#i may do one more later simply because that makes more sense anyway as far as dividing up the eps in a season

[starbuck]

drawing a character? sorry, did you mean spacing out for ten minutes going “🥰🥰🥰🥰” at the reference picture? because that’s about all i’ve got in me.

#nooooooooo jk jk i AM gonna draw him now #but i just had to say because i DID space out for a considerable amount of time just Looking #and how can i help myself? it’s a REALLY good picture!! #AND a 10/10 giffable moment if i decide to… shall we say… Invest… #which like. honestly? i just might!! #we shall see! #but now - onto the Drawing (which i am doing to dissuade myself from watching more episodes when i’ve already hit my daily limit lol) #i may do one more later simply because that makes more sense anyway as far as dividing up the eps in a season #but ANYWAY!!!!!!!!!! i am DRAWING now. GOODBYE FRIENDS. #iykyk2

[happyandticklish]

Dropping the Controversial Tickling Tea~

A list of takes that may be controversial but I no longer care because these issues are argued about far too often not to say anything

It’s okay to have preferences. I feel like we understand this concept on the lee side, but ostracize it on the ler side. If someone doesn’t like being tickled in a certain area, we okay that, but if someone doesn’t like to tickle a certain area, then people become defensive as though it is somehow specifically targeting them. If a ler doesn’t like to tickle feet, understandable! If they exclusively like to tickle feet, ALSO understandable! If a ler doesn’t like to tickle a certain area but the lee loves being tickled there, then that is something to discuss and talk about. Maybe they’re willing to budge on that point, maybe they’re not, but either way, neither side should force the other to do something that makes them uncomfortable. 

The SFW and the NSFW community are not always black and white. Some people view tickling as a kink in certain scenarios, and platonic in others, and that’s fine. Some people don’t view tickling as a sexual act, but enjoy when it’s combined with sex because it makes them feel loved. Some people view tickling as romantic, but not necessarily sexual. It is not simply platonic or sexual, it’s a much larger gray area than people give it credit for. It’s okay to view it as completely non-sexual too, as well as to get off on it. That does not mean you have the right to judge other people for the way they enjoy it. We’re all just trying to get along here. 

Fictional characters are just that—fictional. If you write a fic where Bakugo kills Deku it does not mean you are advocating murder, you are simply exploring a perspective. If you write a fic where Bakugo holds down Deku and tickles him while he begs for it to stop, that is also, technically, okay. Although non-con is a pretty big no-no in real life, fictional characters are an outlet to express... well, pretty much anything. If you write a fic where Levi is tied up against his will and tickled, that’s your prerogative. So long as you are not genuinely inflicting harm on anyone, that’s fine. I personally am not a huge fan of non-con in fics, but you do you boo. Not to mention, sometimes you just want to write fucked up stories. My Gorillaz fic is hella non-consensual in part one because they have a fucked up relationship and I was exploring what would happen if you combined that idea with something like a tickle kink. It does not mean I support it in real life. Stop criminalizing tumblr users as if these fictional characters are real people. 

On that note—non-con is not always bad. I’m not going to get too into this as I’m not the most informed individual on the matter, but CNC does exist, and blends a form of consent and non-consent together, with the victims okaying it upfront and allowing their consent to be overridden later on. So. You know. That exists, so non-con can even be ethical IRL in certain situations. 

If you like feet, that’s okay. This one’s pretty simple. Stop kink-shaming people, guys. If you don’t like feet, cool, don’t be a dick to others about it. Hands are grosser bacteria wise than feet anyway. 

Aging up fictional characters is not morally wrong. This goes back to the fictional characters rule. Sometimes it’s just to explore a different perspective, sometimes it’s because the show freezes with them at like 16 or something so you’ll never have a chance to write about them in an adult context. Again, fictional characters, not real, we could argue the ethics of it all day long, but at the end of the day no IRL minors/adults are being harmed.

You can be an older person writing fanfiction in the tickle community. I’m using the term older broadly to mean anyone between 25-60+ because often it is past 25 once tumblr users start being weird about it. Almost all published writers are adults, if anything it makes more sense to be in your thirties and writing fanfiction, tickling related or otherwise. There is no time limit to existing within the community, so do not bully people for this. 

On that note, I don’t think minors should be ostracized from the community. I understand that we want to protect the innocence of youth, but at the same time it is highly hypocritical to put those expectations on them. I’ve been scrolling tk fics since I was 8 and have been lurking on tumblr since 12, and definitely took in some content that was more,,,, NSFW in nature. Now, whether that was the healthiest way to exist on the internet or not, I don’t know, but the point is that I did it, as have many other people on here. We did not all wait till we were 18 to make accounts on here. 

It is nearly impossible to exclude minors from the kink side of the community. It is both possible and realistic that people will develop a sexuality at an early age, usually around puberty. I don’t think you should be engaging in sex at that age per se, but you are most certainly not blind to the concept. Kinks also tend to develop early on in people, either subconscious or otherwise. For many children, they turn to the internet to try to understand these feelings as they don’t feel like they can confide in their peers. The reality of minors on the internet being exposed to sexual content is a given. You can put up as many DNI or DNF’s as you want, but at the end of the day there is nothing to stop them from lurking. People can also lie about their age just as easily. I’m not saying minors should be involved in the kink community, I’m just saying that, realistically, they are. Not to mention, the term “minor” goes all the way up to 17. So minor does not always mean 9-12 year old's, and that’s important to remember. 

If a content creator is not comfortable with something, don’t push it on them. Like I said, everyone has preferences and if they don’t have theirs listed there’s no real way to help accidentally suggesting a request/commission at some point that makes them uncomfy. The best you can do at that point is respect their opinions and try to think of a different request that they might be more comfortable with. There’s nothing wrong with you for asking it or them for not wanting to do it, so long as both of you are respectful about communicating these things to each other. 

Please, please, please do not be forcing tickling on real life people if they hate it. Fictional characters is one thing, but real people have real feelings and needs that can be seriously hurt if you push their boundaries. This does not apply to playful pokes, a gently tasing someone from behind as that all falls under general friendly rough-housing with friends. But, if a person tells you that they don’t like tickling, do not force it on them. Being tickled is an unbelievably vulnerable situation and it can be traumatizing if you are forced to endure it. Hence why so many adults hate it due to older siblings when they were younger. This falls in with the unspoken don’t be a dick to people rule. 

Recognize the validity of switches. Switches are versatile, yes (I would know, being one ;)), however, they they are not merely puppets to fill whichever role you need them to. If a switch is in a lee mood, do not try to force them into the opposite position, or vice versa. They have no obligation to fit specifically the mood you’re in; they’re people too.

Finally, the Tickle Community is varied! In general, we tend to lump everyone into one large group all centered around one interest—tickling. However, the community is comprised of a variety of different subsets that do not all fit together evenly. There’s people who enjoy it in a fictional sense, people who enjoy it IRL, people who like both, the SFW and NSFW sides of the community, and a million other distinctive groups. It is not fair to try to expect everyone to bend to your particular beliefs around tickling, as we are all just trying to enjoy it in our way. 

#tickling #important #there are probably more of these but these are the ones that ive seen the biggest issues crop up with #some of these are pretty obvious but i am willing to discuss (calmy) the points made here if anyone is confused

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Today, on 19th January, 1978

Group Interviews - Circus Magazine

Queen Deserve Rock's Royal Crown?

by Rosy Horide

Freddie Mercury and Brian May Hawk their 'News Of The World'

Freddie Mercury is no longer the leader of Queen. Has he been fired, you ask, or is he off to pursue a solo career? No it's simply, with the advent of News Of The World LP (Asylum) the personality of the music and of Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and bassist John Deacon have come across more strongly than ever before.

Those who have seen them on the recent US tour notice more than ever before that they're a group comprised of four separate identities, not just a lead singer and background band. Freddie Mercury is delighted to hear it.

'I've never considered myself the leader anyway,' says irrepressible Freddie. 'The most important person, perhaps.' And guitarist May agrees.

'Our separate identities do come to the fore on this album, on which every cut is completely different from the one before it and there's no concept at all. Apart from each having contributed two tracks to the album, Roger and John have been much more involved in the playing. Roger plays rhythm guitar on some of his cuts ('Sheer Heart Attack' and 'Fight From The Inside') which makes sense, because he had a better idea of how he wanted it to go. John plays acoustic guitar on one of his as well ('Who Needs You'). I played maracas on it. While we may not do it that way on stage, in the studio that makes more sense.'

Brian also does a lot more singing of his own songs on News, but he's content to let Freddie do the singing on stage.

'He's a natural performer,' asserts Brian. 'He acts on stage as if he was born doing it. That's great for us. We wouldn't want it any other way.'

As May and Mercury emphasize, it's not just musically that shifts occur in the group.

'John keeps a very close eye on our business affairs,' says Freddie. 'He knows everything that's going on and shouldn't be going on. If God forsakes us now the rest of the group won't do anything unless John says it's all right.

'Roger is very important to us in a different way. He's always been an out-and-out rock & roll fan with no time to stop and think about music and that's very good for us. Instinct. He's also the one who is most aware of facets in music, and that's essential in the band. If you listen to 'Sheer Heart Attack' on the new album you'll see what we mean. It sounds like a punk, or 'new wave' song, but it was written at the same time of the Sheer Heart Attack LP. He played it to us then but it wasn't quite finished and he didn't have time to complete it before we started recording. That was three years ago and now. . .almost all these records you hear are like that period.' And Roger now? 'He was into punk for a long time, but he's tired of it.' More about the album later.

But if you still don't believe no crown of leadership rests on the mercurial head of Freddie, it's worth repeating his comment about the composition of the group.

'If anyone left Queen, anyone of the four, that would be the end of Queen. We are four equal, interwoven parts. And the others just couldn't function the same without each quarter.'

Queen have just finished a special tour of the states. Not the longest they've ever undertaken, by any means, but special nevertheless.

'It was the first tour we've ever done without the support band,' Freddie explained. 'There was so much going on on stage that I doubt there would have been room for another band anyway. We have so much material we want to play for people now that it would have been far too long a concert. It's hard enough anyway to know what to leave out: we'd like to play all the new material, but there are some things we just would not dare leave out or I think the fans would lynch us.'

It was the sort of tour most rock bands dream of doing. Brian agrees: 'We've managed to get some of the most sought after halls there are, even though the tour was short. Most of them are places we've played before. In some cities we had to settle for second, alternative choice auditoriums - the thing was set up so fast. It was also a very compressed tour - 35 dates in six weeks. We did very large halls because we wanted to do a fuller show and our rig was about twice as big as ever we used before.

'It provided a complete stage environment, with an extension stage, three trailers and enormous lighting gimmick not just for New York and Los Angeles. That's why we booked big halls, so that we could give everybody the complete show. We first used our crown centerpiece at London's Earl's Court concert over the Jubilee. At the time, we didn't envisage being able to take the crown on tour with us, but we managed to have it demounted into a portable object. And so we had it for all the gigs. It made the most ambitious backdrop we've ever attempted, but it was worth it. The fans seemed to enjoy it and they are what matter.'

That last remark of Brian's is typical of the group's attitude towards their fans, for they have one of the closest rapports with the fans of any in the business. The same cannot be said for their relationship to the music press, however, especially in Britain. In fact, many people thought the chart-popping single 'We Are The Champions,' was Queen's way of telling the press in no uncertain terms that they've made it without them. Others thought it an arrogant statement about their rock supremacy. But how do they feel? First Freddie, who wrote the song:

'Certainly it's a relationship that could be, but I was thinking about football when I wrote it. I wanted a participation song, something that the fans could latch on to. It was aimed at the masses; I thought we'd see how they took it. It worked a treat. When we performed it at a private concert in London, the fans actually broke into a football chant between numbers. Of course, I've given it more theatrical subtlety than an ordinary football chant. You know me.

'I certainly wasn't thinking about the press when I wrote it. I never think about the British music press these days. It was really meant to be offered the musicians the same as the fans.

'I suppose it could also be construed as my version of 'I Did It My Way.' We have made it, and it certainly wasn't easy. No bed of roses as the song says. And it's still not easy.'

Brian concurs, 'You know, songs aren't always about what the words say. Messages in songs can appear different. I always see that as the difference between prose and poetry. Prose can mean exactly what it says, while poetry can mean the opposite. That goes for this song. Freddie's stuff is often tongue-in-cheek anyway, as you know. This song is very theatrical. Freddie is very close to his art. You could say, he's married to his music, whether it's 'I Did It My Way' or his 'There's No Business Like Show Business.' I must say, when he first played it for us in the studio we all fell on the floor with laughter. So many people in the press hate us because we've side-stepped them and got where we have without them.

'But there's no way the song says anything against our audiences. When the song says 'we,' it means 'us and the fans.' When we did that special concert, the fans were wonderful. They understood it so well. I know it sounds corny, but it brought tears to our eyes.'

Freddie and Brian are unanimous on that: the spontaneous responses to 'We Are The Champions' really move them. But that is the kind of general response News Of The World has received because, as Brian may says, 'It's a spontaneous album. I think we've managed to cut through to the spontaneity lacking in our other albums. I have no apologies to make for any of our previous albums. We're proud of them and wouldn't have let them out if we weren't. But I now feel some may have been over-produced, so we wanted to go with a more spontaneous rock & roll based album. It was nice to do something that didn't need such intensity. For example, with 'Sleeping On The Sidewalk' we did it in one take because it just seemed right the first time. We like to think of the album as a window on an unguarded moment, not a set piece. Each cut seems to do that, from the participation songs to Freddie's mood pieces. Even his numbers on the album are different, from his heavy 'Get Down, Make Love' to 'My Melancholy Blues,' which is just what it says.'

Brian admits that his own material is different too. But he still tries to keep his private life separate and out of his songs as much as possible.

'If you don't keep something back, it can be very bad for you.'

But for the band both the album and the tour are in the past and they have to look at the future. They got back to England on Christmas Eve.

'My mother would have killed me if I wasn't home for Christmas. I haven't missed one yet,' says Freddie. And the others felt the same.

It's time for some stock-taking. We've all become businessmen,' admits Freddie, 'even though it's against our better judgment. It's something that always happens if you get successful. Being a musician is not just cutting discs, unfortunately. I wish it was. We've all got companies now, some connected to music, others not. I'm producing Peter Straker, I have my car company. . . and lots of other fingers in other pies. We must take some time off to get things in perspective, or things will start to go wrong.

'Then there's been talk of doing a big world tour - Britain, South America, Japan, and of course the States as well as lots of other places. But that won't be until later in the year.'

So, American fans will have a chance to see Queen in 1978.

'You must tell them not to be too greedy, thought,' warns Freddie. They've already seen more of us than any other country.'

And what about a message for the American fans, Freddie?

'They know we love them. Apart from that, oh, say something outrageous for me.'

#1978 #circus magazine #freddie mercury #queen band #london #zanzibar #legend #queen #brian may #john deacon #freddiebulsara #roger taylor #1978 interview #interview

[electronickingdomfox]

"Vulcan!" review

A novel by Kathleen Sky, from 1978. This one was bad, bad, BAD. I'd say it's the worst I've read so far, and I really hope it doesn't get any worse than this. The characters, in particular Spock and McCoy, are sometimes unrecognizable, the barebones plot barely makes any sense, and the (self-insert?) character is really unlikable. At least it's short, so through sheer masochism willpower, I got to read it in record time, to forget it as soon as possible.

Spoilers under the cut:

The Romulan border is shifting, since the magnetic fields that determine the Neutral Zone are being affected by ion storms. Soon, the system of the planet Arachnae will fall under Romulan territory. I mean, it will be rightfully Romulan, simply because of the shifting nature of borders as they're defined. Is Starfleet going to accept this, just as the Romulans would have to accept a natural expansion of the Federation, if it came to happen? Nah! Prime Directive be damned! They send the Enterprise to investigate if there's intelligent life in Arachnae that may be worth to keep in the Federation. (And if there is, then what? Do they start a war? On what basis? Whatever.)

In order to determine if the Arachnae inhabitants (some sort of giant ants) are intelligent or not, they need the help of Dr. Mary Sue Katalya Tremain. A biologist who is so, so brilliant, that Starfleet invented new medals just for her, and whose intelligence surpasses even Spock's. As soon as they learn she's coming aboard, Spock and McCoy start competing for her affection (yes, Spock too) by filling her cabin with gifts and flowers and whatnot. But when she beams aboard, it turns out that Dr. Tremain is actually an insufferable bigot who hates Vulcans, and can't even work with them. She's also a major crybaby that resorts to faking hysteria whenever she can't get her way. One has to wonder why Starfleet even allows such a person to be part of its ranks (well, maybe the fact that she's sleeping with a Commodore explains why). We don't see much of her legendary brilliance either, but we learn that she has big boobs. And yes, this book was written by a woman. Obnoxious as she is, she's still a Mary Sue. So everyone has to turn a blind eye to behaviors that would be otherwise unacceptable, and make sure the little princess is comfortable. After all, there must be some good reason for this woman's bigotry (there isn't, but whatever), since she's too wonderful to simply being an asshole. McCoy gets into full "I'm a lover, not a doctor" mode right after seeing her. And five minutes later, he's hitting hard on her, though he seems more of a lecherous creep, rather than a charming, southern gentleman. Ah, yes, he helps her unpack her things, which gives him a chance to paw the sexy lingerie inside the luggage (didn't you know? sexy lingerie is fundamental when going to explore a giant ant planet).

The first half of the book is just a really boring Freudian psychoanalysis of Tremain, only to determine again that, yes, she hates Vulcans, for some undisclosed reason. Meanwhile, McCoy can't decide whether he wants to be professional or horny. He switches back and forth more times than I cared to count. Two days later, he's fallen completely in love with this horrible person who mistreats one of his best friends. Anyway, Tremain friend-zones him soon, so he gets nothing but a little kiss on the forehead. Not that I felt bad about him; McCoy is an asshole in this book.

The second half of the novel gets a bit better, as Spock and Tremain beam down to the planet to meet the Arachneans. McCoy misses the beam down because he was busy chasing after some alien cat in the veterinary section. Yes, the horniness made him stupid or something. So when the giant ants attack the landing party, a lot of people die, and they don't even have a doctor. Kirk can't beam them up because Romulans have appeared to claim the planet, and he can't lower the shields. And that's what Kirk does for the rest of the novel: absolutely nothing. Meanwhile, Tremain and Spock have to work together in order to survive, so she's marginally more professional now. It's Spock's turn to be stupid, though, as he starts to make lewd comments about her, and spying her while she undresses. The reason being!? I don't know, something about proving she hates Vulcans (yeah, I knew that already).

In the end, Spock is attacked by the poisonous ants. And he mind-melds with one, to discover they're not, in fact, intelligent, so it's okay to leave the planet to the Romulans. The mind-meld, however, leaves him insane, and believing he's one of the ants. To restore his sanity, Tremain has to mind-meld with Spock, which is probably the best scene in the book. Then, while exploring her subconscious, it's finally revealed why she hates Vulcans so much. The reason is... she felt an unrequited love for her former Vulcan captain (gasp! I wasn't expecting something like that, no, not at all). Kirk finally decides to do something, and lowers the shields to beam them up, before Spock dies of poisoning, Romulans or not withstanding. He could have done so hours ago, though, before so many people died. Sigh...

Spirk Meter: 2/10*. Kirk stands firmly on Spock's side against Tremain's bigotry, and he's the only one who doesn't tolerate any of her bullshit, just like Chapel (you know, the two persons who love Spock the most). There's also a line about McCoy liking Spock, but not in the same way that Kirk likes him. Though, on the other hand, Kirk's very stubborn about following Starfleet's orders, even if it costs Spock his life, so I don't know... Characterization is hardly coherent.

There may be some Spones too. Tremain says that she can't really love McCoy, because she doesn't feel for him all the things that McCoy feels for Spock, which in her opinion, is love (she's quick to clarify it's not the same kind of love, but still...). McCoy also becomes quite hysterical when Spock's dying on the planet, while Kirk keeps calm. Apart from this, Tremain (who hates Vulcans because of an unrequited crush on one) functions as some sort of placeholder for McCoy himself. It's insisted upon how alike they are, and how they share the same hobbies. Spock calls her "Doctor" all the time, and his banter with her reminds a lot to that with McCoy. In fact, when Spock is being a perv towards Tremain to anger her, he compares his enjoyment of it to the one he gets from riling McCoy. It's rather telling how the author is taking everything from Spock and McCoy's dynamic, while using a woman substitute as a no-homo screen.

*A 10 in this scale is the most obvious spirk moments in TOS. Think of the back massage, "You make me believe in miracles", or "Amok Time" for example.

#star trek tos #star trek novels #novel review #k/s #spirk #spones

[rudikawhy]

Some thoughts about Season one of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

There might me minor spoilers.

Within one week, I have started and finished watching the first season of Agents of Shield for the first time. I started it thinking 'Why not? Just try it'. I didn't really like the plot in the beginning, but I still stayed and continued. Why? Because of the characters.

I loved Coulson in the Avengers and was really happy that this series would give us more Coulson content. Just two days before I started watching AoS, I've rewatched The Avengers with a couple of friends and was, for the first time really, absolutely - sad? I don't know, it doesn't seem like the right word - by Coulson's death. But I'm glad I've rewatched it once again before watching AoS and so learning what happend to him after Avengers.

When Skye was introduced in the very beginning of the first episode, I was kind of afraid of her? Idk, just the way she stared at the happenings and recording it, while I didn't have that much of a clue what was going on there, that I had the feeling that I was supposed to know whether or not she was on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s side - it made me kinda scared. That doesn't make really sense and looking back, I probably wouldn't feel that way anymore when I'd watch the first episode again, but still.

I honestly don't really remember what I've thought of Ward at first. He was some good-looking agent who was just there, I don't know. As the episodes went on, I started appreciating him more, which was unfortunately shattered by the fact that can't keep my hands off the internet when watching a series and so read some spoilers about Ward.

I'd feel bad if I didn't write anything about May but I'm afraid there isn't much to say. Just like Ward, she was there. And that's probably it. I say probably because it it possible that I have thought something else about her when she first appeared that I simply can't remember.

Last but not least, Fitzsimmons. I'll talk about them separately in a second but first: I've shipped them from the first episode on. And second: It took me quite some time (about three quarters of the first episode) to realise that Fitzsimmons are, in fact, two persons. And third: when they were first introduced, I really didn't realise that they were friends and that was just their style of talking to each other, I thought they were introduced by fighting with each other.

But now Jemma. Jemma. She is just so sweet, I really love her. Just like Ward, I don't really remember what I've thought of her at first, but with the crucial difference that I know that I have loved her from the very first second she appeared. I'm actually kind of sad I can't recall my first thoughts.

Same with Fitz. It doesn't feel like there was a first time I've seen him. And definitely not just a week ago. It feels like I've known him, known them all for wayyy longer than one week. Fitz isn't just sweet, he's also adorable. The way he acts, that he can be so different. Productive, emotional, jealous, angry, friendly, I just love him. Side note: Since english isn't my first language, I started the series in german, to get settled and used to the pace, and after about three (I think) episodes switched to english with english subtitles. Best decision. I can't believe I wouldn't have experienced Iain De Caestecker's scottish accent, including one of my favorite lines so far, that I have not only replayed many times in my head since I've first heard it, but also replayed the sentence WHEN I first heard it, which is ("When did you stop talking") "About three embarrassing sentences ago"

Buuuuut back to Fitzsimmons. As I said earlier, I tend to look up the series I'm watching on the internet, which causes spoilers. Well, I pretty much ask for them if I'm stupid enough to go on the internet. Anyway, by doing so, I learned that Fitzsimmons will be a thing later on, BUT I don't want to believe it just yet, because I also have read a lot of things that I don't understand yet. So I will sit and watch and learn about them and everyone and everything else while the show goes on.

One question (which is partly rhetoric because I have a feeling that it will be clearer to me when I've watched more seasons, but still): Why do Fitz and Simmons call each other by their last names? And why does Fitz sometimes use "Jemma" but Simmons never "Leo"? Maybe it's just me but it doesn't seem right that they use their last names, even though they're best friends.

To come back to what I've said in the beginning, that I didn't really like the plot in the beginning and kinda just stayed for the characters. It's true. But maybe I was just tired when watching the first four or so episodes or the plot just got better, but I'm glad I kept watching because the plot GOT better, and I still love all the characters (except Ward), maybe even more than in the beginning. No, definitely more than in the beginning. Mostly Skye. But also everyone else. But: Fitz and Simmons are and will always be my favorites and nothing, really nothing, can change that. (I hope I won't regret saying this later)

To everyone who read all the way through until now, thank you. I'm almost pretty sure nobody does cause it's really just me writing down some thoughts, I'll probably have forgotten by the time I reach the end of season two, let alone season seven.

#agents of shield #agents of s.h.i.e.l.d. #season 1 #phil coulson #skye #grant ward #melinda may #jemma simmons #leo fitz #fitzsimmons #just some thoughts about season one #me rambling

[ikuzeminna]

Hi! How did you learn to read Japanese? If I'm not wrong that you do, is the Japanese depiction of the GW characters' personalities different from their Western depictions?

Hey! Learning how to read Japanese is definitely an adventure in and of itself. For me, I had learned how to read and write hiragana and katakana from the Yoshida Institute’s site long before smartphones existed, along with a few kanji. I would use hiragana for my cheat sheets at school. (Yes, I learned a whole different alphabet just to cheat at history and geography instead of simply studying for my exams like a sensible person, even though I realized it was way more effort. I'm not exactly smart.) I started learning kanji properly years later with the kanji learning app Japanese Kanji Study, which I can't recommend enough, then took a brief language course and then accidentally ended up studying Japanese in college for 1.5 years, which is where I learned all my beginner's grammar (みんなの日本語 anyone?) and, as is totally apt for a beginner, hentaigana.

It’s funny when you can't string five sentences together without issue, but can make out Nobunaga's scribbling, something many natives are incapable of. Great, balanced education you thought up there, folks.

At least I got a laugh out of one Ranma ½ episode where Ranma found Kuno’s journal entry and couldn’t read it because of course that doofus would write it in the most archaic manner possible. 

Anyway, as far as reading aids go, I’m just gonna plug everything I’ve used over the years for anyone interested. The Firefox extension 10ten reader has been a lifesaver, as has been Jisho. When it comes to comprehension, Google translate is dog crap. I’d recommend Papago, which must have been trained specifically on East Asian languages as the results are much better. Not perfect, but better in my experience. Google translate has long incorporated OCR (image to text) so it may be less useful, but I’m very fond of the no-install Capture2Text which can convert manga speech bubbles to text, provided the scans are clean enough to read the kanji.

For grammar, I stuck to Minna No Nihongo. Bought all the books and slowly work through the lessons now.

The most valuable asset though is having a fluent or native speaker you can ask. Nuance is impossible to grasp if no one explains it to you. Even with vocab, you’ll run into plenty of words with the same meaning. Dictionaries often don’t distinguish in those cases. Having someone you can ask makes learning a lot easier.

Now for the Gundam Wing part of your question.

I’m not exactly sure what you mean by Japanese and Western depictions, or rather who you mean. If we’re talking official sub vs. dub then yes, there are a few differences. Heero isn’t perpetually constipated in the original (he actually has a sense of humor!) and Duo is a lot less flirty than his dub version. But it’s nothing grave. Certainly not Seto Kaiba levels of the dub rewriting his character to make him rant about not believing in destiny every time he opens his mouth.

Or Saber Rider being the leader of the Star Sheriffs. wtf I grew up with a lie D:<

Now, if you’re referring to fandom spaces, I am, without a doubt, the wrongest person to ask as I have never seen what the Japanese Wing fandom is up to and have never really been in touch with what the West is doing either. Have I seen fanfics and do I know 1x2 is the most popular ship? Yes. Have I spent 10 minutes looking at a manga panel, trying to figure out what is going on, only to hit the back button as fast as I could once I did? To the detriment of my poor eyes, yes. But when it comes to fandom differences, I think @muwi-translates could give you a proper answer. I can’t really say much as I’m not involved in the fandom in a way that lets me know such things.

I just sit here in my bubble, talking to myself most of the time.

#gundam wing #japanese

[ruthlesslistener]

You’ve got a few au’s where Pk is the one eggnant with hornet, any egggant Pk headcanons? Brooding habits? Weird cravings?

He's not much different than other broody wyrms tbh! Apart from the fact that he is of course a whole hell of a lot smaller, and considers any reminder of his biological basis to be a major indignity. The same basic premise for how I headcanon gravid wyrms are applies to him as well, which are:

-Getting far bulkier in both fat and muscle mass before and soon after the eggs are fertilized. Wyrms are ravenous beasts, and their hatchlings are even more so, considering how quickly they must grow to have a chance at surviving the Wastelands. But food is a scarce resource that must be carefully rationed, so most wyrm-parents will simply not eat after their children hatch, as they will be giving all of their prey to the new hatchlings. Not to mention that later on in the development period, much like snakes, a gravid wyrm will simply be too full of egg to eat big meals anyways, so it's better to just sleep and rely on those fat stores than to risk anything by moving

-His scales will darken, as the hormones for egg development/production also increase melanin production. This is because wyrm burrows are typically not located as deep underground as you'd expect (the nest would grow too cold otherwise), so the guarding 'female' would need to blend into the darkness better to hide the young. In someone like PK, who rarely ever goes through a breeding season gravid, this would just tinge his scales from white to silver, but wyrms who spend many seasons choosing to carry eggs will often be far larger and darker than other wyrms

-has the instincts to build an elaborate nest within a tightly enclosed/guarded space- think like a king cobra's nest, where there's a hollow broodchamber and a roof, except in his case he's trying to compensate for not being underground. Most wyrms will laboriously dig a great nesting-cavity out of mountainsides or rocky terrain, where the earth is too difficult to gouge up from underneath without the parents noticing, and is rough enough from above to hide the entrance to the burrow. In the very center of the nesting-cavity would be the nest itself, a hollowed-out dome filled deeply with a layer of stones at the bottom and soft earth/moss on the top to incubate the eggs and keep the hatchlings contained for a time, and around the walls of the nest would be a great groove for the brooding parent to wrap around, so that they may lie comfortably with their belly pointed inwards, their tough back plates pointing out, and their head resting either atop their coils or near the entrance/exit of the nest. This construction is a laborous process and usually occupies the first third of the gravid period when there is no mate to assist (the nonlaying parent helps build and will guard the nest vigilantly from outside, or if also gravid, will coil up alongside their partner in shifts)

-Aggressive and territorial-defensive behaviors would rise drastically. Making eggs is a taxing process, rearing the products of such process even moreso. A parenting wyrm's worst nightmare is an attack on their nest or mate, and so they deal with the threat of it by striking preemptively. This aggression boost is also passed onto the mate via pheromone transmission from the gravid parent, and excludes them from the enemy roster- but since only mates are allowed in close proximity, siring the clutch doesn't mean much. You have to be bonded in some way to not be suspect, and that's difficult to do

-More mate-appeasing requirements become necessary during this time as well, to prove that they would not turn on the clutch post-hatching (as the eggs may have mixed sires, and wyrms will kill and consume offspring that they sense is not their own). Remember that with gods, mateship is a balance of dominance; this is when submissive rites must be undertaken to lower the chance of being mauled by your gravid lover, as its usually the older, larger, more dominant wyrm who is carrying. Exceptions are rare, but when they happen, appeasement behaviors are still demanded- and would need to be met- by the previously-dominant partner. Feeding your gravid mate (or at least offering, if they refuse) is a huge part in this

-This irritation isn't helped by the fact that headaches, cramps, hot flashes and other problems are often triggered by the hormones

-The last third of the eggnancy is closed off by very little eating and quite a bit of sleeping. Like, most of the day comotose sort of deal. This is because wyrm clutches are large and laying is a laborious process, so sleeping most of the time is a means to build up energy for the big event, and the long brooding period that will come after. Don't disturb this slumber if you want to keep your hand (or life)- the slumbering wyrm is still primed to defend their nest to the bitter end, and will snap before they're fully awakened. Most non-gravid mates will abandon the nest at this point and take guard duty to avoid this fate

And that's it! It really isn't like a human pregnancy at all, so he doesn't get any weird cravings or anything like that. He basically just chonks up to an actually healthy weight, develops an even more insatiable appetite for flesh, and gets a whole hell of a lot moodier than normal bc of hormone migraines. All an indignity to him of course, but it's pretty manageable for Herrah bc all she's gotta do is throw food at the nest to feed the guy while she waits for her eggs to finish cooking. Wyrms are built to have clutches and guard nests on their own, since bonding with a mate isn't a sure deal, so PK is very much a hands-off means of producing an heir

#wyrmbology #how do I even tag this #the pale king #herrah the beast #hollow knight headcanons #demonicintegrity #reply #not maintagging this bc im a wimp sjfndj #speculative biology

[lemonmatronics]

I just got done watching Out of the Past and I don’t think I’ll ever recover omg

I cried like 5 times and it took me an hour to get through cause I had to keep pausing to freak out and compose myself

That episode…GOD THAT EPISODE

I wanna ramble so spoilers below the cut since it’s like, actually a lot

So much in that episode got revealed it’s making me insane

Aja and Shana being the first Starlight Girls makes me so insane. Idk if they had ever mentioned that before and I just didn’t notice or forgot, but GOD that adds sm to the whole band’s bond. As well as adding to them working at Starlight too. They didn’t just work there because they agreed with the dream Jacqui stood for, Aja and Shana WERE the dream. That makes me sooooo crazy TEEHEEHEE

Also the reveal of how their mom died…ough

It explains a lot about Jerrica’s whole character to me tbh. Throughout the whole series so far I’ve been here thinking, “Wow, Jerrica is awfully patient and understanding with people. She’s barely ever mad at or super upset with people she cares about, and if she is it’s not for long”

and like…after learning that YEAH, Of course she’s like that! The last time she saw her mother she acted awful to her

What if she gets upset with someone and that’s the last time she ever sees them? It makes so much sense to me and makes what was seemingly a “flat and almost always perfect” type of character a lot more compelling. Not to say I didn’t like her before, I fuckin adore Jerrica, but that layer of extra complexity adds a LOT to her.

Speaking of Jerrica I loved seeing her grieve more. Both her and Kimber both seemed to have delayed reactions to each of their parents deaths, and sure that may have been accidental (most likely was), I think it’s interesting that big events and happenstances cause these emotions to bubble up later on. It’s gives a grounded layer of realism to their characters and I like that!

I also like that Jerrica used to kinda be a brat when she was younger. She wasn’t ALWAYS so thoughtful and acted like any kid and teen would to stuff happening around her, which again I like. It’s a realistic layer to her that adds a lot for me.

Onto talking about her mom more, the insight on both parents makes me nuts. Synergy being made with Jacqui’s voice and such drives me up the wall, that reveal floored me. But I like that it doesn’t change the fact Synergy is still her own separate being, she’s not Jacqui herself, only similar.

And the earrings being the last thing their father made…ohh makes me crazy. He wanted to give them to Jerrica personally…OOOH MAKES ME CRAZY….HE KNEW HE WAS DYING AND SPENT HIS LAST DAYS GETTING THINGS READY FOR HIS FAMILY…...OOOOHHHH MAKES ME CRAZY

And Eric Raymond…Eric when I catch you Eric. I’m going to kill that man I SWEAR DJJSHX Like I knew he was fucked up but OH MY GOD DUDE

Burning them in front of her!? Knowing it’s all she really has left of her mom voice!?

Slap was DESERVED. Her crying for her mom over the fire, her straight up reaching INTO the fire!? Should’ve beaten his ass.

Side note I fuckin love how much they slap men in this show. It’s not so much it loses its shock and impact when it happens, but enough to where you can say “yeah they slap guys a lot” and it’s true.

I also really like that The Misfits aren’t really active antagonists in this episode either. For multiple reasons.

The most they do is help Eric look for those tapes, and they don’t even know why they’re so important. Even after asking, and Eric is the one that finds them anyways so they don’t ever find out. And they’re left at that, no other appearance.

The Misfit’s rivalry with Jem is very petty and spiteful, as much as it may feel personal for them, it’s really not. It’s simply a band rivalry, an extreme one, but it’s formed out of very juvenile motivation.

Eric’s rivalry is not, his beef with Jerrica is IMMENSELY more personal not only because he used to be part of the company, but because he used to be a friend of the family. He knew this girl ever since she was a teenager, and she was ALWAYS a threat to him having full company control. And once she managed to kick him out the door any nice facade with her was over. She’s the reason he lost so much and depends so heavily on a band that treats him like shit (haha).

Their rivalry is infinitely more personal, and for such a personal conflict involving Jerrica’s dead mother, the woman that started Starlight, it only makes sense this would be a battle for him and him alone.

Additionally,, I just don’t think even The Misfits would go that far. Hell even Raymond with anyone else, but because it was Jerrica Benton specifically he had no issue burning her mother’s tapes right in front of her.

#jem and the holograms #jerrica benton #kimber benton #80s cartoons #the misfits #cartoon nostalgia #nostalgia

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super 037

Vegeta vs. (yawn) Cabba.

So this is the one where Vegeta teaches Cabba to turn Super Saiyan.  There are some good points to this episode, but for my money, it fails to overcome its most critical flaw.  This is supposed to be a tournament match, but it ends up becoming a training session.  Vegeta even points this out himself when Cabba asks for the lesson.  He goes ahead and teaches him anyway, though, which I can understand, because he already knows he can’t get a decent fight out of Cabba, so he may as well use the time constructively. 

But as the viewer, I feel ripped off.  The thing is, this scenario could totally work if it were part of a card full of banger matches.  But let’s look at what we’ve seen so far.

Match 1: Goku vs. Botamo.  Goku wins when he drags Botamo to the edge and judo-throws him out of the ring.

Match 2: Goku vs. Frost. A complete mismatch.  Frost cheats to win, the decision is later reversed.

Match 3: Piccolo vs. Frost. A complete mismatch.  Frost cheats to win, the decision is later reversed.

Match 4: Piccolo vs. Frost.  A rematch after Vegeta requests Frost be reinstated.  Vegeta demands that Piccolo forfeit so he can fight Frost himself.  Piccolo agrees.

Match 5: Vegeta vs. Frost.  A complete mismatch.  Vegeta knocks Frost out of the ring with one blow.

Match 6: Vegeta vs. Auta Magetta.  A shitshow.  Vegeta float around for ten minutes dodging lava until he finally remembers he can just solve all his problems with ki blasts.  Also, insults wear down Magetta’s resolve so this was actually another mismatch. 

Match 7: Vegeta vs. Cabba.   Another complete mismatch. 

Tell me, dear reader, which of these is your favorite?  Probably Vegeta vs. Magetta, just because it wasn’t a one-sided rout.  And yeah, it’s the best fight of this saga so far, but it still isn’t very good.  It’s what Jim Ross would call “bowling shoe ugly.”  But at least Magetta made his opponent work for it, which is more than I can say for his teammates or Piccolo. 

Now, there’s still three more matches to go after this, and we do see an uptick in quality, but there’s also another mismatch in the bunch.  To put it simply: the Destroyer Invitational Tournament is a one-match show.  That sucks ass, because it’s a tournament!   There are supposed to be lots of good matches!  Maybe all of them should be good!  I mean, why is that not something to aspire to?

All right, so let’s talk about the good aspects of this episode.  The main thing Cabba brings to the table is Saiyan lore, and I’m always down for that.  This arc did help me iron out some details about the Saiyan history I wrote into Luffa.  For example, even though the U6 Saiyans are very different from the U7 Saiyans, and they seem to have very divergent histories, Cabba still uses the same fighting stance Vegeta used when he first fought Goku on Earth.  And Cabba uses the Gallick Gun, which indicates that these aren’t just things Vegeta invented himself, or even something he picked up from his royal family.  No, if Cabba has the same knowledge, then that means Vegeta’s style is based on something far, far more ancient.  And this scene led me to conclude that Luffa should know the Gallick Gun and Vegeta’s DBZ Episode 30 stance as well.  If they date back to ancient Sadala, then that knowledge would be commonplace among Saiyans, even a thousand years ago. 

Recently, I was thinking about the history of the Universe 6 Saiyans, and it occurred to me that it kind of makes sense that Cabba has never heard of the Super Saiyan form.  According to the Battle of Gods movie, the Super Saiyan God ritual was used to empower one righteous Saiyan so he could wipe out the wicked Saiyans of his era.  He failed when the form wore off.  Later, Akira Toriyama declared that this ancient Saiyan hero was named Yamoshi, and he was the first Super Saiyan, as well as the pioneer of the Super Saiyan God form.  The Super Saiyans who followed Yamoshi would arise every thousand years, and supposedly their transformation was awakened by his vengeful spirit.  I think that’s how it was supposed to go. 

So what does that have to do with Cabba?  Well, in his universe, the Saiyans are all good guys.  They don’t have tails anymore, and they don’t terrorize planets.  Instead, they hire themselves out to defend weaker planets from powerful aggressors (something else I cribbed for Luffa.)  Cabba even said that the Saiyans in Universe 6 still live on their original homeworld, Sadala. 

In that case, the conflict Yamoshi fought in Universe 7 must have turned out very differently in Universe 6.  Maybe Yamoshi’s counterpart won in that world.  He wiped out all the wicked Saiyans, and retired, never using the Super Saiyan God ritual again.   Or mabye Yamoshi’s counterpart never had to fight at all.  The Saiyans of his era were cool guys, so he never needed to become a Super Saiyan God in the first place.  Either way, there was no “vengeful spirit” to trigger the rise of Super Saiyans in Universe 6.  And without that, there was no Super Saiyan Legend.  Which means Cabba would never know about the Super Saiyan form until he saw Goku and Vegeta in this tournament. 

This kind of ties into something else this episode helped me work out for Luffa.  A big question about the Super Saiyan Legend is why none of the ancient Super Saiyans taught anyone else how to do it.  Goku taught Gohan, after all, and Trunks and Goten were so gifted that they learned it on their own.  So why was there only one Super Saiyan every thousand years?  Sure, some of them might not be inclined to share their secret, but some of them must have craved a worthy opponent.

This episode gives us an idea of the answer to that.  Cabba begs Vegeta to teach him the transformation, and Vegeta is disgusted that he would even ask such a thing from an opponent, during a fight.  So he turns Super Saiyan and whoops Cabba’s ass for a while.  Cabba tries to surrender, but Vegeta refuses to let him.  He threatens to kill Cabba, rules or no rules.  Also, he threatens to destroy Planet Sadala, and kill Cabba’s entire family. 

And that does the trick.  Cabba goes wild and seems to turn the tables on Vegeta for a bit...

But it soon becomes clear that Vegeta was just letting Cabba run loose for a while to get him acclimated to the form.  Then he tells Cabba to transform again, and he seems to have the form under control. 

The point of all of this is that it’s not exactly an easy thing to teach.  Vegeta had to resort to physical attacks and threats against Cabba’s loved ones to push him over the edge.  A Super Saiyan altruistic enough to share their knowledge with others might not be so eager to engage in that kind of cruelty.  In DBZ, Goku got Gohan to Super Saiyan, but he had to shoot at him with a Kamehameha to do it, and Goku was kind of reluctant to push it that far. 

Also, imagine using this teaching approach on a Saiyan like Turles, who doesn’t care about anyone but himself.  What loved ones can you threaten?  Which world can you destroy?  It wouldn’t awaken anything in him because he doesn’t care.  The irony is that the U6 Saiyans are a lot easier to train in this sort of thing, but they have no concept of the Super Saiyan to aim for.  Meanwhile, the U7 Saiyans had the legend but generally lacked the compassion to understand how to get to it.  And that’s why there was only one every thousand years. 

Of course, later on, Cabba will teach Caulifla how to turn into a Super Saiyan, and that’s where the whole “tingly back” thing got started.  But that’s the exception that proves the rule.   Cabba was willing to teach the form and Caulifla was eager to learn, but he still had a hard time explaining it to her, and he lacked Vegeta’s talent for inspiring righteous fury.  Caulifla understood how to get to the bottom of the matter, but she’s a rare talent.  Most Saiyans wouldn’t ask such perceptive questions. 

Anyway, back to the fight.  Vegeta turns Super Saiyan Blue to show Cabba where the road leads next.  Then he one-shots him and wins the match.

Cabba thanks Vegeta for his instruction, and tells him that he’s a lot like the Saiyan King on Planet Sadala. 

Goku is surprised that Vegeta would do all this for an opponent, and Piccolo suggests it’s because Vegeta wanted to spend some quality time with another Saiyan.  Goku points out that he’s a Saiyan, and Piccolo’s like, yeah, but he hates you, Goku. 

I mean, yeah, Goku’s Different, no doubt about that.  Vegeta can bond with Cabba in a way that he can’t with Goku.  But I think Piccolo’s got it wrong.  Vegeta has a similar desire to support Goku, I think.  I mean, they hang out a lot.  Goku doesn’t need much mentoring, and his Earthling traits probably irritate Vegeta, but who else has he got?   He’s the Prince of All Saiyans, and that includes the big orange goofballs like Goku.

So the next match is Vegeta vs. Hit, and as they prepare to face off, Vados informs Champa that she had to promise him the Hexahedron to get him to join the team.  Champa is upset to hear about this, because the Hexahedron is a vehicle of gods, capable of travel between universes.  But he had told Vados to get Hit on the team by any means necessary, so here we are. 

#dragon ball #dragon ball super #2023dbapocryphaliveblog #vegeta #cabba #hit #goku #piccolo

[idolmelodies]

"Hey, where have you been?" You probably (dont) ask, and receive a big shrug in return.

Joking aside, hello! Hello! Hi!!! It's time for the long overdue update with the state of this blog and the plan moving forward.

Despite me having been on summer break for the past...too many months, I haven't made much progress in way of rebooting my old blog like I wished to do, for many reasons. One of them is medical problems that have severely held me back from drawing, but also me getting far too overexcited about rebooting ClownPosse and not only creating more work for myself but also,,, When I get really excited about things I have the bad habit to push them off more? LMAO, yeah. Doesn't make sense to me either but that's what I'm working with here. But it's still very much coming....just later than I hoped.

As for this blog in particular? Hmmm, to be honest I've thought of hitting that "delete blog" button more than once these past few months but never completing that thought because I think "wait no, I really want to stick around and do things!! Interact with people!" and then getting stuck because this era in my brain has passed, not much motive for it anymore despite having things I want to tell! I love using Magpie a whole bunch, she's so fun to me.

So, my compromise?

A overhaul-- which you may be thinking what do you mean a overhaul!? Isn't that my problem with the other blog? And yes...but also not so much. For this overhaul will be easy peasy, I basically have all I need already and just need to assemble a few pieces and we'll be in business. I was planning on saving present day Magpie and all her silliness for ClownPosse but simply decided that I am tired of waiting and will give myself what I want (especially since her debut for that blog will be...awhile). Anyway, yeah. So I'm gonna overhaul the blog and just dedicate it to normal Magpie silliness! Everything regarding this iteration of the blog will still be like, canon since it's just her past (save for a few lore changes), but I do plan on nixing everything on the blog. So heads up! Sorry for any messiness you may see these coming days,,,I've already started with this overhaul last night while in a trance like state and got carried away. But yeah!

Now the most agonizing part. Thinking of a new name.

TL;DR, Don't be alarmed if you see some changes on this blog in the next few days-- hell you may even already notice a few!! I plan to overhaul it completely and start afresh with a new concept, however still featuring Magpie. I hope you'll stick around for the changes :))

#ooc #I've been told I speak too much about nothing important and I know I am guilty of that here #i apologize #but yeah #:) #need to get my drawing muscles back so bad or I will be tossed out of art school

[citadel-of-paper-birds]

"Secrets, secrets are no fun..."

I've been reading a lot of ff lately about Pride!Roman, and I honestly can't help but feel like there's so much that could be explored here. If you want some messy au headcanons, read below!

The concept of Roman "falling" to the dark side is as fascinating to me as the idea of Roman re-fusing with Remus. I like the idea that Roman would try to hide that he's falling from the others, and it's his own pride keeping him from asking for help or talking about how he's feeling with the others too.

I’ve come to a conclusion: being C!Thomas’s ego while also being his creativity must be really hard. The way I think about it, ego is a necessary trait for any individual. Creativity is too, but it’s actually not nearly as essential as the ego. Now where Thomas is concerned I have a whole mini dissertation regarding how Thomas’s ego and creativity ended up all tangled together, but it boils down to one major point. Thomas, as an artist, conflates his ego with his art because the degree to which he values his art makes it a point of pride for him, and therefore makes him more sensitive to others criticizing it. 

Without going too much into all that (for this post, anyway) let’s talk about why ego being a more essential function than creativity is important. I think the best way to explain is to give an alternate example. If we look at Logan for example, and if we subscribe to the idea that Logan is not just Thomas’s logic but also his curiosity we can see that there’s a clear divide between a primary function (logic) and a secondary function (curiosity). If Logan were to suddenly reverse which function he paid primary attention to then Thomas’s mindscape would be a mess. Curiosity in the driver’s seat with logic riding in the back? Unlikely to work out well.

But in a way, that’s exactly what Roman is doing and I think it might be caused by multiple factors. I think Roman’s main function is supposed to be ego, not creativity. Creativity is needed for every individual but not every individual is a creative person. Someone different may have their ego connected with their curiosity/drive to learn, while others might combine their ego with their empathy - it would most likely depend on what sub-function feeds that individual’s ego. The secondary function is meant to act as a support for the primary function (Logic & curiosity, morality & emotions/empathy, fight or flight & anxiety, self preservation & deceit, “dark” creativity & intrusive thoughts). 

Roman is treating creativity like it’s the primary function, and there are a couple main reasons this could be. One is that because Roman was split from the original creativity, who may have also encompassed the ego, he was very confused after being yanked in half and simply didn’t realize he had obtained the ego until later (and if you didn’t notice it, can it really be that important?). Another is that ego is often associated with pride, and pride is not considered a “good” thing to have. Most people have a very negative connotation of pride. You say someone’s a “proud” person and it means they’re stubborn, you say someone is prideful and it means they’re arrogant. 

Patton, our morality, is clearly put on a pedestal by Roman as seen in the most recent videos, and Roman feels like he knows that Patton would disapprove if he were to show his more egotistical side. The thing is, ego is just how a person perceives themselves when you put it in simple terms. Ego at its healthiest is a sense of self-respect. Go too far in one direction and yes, you’ll get arrogance. My concern lies in going too far the other direction, because in an effort to be “good” for Patton and the others, Roman is starving his ego instead, which can cause major self confidence issues going forward.

Honestly, I think maybe a cool option would be if Roman could somehow give a large portion of his hand in creativity to Remus. I talked before in my other post about how sometimes it feels like Remus doesn’t have a proper “helpful” function for Thomas and that could be due to only being half a side. When Roman and Remus split it seems like the split may have been uneven, and in fact the dark creativity be sequestered to one person might be what’s causing the intrusive thoughts - they might very well be Remus’s, not Thomas’s.

Giving Remus a larger portion of creativity from Roman would mean that his ideas wouldn’t always be unusable, gross, or illegal. He might be able to actually help Roman brainstorm without being distracted by the constant chatter in his own head! Likewise, having less creative function would make it easier for Roman to focus on being Thomas’s ego and working on what’s best for Thomas’s self-respect and self-image. It might also make sense that with responsibilities shifting, perhaps intrusive thoughts could be co-handled by Remus and Virgil both. Functions working together just seems like it would be more efficient.

This is already long so let me add a few more off-the-cuff things to my headcanons/aus list:

Virgil’s main function is fight or flight, not anxiety. Anxiety was just the most “noticeable” thing about him, and so the other functions (and Thomas) labeled him the best way they knew how at the time. They never started calling him fight or flight because they had already been calling him anxiety for so long, and because it doesn’t have the same ring to it. The same goes for Janus with his primary trait being self preservation and secondary being deceit. 

In this particular au where I’m making it canon that Roman’s main trait is ego and not creativity, when all the responsibilities shift it changes Remus’s functions from dark creativity & intrusive thoughts to ingenuity & resilience. No particular reason, I just want nice things for Remus. 

Anyway, what if a dark side is just a demonized side? Which is why when Roman becomes ego or pride for a lot of people he becomes “dark.” It’s a perception thing.

#art #citadelart #citadelspeaks #roman sanders #tss #sanders sides #tss roman #ts roman #sanders sides fanart #roman sanders fanart

[creaturefeaster]

Could you tell us more about the world of Colorquest? I am fascinated by the world building you have done with it and I would love to know more about the people and places and species that inhabit the world :]

This is a request with a pretty broad range of things to go over, and thus is something I'll answer in pieces for you for time's sake. I think I'll elaborate a bit on geography and setting for this response, and I'll either reblog this again later with more info, or answer more specific asks to help piece things together in the future.

Anyway, CQ is set on an earth-like fantasy world and more specifically set on one special continent. There's actually much more to the world than what would ever be elaborated upon, simply because the heroes journey never leaves this somewhat isolated continent.

Continent enlarged for emphasis.

Native to this continent are primarily Bluple and Humans, with some various settlements scattered around. It is also the only continent that Talpians surface at. This is the reason why, while there's many different races in this universe, you tend to see these sorts of people more than others.

This part of the world's geological diversity is what I'd call remarkable. You will find boreal forests to arid plateaus to harsh mountain ranges to ice sheets to magical forests, etc.

This is generally where any given character native to the world lives. Tim/Brook/Hannah/Gary all live in a slightly warmer part of a taiga, Tanner/April/Leon live in the center-most town in the middle of the desert, Rachel/Bonnie reside in a particularly flat and dry part of the continent where the Talpian Dominion can be found, D/Vilmr/Samantha/Michael all live in a mountainous and magical climate, Taylor/Zack come from a coastal town, and Lauren/Elliot live in a uniquely bizarre spot dubbed the Deadlands.

I'll elaborate briefly on some of these locations.

The Talpian Dominion is an extremely complex & ancient set of caves underground, constructed through millennia of digging & tunneling by the reclusive Talpian people. Just how far this complex extends is unknown to all surface dwellers... and even most Talpians. It's pretty fucking big down there. Extremely warm temperatures, and even magma flows, would not be uncommon to see as you trek further into their world.

Lystrike is a dinky little town, whos only claim to any sort of fame is that it's pretty much exactly in the center of their continent. Other than that, it's pretty rustic and insignificant to the common eye. Someone that isn't from this world though, such as you the one reading this, may think that the glowing cacti & other local fauna are something of significance. However, this is merely a geological leak of... whatever magical substance that makes the distantly neighboring Forest of Love glow so bright.

The Deadlands are unique to this part of the world, and an enigma to all who do not live within its disorientating landscape. This land defies gravity whenever it pleases, it has an aura that dilates and heightens most senses, and its community is as strange as its surroundings. However, its biggest feature is that it's pretty much the world's lost & found dump. Anything that's gone missing ends up here, somehow, with no real explanation. The average Deadlandian can open their curtains in the morning to find that gravity is dangling lost items from across the world right over their lawn.

These ones are just as fleshed out, but I actually don't have (or just don't remember ><;;;;) names for them.

The jagged mountain range that Samantha lives in rarely sees sunlight. The weather is generally harsh and unforgiving, and for most of this range there's no life to be seen. However, this town dwells within a divot in the mountains, where they are sheltered by the towering rock a little more than other places to escape the bitter blizzards. That, and this specific location is unique in that it seems to have a lot more of that magic blue junk than pretty much anywhere else in the mountains. This magic is revealed through cracked geodes high in the rocks, which leak into mountain rivers, which just so happen to feed directly into the Forest of Love down a ways.

The Forest of Love is a large range of glowing blue forest that borders the east side of the mountains, and is generally the location that Michael, Debbie, and Vilmr live in. It is ever bright, and is considered one of the most uplifting places one could live in. Generally, those with magical inclinations live within or above the leafy glow of the forest to become more in sync with their magic, while those who do not practice tend to reside on the surface below. It's not actually clear if being closer to this magical canopy actually does anything, but that's just how those bitches live I guess.

Tim's area is probably the most neutral place you'll find in the story. It's much like cascadia, in that it's largely boreal and mild. Though his location is a little drier and more suited for farmland. This part of the land is a heavy export for the rest of the continent's basic grain & livestock material.

Zack & Taylor's town rests against a rather consistently rainy coast, where at least one day out of the week its weather parallels mild hurricanes. However much of the city is built with this in mind, and most areas of commute are sealed & domed. On the outskirts of town, though, spans mostly soggy beaches and marshy plains. Because of this location's wet climate, one may occasionally see the elusive fish person emerge from their oceanic abodes and wander the beaches. Usually in search of a beached fish snack.

*-~-~-*

Anyways, that's some info on some of the more significant locations in the CQ universe. It is 7:30 AM and I haven't gone to bed yet, so pardon any hiccups in grammar I may have left. I hope this helps you understand the world a little more. It also helps me to be able to write and cement this stuff down so I don't forget it later on, so thank you for being interested & asking me in the first place :3

#long post #sorry these doodle are kind of incomprehensible #but i hate doing long explanations of my stuff without at least some visuals #this post is fine to reblog btw if you want to bother your followers with a long post lmfao #brambleramble

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

I was having this argument with this Muslim person i know who kept saying that islam is the true religion and is accurate because there are some parts in the Koran that mention stuff about embryos and astronomy in a way that is scientifically accurate and that this was all written before scientists made said discoveries themselves. What are your thoughts on this?

They love to say stuff like that, but it's simply not true. For starters, remember that Islam began in the 600s. The study of embryology goes back to ancient Egypt, India and Greece, including Hippocrates, he of the medical Hippocratic Oath, and around 1000 years before Islam.

And we've been studying the sky since we could first look up.

With that in mind, whether or not it's "scientifically accurate" is thoroughly unremarkable.

But let's take a look at the Islamic scripture that purports this supposedly previously unknown knowledge.

--

https://quranx.com/22.5

O People, if you should be in doubt about the Resurrection, then [consider that] indeed, We created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop, then from a clinging clot, and then from a lump of flesh, formed and unformed - that We may show you. And We settle in the wombs whom We will for a specified term, then We bring you out as a child, and then [We develop you] that you may reach your [time of] maturity. [The rest of the ayah is not relevant.]

https://quranx.com/23.12-14

And certainly did We create man from an extract of clay. Then We placed him as a sperm-drop in a firm lodging. Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and We made [from] the lump, bones, and We covered the bones with flesh; then We developed him into another creation. So blessed is Allah, the best of creators.

https://quranx.com/40.67

It is He who created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop, then from a clinging clot; then He brings you out as a child; then [He develops you] that you reach your [time of] maturity, then [further] that you become elders. And among you is he who is taken in death before [that], so that you reach a specified term; and perhaps you will use reason.

This in no way reflects embryology, except to the scientifically illiterate. There is no mention of the egg. You don't develop as a skeleton and then skin and flesh grows on it. Humans aren't made of dirt or clay, and if this is a metaphor, it is by definition, unscientific. Science is precise. On the other hand, a clot of blood is precise, and it makes no sense to mix a metaphor with a precise biological term... one which is inaccurate anyway.

Ibn Kathir's tafsir (exegesis) is clear:

https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/40.66

(It is He, Who has created you from dust, then from a Nutfah then from a clot (a piece of coagulated blood), then brings you forth as an infant, then (makes you grow) to reach the age of full strength, and afterwards to be old.) meaning, He is the One Who Alone, with no partner or associate, causes you to pass through these different stages, and this happens in accordance with His command, will and decree.

He isn't trying to explain this as being metaphorical, he's saying, yep, these are the stages, Allah is the one who makes all these accurate things happen.

But an embryo is not "coagulated blood." And the entire development of the embryo is skimmed in a couple of words, making it useless.

It's far more remarkable what's missing from and inaccurate in the quran, how little Allah seems to know, how much other human cultures studying embryology had already figured out long before the quran was "revealed."

There are literally dozens of ayahs that say stupid things about astronomy, about the stars, the sun, the moon, the shape of the Earth, the sky itself.

https://quranx.com/71.15

Do you not consider how Allah has created seven heavens in layers

These are described as literal layers. When Muhammad later flies up into heaven on Buraq (the Night Journey), he ascends through the heavens one at a time, like going up the storeys in a building.

Also:

https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2919/earths-atmosphere-a-multi-layered-cake/

Earth’s atmosphere has five major and several secondary layers. From lowest to highest, the major layers are the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere.

There are five major atmospheric layers, so the notion of this describing the atmosphere is wrong too.

Granting "heavens" as atmospheric layers makes the problem worse, because this means the quran puts the stars inside the Earth's atmosphere, on the "nearest heaven," the troposphere.

https://quranx.com/37.6

Indeed, We have adorned the nearest heaven with an adornment of stars

https://quranx.com/2.29

It is He who created for you all of that which is on the earth. Then He directed Himself to the heaven, [His being above all creation], and made them seven heavens, and He is Knowing of all things.

The stars are set into the underside of the nearest layer of heaven. And were made after the Earth.

https://quranx.com/67.5

And We have certainly beautified the nearest heaven with stars and have made [from] them what is thrown at the devils and have prepared for them the punishment of the Blaze.

The stars are, again, embedded in the underside of the heavens. And are weapons which will be fired at the devils like projectiles.

https://quranx.com/2.22

[He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out] and the sky a ceiling and sent down from the sky, rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you. So do not attribute to Allah equals while you know [that there is nothing similar to Him].

The sky is not a real thing, least of all a "ceiling." The Earth is an object in space, with a thin later of atmosphere clinging to its surface. What we perceive as the sky is us looking away from that object into an infinite space.

Also, the quran says the Earth is spread out like a bed. i.e. flat.

https://quranx.com/20.53

[It is He] who has made for you the earth as a bed [spread out] and inserted therein for you roadways and sent down from the sky, rain and produced thereby categories of various plants.

The quran also seems to suggest that rain is sent down from the heavens/sky, and it's not a natural cycle of evaporation, condensation, precipitation. It rains because there is already water on Earth.

https://quranx.com/13.2

It is Allah who erected the heavens without pillars that you [can] see; then He established Himself above the Throne and made subject the sun and the moon, each running [its course] for a specified term. He arranges [each] matter; He details the signs that you may, of the meeting with your Lord, be certain.

This again, seriously misunderstands what the sky is, and it only "makes sense" if the Earth is static and immovable and the sky/heavens are a thing being pulled down by its gravity. And again, as metaphors it's completely worthless to science.

https://quranx.com/18.86

Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it [as if] setting in a spring of dark mud, and he found near it a people. Allah said, "O Dhul-Qarnayn, either you punish [them] or else adopt among them [a way of] goodness."

https://quranx.com/36.38

And the sun runs [on course] toward its stopping point. That is the determination of the Exalted in Might, the Knowing.

The sun goes into a spring of dark mud. The sun has a stopping place, a resting place. Except, in reality, the sun doesn't go anywhere. It's always day somewhere on Earth, and night is just when we're spinning away from it. Where does it "go"? Where and how does it "stop"?

https://quranx.com/Hadith/Muslim/USC-MSA/Book-1/Hadith-297/

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Dharr that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) one day said: Do you know where the sun goes? They replied: Allah and His Apostle know best. He (the Holy Prophet) observed: Verily it (the sun) glides till it reaches its resting place under the Throne. Then it falls prostrate and remains there until it is asked: Rise up and go to the place whence you came, and it goes back and continues emerging out from its rising place and then glides till it reaches its place of rest under the Throne and falls prostrate and remains in that state until it is asked: Rise up and return to the place whence you came, and it returns and emerges out from it rising place and the it glides (in such a normal way) that the people do not discern anything ( unusual in it) till it reaches its resting place under the Throne. Then it would be said to it: Rise up and emerge out from the place of your setting, and it will rise from the place of its setting. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said. Do you know when it would happen? It would happen at the time when faith will not benefit one who has not previously believed or has derived no good from the faith.

Apparently under Allah's throne, where it lies stretched out on the ground (prostrate) until it's told otherwise. And some day it will rise from its setting place. What is the "science" of this?

https://quranx.com/21.30-33

Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and We separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe? And We placed within the earth firmly set mountains, lest it should shift with them, and We made therein [mountain] passes [as] roads that they might be guided. And We made the sky a protected ceiling, but they, from its signs, are turning away. And it is He who created the night and the day and the sun and the moon; all [heavenly bodies] in an orbit are swimming.

So much stuff here. The "heavens" are not a thing. The Earth formed out of material that coalesced through gravity. Everything is not made of water - again, metaphors are scientifically useless. Mountains do not stablize the Earth, they're created by tectonic shifts - mountains demonstrate the instability of Earth, which we know as earthquakes. There's no "ceiling" in the sky. The only way the last thing makes sense is if Allah thinks everything is orbiting the Earth, since the sun, moon and everything else, are grouped together as being alike.

Again, let's go to the tafsir of Ibn Kathir to explain this and see if what we think it says is what it means:

https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/21.30

Do they not see that the heavens and the earth were joined together, i.e. in the beginning they were all one piece, attached to one another and piled up on top of one another, then He separated them from one another, and made the heavens seven and the earth seven, placing the air between the earth and the lowest heaven.

The Earth and heavens were one "piece."

Continuing...

Sufyan Ath-Thawri narrated from his father from `Ikrimah that Ibn `Abbas was asked; "Did the night come first or the day'' He said, "Do you think that when the heavens and the earth were joined together, there was anything between them except darkness Thus you may know that the night came before the day. Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Ibn `Umar said that a man came to him and questioned him about when the heavens and earth were joined together then they were parted. He said, "Go to that old man (Shaykh) and ask him, then come and tell me what he says to you.'' So he went to Ibn `Abbas and asked him. Ibn `Abbas said: "Yes, the heavens were joined together and it did not rain, and the earth was joined together and nothing grew. When living beings were created to populate the earth, rain came forth from the heavens and vegetation came forth from the earth.'' The man went back to Ibn `Umar and told him what had been said. Ibn `Umar said, "Now I know that Ibn `Abbas has been given knowledge of the Qur'an. He has spoken the truth, and this is how it was.'' Ibn `Umar said: "I did not like the daring attitude of Ibn `Abbas in his Tafsir of the Qur'an, but now I know that he has been given knowledge of the Qur'an.'' Sa`id bin Jubayr said: "The heavens and the earth were attached to one another, then when the heavens were raised up, the earth became separate from them, and this is their parting which was mentioned by Allah in His Book.'' Al-Hasan and Qatadah said, "They were joined together, then they were separated by this air.''

In the real world, the sun existed before the Earth. At no point in the existence of Earth as a recognizable planet was there not stuff with the light of the sun shining on it, and stuff in shadow. Everybody in this story is certain of things that one could only claim to be true if you had no knowledge of how the Earth formed and works.

Continuing...

(And We have placed on the earth firm mountains,) means, mountains which stabilize the earth and keep it steady and lend it weight, lest it should shake with the people, i.e., move and tremble so that they would not be able to stand firm on it -- because it is covered with water, apart from one-quarter of its surface. So the land is exposed to the air and sun, so that its people may see the sky with its dazzling signs and evidence. So Allah says, (lest it should shake with them, ) meaning, so that it will not shake with them.

The mountains prevent the Earth from shaking. Except we know that earthquakes happen where tectonic action occurs. So this is the opposite of the truth.

https://quranx.com/81.1-3

When the sun is wrapped up [in darkness] And when the stars fall, dispersing, And when the mountains are removed

Apparently, the stars can fall. The mountains can be removed, because they're things placed there to weigh the Earth down ("lend it weight" as Ibn Kathir said above).

https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/81.1

What will happen on the Day of Judgement, and that is the rolling up of the Sun `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported from Ibn `Abbas: (When the sun is Kuwwirat.) "This means it will be darkened.'' Al-`Awfi reported from Ibn `Abbas; "It will go away.'' Qatadah said, "Its light will go away.'' Sa`id bin Jubayr said, "Kuwwirat means it will sink in.'' Abu Salih said, "Kuwwirat means it will be thrown down.'' At-Takwir means to gather one part of something with another part of it (i.e., folding). From it comes the folding of the turban (`Imamah) and the folding of clothes together. Thus, the meaning of Allah's statement, (Kuwwirat) is that part of it will be folded up into another part of it. Then it will be rolled up and thrown away. When this is done to it, its light will go away. Al-Bukhari recorded from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said, (The sun and the moon will be rolled up on the Day of Judgement.) Al-Bukhari was alone in recording this Hadith and this is his wording of it. Dispersing the Stars (And when the stars Inkadarat.) meaning, when they are scattered. This is as Allah says, (And when the stars have fallen and scattered.) (82:2) The basis of the word Inkidar is Insibab, which means to be poured out. Ar-Rabi` bin Anas reported from Abu Al-`Aliyah, who reported from Ubayy bin Ka`b that he said, "Six signs will take place before the Day of Judgement. The people will be in their marketplaces when the sun's light will go away. When they are in that situation, the stars will be scattered. When they are in that situation, the mountains will fall down upon the face of the earth, and the earth will move, quake and be in a state of mixed up confusion. So the Jinns will then flee in fright to the humans and the humans will flee to the Jinns. [Continues...]

The sun and moon will be rolled up, folded up, like the folding of a turban. The sun will be darkened and people will be there to see it. This is amazingly wrong and demonstrates the impression of the sun as a smaller thing. When the sun collapses in 7+ billion years, it will have already first become a red giant and expanded to engulf and destroy Earth.

The tafsir mentions ayah 82.2:

https://quranx.com/82.2

And when the stars fall, scattering,

In the bible, Jesus himself says the same thing. The idea that the stars can fall demonstrates blatant ignorance of what they are. The tafsir then concludes that the mountains will "fall".... somehow, and the Earth will then be unstable due to their collapse - remember, they're "weights" holding the Earth stable.

--

I could honestly keep going and going with this. There are many more astronomical problems, and even the ones I've mentioned have more ayahs that reinforce it. On the topic of the flat Earth alone, spread out like a carpet, there's a good dozen or so.

--

This is worth considering or posing to any Muslim who wants to pretend that the quran is scientifically accurate. Ask them to identify a single ayah that meets these criteria. If they object to the criteria, ask them why. Why Allah's divine word isn't resilient enough to withstand this examination.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Qur%27anic_scientific_foreknowledge#Criteria_for_scientific_foreknowledge

For a statement to be Qur'anic foreknowledge, it must fit all of the five following criteria:

It must be accurate. A statement cannot be Qur'anic foreknowledge if it is not accurate, because knowledge (and thus foreknowledge) excludes inaccurate statements. TLDR: It's true.

It must be in the Qur'an. A statement cannot be Qur'anic foreknowledge if it is not in the Qur'an, because Qur'anic by definition foreknowledge can only come from the Qur'an itself, rather than modern reinterpretations of the text. TLDR: It's in plain words in the Qur'an.

It must be precise and unambiguous. A statement cannot be Qur'anic foreknowledge if meaningless philosophical musings or multiple possible ideas could fulfill the foreknowledge, because ambiguity prevents one from knowing whether the foreknowledge was intentional rather than accidental. TLDR: Vague "predictions" don't count.

It must be improbable. A statement cannot be Qur'anic foreknowledge if it reasonably could be the result of a pure guess, because foreknowledge requires a person to actually know something true, while a correct guess doesn't mean that the guesser knows anything. This also excludes contemporary beliefs that happened be true but were believed to be true without solid evidence. TLDR: Lucky guesses don't count.

It must have been unknown. A statement cannot be Qur'anic foreknowledge if it reasonably could be the result of an educated guess based off contemporary knowledge, because foreknowledge requires a person to know a statement when it would have been impossible, outside of supernatural power, for that person to know it. TLDR: Ideas of the time don't count.

--

The big problem with the quran and its scientific inaccuracy isn't just that what it says is frequently explicitly wrong, but also what it doesn't say. It doesn't give us any new information, such as about bacteria, viruses, the structure of the solar system, or even the other continents. It doesn't use any scientific language or concepts. It doesn't give us any formulas, it doesn't give us any math. You can't start with the quran and discover anything scientifically useful. It doesn't predict or describe anything in the future beyond a desert warlord's limited misunderstanding of the world. All you can do is look back with 20/20 hindsight, squint and pretend it said it the whole time... metaphorically.

What this really means is that the quran is not authoritative. Needing to be "interpreted" makes quranic knowledge subservient to human knowledge and understanding.

https://quranx.com/3.7

It is He who has sent down to you, [O Muhammad], the Book; in it are verses [that are] precise - they are the foundation of the Book - and others unspecific. As for those in whose hearts is deviation [from truth], they will follow that of it which is unspecific, seeking discord and seeking an interpretation [suitable to them]. And no one knows its [true] interpretation except Allah. But those firm in knowledge say, "We believe in it. All [of it] is from our Lord." And no one will be reminded except those of understanding.

Interpreting it is forbidden, as it means Muslims are looking to make it work for them, rather than simply doing as it says. The entire notion of interpreting it means it isn't “easy” and "clear" as the quran itself claims to be.

https://quranx.com/54.17

And We have certainly made the Qur'an easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember?

https://quranx.com/2.185

The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion.

It also means that the "truths," if we must, of the quran are subservient to human science. You must use science as the authority to validate the quran, rather than the other way around.

Of course as we know, any mistakes in the quran obliterates Islam.

https://quranx.com/4.82

Then do they not reflect upon the Qur'an? If it had been from [any] other than Allah, they would have found within it much contradiction.

Since it does contain much contradiction, given it contradicts reality itself, then Islam is false.

#ask #islam #quran #quranic nonsense #science #scientific inaccuracies in the quran #scientific inaccuracies #religion #islamic science #reasons islam is false #religion is a mental illness

[fox-buried-in-maple-leaves]

this !!! ask game for ajax. questions 1-10. observes

Ask Game!

ough. This got SO long.. UTC

How does your OC make ends meet? What do they do for a living? How is their occupation viewed in the social context they’re in? Does it come with social prestige or financial comfort, and are these two things aligned in the society you’re writing, or are they separate metrics?

Many know the Nikolaev name, the scourge of Sieveronia, the terror of Europe. Ajax is not unknown, especially not to those with darker ties. Many fear him, as such, he can simply intimidate others for money if he so wishes. Most nobles won't say no to the man known for his blood curse. That being said, Ajax often takes jobs he finds Interesting. Mercenary work, bodyguarding, fetch quests. If you interest him with your request, he may just do it!

His previous duty however, brought more than just prestige, more than just financial comfort. It was more an identity than his own. In the world of Amant, social prestige is not something one should seek, however. To be known, is to be in constant danger. He misses the money though.

How does your OC communicate? Are they monolingual or multilingual? What is the linguistic environment they’re in? If they’re monolingual, is there a social penalty for only speaking one language, or is it the norm? If they’re multilingual, which of their languages or sociolects has the most/least prestige? Is there a separation between written and oral forms of the language? Can your OC blend in or does their language mark them in some way? What are their levels of fluency, and how do they feel about them?

Ajax is multilingual! He speaks Russian, English, some Japanese, and some French. The first two he's fully fluent at C2 level. And the last two he'd be A1-A2 in. He really wanted to learn German, but he's kinda shit at it. He only knows German swears. He also lies and says he can understand Latin. He cannot.

Whilst the language of Amant is mostly the same as today with older linguistic quirks, there is no real linguistic prestige in any way that differs from what we see today. As in, if he's in France, for instance. Where Amant mainly takes place, some may scoff slightly at his broken French while others will at least appreciate the effort.

His accent is incredibly thick however, and is easily notable as belonging to a Cyrillic language of some kind at the Very Least, if not called out immediately for being Russian. As such, even speaking in his second fluent language, his accent marks him as a foreign speaker of it. That being said he likes to shock native English speakers by using "big fancy words" with his silly little accent.

What is your OC’s concept of social debt? What constitutes a sense of social obligation for your character? Is it based on individual feelings or collective principles? What do they do when they feel like they owe someone? Are they likely to default on a social obligation, or repay it? What are the costs of either approach in the society you’re writing?

He has no concept of social debt. It isn't that he doesn't know what it is. It's that Ajax is more self interested. So, Ajax will repay a social debt, but only if it benefits him later on or in some way. If somebody helps him, he won't instantly feel obligated to repay them, unless he can see a way to use that for himself later.

However. As I mentioned before.. He will do things that interest him. If Ajax can tell that doing this will lead to something interesting? Well. He's all over those obligations! Let him help you~

For the average person, there's a cost to being so selfish. Of course there is. Selfishness won't get you far. However, because of his social prestige, most people won't help Ajax ANYWAYS. People cross the road to avoid him, kinda deal. But yk, there's outliers.

What does it take for your OC to consider someone a friend? What constitutes friendship in the society you’re writing, what expectations does it come with, and how does your OC fit into that structure of expectations? Do they make friends easily or do they struggle? How intimate is a friendship for them, and what does it include?

Growing up Ajax was really friendly, he made friends easily at the Academy. And while he didn't easily grasp the material he was studying, his penchant for making friends meant he always had somebody to tutor him before any major test or help him with any homework. His meaning of friendship was loose, because everyone was his friend!

When he became afflicted by his curse, however, he learned how fickle friendship could be.

Now that he travels alone, he does his best to be charismatic, anybody who doesn't know him is treated with kindness first, unless they warrant otherwise. But ultimately, friendships come at a cost. And Ajax can't afford to really pay that right now. So yeah he makes "friends" easily.

What does it take for your OC to consider someone kin? What constitutes kinship in the society you’re writing, and how does your OC relate to that set of cultural expectations? Is kinship defined only by blood, or through other forms of social intimacy? Are there symbolic gestures that might establish a kin-like relation? What is family for your OC?

Family is family typically. Every dynamic is different, it depends on the family. Ajax is someone who very much values family, though. It's why he left Her Majesty's army when his disappeared. He fought for them, he cared for them, everything was for them. Now he searches for any clues to what happened to them. Any answers at all.

Family is defined by the expectation to always aid one another in his small village where he grew up. "It takes a village" and all that. The bigger world at large doesn't operate on that philosophy. But he doesn't pay much attention to that.

Back home, one could go to the neighbour and ask if they had sugar in exchange for some eggs. That was kinship, that was family. This outlook has slightly been soured, of course. He doesn't view anybody as family anymore, not really. Even if he wants to, it leaves a bad taste in his mouth, a guilt in his gut.

What are your OC’s religious beliefs? Are they aligned with the beliefs of the society you’re writing, or are they orthogonal? Does your OC question their convictions, or do they feel a degree of certainty? Does your OC feel a personal connection to a sense of divinity, or is religion empty social ritual for them?

Ajax believes in a higher power because he needs to believe in something. He's not religious in any way, he isn't even sure WHAT exactly he believes in. But he simply believes there is more out there because there HAS to be.

Russia in general has a thing with religion, and being from Russia and growing up in that, his family was Orthodox. He's separated from this specific belief and would be considered to more believe in mysticism. Ultimately, something is there. He's not really sure what anymore. Only that it is uncaring.

As such, empty social ritual best describes Ajax's involvement in religion. I'm covering several countries and thus several societies views on the world. It's hard to say if he fits into one society or another, as its so dependent. Ultimately, nobody would bat an eyelash at his beliefs.

What does your OC consider unspeakable and/or repugnant? What are the topics or issues your OC finds viscerally difficult or impossible to talk about? Are these topic socially unacceptable, or is it personal? What do they react to with revulsion ahead of any intellectualized response?

I read this question out loud and immediately went "Nothing." to which Etienne responded "Nothing is off limits." That is our combined answer to this one.

HOWEVER. If Ajax sees you harm a child, you will be ripped limb from limb and have your sinew strewn upon the street. Anyways, that's it.

How does your OC approach the line between public and private? What sorts of things does your OC not share with anyone, what might they share with the people closest to them, and what do they happily share with anyone who might ask? What is their definition of property if they have one? In turn, does your OC think they belong to something as well? (A state, a collective, a cause, a person, etc)

See because of his previous position, private didn't really exist. This ties back into what I was saying about being known is a very dangerous thing in this world. Because so many people talk. Ajax would like to keep some things private, but its hard when most things about him are known.

Ajax won't ever truthfully answer what happened to his eye though. He'll tell a different story every time, each one more entertaining than the last. The truth hurts. So he keeps it close to his chest and makes a joke instead. So he'll tell anybody who asks! But not the truth.

He wouldn't really consider himself as belonging to anything any more, and that leaves him a little lost at times.

What would it take for your OC to change their opinion? Does your OC change their worldview often or are they set in their ways? What does it take for them to change their mind? Do they admit they were wrong, and if so, under what circumstances? How do they handle it? What do they do when their beliefs are threatened?

Ajax's worldview has changed twice majorly. First when he became afflicted by his blood curse, and the second time when he lost his family. Ultimately, he's very stubborn about his opinions though. He tries not to change his mind, even if his heart stirs.

He SUCKS at admitting he's wrong though oh my godddddddd. He'll just avoid it!! He's out here gardening for you instead of saying "I got that wrong, soz" like kay. okay.

He will kill if his views are threatened in a certain way though. Like, he'll go that far if necessary. What a guy.

What social persona does your OC perform most frequently, and when do they show other aspects of themselves (and to whom)? Is your OC code-switching between social persona depending on context, or do they stay consistent? Is social adaptation something they feel is necessary or are they uneasy about it? Do they believe that one has to be honest in their self-presentation, and is that aligned with the society you’re writing or is one expected to have multiple social “faces”? Under what circumstances does your OC show a different facet/angle of themselves?

This is a really hard question. So I'll start with multiple social "faces" is almost a requirement for survival. This goes for anybody, but especially anybody with any magic or special ability or species. Anyone who isn't by the normal citizen's standard of "normal" MUST perform for survival.

Ajax is very charming and upbeat, for those who do not know him and thus do not have time to fear him, he's a great guy to be around. This is one of many personas he has to uphold to survive.

Other times however, he has to lean into the intimidation to get out of a situation that would otherwise SURELY see his death.

He tends to switch it up depending the circumstance and who he's talking to. However, Ajax often slips up. It isn't that he's bad at lying or pretending, it's that he finds the whole show and dance so boring sometimes..

Ajax once believed however, you should always be honest in your presentation. Funny how things change, I guess. He tries not to be too honest about himself, but he doesn't want to stretch the truth too far either. Ie, he's not as bad as say Ohm or Decord in terms of lying. Or as bad as Katsumi in terms of telling the truth.

#☾*✲⋆. essence of myrrh #from the fate ; ash #༺☆༻ Amant Éternel #⋆｡°✩ Ajax #some of these things ARE subject to change as he whispers in my ear a lil more but yk

[the-priestess-of-dawn]

Would like to know your take on the original timeline Robin/Grima. Since we know that things took a lot longer to go to hell there (most likely due to the lack of Grima's spirit interfering) and Robin willingly chose to betray the Shepherds (because he had all his memories) What do you think happened?

Do you think Robin joined the Shepherds with the plan to betray them as a full-blown spy for the Grimleal? Did Chrom become more like his dad after Emm is successfully assassinated that night? How do you think Chrom dealt with his disability? (since Lucina mentions he never fully recovered from the sneak attack on him that night in her timeline, most likely hints at some sort of fighting/movement disability)

Funny you should ask, because although I have several fics that involve the original timeline in some way, I don't think I've ever kept the details 100% consistent... Canon keeps it very vague, after all, and it's fun to spin things in different ways sometimes. But okay, after years of obsessing over Awakening, I think I do have a somewhat firm-ish idea of how I think the original timeline went.

Robin spends their childhood traveling with their mother to stay out of the Grimleal's sight. Validar most likely had spies following them anyway, but none were able to successfully capture them. At some point, Robin's mother likely died fighting said spies. She may have even sacrificed herself specifically to let Robin escape, because Robin does seem to evade Validar's notice after that. (When he invades Ylisstol in Chapter 6, he is surprised to see Robin, implying that he had no idea they were with Chrom. This is also where he mentions "years of searching," which is why I think Robin and their mother would have been fighting off his spies. That also explains why Robin has combat and tactician training at the beginning of the game.

The Shepherds don't find Robin lying unconscious, but Robin meets up with them, anyway. Either they meet before Southtown gets set on fire and Robin simply wants to travel with the Shepherds for safety, or (what I prefer) it's possible that Robin sees Southtown in trouble and independently goes to help, meeting the Shepherds once there.

The Shepherds don't go to Ferox, because no Risen appear from the future, and thus Emmeryn wouldn't send them to secure an alliance against the mysterious new threat. ("Warriors are what they are, and we'll need their strength to quell this new menace." - Chrom in Chapter 2. Yeah... Grima you idiot you ensured your own downfall.) This results in Basilio remaining the reigning khan, because the Shepherds aren't there to fight for Flavia. This also means that Chrom and Robin don't build a close relationship with Flavia and Basilio during the war with Plegia, so while they ally with Ferox later to fight Valm, the khans don't have the same high degree of faith in them. (Keep that in mind for later.)

Emmeryn is assassinated, the Fire Emblem is stolen, and Chrom is gravely wounded. Emmeryn dying here means that she doesn't get to perform her sacrifice in front of the Plegian people, so they have no reason to lay down their weapons in her name. For this reason, I think the war with Plegia goes on for much longer, which is why this timeline seems to be several years off from what we play through in-game. The Fire Emblem being stolen means a couple of things... One, Validar can collect the gemstones himself and doesn't need the Shepherds to gather any. Two, that little stunt where he makes Robin steal the Fire Emblem for him doesn't need to occur... Meaning that when Validar takes control of them to Thoron Chrom, that's most likely the first time it's ever happened. As far as Chrom's injuries go... Well, we do see in the Premonition chapter that he's only a level 20 lord, so clearly he never promotes. Obviously, to get to level 20, he still has to do a good amount of fighting, but it would make sense for him to be less experienced overall if his injuries cause him to participate in less combat generally. (Now, to be fair, Robin is also only a level 20 tactician... But perhaps they stick close to Chrom and therefore also participate in less combat. The two of them are the leaders of the army; they don't have to put themselves on the front lines.)

As for whether Chrom is more like his father in this world... Maybe a little in temperament, but not in ideology. His line in the good timeline is "Were I alone, I might be driven to madness... or worse. But I'm not alone. My friends and brothers-in-arms stand behind me." (Chapter 11). And the thing is, that holds true even in the bad timeline. He has the Shepherds, he has Robin... Even before Emmeryn's death he clearly admires her and wants to uphold her ideals, even though it's hard for him (see Chapter 3, where he promises to try his best at negotiation and gets nervous at the Feroxi guards hostility because "Emmeryn won't like this at all.") He clearly disapproves of his father's actions when he brings them up. There's no way he'd condemn all of Plegia for Gangrel's actions... Tharja and Henry still become Shepherds, after all (and, side note, I think the circumstances of Henry joining are probably different. If the war is going on longer, realistically the Shepherds would probably face him on the battlefield sooner or later. However, because he told Panne about Emmeryn's assassination and he's the reason she showed up and joined the Shepherds, I can't help but think she'd drag him over to their side if she saw him). However, things are probably... very rough... for Chrom. Even in the good timeline, it takes the Plegians laying down their weapons for him to understand the meaning of what Emmeryn did. With her assassination, I feel like he's never going to truly understand what she wanted to do with her power as exalt. The cycle of violence is never broken, or even so much as paused, in this timeline. Ylisseans and Plegians alike are going to suffer, and fighting in the name of Emmeryn and the peace she wanted isn't going to make it any less of a horror.

Okay, so... Valm... Here's the thing, if the war with Plegia went on longer, then there's not likely to be a two-year peace between the end of it and Valm launching its invasion. In fact, I honestly think the only thing keeping Walhart from invading mid-war in a self-righteous attempt to ~save the poor fools from killing each other in the name of their invisible gods~ is the fact that his tactician is... Excellus. You know, beholden to the Grimleal and everything. And here's where Validar already having the Fire Emblem becomes particularly important... Excellus is in the right position to recover all the gemstones that are in Valm. The major change this would lead to is, well... Tiki being killed so he can take the one she holds. Because the timeline differs from the good in-game timeline, Say'ri trying to rouse a continental Resistance unfortunately isn't going to coincide with the Shepherds showing up, so... It's very upsetting to say, but I think she and Tiki both die in this timeline. (This coincides with my theory that characters who can only S-support Robin aren't recruited in the original timeline. They can't marry other members of the Shepherds because they can't have a child from Lucina's timeline showing up when they never become part of the Shepherds originally. However, because Morgan comes from the Future Past timeline instead, it's perfectly consistent for them to marry Robin and have a child from a different future appear.)

Basilio dies in the original timeline. We know this for a fact because Lucina tells us, and it honestly adds up. When you look at the dialogue in the Valm arc, there's a LOT of "gee Robin your plan is nuts, but we know you're a great tactician and we trust you so let's go ahead." Basilio and Flavia have a very close relationship with Chrom and Robin in the good timeline and it truly matters... Of course Basilio (who's still the reigning khan in this timeline, remember; Flavia never knocked him down a peg) charges ahead and dies to Walhart. Even if Robin were to disapprove, he has no special reason to listen to Chrom's tactician. And Chrom... Chrom can't say anything about recklessness without being a hypocrite. So he dies, and Walhart takes the gemstone he holds, and soon after that I'm sure Excellus gets it to Plegia, and after that nobody cares what happens to him or Walhart anymore...

After Walhart is defeated, everything is set up to awaken Grima and restore the fell dragon's body. (These are clearly different processes, because in the good timeline, Validar never has the real Fire Emblem, so the Awakening isn't performed on Robin. Nevertheless, original timeline Robin, who did go through the ritual, is still able to accept the sacrifice laid out at the Dragon's Table and restore giant dragon Grima. The Fire Emblem apparently isn't necessary for the latter.) In the good timeline, Validar claims he wants to give Chrom Sable in order to get him to come to Plegia, but here, Validar can either say he wants to give him back the Fire Emblem or... honestly he could probably get away with just calling Chrom over to talk about repayment for Plegia's aid against Valm. (But promising Chrom the Fire Emblem and then going "haha ACTUALLY this was all just a plot so you'd bring Robin" is way more dramatic so I think that's what Validar would go for.)

Chrom is murdered. I think I've touched on this before, but I honestly think this is the key moment that pushes Robin past the point of no return. If Chrom survived the attack, or somehow dodged it (and perhaps he could have had he not been so gravely injured long ago), then no matter what else followed, Robin, Grima-awakened or not, would look to Chrom, the man who gave their life meaning (and all Grima ever truly wanted, you have to understand, is to live a life among friends), and Chrom would be there for them the way they always were for him, and though the timeline would be full of tragedy, it wouldn't end in despair and ruin, because Robin would have Chrom and the Shepherds behind them.

But of course, we know that's not how it happened. The exact details of how Robin betrayed the Shepherds, embraced the darkness they were "fated" to bring, and nearly ended the whole world, are unclear... All I know is that when Legendary Robin/Grima in FEH says "If you think there's someone out there capable of leading the world with such high-minded ideas of love and bonds... I'd love to meet them." I think about how Grima did. Twice. And both exalts were murdered for it.

#ask #my writing #putting this in my writing tag so that the next time i want to write about the original timeline i can reference it lol

[demonprincezeldris]

I haven't seen anyone mention this yet, but I see everyone in the asks calling Eli "Bloodie Eli" and while I'm unsure which one is the correct one, in my memory and on the wiki, it says her nickname/title was actually "Bloodstained Ellie".

And also, I personally have a few theories as to how and/or why she got to have that name/title:

Propaganda: Basically, Eli killed demons in self-defense as a last resort in order to not get killed herself and that was exaggerated OR she 'only' incapacitated them (wounded them enough to get away), some other goddesses finished them off, and when more demons came to support the team already there, a rumor was spread that it was Elizabeth who killed them, even though she didn't. This could happen due to a barely surviving demons last words, or the goddesses that actually killed the demons said this. Why would they credit Elizabeth instead of taking the credit themselves? Who knows, possibly because Elizabeths efforts of getting the fighting to stop were actually working with demons starting to trust her. Spreading the rumor that Elizabeth was only pretending to be nice only to kill the demons later would shatter the result of her efforts. It's likely that the goddesses were extra brutal to get the name "Bloodie Ellie" to stick. It could also be a mix of both possibilities.

A theory I've seen discussed is that Elizabeth really was a brutal killer/soldier, not unlike Meliodas used to be, but turned away from that path to advocate for peace. The nickname simply stuck from back then. Considering that she's the SDs daughter but doesn't have a military rank herself the way Meliodas does, this makes sense, but maybe not necessarily as a reason for the nickname. If you remember Ludociel saying "She (Elizabeth) can't do much anyway", it also implies that she wasn't exactly popular with many Stigma members. Most likely because she was against killing the demon clan, but her stepping away from the goddess army to operate on her own, basically "abandoning the fight" if you twist it a little (which Ludociel absolutely would), could also add to that.

This one has to do with what I pointed out in the beginning, that Elis nickname was "Bloodstained Ellie" and NOT "Bloodie Ellie" (both have "blood" in them, but there is a distinction). We know that Eli had that nickname even though she was a healer, but let's twist it: what if she got that name not despite her more healer nature, but because of it? (I'll explain, just listen for a sec) We know she didn't make a distinction when she healed, she healed enemy and ally alike. Fact: she healed enemies. Those enemies would go on to keep fighting in the war, because just because she healed them doesn't mean they're willing to abandon it. I'm 100% certain that just like the goddesses spreading propaganda about demons, the demons/demon king likewise spread propaganda about the goddesses. My reason for believing this is because the demons and goddesses were less shown to be complete opposites, but rather two sides of the same coin, plus as far as I know, the whole point of propaganda is to give people an incentive to fight against certain group(s). Back to my point though. Ellie heals enemies -> enemies kill allies (goddesses, fairies, humans, giants) -> the blood of Elis allies is on her hands, staining them with their blood. And yeah, there's the point of "but Eli didn't kill them herself!", but the other point is if Eli hadn't healed the enemies, they wouldn't have killed the allies. Grieving relatives and friends of the killed allies probably care more about the second point than the first one. This also plays right into Ludociels hands, because what we know for a certain fact is that he disliked her for being against killing the demon clan. So while there may have been rumors flying around of Elizabeth healing demons, very few actually knew that. Anyone whose family was killed in the war by demons probably only knew that, well, demons killed their family. They don't necessarily know if Elizabeth healed them sometime before that or not. But when Ludociel, the representative of the Supreme Deity, explains that Elizabeth could've prevented many deaths by just not healing demons, but didn't? Yeah, that's a very strong smear campaign right there. And Elizabeth can't exactly say "no i didn't" because 1) it's true, 2) pretty sure she's against lying? and 3) how is she gonna argue against someone of Ludociels standing who is actually telling the truth? Plus, she might not have been given the chance to explain herself at all. All she's gonna get from any human, fairy, giant and goddess is "if it weren't for you, my family would still be alive. Their blood is on your hands!" To anyone looking in from the outside, it's obvious that Elizabeth didn't kill anyone herself, but by healing the enemy, she basically stood by and enabled them to kill her allies.

In my opinion, the third one makes the most sense with Eli having the nickname "Bloodstained Ellie" despite being a healer rather than a fighter.

On an ending note, I also wanna say that this is just my personal opinion and I'm not trying to create some kind of serious discourse. I mostly just wanted to add my two cents to the discussion, but I do also like the healer liz au that's going on^^

No worries!

Thank you for the theories! I think that they're very interesting to read and muse over. Some of these ideas very well could have happened ( personally love the idea that it was propoganda.) Maybe Ludociel saw it from afar or one of the Archangels, maybe even Mael, and nicknamed her Bloodstained Ellie after seeing the blood on her body and the dead Demons around her after she fought in self defense.

For me, if Nakaba actually showed why her name was Bloodstained Ellie if she really was a fighter, then I would definitely be more leniant. But the fact that we never really get to see why she's called Bloodstained Ellie, and are left guessing the answer just makes it seem like a name thrown on her to make her seem dangerous by Nakaba.

To me it seems that way at least.

Like Meliodas was feared by the Goddess Clan, I think Estarossa said so. And we got glimpses of his fighting (in the false memories AND the scene with King and Diane in Drole and Glox's bodies). He has evidence to really back up the claims that Estarossa said. And same with the Archangels. I think that it was stated that Ludo is more powerful then the Ten Commandments. And we get to actually SEE that power in action.

But again, I love your theories on why she's named Bloodstained Ellie or Bloody Elizabeth (I think they're used interchangable- I remember in the movie it was Bloodie Ellie).

#Elizabeth nnt