probably time for this story i guess but when i was a kid there was a summer that my brother was really into making smoothies and milkshakes. part of this was that we didn't have AC and couldn't afford to run fans all day so it was kind of important to get good at making Cool Down Concoctions.
we also had a patch of mint, and he had two impressionable little sisters who had the attitude of "fuck it, might as well."
at one point, for fun, this 16 year old boy with a dream in his eye and scientific fervor in heart just wanted to see how far one could push the idea of "vanilla mint smoothie". how much vanilla extract and how much mint can go into a blender before it truly is inedible.
the answer is 3 cups of vanilla extract, 1/2 cup milk alternative, and about 50 sprigs (not leaves, whole spring) of mint. add ice and the courage of a child. idk, it was summer and we were bored.
the word i would use to describe the feeling of drinking it would maybe be "violent" or perhaps, like. "triangular." my nose felt pristine. inhaling following the first sip was like trying to sculpt a new face. i was ensconced in a mesh of horror. it was something beyond taste. for years after, i assumed those commercials that said "this is how it feels to chew five gum" were referencing the exact experience of this singular viscous smoothie.
what's worse is that we knew our mother would hate that we wasted so much vanilla extract. so we had to make it worth it. we had to actually finish the drink. it wasn't "wasting" it if we actually drank it, right? we huddled around outside in the blistering sun, gagging and passing around a single green potion, shivering with disgust. each sip was transcendent, but in a sort of non-euclidean way. i think this is where i lost my binary gender. it eroded certain parts of me in an acidic gut ecology collapse.
here's the thing about love and trust: the next day my brother made a different shake, and i drank it without complaint. it's been like 15 years. he's now a genuinely skilled cook. sometimes one of the three of us will fuck up in the kitchen or find something horrible or make a terrible smoothie mistake and then we pass it to each other, single potion bottle, and we say try it it's delicious. it always smells disgusting. and then, cerimonious, we drink it together. because that's what family does.
52K notes
·
View notes
There was this fic I read awhile back where I think Miranda owns a retreat and invites Andy to stay there, where feelings start happening. The twins show up a little later, I think. If I remember correctly, there's a spicy/romantic scene in the kitchen. Not that I think about it, there's a plot point where Andy's secretly a well-known artist and Miranda has a piece Andy painted hanging in the house without knowing it. Haven't actively read these two in ages, but having the urge to read a little Mirandy, and not sure that I ever finished reading that one. Any ideas? Either way, thanks for running this tumblr! It's been a great resource, and one of the reason I started thinking of Mirandy again :)
(・・?)
13 notes
·
View notes
"now ask about ness for an equally long essay" formally requesting the essay ^__^ unless other people got the same idea to ask about him and in which case go with any other main character you feel like doing (although the more obscure ones have been fun to read/think about)!
Woo, Ness the Bess, let's go!! (Nope, no other Ness requests yet!)
Unfortunately, now I am faced with a new problem: I have TOO much material to work with! (Ness's section alone on my headcanons doc is 5 pages, 12px Times New Roman, Double Spaced.)
But you know what? I’ll just pick the one I can elaborate on the most. It also goes into a larger theory of mine, so here goes: this one's about Ness's homesickness status effects, a few other things, and the implications this has on how PSI works as a whole.
Here's the original snippet from my doc:
"Explaining his homesickness status, [Ness] has a tendency to become overwhelmed under stress, which can either weaken, disable, or throw his powers completely out of his control to spark out randomly by his emotional state. Remembering home is just the most common manifestation of what his brain will try to calm him down with but, ironically, this tends to just make the problem worse due to his sentimentality."
I’ll elaborate upon this because I think it has more to be said.
PSI is clearly heavily linked to its user’s emotions. For one, the magic butterfly that restores it is stated to “make Ness and his friends relax”. This implies that a calm mind is required to use psychic moves. Not only that, but there is also the “Can’t Concentrate” status condition, which, guess what? Disables psychic moves. These combined with the fact that things like homesickness can cause missed attacks show that, yes, emotional state absolutely has an effect on the moves. If you are not stable enough, they simply will not work.
Look at Giygas (corrupted form), for example, who clearly is not controlling any of those moves you cannot comprehend the true form of. They seem almost random and for his clear chaotic state of disarray, it makes sense that the attacks become just as random.
So emotional disarray can either disable your powers, make you use them less efficiently, or throw them at random it seems.
Now, most of the time, Ness is a pretty jolly kid, but you know he is absolutely emotionally driven by his family (has to call both his mom and his dad to do well). And something interesting about the homesickness status, is that it’s only relevant in the middle of the game. See, I’m copy-pasting but the stats on that are as follows:
Level 1-15: 0/256
Level 16-30: 3/256
Level 31-75: 2/256
Level 76-99: 0/256
Here’s what I think is happening here…
At first, he’s very close to home, so no problem! He’s just like, “Yay! Adventure! :D :D”
But once he’s out of Onett, then he starts thinking, “Am I out of my mind? Is this too far? What if?” And it’s clear he thinks these things too if not evidently clear by Lumine Hall’s dialogue. He clearly puts a lot of pressure on himself to keep the others safe at a certain point where it is no longer just fun and games until he has actually and literally fought his inner doubts in Magicant and returns sure of himself and brave (aka. the Lv. 76-99 range).
So yeah, that’s what I think! Ness was not always the best with his powers because he channelled his sentimentality in the wrong way. It’s not that he couldn’t be sentimental, being sweet is part of his character! Look at his Magicant and he’s clearly still trying to justify Porky no matter all he’s done. He has so much optimism in the world, yet doubts in himself, ironically. He seems like the type to mask these doubts in his humor but if becomes too large, he simply cannot bottle it further. It’s just that he had to learn to believe in himself to be able to calm his nerves from the inside.
PSI users also accidentally using PSI under emotional distress is also great for angst. Just imagine one of them clearly trying to hide they feel scared or something but little flecks of colors are just sparking off of them, making it clear to their friends that something’s wrong but they don’t know what? Oh, that’s good for the angst. I could say something really heartbreaking about Claus now. But I won’t! Cause this ain’t about him!
But anyway, there’s your PSI/Ness’s homesickness essay! Hope that was essay-y enough for you! Thanks for asking!
21 notes
·
View notes