#does it just not have the same effect for others

[starrynights-sunnyskies]

as the flowers bloom, my heart does too ⋆*·ﾟmisa rodriguez x putellas!reader, social media au, (3/5)

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when your relationship ends and all you want to do is hide and cry, flowers suddenly start to appear on your doorstep.

or; misa hating to see a pretty girl cry and suffer and going out of her way to cheer her up while staying anonymous

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yourusername: desperately trying to disappear ✌️ Liked by alexiaputellas, albaps9, bff3 and 638 others

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Direct Messages

bff1 now that's a waste of a good drink bff1 but i'll make you a better one and then we can cry and watch your favourite movie and bake cookies or play cards. tell me when and i'll be there 😘 liked by yourusername

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bff2 ❤️💔 bff2 Keep holding on, and don't forget you have us! We're only a phone call away. Shout and we'll come. liked by yourusername

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alexiaputellas You deserve el todo mundo 😘 alexiaputellas Can we come over, laelia? Alba, mami and I? Seen alexiaputellas Yn? Delivered

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albaps9 don't let that shit have this much power over you again, please hermanita ): albaps9 and if she contacts you again, you tell me, okay? albaps9 pls think about yourself. don't let her words get to you. i know you've been talking to someone new lately. don't throw away something that could be beautiful just because of past experiences. albaps9 if you want me to stay with you again for another few days, i'm there within the hour albaps9 answer your phone or i'm coming over albaps9 nvm, coming over anyway with mama and ale. albaps9 we love you, okay? albaps9 and maybe you're the toughest putellas after all albaps9 ❤️ Seen

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↳ 1min ago: yourusername added to their close friends story ↳ 56secs ago: yourusername added to their close friends story ↳ 44secs ago: yourusername added to their close friends story ↳ 10secs ago: yourusername added to their close friends story

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marisabel_rguez: Friends and football, the two best distractions 😁 Liked by leilaouahabi, jennihermoso, alexiaputellas and 18,993 others

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leilaouahabi Oh, so I'm a distraction now? How kind 🤪 ↳ marisabel_rguez Only the best! ↳ leilaouahabi I'll take that compliment. So are you.

jennihermoso Big win, good times 👏💓 ↳ marisabel_rguez 😁🤟

alexiaputellas 😎 liked by marisabel_rguez

haleyraso Aha! So that's why your game has been off lately! 😂😇 ↳ haleyraso Kidding ❤️ liked by marisabel_rguez

sofie.svava Princess!! (the strongest I know) 😇 liked by marisabel_rguez

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tagged: yourusername bff3: Proud of this little one. She's taking life by the horns and showing it who's boss. Liked by alexiaputellas, bff2 and 347 others

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yourusername i love you. all the days serving douchebag drunk tourists and living off tips was so worth it bc it brought you into my life. ↳ bff1 into OUR lives 🥹🥹 ↳ bff3 Even worth serving Arrogant Alex for every weekend for four months? ↳ yourusername omg i'd nearly forgotten about him!!! yikes, but yes. all worth it. ↳ bff3 You forgot Arrogant Alex but not Silly Sander? But same ❣️ ↳ bff2 Even I remember him 😂 ↳ bff1 'you'd never have to work in this lousy shithole if you were mine' ↳ bff3 Then proceeded to visit said lousy shithole every following weekend. ↳ bff2 Capturing hearts since 1998 and 1993💋

alexiaputellas 😍

bff1 you're doing great sweetie xoxo

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tagged: yourusername bff1: claimed this one the second i walked into kindergarten one unsuspecting morning and she, the NEW GIRL, had the audacity to be playing with my favourite plushies. never looked back since. thank you, universe. Liked by albaps9, alexiaputellas, bff2 and 508 others

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bff3 Adorable!!

albaps9 she always cried at home before going, then cried when she had to go home after she met you jajaja ↳ bff1 i have that effect 😇 ↳ albps9 i still think you're the reason she's no longer shy and innocent 😡 ↳ bff1 you're so welcome!

bff2 My favourite chaotic girls! 🤗

alexiaputellas Go back to being this little @/yourusername 😔 liked by yourusername

yourusername going from sharing plushies to sharing the best moments of my life! ↳ bff2 For a second I was worried you were going to say undies 😭 ↳ bff1 won't fit, my butt's bigger than hers ↳ yourusername no way!! ↳ bff1 to the undies or the butt? ↳ yourusername yes 👼 ↳ bff1 yes to what?? liked by yourusername

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tagged: yourusername bff2: Watch out world, she’s coming for you. Now stronger than ever! ❤️ Liked by marisabel_rguez, bff3, albaps9 and 123 others

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yourusername ❤️ ↳ bff2 ❤️ ↳ bff3 ❤️ ↳ bff1 ❤️

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marisabel_rguez: Going to make Sevilla unsafe 😛 Liked by sofie.svava, frejaolofssonn, marialeonn16 and 12,493 others

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sofie.svava and unsafe we made it! ↳ marisabel_rguez 😉

carolinemoller_ My bank account is still weeping 🤪

atheeneeaa_10 Girls! 💜

username1 i miss yn in here liked by 12 others

claudia.zornoza 😍

carolineweir95 Missing you all!

username2 Is it me or is misa really inactive lately, she's changed ↳ username3 Not just you ): ↳ username2 And her game has been so off lately, ngl

haleyraso You better return to us all smiley again after this trip!!! 😤

frejaolofssonn hey who's that one in the back? she's looking goooood. liked by marisabel_rguez

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yourusername: i guess i'm back. (well, i'll try to stick around) Liked by marialeonn16, alexiaputellas, esmeebrugts and 3,489 others

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username1 we missed you!!!!!!

ingridengen ig's not the same without our princesa 🤩

username2 Hello againnnn

bff1 two/three whole months? without posting? record. but i missed you. ↳ yourusername i missed me too ☹️ ↳ bff1 😘

ona.battle Now we had you all to ourselves for a little while 😝 ↳ salmaparalluelo whoop whoop 🙌 liked by yourusername

albaps9 eyes on the road, chica, or have you forgotten when you messed up your foot while biking to school??? liked by alexiaputellas ↳ alexiaputellas The one day she had to go alone and boom 😆 ↳ yourusername so nice to see you making fun of my messed up and bloodied foot. it really hurt and i was alone and panicking and had to bike back home in pain 😔 ↳ ablaps9 i mean, i'm sorry for laughing but WHO the hell wears chanclas while biking? WHO?! a safety hazard!! ↳ alexiaputellas An eight year old 🤷‍♀️ ↳ yourusername they were my favourite pair of havaianas, i wanted to look cute 😞 ↳ albaps9 mom was right to whoop your ass with them later ↳ alexiaputellas At least now you have a cool scar 😎

bff3 Good to have you back, babe! Ps, you left your sweatshirt at our place. ❤️ ↳ yourusername keep it company for me until tuesday <3 ↳ bff1 just don't go and cook a curry with it on, like last time ↳ bff3 If you hadn't turned the stove higher behind my back, none of it would've splattered! ↳ bff1 didn't want it to take an hour longer. i was hungry. ↳ bff3 Well, not going to wear it while cooking. It's the green adidas one, btw, your favourite, so I wouldn't dare. ↳ yourusername ahh. well, i think green's your colour anyway, keep it 😘

username3 Welcome back 👋

username4 FINALLY

username5 now misa has to come back too 🤞 ↳ username4 Here's to hoping this post will do just that

username4 no more misa/yn interactions? this girlie is very sad ↳ username1 Don't think that's happening anymore 😪 ↳ username5 yeah, between the radio silence, stories and off-behaviour, i don't think so either ↳ username3 well, that doesn't have to be bc of misa? ↳ username6 no u-haul? 😢 ↳ username1 No U-haul.

begovargas Loved spending time with you. We should do it again soon 😌 ↳ yourusername I'm so down!! Miss you already! 🫶

marialeonn16 Did you eat any more good pasta by any chance? ↳ yourusername YES, and also discovered this new cute restaurant. i'll text you the place. liked by ingridengen

janafernandez3 Hey chica 😻 liked by yourusername

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↳49min ago: yourusername added to their close friends story

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5min ago: marisabel_rguez just added to their close friends story ↳ This story is no longer available

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Direct Messages

yourusername hey ↳ marisabel_rguez Hey

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a/n to anyone reading this, i hope you have a lovely day. 🌼🥰

#misa rodriguez x reader #misa rodriguez one shot #woso x reader #woso social media au

[maniculum]

Odd interaction at the bookstore yesterday. Got summoned to the register in my capacity as Employee Who Knows About Old Books because a customer wanted to know what Don Quixote was about.

(Yes, this does mean that the employee already at the register wasn’t able to answer that question. I have a lot of “what are they teaching you in those schools?” interactions with my younger co-workers.)

Anyway, I gave the customer a quick synopsis. He asked if I’d recommend it, and I said I would, that it was not only well-written but also pretty accessible & engaging for a novel written four hundred years ago. Then he asked if he would “see things differently after reading it.”

He then elaborated that he really liked Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist and wanted other books he read to have a similar paradigm-shifting effect.

(I haven’t read The Alchemist, specifically because every time someone recommends it to me they use this same kind of language, which makes me feel like they’re trying to get me to join a cult rather than read a book.)

We are in a college town, so “young person who’s just learned what philosophy and poetry are and now thinks of themselves as Deep” is a Type of Guy we encounter fairly frequently.

(Just a few hours before this, I overheard a young man recommending a book to his female companion because it would “help with her creative energies”.)

So it’s not that this is particularly unusual in vibes, it’s more that… this seems like an odd standard to hold a novel to before you read it. And it’s an odd question to ask your local bookseller — “will this book change my life?” I dunno, man, I don’t know your life. Maybe it will, books do that sometimes.

Anyway, I told him “probably”, because honestly Don Quixote is a really good book and I think more people should read it. And, I dunno, maybe it will make him see things differently.

(It might even make him see novels as intrinsically worth reading rather than as vessels for personal change.)

I have no idea if that worked, because as mentioned I wasn’t at the register at the time. I went back to organizing the used books and didn’t see him again. Kind of hope he bought it.

(To be clear, at no point during this conversation was he holding a copy of Don Quixote. I had to instruct him to look under “C” for “Cervantes” if he decided he wanted to buy it. His curiosity was sparked by a set of novelty bookends.)

#books #retail #don quixote

[creatingblackcharacters]

“The Same Place as the Music” Lighting & Color

“Where is the light coming from?” “The same place as the music.” Andrew Lesnie, Cinematographer of LOTR

How & Why It's A Problem

If I had to summarize the frustration I have with this topic in one image, I'd use JeCorey Holder's (queer Black creative!) meme:

Now here's the thing. I'm not saying you have to be a master at lighting. I'm surely not. Hell, I still play around with lighting in my art in ways that aren’t the ‘most realistic’. You can’t ask me the technical explanations behind ‘color theory’ or 'contrast' without me doing some more reading. However… I don’t think anyone needs an art degree to understand this point:

We should be able to SEE your brown skinned Black characters!

I brought this up in my lessons about skin tones and blushing, and it applies with lighting as well. If all of your other characters have focused light and shadows, so should your Black characters.

However, this does NOT mean making them lighter-skinned!!!!

It's not funny nor logical at all to suggest that they somehow can't be seen like your other characters when you’re the one creating the piece. It's like a classic fifth-grade racist joke, “You blend in at night”. Har-de-har.

I was once rudely told to my face (well in the DMs) that a Black character that was completely Europeanized looked like that “because of the [sepia] lighting”. So I'm going to give you all, gracious readers, an example to show that that's not true.

This is Ana Flávia, Afro-Brazilian model! Gaze upon her beauty! Notice how in both of these filters, Ana did not, in fact, turn into a white woman! Because, my friends, that is not how that works! At all!

Here are some other examples of Black people in non-color lighting:

None of these people vanished from the frame just because there was no color. They didn't have to paint on lighter makeup to be captured by the camera. What do they all have in common (in this example)?

Lighting!

Now let’s discuss different ways to think about and potentially try instead!

What I want you all to keep in mind, is that the art you’re painting:

And I know that's silly right, like yeah no shit Ice, we knew that. BUT my point here is don’t be afraid to study photography, theatre, and staging for ideas. They actively work with light! It’s why I share so many images of models; it’s purposeful, focused staging of light with many of these compositions!

Brown-skinned Black people- brown-skinned people in general- GLOW in the light! Our skin reflects environmental light! There’s so much opportunity to play with that, and you can see different examples in those mediums.

Here are a couple articles of lighting in film focused on Black actors.

When lighting a person with dark complexion, the answer is not LIGHTENING THE SKIN, it’s understanding how light reflects off of dark skin.” -Nilah Magruder

Nilah Magruder (Black creator!) has an ENTIRE, thorough and wonderful essay on the topic, far better than I could give! She incorporates the use of cameras, lighting, painting, and more- so rather than be redundant here, I'm going to spotlight (ha see what I did there. It's okay, I know I'm funny) her and her explanation.

Incorporating Blackness in Color/Colorful Lighting

@dsm7 has an excellent and short visual explanation of how picking certain colors will lead to washing out or whitewashing Black characters, and how certain lighting and backgrounds (think the black and white photos on brighter backgrounds) will change the way their skin tone looks.

@nicosbighead has one of my favorite images on here, that shows how many different colors can still be used to convey the image of Blackness. Notice how all those pinks still worked?

@gaksdesigns has a beautiful picture here that I feel utilizes the light in a very minimal yet effective way to show highlights even on a palette that's fully brown.

This article approaches from a lighting perspective via filmmaking, but essentially Sade Ndya suggests instead of increasing the amount of light, change the color/lens of the light based on your character’s skin, as well as for the circumstances of the scene. They'll remain vibrant that way, and you’ll still capture what you need.

I know one way I do this on CSP (I think I’ve mentioned this but I can’t remember) is to use the Add Glow tool with the same or a similar shade of the character’s brown skin tone as a highlight under natural light, or maybe use different colors or filters depending on the sort of light on their skin at the time.

Here’s a reddit about it too, just because I know y’all value Reddit on here, and someone else discussed the topic that both Nilah and Sade discussed.

Is It Intentional?

There are going to be times where you intend for the light to be minimal. Maybe it’s a style choice. That should still show purposeful composition. Here’s an interview with famed Black director Ava Duvernay discussing the intentional darkness on Black actors in the prison scene in the movie Selma. To show that they're both trapped in prison AND that Martin is temporarily low on resolve- it's a part of the story that's being told.

I'm always talking about this: there is a difference between intention (and following through), and neglecting to think about it at all. And neglect isn't what we want, because often we can tell visually when it is- when an artist simply did not think to do it for one versus the rest.

Sidenote, on Youtube in the suggestions after Ava's interview, are also plenty of videos discussing lighting for dark-skin as well- why not take the chance to look?

Conclusion

We do not lack for light! We aren’t flat and lightless when you see us in life. It's actually a pretty awesome part of being brown-skinned. If you’re giving proper, flattering lighting to everyone else, give it to us as well. Study and experiment with ways to highlight brown skin.

You already know what I’m going to say. It’s going to take practice, same as anything else, because it’s the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!

#creatingblackcharacters #character design #black characters #black art #black character design #black artists

[just-my-latest-hyperfixation]

Congratulations!!

If you feel inspired by this combo and have time, could you write a ficlet using "I", 🍨, 🥰 or 😂, and 🔨?

Thank you!

(Apologies if you already got this ask--my device froze when I sent it the first time, so I don't know if it went through)

Thank you so much! 🥰I still remember your lovely comments on the mer-dude fic, so I hope you enjoy this little bonus! 🦕❤️🧜🏻‍♂️

Of mates and mer-dudes

Words: 996

Rated: T

Tags: summer camp AU; mer!Steve; established relationship; flirting; sexual tension; fade to black

Notes: Set in the same universe as Just add water

“Hammer.” 

“Hammer,” Eddie repeats dutifully. Dustin spends two or three seconds trying to drive the nail in with the object he's been handed, until he realizes it's a screwdriver. 

“Very funny. I said hammer.” 

“Apologies,” Eddie mutters, chucking the screwdriver back into the mess that is their toolbox with one hand and wiping his sunburnt forehead with the other. “I think we've been out here longer than is strictly healthy. How ‘bout we call it a day and head back to camp? It's almost dinner time.” 

Dustin scowls. The hair under his Thinking Cap is matted with sweat and he is red-faced and splotchy. An unavoidable side effect of working out on the secluded pier all afternoon. 

“We can't just stop now, it's almost done,” Dustin claims, gesturing at their rickety construction of wood and mesh - it’s supposed to be an oversized fish trap, even though Eddie thinks it’s turning out to be more of a funky modern art installation. “This'll work, I know it. This time, I'll prove that Lovie is real. All those past times, it got away too quickly, but if I could just-” 

“Jesus, kid,” Eddie groans. “You and your lake monster. You don't know when to give up, do you?” 

“Give up?” Dustin scoffs. “If Thomas Edison had given up, we'd still be lighting candles. If Homer Ahr had given up, we would've never walked on the moon. I sure as hell won't-?” 

“The fuck is Homer Ahr?” 

Dustin heaves a long-suffering sigh. 

“Only mission control's chief engineer, Eddie? Honestly, that's the kinda question I'd expect from Steve, not you. Where is he, by the way? I thought he wanted to help us.”

“No idea,” Eddie admits. “Lucky bastard.” 

Dustin draws a breath, probably to ask what he means, but Eddie is saved by the sound of the dinner bell floating over from the camp grounds. 

“Okay, you gremlin, off you go,” he says, pushing the kid towards the sound before another argument can break loose. “We can finish this tomorrow when we aren't dehydrated and grouchy.” 

Dustin grumbles. “What about you?”

Eddie waves him off. “Be there in a sec, lemme put away your shit first.” 

He starts picking up their scattered tools, throwing them back into the box. Only when he's sure that Dustin is well out of earshot does he collapse at the edge of the pier, naked feet dangling over the water's surface. 

“Man,” he says. “That kid, right?” 

There's a soft growl from behind him, and the barest of sloshing sounds, and a shadow falls over him. He only just manages to suck in a breath - knowing he'll need it - before a massive snout pushes between his shoulder blades and he goes plummeting into the lake. He’s dimly aware of the toolbox going down with him, and then the world vanishes in a whirl of bubbles.

He resurfaces to the feeling of arms wrapping around his waist and massive fins brushing his legs, and the sound of laughing voices - one human, one very much not so. He tries to glower at their owners, but actually needs a second to part the sopping curtain of his hair.  

“So fucking hilarious, you aquatic asshats. I thought I told you to quit doing that.” 

Lovie the lake creature just chirps merrily and dives back under again, splashing him with her fins as she goes. 

Steve shrugs. The motion makes tiny droplets of water run down his bare shoulders and collarbones, bringing out his freckles and moles and tiny, glittering scales. Eddie wants to lick them. He has long stopped worrying about what that says about him.

“Sorry. She just wants you in the water with us. She likes it when the flock is together.”

His smile is apologetic, but his tail curls around Eddie’s legs in the water, fins wrapping around the two of them possessively.

Because, see, here's the thing. Over the past year, Eddie has not only discovered that his infuriatingly pretty fellow camp counselor is a mermaid and the guardian of an ancient lake creature. He has also somehow managed to score said mer-dude as a boyfriend and been adopted into the lake creature's flock.  

“She never does that shit with Buckley,” he grouses, even though Steve’s words make something flutter in his chest. Steve's touch, also - hands on his hips, fins on his ankles. “She's part of the flock, too, isn't she?” 

“Yeah…” Steve blushes, a delicious pink hue on wet, sun-tanned skin. Eddie wants to lick that, too. “But Robin isn't my…” 

He trails off into an unintelligible mumble after that. Eddie wrinkles his brow. 

“Your what? Come again, fish boy, I didn’t-” 

“My mate,” Steve blurts, and the fins on his hips flutter excitedly under Eddie’s fingers. “Robin isn’t my mate.” 

Eddie feels his mouth drop open. The water is unpleasantly cold against his flushed skin. 

“Wait,” he says when he finally remembers how to form words again. “Hold on a second. When did that happen?” 

Steve’s face is still scarlet, but his lips start twitching when he meets Eddie’s eyes. “That’s just the way she sees it. You can’t expect her to think in human standards. Now c’mon, we gotta get to dinner or the kids will wonder where-” 

“Oh, no!” Eddie interrupts him, mouth tugging into a stupid, wide grin of his own. “No, no, no, sweetheart. You don’t get to tell me that we’ve been mer-mated for God knows how long and never officially consummated that sacred connection. I’m gonna get a mer-divorce if you don’t-” 

“Oh God, shut up,” Steve groans, and kisses him. 

As he gets dragged off to their favorite little shore, well out of sight from the camp grounds, Eddie bids a brief mental farewell to the toolbox lying abandoned at the ground of the lake. He’ll have to make up some story about where it went when Dustin asks him, but that's a problem for later. 

For now, he’s got other things to think about. 

More celebration ficlets

#steddie #steve x eddie #steve harrington x eddie munson #steddie brainrot #steddie fanfic #fanfiction writer #fanfiction #fanfic #my writing #just add water #hype's 1k follower ficlets

[amalthiaph]

✨ EDMON RAMPART (Amalthia's Version) ✨ You know I once swore to never draw him, well that was of course before he got the James Norrington treatment so it's the Alexsandr Kallus Effect for me again. Talk about from fuck this man to I wanna fuck this man.

Teeny weeny fandom salt and salt in general coming up so if you don't like that, you can go scroll down. There used to be a cut here but I removed it. I will always be polite, but I know WHEN to talk.

From now on, I will be calling my fanart "Amalthia's version". I hope I don't come across as tone deaf or insensitive about this, but I wish I was good at art.

I've seen posts that say "I wish artists would stop drawing [character name] with [this] or [that]" or "stop drawing [character] with [this]". While it's great to hear about your preferences, please bear in mind that at the end of the day, fanart CAN BE an artist's take on a character. For me, THIS is how I draw Edmon Rampart. This is with regard to the art style I developed and the color palette that I constantly use to keep up with my blog's theme.

Another ick is an ongoing issue in the TBB fandom. In my Hunter and Omega art, I did something I don't usually do, which is add a secondary light source. A few minutes after posting, I got an anon telling me to unwhitewash the characters. I immediately messaged one of my friends for their honest opinion and they said I don't whitewash the characters. I went on to the drawing file and tried to study my own drawing and see if I really did whitewashed the characters. Edit: There really are some artists who whitewash the characters and I was trying to do a SELF-CHECK bec maybe I'm one of them.

I found out that the thing that made the difference is the secondary light source that I added. This secondary light source is lighter in color than their skin, and it created the Contrast Effect. Due to the nature of the human eye and visual processing by the brain, there's an optical illusion that the same color will look different depending on the color beside it and/or the background. It's in psychology class, paying attention would help.

In addition to the secondary light, it could also be the brown background color that caused this effect. And before anyone goes, "are you sure?" Yes, I am. I sat with a Psychology major to discuss about this whole Contract Effect thing.

This does not only apply in colors, it could also be to objects, that why they say all things are relative. One thing could appear bigger or smaller depending upon the object beside it. One of the things they 'check' to see if a certain artist whitewashed a character is the size of the nose. Once again, please do apply Contrast Effect. Some artist really draw their characters stick-like so try to compare all the noses they had drawn in their entire lifetimes and maybe, just maybe they did draw the noses wide in comparison to their other artworks, it just looks like that because it's part of their art style.

Edit: Please do try to analyze things first before casting down your judgement.

It's so difficult to be an artist AND IN THIS FANDOM. We never seem to be enough. If we do the character with artistic freedom, you'll say "stop drawing them like that bec they don't have that in the show" and when we try to draw them as close to the show, you'll say "unwhitewash the characters". We are never good enough for you.

So yeah, I wish I was good at this.

Link to the rest of this series:

1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10 || 11 || 12 || 13 || 14 || 15

#i'm gonna add this tag: AMALTHIA IS ANGRY #the bad batch #the bad batch season 3 #the bad batch s3 #tbb s3 spoilers #tbb rampart #edmon rampart #yeah i'm not tagging vice admiral rampart #HE'S BEEN DEMOTED #tbb #star wars #small artist #artists on tumblr #amalthiaph #the bad batch actors au

[smytherines]

I love One Step Ahead for all the obvious reasons (gay angst), but also because it is so packed with little storytelling moments. Also it just seems exhausting. So much happens in that song:

1. Motorcycle chase (with office chairs)

2. Boat chase

3. Staff fight

4. Sword fight

5. Vigorous musket loading

6. Run up the staircase

7. Hang glider chase

8. Fistfight

9. Run halfway down the stairs again

And the entire time they are doing all of this, they're belting out a vocally demanding song. I mean, no wonder Curt Mega had to take a breath during that final note. That's a feat of endurance. I simply would've passed out and died.

One Step Ahead is one of my favorite setpieces of all time. In anything. Ever. It is so impressive, and it is even more impressive when you realize this was done by a tiny little independent company with the theatre budget equivalent of $1.50. Unreal. It should not be possible.

And the thing is, One Step Ahead is the perfect narrative counterweight to A1P1 (Spies Are Forever). The amount of thought they put into this is just stunning. Because here's the thing: A1P1 is also incredibly physical. For most of the song Curt and Owen are on the move, they're going up the ladder, they're fighting goons, they're going down the staircase, they're running.

But more importantly, Curt and Owen are touching a lot in A1P1. And yeah, that's fun in a swoony curtwen vibes way, but its also incredibly important to the narrative. They are touching a lot, and when they aren't touching they are standing just a little bit too close together. Its subtle enough that you initially dismiss it as a stylistic choice, but once you have the full context it is remarkably intimate.

Those are important details- like the way Owen has his arm around Curt and is literally holding his hand when they're talking to Cynthia. Its meant to tell us that they are together. In the romantic way, yes, but also they're just aligned, working together, on the same page. They are partners here. They literally have each other's backs.

And that's down to Curt Mega and Joey Richter selling the absolute shit out of these roles, and genius choreography by Lauren Lopez, and Corey Lubowich being the director of all time.

The digital download BTS has a part with Joey and Curt rehearsing the bit where they do the hug, and right after that they're trying to figure out what cool action poses to move into and Corey says that he wants to see something with them "connected," which is just... yeah, that's the perfect word to describe what is going on in A1P1. These two are connected.

So then we get to One Step Ahead. At the very beginning, Curt does the arm clasp with Tatiana. The first time they did this, Curt had a flashback of Owen. Owen was still his partner in his heart. But this time that bond is severed. Curt thinks of Tatiana as his partner now.

We get into the action of the song, and Curt and Owen do not touch. Even when they are very physically close together, there are weapons between them. In A1P1 they had lots of moments with their backs turned to each other, trusting each other, working perfectly in sync. In One Step Ahead they are facing each other head on. They are literally and figuratively fighting. They are breaking up.

The only moment during this sequence where they are actually touching each other is when Owen slaps Curt, Curt punches Owen twice, and they do that lock up move. They're only touching to hurt each other now.

And its so subtle and well executed that you don't really think about the parallels between these two scenes the first time you watch them. But you feel it on an emotional level. They had about ten minutes to establish the relationship between these two, and they used that ten minutes so effectively that the staircase scene ends up hitting like a ton of bricks.

Just. I love this show. I love how much TCB and Curt Mega and the rest of the cast care about this show. I'm so grateful they keep coming back to it. I cannot wait to see what they do with these scenes for Spy Another Day.

#spy another day #spies are forever #owen carvour #agent curt mega #tin can bros #curtwen #saf #tcb #tinlightenment world tour #saf rants

[cy-cyborg]

Dealing with Healing and Disability in fantasy: Writing Disability

[ID: An image of the main character from Eragon, a white teenage boy with blond hair in silver armour as he sits, with his hand outstretched. On his hand is a glowing blue mark. He is visibly straining as he attempts to heal a large creature in front of him. /End ID]

I'm a massive fan of the fantasy genre, which is why it's so incredibly frustrating when I see so much resistance to adding disability representation to fantasy works. People's go-to reason for leaving us out is usually something to the effect of "But my setting has magic so disability wouldn't exist, it can just be healed!" so let's talk about magic, specifically healing magic, in these settings, and how you can use it without erasing disability from your story.

Ok, let's start with why you would even want to avoid erasing disability from a setting in the first place. I talked about this in a lot more detail in my post on The Miracle Cure. this line of thinking is another version of this trope, but applied to a whole setting (or at least, to the majority of people in the setting) instead of an individual, so it's going to run into the same issues I discussed there. To summarise the points that are relevant to this particular version of the trope though:

Not every disabled person wants or needs a cure - many of us see our disability as a part of our identity. Do difficulties come with being disabled? absolutely! It's literally part of the definition, but for some people in the disabled community, if you took our disabilities away, we would be entirely different people. While it is far from universal, there is a significant number of us who, if given a magical cure with no strings attached, would not take it. Saying no one in your setting would be disabled because these healing spells exists ignores this part of the community.

It messes with the stakes of your story - Just like how resurrecting characters or showing that this is something that is indeed possible in the setting can leave your audience feeling cheated or like they don't have to worry about a character *actually* ever dying. healing a character's disability, or establishing that disability doesn't exist in your setting because "magic" runs into the same problem. It will leave your readers or viewers feeling like they don't have to worry about your characters getting seriously hurt because it will only be temporary, which means your hero's actions carry significantly less risk, which in turn, lowers the stakes and tension if not handled very, very carefully.

It's an over-used trope - quite plainly and simply, this trope shows up a lot in the fantasy genre, to the point where I'd say it's just overused and kind of boring.

So with the "why should you avoid it" covered, let's look at how you can actually handle the topic.

Limited Access and Expensive Costs

One of the most common ways to deal with healing and disability in a fantasy setting, is to make the healing magic available, but inaccessible to most of the population. The most popular way to do that is by making the services of a magical healer capable of curing a disability really expensive to the point that most people just can't afford it. If this is the approach you're going to use, you also typically have to make that type of magic quite rare. To use D&D terms, if every first level sorcerer, bard, cleric and druid can heal a spinal injury, it's going to result in a lot of people who are able to undercut those massive prices and the expense will drop as demand goes down. If that last sentence didn't give you a hint, this is really popular method in stories that are critiquing capitalistic mindsets and ideologies, and is most commonly used by authors from the USA and other countries with a similar medical system, since it mirrors a lot of the difficulties faced by disabled Americans. If done right, this approach can be very effective, but it does need to be thought through more carefully than I think people tend to do. Mainly because a lot of fantasy stories end with the main character becoming rich and/or powerful, and so these prohibitively expensive cure become attainable by the story's end, which a lot of authors and writer's just never address. Of course, another approach is to make the availability of the magic itself the barrier. Maybe there just aren't that many people around who know the magic required for that kind of healing, so even without a prohibitive price tag, it's just not something that's an option for most people. If we're looking at a D&D-type setting, maybe you need to be an exceptionally high level to cast the more powerful healing spell, or maybe the spell requires some rare or lost material component. I'd personally advise people to be careful using this approach, since it often leads to stories centred around finding a miracle cure, which then just falls back into that trope more often than not.

Just outright state that some characters don't want/need it

Another, admittedly more direct approach, is to make it that these "cures" exist and are easily attainable, but to just make it that your character or others they encounter don't want or need it. This approach works best for characters who are born with their disabilities or who already had them for a long time before a cure was made available to them. Even within those groups though, this method works better with some types of characters than others depending on many other traits (personality, cultural beliefs, etc), and isn't really a one-size-fits-all solution, but to be fair, that's kind of the point. Some people will want a cure for their disabilities, others are content with their body's the way they are. There's a few caveats I have with this kind of approach though:

you want to make sure you, as the author, understand why some people in real life don't want a cure, and not just in a "yeah I know these people exist but I don't really get it" kind of way. I'm not saying you have to have a deep, personal understanding or anything, but some degree of understanding is required unless you want to sound like one of those "inspirational" body positivity posts that used to show up on Instagram back in the day.

Be wary when using cultural beliefs as a reasoning. It can work, but when media uses cultural beliefs as a reason for turning down some kind of cure, it's often intending to critique extreme beliefs about medicine, such as the ones seen in some New Age Spirituality groups and particularly intense Christian churches. As a general rule of thumb, it's probably not a good idea to connect these kinds of beliefs to disabled people just being happy in their bodies. Alternatively, you also need to be mindful of the "stuck in time" trope - a trope about indigenous people who are depicted as primitive or, as the name suggests, stuck in an earlier time, for "spurning the ways of the white man" which usually includes medicine or the setting's equivalent magic. I'm not the best person to advise you on how to avoid this specific trope, but my partner (who's Taino) has informed me of how often it shows up in fantasy specifically and we both thought it was worth including a warning at least so creators who are interested in this method know to do some further research.

Give the "cures" long-lasting side effects

Often in the real world, when a "cure" for a disability does exist, it's not a perfect solution and comes with a lot of side effects. For example, if you loose part of your arm in an accident, but you're able to get to a hospital quickly with said severed arm, it can sometimes be reattached, but doing so comes at a cost. Most people I know who had this done had a lot of issues with nerve damage, reduced strength, reduced fine-motor control and often a great deal of pain with no clear source. Two of the people I know who's limbs were saved ended up having them optionally re-amputated only a few years later. Likewise, I know many people who are paraplegics and quadriplegics via spinal injuries, who were able to regain the use of their arms and/or legs. However, the process was not an easy one, and involved years of intense physiotherapy and strength training. For some of them, they need to continue to do this work permanently just to maintain use of the effected limbs, so much so that it impacts their ability to do things like work a full-time job and engage in their hobbies regularly, and even then, none of them will be able bodied again. Even with all that work, they all still experience reduced strength and reduced control of the limbs. depending on the type, place and severity of the injury, some people are able to get back to "almost able bodied" again - such was the case for my childhood best friend's dad, but they often still have to deal with chronic pain from the injury or chronic fatigue.

Even though we are talking about magic in a fantasy setting, we can still look to real-life examples of "cures" to get ideas. Perhaps the magic used has a similar side effect. Yes, your paraplegic character can be "cured" enough to walk again, but the magic maintaining the spell needs a power source to keep it going, so it draws on the person's innate energy within their body, using the very energy the body needs to function and do things like move their limbs. They are cured, but constantly exhausted unless they're very careful, and if the spell is especially strong, the body might struggle to move at all, resulting in something that looks and functions similar to the nerve damage folks with spinal injuries sometimes deal with that causes that muscle weakness and motor control issues. Your amputee might be able to have their leg regrown, but it will always be slightly off. The regrown leg is weaker and causes them to walk with a limp, maybe even requiring them to use a cane or other mobility aid.

Some characters might decide these trade-offs are worth it, and while this cures their initial disability, it leaves them with another. Others might simply decide the initial disability is less trouble than these side effects, and choose to stay as they are.

Consider if these are actually cures

Speaking of looking to the real world for ideas, you might also want to consider whether these cures are doing what the people peddling them are claiming they do. Let's look at the so-called autism cures that spring up every couple of months as an example.

Without getting into the… hotly debated specifics, there are many therapies that are often labelled as "cures" for autism, but in reality, all they are doing is teaching autistic people how to make their autistic traits less noticeable to others. This is called masking, and it's a skill that often comes at great cost to an autistic person's mental health, especially when it's a behaviour that is forced on them. Many of these therapies give the appearance of being a cure, but the disability is still there, as are the needs and difficulties that come with it, they're just hidden away. From an outside perspective though, it often does look like a success, at least in the short-term. Then there are the entirely fake cures with no basis in reality, the things you'll find from your classic snake-oil salesmen. Even in a fantasy setting where real magic exists, these kinds of scams and misleading treatments can still exist. In fact, I think it would make them even more common than they are in the real world, since there's less suspension of disbelief required for people to fall for them. "What do you mean this miracle tonic is a scam? Phil next door can conjure flames in his hand and make the plants grow with a snap of his fingers, why is it so hard to believe this tonic could regrow my missing limb?"

I think the only example of this approach I've seen, at least recently, is from The Owl House. The magic in this world can do incredible things, but it works in very specific and defined ways. Eda's curse (which can be viewed as an allegory for many disabilities and chronic illnesses) is seemingly an exception to this, and as such, nothing is able to cure it. Treat it, yes, but not cure it. Eda's mother doesn't accept this though, and seeks out a cure anyway and ends up falling for a scam who's "treatments" just make things worse.

In your own stories, you can either have these scams just not work, or kind of work, but in ways that are harmful and just not worth it, like worse versions of the examples in the previous point. Alternatively, like Eda, it's entirely reasonable that a character who's been the target of these scams before might just not want to bother anymore. Eda is a really good example of this approach handled in a way that doesn't make her sad and depressed about it either. She's tried her mum's methods, they didn't work, and now she's found her own way of dealing with it that she's happy with. She only gets upset when her boundaries are ignored by Luz and her mother.

Think about how the healing magic is actually working

If you have a magic system that leans more on the "hard magic" side of things, a great way to get around the issue of healing magic erasing disability is to stop and think about how your healing magic actually works.

My favourite way of doing this is to make healing magic work by accelerating the natural processes of your body. Your body will, given enough time (assuming it remains infection-free) close a slash from a sword and mend a broken bone, but it will never regrow it's own limbs. It will never heal damage to it's own spinal cord. It will never undo whatever causes autism or fix it's own irregularities. Not without help. Likewise, healing magic alone won't do any of these things either, it's just accelerating the existing process and usually, by extension making it safer, since a wound staying open for an hour before you get to a healer is much less likely to get infected than one that slowly and naturally heals over a few weeks. In one of my own works, I take this even further by making it that the healing magic is only accelerating cell growth and repair, but the healer has to direct it. In order to actually heal, the healer needs to know the anatomy of what they're fixing to the finest detail. A spell can reconnect a torn muscle to a bone, but if you don't understand the structures that allow that to happen in the first place, you're likely going to make things worse. For this reason, you won't really see people using this kind of magic to, say, regrow limbs, even though it technically is possible. A limb is a complicated thing. The healer needs to be able to perfectly envision all the bones, the cartilage, the tendons and ligaments, the muscles (including the little ones, like those found in your skin that make your hair stand on end and give you goose bumps), the fat and skin tissues, all the nerves, all the blood vessels, all the structures within the bone that create your blood. Everything, and they need to know how it all connects, how it is supposed to move and be able to keep that clearly in their mind simultaneously while casting. Their mental image also has to match with the patient's internal "map" of the body and the lost limb, or they'll continue to experience phantom limb sensation even if the healing is successful. It's technically possible, but the chances they'll mess something up is too high, and so it's just not worth the risk to most people, including my main character.

Put Restrictions on the magic

This is mostly just the same advice as above, but for softer magic systems. put limits and restrictions on your healing magic. These can be innate (so things the magic itself is just incapable of doing) or external (things like laws that put limitations on certain types of magic and spells).

An example of internal restriction can be seen in how some people interpret D&D's higher level healing spells like regenerate (a 7th level spell-something most characters won't have access to for quite some time). The rules as written specify that disabilities like lost limbs can be healed using this spell, but some players take this to mean that if a character was born with the disability in question, say, born without a limb, regenerate would only heal them back to their body's natural state, which for them, is still disabled.

An external restriction would be that your setting has outlawed healing magic, perhaps because healing magic carries a lot of risks for some reason, eithe to the caster or the person being healed, or maybe because the healing magic here works by selectively reviving and altering the function of cells, which makes it a form of necromancy, just on a smaller scale. Of course, you can also use the tried and true, "all magic is outlawed" approach too. In either case, it's something that will prevent some people from being able to access it, despite it being technically possible. Other external restrictions could look like not being illegal, per say, but culturally frowned upon or taboo where your character is from.

But what if I don't want to do any of this?

Well you don't have to. These are just suggestions to get you thinking about how to make a world where healing magic and disability exist, but they aren't the only ways. Just the ones I thought of.

Of course, if you'd still rather make a setting where all disability is cured because magic and you just don't want to think about it any deeper, I can't stop you. I do however, want to ask you to at least consider where you are going to draw the line. Disability, in essence, is what happens when the body stops (or never started) functioning "normally". Sometimes that happens because of an injury, sometimes it's just bad luck, but the boundary between disabled and not disabled is not as solid as I think a lot of people expect it to be, and we as a society have a lot of weird ideas about what is and isn't a disability that just, quite plainly and simply, aren't consistent. You have to remember, a magic system won't pick and choose the way we humans do, it will apply universally, regardless of our societal hang-ups about disability.

What do I mean about this?

Well, consider for a moment, what causes aging? it's the result of our body not being able to repair itself as effectively as it used to. It's the body not being able to perform that function "normally". So in a setting where all disability is cured, there would be no aging. No elderly people. No death from old age. If you erase disability, you also erase natural processes like aging. magic won't pick and choose like that, not if you want it to be consistent.

Ok, ok, maybe that's too much of a stretch, so instead, let's look at our stereotypical buff hero covered in scars because he's a badass warrior. but in a world where you can heal anything, why would anything scar? Even if it did, could another healing spell not correct that too? Scars are part of the body's natural healing process, but if no natural healing occurred, why would a scar form? Scars are also considered disabling in and of themselves too, especially large ones, since they aren't as flexible or durable as normal skin and can even restrict growth and movement.

Even common things like needing glasses are, using this definition of disability at least, a disability. glasses are a socially accepted disability aid used to correct your eyes when they do not function "normally".

Now to be fair, in reality, there are several definitions of disability, most of which include something about the impact of society. For example, in Australia (according to the Disability Royal Commission), we define disability as "An evolving concept that results from the interaction between a person with impairment(s) and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others." - or in laymen's terms, the interaction between a person's impairment and societal barriers like people not making things accessible or holding misinformed beliefs about your impairment (e.g. people in wheelchairs are weaker than people who walk). Under a definition like this, things like scars and needing glasses aren't necessarily disabilities (most of the time) but that's because of how our modern society sees them. The problem with using a definition like this though to guide what your magic system will get rid of, is that something like a magic system won't differentiate between an "impairment" that has social impacts that and one that doesn't. It will still probably get rid of anything that is technically an example of your body functioning imperfectly, which all three of these things are. The society in your setting might apply these criteria indirectly, but really, why would they? Very few people like the side effects of aging on the body (and most people typically don't want to die), the issues that come with scars or glasses are annoying (speaking as someone with both) and I can see a lot of people getting rid of them when possible too. If they don't then it's just using the "not everyone wants it approach" I mentioned earlier. If there's some law or some kind of external pressure to push people away from fixing these more normalised issues, then it's using the "restrictions" method I mentioned earlier too.

Once again, you can do whatever you like with your fantasy setting, but it's something I think that would be worth thinking about at least.

#Writing disability with Cy Cyborg #Long Post #Disability #Disabled #Disability Representation #Writing Disability #Writing #Writeblr #Authors #Creators #Writing Advice #Disabled Characters #On Writing #Disability in Media #Tropes #Disability Tropes #magic #fantasy #worldbuilding #magic systems

[waltwhitmansbeard]

so i just read a post explaining why the op (and, according to the op, a lot of other people, even tho the post in question only had 32 notes, some of which were from people who disagreed with them) didn't like the cut to the crown keepers in last week's episode. while i'm totally on board with people not jibing with stuff that just doesn't work for them, i wanted offer some reasons why this seemingly hard pivot to people who are not the main characters of the story being told was a good decision to make (note good decision, not inherently the best decision, which i believe no one, including the dm, at a ttrpg table should ever be expected to make).

matt had an extremely powerful, extremely unexpected character decision dropped in his lap in the final moments of the previous episode. we don't know exactly how much time matt has between recordings, maybe a full week, maybe not, but either way, there's a very real chance that matt just did not have enough time to fully prepare a session to deal with fcg's death and what comes next.

sam now has to create a new character that a) is of a level with the rest of the party and b) makes narrative sense for him to be there. that takes time for both him and matt, and they might just need some space to work on that. when laudna died, marisha was willing to sit away from the table for several weeks because she knew that she wanted laudna to be resurrected, but sam may not want the same thing, and that's okay!

matt may want to fold the crown keepers into his main story, some or all of them—particularly dorian, whom both liam and the fans have been asking to return for a while now. dorian is clearly important to orym and the story that liam is trying to tell, and bringing the crown keepers in may be matt's way to do that.

matt—and dms generally—has always had to straddle a very fine line of making sure that his players are the main characters of their story who feel like their actions have real consequences and effects on the world, while also understanding that in reality, it doesn't make sense for half a dozen chucklefucks to have such an outsized effect on major cosmological goings-on like *checks notes* the potential release of a god-eater. this becomes especially true when you're on your third campaign set in the same world, and your players' previous ultra-powerful pcs are still around and definitely more adept and connected than their current pcs are. i, personally, think matt does a great job at walking that line, and one of the things he does that i appreciate is that he doesn't shy away from the fact that a) his players are powerful but not the most powerful and b) his players aren't the only one who care about what's going on in the world and who are taking actions to effect change. the current plotline re: ruidus is absolutely world-shaking and is causing all the divine girlies to cower in their demiplanes, so of course even the evil ones are going to be calling on their champions to help out. it makes more sense for opal to be involved (which, btw, matt has been hinting at for a while now) than not.

matt might need a fucking break! he's been doing this consistently for nine years now, and shit is complicated! handing over the reins to aabria for a week or two or three may be what he needs to not get burnt out.

dnd is an emotional game, and the entire cast might have been rocked hard by fcg's death. some space away for a week or two could help them process and regroup to get back into a story that is otherwise very stressful and action-packed.

or it's none of these! what do i know! i'm a random idiot on the internet! matt doesn't consult me on these matters! (though my dms are open if he wants to chat, i do have ideas)

i think it's tempting to think of the decisions made in and around critical role (or any ttrpg show) like those made for a television series, because the episodes are serialized and we love them so much. but this show is, first and foremost, a group of friends playing a game together, and not a carefully constructed narrative with the primary goal of entertaining an audience. the audience always has been and, frankly, always should be second to the wishes and fun of the people around that table. matt would not have asked aabria to step in and dm a crown keepers side arc if he didn't think it was a good decision for him and his players, and that priority is the correct one. we are being invited in to watch these friends have fun together, and that's a privilege that we're super lucky to have. as long as the cr story isn't doing things that are outright abusive or harmful to the cast or the audience, i don't think we should begrudge them the choices they make in the name of their own game.

again, it's okay if you're not vibing with the crown keepers! i didn't love the aeor arc of c2! not everything is for everyone! but i think accusing matt and the cast of narrative malfeasance is a bit much when, tbqh, they don't answer to us. they answer to each other.

#me #critical role #cr meta

[writerblue275]

Hii may I request heartsteel lads and how first kisses goes?? :3

First kisses with Heartsteel!

Hi hi hi lovely anon, of course you can!! Thank you for requesting, this is such a cute idea! I’ll keep this to just first kisses, but I’ll definitely make a general kisses headcanon at some point.

Inspiration: Love a good first kiss moment.

Genre: Headcanon

Type: Fluff

Gender: Gender Neutral Reader!

TW: Swearing. Slight discussion of rebellious activities (lmao guess for which member).

Extra: Some of these I felt like I could keep completely in bullet form, but some others I felt required more set up, so there’s some prose interspersed.

Aphelios

Definitely happens further down the line when things are really getting serious. Aphelios just gives me the “takes it slow but he’s in it for the long haul” vibes (love it! You go king). It takes a while for him to let someone in, but once he does, you know you’re extremely important to him.

So you’ve been dating him maybe two-three months now. And while he hasn’t kissed you yet, there have been other kinds of physical moments (like hand holding, cheek kisses, slight cuddling, some pet names, that sort of thing) that have progressed that shows things are moving well in the right direction.

Not to mention the subtle things. Like the way he thumb lingers a little on the corner of your lips as he wipes away some ice cream your napkin missed. Or how he has to look away when you bite your lip. (Because he wants to be the one to do so. 😝) Just other subtle things that seem to signal Aphelios is ready to take that next physical step with you. You just have to figure out how to ask him in a way that won’t spook him.

One of the things you two do together? Well he’s teaching you sign language. Or at least the basics. He fully doesn’t expect you to sign all the time, hell he doesn’t even do that. But since he has to be careful to protect what remains of his voice, he does use sign language as one way of communication.

And you being the kind, wonderful partner that you are, you want to learn to sign too. Communication with your partner is so important and of course you want to be able to communicate with Aphelios as effectively as possible, so you asked him for help. (He’s so touched that you’re taking the time/making the effort to do that for him btw. Learning any new language is extremely difficult.)

So one night, after a date, when you two are just vibing together on the couch in his studio, you and Aphelios decide to play a little game that has become common for the two of you. You sign something and he grades your signing, telling/showing you what, if anything, you can do better. And for the most part it’s just been fairly basic signs and phrases.

But little does he know, you’ve been practicing more than just simple phrases at home.

Can I practice signing some questions?, you ask.

Yes, he signs. Of course! What do you have for me tonight, cutie?

You smile brightly and blush at the pet name, making him smile in response.

You start off with some basics. What is your name? How are you doing? Where are you from? Those sorts of questions. And you watch carefully as Aphelios helps you make any adjustments to clarify your signing.

“Phel, can I try and ask something more….personal? I-I want to make sure I have it down” You ask, your voice getting a little shy. You know you’re taking a risk, but you really like him and you just want to confirm he’s on the same page as you. That the connection you’ve felt isn’t just one-sided.

His eyebrows go up in surprise but he nods. Of course, he signs. What is it? You’ve really peaked his curiosity now. Especially with how shy you got.

So you take a deep breath to settle your nerves….and another one…before finally blushing deeply and signing, Will you kiss me? (You sign it flawlessly btw. You practiced for DAYS as you gathered the courage to ask him.)

His eyes widen and he blinks at you for a few moments, giving you a good clue that you did ask what you intended to.

As the silence drags on for a few moments longer and you see Aphelios try to process what you just asked, you fear you’ve made a terrible mistake of things and you start to just completely panic.

“Sh-shit Phel I’m so sorry! Oh god, I made you uncomfortable, didn’t I…Please forget I asked. Please forget I said anything! Oh I ruined everything…I’m so so so sorry. I’ll go. Please can we pretend like this didn’t happ-mm?”

You’re so frazzled and upset with yourself you didn’t even notice Phel sign absolutely yes before leaning over and kissing you slowly, his fingers threading in your hair, completely cutting off your panicked rambling.

And when he pulls away? This time you’re the one left staring at him in surprise, blinking rapidly for a few moments before smiling widely as he signs back to you, There. Now will you kiss me, please? And of course you’re more than happy to oblige. He said please, after all.

Ezreal

I think Ezreal would kiss earlier on in a relationship. His love language (giving) is physical touch and kisses are included in that. And of course with him, your first kiss is going to be fun and sweet because those are the vibes Ez gives off like 95% of the time.

In this instance the two of you are at an arcade for a date. You’ve noticed he’s been giving more and more signs that he wants to kiss you. Subtle (he thinks) glances down to your lips when the two of you are talking or the way his lips linger when he kisses you on the cheek after walking you to your door post-date. And well…you want to kiss him too. In fact you have a little plan to help move things along.

You asked Alune, who introduced the two of you, what Ezreal’s favorite arcade machine is before-hand and she immediately responded ski-ball. She told you he’s a god at ski-ball and how no one in Heartsteel will play with him anymore because he always wins. Always. His aim is just unmatched. (Though Phel is certainly practicing hard to beat him.)

So what do you do? You challenge Ezreal in ski-ball of course! But the stakes have to be raised. What’s the fun without some flirty competition?

Him: “And if I win? What do I get? Your tickets? Dinner? A kiss?” *Said with a little cocky smirk* (Of course.)

You: *grin widely at him* “Yeah sure, I’ll kiss you. Deal.”

Him: *His eyes wide and he’s very alert now* “Wait, actually??”

You: *smirks* “I mean what I say, Ezreal. You know that. Besides, I’m sure I’ll win, so why does it matter? You know how competitive I get.” (Muahaha, clever you. You got him hook, line, and sinker.)

Oh now it’s ON. He’s fully tuned in. You can tell his competitive nature made him play right into your plan. He wants that kiss.

And he’s absolutely going to get it. Ez is rolling a perfect game. Like it doesn’t take long for winning to be completely out of reach for you. So you pause to watch him, eventually starting to laugh before just going for it, leaning over and kissing him deeply (of course it’s just as he sinks the shot to break the high score record on the machine).

And once he gets over the initial surprise, he very eagerly kisses you back, one of his hands cupping your cheek. And the kiss lasts for a lovely few moments before you gently pull back and smile widely at him.

“If you wanted to kiss me to badly,” you let out on a giggle, “you could have just asked, you know. Hopefully I won’t have to knowingly embarrass myself at ski-ball again to get another kiss from you.”

Ezreal laughs shyly and kisses you again, letting his arms wrap around you. “Of course not. Happy to kiss yo- wait a second did you say ‘knowingly?’ What do you mean? How’d you even know I love ski-ball? I didn’t tell you that.”

You grin. “How do you think? Alune told me! I asked her what your favorite arcade machine was. It was clear I needed to take matters into my own hands since though I could tell you wanted to kiss me, you’re such a gentleman,” you tease playfully before kissing his cheek.

Somewhere else in the city, Alune starts laughing loudly, surprising a gaming Aphelios, as she receives a text message from Ezreal:

Ezreal: Name anything you want. Dead serious. I don’t care what, it’s yours. You’re the BEST. THANK YOU!!!

Alune: 😂 Holding you to that. Glad (Y/N)’s plan worked!

Ezreal: 👍👍

Kayn

Something tells me that Kayn would kiss earlier on in a relationship. Not that it’s a bad thing! I definitely don’t think it is. And he wouldn’t do so unless he thought you returned his feelings. He’s a rebel, not an asshole. He’d never force himself on someone.

All that aside, there is something to be said for Kayn’s recklessness playing into his first kiss with you.

I don’t think it would happen on a planned date. Kayn strikes me as more of a “go with the flow” sort of guy, at least until things are getting serious. Then he’d actually plan out dates. Otherwise spending time with him early on in your relationship consists of him calling or texting you and saying, “Hey, I’m doing ______ tonight or tomorrow. Want to come with? Food’s on me?”

And these “things” can range from errands (he just like being in your presence, ok?) to actual events like concerts or other things like that.

And ok, like 90% of what Kayn calls you for are things that are law-abiding. But there is that 10%. That piece of him who still loves to rebel and do things for the adrenaline. Don’t worry though, when you do those sorts of things with him, he won’t let you get in trouble. He’s a pro.

In this case, the two of you are sitting on a random roof in the city after going around and doing things you definitely shouldn’t be doing. (On a completely unrelated note: A couple city cop cars have some lovely new colorful decorations on them.)

And the two of you are just quietly laughing together and watching the moon, the adrenaline from the shenanigans you two participated in still going through your veins.

And Kayn looks over at you, admiring how attractive you look and how happy you make him. And he can’t help it as he reaches over and takes your hand. When you don’t pull away, he just quietly says “Ah fuck it…” and goes for it. He leans over, gently tangling his free hand in your hair, and kisses you absolutely breathless.

Kayn can’t help but chuckle once he pulls away as he sees the slightly dazed (but very happy) expression on your face.

And once you finally get your wits back about you and go to return the favor, he’s so relieved you feel the same way as him.

K’Sante

Not the earliest member to have a first kiss with their partner, but definitely not the latest. K'Sante is for sure somewhere in the middle.

And with K'Sante? Your first kiss with him is almost a little...accidental? Not in a bad way, but the circumstances surrounding just were slightly unexpected.

But the chemistry between the two of you is undeniable. You can definitely feel a lovely sort of tension building in your mundane acts of physical affection. But neither of you have taken the final step to kiss the other person yet.

But that’s about to change. K'Sante is taking you out on the town for the night. The evening starts with a really delicious dinner at a really really nice restaurant (where of course he made a reservation because this man PLANS).

This is then followed up by getting ice cream and him driving the two of you to a secluded point that overlooks the city. You two can just enjoy each other's company (as well as the yummy ice cream) while he also plays some music from a little bluetooth speaker he brought that connects to his phone and relaxing on a lovely picnic blanket he has in his trunk. (1000000/10 vibes like oh my god?)

Now something that K'Sante does, he uses his phone as little as possible on dates with you. He wants to be fully present in the moment and enjoy what moments he can when he's with you.

So that's why he's so surprised when he turns on his phone to play music (since he had it off during dinner and the drive with you) to find 7 missed calls from Alune.

"Shit," he murmurs.

“Everything ok, K’Sante?” You ask, feeling concerned as you take in his furrowed brow.

“Looks like I have a bunch of missed calls from our manager. Normally she doesn’t call me unless something is wrong….”

“Uh oh…and since she called so many times….Call her back. I don’t mind,” You tell him.

“You sure? I don’t want to be disrespectful,” he says.

This makes you smile. “K’Sante, you are one of the most respectful people I know. Checking to see if there’s an emergency isn’t disrespecting me,” you reassure him.

And after another minute or two of warring with himself, he does. He realizes he wouldn’t be able to stop worrying about what’s going on if he didn’t, and that’s not fair to you. He puts the phone on speaker. Since it’s affecting your date, he figures you might as well get to learn what’s going on too.

As Alune picks up the call, you hear her groan. “Finally, K’Sante! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for hours! Why haven’t you been answering your phone?”

“Alune, I told you I had a date with (Y/N) tonight. I’m still on the date, actually, and you’re on speaker,” he chuckles.

“Hi!” You shyly say.

You hear Alune sigh. “Hi, (Y/N)! I apologize. I didn’t mean to interrupt your date. I just have really exciting news for K’Sante and I wanted to tell him as soon as possible.”

“And you couldn’t leave a message??” K’Sante asks.

“And miss your live reaction to this? Or at least your audible reaction? Absolutely not! (Y/N), would you like to hear it too? It’s actually better that you’re with him so he has someone to celebrate with!”

You perk up and smile at K’Sante, relieved nothing is wrong and beyond curious what the news is. “Sure!! I won’t tell anyone either so don’t worry about that.”

K’Sante drums his fingers on the ground impatiently. “Alright Alune, spit it out. What am I celebrating?”

“K’Sante, they accepted your design for the up-and-coming designer show during Spring/Summer Fashion Week! And not only that, but they want YOU to walk in it! You get to model your own design!”

You gasp and squeeze his hand as she reveals the amazing news, your eyes locked on his expression. “K’Sante!!! Holy shit that’s amazing!! They’re so lucky to have you in their show!” As you talk, you can see just the biggest flurry of emotions playing over his features as he’s stunned silent, his eyes locked on yours.

You laugh softly, “Alune, I think you might have broken him. He’s just staring at me.” You smile widely back at him and go to hug him.

As you get closer, it’s like he’s finally back in his own body, and his expression lands on pure joy as he leans over and cups your cheeks, kissing you deeply for a moment before pulling you into a tight hug and starting to laugh happily.

And your brain is now short circuiting in the best way possible because omg YES FINALLY. And as you pull back from the hug, you gently brush your lips over his and whisper happily, “Congratulations, K’Sante. You deserve this.”

“I know you mean the Fashion Week stuff, but can that sentiment also apply to your kisses? Because I’ll be honest that was pretty great too,” he says as he quickly hangs up on Alune.

You just laugh and nod before kissing him again as your answer.

Sett

While I don’t think Sett would kiss super early on in a relationship, I also don’t think he’d take the longest either. Like maybe a few dates in? Whenever he feels things starting to really get serious with you. And this would be after some earlier physical things like hand holding or kisses on the cheek, etc, and he’s letting you dictate the pace of anything physical. (Once again repeat after me: “Ma didn’t raise a jackass.”)

But anyway, as you’ve gotten to know Sett better, he’s shown you different facets of himself. Like for example, you know he’s fit as fuck (I mean you see the evidence right in front of you lmao) but one of the things you might not have known initially is that he is an excellent boxer. (A/N: We know this because base lore and the MV and shit but think from the perspective of a new partner.)

And while he doesn’t fight other people super often anymore due to his profession, he occasionally accepts a challenge from someone. (Much to Alune’s chagrin. Makeup can only hide so many injuries.)

So let’s say Sett accepts a challenge and he invites you to watch the fight with the rest of Heartsteel. (He absolutely wants to show off for you.)

And at his invitation, you go and visit him in his locker room before the fight, just to show him you made it ok and to wish him luck. “Not that I think you’ll need it, Sett. You’ll kick his ass, I’m sure.”

That makes him laugh and banishes away any lingering doubts/nervousness in his mind. “Well of course I’ll kick his ass. He’s fighting “The Boss” after all. There’s a reason I have that nickname. Besides, you’re here. Like I told you, you’re my good luck charm. With you cheering me on he doesn’t stand a chance.”

As Sett is talking you see his eyes flash briefly down to your lips a couple times. But he doesn’t say anything further. So you take the initiative. It’s not like you don’t want to kiss him. You absolutely do.

“Hey Sett?” you ask, feeling bold. “Would you…like a kiss for good luck? You know…so I can make sure my good luck charm potential is fully maximized?”

And you can tell by his smile and happy eyes that yes. Yes he would like a kiss for good luck actually. (Though his eager nodding definitely gives it away the most 😂.) So you give him one. And it’s sweet and happy and leaves both of you smiling and giggling/chuckling a bit once you pull away.

Oh Sett’s opponent doesn’t stand a fucking chance now. (Not that he did before but still.)

Yone

I definitely see Yone as one of, if not the most reserved member of Heartsteel (it's a race between him and Aphelios), so it’d take the longest to get to the point of a first kiss with him.

Not that he doesn’t want to kiss you earlier on. He absolutely does. But the very last thing he wants to do is to come on too strong or go too fast and scare you away. He really really likes you, after all.

A lot of what goes into Yone’s decision of finally going for it has to do with your body language. He’s looking for a sign that clearly says “ok yes, this person likes me back, I’m not crazy.”

As for the first kiss itself, it happens after a couple months with him, when he’s driving you home.

You can tell Yone wants to take that step and kiss you. You’ve noticed his gaze occasionally linger on your lips when he’s talking with you. Or the slight swallow he does whenever you bite your bottom lip while thinking. (Not to mention the slight twinge of pink that goes to his cheeks. Only you can get that reaction out of him.)

And suddenly you realize, he hasn’t kissed you yet not because he doesn’t want to, but because he’s such a damn gentleman and doesn’t want to come on too strong and make you uncomfortable. He wants a sign that you’re ok with him kissing you.

So once he parks the car in front of your building, you lean over, lace your fingers with his, and gently kiss his cheek, letting your lips linger for just a moment longer than what might be considered purely friendly/platonic. Then you whisper in his ear, loathe to break the comforting silence in his car, “You’re not as subtle as you think, Yone. I know you want to kiss me. I also want to kiss you so-”

You don’t even get to finish your thought before Yone’s hands are cupping your jaw and he’s leaned across the center console, kissing you breathless. And my god is it lovely. Sweet but still filled with a surprising amount of passion for a man who presents such a stoic facade to the world. You can’t help but grin like a happy fool once he gently pulls away.

He chuckles at your reaction, but internally his heart is racing. Kissing you was even better than he thought it would be (and his expectations were high).

He clears his throat and looks away shyly for a second as he regains his composure. “Forgive me for interrupting you…but would it be alright if I did that again in the future?”

His question makes you laugh and you lean back over to him and peck his lips. “Yone, you are more than welcome to do that anytime you’d like…you’ll hear no complaints from me.”

Thanks for reading! I absolutely loved getting this request and I hope I did it justice, anon! Got to play into some fun ideas here. 💙

#heartsteel #heartsteel headcanons #heartsteel x reader #reader insert #headcanon #requested #heartsteel aphelios #heartsteel ezreal #heartsteel kayn #heartsteel k'sante #heartsteel sett #heartsteel yone #heartsteel fluff #league of legends #thank you for requesting anon!! #this was so fun to write #I enjoyed thinking of scenarios for each of them.

[tralalalalally]

Some sketches of headcanons for Maedhros' body-type, tattoos, and scars.

I will give a warning for talk on poor mental and physical health before my notes:

. His body-type in particular is something he specifically works for - before Thangorodrim I think he had the more stereotypical elf-prince body (his mother-name is "well-formed", yes?) - something classically desireable. After his capture, the mix of starvation and hard physical labour made him unhealthily lean. After being rescued he was able to build up body fat again, but instead of regaining his old body he works for this new one. Something undeniably strong, untouchable, a warriors body further exaggerated. Not only does he want to distance himself from the perfection of the old him, he wants to make sure noone looking at him could see him as weak. I doubt he'd remember at least the first few months after his rescue well, but from what he does, he feels ashamed. Hiding, cowing away in fear like a child, striking out at those trying to help, revealing far too much of his trauma from the enemy. Emotion becomes a weakness to him, and he learns to control that, but then as he heals further he seeks control over his body too. I think he might eventually see himself - both body and soul - like a project similar to the construction and ruling of Himring. Especially I imagine a disconnect from his body - it is something to be built up, made strong and impenetrable, anything to not be harmed and tormented again.

. The most important scars for my headcanon (other than his missing hand of course) are the brand on his shoulder and the whip marks on his back. The brand effects him the most, and is something he covers as much as possible. None would know about it other than Findekano, Makalaure, and a few healers. Unfortunately due to it being raised, it cannot be tattooed over (nor do I think he'd be able to sit through any tattoos). I am thinking of designing some type of clothing that would essentially be part of his underwear, something that would keep it covered as often as possible - goes over the shoulder, wrapping around his body to beneath the right arm pit?

For the whip scars - when first brought to Thangorodrim he would sometimes be put to work with the other thralls. This was meant to be demoralising, the thralls seeing their prince/king reduced to this, and to show Maedhros how much had been taken from him. Of course the scars healed poorly and were often infected (I think with the brand, it may have been purposefully aggravated to make the scarring worse), though due to his positioning he got enough medical care to keep him alive. Now that he is free they still give him trouble - mobility issues from ones that cut into muscle, and the scarring itself makes the flesh stiff and less flexible. There is also a lack of feeling for most of the area.

. Tattoos - I honestly don't have any real sure designs or positioning fro them. My main thought was the vision of a tattoo of the 8 pointed star, broken up and faded due to scarring caused at Thangorodrim. You can still tell what the tattoo is of, but it has undeniably been damaged. I think I'd like to design for him a large back tattoo - star of Feanor in the middle, with other references surrounding it. Then, of course, the whip scars on top.

(Ah, and for body hair: I imagine elves can grow it, just usually not as thick. I think I remember reading that some can grow beards in old age? (As with Cirdan), so why not the same for body hair lol. I mean, humans also only get most after puberty)

#my art #silm art #silm fanart #maedhros #tolkien #feanorions #i have a feeling tumblr wont like this one haha

[f0xgl0v3]

How does one Elias Bouchard hold his Pipe/The overall murder scene

Tw this like entire post is about the proper way to hold a pipe if you wanna effectively hit someone with it several times repeatedly :3 also spoilers for MAG 80

Guys I am simply a writer and this is just for writing and thought experiment purposes, none of this shall or should be applied to real life and it’s just for the haha extended sounds of brutal pipe murder-

What has come to my life-? I’m talking about Elias Bouchard and how he holds the Pipe to murder people- I, there will be actual Percy Jackson stuff soon. Maybe talking about Camp Jupiter and armor and gear and stuff or something however,

Everyone draws Elias with really weird hand positions on the pipe-? That’s a weird thing to say and the art is fantastic but if your beating someone with a Pipe then there seems to be a way I always thought in my head-

Let’s, for the sake that I’m halfway through season 4 consider the only Pipe murder I am currently aware of would be Jurgen Leitner’s, we can work with this. Elias is standing over him at the other side of a desk while Jurgen is seated I believe-? There are a couple ways we can go about this,

1) Elias hits him while they both are in the neutral position at the desk

2) Elias walks over to Jurgen’s side during the conversation and hits him then

3) Jurgen stands up from his chair and then Elias hits him.

I have had to listen to the sound clip so many times for this- I- okay. So, the beginning of the murder still is Jurgen talking, I think audibly a bit worried. I’d like to make the assumption that while Elias is like “bird stuff always a risk about death” that is when the pipe is revealed, Jurgen is taking the moment to try and reason with him and I think 2 and 3 are the most viable due to the sound they use. In 1’s scenario Elias wouldn’t get enough strength in that first swing (due to the desk being in the way, and Elias most likely having to lean over the desk to try and get a strong strike.

Then, the sound- I believe Elias initially hits Jurgen from the side of the head, think like the same ‘row’ that your temples are on, that vague side of the head. Jurgen is heard with a grunt by the first hit; we don’t hear him fall or anything (which makes me suspect it could be a situation of Elias walking over to the other side of the table) and it doesn’t really sound like Elias moves where he hits very much- continuing to strike that original spot; otherwise we’d likely hear the crunch of bone. Am I making the assumption that the sound design would include the crunch and that I would know what hitting a skull with a metal pipe is, oh yeah totally.

Now, that settles how I think this entire thing played out, Elias revealing the pipe as he walks over to the side, Jurgen looks up in old sad man still seated and is trying to reason with Elias, maybe he even attempts to get up and that is when Elias strikes in the right side of his head (just what makes sense to me, it could be the left either it wouldn’t matter much) and repeatedly hits there 11 times (yes I counted the strikes we hear, no I don’t have anything better to do with my time because I’m putting off writing a script) before like dipping or whatever.

Now, the pipe posture if you will. I see so many drawings of Elias’s hands like this,

Raised, and for all intents and purposes from an art sense it’s rad. It’s a dynamic pose and stuff, and of course this is not a critique on artists (who are way better than me) and how they want to draw this fictional man hold his pipe. However this is my brainrot talking on the ‘hey I think this is how he’d get the most effective swing’ because I’ve listened to two seasons back to back and I no longer have a brain.

But; Elias Bouchard wants the most bang for his buck so to speak. I think holding the Pipe like the tried and true baseball bat would provide this. Elias holding it like in my very bad diagram is good if he’d want to poke or stab someone with the pipe, but it’s really effective if you can get that swing in. So yeah, baseball style; hands together near the end of the pipe and over a shoulder or even over his head if you want to be silly with his posing.

Uh, haha okay. I’m sorry but the rot is all consuming and I’ve been thinking about him a lot, also like Peter Lukas and a bunch of the other sillies but this kinda- forced itself out while I was looking at art of the scene. I, uh, :3 that’s all. I like thinking about the mapping and layout and planning of scenes like these and how the visuals might’ve looked if there were visuals. I promise I probably won’t make any more posts like this for a solid while (however, talking about Bryce Lawerence and my thing in SoN are-imagining that he was the one to kill Gwen… maybe.)

#hehe :3 #idk how to tag this #the magnus archives #tmagp spoilers #tma podcast #tmagp theory #this is really stupid #ridiculous even #I’m sorry if you just want to see the funny pjo stuff I post- #elias bouchard #love that sick little rat man #sorry #okay bye

[shunnedmorlock]

Hi! What are your opinions on each of the greens ?

Have a good day/night!

Otto: I think he gets a bad rap, not in absolute terms but relatively to the people like Viserys and Daemon. If you hate Otto for pushing Alicent to marry Viserys, you should hate Viserys much, much more. Otto is "merely" complicit in what happened. There was no one Vissy could've said no to more effectively than Otto. It just goes to a double standard you see a lot with these farcical black-green debates where people change their opinions on whether it's ok to judge people by in-universe standards depending on what "team" they're a part of. He has a habit of telling unfortunate truths that get him in trouble, but most of the things he says are just, like, objectively true, but people don't want to hear it. Daemon is actually a danger to the realm and his brother, Rhaenyra does actually have to give the scions of great houses a hearing, Daemon did actually groom Rhaenyra to claim the throne, Alicent's children do pose an inherent threat to Rhaenyra by their mere existence.

From a Doylist perspective, like many other things, I think episode 9 really butchered Otto's character. All of a sudden the guy who has been working hand in hand with his daughter for the past few episodes didn't tell her about the plot to seat her son on the throne??? And now the guy who got fired by Aegon for being too slow and measured in his war planning is pushing to kill Rhaenyra immediately? And he wants to send the Kingsguard to do clandestine assassin work? And he's reluctant to ban child fighting pits for like no reason? I'm sorry, you don't have to be a feminist to not like that!

Alicent: I have talked about her at length. Nixonian Queen. I kneel. The war will make her worse, and I enjoy it. One of the characters I think on-balance the show improved.

Criston: Not a good guy by any means, but dismissing him as just a resentful incel is just boring. It's very clear he was, at best, conflicted about his tryst with Rhaenyra to begin with - he liked her, they had a lot of chemistry, but he does genuinely believe in his vows. The marriage thing is obviously silly and naive, but from his perspective it's him trying to do right by her (and also preserve himself and his soul), which puts him a step above many other Westerosi men who canonically often feel no obligations to the women they sleep with outside of marriage or the children created. There is a real difference in values between him and Rhaenyra that goes beyond him hating women, even if his values aren't strictly speaking good. I'm sorry, but the fact that a Westerosi man is as sexually repressed as an average Westerosi woman is genuinely a point in his favor! I sincerely hope he and Alicent make each other worse. Substantially improved by the show.

Aegon: This is going to be controversial, but baffling/over-the-top/ill-thought-out decisions like Dyana and the child fighting pits aside, I much prefer this version of Aegon to F&B. I don't care that he's kind of pathetic, that's fun, that's drama, that gives room for character development and growth into the king he ends up becoming. It's clear the writers do want Aegon to be kind of sympathetic, but it seems they didn't consider what stuff like Dyana would do to that, which to me indicates they meant the focus of that scene to be Alicent and her behavior, not Aegon. Which is stupid. One of the worse victims of inconsistent characterization, switching between vaguely sympathetic drunken frat bro to outright sex criminal every episode, or even in the same episode.

Helaena: I like what they've done with her. It's more interesting for her to be a doomed neurodivergent prophetess than just a little dumb, even though she hasn't done a ton so far. Similarly, in an RP I was a part of, Jaehaera was depicted as not simple, just autistic and it was much more interesting.

Aemond: BORING! Don't care about this guy, sorry. Maybe I'll like him more when he is pathetically down-bad for Alys Rivers, but right now he's just like budget Daemon to me, who I also find boring. He was more interesting as a bullied teen.

Larys: He's a tough guy to adapt because his motivations are kind of nonsensical behind a vague idea of getting back at Rhaenyra (?) for dishonoring his brother (??) by putting his children in line for the throne (???). The foot thing is kind of gross and I do wish they'd have given him an actual motivation but whatever. The actor's good and I do like him and Alicent on balance. Improved by the adaptation.

Tyland: We love our little bureaucrat don't we folks? Hope he gets more screen time later on.

Jasper Wylde: FUCK YOU SHOWRUNNERS WHY IS THE GUY WHO HAS HAD ONE LINE THIS ENTIRE SEASON PART OF THE COUP BUT NOT ALICENT FUCKING HIGHTOWER??????

#hotd #asoiaf #alicent hightower #otto hightower #aegon ii targaryen

[echantedtoon]

KNY Swap Au Ramblings

I've seen a lot of others make their own versions of a swap au and I wanted to create one too just for fun. None of this is cannon, and not everyone will be swapped out and it'll have my own twists on things. And have some things added for new story elements.

Most of the role swaps I've seen are usually with either Sanemi and Genya or Gyutaro and Ume replacing Nezuko and Tanjiro. Or the rolls are swapped with Tanjiro being the demon instead(personally my favorite interpretation of this is by @yuramec). But for this I'm swapping out the Kamado Siblings for the Tokito Twins. I won't go into depth about everyone but I will give important differences to the story.

WARNINGS: Mentioning of killing, death, lose of a child, etc.

EDIT: If you don't agree with any of the placements or head cannons that's fine. This is only my take on things.

PROLOGUE:

I'm swapping out Muzan for Kagaya for this purpose. Most of the story remains the same as it did in cannon with Muzan. Kagaya is born deathly ill, he's given the medicine made with the blue spider lily, however instead of killing said doctor out of anger Kagaya is completely overjoyed and taken by the doctor's success. He wants to make MORE medicine. He wants to give this to MORE people like himself! At first the doctor accepts this. He's excited for the success of his medical treatment. However something isn't right.

Kagaya is twisted by the medicine and it's effects on his body. He begins to crave human flesh as Cannon Muzan (who I will refer to as CM), however he sees it as a greater mercy to the masses. Why live such miserable lives when you can join him? Be a part of him? Death is a mercy. Life isn't. The doctor is appalled at the way the medicine twisted Kagaya into a far worse person. (His mindset would be a similar one to Cannon Douma. Seeing it as a mercy or better fate to become a part of something bigger for the greater good overall not really seeing his twisted thinking is only harming hundreds of others and not really caring believing the end goal is worth all the bloodshed to get there.) In a fit of frustration, he attempts to turn the doctor into a demon in order to force him to make more medicine after the doctor refuses to do anymore research disgusted by the results, however as he was still fairly new to making other demons, the doctor instead dies from the infected blood. Frustrated Kagaya attempts to make the next hundreds of years perfecting his technique and turning people into demons as 'sharing his gift'. The first few demons was his beloved wife Amane and their five children.

He attempted to turn the rest of his family into demons too but that did not go so well. (Apparently it's cannon that Kagaya used to have two younger brothers). As with the doctor his youngest brother's body didn't react to him changing and Kagaya accidentally ended up killing his youngest brother. His other younger brother and their father fled and went into hiding. His father later blamed himself heavily for all of the evil Kagaya does and takes his own life. Kagaya's brother later goes on to create the demon slayer corp in search of a way to stop him. Later down the line the Ubuyashiki name is lost and replaced by the last name Kibutsuji, their bloodline cursed due to creating the first demon progenitor.

KAGAYA UBUYASHIKI AND FAMILY AS DEMONS:

He sees his demons as 'beloved children' and as such sees what they do (eating humans, killing, etc) as nothing wrong and only as a means for survival and to spread his 'gift.' Don't underestimate him however. He may not rule by fear but his voice and mind is able to manipulate and soothe most demons into submission, and he is not afraid to use force if needed. Amane and their demon children are the ones that he allows to eat disobedient demons if they're hungry and he does so with a warm smile on his face. It puts the fear into anyone who sees it if they aren't already loyally following him. He is also crazily strong physically and mentally.

Desperately looking for both the blue spider lily and the Kibutsuji family. He doesn't want to kill Muzan and his family per say. Merely to put a endless mercy to his beloved little brother's family's torment and free his own 'children' from theirs. Whether it be by turning them or by 'sending them to heaven' he hasn't decided yet. Created the Infinity Castle as a safe haven for his newly turned family and any demon deciding to live there.

Amane is his beloved spouse and is actually the one who controls the Infinity Castle in place of Nakime, and constantly rotates it keeping track of their children. She usually just blinks and any demon her husband wants is immediately teleported to them. Their children are absolutely NOT allowed to leave the Infinity Castle. AT ALL. 

He created the twelve Kizuki as a way to reward his most obedient 'children' and as extra protection for himself and his family. The lower three moons are usually killed off not by him but usually by Sanemi in anger or by slayers. Otherwise he has no problem with how the Kizuki interact. Although his favorite is Yoriichi who happens to be Upper Moon One, and his most loyal and powerful demon.  He usually doesn't have any trouble blending into society Thanks to his personality but he still eats, kills, and makes demons. 

UPPER MOON ONE YORIICHI:

This one's sorta obvious but also an idea I haven't seen explored too often also he's not as OP as he is in cannon. Essentially everything proceeds to happen with Yoriichi the same as in cannon. I mean everything is the same except for Uta's death. As Yoriichi is late to getting back to Uta and their unborn child, Uta unexpectedly went into early labor losing the child and her own life due to complications. Unfortunately Yoriichi arrived a little too late and was devastated by the discovery of his family, but as the causes of death was natural instead of by the hands of a demon, Yoriichi does not develop the hatred for demons he has within the normal timeline. Yoriichi still buries Uta in the mountains where the blue spider lily grows unknown to everyone, and leaves to wonder aimlessly until coming across one of the strongest demon slayers at the time battling a powerful demon. Being the kind person he is Yoriichi helps him with his own sword skills where afterwards the slayer is impressed with Yoriichi's skills and invites him to join the corps. Without the drive of hatred for demons, Yoriichi decides to join instead for a desire to help others and a place of belongings. From there everything also continues as in cannon. Yoriichi meets Tanjiro's ancestors saving them from a demon and becoming good enough friends to teach the Hinakami Kagura dance, and gifts them his earrings as a keepsake. He still comes across Michikatsu and everything continues as it was.

Michikatsu's own story proceeds the same without much change. His entire backstory up to this point does not change in the slightest. His pride, his jealousy, his drive. All of it remains the same. The only real difference is when Yoriichi and Kagaya happens to accidentally come across face to face. 

Because of the real driving hatred of demons Yoriichi would've previously had, and Kagaya's own nature, it would inevitably end up differently. Kagaya's compliments of his strength and the genuinity of his compliments and kindness has Yoriichi confused. He was different than all the regular blood thirsty demons that he usually killed, so why was this so.. Different. His hesitation and confusion leaves Kagaya with an opening to explain himself and to explain his twisted 'help' and Yoriichi finds himself entranced. Kagaya's talks leads the two to genuinely bond over their own personal losses and lives and Yoriichi finds himself oddly at peace listening to the Demon King's words. What if he was right? What if this new medicine could've prevented Uta from dying and had made it possible for their child to survive? What if his mother could've also been spared such a tragic fate? What if this entire tragedy could've been prevented? 

Kagaya genuinely likes Yoriichi's personality and genuine drive of the same goals he has. Sure he manipulates him a little bit but in the end it's 'for the greater good for everyone'. So when he offers the haishira his blood, Yoriichi only needs a few minutes to think it over before accepting. Yoriichi as Upper Moon One is stoic, distant. Barely speaks. Somewhat twisted by the blood in his veins. He's been rejected and cast aside for so long and been dealt so much grief that it was easy for him to follow Kagaya. He has a place now, with a purpose. A GOOD purpose. He loves playing with the Ubuyashiki quintuplets and gets along with most of the other Kizuki, although during his long reign as a demon he's become numb to most feelings making him a ruthless asset on the battle field for Kagaya's purpose. 

His one regret is Michikatsu. 

Michikatsu's reaction to his brother ascension to a demon was rather mixed to say the least. He's angry. Enraged that his brother had not only gotten stronger, but was just handed that power essentially without even working for it as he had. (Context for that see @lavenderdrxp's character analysis of Kokushibo/Michikatsu's work ethics and character drive for this next bit.)  Not to be out done, not to be bested by his brother anymore, not to allow his work to be undermined- He rejects Yoriichi's offer to join him in serving Kagaya disgusted by the thought of joining only to never surpass him for eternity and have the proof constantly living with him. So he rejects Yoriichi's offer, opting to try and kill his brother instead. It ends with Yoriichi killing his brother in battle. The death of his (for now) only remaining family member drives Yoriichi further into his emotionless state. 

His prized possession is the flute Michikatsu gifted him which he carries with him. He fights using his sun breathing techniques and making six swords with his arms. After being changed into a demon, Yoriichi's body suffered some permanent damage from the side effects of Kagaya having problems creating demons. To make up for this, Kagaya gifted him six arms to replicate the movements he once originally had. In similarity to Yoriichi Type Zero.

UPPER MOON TWO GYOMEI: 

Most powerful Haishira becomes second most powerful demon. Gyomei runs a (cult-) refuge in the same way Cannon Douma does, the only difference is that he actually believes what he teaches, deeply believes in Kagaya, and believes sending the helpless people that flock to him to 'Eternal Paradise' actually helps them and spares them from their tragic lives.

He fights using stone manipulation demon arts similar to Cannon Douma's ice manipulation abilities.

UPPER MOON THREE MITSURI:

Not much to say about upper three. She's very strong and flexible and uses the strength to claw her way up the ranks to just under Gyomei who she couldn't bring herself to challenge because he's too nice to fight for Upper Two. She was changed after running away from home and striking a friendship with a snake demon. Obanai changed Mitsuri out of greed and selfishness. Mitsuri clawed her way up the ranks because she heard that she could get more attention from demons and slayers if she was an upper rank. Originally joined Upper Ranks looking for a husband.... Obanai is still sitting in the sidelines trying to get her attention back on him.

Her demon arts are similar to Akaza's that she fights using physical strength and reflexes, but she can also use a charming affect to lure in prey.

UPPER MOON FOUR SANEMI:

Scary. Very, very, VERY scary. But also very protective of his younger demon brother Genya whom doesn't remember his life before becoming a demon. Sanemi and Genya were the only survivors after their own mother was turned into a demon and slaughtered their own family. Their entire life was pretty much the same until Sanemi just so happened to run into the demon king Kagaya. The king felt sorry for the two brothers and forcibly turned them both so neither could be separated again. Sanemi doesn't remember much of his human life except for the love and protectiveness he feels for his brother. Extremely loyal to Kagaya and and hot tempered. Physically wrestled Tengen out of Upper Four and wouldn't let him go until he agreed to give him the placement of Upper Moon four. The only two people who he'll listen to is Kagaya and Gyomei. Although he respects Kanae. Constantly starting fights with the lower moons and weeding out the ones he doesn't think is worthy no matter how much Kagaya and Gyomei scold him.

He uses Air blood demon arts in a similar fashion to Karaku.

UPPER MOON FIVE TENGEN:

Not much to say about him. Kagaya found him depressed after leaving his father and remaining brother after being forced to fight to the death with his other siblings.  It did not take much convincing to change him. Demon Tengen changed his three wives and forcibly changed his best friend Rengoku. Is scared of Sanemi after the air demon physically held him down and forced him to give up his previous place as Upper Moon Three. Best friends with Rengoku.

Tengen fights in both numbers with his wives in ambush style attacks and by sound baced demon arts such as Urogi's screech abilities and using sounds to distract, destroy, or decoy his enemies.

UPPER MOON SIX RENGOKU:

Not much to say about this demon. He was actually forcibly turned by Tengen and doesn't remember too much about his previous life although he has glimpses of a woman who's kind with red eyes and a little flamed haired boy that looks like him sorta. Much of Rengokus positive attitude is still present but as a demon it's toxic positivity only contributing to Kagaya's toxic 'merciful' agenda. He currently is content with his place as Upper Five and gets along with most of the others. Although he has to stop Sanemi and Tengen from fighting a lot as Tengen likes to tease others. 

His blood demon arts is fire based which is why he usually doesn't leave shelter if it rains or go places where water is present. Making his abilities limited.

DEMON KANAE AND SHINOBU:

The real powerful demon is Kanae who shares it with her sister Shinobu. To be honest no one is really sure where they came from or how Lord Kagaya found them. He just introduced the demonic butterfly duo one day to the rest of the Kizuki and placed them in with the others. Kanae is the much kinder of the two sisters and believes that not all slayers are bad. Shinobu heavily disagrees with that sentiment and prefers to poison her victims slowly with a smile. The sisters have two younger butterfly demons, Aoi and Kanao, and together the four of them run a laboratory for Lord Kagaya in his research of his specialized blood. They also have three small helper girls that they took in out of pity. The three butterfly girls often can be found playing with the Ubuyashiki quintuplets in the Infinity Castle.

Similar to how Cannon Nakime didn't have an official number in the Kizuki ranks despite considered a part of it, the sisters are considered part of the official Kizuki despite having an official number. It's rare that they are in fights usually spending their time doing research, but the sisters can use flying attacks, poison, flying petals sharp enough to be blades.

LOWER MOON ONE GIYUU:

Like the sisters, not much is known about where the most powerful Lower Moon originated from. Lord Kagaya brought him back and he's been tailing after his approval since. His is mostly an outcast by choice being very quiet and reserved but Shinobu likes talking to him and Mitsuri, Gyomei, and Rengoku go out of their way to be polite to him unlike Obanai and Sanemi who openly detest his presence. Yoriichi likes him well enough though. Both are quiet and don't talk too much. He finds Giyuu's character and presence similar to his own and thus likes him.

Giyuu's blood demon arts are water manipulation similar to Sanemi's wind manipulation but because of waters flexibility he's can do much more with it. A reason why Sanemi hates him and why Rengoku keeps his distance.

DEMON OBANAI:

Similar to the Butterfly sisters, Obanai doesn't really have an official number despite being considered a part of the Kizuki.  Is the one to forcibly turned Mitsuri. After meeting the girl and starting a friendship with her (at the time she was engaged and he respected that despite not liking her fiance) , he eventually fell in love with her and forcibly changed her after her deadbeat fiance dumped her later eating him in retaliation. Obanai himself was changed by the very snake demon that killed the rest of his human family although he really doesn't remember, however he has a general dislike for most women he can't explain. Usually he just lounges around waiting for prey to ambush.

His blood arts are unique. He's able to fling sharpened scales from his serpent tail, contrict his victims, poison them, shoot darts of venom from his mouth, and a series of ambush snake strikes to take down his prey 

LOWER MOON TWO RUI:

One of the ones I didn't swap out. In a similar fashion to Muzan, Kagaya gave RUI some of his blood and allowed him to remake his own family out of pity from his own mortal life. Not really much changes  except for who kills Rui later.

TAMAYO AND YUSHIRO:

Again nothing really changes with them too much. Kagaya originally was interested in Tamayo's abilities as a doctor nevermind the fact her family tragically was killed by his own demons. Tamayo was one of the rare demons who remembered her human life and saw right through Kagaya's twisted justice agenda. She was able to mentally break free from his hold after Yoriichi's encounter with Michikatsu and witnessing the strength and driving force the Moon Haishira had endured to withstand against him.

The story from there continues as normally.

That's it for now. Might do a second drabble with the SWAP Haishira if anyone's interested in hearing more about this.

#kny swap au #giyuu tomioka #shinobu kocho #kanae kocho #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #kagaya ubuyashiki #yoriichi tsugikuni #tengen uzui #rengoku kyojuro #mitsuri kanroji #sanemi shinaguzawa #gyomei himejima #obanai iguro #tamayo #yushiro #tsugikuni michikatsu #rui ayaki #Haishira #twelve kizuki

[thepictureofjune]

The Tortured Poets Departement of schloss einstein

— relating songs to characters and relationships because in my eyes, everyone is a little sad

Hallo. Wilkommen. This is me trying to relate everything I somewhat like to my current obsession even if it does not fit at all because this is a kids show and the album is probably anything but relatable to a 12 year old, trying to find a treasure. But I tried and I tried explaining my choices. This is my very insane and over-dramatic interpretation, please just deal with me. 

Disclaimer: hab versucht, mich möglichst auf Staffel 26 und 27 Charaktere zu begrenzen, hat aber (siehe literally erstes Beispiel) manchmal besser bei früheren Charakteren oder Beziehungen gepasst. Btw would love it if anyone could find people to relate the missing songs to. (my chronic rewatching kinda failed me in the end…)

Fortnight - Till und Martha (Staffel 23)

And for a fortnight there, we were forever Run into you sometimes, ask about the weather Now you're in my backyard, turned into good neighbors Your wife waters flowers, I wanna kill her All my mornings are Mondays stuck in an endless February I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary And I love you, it's ruining my life I love you, it's ruining my life I touched you for only a fortnight I touched you, but I touched you

For me this fits within the whole Martha Kasimir Till drama and obviously the somewhat enemies to lovers arc Martha and Till had going on. How probably liking Martha ruined Tills life more than it already was because when they kissed for the first time, she was still dating Kasimir and that, of course, ensured a lot of issues probably. 

The Tortured Poets Department - Nesrin und Annika (Staffel 27!)

But you're in self-sabotage mode Throwing spikes down on the road But I've seen this episode and still loved the show Who else decodes you? And who's gonna hold you like me? And who's gonna know you, if not me? I laughed in your face and said "You're not Dylan Thomas, I'm not Patti Smith This ain't the Chelsea Hotel, we'rе modern idiots" (...) Sometimes, I wonder if you're gonna screw this up with me But you told Lucy you'd kill yourself if I ever leave And I had said that to Jack about you, so I felt seen Everyone we know understands why it's meant to be 'Cause we're crazy So tell me, who else is gonna know me?

We get introduced to them as these two best friends who are never really seen without each other. Annika knows Nesrin and Nesrin knows Annika and no one is ever going to get in between them, right? Because then it changes and we get the whole fight of Nesrin not really seeming to know Annika all that well anymore, them constantly fighting because maybe after all, all they had was the pranks they did together and what is their friendship beyond that? What is their friendship now?

Down Bad - Noah und Colin aus Noahs Sicht (Staffel 27 post 1062)

For a moment, I knew cosmic love Now I'm down bad, cryin' at the gym Everything comes out teenage petulance "Fuck it if I can't have him" "I might just die, it would make no difference" Down bad, wakin' up in blood Starin' at the sky, come back and pick me up Fuck it if I can't have us I might just not get up, I might stay

Did you take all my old clothes Just to leave me here, naked and alone In a field in my same old town That somehow seems so hollow now? They'll say I'm nuts if I talk about The existence of you

I loved your hostile takeovers Encounters closer and closer All your indecent exposures How dare you say that it's— I'll build you a fort on some planet Where they can all understand it How dare you think it's romantic Leaving me safe and stranded 'Cause fuck it, I was in love So fuck you if I can't have us

So Noah kinda knows he likes Colin now, knows that he misses Colin but what if Colin doesn’t miss him? What if Colin already moved on? Nothing would make sense anymore. He lost his best friend and for what? Only to be alone in the end?

Because right now, for all Noah knows, Colin might still be mad at him. 

So Long, London - Noah und Colin aus Colins Sicht (Staffel 27 post 1056) 

I saw in my mind fairy lights through the mist I kept calm and carried the weight of the rift Pulled him in tighter each time he was driftin' away My spine split from carrying us up the hill Wet through my clothes, weary bones caught the chill I stopped tryna make him laugh, stopped tryna drill the safe Thinkin', "How much sad did you think I had Did you think I had in me?" Oh, the tragedy

So long, London You'll find someone For so long, London Stitches undone Two graves, one gun I'll find someone And you say I abandoned the ship But I was going down with it My white-knuckle dying grip Holding tight to your quiet resentment And my friends said it isn't right to be scared Every day of a love affair Every breath feels like rarest air When you're not sure if he wants to be there You swore that you loved me, but where were the clues? I died on the altar waitin' for the proof You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days And I'm just getting color back into my face I'm just mad as hell 'cause I loved this place

But Daddy I Love Him - Julia Sponer (Staffel 25 u 26) 

Too high a horse for a simple girl To rise above it They slammed the door on my whole world The one thing I wanted Now I'm runnin' with my dress unbuttoned Scrеamin', "But, Daddy, I love him I'm havin' his baby" No, I'm not, but you should see your faces I'm tellin' him to floor it through thе fences No, I'm not coming to my senses

This one is mainly for the dramatics of the song, of playing the part and of Julia wanting to take a path (acting) that is usually not really met with great immediate success. 

Fresh Out The Slammer - Lucky und Paulina (Staffel 11 u 12) 

Gray and blue and fights and tunnels Handcuffed to the spell I was under For just one hour of sunshine Years of labor, locks, and ceilings In the shade of how he was feeling But it's gonna be alright, I did my time Now, pretty baby, I'm runnin' back home to you Frеsh out the slammer, I know who my first call will be to Camera flashes, welcome bashes, get the matches Toss the ashes off the ledge As I said in my letters, now that I know better I will never lose my baby again

Give me one couple in the entirety of Schloss Einstein that screams Partners in Crime better than they do. (also give me one modern character that would be looked at like a criminal - they don’t do them like that anymore) 

Florida!!! - Joyce Simon (Staffel 24 u 25)

Little did you know your home's really only A town you're just a guest in So you work your life away just to pay For a time-share down in Destin (...) The hurricane with my name when it came I got drunk and I dared it to wash me away Barricaded in the bathroom with a bottle of wine Well, me and my ghosts, wе had a hell of a time Yes, I'm hauntеd, but I'm feeling just fine

One character who never quite seemed to feel at home, who had a friend and still fled the country, who has never had a home because family was always foreign. 

Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? - Joshua Hockenbrink (Staffel 27) 

The who's who of "Who's that?" is poised for the attack But my bare hands paved their paths You don't get to tell me about "sad" (...) Crash the party like a record scratch as I scream "Who's afraid of little old me?" You should be The scandal was contained The bullet had just grazed At all costs, keep your good name You don't get to tell me you feel bad Is it a wonder I broke? Let's hear one morе joke Then we could all just laugh until I cry (...) So tell me everything is not about me But what if it is? Then say they didn't do it to hurt me But what if they did? I wanna snarl and show you just how disturbed this has made me You wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me So all you kids can sneak into my house with all the cobwebs I'm always drunk on my own tears, isn't that what they all said? That I'll sue you if you step on my lawn That I'm fearsome and I'm wretched and I'm wrong

A birthday party organized simply to taunt him, the usually slightly mean behavior that drives everyone away and makes you think he is nothing more than rude, nothing more than a villain. But he’s also the boy that seems to want nothing more than to find a place that accepts him. 

loml - Leon und Io aus Leons Sicht (Staffel 27 post 1064) 

We embroidered the memories of the time I was away Stitching, "We were just kids, babe" I said, "I don't mind, it takes time" I thought I was better safe than starry-eyed I've felt a glow like this never before and never since (...) You holy ghost, you told me I'm the love of your life You said I'm the love of your life About a million times Who's gonna tell me the truth when you blew in with the winds of fate (...) I wish I could unrecall How we almost had it all Dancing phantoms on the terrace Are they second-hand embarrassed That I can't get out of bed

I Can Do It With a Broken Heart - Massuda Phanit (Staffel 26 u 27)

I can read your mind "She's having the time of her life There in her glittering prime The lights refract sequin stars off her silhouette every night" I can show you lies 'Cause I'm a real tough kid I can handle my shit They said, "Babe, you gotta fake it 'til you make it" and I did Lights, camera, bitch, smile Even when you wanna die Breaking down, I hit the floor All the piеces of me shatterеd as the crowd was chanting, "More" I was grinnin' like I'm winnin' I was hittin' my marks I'm so depressed, I act like it's my birthday every day

Massuda is glitter, she is smiles in the camera, she is organizing parties and loud music and dancing and…She is also the parents that don’t accept her if she doesn’t have good grades. She is also the one who has to hide her true self whenever her parents turn up. 

Clara Bow - Marlon to Simon (Staffel 27)

"You look like Clara Bow In this light, remarkable All your life, did you know You'd be picked like a rose?" I'm not trying to exaggerate But I think I might die if it happened Die if it happened to me No one in my small town Thought I'd see the lights of Manhattan Take the glory, give everything Promise to be dazzling

This might seem a wee bit crazy but hear me out! Marlon likes Nesrin but he also thinks Nesrin likes Simon. And he knows Simon is probably better at this whole liking someone and flirting with them thing that he will ever be because after all, he’s just the kid with the star bread.

— june🪐

(the anthology comes in a separate part bcs else this is too long to read - it already prob is)

#schloss einstein

[sophieinwonderland]

People in Trump supporting areas who grew up impoverished are part of the same systemic issue. This is a controversial opinion, but they are worthy of compassion just like anyone else. They are a product of their circumstances and an intentionally awful education system intended to keep them from thinking critically so that they can be easily controlled and manipulated. Are there exceptions? Of course. But the exceptions are outliers due to the good luck of a higher IQ and/or loving and compassionate parenting and/or coming into other ideas at the right points of their development. It doesn’t mean we have to agree with them or tolerate their views. But we don’t have to hate them or be intolerant of the person themselves for those views. They’re mixed up and confused and likely grew up knowing only hate. More division is not what the world needs.

That anon said nothing about hating endo systems or being intolerant of them. They said this is why people with trauma histories might become upset when linking plurality as a whole to DID caused by trauma. They did not say endos therefore need to hide or shouldn’t exist. It is possible to be inclusive of both sides. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. You are putting words in their mouth by talking of hate as a way to further ostracize the viewpoint from your audience.

It’s disappointing and sad how unwilling you seem to hear other perspectives that don’t fully match yours. Granted, you’re not alone in that.

The internet is full of all these filter bubbles and it’s so very isolating and depressing.

Best of luck.

It's not being unwilling to hear it. It's just "a lot of sysmeds are sysmeds because bad things happened to them" isn't some brand new revelation to me.

The question is... what do you do with that information?

Actually changing the mind of just a single person so deeply embedded in bigotry requires a monumental effort and time investment that can feel akin to cult deprogramming. Except cult deprogramming only happens when you get someone away from said cult, while sysmeds will still be very embedded in their communities, and changing their minds can mean them losing long-time friendships. They are socially incentivized to not change their point of view.

Should knowing the cause change anything about how I behave towards them?

I mean, I'm already not someone going around harassing people. I'm not sending hate to their inboxes. I'm not throwing around profanities and slurs. I don't even call people stupid... even though some of their takes are so brain-rot-inducing as to make me want to rip our hair out.

I'm firmly against that sort of behavior because I find it counterproductive.

So what does this view actually change?

It is possible to be inclusive of both sides.

It's not.

Sorry.

You can't be tolerant to the intolerant.

Being inclusive to sysmeds gives them the opportunity to spread system medicalism. Maybe you can change their minds over a long period of time, but maybe they come into your spaces, spread toxicity, and even indoctrinate impressionable people with their hate.

Ideas can spread like viruses, and I think hate should be treated as a viral infection. At least when it's small enough to be effectively quarantined.

Moreover, a space that's inclusive towards sysmeds can't be a safe space for their victims.

This, for the most part, isn't personal. It's not about punishing people for being bad. It's just about ensuring their ideas can't spread further and harm others.

That anon said nothing about hating endo systems or being intolerant of them. They said this is why people with trauma histories might become upset when linking plurality as a whole to DID caused by trauma.

What they're referring to, specifically, is honestly a bit unclear. It was about why people with DID are "upset about plurality." And there are a lot of ways the can be interpreted. Although I don't think it's a leap to say that the "hurt people hurt people" line was alluding to people who actively attack and/or harass endogenic and pro-endo systems.

I didn't get the impression that it was about linking plurality to DID, but rather the plurality itself.

#syscourse #pro endogenic #pro endo #sysblr #multiplicity

[radioactive-earthshine]

We really need to talk about Kon's 20 hour long fever dream he had as a result of a mental breakdown because Bart was in a coma and he was convinced he was going to die more.

#he kept having intrusive thoughts about witnessing him die and remembering the smell of his scout's burning body #🙃 #it was also a snowball effect from having witnessed two other people he cared about die in front of him #one of which also was ironically killed via electrocution/heat #kon el #conner kent #i need to make a breakdown post about this issue because there is a lot going on not just from a konbart angle #konbart #bartkon #bart allen #before someone complains 'the scout died not bart' they are one and the same everything a scout experiences bart does #its why bart had that reaction in the first place #<- bc someone has said that before