#it's also interesting to me that LH approached them and not the other way around. i needss to know more

[wejustvibing]

Almave Ámbar, which is designed for sipping, and Almave Blanco, made for mixing. Retailing at $38.99 and $36.99, respectively, for a 700-ml. bottle, Almave plans to enter retailers and bars in the U.S. and in select international markets in 2024.

#cha ching baby 💀 #almave by lewis hamilton #lewis hamilton #f1 #it's also interesting to me that LH approached them and not the other way around. i needss to know more

[watatsumiis]

Ah, greetings, dear author.

I noticed that your work suggestions are open right now and since i love your writing, i thought about giving it a try. But if smth not to your liking, feel free to ignore. Ill respect your final decision regardless.

So, suggestion itself is, maybe you wouldnt mind writing for a tall reader that looks intimidating and acts like it, but inside they are really sweet? Im not sure about exact idea, but maybe how characters would defence/comfort reader when somebody says bad rumors about them? Or like, they say really mean things cause of their apperiance?

I wasnt been able to find any rules for such asks, so ill undertand if u would want to change smth here.

So, character wise, maybe for Albedo, Xiao, Aether(?) and Wanderer(?) ?

By the way, hope ull have a nice time of the day.

Hi there!!!

Thank you so much for your kind words about my work, it really does mean the world to me, every little comment does <3

This is such an interesting request, I’ve been sitting on it for a while and I just hope I can do it justice! Disclaimer though, I’m the shortest and least intimidating person ever, so let's hope I can channel my inner tallscary (/lh) and go off of that :3

I added Heizou and Venti too so this could just be a fun little Anemo boy (+ Albedo (and -Kazuha I forgot him I'm sorry)) miniseries (and since I know you also like Heizou!) :D I haven't really written for Aether or Heizou before (and very minimal amounts of Scara) so here's hoping I've done alright! 

Content: Gender neutral reader who is described as being tall and intimidating. Nameless characters spread mean rumours/say mean things (nothing explicit is mentioned), some hinted violence in Xiao and Wanderer/Scara’s sections (because of course there is)

Aether is like a sweet little golden retriever from day one. Despite your intimidating looks and stature, he follows behind you and dotes on you until your hard outer walls crumble and he can waltz on in like he owns the place. He always believes in the kindness of people, so no matter how many times you push him away or try to intimidate him, he’s always back for more because he just knows you’re a softie on the inside - and he’s right! He’s delighted to have been correct and will be all smug and happy with himself because of it. 

If others were to insult you and talk badly about you behind your back… Aether will take it personally. He can be a bit overly-empathetic at times, and if he ever catches anyone saying something mean about you, he'll tell them off, only to get himself so worked up that he ends up in tears as he continues to scold the person who did it. He doesn't care about his reputation or causing a scene, he only cares about defending his friend from some big mean bullies. Once all is said and done he'll reassure you so many times that you're one of the kindest and loveliest people he's ever met and anyone who says otherwise is obviously someone so miserable with their own lives that they take it out on others.

Albedo may approach you with some caution at first - not because of your appearance, more because the signals you give off make it seem as if you don't want to be talked to. Once he's realised that's just one of your normal mannerisms, he disregards it entirely and will happily work to befriend you. He may sometimes ask you to help out around the lab (usually getting things off high shelves for him) and will use that time to get to know you better, away from prying eyes and people that may try to interrupt your budding friendship. It fills him with accomplishment to realise that you're letting your guard down around him and exposing your softer side - it may not seem like it, but he does keep note of a lot of your actions and behaviours and documents any changes.

At first, Albedo is rather puzzled when he hears about the unkind rumours going around about you and your 'unfriendly' demeanour. It's just not something that's ever occurred to him and he simply doesn't understand why people would be wasting their time spreading such obvious lies. He doesn't hesitate to point this out, blatantly calling people out in such a deadpan and genuine way that there's not much anyone can say to him that will convince him otherwise. He'll go into this psychoanalysis of why humans tend to gossip and encourage them to take up more productive hobbies instead while they just stand by, gobsmacked at his audacity. Once all is said and done, his way of 'comforting' you is still rather detached. He'll just smartly inform you that these assumptions people make based on your appearance are 'illogical and shallow' and encourage you not to worry about it. If you're still upset 

Heizou often sees people as a puzzle to be solved, a mystery box to be poked and prodded at until they give up all their interesting little secrets, and you're no exception. He's not put off by your appearance in the slightest, approaching you almost every time he sees you to ask questions and try to find out more about you. No matter how you react or push him away, he bounces back nearly immediately and continues to test your patience as he tries to get you to let him in. He knows there's an aspect that you're hiding, and he wants to know what it is. Once you've revealed your softer side, he may lightheartedly tease you for it, but never in a mean way, and if you seem upset, he stops right away. He revels in being one of those stubborn enough to have befriended you.

Heizou hears a lot of rumours in his day to day life - most he tends to disregard unless they're useful to him. When it comes to you, however, he will matter-of-factly correct each and every person he overhears speaking about you, backing his arguments up by citing times he's noticed you being nice to others (and to him of course), refuting every argument that people may make until they're stuttering and stumbling over their words, absolutely turned around on themselves because of how thorough he is in his dressing-down of them. It's like watching a court case. If the person continues to be nasty, he might just dig up some unpleasant dirt on them and pass it on to a known gossiper and watch it pan out from there. One way or another, he'll make sure your pride is avenged, and will always comfort you if you happen to hear anything that upsets you.

Scaramouche is flighty around you, especially at first. He isn't quite sure how to act, and vacillates between trying to antagonise you and essentially clinging to you. He'll push your boundaries time and time again, waiting for you to snap, but you just… don't. It frustrates him to start off with, the fact that you seem so unshakeable, but eventually it becomes a source of comfort for him, especially once he picks up on your softer side shining through. Of course, he's as stubborn as anything and will completely deny the fact that he draws any comfort from your presence, but there's no mistaking the way his shoulders relax and his breathing slows when you're nearby. He quite likes having a tall, 'intimidating' friend to scare off all the goody-two-shoes that seem to be drawn to him. 

Upon hearing the rumours about you circulating, Scaramouche is furious. If there is no one there to stop him, he is throwing hands the moment someone says your name in a vaguely disparaging way. He'll puff his chest out and walk right up to them, growling at them to repeat what they said one more time. There's no doubt at all that he'd be ready to fight someone on your behalf and kick up a huge fuss. He’ll make a big scene and is probably more upset than you are by the whole debacle. He has his own signature way of comforting you if any of it gets you down that consists of him grumpily insisting that none of this should get to you and that you should ignore all the idiots.

Venti has no qualms about approaching and befriending you - he’s not one to judge based on appearances or outward attitudes. He’s very good at reading people and picking up on how they’re feeling, so from day one it feels like he understands you on a deeper level than most people do. He sort of hangs off of you in a way reminiscent of how birds linger around tall trees, and will use you as a springboard if he needs to get to something higher up, just grabbing you and pulling himself up easily. He’ll also ask you to carry things for him so often that it just becomes second nature for you to hold your hand out the moment it seems like he’s unsure of what to do with something he’s picked up. 

Venti isn’t really one to police people on what they can and can’t say, but he just can’t stop himself  when it comes to you. They’re so obviously wrong and just being mean for no reason that it makes him physically hurt if he doesn’t correct them. There’s just such a sense of wrongness that seems to claw at his chest and throat that even if he’s long since passed by he’ll do a 180 in the middle of the street to go talk to the people he heard. He’ll keep the tone of the confrontation pretty light and jokey, but to anyone who has known him for some time, it’s not hard to tell that he’s genuinely pretty upset on your behalf. He may get carried away and say some pretty coldhearted/downright cruel things to people (still in that same light and airy tone) if they continue to insist on spreading mean rumours. 

Xiao is wary of anyone and everyone, so of course this includes you too. Your height and general demeanour mean nothing to him, he’s more focused on whether or not you’re an impending danger to him or anyone he cares about. He methodically observes you on and off for a while (sometimes you can catch glimpses of him following you, or perching on high places near your usual haunts to keep an eye on you), peeling away your tough outer layers until he’s able to get a look at the softness beneath. Once he’s deemed you to be of no threat, he drops it for a while and disappears back to his usual duties, but soon begins to notice that his days feel almost… empty, in a way. It doesn’t take him long to gravitate back towards you, but now he’s keeping a lookout for you, not because of you. It’s a little flattering, really, and he’s much like a bird in the way he may pick up things you’ve dropped or lost and leave them at your doorstep for you to find. He’s much too shy to approach on his own, but if you catch him on a good day, you might be able to exchange a few words, and he won’t immediately dismiss you if you come to visit him while he’s keeping watch off of his favourite balcony in Wangshu Inn. 

Though Xiao doesn’t directly interact with humans unless the situation directly calls for it, sometimes he does listen in to their conversations, just so he has a good idea of the goings on in the areas he guards. If he happens to hear your name, he might just go out of his way to figure out why. With all of his observation of you, it doesn’t take him long before he figures out that they’re just spreading nonsense rumours. It’s not something he really takes into consideration as something that would be upsetting - he’s had plenty of rumours about him passed around. But the moment you express any discontent at people saying these things about you, any future offenders may just happen to find themselves in a rather… misfortunate situation the next time they’re wandering around the wilderness. Nothing lethal, of course, but enough to scare them out of their wits. Xiao isn’t very good at comforting people, and the most he can offer is his company and some reassurance that those people are wrong and that they likely have many more skeletons in their closet than you ever have or will.

Please don't repost, steal, copy or otherwise plagarise my writing! This includes posting translations to other sites (without credit + permission).

#genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin imagines #genshin self insert #my writing #genshin headcanons #genshin fluff #platonic genshin x reader #aether #aether x reader #albedo #albedo x reader #heizou #heizou x reader #scaramouche #scaramouche x reader #xiao #xiao x reader #asks #requests #tallscary reader series #<that is what this is called now. i dont make the rules sorry #i really do hope i did these guys justice ack !!!! i. am not familiar with writing any of them except xiao and venti OOPSIES #venti #venti x reader

[sevikasleftpussyflap]

More Sevika spanking hc's mayhaps *stares intensely* /lh

mayhaps.... also I imagined the other mistress as Grayson but you can think of whoever you want ;)

Thank you @master-sass-blast for helping me with the ideas, especially the reward <33

Includes/Warnings: NSFW, Reward and Punishment spanking, Aftercare, BDSM shows, Corporal punishment, non consensual spanking, Dom and switch Sev, Inexperienced reader and bratty reader, fingering, teasing, humiliation, electrical play

Reward spanking

If you’re inexperienced or new to spanking and want to try it out, she’ll give you that cocky smirk and tell you “Just let me know, sweetheart.” 

Sevika’s been around the block countless times and will be thrilled to introduce you to what she’s learned over the years. She offers to take you to the BDSM shows at The Gardens so you can learn more from an outside source and discover what interests you if you’re unsure. She notices the way your eyes are glued onto the stage as a Mistress spanks her sub, the way your thighs press together and how you adorably blush and gasp as red welts appear on their thighs. You’re so focused that she can’t help but tease, saying they aren’t going to disappear if you blink.

“Why do they have to thank her?” You inquired in a whisper to Sevika who was watching the show like it was a regular Friday night.

“To show respect. And as appreciation for correcting them, or in this case, rewarding them.”

You look at her with owlish eyes, mouth dropping as you recall how the sub wailed out their gratitude.

“How is that a reward?!”

Sevika smirked at you, retaliating with a cryptic, “You tell me.”

You shyly hid behind Sevika after the show as the Mistress approached her and began conversing as if they were old friends. After tonight’s demonstration, you were thoroughly intimidated and content to use Sev as a shield until her eyes found you and she introduced herself with a soft tone you wouldn’t have thought she was capable of. You meekly greeted her and let Sevika do most of the talking, embarrassingly informing her about how you were here to learn. You were shocked out of your humiliation when you learned that Sev and her used to dom subs together.

After you inform Sevika that you're interested in spanking, she lets you tell her what position you want to be in, to which you respond in surprise, “there’s different positions?”

Sevika keeps her smirk just on the cusp of teasing. She knew you were new to this and it involved a great deal of trust on your part, so she wanted to make this as easy for you as possible. Her eyes were drawn to the anxious biting of your lip and she lifted a hand to gently tug it out from under your tooth, correcting the behavior.

“There’s several positions. Some are more comfortable, more pleasurable for spankings that aren’t meant to be punishments.”

“Spanking doesn’t have to be a punishment?” You would feel silly asking this to anyone, but your brute is distracting you by rubbing her hands up and down the length of your arms, ending by taking your hands in hers to hold and provide comfort.

“Nope.” Sevika pretends to admire your nails, likely trying to make you more comfortable by not forcing you to make eye contact with her. “I can show you all of them, so you can pick which one you want to do. Or start with.” 

Her eyes finally meet yours, shooting you a wink that has your face heating. You nod and take a step forward. Just when you think she’s going to show you the first one, her lips are on yours in the most gentle kiss you’ve ever felt. 

“Know your safe words? If you feel overwhelmed or need a break, let me know and we’ll stop. This is to make you feel good, baby. Don’t be nervous.” 

“Thank you.” Warmth fills your chest. If someone had told you that Sevika would be the most doting girlfriend you’ve ever had or heard about, you’d have laughed. But so far into your relationship she’s been nothing but loving and protective. Your needs and wants were always put first. 

“Don’t thank me. Okay, first one. I’m gonna have to manhandle you for this.” Another surprise for you, she always let you know or asked if she could maneuver your body, which you were always okay with, of course. You’ve seen her shove people out of her way, snatch drinks from their hands, walk right over them if they were in her path. But not you. You were like a delicate flower she didn’t want to bring any harm to.

“What positions do you already know?” Her arms settled around your waist to lift you so you were straddling her knee, palm coming to bend your torso so you were parallel with the bed she was sitting on.

“Um, what positions- oh! Okay,” Her touch had fried your brain. “I know the, the over the lap one. And then bending over a table?” 

She answers you with a hum and you imagine her head is nodding. 

“Those are the most common. Most of the others are variations, like this one.” 

You take a second to comprehend the position and how you feel. Your clit was pressed against the fabric of her pants, only leaving you to guess how heavy swats raining down on your bottom would feel. 

“If I needed to, I could hold you down under my arm,” Her metal hand encompasses your chest. Your face heats at the words, ‘if I needed to’ and how she knows you’d let her do just about anything to you.

“And like this,” A thick, muscled calf wraps around yours, making you gasp as your legs are spread further. You wore underwear as per Sevika’s suggestion to make you feel more comfortable while you were trying out something new, and you prayed she didn’t see how your cunt clenched around nothing. “Leaves you more exposed, vulnerable.” 

You were nothing if not vulnerable when she was around. But you don’t tell her that.

A few gentle taps across your ass in a mockery of a spanking has you jolting, her hand so large it’s impossible to not land on your folds.

“Woah, you okay?” Amusement, but some cautiousness fills her voice at the thought of you in distress. 

“Yeah, sorry. Just didn’t expect that.”  

“Don’t apologize. We okay to keep going?”

“Yes, Sevika. This one’s nice. A bit intense, but nice.” 

Another hum. 

“That’s a good position for you to cum during a spanking,” you’re pulled across her lap in a more traditional position, except only one of your legs is over hers. The other one is trapped under the same leg of hers, the one that’s sandwiched between the both of yours. She’s able to pin it down in this position too and once again your clit has a leg to rub against. It’s only when you feel a beat against your thigh that you realize she’s pressed against you as well. “So is this one. Intimate. Feels good for me too.” 

Sevika cants her hips to press more into your thigh and yes, you can feel the damp fabric of her pants. Her voice is thick but controlled and it is going to be your undoing.

Again, three gentle taps to simulate a spanking end the demonstration and she’s onto the next.

There’s quite a few, way more than you thought there’d be. Sevika had voiced her very favorable opinion about the wheelbarrow position, where your elbows rested on a pillow on the floor while your legs straddled her lap. If you struggled, she could easily hold you down with her feet pressed to your shoulders, leaving you completely vulnerable. Your spread legs gave her a humiliating full view of your holes, at her mercy to finger as she pleased.

She had you lay on your back with your legs in the air for her to hold. It was one of the few positions that allowed her to see your burning face. It also gave her clear access to the tops of your thighs, a very sensual and sensitive place to spank according to her.

One in particular she seemed enthused about was where she could straddle your lower back. She had told you that you two can wrestle to make it more exciting and she can then immobilize you, pinning you down so you’re forced to endure until she wants to stop. 

When she finishes, she pulls you up to sit on her thigh, brushing tussled hair out of your face.

“What’d you think? Which one was your favorite?” 

Your first spanking would be light and easy. She has plenty of time to build your pain tolerance later.

“How’s that feel?” Sevika’s hand rubbed where she landed her first hit, tender yet firm in a way that had you throbbing.

“It’s okay.” Your skin was barely tingling from where she struck it.

“Is it okay to go harder?” At your approval, three heavy swats rained down.

It was almost overwhelming, the vulnerability of being exposed to her, the sensations of pain and pleasure mingling, and the sympathetic caress that came after.

A low moan came from you and you nearly begged her to keep going.

“Too hard?”

“No, no, that's perfect.“

“We’re gonna start with ten. How’s that sound, baby?” She was still massaging you, so agonizingly sweet you almost snapped at her to hurry up and hit you.

“Good, good, please-”

“Then count for me.”

The first one landed on the tender skin of your upper thigh, the first time she spanked you there. The shock had you squirming enough to where she tightened her hold on you.

“O-one.”

The pain level didn’t deviate from the agreed upon amount. She knew what she was doing and you began to wonder just how many people she had over her lap before those stinging smacks directed your attention to your sore bottom.

By the tenth one, your ass was warm but you weren’t quite ready to stop.

“More?”

“Yes, please, yes-”

Sevika didn’t make you beg. She spanked you until she wrung out every gasp, whimper and moan out of you. Once she ordered you to spread your legs, her hand connected to your aching core and it only took about ten more until you were coming. 

Punishment spankings with Sevika would leave your ass bruised for days. She’d get you warmed up first, rubbing and massaging your skin until you’re warm and worked up and she can feel your arousal between your thighs. Then she’d start whaling on you, making you a panting, moaning, yelping mess as you battle with pleasure so intense it’s painful and pain so intense it’s pleasure. Part of the punishment would be not letting you finish. She adores watching you throw a fit and angrily give her the silent treatment while she cuddles you. 

 At any given opportunity she would grab and knead the swollen flesh to see you whine and bury your face in the blankets. She’ll apply some soothing ointment and give you the task of putting it on throughout the day. If she finds out you’re not doing it regularly, she’ll show up wherever you are to drag you to the nearest empty room and do it herself. Humiliating.

“Oh! Sevika, wha- what are you doing here?” You nervously glance around at your coworkers trying their best to not stare. Sevika only raises an eyebrow as if to say, ‘you really want me to say it out loud?’

Face on fire, you grab her hand and head towards an empty supply closet. 

Somehow this is worse than when she was actually busting your ass. You feel infantile with your pants around your ankles, ass bare and over her lap while Sev takes her sweet time rubbing the oil over dark patches. 

“If you actually did what you were told, I would be able to trust you with taking care of yourself, wouldn’t I?” 

You take the opportunity of rolling your eyes while your face is hidden from her sight. It’s not like you were intentionally disobeying her, you just had too much going on to remember. 

A tap to your sore ass signals that she’s finished, and she helps pull up your underwear and pants at a leisurely pace. You’re picked up and set back on your feet like you were no more than a doll. She kisses your burning face and you’ve never felt so incompetent.

Sevika gets tired with how often she has to spank her brat. Once she caught on that you enjoy it more than you’re supposed to, she needed to come up with more methods of punishment like touch denial, making you take apart every piece of her arm and clean it until it shines, or do the dishes at the Last Drop, or clean her office, and several other chores that make you tired enough to not feel like bratting anymore. 

Hear me out, Sevika with a spoiled reader. Maybe you come from a rich family in piltover and you’re used to getting your way. Your entitled, pompous attitude earns you frequent spankings but then you use those doe eyes on her and she eventually gives in to you. Maybe it’s an AU where Sevika is your bodyguard and you take joy in infuriating her and making her job hell. She threatens to put you over her knee several times yet you’re still shocked when she actually does it. You’re miraculously well behaved from there on. 

Scheduled spankings with Sevika, if you’ve been really bad and she doesn’t think one lesson will cut it. The anticipation, the nervousness, the embarrassment of knowing what’s coming, trying to distract her so she’ll forget but she never does.

She’ll make you think she’s forgotten too, and then when you sneakily try to retreat to the room she’ll whistle and you’ll find her sitting down and she’ll glance at her lap expectantly. “You’re not getting out of this. C’mon, over my lap.”

Just like her punishments, she never half-asses aftercare. If you’re crying she’ll hold you and tell you how good you did. She’s a bit of a pushover when you cry and she’ll end up getting you your favorite food. She also rubs a soothing balm in afterwards. She’ll never give you a chance to think she’s still mad or hates you because she’ll hold you until you stop crying or until she sees you smile again. You’re not leaving her arms until she pulls a giggle from you.

She has a preference for different instruments depending on the occasion. If it’s a punishment spanking, then she’ll use her belt, a paddle with holes or a flogger, or anything in her hand really because the woman can turn anything into a weapon. The belt is really for impromptu punishments and is always with her, so you quiet down when her hand goes to the buckle in warning. 

If it’s more for fun, then she’d use a riding crop and take her time littering hits all over your body, leaving you guessing where the next one will land. She likes the way her hand encompasses a good portion of your ass, and likes watching it make your ass glow redder with each hit. Her hand is usually how she warms you up for the more intense toys. 

I can see her being into electrical play, with an electric fly swatter put to use on either you or her. If you convince her to sub for the night and use this on her clit, her ass, her tits, you will hear her make sounds you’ve never heard before. She would go wild if you’re fingering her or holding a vibrator to her and periodically give her a little zap. If she’s tied up, I can see her orgasm being so strong she breaks the bed frame or bonds you have her hands in.

“Fuck, that’s it. Fuck, fuck-“ 

“Does that feel good, Vika?” 

Sevika’s eyes are screwed shut in pleasure, subtly rolling her hips against the vibrator as much as the binds will allow.

You press the wires against her abdomen until you see a spark and you’re met with a delicious groan from her. Those pretty, glassy gray eyes shoot open along with her mouth in a pained moan. 

“Vika, I asked you a question.”

“Yes! Yes, so fucking good-“ Her hips are grinding steadily against the toy between her legs and you know she’s about to cum. Several, quick shocks hit the sensitive flesh of her inner thighs and she cums with a scream, eyes rolling hard into the back of her head.  

You watch her release drip from her thighs in satisfaction, putting down the swatter and crawling up to gently undo her hands. Sevika’s eyes are bleary and unfocused. Once her hands are freed, one takes several tries to grab you, confirming your suspicion that she needs time to recover her vision and likely the ability to form a coherent thought. 

You’re cautiously aware to keep your weight off of the slight burns as she pulls you on top of her, hand clutching you as if you were going to leave her. Precisely why you prepare the water and snacks on the nightstand before a session.

“Babe,” She starts, panting several times before she can continue. “That was so fucking amazing-“ 

Sevika is naturally a tease. It’s ingrained in her DNA. The stinging slaps of her palm against your ass already have you wet, but then she’ll take a moment to give you a tender stroke, gentle probing against your clit, or dip a finger inside to then hold it to your face and tease you about your arousal. “What’s this? This all because of a little spanking?” 

Then she’s starting again and you can feel the wetness on her finger from each one that goes straight to the throbbing bundle between your thighs, bringing you closer and closer to the edge so that when she rubs you or sticks a finger in you, you’re coming before you know what’s happening. 

Sevika is delighted and very amused. She’s teasing you even harder, laughing as she pushes the fingers all the way in as you clench around them. “Greedy little thing, isn’t it?” 

Those fingers stuff your cum back inside you until you reach a hand around to slap at her, but it’s easily pinned against your back with enough pressure to make you gasp. She waits a few moments to hear a safe word but when there’s silence she asks, “You gonna be good?”

Now it’s time for the strap because you’re dripping on the floor and, “Your pussy’s hungry, baby. See? It wants more.”

#sevika x reader #sevika imagine #arcane sevika x reader

[feloniesviaprayer]

What’s slenderman’s presence feel like? How to know he’s around? And any recommendations on how to approach him to work with him?

Fuck man I'm not your Google search /lh

Anyway, my experiences may be vastly different from yours due to me being a crp fictive and my exomemories aligning more with the hostile interpretation of creepypasta.

Interpret your feelings to your own standard and do what you feel is best in your own practice. To answer the questions,

What's Slenderman's presence feel like?

Authoritative in an overwhelming and certain way. Sometimes a bit ill and nausiating due to the Slebder sickness. Very familiar and comforting to me due to my exomemories.

How to know he's around?

If you think its around, can't get your mind off of it, start obsessing, then it is likely around. It feeds off of attention and thought dedicated to it. Alternatively, if you want it to go away simply not thinking of it for long periods of time will remove its control from you.

Recommendations on approaching him to work with him?

Familiarise yourself with both created lore (lore assigned to Slenderman as a character) and real lore (real life lore such as the photographs, Slenderverse, when it was initially crated, etc.) Doing this will allow you to understand what feels most correct to yourself and your practice. It's better to base your practices off of this rather than what some random arsehole on the internet has to say.

If I were to give suggestions from my own practice, it's that the Slenderman operates similarly to a fairy/fae creature/fair folk/Other synonyms. Researching these creatures even on a base level will give you a better idea on how it functions compared to a deity or human.

Also, it doesn't have your best interest in mind. It will work with you, compromise, and make deals, but it does not do things to simply make you happy. It's a business partner rather than a friend. Also, if you are already dedicating active thought to it, you are already 'working' with it to an extent. No need to ask for permission, if it did not want to work with you (an absurd idea imo, it stands to lose nothing) it would make that abundantly clear.

Does Slenderman talk?

Not really? It's more vague feelings, ideas, urges, and obsessive thought. It may if it needs something explicit but this is usually unnessessary.

What do "signs" from Slenderman look like?

Not too sure what you mean by signs. In my experience it isn't something that usually reaches out to you, you come across it and bridge that connection. In some cases it might prey on you if you are vulnerable.

In terms of items, animals, symbols, etc. It can't really leave them as it's connection to this world isn't as strong. At best, you may feel some Slender sickness if you work with it enough.

Ways to tell he's around?

In this world, it can only be around to a psychological and spiritual extent. (Or if you have visual/sensory hallucinations but we don't experience that so not our place to talk about.) It's only around if you will it to be so.

If you're looking for a response or to see if it's paying attention to you, then meditation w/ focus on feelings and spikes of unfounded fear or anxiety. We only use tarot but I imagine it would have no trouble communicating through other means. (Ouiji, pendulum) Generally though, it will be there if you are thinking of it often enough.

That's answers about my practice, thanks for the questions! Don't base your entire practice on mine just because I do it, PCP is highly personal, especially with a character like Slenderman who has so many different canons assigned to it.

#pcp #pop culture paganism #creepypasta #crp #slenderman #pop culture dieties

[d-inoxia]

Hey, this is EY she/him again.

I had to read and reread your tarot reading a couple of times before I was ready to review it because wow, that really caught me off guard.

I have to say yes, it's true, I'm not in a good place right now, I live in an ENORMOUS amount of stress coming at me from all sides all the time, so that is completely correct. And yes, it's true that I have too much going on right now to really be worrying about art along with the rest of it. As far as what needs to be let go of, I'm really not sure, because there are a lot of things in my way right now.

Needless to say, your cards called me out on this, and they were right. Thank you so much for the reading! I'd love to exchange again with you sometime, you're a very good reader 😁

thank you for your kind words, i forgot to mention i chose a specific deck for this, I have 3 tarot decks, all of which have different temperaments about how they read.

My rider tarot deck i havent used in a long time, that one tends to be harder to work with but more pin point in accuracy and it's not a nice deck either LOL my gold thread deck is very nice and has a gentler approach but can sometimes beat around the bush and can be very vague for you i chose my Iris sacra deck as it seems like a combination of the other two decks, it's a call out, but it's a gentler call out haha. i did get vibes from a few other cards and set them aside but they included: The Star, The Hierophant, Page/Princess of cups, reversed 7 of cups, knight of wands reversed, page/princess of wands, knight of cups

the reason i dont include these usually in my reading is that i get a lot of "vibes" we'll say for certain cards, ones that are strong and ones that are weak but still have an energy to them, the spread is really interesting to put together given the knight of cups, page of cups, page of wands and knight of wands reversed. like, idk you hardly see that in readings haha so if you want to delve into possibly some other cards that may give more context or advice, but i would also take these cards with less seriousness. not a grain of salt, but they have a high probability of not relating at all

but i figured you should know those cards were like, present? bc youre a great reader yourself and maybe you will benefit from those cards as well. apologies to ROAST YOU SO HARD GET OWNED!@!!!!! *AIR HORNS* /j /lh

i jest.

have a good full moon friend, should be coming in a few days!

#tarot #grim speaks

[catgirl-catboy]

Yeah I agree the most boring way to approach the both of them like you said but I'm wonder about something, how would you take approach to turn them toxic relationship? I feel like Gonta's appreciation towards Ryoma and the easily get pissed when someone call him weak can be used though. I don't know I want to hear your thoughts about that.

Ibuki and Sayaka interaction or Fuyuhiko and Mondo interaction would be so cool but they are cowards. Only thing I like about in anime was the Mukuro and Peko interaction because I think they have some similarities too objectively.

I dont know it is a headcanon or not but when I fucked around in Korean spaces i read about some relation between Uehara and Kanade and if that was true it would make it even funnier you know? The way everything you despise in a person stuck with you is having some kind of relation with the person you dubiously respect. Hehe

Kanade could find Tsurugi interesting and could develop some sort of liking for him me thinks

Gonta overcommits himself to helping others, so I could see him start to view Ryoma as a charity case, the same way he started to view Kokichi as his responsibility later in the game. If Ryoma gets too emotionally dependent to stop him, it creates a fun dynamic.

(Tangent: every time I don't play v3 for a while, I convince myself I'm overthinking Gonta's character and start buying into the fanon. Then I replay it and go "wtf guys!")

Most fans want a everything was a stimulation au so nobody dies. I want one to explore everyone's trauma and because there are fates worth than death (talking about your emotions and growing as a person) /lh

Uehara is far too normal to be related to Kanade. He'd be like, the normal cousin. "Hey, whats boring cousin Kinji up to? Oh, he's a priest now? Thats cool (boring.)" Every family has a normal cousin/relative (in my family its a cousin) even though nobody talks about it.

Also, like there is so much wasted potential between Kokoro and the twins. I like to imagine she was writing a paper on them. Also, a twins headcanon that I think most of the fandom disagrees with: Hibiki is somewhat aware of Kanade's true personality, and shown by the "Kanade, you're acting scary again" comments in chapter two. I don't think she personally connected the dots between that and the missing people around her, but she definitely knew something.

#ask tag #crowtalks

[shushiyuii]

Subject T0M au

This is an Au I’ve had stockpiled for a while wkakdnknak. It’s going to multiple parts too, once I get to working on those. If you have any questions you’re welcome to ask!

I hope you guys enjoy it (Also gimme your fucking requests UwU /lh)

Warnings: Experimentation, injury? And Horror elements (It’s mainly fluff i promise :3)

Words: 3K

Document – T0MMY1NN1T

Assigned to: Doctor Wilbur Soot Watson

Description: Subject T0M was once a [REDACTED] by the name of [REDACTED] [REDACTED]. His age is of kin to an elder teen, probably around the age of [REDACTED] to [REDACTED].

The appearance of Subject T0M is like a human, they have blonde hair and pale skin. Their most common height is 6’3 on average but can change depending on the form. Their face, arms and legs are covered in a black substance of unknown origin, it mainly takes on half of their body and appears to be almost liquid.

Their face is completely black, the only thing apparent is their fangs like a wolf when they open their mouth to feed, multiple fangs, the only other feature on Subject T0M’s face is their light blue eyes that glow in the dark.

Subject T0M isn’t very intelligent, they have some semblance of human intelligence, understanding simple language and commands.

They’re quite approachable as well but Subject T0M is to be approached with caution, as they could be quite dangerous. If angered there’s no knowing what Subject T0M is capable of.

Their abilities consist of being able to manipulate the material of their body, being able to change shape and size, their favourite is to mimic those around them. It is not an exact copy; it is apparent that Subject T0M is themselves because the material of their body will still be there even if they changed forms.

They can also create weaponry and different things from their material but again not exact copies, they’re quite harmless usually.

Subject T0M is to be assigned to Rookie Doctor Wilbur Soot. Under the watch of Philza Watson.

 Entry 01 – 02/09/20—

So today was my first-day researching Subject T0M, from what I can say so far is that they’re quite interesting but so far besides the examinations, they haven’t shown much behaviour. Only staring at me from a distance.

Also, I’m not used to this sort of thing like writing documents and reports, not my favourite thing in the world but it’s not the worst thing either. So, Subject T0M already has a lot of his abilities recorded, I’m just here to see if he develops any noteworthy changes and watch over the guy.

Currently, there is no change in behaviour, he just stares down at me at a distance, like I’m the most interesting thing he’s ever seen, perhaps that’s the case?

He seems so lonely in that containment cell, it’s just an empty white box surrounded by glass, perhaps at some point I could request an upgrade to higher-ups for the lil’ fella? That way he can have a more comfortable place. Rather than a highly lit, bland, cold box.

 Entry 02 – 05/09/20—

So Today, Subject T0M did something quite interesting, it’s a drastic difference from the last few days by just staring at me through the windows of the cells.

You see, instead of just watching me from the other side of the office, as usual, it can get quite boring in the office once you finish the days' assignments of reports, schedules, contracts and more and having to watch this guy and do the usual routine gets quite boring so I decided to work on some personal things and bring my guitar, so I could work on my songs, practising the guitar and stuff.

So, I played some things, the next thing I know is that one moment I’m singing, the next in shock as I look over in disbelief. Subject T0M had moved over towards the window, his hands and face on the glass, dead staring me in my eyes, they were filled with curiosity and interest like an infant listening to music for the first time.

A way to describe it would be that Subject T0M seemed so much happier, but when I stopped, he looked almost disappointed, I stared at him in amazement for a moment and I started to play again, and his expression went back to being amazed.

My music seems to interest Subject T0M so perhaps I should do more research and experiments with different kinds of music to see which they prefer?

Not only that but it’s nice to have someone rather than my dad that enjoys my music. They’re almost my second biggest fan. I’m looking forward to seeing more of this kid.

Entry 03 – 06/09/20—

As of now, I have started the experimentation of music with Subject T0M, he seems to prefer rather upbeat, pop music and general music.

I also played him some songs from popular games, one of them being The Able Sister’s from Animal Crossing, he really seemed to enjoy that one.

Besides the experiments, I’ve started to talk to Subject T0M as it does get lonely here, plus he’s the only other guy here in the department. Although he doesn’t talk, he’s a great listener, nodding whenever I state my opinion and even trying to communicate verbally from time to time, even though he doesn’t seem to have the ability to speak.

And I’ve also seemed to have started a habit of calling Tom or Tommy, it suits him! He’s also been showing more personality, he seems more aggressive like a gremlin but not in a bad way, he’s just displaying more emotion it seems.

Entry 04 – 09/09/20—

So, the experiments and communication of Tommy have made significant progress. He’s become feistier and more vocal, he’s not aggressive in a physical sense, just annoyingly loud. He’s like a fucking child.

And today was another experiment with Tom, with the test subject being myself since it seems safe enough, so need to gather others or security over it.

I entered his containment cell, and the moment I did, Tommy showed no difference in behaviour, to begin with, just a somewhat surprised expression on his face. Probably because this was the first time, he had seen me so close.

I carefully approached at first but then a thought came to me. So far I’ve been treating him like a human so maybe treating him the same way now would have the same effects?

I sat down next to him and started talking to him as usual, and he slowly started to move closer to me, cautiously. He seemed almost nervous, but his focus was on me, rather than himself. I found it rather odd, maybe something is wrong?

Again, he tried talking back but of course, it sounded like a fucking crack pipe, so it didn’t quite work. But he was talking and for some reason, it just brought a smile to my face.

I felt like an older brother would be a way to describe it, I made a promise in my head to protect him. We even tried singing together, it was a lot of fun, I look forward to spending more time with him.

Entry 05 – 12/09/20—

The past couple of days have been a lot of fun with Tommy like I’ve gained a friend. You see, growing up I was always a bit lonely, I was social, but I never found myself clicking with anyone because nobody had the same interests as me, so I turned to focus more on my studies, science in fact like my father told me too. And look at me now!

I’m a training researcher in the same facility as my dad, as this place is one of a kind opportunity, so I guess I got pretty lucky. And it seems Tommy agrees maybe, he reminds me of well me, I don’t want him to be lonely like I was, maybe I could arrange a meeting between other monsters?

Entry 06 – 14/09/20—

Tommy and I have been bonding a lot more lately and I’ve also improved a lot myself with finishing work sooner and taking up more assignments.

Speaking of which my father said if I keep this up, I may get more recognition in the facility, maybe even a promotion which I’m happy about. I’ve sent in a request to the higher-ups to allow Tommy communication of other monsters to which I hope they approve.

Besides that, I was talking to Tommy as per usual and he displayed a different emotion, excitement. He seemed eager to show me something and when I asked, “What is it?”. His form changed to be slightly taller and more of his black substance covered his body but after a while, his form changed to be similar to my own, he tried copying me.

Like physically. It was quite surprising if I’m honest, my shocked expression to Tommy made him realise the situation and immediately changed back and tried to reassure me, I felt bad and tried to reassure him it was okay. It’s funny to look back on.

Entry 07 – 15/09/20—

I got approval from the higher-ups, probably getting special treatment since my dad is one of the higher-ups, others aren’t normally so lucky. Dad, or should I say Doctor Philza? He said we could have a meeting between Tommy and his subject, R4NB00 or as he says Ranboo.

 Dad said that his subject Ranboo does need to socialise more since he appears to have symptoms of social anxiety so maybe this will do them both some good since they both seem to be around the same age. Like Tommy, Ranboo only socialises with him and another subject T3chn0, or the blade, blood god. He’s got quite a reputation around here.

Anyways, I’ll say what I know about Subject R4NB00 as of his report, so I know to look over it in case of emergency.

R4NB00 is a tall humanoid standing above 8 ft tall. They have a black and white fur coat, a thin fur coat to be described as silky. Their coat is black on one side and white on the other, their hair is the same but in the opposite way to his fur.

They have heterochromia in their eyes, one being green and the other a bright red. They also have horns of small height; they aren’t sharp and rather small so they wouldn’t hurt anybody with them. They also have a thin tail, with it being fluffy at the end.

Subject R4NB00 isn’t the biggest fan of the regular attire assigned to all subjects, they rather wear a tuxedo embedded with the facility’s logos. They are also timid, avoiding conflict whenever possible. They also can speak but prefer not to due to being shy, they will only communicate with a select few.

Their abilities consist of having the ability to teleport at will and communicate in an unknown language. They also have weaknesses being unable to touch the water and having a state of mind of when they aren’t in control of themselves, they talk in their unknown language in this state and teleport randomly, they are to be awoken as soon as possible unless they are in this state for a test.

Report 16/09/20-- - Meeting of Subject T0M and Subject R4NB00

Today was the meeting of Subject T0M and R4NB00. Both were properly secured successfully and safely in transportation cells with the required security of 5 guards each in each truck and successfully transported to the meeting facility without stress or failure.

Both researchers were safely secured behind the required monitoring window.

The meeting was rather successful between the two creatures. To begin with, when the two saw each other they both maintained distance, for Subject R4NB00 it was because they were anxious about meeting another creature and for Subject T0M, meeting somebody else rather than their researcher.

Subject T0M was the first to contact Subject R4NB00 by trying to communicate verbally with them, it was unsuccessful and resulted in Subject R4NB00 being confused. The two sat in silence for a moment longer until Subject T0M attempted another move of contact by cautiously approaching Subject R4NB00, which resulted in them backing up into a nearby wall and trying to get away from Subject T0M.

Subject T0M then backed off and changed their form to mimic R4NB00, this is theorised to be Subject T0M trying to either comfort or entertain Subject R4NB00, they then changed back into their regular form.

Despite being confused, Subject R4NB00 seemed to notice that Subject T0M meant no harm and then tried to approach subject T0M. Subject T0M did not move.

When Subject R4NB00 approached, there was approximately 1 meter between the two, Subject R4NB00 looked at the two researchers to look for approval to which he got from Doctor Philza via a thumbs up.

Subject T0M curious looked to where R4NB00 was looking and noticed the two researchers and made a noise of happiness towards his researcher, to which Doctor Soot responded with a smile and a thumbs up.

Both Subjects looked back at each other and sat down beside each other. Subject R4NB00 began to communicate with Subject T0M, Subject R4NB00 introduced themselves and made small communication, to which Subject T0M responded positively too, as they couldn’t communicate back. After that, the meeting was concluded.

After their meeting, when asked about the meeting by their researchers. Subject R4NB00 responded positively to seeing Subject T0M again and talked positively about them despite not being able to communicate.

Subject T0M appeared upset a few moments after the meeting, scratching at the windows of his cell, whining. When asked if he wished to see Subject R4NB00 again, he responded positively. Another meeting between the two has been arranged.

Entry 08 – 17/09/20—

Tommy seems to miss his new friend quite a bit but it’ll be a while before the next meeting between them as it has to be approved again and it’ll be a while.

Doing our normal routine keeps him happy for a while but if I leave him for more than 15 minutes he begins to whine again. I wasn’t quite sure what to do as I couldn’t keep him company all day.

On my lunch break I talked to my co-worker Doctor Puffy about the matter, she’s a smart gal and rather motherly, she reminds me of my mom at times. She suggested that I give Tommy a gift, like a plush bear to befriend so he wouldn’t feel so lonely while I was gone.

So, I quickly made my way to a store, it was rather odd to see myself, an adult in a toy aisle but I found a decent plush. It’s a Minecraft spider plushie. I gave Tommy the plushie and introduced him to the plush, when I asked him what he wanted to name the plush he responded with a sound, it honestly sounded like he said shroud, so I suggested it. He responded happily so I guess we now have Shroud the spider.

Now I’ve got the peril of getting medication for my father as he’s somehow gotten sick.

Incident Report  #19283 – 18/09/20-- -

No staff or other creatures were harmed during the containment breach, minor damages to the building, broken walls and broken windows within the cell. All to be fixed within a minimum of 3 hours. Subject T3CHN0 was successfully contained in a holding cell as we interviewed him as to why he breached containment, to which he responded that “Nobody told me where Phil was.”.

Doctor Philza was then contacted to talk to Subject T3CHN0 to explain his current predicament of being sick, to which Subject T3CHN0 huffed in response and refused to cooperate with us further.

Subject T3CHN0 escaped containment in a rampage, the reasoning being as he was not informed of his researchers’ location, as Doctor Philza was sick for the past two days before the incident. Both researcher and creature are rather close with each other, as to why the Subject was upset.

Prior to the incident (recorded by security cameras), Both Subjects of Doctor Philza were speaking to each other about the current location of their researcher, both concluded that neither of them had any idea of where the Doctor was, both subjects ask their temporary carer as to where their researchers’ location was, to which the carer wouldn’t respond so Subject T3CHN0 decided to find his answers.

Subject T3CHN0 broke through his containment cell’s window and then proceeded to break through multiple walls trying to find his researcher.

(The document then goes into detail about what T3CHN0 did during his rampage before he was contained)

During the rampage, Subject T3CHN0 broke through the walls of Doctor Soot’s office and his creature, Subject T0M. As Subject T3CHN0 entered the office, Doctor Soot was frightened at the unexpected visitor as tried to get away from the approaching Subject T3CHN0, Doctor Soot demanded that he get away, to which T3CHN0 huffed in response.

Subject T0M took some time to register that his researcher was in danger, but when he heard he did, he sprang into the action of defending his researcher.

His form changed into one of being described as fearsome, they changed heights to one over 15 ft tall, his hands turned into claws, long sharp fangs became visible, a sharp tail and pair of horns after appeared with this form. (Doctor Soot has been requested to do further research into this form)

Subject T0M roared in warning towards the other, then proceeded to pounce through their containment cells window, shards of glass scattered throughout the room.

They then ran towards their researcher and in a crouched position, picked up his fallen researcher and held him close to his chest, growling furiously at T3CHN0.

The two Subjects stared at each other for a moment until T3CHN0 began to communicate verbally by asking where his researcher was, Doctor Soot was too much in a state of shock to respond.

Subject T0M held his researcher closer and tried to comfort him in a way of purring, even nuzzling his researcher for a response, to which Subject T3CHN0 left due to being impatient.

Subject T0M continued to hold onto his researcher and eventually Doctor Soot snapped out of his state to stare in awe of Subject T0M, When Subject T0M saw their researcher responding he made worried sounds to them, to which Doctor Soot responded with a laugh and said: “I’m fine buddy”.

Subject T3CHN0 was then contained shortly afterwards.

#mcyt g/t #mcytg/t #dsmp g/t #sizeshifter!tommy #tiny!ranboo #tiny!wilbur #giant!tommy #giant!techno #tiny!phil #Shushi's writings #Subject t0m au

[awsuntanz]

a ramble about helium chapter 4 (and dakota’s wonderful characterization)

its 4am, forgive me for any mistakes. i’ve never written anything like this before, aha.

All of these quotes are from Chapter 4 of @heytherestilinski‘s fic Helium!

The way Dakota (the author) fleshes out conflict and allows their painfully realistic characterization to shine is so...perfect. I find myself heavily relating to Dream, George, and even Sapnap at times. 

Here are some lines that I didn’t think would stick out to me (but did):

After a quiet moment, to his soaring heart’s approval, George speaks up again.

This entire kitchen scene portrays that feeling of having a conversation with someone who matters to you. Whether it would classify as something important to someone else or not is irrelevant- to you, in that moment, it feels like you’re holding the world. It’s soft, and tender. You don’t want it to fall flat. You don’t want to let it go. (This scene may or may not have encouraged me to say goodnight to a special someone I was thinking of while reading this).

Sapnap dumps the responsibility of the cart back onto Dream. As he walks past him, he says, “You suck at flirting.”

I really enjoyed the stupid banter between Dream and Sapnap at the grocery store. It not only served as some nice comic relief that kept our guard down before the conflict at the end of the chapter, but it’s also something us readers would definitely hear from (and say to) our friends in real life. Good comic relief is something that eases us in naturally and allows us to immerse ourselves and enjoy the moment while maintaining that element of surprise that keeps us interested :)

He turns away from Dream. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

Dream may be less controlled in his emotions and impulses, but he is very open in sharing them. George has more of a filter on everything. Controlled. Not wanting to push Dream (or maybe even himself) off the edge.

“You wanted to this morning,” he says, low.

“Yeah, because we were in your house, not the middle of the grocery store.”  

Rejection. Denial. George’s response holds some truth to it, but comes off as a haphazard excuse at the same time. He doesn’t appreciate the way Dream pushes for that direct confrontation and frankness when it comes to approaching their situation (and honestly? Neither would I). 

George halts to face him again, with a half-whisper, “Not exactly the best place to ambush me, Dream.” 

I like the use of the word ambush here because of the strong negative connotation it implies. It’s as if he’s saying that Dream sought out to make him uncomfortable. As if this was pre-planned and intentional, and not another one one of his silly impulses.

Dream stares at him wildly. “I didn’t ambush you. You brought up your expectations, not me.” His voice grows tight. “Are you seriously still going to act like this?”

We’ve had enough of “Dream, why? Dream, no! Dream, quit being an idiot!” from the readers. This time, he takes that blame and tosses it over to George instead. Conflict grows stronger.

“Like I’m—I’m this stumbling idiot who forces you into every bad situation,” he says. “It’s exhausting, and doesn't make me feel good about myself, and—” He runs a trembling hand through his hair. “It’d be nice if you took some responsibility, for once. That’s all.”

God, I’m so guilty of how George does this to Dream. Taking responsibility isn’t very fun when you feel like the other person is constantly making irrational, immature, and as we’ve established earlier, overall impulsive decisions when it comes to what they say and do. We assume that the other person should be able to understand us- We’ve put up with them for all this time, haven’t we?

Realizing that having a mentality like this is toxic and draining to the other person as well is... difficult. It’s difficult to remember that they’re trying, and that they genuinely care about you too. The very same things that make them irritating are what make them a loving and caring person as well. It takes growth from the both of you to learn and understand each other. And growth takes time.

It’s 4AM at the time I’m writing this, and I’m far too tired to quote the entire phone scene, so I’m going to assume you’ve read it. 

A few lines from George:

“Can...can you stay on, for a bit? Can we just talk?”

“Please, Dream.”

“I just want to hear your voice.”

A few lines from Dream:

“George.”

“Stop,” he warned. “Stop that.”

“Don’t say that.”  //  “What is wrong with you?”

“Fuck, George. Why are you doing this to me?”

The reason Dream brings this up is because it highlights a moment where their general character roles in the fic are switched. In this scenario, it highlights a moment of hypocrisy. George is desperate, and vulnerable. The phone call dialogue showcases him doing something that he knows he shouldn’t be doing. “Can we not talk about this? Can we pretend this phone call didn’t happen?”

Now, plenty of ugly nights and long weeks later, he steps closer to George in the grocery aisle as an unconcerned passerby skirts around their cart and conflict.  

I’m not sure why I like this line. It feels like a gentle reminder that in the grand scheme of things, your conflict is small. Insignificant to the rest of the world, mattering to you two and only you two. Makes everything a bit more personal, I guess.

He looms over him, wishing he could melt the bristling anger from his brown eyes, and wishing he had it in himself to be angry, too.

I relate to both sides of this. That gut-wrenching feeling of not being able to find your own anger at someone who is angry at you. The feeling of knowing that your anger is frustrating and hurting someone else, too. Either way, it feels absolutely terrible.

“You called me,” Dream recounts, even though he can tell George remembers it as vividly as he. “You talked to me.” He lets out a short, frustrated breath. “Then you got mad at me the next morning, and iced me out.”

Doing the same thing that you hated the other person for doing, and taking it out on them afterwards. Yeah.

(dakota. dream. can you pls stop calling me out through george i would really really really appreciate it thank u) /hj /lh 

“Because you let it happen,” George says, but he looks more vulnerable than before.

blame game here we go againnnnn

Dream stares down at him. “So it’s all on my shoulders,” he reiterates flatly. “It’s all my responsibility, now?” 

“Yes,” George spits, his sharpness startling them both. He meets Dream's gaze, unwavering, and recollects himself with a deep breath.

 “Yes. Because you made it your responsibility, when you sent me that text.”

George was ready to throw that blame right back into Dream’s face. When I saw that whole scene in Heat Waves, I realized how much I related to George in that particular situation. I knew it would come back, somehow. George wouldn’t be able to let something as huge as that, something that shifted the entire course of their relationship...slide so easily. Even with Dream’s eventual promise to work on himself. The whole time, I was thinking, “He’s too nice. He’s too patient,” and, “I wouldn’t be that nice. I wouldn’t be that patient. Not on the inside, at least.”

And you didn’t fail me. That final jab, although relatable- It hurt.

Now that the screens are off, the distance is gone, and the barriers are thinner than ever before, George’s flaws are becoming more transparent. We start to see other parts of his character that had only been foreshadowed in your previous work. I had no idea how Helium would unfold at the beginning, but I’m now very sure that you did not disappoint.

Seeing how you’ve evolved as a writer in both more subtle and more noticeable ways has been awesome :) I’m excited for the next chapter.

#heat waves #dreamland #helium #im very sorry if this is bad #im no fearwastaken #dnf #dreamnotfound #long post #be warned #i cant believe i did this. #kinda nervous to post #edit: ok wow this did really well #thanks to everyone <3 and dakota omg #helium analysis

[halcyonstorm]

Hey! I hope you're well. I started watching AOT and realized that levihan was a ship. And after reading the manga Ive come to the conclusion that they were more than friends if not just friends. Mostly because I saw Levi act with Isabella, a friend and a sister of sorts even Farlan. But with Hange he was just different. And thats what made me feel maybe it really was something more. He was a different Levi with her. All the teasing and the overprotectiveness, the unnecessary sass and hostility sometimes, but that makes me wonder WHY? Why was he like this towards her? And when was the moment he fell for her or decided to befriend her that way that yes I will tease this person from now on. At first I thought its because of how they met maybe but their first meeting was so sweet. Hange seemed impressed by him and he even thanked her for her compliments. I didnt think their interaction would lead to something like this. So what are your thoughts because I wonder alot on this. Also can someon pls tell me why Levi looks at her that way in aot 4 when hange meets the kids with him and says if they dont understand us we'll meet them and teach them. Like. What happened? Thank you !

Hi! I am well, thanks! And thank you for leaving me an ask! I always appreciate hearing what people have to say. I’m gonna try my best to answer your question without going on any tangents lol (but I can’t promise I won’t). This is going to be long.

Mostly because I saw Levi act with Isabella, a friend and a sister of sorts even Farlan. But with Hange he was just different. And thats what made me feel maybe it really was something more.

I 100% agree with this. When I read the manga and watched the anime, I thought maybe Isabel was a love interest (AT FIRST). When I realized she would call him “aniki” (brother) and the way he acted around her (patting her head), I knew there was a different relationship between Isabel and Levi. He saw her as a little sister and was always trying to avoid his two friends from getting into trouble. That’s why he decided for all of them to join the SC after all.

But with Hange he was just different. And thats what made me feel maybe it really was something more. He was a different Levi with her. All the teasing and the overprotectiveness, the unnecessary sass and hostility sometimes, but that makes me wonder WHY? Why was he like this towards her?

I think that the reason Levi had always acted different with her than anyone else was because of their first interaction. It was not in the anime but it WAS in the manga where Hange approaches the trio saying “I was watching you at that crucial moment!” (Not to mention the chapter Hange appears for the first time is called “Hearts” and in 139 we see “...hearts” over her head). At this point, Levi, Farlan, and Isabel were ready to kill Hange since they thought she found out about their plan to kill Erwin. What actually happened was she had seen how cool they all were and wanted to pay them a compliment. Ever since that trio left the underground, Hange was the first person to show them kindness. I don’t think this is something Levi would forget or take lightly. If it were me, I’d definitely remember that moment. I know there is a post somewhere comparing how Levi looked at Hange for the first time vs how he admired the nature outside the walls for the first time. After Farlan and Isabel died, who did he have? Practically no one. It’s my own HC but I’d like to think that Hange stuck by his side. Levi and Hange both have lost so many comrades that they found solace in each other. They bonded through grief I suppose. Also, I think Levi was intrigued by Hange’s personality. Their personalities complement each other: Hange is extroverted, loud, messy; Levi is introverted, quiet, reserved, clean.

When I first saw them, I definitely felt some romantic attraction of sorts. We eventually learn he is a clean freak, yet he has no issue grabbing her hair (which probably was greasy and unclean). Also, I believe that wasn’t in the manga and Isym requested it be added? I can be wrong with that, but I think that if there was nothing planned for their relationship, he wouldn’t have requested it. From the second I saw them, they reminded me of an old married couple. The way they bickered and how Hange never felt threatened by him.

One of my favorite scenes is when Hange enters the room that Levi’s squad is in at the castle.

E: Oh, I’m not sure if I have the authority to help you.

H: Levi, what is Eren doing tomorrow?

L: Cleaning the courtyard.

H: Okay! It’s settled!

See how she doesn’t ask permission? See how Levi doesn’t retaliate? If it were anyone else, I’m sure that 1) someone wouldn't ask that and 2) Levi wouldn’t have responded that way. We have seen all throughout the anime and manga that he usually goes along with whatever she wants to do. Remember in the OVA where Levi grabs her and yells at her? She doesn’t retaliate from his tone either. She SMILES at him. Why? Because he is expressing concern for her. He is showing he cares about her (also he’s grabbing her and bringing her close again). Eventually at the end of the OVA, we see how Levi tells Hange that Erwin agreed to capture titans for experimenting.

And when was the moment he fell for her or decided to befriend her that way that yes I will tease this person from now on… Also can someon pls tell me why Levi looks at her that way in aot 4 when hange meets the kids with him and says if they dont understand us we'll meet them and teach them. Like. What happened? Thank you !

I am not sure if there was a specific moment, but I do believe it definitely developed over time. One specific moment is the one you mentioned later on in your message, “If you don’t know something, go figure it out. Isn’t that what the Survey Corps is all about?” Levi looks at Hange almost in a surprised manner. In my biased LH eyes, it shows that Hange really is a brilliant and wonderful Commander, and Levi is appreciating her and her intelligence. In reality, it is most likely because it is something similar to what Erwin would have said as Commander. In all seriousness, her statement is entirely true. I think we can all learn from and use that statement in our everyday lives. But I think that in this moment, he possibly starts to realize how much he admires the Commander. We can also see Hange taking her own advice in chapter 126? 127? Where she forms the alliance with Pieck. She is not sure how to stop the Rumbling, so she goes to figure out how she can by talking with Pieck. As it turns out, she is successful in forming the alliance.

Overall, I think that Hange and Levi complement each other perfectly. Even if you aren’t looking too deep, I think their relationship is quite obvious. I mean… why would you ask someone to live with you if you didn’t care for them or even love them? I think that this is one of the points that other shippers bring up to break up LH (how L dislikes H or vice versa). Levi didn’t reject her. If Isym wanted him to reject her, he would’ve made him say something similar to Erwin’s “Give up on your dreams and die” statement when Erwin stated his selfish dream and was willing to sacrifice all of humanity for his selfish desire. Hange told him while he was unconscious and “not listening”, and he didn’t reject her. He says “if we run and hide, what will that get us?” and “I know you aren’t able to stay out of the action” when he sees her building the cart. We also see Levi “confess” or “respond” in 132 to Hange’s statement in 126. “Dedicate your heart”?? OMG Do not get me started on that lol.

Getting back on track, the pair is almost always together in the anime. They’re together in the manga panels when they don’t have to be. They don’t even need to speak actual words to communicate. They are the sun and moon, two wings of a bird. Levi is almost always looking at Hange in the official fanarts. We know from the smartpass AU’s that Hange says “he is a good guy” and “he doesn’t say what he means.” That’s why I think they use nicknames frequently. Four-eyes could be seen as an endearing comment coming from him. Also, Levi making Hange chocolates in the Junior High manga?!?!! Oh, yeah, its definitely to shut her up.

Im sorry for the huge tangent but I hope some of this answered your question. I enjoy reading the levihan analysis’ from other blogs. Thank you for reading if you did read this far. Have a good day/afternoon/night <3

#asks #levihan analysis #sorry this is way too long #but thanks for reading #levihan #aot analysis #aot #snk #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #levi ackerman #hanji zoe #hange zoe

[cannibalcaprine]

/lh

According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly.

Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground.

The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don't care what humans think is impossible.

Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Yellow, black.

Ooh, black and yellow!

Let's shake it up a little.

Barry! Breakfast is ready!

Coming!

Hang on a second.

Hello?

Barry?

Adam?

Can you believe this is happening?

I can't.

I'll pick you up.

Looking sharp.

Use the stairs, Your father paid good money for those.

Sorry. I'm excited.

Here's the graduate.

We're very proud of you, son.

A perfect report card, all B's.

Very proud.

Ma! I got a thing going here.

You got lint on your fuzz.

Ow! That's me!

Wave to us! We'll be in row 118,000.

Bye!

Barry, I told you, stop flying in the house!

Hey, Adam.

Hey, Barry.

Is that fuzz gel?

A little. Special day, graduation.

Never thought I'd make it.

Three days grade school, three days high school.

Those were awkward.

Three days college. I'm glad I took a day and hitchhiked around The Hive.

You did come back different.

Hi, Barry. Artie, growing a mustache? Looks good.

Hear about Frankie?

Yeah.

You going to the funeral?

No, I'm not going.

Everybody knows, sting someone, you die.

Don't waste it on a squirrel.

Such a hothead.

I guess he could have just gotten out of the way.

I love this incorporating an amusement park into our day.

That's why we don't need vacations.

Boy, quite a bit of pomp under the circumstances.

Well, Adam, today we are men.

We are!

Bee-men.

Amen!

Hallelujah!

Students, faculty, distinguished bees,

please welcome Dean Buzzwell.

Welcome, New Hive City graduating class of 9:15.

That concludes our ceremonies And begins your career at Honex Industries!

Will we pick our job today?

I heard it's just orientation.

Heads up! Here we go.

Keep your hands and antennas inside the tram at all times.

Wonder what it'll be like?

A little scary.

Welcome to Honex, a division of Honesco and a part of the Hexagon Group.

This is it!

Wow.

Wow.

We know that you, as a bee, have worked your whole life to get to the point where you can work for your whole life.

Honey begins when our valiant Pollen Jocks bring the nectar to The Hive.

Our top-secret formula is automatically color-corrected, scent-adjusted and bubble-contoured into this soothing sweet syrup with its distinctive golden glow you know as... Honey!

That girl was hot.

She's my cousin!

She is?

Yes, we're all cousins.

Right. You're right.

At Honex, we constantly strive to improve every aspect of bee existence.

These bees are stress-testing a new helmet technology.

What do you think he makes?

Not enough.

Here we have our latest advancement, the Krelman.

What does that do?

Catches that little strand of honey that hangs after you pour it.

Saves us millions.

Can anyone work on the Krelman?

Of course. Most bee jobs are small ones.

But bees know that every small job, if it's done well, means a lot.

But choose carefully because you'll stay in the job you pick for the rest of your life.

The same job the rest of your life? I didn't know that.

What's the difference?

You'll be happy to know that bees, as a species, haven't had one day off in 27 million years.

So you'll just work us to death?

We'll sure try.

Wow! That blew my mind!

"What's the difference?"

How can you say that?

One job forever?

That's an insane choice to have to make.

I'm relieved. Now we only have to make one decision in life.

But, Adam, how could they never have told us that?

Why would you question anything? We're bees.

We're the most perfectly functioning society on Earth.

You ever think maybe things work a little too well here?

Like what? Give me one example.

I don't know. But you know what I'm talking about.

Please clear the gate. Royal Nectar Force on approach.

Wait a second. Check it out.

Hey, those are Pollen Jocks!

Wow.

I've never seen them this close.

They know what it's like outside The Hive.

Yeah, but some don't come back.

Hey, Jocks!

Hi, Jocks!

You guys did great!

You're monsters!

You're sky freaks! I love it! I love it!

I wonder where they were.

I don't know.

Their day's not planned.

Outside The Hive, flying who knows where, doing who knows what.

You can't just decide to be a Pollen Jock. You have to be bred for that.

Right.

Look. That's more pollen than you and I will see in a lifetime.

It's just a status symbol.

Bees make too much of it.

Perhaps. Unless you're wearing it and the ladies see you wearing it.

Those ladies?

Aren't they our cousins too?

Distant. Distant.

Look at these two.

Couple of Hive Harrys.

Let's have fun with them.

It must be dangerous being a Pollen Jock.

Yeah. Once a bear pinned me against a mushroom!

He had a paw on my throat, and with the other, he was slapping me!

Oh, my!

I never thought I'd knock him out.

What were you doing during this?

Trying to alert the authorities.

I can autograph that.

A little gusty out there today, wasn't it, comrades?

Yeah. Gusty.

We're hitting a sunflower patch six miles from here tomorrow.

Six miles, huh?

Barry!

A puddle jump for us, but maybe you're not up for it.

Maybe I am.

You are not!

We're going 0900 at J-Gate.

What do you think, buzzy-boy?

Are you bee enough?

I might be. It all depends on what 0900 means.

Hey, Honex!

Dad, you surprised me.

You decide what you're interested in?

Well, there's a lot of choices.

But you only get one.

Do you ever get bored doing the same job every day?

Son, let me tell you about stirring.

You grab that stick, and you just move it around, and you stir it around.

You get yourself into a rhythm.

It's a beautiful thing.

You know, Dad, the more I think about it,

maybe the honey field just isn't right for me.

You were thinking of what, making balloon animals?

That's a bad job for a guy with a stinger.

Janet, your son's not sure he wants to go into honey!

Barry, you are so funny sometimes.

I'm not trying to be funny.

You're not funny! You're going into honey. Our son, the stirrer!

You're gonna be a stirrer?

No one's listening to me!

Wait till you see the sticks I have.

I could say anything right now.

I'm gonna get an ant tattoo!

Let's open some honey and celebrate!

Maybe I'll pierce my thorax. Shave my antennae. Shack up with a grasshopper. Get a gold tooth and call everybody "dawg"!

I'm so proud.

We're starting work today!

Today's the day.

Come on! All the good jobs will be gone.

Yeah, right.

Pollen counting, stunt bee, pouring, stirrer, front desk, hair removal...

Is it still available?

Hang on. Two left!

One of them's yours! Congratulations!

Step to the side.

What'd you get?

Picking crud out. Stellar!

Wow!

Couple of newbies?

Yes, sir! Our first day! We are ready!

Make your choice.

You want to go first?

No, you go.

Oh, my. What's available?

Restroom attendant's open, not for the reason you think.

Any chance of getting the Krelman?

Sure, you're on.

I'm sorry, the Krelman just closed out.

Wax monkey's always open.

The Krelman opened up again.

What happened?

A bee died. Makes an opening. See? He's dead. Another dead one.

Deady. Deadified. Two more dead.

Dead from the neck up. Dead from the neck down. That's life!

Oh, this is so hard!

Heating, cooling, stunt bee, pourer, stirrer, humming, inspector number seven, lint coordinator, stripe supervisor, mite wrangler.

Barry, what do you think I should... Barry?

Barry!

All right, we've got the sunflower patch in quadrant nine...

What happened to you?

Where are you?

I'm going out.

Out? Out where?

Out there.

Oh, no!

I have to, before I go to work for the rest of my life.

You're gonna die! You're crazy! Hello?

Another call coming in.

If anyone's feeling brave, there's a Korean deli on 83rd that gets their roses today.

Hey, guys.

Look at that.

Isn't that the kid we saw yesterday?

Hold it, son, flight deck's restricted.

It's OK, Lou. We're gonna take him up.

Really? Feeling lucky, are you?

Sign here, here. Just initial that.

Thank you.

OK.

You got a rain advisory today, and as you all know, bees cannot fly in rain.

So be careful. As always, watch your brooms, hockey sticks, dogs, birds, bears and bats.

Also, I got a couple of reports of root beer being poured on us.

Murphy's in a home because of it, babbling like a cicada!

That's awful.

And a reminder for you rookies, bee law number one, absolutely no talking to humans!

All right, launch positions!

Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz! Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz! Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz!

Black and yellow!

Hello!

You ready for this, hot shot?

Yeah. Yeah, bring it on.

Wind, check.

Antennae, check.

Nectar pack, check.

Wings, check.

Stinger, check.

Scared out of my shorts, check.

OK, ladies,

#long post #this is as much text as tumblr would let me have

[raptorsandpoultry]

Hello! I just discovered your blog a few days ago and I love it! If you had the time I had a quick question... I was recently corrected(?) by some local chicken keepers that apparently the rooster “shuffle” is actually an attempt at dominance? I’ve looked online and it seems quite a few other people agree with the sentiment and believe that the action precedes an attack on the owner. What are your thoughts on the matter? I just thought it was cute!

Hi! Thanks for the really interesting ask. I thought I had a quick answer to this, but ended up doing a lot of digging and learned a cool new thing in the process

First off, it is cute! It’s my second-favourite rooster behaviour after tid-bitting, and it always used to make my heart melt when my rooster “shuffled” for me. Anyway.

The rooster shuffle, or waltz, in which the roo tips one wing down and shuffles in a little arc around a hen (or a person), is most certainly a courtship behaviour that is not directly linked to dominance. Anyone who has a balanced flock and has taken the time to observe interactions between a roo and his hens can attest to this. Here’s a video for anyone who has no idea what we’re talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRX-O9RVUpo

As always, my first thoughts are to educate and remind people that the assumptions and expectations we have about an animal’s behaviour have a direct impact on how the animal responds to you and actually ends up behaving. If you label a rooster’s behaviour as “dominant” or “aggressive” because that’s the simplest explanation you can come up with without taking the time to empathize with him and consider other causes behind his behaviour, then that is the attitude that you will approach him with. He will definitely pick up on this, since that preconceived attitude will influence your own behaviour – whether you approach him timidly and then run away because you’re scared that he’ll “attack”, or march up to him aggressively with the intent of asserting your own dominance (which is almost always a big no-no in animal training; treating animals as our equals will yield the best results). As a result, you cause the rooster to feel threatened/scared/etc., which in turn leads to an “attack” (aggressive biting/chasing/jumping/lunging in self-defense, etc). Before I go off on this whole rant again, here’s a post where I talk about this in more detail.

Also keep in mind that while local chicken keepers and backyard chicken forums can be a fantastic resource for most topics, if they don’t have a scientific background you have to take opinions about other things (misinterpretation of behaviour, inappropriate medical “advice”, etc.) with a grain of salt. When it comes to normal rooster sexual behaviour, waltzing is usually associated with chasing of the hen, and afterwards, mounting her if things go smoothly. Could it be that when roosters end up directing these behaviours at people, owners might be misinterpreting chasing as the rooster’s attempt at angrily driving them away, and mounting/jumping onto feet/legs as an aggressive attack? It happens all the time with inexperienced parrot owners who inadvertently cause their birds to become sexually frustrated and then misinterpret masturbatory behaviour (directed at hands, feet, ponytails, etc.) as attacks, among other things.

Also interesting to note is that with selective breeding, the tendency to demonstrate certain behaviours can be altered in different ways. For example, one recent paper found that roosters bred to be more fearful exhibit more intense courtship behaviour than roosters bred to be less fearful of humans. Though the difference was only significant with respect to tid-bitting behaviour, with only a slight, but insignificant tendency for high-fear roosters to perform waltzing more often than low-fear roos. Neat finding, but it’s nearly impossible to generalize from there. Are roos that waltz often more likely to perceive threats and respond with fear-related aggressive behaviour to their owners misinterpreting them (and showing their own dominance behaviour)? Without any evidence, it’s hard to say. And even then, every roo is different and responds to stimuli in different ways, so without being there in person to see what’s happening, I couldn’t tell you why a given roo “attacks” his owner after a waltz, if it can even be labelled as an attack in the first place.

As I mentioned, I always loved it when my roo waltzed for me. I would respond by crouching to get to his level and gently petting his back as he waited for his favourite treat (no one asked, but it was blackberries).

Another long-winded answer for the books. Hope this answers your question, anon!

References:

Johnsen TS, Popma SL, Zuk M. Male courtship displays, ornaments and female mate choice in captive red jungle fowl. Behaviour. 1995 Jan 1;132(11-12):821-36.

Katajamaa R, Larsson LH, Lundberg P, Sörensen I, Jensen P. Activity, social and sexual behaviour in Red Junglefowl selected for divergent levels of fear of humans. PloS one. 2018 Sep 26;13(9):e0204303.

Rushen J. The development of sexual relationships in the domestic chicken. Applied Animal Ethology. 1983 Sep 1;11(1):55-66. 

#ask #anonymous #rooster #chicken #animal behavior #birds #original post #backyard chickens #pet chickens

[calliecat93]

Callie Reviews: TMNT 2012 Season One (Part Three)

(Part One) (Part Two)

Here is where we look at the season as a whole. For this, I will be looking at four things: Animation, Voice Acting, Characters (Heroes, Villains), and Story. I’ll be going more into depths about some stuff I skimmed over here as well. So lets dig in!

Animation

This is the Turtles first CGI show... okay yeah the 2007 movie was CGI, but that was a movie. When I first heard this, I was reluctant as I felt like 2D was becoming more and more of a lost out. But the CGI was really good! Mind you it looks a tad bit dated now as every season they pushed more and more to improve it. But still, it’s very well done. I can’t recall any point where I thought it looked bad or cringy...aside form when they wanted you to cringe anyways. What helps is that the show does add in some 2D elements, There’s the comic-style flashbacks of course, but even past that. They use these anime-like quirks like the sweatdrop, blushing, wide blank eyes when reacting in shock, vein burst when a character is angry, all these tiny little things that give it a more cartoony feel. I can’t recall any other Nickelodeon CGI shows that were doing this prior, so it helped it stand out among the other shows.

Another plus side? The character designs. Aside from a few background characters they re-colored, none of the important characters look the same. Like I know that some don’t like April’s design, but at least they gave her and Karai their own distinct character designs. Then there are the Turtles. Something I don’t like about the upcoming show is how much.. accessorizing they add in to make the Turtles look distinctive. 2k12 kept it very simple. Different heights, eye color, shade of green, and of course body build. For example Donnie, the genius who is mroe invested with machines than training, is both the tallest and most slender. Raph, the strongest, is the most buff and Mikey, the youngest, has larger eyes and freckles to show his child-like nature.And even with Raph,a ll four boys have kind of high school athlete-like builds. Nothing over the top like say... the Michael Bay films. Basically, I can believe that these guys can do the ninja-like agility more than I can with the overly buff, giant versions that have been used.

When ti comes to the mutants, the animators get creative. There are so many unique mutant sin the show. Snakeweed, Spyder Bytez, Dogpound, Fishface, Splinter, Leatherhead, all the mutants have their own unique design that work for them. They also know when to get creepy, like with the mish-mash... thing... from The Alien Agenda. That was disturbing as heck, and it’s not even the creepiest one they come up with! Oh just wait for next season, haha... but yeah, mutant designs are great!

Now the settings are kinda... meh. I mean The Lair is cool, but it’s mostly just either the the Lair, the New York landscape, Shredder’s lair, or an empty warehouse most of the time. It’s nothing really... creative I guess is the right word. We also don’t explore new York much, mainly settling on skyscrapers as the setting. It’s understandable why since New York is the setting, but still it juts gets kind of boring after awhile. But for what it’s worth, they do try to do creative stuff when they can like in Baxter’s Gambit with the black and white screens.

And of course, there is the fight choreography. As I said before, it’s fantastic. All the fights in the series are fluid, well-paced, and fun to watch. If I had to give some examples off the top of my head, there’s New Friend, Old Enemy when the Turtles rise form the water. The mix of black and red is absolutely perfect. There’s the first fight against Shredder in The Gauntlet which despite the boys getting constantly knocked down by Shredder, they give it everything they have. It looks freakin’ badass. Then there is any Splinter fight scene. There’s not many, only about three in this season (It Came From the Depths, I, Monster, The Showdown two-parter) but they are excellent. I said that the Splinter vs Shredder fight was the best and nothing after ever topped it, right?

So yeah, if I was going to rate the animation on a 1-5 scale...

Rating: 4.5

Voice Acting

The series was voice directed by veteran Andrea Romano, so you know that the performances are gonna be solid. As far as casting goes, they got in a LOT of big names both in the voice acting industry and out. There’s of course Greg Cipes (Mikey), Mae Whitman (April), Nolan North (The Kraang), Kevin Michael Richardson (Shredder), Phil Lamar (Stockman), Clancy Brown (Dogpound) and of course Rob Paulsen (Donnie). Rob’s casting was actually a pretty big deal as along with being a veteran with nearly 30 years of experience, he was also the voice of Raph in the original 80′s show. So getting him back even as a different Turtle? Yeah... that’s pretty big!

Then you have more well-known on-screen actors, like Sean Astin (Raph) and Kelly Hu (Karai). Now they both actually have very solid VA-ing careers and still do voice work to this day, but if you’re say... a Lord of the Rings fan and known Sean only for that, this may entice you. The newcomers to voice acting are Jason Biggs (Leo), Christian Lanz (Fishface) and Hoon Lee (Splinter). There’s also guest actors like Jeffrey Combs (The Rat King) and Roseanne Barr (Kraang Prime), so a solid mix of professional voice actors and a few newcomers. The result?

The voice acting is fantastic. Like even as the show goes on and you see more and more mixed reception, the acting is NEVER one of the things you see go down. If anything, it is one aspect that continues to improve episode by episode. All four Turtle actors do an amazing job conveying their characters, able to go from comedic to dramatic in a split second. I’d say that out of everyone, Hoon Lee impressed me the most since he’s the only one aside from Biggs (and... e’ll talk more about him next season) I hadn’t heard of. And he gave a very solid performance. Everyone did. Even for just minor characters like Pulverizer (Roger Craig Smith... yes Pulverizer is Sonic the Hedgehog) or some of the villains like Snake (Danny Jacob who voices King Julian outside the Madacgascar films) or Spyder Byte (Lewis Black), they convey their characters perfectly. Like Black’s character is a rude slob you want to punch, and he does such a great job in making you feel that way!

So yeah, you got a strong cast, a veteran voice director, and a crazy group of characters for them to voice. All of them nail it. And just wait, this is only the S1 cast. Wait until you see who they bring in for future seasons!

Rating: 5

Characters

As I said in Part One, this is the best part of the show. I know a lot of people who fell off TMNT as it went on, but still kept interest because of the characters. To me, this is always the most important part of storytelling. Yes having a good story itself is important, but a good story will be nothing without likeable characters to move it. A cliched story may be annoying, but if the characters are likeable and strongly written, people are usually more forgiving because they care about the cast. This show is no different. To this day, the thing that kept me attracted to the show was the Turtles, April, and Splinter and what they’d get into next. All of them have strong personalities that get you to care about them, or at least see where they’re coming from. I could gush about each of them one by one... so on we go!

Lets start with Mikey because he is the least developed this season... and most of the show sadly. I’d even say that his focus episodes dropped massively in quality after this season as he was forced mroe and mroe into the comedy relief/designated victim/little brother role. It’s a shame too because this season did an excellent job in balancing out both the comedy relief and the more innocent side of the character. Mikey is the most naive of the brothers and the least serious among them. It’s not to say that he can’t take situations seriously, it’s just that he’s more easy-going and fun-seeking than the other three. His biggest problem is his inability to focus and goof around, which has caused several instances of accidentally setting off alarms. 

While not the best of the four, Mikey is a talented ninja and the best at going off just raw talent. He doesn’t think through fighting moves, he can just go with the flow and be perfectly fine. His strongest skill hpwever is his empathy and desire to make friends. While this has backfired on him before, like in New Friend, Old Enemy, where Bradford used and then kidnapped him for a trap, Mikey is incredibly non-judgemental and open-minded. It’s why he could befriend Leatherhead so easily in It Came From the Depths. He saw that the Kraang were attacking him and decided to simply talk to him like he would anyone else, even pointing out that maybe LH only acts like a monster because that’s how he was treated for so long. Mikey may not be book smart, but he’s very emotionally smart. As I said, Mikey’s character sadly devolves into annoying comedy relief as it goes, but for this season he had a strong start. No meaningful development aside form slow progression on paying attention (Parasitica being the final payoff... also if you’re afraid of wasps then avoid that one), but his character is strong enough to carry him through.

Raph is the brawler of the group and the quickest to anger. Hie’s the strongest fighter and incredibly confident... unless he has to deal with bugs. His biggest flaws are his both his anger and his jealous towards Leo. The first half of the season has Raph frequently back-talks and argue with Leo all because he got made the leader over him. For example, in Never Say Xever he is unhappy with Leo using mercy because bad guys don’t deserve it. Leo does eventually use the more Raph-like approach when kidnapping Bradford... and it fails miserably. What saves them? Leo’s act of mercy causing the Purple Dragon to repay the favor sand saving their shells. While he does slowly get a better grip on his temper once Splinter tells him of how dangerous it can be (Turtle Temper), it takes until New Girl in Town for him to overcome his jealousy once and for all. It’s very well done too by having Leo finally get fed up and give Raph what he wanted. Ultimately Raph can’t handle the pressure once things get rough and comes to understand both what Leo deals with essentially every day and how his own actions made it worst.

After that, Raph becomes the perfect example of a follower. While he’s still question Leo, he has good reasons for it, like everything involving Karai for instance. But he actively looks out for him more and stops mocking him outside just brotherly messing around. And even during that point, while Raph could be an insensitive jerk, he does love his family and will make amends when he goes too far. When he mocked Mikey wanting friends in New Friend, Old Enemy, at the end he comforted him after the fallout with Bradford and assured him that he’s a good person. When he mocked Donnie’s crush in Operation: Break-Out and led to Donnie going on a mission solo, Raph was worried about him, realized that he way too harsh, and tried to make amends by giving Donnie all the credit once back home. While Raph doesn’t conquer his temper completely, over the season he does get a better grip on it, can admit when he goes to far, became overall nicer, and by the end is a much better person. It was good stuff!

Donnie is probably the most... divisive of the four. Not because he’s badly written per say. He’s intelligent, but also high-strung and prone to stress. He’s not a bad ninja, but because of his focus on machinery, he’s the least skilled. The two episodes that focus on this are Metalhead and Monkey Brains. Metalhead has an admittedly meh plot where he gets sick of his bo staff and therefore creates the robot Metalhead to act as his weapon. The ‘meh’ plot is IDT it addresses the message of ‘the weapon doesn't make you a good fighter, you do’ very well, ut still Monkey Brains does a much better job, demonstrating Donnie’s tendency to over-think everything and how that is detrimental in a fight. By the climax, he’s able to get himself to rely on his instincts against a mind-reading villain (we’ll get to him later) and kick his ass.

Then there’s The Pulverizer episodes, which are the most interesting but sadly don’t go anywhere after this season. It has Donnie accept Pulverizer as an apprentice of sort, mainly so the kid can have some form of self-defense if he’s going to put himself into danger. It’s ultimately ineffective, but mainly because of Pulverizer wanting to rush and not listening properly. The most important part though is Splinter telling Donnie that by doing this, anything that happens involving him after will be his responsibility. Which we see in The Pulverizer Returns where Pulverizer decides ot let the Foot mutate him to gain awesome mutant powers. Donnie tries to save him, but sadly he fails and Pulverier.. it’s not pretty. While Donnie does still save him after, he’s left with the guilt of ultimately failing his student. I’ll go into mroe about how horribly the writers wasted this next season, but here? It was interesting to give Donnie this plot since you’d expect t to go to say... Leo. I think it really worked for what it was worth and let us see a side of Donnie outside just being the smart one.

So with that said, why is he divisive? Well... it’s because another major part of his character is his crush on April. He doe snot... manage it well, to say the least. He is rather, well... stupid and kinda creepy with it. But I do want to point this out. Yes, it is annoying but I think there’s a good reason for it: he’s an awkward teenager. Yeah him asking her to feel his goosebumps (Metalhead), accidentally calling her ‘his April (The Gauntlet), accidentally saying awkward things when she acknowledges him (pick any episode) are incredibly facepalm worthy at best. And yeah, they should have done better setup than have him just find her pretty when seeing her once. However he does genuinely care about her and int he premiere, he was driven more because he saw an innocent girl scared and was unable to help than his newfound crush. The feelings are genuine and Donnie being awkward about is because... well, Donnie is awkward in general and he does slowly improve. Honestly I’ll have mroe to discuss about this next season cause haha... boy is THAT a clusterfuck. But ultimately while Donnie can be annoying, overall it’s pretty bearable and he has plenty of positive traits to balance it out.

Finally, we get Leo. He’s the group leader, but unlike the past series where he pretty much grew up with that role, here he gets the role halfway through the first episode. He starts as a goody-two-shoes with a mischievous side who had a very basic view of leadership. He see sit as a position of authority, greatness, and unstoppable. That’s not to say that he doesn’t take the role seriously, he does. He devises plans, does his best to keep his brothers focused, and frequently asks Splinter for advice on how to best do things. But he also frequently uses cheesy one-liners and does his best to be as over the top with his heroics as possible, thinking it’s cool when it isn’t. It gives Leo a more naive feel to him, someone who is serious but also is still a teenaged kid who has a lot of learning to do.

The pressures of leadership are Leo’s primary focus as a character. While he has some doubts, the biggest blow to his confident comes in The Gauntlet after there massive defeat against Shredder. The following episode has him unsure of if he can properly lead the team and feeling guilty when things go wrong. But the ultimate meltdown comes in New Girl in Town where Raph finally pushes him too hard and he quits. He’s realized at this point that leadership is not like it is on TV. it’s unforgiving, stressful, and you’re gonna be the one facing the consequences when things go wrong. His difficulty dealing with this is what attracts him to Karai. She’s fun, does whatever she wants, and doesn’t care about the rules. She offers him a form of freedom that he hasn’t had before. It’s why he tries to get her to change sides, he doesn’t want her to be an enemy. Unfortunately things end badly between them this season, but you can see where Leo is coming form no matter how naive he was about it.

Leo evolved a lot over the season. He went from a naive teenager who quoted old TV episodes to a serious, determined leader who was willing to do whatever it took to get his team through. He never quit being optimistic and he does still have his stress with leadership later down the road. But the season is about him easing not the role an understanding the weight of that role. It’s very easy to feel bad for Leo because he tries incredibly hard, but he doesn’t receive a lot of gratitude or payoff, and he just has to accept that. By the finale, he’s willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure both success and his family's safety... something that becomes a bit of an issue in later seasons (looking at you Space Arc). I’d say that because we got to see Leo actually having to come to terms with the role, it makes this imo the best version of the character. We actually have to see him accept the role and how he hate show it limits his free time, something IDT the past versions really did. And all while having this dorky, idealistic side that keeps him likable and all the mroe relateable. Overall, I’d say that the leader in blue was handeled very well here!

April is my favorite character in the show, but her writing this season has some issues. Now as a character herself, she’s perfectly fine. She’s an independent sixteen year old and incredibly proactive. Whenever she finds info on the Kraang or about her dad, she looks into it. When everyone is ready to quit in Panic in the Sewers, she’s the only one who actively tries to do something and get everyone else to not give up. When Splinter offers to train her, she accepts it and we see bits and pieces of her progressing. But it’s done realistically as demonstrated in Karai’s Vendetta where it’s very clear that April is nowhere near her level. But it also demonstrates her determination and how she never gives up, getting back up after every blow and at east trying to put up a fight. While she’s forced to sit most things out and does on occasion get kidnapped, she still tries to be an asset and does very well as an intel gatherer. She’s also incredibly stubborn and can get in over her head without thinking things through, like in Metalhead and the finale episodes. But ultimately her proactiveness and need to take action are her strongest traits and what makes her a useful ally.

The issues with April are in the writing of the plot. I already mentioned how the early episodes could have done mroe in having her ease into the group. There’s also after Karai’s Vendetta where despite living with the guys, we don’t see her until the penultimate episode. We see her express hating it in that episode, but we don’t get to explore the fallout of her losing her normal life. In fact we...d on’t see April’s life outside Turtle stuff until next season, and even then not by much. Now of course the show is about the Turtles and you gotta keep the focus on them, but still we get a bunch of ‘show, don’t tell’ problems with April. We’re told things like she’s living with her aunt, but we never see them interact. Hell, IDT April’s aunt is ever mentioned outside the pilot. We also find out that April is the Kraang’s target... and we never see how she feels about it. If she’s scared, if she’s worried. We can assume that she has some stress about it, as indicated when she vents in Karai’s Vendetta, but little to no showcase of how she feels about it. Mind you we don’t with the Turtles either, but still. Still, overall April is a solid character imo.

That brings us to Master Splinter, the best written character by far. Splinter is the perfect balance of a mentor and a father. He’s firm, strict, and not afraid to dish out punishment when it’s necessary. But he’s also gentle, patient, knows how to give his sons proper guidance, and when to let them figure things out for themselves. He’s also snarky as Hell, so it’s good that he has a sense of humor. He’s also a flawed person. He lost his wife and daughter because of hat is essentially a sibling rivalry that went WAAAY too far and his own inability to control himself worsened things. He lost his family and then his humanity, ending his life as Hamato Yoshi. Since then, he’s hidden int he sewers and tried to focus his energy on raising and protecting his sons. It makes letting them go topside difficult, as it is for any parent whose children are growing up. He can make mistakes, like letting his fear control him and press his sons far too hard in Panic in the Sewers, but he can admit those mistakes.

Splintr’s largest plot in the season, outside mentoring the boys and April, is accepting his mutant status and overcoming his fears. Many epsiodes such as the premiere, Turtle Temper, Monkey Brains, Panic in the Sewers and the finale show how much pain the rat master carries and while he’s move don to a new life, it still haunts him. The episode that best displays this however is a filler episode called I, Monster. In it we get this version of the Rat King, the mind reading villain from Monkey Brains, who uses his power to swarm New York. When he senses Splinter, he proceeds to try and brainwash him too. The episode does an amazing job at showcasing all of Splinter’s fears. The boys outgrowing him, his past tragedies, ending up alone, and the Rat King slowly uses all of it to break him down. Splinter fights back, but the thought of the boys moving on without him is ultimately what defeats him until the boys remind him of who he is. He is Hamato Yoshi, Master Splinter, but most of all their father. They need him and always will. Which lets Splinter overcome the mind control and essentially Airbend Rat King through a wall. It was awesome~

Despite that episode being filler, it’s one of the season's best. It is a strong character exploration piece about a father who has gone through Hell and is faced with the fear of his kids not needing him. It is very relatable and makes Splinter all the mroe sympathetic. And we see Splinter truly embody who he is now when faced with the Shredder again and upon learning that his daughter had survived. He went into full rat mode and gave Shredder the beating that we all wanted. And the season ends on a perfect lead in for the next one. Splinter now knows that Karai is his daughter while she was raised to hate him. It’s any parent’s worst nightmare. He now has to deal with that revelation as well as how he’s going to break it to his students. Splinter has some solid growth int he season, something that a lot of mentor figures in cartoons don’t get, and it’s done perfectly. He has his flaws, but is still a strong father figure to his sons. Add that to Hoon Lee’s absolute perfect performance and you have what is in my opinion the best incarnation of Master Splinter in any TMNT series.

While the main cast is strong, the supporting cast and villains are... not so much. There isn’t really a supporting cast honestly. The best we have is Leatherhead, who is awesome. He’s a damaged character. One treated like a monster and tortured for who knows how long. It left him damaged and prone to trauma-induced outbursts. But he is a good person who knows that what happened to him was wrong and can be quite sweet when given the chance. He didn’t have to save humanity, especially since most would scream and run if they saw him, but he didn’t want anyone else to endure what he did. It’s best exemplified with his sacrifice in TCRI, going back to Dimension X and knowing fully well what’ll await him there. But he does so to save his friends and give them the chance to save the Earth. LH is freakin’ badass and I love him!

The villains though are... kinda boring. Most of the mutants, while the designs are cool, are incredibly one-note. Not all of them, like the Rat King is so dramatic and twisted and his VA does such a great job with the delivery that you both love him and want to strangle him. But others like Snakeweed or Spyder Bytez are just... well, evil for the heck of it. The Kraang are the worst though since at least the mutants are only in like one or two episodes. The Kraang are annoying as HELL. They can be dangerous but the redundant speech pattern and all fo them having essentially the same personality (aka none) is so... boring. Min you in Season 4 we kind of get an explanation to why, but it doesn't change how grating they can get. That being said in large groups they can be dangerous and with things like the Technodrome, they’re not to be taken lightly. Still, GAH I HATE THEM!!!

The Foot are somewhat better. Stockman is pathetic and remains pathetic throughout the entire series. Bradford is a pompous asshole. Xever is a little more interesting in that he kidn of was forced to work for Shredder or go to jail... but sadly after that reveal, he reverts to typical henchman status sadly. Shredder is the Big Bad and a no-nonsense leader. He has no empathy and is more than willing to inflict physical violence on his troops if they fail him. He even threatens to harm Karai, his daughter (kinda...) if she questions him. He is a very single minded perosn, his only goal beign to kill Splinter and his students by any means necessary. Hell. he only starts caring about the Kraang when he realizes that they can advance his goal, but has zero issues letting humanity fall to them. Oh, and there’s his glee when Karai tries to kill Splinter. WOrst? THis isn’t even the worst that he does int he show. Oh just wait for next season. JUST WAIT. Otherwise though, while a powerful fighter, he just mopes in his throne for most of the season, but Richardson’s badass voice acting was nice to hear.

The most interesting villain by far is Karai, and Thank God for it. While Leo is a good-good, Karai is a bad girl. She’s laid-back, does what she wants her way, and doesn’t play by the rules. She’s introduced as a competent fighter, but unlike the other Foot she’s more interesting in talking to the Turtles than killing them. I think she did become genuinely fond of Leo, but ultimately she’s going to be loyal to what she thinks is her family. She also started off realizing that there were bugger problems, like the Kraang, that required more attention over the vendetta until the Turtles betrayed her. Then she pretty much went ‘screw it’ and decided to go with the vendetta, which only got worst when she met Splinter for the first time. Still, ti was nice to have someone actually question Shredder and try to be sensible. She’s definite the most well-written of the villains, and the revelation about her being Splinter’s daughter means that there is MUCH more to come for her. Like I said, just wait for Season 2!

Okay, this section was a LOOOT longer than I thought. So I’ll just finish by saying that the villains aren't all that interesting, but the main characters are very well written. They have strong personalities, plenty of room for growth, and their interactions always gel really well. Very well done!

Rating: 4.5

Story

The main plot threads are the Turtles against the Foot, and the Turtles feud against the Kraang. All with some subplots, like Pulverizer and the mutant of the week stuff, and filler episodes thrown in. I say that the plots are handled very well. For example well go with... say two or three Kraang-centric episodes. Then we may or may not get a filler episode before shifting over to the Foot Clan for awhile. It never felt like we got smothered with one faction over the other, which is good. The plots also slowly intertwined and it felt like they came together at just the right time during the last six or so episodes. Hence hwy the finale worked so well, giving some kind of payoff on both ends.

Many of the episodes were very basic and outright bizarre. Like Cockroach Terminator having a mutant cockroach tr to murder Raph... it’s kinda gross, but entertaining! Every episode normally has at least something small that’ll carry over as the story goes along. For example, Donnie built Metalhead in... well, Metalhead and brought him back in the finale, plus it helped him learn mroe about Kraang tech. In Baxter’s Gambit, April finally gets her own weapon and she attempts to use it in Karai’s Vendetta. The episodes all play a part, even if just minor, in the larger narrative and I feel some of the later seasons kind of slacked on that. This season had a perfect balance.

That’s not to say that it was perfect. Like at the end of TCRI, we find out that April is the Kraang’s true target which makes us wonder why... and the next episode is about Raph’s fear of bugs! So TCRI was episode 17, we don’t even mention this fact again until Karai’s Vendetta, which is episode 21. Five episodes later, and even then we get one tiny hint (April doesn't get damaged by mutagen-laced water) and... that’s it. The.show has a bit of an issue with not exploring fallout, which is weird because Panic in the Sewers did and id it excellently. Maybe it’s because they have to make episodes to sell toys, IDK. It doesn't do too much damage, but it makes it feel like they both wasted character opportunities and like there’s something missing. But at the very least the episodes remain entertaining, so there’s that.

Rating: 4

Final Thoughts

You know what I like about this series and why I ran it above the other ones? Well it does something that I feel that the previous incarnations lacked: The Teenage Mutant Nina Turtles felt like teenagers. They felt like a bunch of kids truly entering the world for the first time. They screw up, they have problems to overcome, and they don’t always learn it immideatly. Like their cockiness is a frequent pain in the shell for example. But the reason that I like pretty much all of the episodes aside form Episode 11 is because it feels like we’re watching a group of kids truly starting to grow up and learn about how rough life can be. How they have to change, how they have to fix their mistakes, and just become better people. As a nineteen year old who was just staring to figure my life out, when I started the show, that drew me in. I related to these characters so much. I felt like I was growing with them and coming to understand who I was due to it.

It felt really nostalgic to go back over this season. Imo, it still holds up big time. It’s funny, action-heavy, well animated, and the characters are just as enjoyable as I remember. Would I call this the best season? Hmm... maybe. I still have three more to look over. But it was a really fun ride and it got TMNT 2012 off on the right track. Can they stay on it during Season 2? Come back next week, and we shall see!

#tmnt #2k12 #tmnt 2012 #callie reviews

[beyondfertility]

Entering Menopause Doesn’t Have To Be Hard: Know What To Expect

When entering menopause, lots of women are not aware of its common symptoms and therefore do not connect the dots from the body system to the next. One example would be the way how a cycle begins to change.

We all know that the menstrual cycle changes during puberty and as we enter the fertile years. But what most women do not know about are the changes that occur when menopause approaches.

One question often asked is “How many stages are there in menopause?” The simple answer is, there are four stages namely peri-menopause, pre-menopause, menopause and post-menopause.

So, let’s explore how the menopause cycle changes in relationship to ovulation and PMS (Premenstrual Syndrome).

Both progesterone and estrogen go through changes when entering menopause, which starts in the perimenopausal years. As time passes on, follicles get weaker and do not mature, unlike younger and vibrant follicles.

During this stage, hormones begin to wane and hormonal imbalance enters in to take control. But here is one of the most confusing parts: having low estrogen and being estrogen dominant sound like opposites but in reality, they are not.

Picture yourself in this situation. Imagine you are having a trip to the doctor’s office for a hormone test and he tells you, “You are not high in estrogen but actually low in estrogen.” And then you respond, “How then can I be estrogen dominant?”

You can be low in estrogen but at the same time, even LOWER in opposing progesterone. We are talking about proportions here.

So, suppose you only eat 120 calories a day. That’s, I guess, dangerously low-calorie intake for a single day. But what if 14 grams of that is fat that came from 1TB of olive oil?

Relatively speaking, you would have a high-fat diet, right? It’s the same concept. The amounts in proportion to each other are what we are talking about.

As women enter the menopause stage, the ovarian function starts to diminish because of aging. Since estrogen is what causes the contraction of the uterus, low estrogen may cause spasms from not having enough “estrogen umph”.

At the same time, unopposed estrogen keeps the uterus from relaxing after a contraction as well. This will lead to tense cramping, even if you do not have a history of menstrual cramps in the past.

Low estrogen levels may cause an endometrial lining build-up and this could continue to fill the uterine lining if unopposed by ovulation. If this continues at an abnormal rate, it will lead to endometrial hyperplasia, which may lead to cancer of the uterus in the long run. These all stem from estrogen that is unopposed by progesterone; from good quality ovulation or high estrogen in pre-menopause.

Another common scenario of a menstrual cycle entering menopause is where the follicular phase begins to lengthen while the luteal phase shortens. This is when the Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) tries to stimulate weak follicles, where estrogen takes longer to peak and LH begins to surge. Weak ovulation follows and the luteal phasebecomes shorter by time because of low progesterone which is produced from a lesser quality egg.

The longer the follicular phase, the more blood goes into the endometrium. The blood build-up comes from the release of estrogen from follicles since estrogen is responsible for the blood lining of the uterus.

When an egg is released, estrogen is then discharged into the bloodstream to do its job on the endometrium. Low progesterone interferes with the next cycle and the menstrual cycle spirals downward as time goes on. Some women experience it quickly, while there are somewhere it happens over a few years.

Let’s look at fertility stages to understand better:

Early in youth and infertile years from 14 days follicular phase / 14 days luteal phase; even and balanced — around 28 days each month.

First, as fertility begins to wane, the luteal phase may shorten to 10–12 days, making a small difference to the length of the cycle where pregnancy becomes less viable. Your cycle might be something like 15 / 10.

Second, a longer follicular phase begins to emerge. At first, the cycle may seem to right themselves by becoming a little longer. What your body is actually doing is taking longer for estrogen to rise and signal the release of the egg. This means longer follicular and a shorter luteal phase which results in weaker ovulation, still — maybe 18 / 8–10. Your cycle looks around 26 days so it seems OK but the parts are uneven.

Third, the whole cycle shortens to around a 20–24 day cycle where there is very little progesterone produced until one ovary stops producing a viable egg and the progesterone produced is negligible. This appears to be one long cycle of around 40 days because of the two unhealthy cycles combined.

Lastly, cycles get longer either the ovaries producing good ovulation and FSH is working hard to stimulate follicles. However, they are not responsive to the chemical signals being sent. The FSH is getting very high at this point, and getting a menopause test is the only way to see if it’s there closed or complete. The cycles start to disappear and you are no longer entering menopause but fully engaged. Most experts will say that after one year without menses, menopause considered complete.

Various supplements and gadgets are available that are useful in these times especially when first signs of menopause seem to be a little scary for you. Some of them may even help greatly with menopausal symptoms while other tools may be able to detect estrogen changes. There’s also a best natural progesterone cream to offset hormonal imbalance such as estrogen dominance. Not to mention, supplements to help with lowered libido or hot flashes and migraines too.

Here are a few suggestions:

A Fertility Tracker is a great tool to check your estrogens’ rising and falling state and when you ovulate. You can also track whether your estrogen is rising more than once before ovulation actually happens.

Fertile Balance Progesterone Cream is helpful for natural progesterone supplementation. If you suffer from PMS, cramping, spasms, excessive bleeding or other severe menstrual disorders, consider using Cycle Balance Plus. This page has a list of ingredients used in the product, which show how well it supports these issues: Cycle Balance Plus Ingredients You can see how helpful they may be to your situation.

Fertile Lady female libido booster supplements help in restoring libido by forming better follicles which boost hormones. It comes in capsule form.

Best DHEA Hormone Cream is helpful when you’re near or passing menopause. It is the precursor to steroidal hormones — testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen. (At the time of writing this article, I was 53 and loving it. It helps keep me calm and more “interested”. DHEA is used for pre and post-menopause. It’s like the Fertile Lady but only in cream form instead of a capsule.)

Diet One Day or One Day Diet Wafers are great for women asking the question “How can I lose weight after menopause?” Diet One Day may help for quick weight loss when other diets don’t seem to work. Women in menopause seem to love these tasty and healthy snacks. You will find some testimonies at One Day Diet Wafers and recipes as well.

Other tips while entering menopause:

Watch your saturated fat intake as it will deplete calcium because animal products are so acidic which blocks liver function.

A detoxed liver is your best friend during menopause. Try a liver cleanse as a regular part of your daily routine most especially when nearing menopause. Clearing the liver with lots of greens and detoxifying foods every often is very helpful to prevent menopause. Maintenance NOW is your best defense for THEN.

What are your other fears when entering menopause? If you have more questions, please feel free to contact us. You can also visit Beyond Fertility Shop to see more progesterone cream and fertility gadget options.

#menopause #pms relief #pms

[trippinglynet]

The Media and Immediacy | Larry Harvey (1998)

An Interview with Larry Harvey.

[Ed Note: Darryl Van Rhey is the pen name of Larry Harvey, although it was also occasionally used by Stuart Mangrum].

Darryl Van Rhey: Many who have come to Burning Man have voiced complaints about the media. Some say the presence of cameras and reporters intrudes upon immediate experience. What is your response?

Larry Harvey: I meet a lot of reporters, which is part of my job, and so the media does not appear to me to be a faceless monolith. I think that perception sometimes warps people's reasoning. You might say I've had a more immediate experience of the media, and I've met very few journalists who are ogres.

We did encounter one television crew back in 1995 that was remarkably clueless. They plastered a general release statement - perhaps the world's largest - on our gate trailer, then proceeded to rush around yelling. 'Camera coming through! Camera coming through!' at people. We declared a media alert on our radio station and it generated a community response. People fashioned wooden cameras and began to follow them around. Someone finally wrote 'Eat The Rich' on their Winnebago and they left - but that was before we learned to deal with this proactively.

DVR: What exactly have you learned?

LH: I've learned that journalists are paid to be curious - and that is where their problems begin. You see, they're always on a deadline. They're asked to go out and find a story, but there is never enough time to tell it. I sometimes tell reporters what Henry James said about periodicals. He said that magazines are like a railroad that must always run on time. There are never enough paying passengers, and yet the rules state that each train car must be filled - so they stuff the seats with mannequins. That way no one notices the train's half empty as it rushes down the track.

DVR: That's one of those professional ironies, isn't it? One may enter a profession out of love of that activity, but then, of course, you're working for others who may not care about it in that ideal sense. That's why they hired someone else to do it.

LH: Yeah, means and ends get separated. Journalists as a class of people are interested and interesting, but they are seldom able to fulfill themselves. They're expected to turn out product on a deadline - which can murder curiosity. Last year we tailored an approach to people in the media designed to solve this problem.

DVR: What did you do?

LH: They would call Marian, our Communications Manager, and say, 'We need a press kit and we want to talk to Larry.' She'd tell them that we had no press kit, but if they wanted to talk to anybody, they should first go to our website. Now, of course, our website is extraordinary. It has a ton of information, more angles than you could ever compress into a kit. Moreover, it is interactive and the gateway to thousands of other sites that participants have created themselves. It is a thoroughgoing X-ray of our whole community.

They'd come back, now loaded with context, and say, 'This sounds great! So, we're coming on Sunday and we want to talk to Larry...' and then she would tell them, 'If you want to talk to Larry you have to come early, on Wednesday or Thursday, and stay for the entire event.' Now they had to come, camp, live and survive among us. They had no choice but to immerse themselves in the story. This is radical inclusion - very Burning Man.

DVR: You're saying that the media itself enjoyed an immediate experience.

LH: They sure did, and the results were extraordinary. You know, a lot of what passes for journalistic objectivity is actually professional alienation. We allowed them access to deep background. We gave them time to think and a few ideas, but we didn't tell them what to say so much as we allowed them to express themselves. That's what we're radically about. Have you seen any of the TV shows?

DVR: You were well served.

LH: Sure we were, but so were they! They wrote more incisively. They delved beneath appearances. By every intelligent standard, they created better stories. I'd grown so weary of the Burning-Man-as-Woodstock myth. This year they noticed our diversity, and as actual citizens of our city they realized that our talk about community betokens something real. Not only is this more accurate, but it describes a more intriguing phenomenon. No amount of spin could have produced this. These stories were crafted with more care than is normal. In a very real sense, the news crews were participants this year.

Besides, you know, I grow a little tired of hearing how people with cameras aren't participants. Does that mean that only exhibitionists are participating? Don't get me wrong. As you well know, some of my dearest friends are exhibitionists. But can't someone with a camera be creative too? Every year when the event is over, participants clamor for images. It's only natural. We get hundreds of requests. How do you suppose these pictures get produced?

DVR: But doesn't all this beg my original question? Granted, people want pictures and certainly you got good press. Maybe, by allowing reporters to express themselves in their work, they better expressed what Burning Man actually is. But why should you want more press? Given your agenda for community, some would say you're better off without the media.

LH: Not politically. Does anyone imagine we'd survive without the press? The truth will set you free, but only if you can publicize it. The presence of the press at our event has shielded us from persecution. It isn't always a nice world, you know.

DVR: Well, that's certainly a pragmatic argument.

LH: It is, but I really don't mean to evade your question. You seem to be suggesting that mere contact with the media will somehow corrupt us and I think this comes back to the notion of the media as monolith. Who and what are the media?

First of all, it's anyone who carries a camera. Beyond that, it is the press, television, movies, radio, and now the Internet. These are merely mediums of communication. People carry on as if television sets were entities of evil or as if reporters and producers of programming were members of some sinister conspiracy, but why blame them? Our real problem is that these communication tools are used for certain economic purposes. TV is the worst offender. It isolates people and turns them into passive consumers, and that makes it hard to imagine using the media to actively communicate with one another. But we have met the media. It's made up of people, reporters who are looking for a story, something that will attract attention. That's their agenda and what's wrong with it? Burning Man is a growing community and communities learn through story telling. We've got a big story, so we've gained a voice. Immediacy can be very contagious.

DVR: You're not worried then about becoming too popular?

LH: By too popular I suppose you mean will we become pop culture, become commodified, turned into some sort of product that's hawked on TV? That's really the fear, isn't it? It amounts to a kind of superstitious dread.

Listen, we're a populist movement. We need to communicate with people. How do you suppose half the people who come to the festival hear about it? We do very little paid advertising. Pieces in the press or shows on TV are merely magnified word-of-mouth. Who is saying these messages are a substitute for immediate experience? It used to be feared that we'd become too big.

Again, you see, there's this tendency to equate anything on a large scale with mass society, but I think we've laid that ghost to rest. Last year, in 1997, we had our largest attendance and our greatest publicity, but the event was more participatory and interactive than ever before. Obviously, we're communicating with people. Everyone complains about the media, but no one does anything about it. Why look at this so passively? We should have more faith in ourselves. It's time to believe that we can change the world.

DVR: Do you have any plans for dealing with the media in the future?

LH: We'll continue what we've started. You know, we've always charged the press. There are no free press passes. They pay for tickets like everyone else. They're treated as participants. Next year we'll do more to get them to come early, and we'll try harder to introduce them to people. This year we connected TBS to a couple. They filmed their child's birthday party and the kids and parents burned a giant wooden cake. I thought that was great.

We'll also stress basic etiquette more, but that works both ways. If you don't want to be featured, just tell them up front. They're people, you know. We might also ask camera crews to come in costume. That way they'll blend in with the scene - gain more acceptance, get better stories and have more fun. We might make an exception for on-camera announcers, but for them I fancy we could make a costume - maybe just the front half of a suit. These guys never seem to turn around, so who's to know the difference?

DVR: Do you have any last thoughts on this subject?

LH: Just one. I have a personal reason for allowing camera crews to come.

DVR: Fame?

LH: Well, that's a whole other interview. No, I meant that as an organizer I have very little time to see what really happens. As an engineer of other people's experience, I need to imagine things I haven't actually participated in. I depend on these images.

DVR: One of those professional ironies, huh?

LH: I'm working on it.

Larry Harvey is the founder and director of Burning Man.

Darryl Van Rhey is a freelance writer residing in San Francisco.

#1998 Burn #Burning Man 1998 #1998 #Darryl Van Rhey #the media