it lmao

Description: Ralsei's room is depressingly empty, and Susie wants to remedy that. What do you give to someone who doesn't even think he needs anything? Something personal, Susie imagines...

The Best Thing In Ralsei's Room

'Susie, this is the best damn idea you've ever come up with!' The girl thought to herself as she pushed a stone statuette against the ground. Its smiling visage was that of the infamous ICE-E, the mascot of mediocre 'pezza' and miserable, weird employees. Sure, it wasn't fun having to lug this thing up the stairs, but at least it would be put to good use... for once. After seeing the incredibly depressing void of a bedroom that Ralsei didn't even think he should have in the first place, she knew that putting anything inside would be a pleasant change of scenery.

Even this thing.

Once she reached the green door of Ralsei's bedroom, she threw it open, sliding the statue inside with a triumphant smile. “Alright, furniture piece number one! Feast your eyes on this!” She exclaimed, moving the ICE-E statue so that it was now in the center of the room, facing Kris and Ralsei. Kris, as per usual, expressed the spectrum of human emotion like a still life painting, but even then she could tell that they were looking at her choice with a judgmental gaze.

Ralsei, however, was more audibly and visually shocked, instantly recognizing the piece from Kris' own bedroom. He stared into the unhinged smile of the statue, unsure of how to feel about it. Susie was always so kind and surprisingly generous, but... well, he didn't really like it. Not that he'd say so aloud. “Oh! Th-thanks, Susie..?” He replied, giving a polite, if confused, smile to her.

“Least I can do,” She said, feeling quite accomplished with her good deed. As she turned towards the door, ready to continue on from this depressing encounter, she heard Ralsei whisper something.

“...Kris, can... you take this back?”

Susie paused, sneaking a glance over her shoulder with a somewhat offended expression. She felt moderately annoyed for a brief moment. Did he know how hard it was lifting that piece of junk up the stairs? Why would Ralsei want to refuse such an awesome... such a great... uh... terrificly...

...okay, so the ICE-E statue was a pretty crappy present. Even Kris didn't want it, holding their hands up as if saying 'I'm good'.

“Ah well... perhaps I can use it as a... seat? Maybe if I put a tablecloth on it, it'll make a nice table..!” The kindly prince thought aloud, not wanting to be overly rude. It was very generous of Susie to even think to give him something in the first place! He felt as if he should be more grateful, especially considering that he didn't even need anything. He shouldn't want for anything. He was lucky to even receive such a... 'lovely' statue.

'Way to go, dumbass,' Susie thought to herself, listening to Ralsei try to cope with the pathetic piece of furniture. Of course he'd be way to kind to be upfront about it. It almost made her stomach turn that he'd be forever tainted from receiving gifts because she couldn't be a bit mindful of his own feelings. A part of her wished he had just straight up said 'Wow, Susie! It sucks!' She was never one to give up easily, however, a small determined huff escaping her snout as the gears in her brain turned once again. This time, she'd put effort into making them come up with a good thought.

Realizing that she had been standing at the doorway of the bedroom, obviously eavesdropping, Susie cut the awkward silence she was creating by fully turning her head. Her sharp, toothy smile was just as bright as ever, snapping a finger dramatically. Being around Tenna seemed to rub some of his 'showmanship' onto her, she figured. “Well! If you think that's good! Wait 'til ya see... the second piece I've got for ya!”

“Gosh, a-another one?” Ralsei responded, his eyes wide with surprise. She was far too generous for him to comprehend! “O-oh, Susie, I-I really couldn't-”

“Yet you will!” She insisted loudly, already rushing out of the room. “Don't go anywhere!” She said, slamming the door behind her.

“Uh... okay??” The prince called out, feeling rather embarrassed at this point. Kris couldn't help but compare his stature and expression to that of a nervous kid opening gifts on their birthday, unsure of how to react to so much positive attention. Did Ralsei even have a birthday? They tucked this thought into the back of their mind, wanting to return to it at some point.

For now, as the dumbfounded Darkner waited patiently, Kris decided to take some matters into their own hands. They walked over to the statue and began to slowly slide it towards the wall. Face first, obviously. “Kris? Do you need some help?” He'd ask, being met with a silent shake of the head. Ralsei's done more than enough decorating for all of their rooms, Kris wanted to return the favor somehow. The best way? Moving this eyesore into the corner of the room, facing away from everyone. They flashed a thumbs up to the Prince once their job was done, offering the tiniest smile.

“Er, th-thanks, Kris! Maybe I could put a flower vase or something on it... oh gosh, listen to me, already sounding so demanding!” Ralsei responded, looking away as he quickly grew flustered with his selfish thoughts. The silent human responded to this by bowing deeply, perhaps overly so, as a way to tease the fluffy boy. He was a prince, after all. He was clearly embarrassed by the gesture, but couldn't resist a small laugh. “Kris!”

While all of this was happening, Susie had rushed to her bedroom, sweating as she scoured around for something – anything – to give to Ralsei. “Dammit, c'mon Susie, think! What the hell would a fluffy lil nerd like him enjoy? Books? I don't got any of those!” Looking at her furniture, she realized that practically all of it was catered to her likes. Plus, there was now way she was going to be able to haul something like her refrigerator or her bed up the stairs even if she wanted to.

“Hm... maybe I could give him one of those?” She thought aloud, staring at the decorative axes above her bed. Before she was able to step atop of her bed, however, something else caught her eye. Something that was thankfully a bit easier to pick up. It was the small, goofy plush toy that Kris had gifted to her back in Cyber World. For some reason, it looked like her. “Oh, I forgot I had that.”

She reached down and plucked it from her bed, looking it over as she admired the details. “Heh. Even has the little wristbands and everything. Cool,” She said, her face scowling a bit as she flipped it over, spotting the little tail poking out. She gave a few tugs, tutting quietly. “Damn, did they really have to add this though? Eh, whatever. Still pretty accurate.” Susie liked the plush well enough, even if she didn't really care for things like this. Susie's face flushed a bit as she smiled and gave a decisive nod. She knew someone who could use this more.

“...he seems like the type to like things like this.” She said as she exited her room. Hopefully she hadn't taken too long making a decision. Susie didn't know why, but her heart was starting to beat exceptionally fast. At first, she just thought that it was from running down the stairs, but even now it was still thumping as if her chest were a drum set. It certainly didn't help that her face was growing warmer and warmer as she moved closer to Ralsei's bedroom.

“...I hope he likes this one,” Susie mused, feeling a bit anxious about her choice. She didn't know why this mattered so much to her, but Ralsei needed something good in his room. Not just that, but he needed to know that can receive gifts. He needed to know that Susie liked him.

...not 'like him' like him... probably. The thought lingered around her brain despite how much she tried to shoo it away. She squeezed the mini Susie in her hands as she gritted her teeth. Why was this wreaking havoc on her nerves in such a way? Normally she didn't give a crap about... those sorts of emotions. As far as she knew, she wasn't even capable of feeling them. So she thought, at least.

“...UGH don't make it weird!” The purple girl admonished herself, shaking her head. “You're just giving a gift to your cute fr-” Susie choked a bit, realizing what she had just said, letting out another exasperated yell. “AUUUGH WHATEVER!” Susie picked up the pace, her face glowing brighter at this point as she attempted to steer her thoughts to literally anything else. She didn't have much time to do so, finding herself in front of the green door once again.

Susie paused momentarily, steeling her nerves as her heart threatened to burst from her chest. Her hands squished the plush idly, using it as a stress ball. She was careful to not accidentally rip or tear it. Before she could allow the opportunity to second guess herself, she reached forward and opened his door, holding the plushie behind her back.

“YO RAL, THINK FAST!” She shouted, barging in. She watched as Ralsei jumped in surprise, quickly whipping around to face her. Kris also looked her way, but was as stoic as usual. Susie didn't give the goat much time to react before she threw the toy in his direction. She didn't throw it too hard, though it still caught him off guard.

“Wah!” He exclaimed, fumbling the soft projectile a few times before managing to grip it. His confusion quickly turned into curious delight, his eyes widening as he looked down at the mini-Susie. “What- oh! It's you, Susie!” Ralsei's voice brightened up considerably, his pretty pink eyes sparkling as he held the toy with the same delicacy of an egg. Kris recognized the toy as well, tilting their head in Susie's direction. They didn't seem too peeved about the choice to re-gift the prize, however. This was for 'the greater good', after all.

“Yup. Pretty sick, right?” Susie boasted, crossing her arms as she leaned against the door frame. “Tiny Susie there is definitely the best thing in here, now.”

“I love it! It's so cute!” He giggled, giving his new plush a large hug into his chest. “Oh, thank you thank you Susie!” Watching Ralsei gleefully squeeze his new possession made the butterflies in Susie's stomach return. She felt her own smile grow on her face, unable to look away from the adorable sight. She was certainly not getting jealous over a stupid plushie. No sir. Not her. Not even when he planted the daintiest little kiss atop of its head. Nope.

'Much better...' Susie thought, catching Kris's gaze. They had the smallest smile of their own, flashing a 'thumbs-up'. She returned the gesture as Ralsei stepped forward, still holding the toy close to his chest. His face was blushing brightly as well, though there was no denying the joyous smile on his muzzle.

“It... means a lot for you to give this to me,” He stated, a lump starting to form in his throat as emotional tears formed in the corners of his eyes. “I... I almost think I don't deserve something so wonderful..!”

“The hell are you talkin' about? Of course you do!” She replied, putting her hand on his shoulder. “I don't really have a need for it, anyways. Plus, y'know, you can hold it if you ever get scared or... or lonely.” Susie felt corny saying it, but she knew that the poor guy missed them terribly whenever she or Kris weren't there. Maybe this would help.

In response, Ralsei instantly pushed himself into Susie's body, giving her the largest hug he could muster. She froze up for a second, but soon returned it to the sweet, fluffy prince. She could feel him rubbing his face against her, sniffling lightly. The noises only made her hold him tighter. “Th-thank you...” He said with a muffled voice.

“You're welcome, Rals,” She sighed, ruffling the top of his head affectionately. She loved watching the boy melt into her hands each time she touched him, and this time was no different. As she rubbed his head, he pulled his face away, beaming up at her.

“...though, I think you may be wrong about what you said earlier,” Ralsei hummed, his cheeks starting to glow brighter. An idea was forming in his head. A selfish one, but one he wanted to see through regardless.

“Huh? W-whaddya mean?”

It took the boy a few seconds to answer, growing more and more bashful. Finally, he stood on his tip-toes, meeting with her eyes the best he could. “...I think you're the best thing in my room right now.” Before Susie could retort, Ralsei placed a small, yet undeniable, peck on her cheek. “Chu~”

“Wh?!” Susie exclaimed, freezing up for a lot longer this time. She couldn't even remove her arms from around his waist as her face burned a deep purple by this point. Of all the things she was readying herself for, she was not expecting a kiss! Ralsei couldn't help but giggle somewhat at her reaction, peeking over to a highly amused Kris.

“Hehe... I think I broke her,” Ralsei teased. Susie's grip tightened somewhat, unsure of how to retaliate. In an instant, she did what she did best: playfully bullying the sweet, nerdy goat. Namely by tucking him into a headlock and giving him a noogie. “EEEK! Susie..!” He squealed out, laughing uncontrollably. Kris couldn't help but enjoy the show before him, a small smirk still plastered on their face.

“So that's how you feel, huh toothpaste boy?!” She taunted, visibly and audibly flustered. Try as she might, that large toothy smile of hers refused to go away. Her actions weren't rough, though this didn't stop Ralsei from attempting to squirm out of her grasp. He refused to let go of the mini-Susie all the while. “Y-you'd better not go practicing kisses with my gift, you lil weirdo!”

“I won't, I won't!” He promised, his face now a beet red, equally as embarrassed at the accusation. He wasn't even considering it! At least, not until the rough girl put the idea in his head...

“Good!” Susie huffed, leaning down to whisper in his ear. “...you should be asking the real one for that.” This statement made Ralsei stop wriggling, feeling as if his whole face would light on fire.

“Huh?!” Was all he could exclaim before Susie finally let him go, flipping her hair.

“Anyways,” She coughed, turning to look at the highly amused human. “Let's get back to the tea party, huh? Ralsei's cake isn't gonna eat itself!” With that, she hurried out of the room, pushing back the desire to scoop up the precious fluffy prince and show him what a real kiss was like. Or at least, what she presumed one to be.

As Kris followed, they gave a knowing grin to Ralsei, playfully nudging him with a shoulder. “H-hey, don't give me that look, Kris!” He'd bleat, watching as the human soon left as well. Being left alone for a brief moment, Ralsei turned to the ICE-E statue in the corner of the room and moved toward it.

Before setting the Susie plush atop it, he looked back at the bedroom door, making sure he was by himself. With the affirmation that he was, Ralsei planted a small, caring smooch on the plush's snout, carefully setting it down.

'She's so kind... maybe one day I can find the nerve to k-kiss her again...' The prince thought as he hurried out of his room, smiling happily as he found himself with an extra skip in his step.

'If this is what being selfish feels like, perhaps it's... not such a bad thing!'

[sonic-takeover]

Sonic, when he's ready, you should try to show Shadow your letters that you wrote for each other all that time ago. I don't know how much he'd remember with those, but I think those are important for him to know about. I'm so sorry about him losing his memory by the way <:( I'm sure it'll be okay though!

-🌬

Oh, good idea! *He hands Shadow a chili dog* Here, try this, honey. It's the best mediocre chili dog in town~

*Shadow takes it from him, looking it over* Mediocre..? Then why get it?

*Sonic shrugs* Something about their unimpressive food works for me.

I'll have to cook you some real chili soon. *Shadow takes a bite* .... Yeah this is....

Mid?

I was going to say bland, but... That works too. *He smiles, leaning up to kiss Sonic's cheek* Thank you anyway.

*Sonic blushes, grinning as he rubs his nose* Hehe~ You stay here, beautiful. I'm gonna grab something. Find us a seat! *He zooms away, leaving Shadow alone in the eating area*

O.. kay...? Huh.. *Shadow walks over to an empty table and sits down. He carefully rubs one of his wrists with his free hand. It feels nice, as if he hasn't taken those weird bracelets off in years. He takes another bite of his chili dog* ..eugh..

*Sonic appears next to him holding two handwritten letters* I'm back!!

AAH- *Shadow jumps, startled. A flash of green sputters from his fur and he teleports onto the roof of the Meh Burger*

Woah! Sorry I startled you, Shads!

I-It's fine! ... How did I get up here..?

You uh... You didn't do that on purpose..? *Sonic runs up a wall and jumps onto the roof, walking over to him* You oka- *He stops when he sees Shadow's wrists* ..... Shadow. Where are your inhibitors.

.... You mean the bracelets..?

Yes I mean the bracelets, where are they.

*Shadow shrinks a bit at Sonic's tone* Why are you glaring at me?

WHERE ARE THEY, SHADOW??

*Shadow backs away, dropping his chili dog at the sudden loud noise* I...

Don't. Move. *Sonic runs off to go find them, leaving Shadow to curl on up the roof and hug his knees*

[bcth-uk]

Many happy returns, dear @elennemigo 🩵🤍💛🤍🩵 😘

[kimasousparky]

it'll never stop being funny to me how 6 years old me was so on spot when she imagined mario as "an average, kind-hearted guy who was really good at jumping, really loved his timid brother luigi and liked the princess he romantically" while playing SMW over and over again before she was exposed to media that portrayed mario with a personality

[tousey-mousey]

"If you had no rules, you'd have nothing to roleplay about" is the most This Is The Autism Website thing I've read in a while actually. Like.

If you're running a campaign based on exploring a world trying to get Something Specific done, who cares what, then the rules are "can we achieve this thing, given that we live in a society?"

Like. Okay, let's imagine we're running a campaign in... hmm, let's say the present day, a world most people are familiar with (I can't say everyone, because I have met humans before you see).

You're tasked with trying to do something challenging but eminently possible. Let's say... escape a major city while being pursued by the mob. It's certainly not impossible, people do it all the time, but people also fail to do it all the time.

You have absolutely no ruleset. Go with god.

HOWEVER!

You need to convince everyone around the table that your planned action for the next however-long-everyone-lets-you-have-a-turn-for is sensible.

"I hijack a car"

Okay then, mate. Walk me through this process. Because I feel you're probably assuming that hijacking a car - that is, stopping a moving vehicle, getting a driver out, getting inside unstopped, and driving away safely - is as easy as you think it is. And it's really not! So... let's do it.

When you go to attempt something, someone might say "I mean that feels like your plan is basically 50/50", so someone else says "let's say if they succeed based on a coin flip!" and if everyone agrees, cool then you do that. There's no strict rule, but it works so go for it.

If someone says "I use my mind powers to make them stop", then most people will probably go "I am desperate to hear how you have mind powers" and if you can talk them round, cool! Now mind powers exist, you have them, and you get to roleplay about them. If they DON'T exist... You have just, in character, stared at a guy really hard and muttered "I am using mind powers..." under your breath while your friends start getting concerned about your sanity. That is also a fabulous chance for roleplay.

Literally none of that requires written rules. Combat? Also does not require written rules: you can negotiate EVERYTHING.

"I fire a gun"

Cool, we can all agree she definitely hits him right? Okay, you've fired a 9mm at a guy's... where did you aim?

"That'd be for his body, chief"

At a guy's trunk. You hit him... I dunno, someone name a bodypart?

'SPLEEN'

At a guy's... lemme google this... "splenic ruptures can cause life-threatening internal bleeding causing shock", jesus okay. You hit his spleen and he screams like you have shot him, because you have shot him. Hmm... I think he's probably gonna collapse, and when he collapses he'll bust the shitty shaky floor out under him as he falls into the room below.

FUCK I needed his keys, okay okay does anyone have rope?

Kay we are wearing pyjamas why in gods name would we have rope??

I dunno babe, worth a try.

Uhhh, we're in an abandoned living room yeah? I'm gonna look around for an electrical device.

Hey chief, can I take this one?

Yeah sure.

You find an old-ass lamp, also I do NOT like where this is going and am SO desperate to see it.

Wait hang on, a LAMP? In this ABANDONED TRAP HOUSE?

Everyone's gotta see, I'm taking the lamp. I could fish around in the walls for the internal wiring if you like, I've punched through drywall before it's not that hard.

No, no, good point, go off

Okay. I am using my knife - y'all remember my knife, we've been through my knife before - to slice off the power cord. I'm gonna say 1.2m sounds around right, I've seen lamps with that.

Sure.

So. Kay, do you wanna... you know...?

JESS ARE YOU SUGGESTING I ABSEIL DOWN A HOLE IN THE FLOOR ON THE END OF FOUR FEET OF ELECTRICAL CABLE?

...Yes.

ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Oh come on it'll be fine.

MEANWHILE as you two dipshits bicker over who is the biggest moron, you hear sirens outside.

F U C K

Folks I'm gonna suggest we hurry this up?

No, yeah, nah, yeah, good point.

She's right, we're good.

Cops are about 15 seconds away from breaking into the room, who's doing what?

---

Like. You can do A LOT with no rules. Roleplay can be enhanced by rules or hindered, it really just depends who you are. Some people NEEEEED structure, others rebel against it. It's just a thing.

Everyone has gotta stop treating TTRPGs like there's this dial between "rules" and/or "combat" and "narrative" and/or "roleplaying" and as one goes up the other must go down.

[thatfriendlyanon]

your friendship is a beam of sunlight in a cold room.

[earl-grey-crow]

season three of the way home and I'm back on my nonsense

[adaginy]

Almost everyone's shadow is just a little bit, you know. Human shadows, that is. Inanimate object shadows are flat, plant shadows are flat. Animal shadows are all pretty flat, as far as anyone's found, but we don't know if that's because their shadows don't eat or if that's because they don't feed them.

But human shadows, of course, you can't watch your kid every minute, and how do you teach a kid to be a good person who helps others but also not to feed this creature begging and begging? And you can't watch them every minute. Plus teenage dares.

I don't think I've seen any human shadows more flat than, mm, a slime mold or something. It doesn't necessarily weigh anything, at that point, but it looks like a film on the sidewalk or grass behind you.

I was unsupervised a lot as a kid. Not like a latchkey kid, trusted to be independent, just... I wouldn't say neglected, but when my shadow looked like a faded portrait in fancy embroidery by 4th grade, some phone calls were made. The man who picked me up from those offices downtown said he was my mom's cousin, but I remember her pointing to my widow's peak and saying allll the men in her family had that. He didn't.

I thought my shadow was beautiful.

No-one else can hear your shadow, but it turns out when yours is as developed as mine was, they can see the lips move. Every one says theirs is all "feed me, I want fooood, I WANT WHAT YOU HAVE, I WANT WHAT THEY HAVE." I say my shadow is too. Really, mine asks politely whether I could share.

I usually do share. Not a lot. It's such a small request, you know?

I was barely into high school, newly 14, with a shadow starting to resemble one of those wax statues -- not one of the really good ones, maybe one of the ones that ends up in the news for not looking like the person at all, but still a lot more shadow than most people -- when I started wondering, you know, what really happens. They tell you that it'll become like a mirror, and they say it really sternly in the same voice they use to say "don't drink and drive" or "don't hang out with those kids," like mirrors are dangerous and we don't have them in our homes and cars and bathrooms.

And I started wondering if anyone had seen it be a problem. Asked questions. I probably thought I was being subtle but, again, a shadow already 3 or 4 inches deep, people probably knew why I was asking. Sometimes you're the last to know. But I asked around, mostly got "my friend's brother's ex-girlfriend's dad" stories with no real ending; they'd say he fed it and then not say what happened to him. They shrugged, they didn't know, they don't know the guy, he's just their friend's brother's ex-girlfriend's dad. I lurked in the library, felt like everyone was looking at my big shadow being cast on the books about shadows. Tried searching online but that was a waste of time. About equal parts "Top ten things you should NEVER feed your shadow!!" (eggs, for some reason??) and "25 tips for keeping your child from feeding their shadow," both in that same breathless clickbait tone. Some conspiracies about how fast shadows grow "these days," that no-one wanted to feed theirs back in the day, or that they didn't even eat. Some fetish stuff.

One page saying that, if you wanted to feed it, and were asking whether you should feed it, "you already know the answer." I'd never really wondered if I should, what answer was I supposed to know, here?

I didn't find an answer to my original question. But I did notice that it was always adults saying not to, adults talking to other adults about keeping kids from it. There weren't any adults talking about how they had a huge shadow they regretted. I think that was enough of an answer.

I shared a lot less in high school, though. Apologizing the whole time. I think I knew in my heart of hearts what was happening and I didn't want anyone else to see, not in high school.

Bless my guidance counselor, man, I told him that my family situation was a mess and I didn't have time or money for college, and asked how could I get out ASAP (military wouldn't have been an option even if I'd wanted it; they won't let you enlist if your shadow has color or is more than 1.5 inches deep). He asked if I had my driver's license, how I felt about people in general, if I could pass a drug test, and if my weekends were free, and gave me a CDL learner permit study guide and said he'd make a call.

I think he was glad to get an easy point into the school's statistics about graduates with good jobs. Under 21 you can't truck state to state, but this is a big-enough state, and if I had a plan I could be pretty sure I'd turn 21 eventually.

So most of my senior year weekends were spent in CDL training or riding shotgun in big rigs while the driver talked about road safety, maintenance maintenance maintenance, life on the road. My favorite was this older lady, who told me to read every contract and do my own math on pay and terms to avoid getting fucked over, and to take care of my teeth and body ("an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and a bag of 'em is cheap and won't rot in a hot cab"), and she told me that truckers wouldn't care about my shadow and that some even fed theirs on purpose to have a ride-along buddy. I asked why she didn't -- she had one of those thin shadows, a mottled grey layer a millimeter deep -- and she looked at me and my shadow a while before answering.

She had fed her shadow. All the way up.

"What happens??? I've been trying to find out and nobody will tell me!"

She paused again. I think time on the road does that, makes you okay with long pauses, really long pauses, losing track of how long they are. But she said, eventually, that she wouldn't tell me. That I probably knew, deep down, but that if you crack open an egg early that just kills the bird inside instead of helping it along, and I had to figure that out and make the decision myself. But, she said, she would answer my next question she knew was coming: This was her shadow's shadow; that's why it was so thin. A new start.

I think she's wrong. Not about killing birds, but about telling people what happens. If we're gonna use a hatching analogy, I think telling you what happens is more like Mama Bird chirping at the edge of the nest, so the babies can hear even before they're hatched.

The day I got my CDL, I ordered pizza in my little one-room sublet. We shared, right down the middle.

It took more than half a pizza to catch up, to start growing again. I still had a little school left but it wouldn't matter. I could feed my shadow now and I'd be out by the time it really started to get obvious.

It turns out that a shadow doesn't reflect what you look like. Folks know that now, now that people are being more open about having fed it, being more willing to feed it, saying it's normal to feed it if you want. It reflects who you are. Not in some stupid "mean people are ugly" way. But angry or sneaky people get that face, I guess.

Maybe that's why some of the most obnoxious people still make such hay about not feeding theirs. They say it's because they have superior discipline and willpower and whatever, but maybe they know their faces would show up as literal assholes.

And, well. Maybe deep down I had known how mine would look.

One day I looked at my shadow and felt right. Then it felt instinctive: I put a light directly behind myself so my front was in shadow. My front was my shadow. My shadow was me.

I was right about my shadow, back then. She was beautiful. Now I'm beautiful. I'm her.

(And I don't have a widow's peak anymore, either.)

Text: You aren’t supposed to feed your shadow, no matter how much it begs. Share enough meals and it will grow more and more substantial, until you may as well be looking in a mirror.

[dwtolos]

started watching another home makeover show and it hit me once again how much I want an AU where George and Sapnap are the hosts of a 'siblings getting their own rooms' show (they compete on which room suits their respective kid best) and Dream is one of the cameramen who ended up commenting out loud about something so he ends up being a faceless fan favorite. George does flirt with Dream a lot. Sapnap is very tired of it. They also compete about which room Dream would like the best, which is not the point of the show but in their hearts it is.

[clockworksheep2]

need to draw what i look like when im Really not doing well bc i stg my face looks like a sickly victorian ghoul child. it is genuinely kind of fucked up fjfkdl i just felt my heart fuckin jump when i walked past a mirror bc im still not totally used to my longer hair length + my face is getting that bad sunken look bc of the sleep issues and everything else going on

[lilydvoratrelundar]

dc is doing a little mini relaunch after the current crossover finishes and honestly thank god because literally only two of their current ongoings interest me but there's a bunch of fun looking stuff happening in november that i might actually look at. and also it's starting series for several guys who should have had ongoings this whole time like the fucking JUSTICE LEAGUE

[sukugo]

tagged by @your-dark-thor (thank uuuuuuu <33333333 this is such a fun tag game :D)

rules: make a 24-hour poll with the names of your wips, let it run, then write one sentence for every vote the winner got.

tagging: @demon-glittter @cowboyhorsegirl @ouredentogether @jedibongrip @0bstinate @8-bitdyke

[showyoumyfavoriteobsession]

Me at 10:30pm, delusional: I can definitely do the Cazador fight and then go to sleep at a normal time

[skrunksthatwunk]

i just finished saw v and i don't have high hopes for the rest of the franchise (based on what ive heard) but im in too deep to stop now

[tarragonthedragon]

ghost stories are alarmingly easy to spread tbh

when I was like ten I was walking back from the chip shop near my gran's house with a neighbour and we took a short cut down an alley which was enclosed by garages except for one part which was wire fenced and led to the electricity shack

and while I was walking I chucked a chip over the fence. the girl walking with me, C, reasonably asks why I did that

"oh, don't you know?" I say, as if I'm not equally out of my own loop

she shakes her head. the enclosed alleyway has no streetlights. it's after dark. the shack is isolated in the distance.

"a little girl who lived up on the court climbed the fence once on a dare. she went up to the shack and touched it, but there was a wire sticking out, and when she touched it, she got electrocuted and died, right there. if you come back in the daylight, you can still see the black mark."

[editor's note: the court was the smaller road off the side of the crescent, which was the one C's family and my gran lived on. the houses there were slightly more expensive and newer, almost all occupied by wealthy commuters to the city, where most of the crescent houses were occupied by retirees and locals who worked on the trading estate. naturally, crescent kids hated the court. houses there got bricked about once a month.]

"no she didn't," C says

I made up this story for absolutely no reason and with no plan, but I'm not gonna back down now. "sure she did. and if you go past on your way back from the shops and you don't leave her an offering, she'll follow you home through the streetlights. one flickers behind you, then the next, then the next, until you get home. and then the lights start to flicker inside the house. even if you turn out all the electrics before bed, it'll be too late. she's inside. and you'll wake up on the night and see her, and she'll be so awful to see it'll stop your heart."

[editor's note: the streetlights always flickered. this was because our neighbour monkey george kept setting the junction boxes on fire]

"I never did before and she never followed me home!"

"do you come down the alley after dark? or do you take the main road with the streetlights?" I knew she didn't use the shortcut, because I'd been the one to talk her into it that night. she was three years younger than me and scared of the dark.

C claims not to believe me, but she throws a chip over the fence too, and walks the rest of the way looking over her shoulder. I get to pride myself for the night on being good at scary stories, and don't think much more about it.

fast forward six or seven years. I'm back in town. I'm on my way back from the chip shop, taking the same shortcut home. ahead of me on the road are a couple of kids I vaguely recognise as old playmates' younger siblings.

they stop, and I watch one fish out three sweeties from the pack they're sharing. they take one each and throw them over the fence. they carry on walking.

I realise that this is probably my fault, as are any resulting pest control issues around the old electricity shack.

when I get to the fence, I throw a chip over.