#(which solved several problems btw.)

[azems-familiar]

Not me seeing your latest reblog and going 'okay before I rb this myself' *puts on Lelesu fan hat and waves Lelesu flags and hollers from the sidelines everytime she appears in a fic* (I have a Corrain set too dw)

i appreciate that a lot!! really, i do. and i do, logically, know that the people who care about the stories i craft do like her; however, when i used to try harder to ingratiate myself in the established ffxiv community here on tumblr, i found that she got very overlooked - and i'm pretty sure that's because of a mix of reasons including her being a lalafell, in a straight-passing relationship, and having "boring" ship stuff going on. (the reason i say this is from observing various fandom trends, and also from experiences i've had with other ocs of mine in other fandoms, the things that tended to make people appreciate them vs not appreciate them.) and the other stuff i mentioned in the tags just kind of combines with that, and that plus my "controversial" opinions about parts of the msq and certain characters (yes i'm talking about the ancients/ascians/hydaelyn here) leaves me feeling kind of isolated from much in the way of community.

and like, it is what it is, of course. i've made some really good friends here who i'm super grateful to have! but the thoughts stick around.

[littlestpersimmon]

Guy with cataracts and scarred from an explosion has a fail toymaking shop in front of a rundown temple and he has a crush on a disfigured lowly priestess whom he suspects is a stealth trans guy because she always picks the boy option when they play board games (he’s right btw)

He's from Kalantiaw, but his mom is diaspora, and I thought her to be half "Japanese" (coded) - still trying to figure out how japanese ethnicities come to play.

She was a sailor turned pirate. She didn't know the language spoken in Kalantiaw (more akin to Khmer), and she spoke a different language (more austronesian), and she named him Kahilingan, which means "wish". But in Kalantiaw, where she settled, his name means "curse" or "bad omen" 💀 it doesn't help that her life ended with the beginning of his. So.

Kahi spends much of his life chasing the image of his mom and trying to.... live up to her- because sailing is the most esteemed occupation in their world. Only very very very very very few people have managed to work on "dragonships".

Basically, their world is physically broken (like living on an asteroid belt) and they sail to and fro each sundering / country on specialized stone ships called "dragonships" / "bakunawa"- and the ships themselves are semi-alive? They're like.. Stone ships laminated with the spirits of devas and dragons and other great beings who have all died because of (redacted).

Anyway, his mom, Maaya, was a renowned sailor- she tamed a dragonship that was imbued with an infamously wild dragon called Duksa- Dragonships are Sponsored, but those who sponsor the ships are almost never in command, and they also easily lose ownership to their hired captains- because the ships themselves are sentient, and they never obey anyone who they deem are incapable of commanding them. Only Maaya could control Duksa hehe. So she became known throughout all their world as this wild woman who loved fast boats and only accepted voyage commissions "if they are very fun". Anyways blah blah blah she fell in love w Kahi's other parent (who is nonbinary) and she got pregnet with him. And they eventually settled in Kalantiaw, in it's countryside near the subterranean capital (Kamharik).

Kahi always annoyed his other parent abt his mom because he too wanted to meet Duksa, but his parent kept warning him not to go near the ship because after Maaya died, it went even more mad with grief. Kahi more of an engineer than a captain like his mom, but his goal was simply to acquaintance with Duksa rather than actually captain her. But Duksa did not accept anyone, not even anyone who was part of Maaya's original crew.. Kahi went to an apprenticeship on shipbuilding-

he became somewhat popular for being clever with his hands, and all around Kalantiaw, everyone thought of him as reliable and very creative when it came to problem solving. So he went from normal ships to fixing dragonships.. ..

The Greatest dragonships are ones that are imbued with the spirits of actual ancient dragons and qilin, bc some are imbued with "lesser" dragons or false dragons, and some are with non-dragon albeit great spirits- like minor gods, wind spirits, phoenix,naga, etc etc..

Duksa was a true and great dragon, and Kahi knew that she was suffering from severe neglect, so all he wanted was to patch her up-

Everyone, every single one of Kahi's peers discouraged him, bc it is known that anyone who even approaches her is immediately kilIed by her; but Kahi, he is different. When he approaches Duksa, she was a shadow of herself, a ghost ship- She senses Maaya, and she even thought that Kahi was her at first- so she lets Kahi patch her big crabclaw sails, fixed her boilers and really tried to replicate how she used to look when Maaya lived.. and Duksa didn't know it wasn't her, because her eyes were covered in barnacles.. The "eyes" of a dragonship is its lodestar, and Kahi was purposefully saving it for last because he is frightened of what Duksa could do to him;;

But before that, Duksa spoke to him, joked like "ah beauty, what happened to you?! Your voice sounds like you swallowed a frog.. are you ill? Why did you abandon me?" Fhjsjs

"Why are your hands so gentle now? I want you to be rough!! Stop this at once! I am not old!"

But when Kahi started scraping finally at the lodestar, and he opened Duksa's eyes to the world once more, she cried in great anger because who tf was this intruder! And why did he carry Maaya's spirit with him !!!

Her entire deck creaked so hard the floorboards broke again, and she swayed her whole body so Kahi nearly fell from the lodestar;; he tried to reason with her, and it sort of mirrors how his mom tamed Duksa. She barrelled in head on and confidently, but Kahi was meek and gentle.

Eitherway.. an angry dragonship is like highly radioactive, its like being in a storm in a contained environment, and she started puffing steam- it's like microdosing being in fukushima; And she called Kahi a fool, he'll never measure up to Maaya, he will never be her- aaaah, but she didn't kiIl him. Maybe because she knew he was Maaya's boy. She warned him never to return, and tossed him into the open shallows. So, he was absolutely brokenhearted. He was 19.

~intense lonely lovestory between him and a closeted trans guy raised by mean transphobic priestesses in a cult the antithesis of a loving and wise lesbian death goddess occurs.~

There she is.. her name is Viharana Magayarin

Names-

Maaya's name is spelled a certain way in kanji, I want it to mean "True"

Duksa's name is Tagalog, it means "grief"

Kahilingan's name is tagalog- and it means "wish". Inspired from.. in tagalog, "curse" is a contronym of sorts- "curse" and "promise" is the same word ("sumpa")

Kahi's trans boyfriend's name is Tala, and it means "star" 😌

[am-i-interrupting]

Hello! couldI ask for a headcanon on Rosies, Alastors, Husk, Lucifers, Vaggies, Lutes, Vox's, and velvettes(all separate) reactions to Getting in an argument with the reader(whom they're in a relationship with)

Reader leaves to clear their head for a bit but doesn't return.

About a week later, they find they the reader, bleeding in an alley.

big fan of your work btw, sorry if my request was to complex but thank you for at least reading it.

have a lovely day!

Alastor

Alastor knows he can be an infuriating person to argue with.

He will just continue to smile and speak in a steady tone, as if he’s unaffected even if that’s anything but true.

You don’t get into fights often but when you do, it’s not unusual for you to leave to clear your head.

Normally you’re back the next day. By day two he was concerned. Day three he was worried.

He sent his shadows out to find you.

As soon as one of them saw someone who even resembled you in the slightest, he appeared there even if you weren’t.

When he found you wounded, he was furious.

Not at you, but the person who dared touch you.

His anger nearly consumed him but he pushed it to the side in order to tend to your wounds.

You appeared in his radio tower where he quickly patched you up.

His touches were quick, a bit painful, and precise.

But he got you patched quickly and efficiently.

The argument you had was quickly put aside in favor of the more pressing matter, finding his next guest for his show.

Husk

He’s a pretty reasonable guy most of the time. It takes something pretty big in order for either of you to yell much less storm out.

When Husk woke up with a hangover and you no where to be seen, he cursed himself as he remembered what he’d tried to forget.

He sent you a message, just asking if you were okay.

He followed it up the next day by calling and leaving you a voicemail. He explained that you could take as much time as you needed but please, just let him know you’re okay.

It was Charlie who found you, the princess far more willing to take action than he was. Too afraid of pushing your boundaries himself even if he was worried.

He immediately went into assistant mode as Niffty went into mini-nurse mode.

When you were stable, he took you up to your room and tucked you in bed.

“Don’t worry ‘bout the argument, baby. We can talk about it later.”

He kissed your forehead and laid beside you in bed, hand on your pulse.

Lucifer

He’s not a fighter. He’s an avoider.

He’s not even really conscious of the fact that he does it. He just isolates.

That’s probably what caused the disagreement in the first place.

When he found you, immediately in panic mode.

Just wants to make sure you’re okay.

Being the first Angel cast out of heaven, he knew how to tend to wounds and quickly attended to yours.

Stroking your hair the entire time, just begging you don’t leave him.

Lute

Lute can be stubbornly loyal and it was probably something to do with work or Adam that caused the fight.

Whatever, go ahead. Leave. It’s not like she cares.

She lies to herself so well she believes it until she finds you bleeding.

Which, what the fuck? You weren’t in Hell. These things didn’t happen.

She doesn’t know how to take care of wounds. She doesn’t know what she’s doing. She’s never seen someone bleed.

She takes you to Emily. Reluctantly.

Emily doesn’t really know what she’s doing but she quickly gets in contact with people who do, being so well contacted to the winners.

She is by your side, fight entirely forgotten, the entire time.

Will actually punch Adam if he says something about her going soft.

Rosie

Rosie is a problem solver.

That’s what she does.

She actually takes off work to try to figure out how to solve your problems and brain storm.

It’s only when she’s figured out several solutions she thinks will work that she tries to find you.

When she does, oh is she absolutely pissed.

But first, she’s stitching you up.

Very gentle but very honest.

A lot of “this’ll hurt” might give you something to bite on.

Will go out and find the poor soul who did this to you and serve their bloody heart on a silver platter to you.

Vaggie

She immediately goes into work mode.

She just overworks herself. She doesn’t know what to so she just tries to be useful.

When she finds you she feels her stomach turn and heart drop. Immediately yells for Charlie to get help as she bursts through the Hotel doors carrying you.

She’s holding your hand the entire time muttering how sorry she is.

She’ll pull you into her lap and stroke your hair.

Her hand will end up resting atop your pulse as she gets sleep for the first time since you left.

If you so much as breathe wrong, she’s calling for someone more experienced to check on you.

Velvette

Velvette’s a ruthless person to get in an argument with.

It’s not surprising when you leave and don’t come back.

She’ll act like she’s not worried but secretly is.

When she finds you, she’s swearing up and down and she scoops you up.

She basically dumps you with Vox. Trusting him to get you to stop bleeding and you to pull yourself together in the end.

She’s going on a hunt.

She comes back bloodied and with a mania in her eyes that is rarely seen.

You don’t leave her side for a while.

Vox

Vox has eyes everywhere.

He’s keeping one on you at all times.

He doesn’t need to find you even when you storm out because he always knows where you are.

You need time away from him? That’s fine. He’s watching you the entire time though.

You don’t even get the chance to start bleeding anything severe because as soon as you get nicked, he’s there.

The soul who dared to hurt you is electrocuted and fried before you even realize it’s Vox who entered the scene.

“Hot as it is watching you fight, I do hate to see you hurt.”

He stroked right beneath the place where you were cut, smearing the blood.

[tothepointofinsanity]

Is there any actual way for sayaka to grow as a magical girl while still keeping her mental composure ... Even her abilities encourage her to act recklessly. Sayaka's peak state would probably just be her tanking every attack with her healing while constantly being in a state of dissociation to block the pain. Unless her pain tolerance starts growing the more she fights until only severe injuries actually impact her. Still, it's unfair :c

(love your art and how you interpret her btw!)

Hello, firstly, thank you for the kind words of support and assurance ^_^ And thank you for taking your time out to write this letter to me.

Second, to address the question, I think that the phrase “grow as a magical girl” and “keeping her mental composure” are two separate but intersecting issues. The issue perpetuated by being a magical girl in MadoMagi is that it is rather systemic. Putting aside the blessings granted by the Law of Cycles, magical girls grow in experience, but not necessarily in their strength or invincibility (i.e Homura rewinding time made her more familiar with fighting, but it didn’t make her powerful enough to take down Walpurgisnacht, rather, she set off different timelines that contributed to Madoka’s power[1]). Sure, running around fighting witches makes you more athletic, but that isn’t tied to how much magic you can or know how to use, due to how each magical girl’s powers (the elusive nature of magic itself) are tied to the nature of their wishes, so most of that potential power rests on pre-contract. The most upward growth we observe in magical girls terms of their proficiency is mostly reliant on how good they are at fighting each other, how quickly they dispatch witches, and how effectively they polish their soul gems.

Addressing that alone already lands Sayaka in an unpleasant spot. Using magic automatically clouds your soul gem overtime, requiring you to clean it using a grief seed. However, Sayaka obviously views grief seeds as a product born from exploiting innocents and thus rejects their usage, but the magic system is uncompromising — you have to clean your soul gem in order to use magic more effectively again, as well as having the taint absorbed away by the grief seed. This magic system generally corners magical girls to constantly witch-farm (depleting even more magic) or risk the end of their life cycle and begin as witches themselves, so it is the system itself that is exploitative regardless of how much Sayaka adjusts her mentality.

Sayaka is most effective when she turns her mind off and just goes against the river like some kind of machine, but that would still accelerate her despair and doesn’t remove the mechanism that she has to clean her soul gem, something she refused to do. Disassociating throughout the whole day to ignore the other problems simmering around her would still compound her down the line, as we’ve seen in the episodes. In fact, things went from Bad to Worse after she started disassociating more frequently. ＿|￣|○

In a way, it’s just reshuffling the equation instead of solving it, because she was never meant to grow in spite of learning to gather her strength. Not until a new component is added to the equation that allowed this, which is thematic to the overwhelmingly bleak outlook of the show’s set-up and how to go about from there.

[1] As a side note, I do wonder in some way if all that dial-back by Homura with Sayaka’s grief scattered in these timelines ultimately leaked into the present one to take her out as soon as possible since it would be a kind of negative debt parallel to Madoka’s, which tightens her fate more and more because her self-destruction has occurred so many times that it’s etched into her “destiny”. Narratively Assured.

And you’re right, her abilities do allow for riskier combat styles compared to other magical girls. When fighting Holy Mami, she doesn’t even flinch at the fact that she’s holding back a nuclear blast because her hand regenerates the second it becomes loose from her arm. She’s a berserker fighter for sure, but without a strong support, she goes down very quickly.

[1moreff-creator]

Okay listen, listen. Eden's Garden CH1 was great and I loved it and I'll make a more detailed analysis post about it at some point. And Eva in particular is fantastic and my favorite character. There's just- There's just a little, little issue I have with her FTEs, and if I don't talk about it I'm gonna explode. 

Spoilers for P:EG CH1 and Eva's FTEs.

CW: I am about to be a Massive Fucking Nerd on main.

This post was originally going to be about how Eva's papers, the way she describes them, sound like they kinda suck. But then I realized that the way she describes the Riemann zeta function… is just wrong???? Like, it doesn't converge to- EVA WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SAYING?!?!?!?!

Like, look, I don't think "Eva sucks at writing papers actually” is the conclusion I'm meant to reach after doing her FTEs. I'm also pretty sure the mistakes she makes when describing the Riemann zeta function (henceforth "zeta function” for brevity) are just mistakes on the writers’ part, which is fine because that thing is very confusing. 

And to be clear, Eva being bad at writing papers doesn't mean she's actually bad at science. I mean, she apparently solved the goddamn Riemann Hypothesis, and doesn't even think it's that big a deal!

Eva, sad [3rd FTE]: They'll put it on my gravestone: here lies the girl who could barely solve Riemann's stupid hypothesis. 

(Thank you Ani from youtube for uploading these things it makes citation so much easier <3)

Girliepop if I solved a problem that's stumped mathematicians for over a hundred years (which carries a million dollar prize btw), you bet your fucking ass I want that on my gravestone! And look, I know that this is not necessarily due to her doing more impressive stuff in mathematics. That it's more so because she's internalized what other people think about her skills, and since a lot of people erroneously believe math is uncool she doesn't think this is as big a deal as it is. But the fact that she managed to solve this thing at all, not to mention at eighteen years old, already puts her in contention for best mathematician of the damn century. And that's incredible, because math is badass. 

In short, Eva's cool and a great mathematician. But the way she talks about her other work, the papers she wishes got more recognition, makes me really doubt her actual skill as a writer of these papers. Let me explain. 

There are three papers Eva mentions writing, or thinking about writing, across her FTEs. One about literature, another about lightspeed travel, and one about the Riemann zeta function. 

Eva [1st FTE]: Earlier this year, I wrote a whole paper on an obscure subgenre of Western speculative fiction… I spent weeks on it, expecting it to receive a lot of attention from literary critics…

Eva [1st FTE]: I could write a research paper on the theoretical possibility of lightspeed travel, but no one would care, because…

Eva [4th FTE]: …I wrote a paper about how you can use tabletop gaming to understand [the Riemann zeta function].

Now, I can't say anything about the literature paper, because she gives no details on it. I also don't know enough about literature to know how long it usually takes to write papers on it, so I'll take her word for it that working for weeks on it is notable. 

For the hypothetical paper about the "theoretical possibility of lightspeed travel", I have my doubts, but she also doesn't give enough details about what that paper would entail for me to definitively say anything about it. We'll get back to this one, though.

Meanwhile, the paper she gives the most details on is the Riemann zeta function one, and… yeah that one's trash. 

There’s two reasons I say that. One is the technical issue with the description she gives, which basically boils down to “there’s severe inaccuracies in her explanation and also she just straight up gets some things wrong,” and is extremely nerdy and math heavy to explain; and the other is a much more fundamental problem with the very thesis of the paper, which doesn’t require math to explain, but I’ll leave for later. 

I’ll start with the technical side and the things she gets wrong about the zeta function. I’ll try to make this accessible for non-math nerds, but fair warning, this is pretty difficult math so I can only do so much. That includes keeping to the tabletop analogy Eva used in the spirit of the thing. 

By the way, take everything I'm about to say with a grain of salt. I'm a third year Physics major, so while I know way more math than the average person, I am by no means an expert. I am liable to get things wrong. In fact, I actually didn't know anything about the zeta function or the Riemann hypothesis before seeing these FTEs, I just researched them because I got curious about the Riemann hypothesis after seeing it show up in not one, but two fangans I've seen (it has a cameo in DR Despair Time if you're curious). However, even though I'm not an expert, I think I know enough to definitively say Eva's very wrong about a few things.

Lots of math incoming, TL;DR after the next red title

As a refresher, this is a paraphrased version of what she explains.

Eva (Paraphrased) [4th FTE]: Take 1, ½, ⅓, ¼, and so on for infinity, and pretend they are characters in a tabletop game (TTG). An enemy casts a status effect on your denominators so that they are all raised to the power of p, where the value of p is decided by dice roll. Now your characters are 1, 1/2ˆp, 1/3ˆp, etc. For your turn, you add all of your characters together, and that’s the zeta function ζ(p) = 1 + 1/2ˆp + 1/3ˆp + ... What is the value of ζ(p)?

This is good, that sum is indeed the first way to define the zeta function (more on that later), so it's correct. However, she then makes two statements. 

Statement 1: If p is higher than 1, then you get a whole number; a number without decimals. ( ζ(p) = a whole number). Statement 2: If p is lower than 1, then you get 0, “an infinite amount of zeroes.” ( ζ(p) = 0).

(You’ll notice I put that last thing in quotes. I’ll get back to it)

Now, I’m going to ignore a few minor inaccuracies which Eva likely makes to simplify the concepts, because they’re not too important. For example; you can’t “add” infinite numbers, that’s not a thing. An infinite series can converge, which is slightly different from arithmetic addition. However, the two things are close enough that, for most people, the distinction doesn’t really matter. In other words, I’m fine with her saying she’s adding infinite numbers together, and similar claims. 

There's one inaccuracy I can’t gloss over, though; Eva never tells Damon which dice is rolled to determine the value of p. In math terms, she never tells him the domain of the function (the domain of a function, btw, is the set of values for which the function is defined). Are the values p can take real or complex? Can it be any real/complex, or are there restrictions? 

For the unaware, since this is gonna come up, I’ll define a complex number using the TTG analogy. A complex number is a special character born by adding together a real number "r" (one of the numbers you’re all familiar with), and another real number "b" equipped with (math: multiplied by) the Epic Tier item known as the imaginary unit “i”. This Epic item has the property that iˆ2 = -1. So basically a complex number "z" is one where

z = r + bi

where r,b are real and i is the imaginary unit. "r" is known as the real component, and "b" is the imaginary component.

(Note: All real numbers are complex numbers where b=0, but not all complex numbers are real)

In case you’re curious, these things are used in several fields, such as the study of electrical circuits with alternating current, and they appear in relation to the Schrödinger equation- I’m getting off track.

So, what dice does Eva want the opponent to roll to define p? Well, she never says it, but we can infer. She says that p can be “higher than 1,” and that clues us in that she’s probably rolling the dice of real numbers. After all, there’s no universally agreed upon definition of what it means for a complex number to be “higher than” another complex number. Meanwhile, she doesn’t mention any restrictions on what value p can take, so it’s safe to say she’s implying that p can be any real number higher than or lower than 1, aka any real number except maybe 1. Now, the zeta function doesn’t actually have that domain, but we’ll get to that.

For now, let’s analyze her statements assuming p is any real number other than 1. Let’s take a look at the first one. 

Statement 1: If p is higher than 1, then ζ(p) is a whole number; a number without decimals. 

This is wrong. Just so we’re clear, I could probably prove, with my somewhat limited math knowledge, that this statement can only work if the domain is more restrictive than “all real numbers other than 1” as described previously. It'd have to be defined only in whole numbers, for example.

However, I don’t need to. One of the first lines in the Wikipedia page of the zeta function says that ζ(3) (which is the value you get after “adding all your characters” when p = 3) is an irrational number. That is, among other properties, a number with infinite decimals. Eva could not be more wrong if she tried. 

(Btw, yes I'm using Wikipedia as my only source. Not particularly rigorous research on my part, but this is a silly Tumblr post about funny killing game, there's a limit to my insanity)

I don’t even know how this happened, btw. It’s pretty clear this is a goof on the devs’ side (perfectly understandable btw, it took me several reads of the Wikipedia pages for both the zeta function and the Riemann hypothesis to even get them enough to write this post, and as stated I study a lot of math for my career), but I genuinely don’t know where they got the idea from. There’s nothing I could find about whole numbers in relation to the zeta function. There’s connections to prime numbers, which are all whole, but the series doesn't converge to them, the connection is a bit weirder than that. There's also some stuff Euler found about it converging to rational numbers for negative integers, but again, not whole numbers, and not even for real values above 1. So, yeah, no clue.

Anyways, what about the other statement?

Statement 2: If p is lower than 1, then you get 0, “an infinite amount of zeroes.”

This is also obviously wrong. In fact, reader! Can you think of a counterexample which is immediately obvious if you think about it for two seconds? A real number p lower than 1 such that ζ(p) isn't 0?

If you said “zero, because zero always breaks everything in very obvious ways,” you have good intuition! You could have also picked any other real number lower than 1, but those are less obvious.

For 0, the reason it’s so apparent is that any number raised to the power of zero is just 1, so 1 + 1/2ˆ0 + 1/3ˆ0 + … just turns into 1 + 1 + 1 + … and so on for infinity. Very obviously, the series diverges, it “goes to infinity.” This is very different from converging to 0.

And just so we’re clear, the series also diverges for any real value of p lower than 1, though I’ll leave proving that one as an exercise to the reader, with the help that I’ll tell you the infinite series 1 + ½ + ⅓ + ¼ + … also goes to infinity. Again, Eva could not be more wrong if she tried. 

So, what went wrong here? Turns out, the way Eva defined the zeta function as an infinite series (a "sum of infinite numbers”) only works when p is a complex number with a real component higher than 1. That’s why it was important for her to say what dice we were rolling to determine p, what the domain of the function defined by the series is. For other numbers, you need to define zeta in different ways.

And what happened to the whole “infinite zeroes” thing? Well, you see, I have a theory. I think the devs must have read that the zeta function had “an infinite amount of zeroes for values of p with a real component lower than 1” (which is true, but doesn’t mean what they think it means), and misinterpreted from there. Fair mistake. I kinda wanna correct it using the TTG analogy, but I’ll leave that for the end of the post because it’s gonna derail the entire thing.

(I got carried away and explained everything I understood about the Riemann zeta function oops)

What you need to know for now; you can do some math tricks to define the zeta function outside of the infinite series Eva described, though a lot of those tricks are way above my pay grade. That way, you can evaluate the function for any complex value of p other than 1. In other words, you can roll different die for p, but it requires redefining what you're doing with that p.

Turns out, in doing that, some funky shit happens, and any time p equals -2n for any n which is a natural number (that is, p = -2 or -4 or -6 or -8, etc.), the zeta function will go to zero. Those values of p are known as the “trivial zeroes” of the function, and are obviously infinite in number. However, note that these trivial zeroes are exclusively negative even integers; there are plenty of real values of p lower than 1 for which the zeta function is not zero, so Eva still isn’t correct at all.

Though, to be clear, there are also zeroes of the function other than the trivial ones. This is actually where the Riemann hypothesis comes in. The hypothesis is that any non-trivial zero of the zeta function has a real component of exactly ½, with the only difference between them being the imaginary component (if you didn't follow, again, more detailed explanation at the bottom of the post). This (in our world) has not been definitively proven to work for every non-trivial zero, though it does work for the first several trillion. 

Absurdly nerdy math rant over

So TL;DR, Eva made some pretty big mistakes when talking about the convergence of the zeta function, mainly stemming from not properly defining its domain, but also just straight up getting the convergence wrong. It doesn’t converge exclusively to whole numbers for real numbers above 1, and has to be defined in a different way for real values below 1, not to mention that she never brings up the full function is actually defined for complex numbers other than 1. 

Obviously, this all likely stems from the creators not actually understanding the zeta function themselves, which is pretty funny.

But you wanna know what the bigger issue is? That even if Eva had properly explained the zeta function, her paper would still suck ass. Because there’s a much bigger, more fundamental issue with the very thesis it upholds.

I want you to take a step back. Really look past the complex math and weird terms and the contrast between the very serious sounding Riemann zeta function and the somewhat silly concept of a TTG… 

And realize that the thesis of the paper Eva describes is “analogies exist.”

She can frame it however she likes, but ultimately, that’s what the point of the paper was. Eva, where the hell did you even get this published? In fact, I think it’s silly for you to say that it’d have been better received if your talent was different, because without it, I don’t see a world where this shit could even be submitted to any journal with even a modicum of self respect!

And look, she’s not wrong. I get her point, that mathematicians often don’t put in enough effort to communicate their work to the layman, and would benefit from explaining things in more creative ways. That’s cool. But that’s the kind of thing you would write for, like, an article or something.

But a paper is specifically meant for research. Calling this thing a paper almost feels insulting to mathematicians. Like the concept of using analogies to explain math is an unprecedented discovery that required actual research to figure out. Unless this paper was also the one where Eva solved the Riemann hypothesis (which God I hope that was a different paper), there's no new information being presented here. It's at best a personal opinion piece, which is not what scientific papers are for. 

Am I silly for getting hung up on the wording of this being described as a paper instead of an article or opinion piece or whatever? Well, this entire post is silly, but I don't think it's because of that, because words mean things. And a scientific paper carries certain connotations that do not align with what Eva describes.

And this little issue casts doubt in her general skill as a paper writer. That's why I'm a bit skeptical about the paper she mentions about the "theoretical possibility of lightspeed travel.” Because, quite frankly, that paper topic sounds… meaningless? Like a bunch of technobabble?

Like, what exactly are you discussing about lightspeed travel? In fact, what are you actually referring to when you say "lightspeed travel"? Matter approaching lightspeed, or reaching or even exceeding lightspeed? The latter two are impossible according to current scientific consensus, btw. Or is she discussing a particular trick to get something from point A to point B in less time than it would take for light to cover that distance? There are papers discussing stuff like that, even if all the mechanisms are also thought to be impossible by consensus. And regardless of what she means by "lightspeed travel", what does she mean "theoretical possibility” of it? Like, genuinely, I have no clue. Is she speculating on whether or not it's possible? Is she speculating on the properties such travel would have? Is she proposing a theoretical method to do it? Is she doing something else entirely? The premise of the paper is too vague, is my point. 

This worries me because… well, to put it bluntly, experts in related fields (such as mathematics) attempting to make cool sounding physics theories (such as a paper on the "theoretical possibility of lightspeed travel", whatever that means) which are completely wrong and nonsensical is a real, observable phenomenon in our world. Check out Angela Collier's "physics crackpots: a 'theory’” to find out more. And also check out the rest of her youtube channel it's great.

What Eva is doing with that paper honestly sounds remarkably close to what Angela describes there. In fact, let's check out whether or not Eva's hypothetical paper fits any of the four points Angela brings up to spot a crackpot theory.

1. “Addresses THE BIGGEST PROBLEMS in physics.”

By this, Angela means that the theory addresses a problem or topic that anyone with a passing interest in physics knows is a big deal. Things like dark matter, gravity, black holes, and yes, "lightspeed travel.” You're not going to see anyone with a crackpot theory on the equation of state of real gases or Eddy currents, because by the point you know what those things are in enough depth to be interested in them, you probably also know enough to determine what a good physics theory is and what isn't. Eva's paper fits this point, but that doesn't necessarily mean Eva is a crackpot physicist, right? 

2 and 4. “Lacking mathematical rigor, experimental data, etc.” and “They are not physics theories”

I grouped these two because it's impossible for me to know whether Eva's paper would actually fit these points or not. She doesn't give enough details for me to say. I can tell you for sure it's not gonna have experimental data, but since it's theoretical physics, that's fine. So, we can maybe give her the benefit of the doubt? As long as she doesn't fit the last point too well maybe-

3. “Respond with anger, claim physics establishment has blacklisted them, cite Galileo/Einstein/etc."

Oh no. 

Eva [1st FTE]: I could write a research paper on the theoretical possibility of lightspeed travel, but no one would care…

Oh no chat. She might actually be a crackpot physicist. 

It doesn't help that her mentality in general is actually very in line with the mentality described in the Angela video mentioned above. That because she's a smart person (which she is; again, solved the damn Riemann hypothesis), she should be able to easily become recognized and respectable in any field she takes interest in. But that isn't how the world works. There's a reason people spend years of their life studying literature, physics, or mathematics, just to truly get a grasp of each discipline individually. 

Ok, but, like, what's my point? Am I going to include her misunderstanding of the zeta function and the possibility of her being a "crackpot physicist” in any character analysis? No, of course not. You're very clearly meant to think Eva is genuinely skilled in every field she approaches, because this is a fangan and Ultimates can bend the limits of humanity to fit a narrative. I'm perfectly willing to accept that Eva solved the Riemann hypothesis, as you've seen throughout this post, even though I'd be highly skeptical of anyone making that same claim in the real world, "Ultimate” or not. The same way I'd accept that a fictional character of any kind could manage to accelerate a particle to exactly lightspeed, even though I'd immediately call bullshit if someone claimed to do it in real life. The standard for believability is different for fictional characters than real people, basically.

Really, when you boil it down, I only take issue with the things Eva says because I'm genuinely passionate about the topics she mentions, and because she gives enough details about her work for me to see the cracks in the writers’ knowledge of them. I'm assuming this is a common issue with any fangan that tries to really explain what being an "Ultimate” in a particular field entails, because no one is actually well versed enough in sixteen different talents to actually say that for sure. That's why Eva off-handedly mentioning that she solved the Riemann hypothesis is much more effective as a way to establish her skill than trying and failing to get her to actually explain the zeta function. 

All in all, this is just a purely self-indulgent post for me to vent about issues I have with the way the writers tried to convey Eva's expertise. Feel free to completely ignore this for character analysis, because I sure will. I just needed to talk about it because I would explode if I didn't. Anyways, hope you enjoyed! If you made it this far, you deserve a function named specifically after you! See y-!

Oh right I almost forgot.

My Own Explanation of the Riemann Zeta Function Using the TTG Analogy

(Explained by someone with little more than Wikipedia access, take all this with a grain of salt)

Think of finding the zeroes of a function as a boss fight. You go up to them, and you cast a spell, generally in the form of a number, such that the function becomes zero when you cast it. For example, the Easy Function

f(x) = 2x - 6

can be defeated by casting “3”, since 2x3 - 6 = 0. 

Every function also has a “domain”, which is a set of spells you can actually cast against it. For example, since 1/0 is undefined, the Medium Function g(x) = 1/x has a domain of all complex numbers except 0. Casting 0 against g has no effect. You need a special spell, “limit when x tends to infinity” (or negative infinity) to defeat it.

The zeta function is a Legendary Boss, defined by the infinite series ζ(s) = 1 + 1/2^s +1/3^s + … 

(I changed p to s for a reason trust the process)

Many mathematicians had tried to defeat it before, but it seemed futile*. Its domain was thought to be all real numbers higher than 1 (they originally didn't think to use complex numbers against it), but no matter what number was picked, that first term was too powerful. Even casting “limit when s tends to infinity” only got zeta down to 1. Nothing in its domain seemed to work.

Until Riemann arrived. 

The zeta function chuckled, thinking this one to be like all the many others before him. But the legendary mage Riemann had many a trick the zeta function hadn't seen before. Tricks to make make the domain of the function larger, so that new Number Spells could be cast against it. Where everyone else had only ever attempted to cast real numbers against this boss, he wouldn't be satisfied with that. Without warning, he cast the first of many powerful spells needed to do what needed to be done.

"Domain Expansion; Proof of Complexity"

Since you already knew this part, I'll skip the proof, but basically, Reimann quickly showed that the infinite series which defined the zeta function for real numbers higher than one actually worked for any complex number with a real component higher than one.

The zeta function was impressed, but unconcerned. It knew damn well there was still no spell in this new domain which could possibly defeat it. "Nice try, but I'm not scared of some imaginary unit” it claimed. 

“I'm aware,” claimed Reimann. He raised his hands again, his mana swelling, and the zeta function frowned. “But you're mistaken if you think this is the end.”

Reimann looked at the Legendary Boss in front of him, and cast the following, powerful incantation, with the help of the runes described below. 

"Domain Expansion; Analytic Continuation"

To truly defeat the zeta function, one must understand the concept of an analytic continuation. This is where I falter, for I myself don’t understand what the fuck that is. However, what I've been able to gather is that the function 

𝜂(s) / (1 - 2/2ˆs) where 𝜂(s) = 1/1ˆs - 1/2ˆs + 1/3ˆs - …

is equal to the zeta function in the zeta function's domain, but is also defined outside of it. In particular, it's defined for any complex number with a positive real component, except for the points where

1 - 2/2ˆs = 0

(can't be dividing by zero after all!). That last thing excludes 1, for example.

Basically, think of the spell "Domain Expansion; Analytical Continuation” as a shapeshifting spell that transforms the zeta function from the previous definition:

ζ(s) = 1 + 1/2ˆs + 1/3ˆs + … for s complex numbers with a real component higher than 1.

to now being defined as:

ζ(s) = 𝜂(s) / (1 - 2/2ˆs) for the previously described new domain.

That way, its domain is expanded to include complex numbers with a real component between 0 and 1, aside from those where 2/2ˆs = 1.

But of course, Reimann wouldn't be satisfied with that. The next spell was simpler, but worthwhile nonetheless. 

"Domain Expansion; Limiting Singularity Removal"

See, turns out, all the points "z” where the analytic continuation was undefined, other than 1, where removable singularities (I think? I don't actually know much about complex functions :v), which means the spell "limit when s tends to z” returns a finite number l. That way, you can define ζ(z) = l for all of these removable singularities, expanding the domain of the zeta function to all complex numbers with a positive real component, other than 1.

Don't worry if you don’t know what a limit is or you didn't follow this part, it's not too important for this. After all, that last spell didn't worry the zeta function. What had truly taken it aback was the analytic continuation, which suddenly exposed a few weak spots of the zeta function to the world. Now, Reimann could defeat it once and for all, as long as he found the right spell in the new domain. 

However, the zeta function was a Legendary Boss for a reason. "Fancy tricks, but it won't be easy to find something to actually defeat me, you know,” it bluffed, hoping intimidation would work. Foolish hope.

"Oh, certainly,” Reimann agreed readily, smiling. The zeta function was confused for a moment, until it realized something horrifying. 

Reimann's mana was swelling again. He wasn't done. And for the first time since it's run-in with Euler all those years back, the zeta function felt true fear.

“It won't just be easy,” Reimann smirked. “It will be trivial.”

"Domain Expansion; Functional Equation"

This is another point where the math is beyond me, but I'll try to explain. Basically, Reimann proved that that equality up there holds true as long as s is a complex number with a real component strictly higher than 0 and strictly lower than 1.

However, you'll notice that if you take s as a complex number with a real component equal to or lower than 0 (other than 0 itself), then the right side of the equation is actually well defined, because 1 - s is a complex number with a positive real component (and not equal to 1 unless s is exactly 0), meaning ζ(1 - s) is well defined. You also don't run into issues with any of the other factors of that equation, including the Gamma function (𝚪). What that means is that this equation can be used to extend the zeta function's domain to all complex numbers other than 0 and 1. 

Think of this domain expansion as a shapeshifting curse. If you cast a complex number with a real component strictly higher than 0 (other than 1), then the zeta function defends by turning into either the analytic continuation from before:

ζ(s) = 𝜂(s) / (1 - 2/2ˆs)

or the limit for any values where 1 - 2/2ˆs.

Meanwhile, if you cast a number s with a real component equal to or lower than 0 (other than 0 itself), then the zeta function shapeshifts to be:

ζ(s) = 2ˆs 𝜋ˆ(s-1) sin(s𝜋/2) 𝚪(1-s) ζ(1-s)

The final step is yet another Domain Expansion; Limiting Singularity Removal on 0, where ζ(0) = -½. Again not really important for us. 

In any case, Riemann had done it. Five consecutive domain expansions, so that the zeta function's domain now included all complex numbers except 1. The zeta function was on its last legs, all that was needed was the final touch. For the inexperienced, you might think finding a zero would still be difficult, but the truly expert mages among you might have already noticed the weak spot in the functional equation. 

The sine function. A Common Enemy which goes to 0 whenever it's attacked by a whole number equipped with the Legendary Tier item 𝜋. And when a complex number with a negative real component is cast against the zeta function, sin(s𝜋/2) becomes one of the factors.

"You know what this means, don't you, zeta?” Riemann asked. And the zeta function couldn't muster a response before the legendary mage cast his final spell. "You lose.”

"Simple Spell; Negative Even Integer"

-2, -4, -8, etc. Any even integer s causes s/2 to be a whole number, so sin(s𝜋/2) goes to zero. And since it's multiplying everything else, the entire zeta function goes to zero. These negative even integers are known as the zeta function's "trivial zeroes", and because there are infinite negative even integers, it can be said that the zeta function has an infinite amount of zeroes.

However, just because the Riemann zeta function had been defeated, doesn't mean Reimann was satisfied. See, Riemann noticed that there were other values which could defeat the zeta function, and weren't negative even integers. These are the zeta function's non-trivial zeroes. And he noticed that all of these zeroes followed a pattern, so he tried to cast a Prophecy Spell.

A Prophecy Spell (or a theorem, in real math terms) is one that makes it so that, when certain conditions are met, something happens without fail. To cast a Prophecy Spell, you must prove it, which means using other prophecy spells, runes and unbreakable laws (axioms) to certify that it's a valid prophecy. 

I'll give you an example in case you're not used to the concept of mathematical proof, and cast the Prophecy Spell “if b is a real number, then b0 = 0". To prove it, I'll use two axioms (these are the building blocks of mathematics, and don't need to be proven because they just Are).

1) 0 + c = c (0 is neutral to addition).

2) b(c + d) = bc + bd (Distributive Property)

Now, observe the following:

1) b(c + 0) = b(c + 0) [Trivially true.]

2) bc = bc + b0 [0's neutrality used on the left, distributive on the right]

3) 0 = b0 [Because bc = bc, you can nullify the terms]

I chose this because it happens to be the reason you can't divide by 0. Division is formally defined as multiplication with the reciprocal, so to divide by 0 you must first define its reciprocal 1/0. 1/0 would be defined as a number such that 0 x 1/0 = 1. But we just proved there's no real (or complex) number for which that can be true, so 1/0 isn't a number, thus is undefined.

In any case, now you know what's needed to cast a Prophecy Spell. However, Riemann couldn't finish the Prophecy spell about the non-trivial zeroes. He couldn't find proof or a counterexample to refute it. And so, his unfinished Prophecy Spell went down in history… as the Riemann Hypothesis.

“All non-trivial zeroes of the Riemann zeta function have a real component of exactly ½.”

Although it's been proven to hold true for trillions of non-trivial zeroes, it has never been properly proven or refuted, so the Riemann Hypothesis remains… unsolved. 

God that was nerdy and cringy as hell. It was also super fun to write so I don't care :D 

*Look, for the purpose of the post, I'm saying Riemann did all this shit and is the first one to find a value for which the zeta function becomes zero. This is likely not historically accurate. I'm just doing it so the explanation flows better. This should only be taken as an explanation of the function itself, and not the history behind it.

[petrichormore]

tr!Bad and tr!Water need to have a conversation with each other a million blocks out where no one else can give input tbh. There’s a lot of “I need this and I’m not getting it ” from both sides - which is helpful in communicating - but there’s not enough “what would you have me do”

The question “what would you have me do” could clear up whether or not the friendship is salvageable pretty quickly I think. They’re not really understanding each other currently even though they are trying to communicate, and that question could break through all that. If Bad asks “what would you need me to do to save this friendship” and Water says “isolate yourself from everyone besides me and spend more time with me than anyone else” then that’s. Well that’s it. Bad is unwilling to do that (as of right now) so that’s the end. Problem solved.

But Water might, with the question “what would you have me do” be able to elaborate that it’s the ‘favorite’ portion of Bad having friends that she dislikes, not the ‘having friends’ itself. At least, that’s the vibe I’m getting. That still might be too much for Bad, but maybe there’s things he can do to prove to Water that others are not his favorites without ever verbally choosing a favorite specifically. Maybe actions can speak louder than words in this instance, and neither of them have even explored that because they’re not asking what they should do. They’re not discussing what they want a potential friendship to actually look like, in practice - they just have a nebulous concept that neither of them agree on.

The same goes for Water btw, but I feel her asking the “what would you have me do” question is less applicable because she’s the one trying to sever the connection, while Bad is the one trying to salvage it. Not to say I don’t think Water wants a friendship, she clearly cares (even if she doesn’t want to care), but if someone is going to take action first it’s probably going to need to be Bad, leading by example. The question needs to come from him first, and then he decides if he’s willing to do what Water suggests. If he is willing to at least try, then Water can follow up with “so what about my scenario isn’t ideal for you? what would you have me do?”

I say all this like I think they’d actually talk out their problems healthily even though Water is apparently perfectly aware of what boundaries are in regards to a relationship, and that they’re healthy - she just doesn’t want them. Which. I mean. That’s kind of a red flag, isn’t it. Not that I or Bad or any holywater duo fans care.

[bomberqueen17]

the gay dolphins are too powerful

yesterday i was facing the facts that i do need to actually work out the technical mcguffins in this novel. like, i have some vague notion that there's a problem with the radio network because of solar flares and our heroes are going to... somehow... fix it. idk.

plot and worldbuilding wittering behind the cut

this was the main plot in the solarpunk mammoths novel too, and i had a vague notion that a problem on such a global scale as that would need to like. it would need to be solved by more than one person. and so my nebulous notion is that possibly several sets of characters could work on it in these loosely-connected novels where really i'm just exploring different ecosystems.

idk i just-- y'all know about the Turkey City Lexicon right? I got it as a hand-out in college creative writing class and of course it reshaped my brain, but. one of the Tropes To Beware they've got is the Cozy Catastrophe, which is startlingly prevalent and once you see it you can't unsee-- "the world is ending! all of humanity will die! unless... Jeff and Suzy, you're our only hope!" and our two everyman protagonists somehow are the only resources the entire world can muster and honestly the entire world seems to consist of one American city block with about three hundred people in it at most. Hm.

so i was like yah this catastrophe is way too cozy.

meanwhile i forget how it came up but @sonnetsandsinging, helpfully spitballing, said something about space whales and i was like

OMG in a world with genetically-engineered mammoths with radio collars that translate their brain waves to allow them to speak in human language it is ABSURD that they are the only species of animal that has been given this treatment

so like. what other animals do we try to talk to all the time besides elephants?

DOLPHINS

so now this world has genetically-engineered dolphins with brainwaves-to-speech dorsal fin attachments. like duh of course it does. i can't believe I hadn't thought of that.

there should be other animals too but i can't decide which ones, currently taking submissions. What Else Should Slightly-Disconcertingly Speak.

(My criteria: should be an animal intelligent enough to have successful communication with humans already, something relatively long-lived, something that couldn't use sign language or other methods already. My concept, which is not scientific really, is that it's been well-studied that while many animals have complex communication systems, humans are the only ones whose brains are structured specifically for language, so the Magic Fictional Science here is that they've had that ability genetically-engineered in, but of course the physical production of human-intelligible language is beyond the physical structure of most animals, hence the brainwave-interface collars. which btw could also be used on profoundly disabled humans, and that might be a plot point at some point; i do have some disabled characters in this story. I know I researched those like, communication board things that nonverbal humans can use and I settled on Magical Radio-Networked Interfaces that speak out loud instead for the simple expedient of streamlining things because like how is a mammoth going to carry a communication board around that it can like get out and point at. how is a dolphin going to carry anything. so, this is just where I ended up.)

(I was thinking parrots but then parrots wouldn't need the collar because they can actually make human-speech noises on their own. so that's a fun variation. maybe in this world african grey parrots actually just talk.)

Anyway back when I first started the solarpunk mammoths novel I researched Asian elephants a lot and studied their social structures and read up on their physical abilities etc., so in between trying to find out how radio waves and semiconductors work (i get the radio waves thing & think i have my mcguffin sorted out but semiconductors made my eyes glaze over and then begin weeping so i gave up) (also supercapacitors i don't understand u sorry bye) (do i know any electronics engineers who want to explain this in normal languages? shit i do know a chemical engineer maybe she knows. heck) ... ok i wandered away from this post to text her and then forgot i was making it. i did not get a lot of sleep last night the amphetamines are not being kind this go-round but i must continue the experiment. uhhhhh where was i

GAY DOLPHINS

too powerful

Yeah so I started researching dolphins, because if I'm going to have named-and-speaking dolphin characters, I need to know a little bit about how they work.

Now I have a slight head-start on this, just as I did on mammoths. Mammoths, I've been obsessed with since I was a toddler. But dolphins. For a while I used to go to SCA camping events and there was this guy who used to be a Navy diver and then worked for Sea World and he. well he was really good at telling stories, was his deal. And he had Seen Some Shit, and some of that shit was about interacting with dolphins. And the thing about dolphins is that. Well, they're violent little chaos gremlins, and just in the course of going about their normal lives, one of the things they do to interact with the world is, well. they have sex with things.

when they do this to people it is generally not a positive experience for the person. but. so i knew that going in. and most of the information on the internet about dolphins is really like. earnest and loving and whatever, which is great. but the thing is that dolphins are chaos gremlins who will fuck anything they can't eat, eat anything they can't fuck, or sometimes do both to the same unfortunate object if it proves to be possible.

what i'm saying is, these are going to be really entertaining characters to work with. because elephants, conversely, do not have recreational sex. they do a lot of things, but they just don't really do that. so dolphins are like. inverse-elephants, culturally.

Elephants also tend to have a strong matriarch, strong bonds between females, and then the males tend to be largely solitary, but will congregate more loosely, often around an older male who will teach them manners. (A well-mannered bull is MUCH more likely to be allowed to mate with desirable females, who have little patience with male foibles.)

Dolphins have looser gender roles; on the whole, the females tend to loosely congregate, and pregnant females usually go back to their mother's pod to birth and raise young, not dissimilar to elephants, but the males--

male dolphins very, very frequently will pair-bond. Two males of similar age-- adult males have very little to do with juveniles of either sex, generally-- will pair-bond and will be inseparable for the rest of their lives. If one of them dies, the other will mourn-- mourning behavior is well-documented in dolphins-- and then will seek to pair off with another adult male, because male dolphins prefer to work in pairs, for survival and companionship. (Dolphin "pods" are also more loosely-organized than elephant herds; dolphins will have a couple of core companions, but then will freely associate and disassociate with other individuals and groups over short periods of time without much fuss, depending on the situation.)

The pair-bonded males are the ones who in the wild do the behavior you see in shows, where they do like synchronized jumps and very-close fast-precise swimming and such, which in the wild are apparently courtship or threat displays-- i.e. "look how tight we are, you can't fight us" or, alternately, "isn't that hot" because

yes that's often how they court females. The pair will corral a desirable female and herd her away from other dolphins so they can both mate with her, and keep her from mating with anybody else.

(other females have been observed collaborating to free a corralled female who did not want this to happen, so it's not quite as rapey as it sounds. though, i mean. dolphins. what can you do.)

anyway dolphin threesomes are canon. but that derailed the rest of my night and i was unable to concentrate on anything else because the gay-- I should say really bisexual dolphins are too powerful.

so anyway i wrote a test scene with a dolphin character, and i had my main character take his wife and baby down to the jetty to introduce them to his dolphin pals, and a bonded male pair he'd known for years showed up and immediately tried to steal the wife, and then expressed shock that he didn't have his male best friend with him, because in their experience breeding was THEE most important time to have your buddy with you. He explains that his buddy is off on a long-term work assignment, and they're like hmph next time you breed you MUST include him, it is so much easier trust us. and the wife is like hmmmmm!

henceforth i will refer to m/m/f threesomes as "dolphin style" you're welcome

[abortionado]

Okay so this person is saying this like it's the most ridiculous thing ever (which. it does seem extremely ridiculous when presented out of context), and everyone on twitter rn is making fun of these parents, but the student in question is a KINDERGARTENER with a severe cognitive disability, which means that addressing the root of his dysregulated behavior (which is very often related to sensory or bodily needs, like hunger) is far and away the best way to actually solve this problem.

"Punishing" this child is not going to make a meaningful difference, and frankly if you're so vengeful that you want to see a young child suffer consequences they don't understand (rather than actually solving the problem) because they hurt you in a fit of dysregulation, you should not be working with disabled children at all

And I feel very comfortable saying this as an early childhood teacher who has been hit and bitten by many children btw

[saltyfish64]

💥 MARS IN 8TH HOUSE - GENIUS OR CRAZY

👉 Yeah, just like the title, with Mars in 8th house in astrology, you can become a successful person or a murderer, depending on what you want to choose -)))).

👉 Why do I say that?

💫 First a little bit about 8th house : governing death, our approach to transformation, deep connections and mysteries or taboos. Ummm, frankly speaking, it's extremely complicated and mysterious, because 8th house is ruled by Scorpio (lol).

💫 As for Mars, it was mentioned in the previous post so I'm too lazy to say it again. In general, it is also related to Scorpio.

🤏 Combining these two things together, Mars in 8th house is like coal meeting fire, burning brightly but releasing CO gas, yes -))) which is a toxic gas. So for me, well, Mars in 8th house is not a very good placement.

👉 Talking about the characteristics of Mars in 8th house:

💫 Mars in 8th house just born seems to be able to read other people's thoughts, so it's not easy to trick them, you can even be spun around like a pinwheel without even knowing it. When they get tired of playing, maybe you will realize -)))).

💫 Although Mars in 8th house is a person with the ability to see far, they are not as calculating as God, they often encounter unexpected things but they are not afraid to face problems -)))) Instead of avoiding it, they prefer to solve it quickly and concisely.

💫 Mars in 8th house also has a trust issue -))), basically, it's quite difficult to get them to trust completely, but once they trust, it's very common to get stabbed in the back 🤡.

🙏 A real example is me, I've been betrayed by a few people before so I know it very well -)))), I played with friends wholeheartedly, and friends stabbed and shocked my brain 🤡.

💫 Mars in 8th house came into contact with death quite early. I remember when I was in 3rd or 4th grade, I already knew about these things. At first, I was afraid of death -))), well, I was simply afraid that my parents would die and I would be alone, but later I thought that death is not really the end but just a new beginning.

💫 Mars in 8th house loves to explore and learn about what interests them 🤔, especially about spirituality and death, um with dramas and also cases, human psychology and crime for example. Moreover, they are also talented in finding the truth, so if you are in love with them, don't do anything wrong to them, they know everything, it's just that they want revenge so they still let you free 💀.

💫 If they are determined to do something, Mars in 8th house will do it to the end, even mountains of swords and seas of fire cannot stop them -))). I remember how many times just looking for a picture or a series of stories, I spent several hours scrolling through all the pages I followed 🤡.

💫 Mars in 8th house in the early stages is a bit lost, they don't know what they want to do and what to do, their psychology is always unstable, they tend to self-destruct or destroy others💀, maybe even will have the intention of "ruining" with those who hurt them deeply. But if they can overcome that stage, find their ego, understand what they want and need to do, then they will be a successful person 🫶.

💫 On the contrary, like the title -))))) I also said above, Mars in 8th house emits CO gas -)))). Really, if the person with this position does not use energy well, they will most likely go down the wrong path (such as addiction, gambling, etc).

👉 In general, if they grow up, they will become people who protect and help others, then you will feel lucky to have them by your side.

💫 Well, Mars in 8th house has a short lifespan -))))) Talented people often die early 🤡 (just kidding, don't throw stones), people with this position like to learn about death, and death also likes to come with them -))))), they will often encounter unexpected accidents without any prediction.

💓 This is the end of this article, thank you for watching me babble 🤭.

💦 Btw, My English is not very good, so if I make any grammatical mistakes, please let me know.

📌 Anyway, this article is personal and written based on my own analysis.

🍀 Wishing you success and luck will come to you.

📍Dành cho bạn nào người Việt thì mình có đăng bài này bằng tiếng Việt trên FB, link mình để ở dưới

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/yR3J9Sn4mYXXrFDX/?mibextid=oFDknk

[luneengene2]

https://www.tumblr.com/luneengene2/743720555606343680/team-04-line-accidentally-hurtinjure-verbally?source=share

PLEASE tell me your working on the good ending 🙏🙏

&Team 04 Line : Accidentally Hurt/Injure (Verbally or Physically) You During an Argument || Atmosphere Cooling

• Warnings : Erroneous grammar, suggestive content

• A/N : Finally, after so many centuries, I'm updating again. BTW, this is the GOOD ENDING I wanted for 04l 🌚

• Previous Part

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

|| YUMA ||

"Mr. Nakakita," Yuma heard a call and a knock on the door in his room. It was one of his house servants.

"Come in, auntie," Yuma responded to the call from the servant he called 'aunt'. A middle-aged woman entered Yuma's room and gave a brief bow. "Mr. Nakakita, Miss Asakura is here, she wants to see you," Hearing the name 'Miss Asakura' which means you, Yuma immediately jumped out of bed and walked out of his room.

He ran towards the stairs because his room was on the second floor. He didn't expect you to come tonight, it was his birthday. He feels that you really don't want to meet him on his birthday, because you haven't sent him a message just to say happy birthday. You and Yuma also haven't seen each other for some time, and the sharper reason is because Jo forbade it for a while. Don't know if it's because he's still offended by what Yuma did to you or because of something else.

Yuma saw you standing and looking at several awards he had just received for his career with a bouquet of medium sized red roses and a paper bag that has 'Prada' written on it that you were holding. Yuma smiled at you, you always looked beautiful on his birthday, never looked ordinary. You are used to looking beautiful and wearing expensive clothes on his birthday even though he isn't having a party. You used to make him 'fresh' on his birthday. This time you wore a beautiful white dress and a necklace that actually had his name on it.

"Princess," You turned around and found Yuma standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking at you with longing eyes. You smiled faintly at Yuma, you really missed him too. You put the paper bag you were carrying on the floor.

Yuma approached you at a fairly fast pace. When he was in front of you, he immediately saw clearly how beautiful you were. You looked healthier than when he last saw you at that time. He was relieved you were calmer now.

"Happy birthday, Yuma," you spoke softly as you handed him the bouquet. Yuma was still amazed by you, he took the bouquet of flowers from your hand. However, not five seconds later, his hand gently stroked your cheek. "You're always pretty on my special day," Yuma said softly without breaking eye contact with you. "I miss you so bad," You actually responded with words like that that could make Yuma melt.

Yuma placed the bouquet of flowers he was holding earlier on his single sofa, and immediately pulled you into a passionate but loving kiss. Yuma lifted you onto an empty display table, he wrapped your legs around his waist. His tongue moves beautifully in your mouth, touching every inch of your oral cavity, channeling all the longing he's been experiencing lately. His hands gently squeezed your waist. "Fuck, I missed everything about you,” Yuma growled with every kiss he planted on you. Your hand gently touches his jaw and occasionally tugs at his thick hair.

Yuma's kisses went down to your neck, licking and giving bites which of course left red marks on your smooth neck. "Ah, Yuma~" You groaned sexily and pressed against his head to dig deeper into your neck. You could feel his snaggle teeth providing stimulation on your neck.

Yuma melted again hearing your moans calling his name again, something he really liked. He was obsessed with it. Yuma pulled himself away from your neck and looked into your eyes. "I miss you, I don't even know whether you have forgiven me or not, let's solve this problem first, but in the way you like," Yuma said with quite a flirtation with his gaze.

"Finish this with intercourse, Yuma," You whispered sexily in his ear then gave a sweet bite to his earlobe. Yuma, who was really impatient, immediately lifted you to the bathroom on the first floor, he would make you forgive him completely in his own way.

|| JO ||

You entered the cafeteria with a listless and completely unfriendly face. Usually you go to the cafetaria with Jo, but because you and her are still having an argument (Because you still don't want to talk to him) you don't go with him.

The whispers you hate can be heard clearly. Some of the students immediately assumed that you and Jo had broken up, because this time you weren't clingy to him. You're not usually alone. Several girls smiled with satisfaction because they were starting to think they had chosen a big opportunity to approach Jo.

"Ah, it turns out you're here, Y/N," You jumped in surprise when you saw Maki, Jo's basketball junior suddenly beside you while you were queuing for food. "Jo 'needs you', he wants you," Maki put a sharp emphasis on the words 'Needs you' while glaring at several girls who seemed to be mocking you.

"He doesn't—"

Before you finished your words, Maki immediately forcibly pulled you out of the cafeteria to meet Jo who was in the sports equipment storage room. You couldn't struggle because Maki's strength was much stronger than yours.

"Jo, I brought your girl," Jo, who was sitting in a chair, immediately looked up when you were in front of him. Maki, who understood the situation, immediately left you and Jo alone. Jo smiled faintly and approached you, she wanted to pull you into a kiss, but you immediately avoided it. "Are you really still mad at me, darling?" Jo stroked your hair. You smiled bitterly as you threw his hand away. "Are you still asking? You chose another girl and thought more about your coach's feelings than me and then you still casually ask that?" You snorted harshly. Jo smiled faintly and touched your hair again. "I canceled the photoshoot, I asked someone else to replace me," Jo spoke softly, but still didn't get a good response from your facial expression. Jo understands that you are still hurt because of the bad things he said about you.

Jo pulled off his school tie then threw it in all directions, he unbuttoned his shirt one by one which immediately earned a glare from you. "What the fuck are you doing?!" You snapped at him in shock, but Jo ignored your question.

He took off his shirt and then threw it in any direction, leaving his black t-shirt behind and then immediately took off his black t-shirt. "Look!" Jo forces you to look at his topless body, more precisely at his chest. You can see the tattoo of your name beautifully engraved on his chest, and it still looks new. "You know, I'm yours. Your name is engraved on my chest, I give you a sign that you have rights over me," Jo said in a hoarse voice while looking into your eyes. You were shocked when you heard the sentence that said 'you have the right over me', this is crazy. "I don't want you to feel like I'm not yours, I'm yours forever, pretty," He continued, touching your cheek. Crazy thoughts start to take over you. Your shaking hands tugged hard at his belt which startled Jo. You gave kisses and bites that left red marks in the area where your name was beautifully engraved. You looked up and looked at Jo with a wistful, seductive look. "Let's show that we belong together, Jo," You took off your uniform with passionate desire. Once you were also topless, you immediately pulled Jo into a rough kiss, surrendering yourself to him so he could mark you.

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

yellowjackets spoilers/complaining

like shauna is using the wilderness to enforce her power or whatever and keep forcing everyone to do things like eating coach ben... but at no point this season has it seemed like more than 3 people meaningfully believed in the wilderness and by the end the number is literally Just Lottie who btw took an axe to the back of the head of their first best shot at rescue which you'd think would ding her credibility pretty bad... so like they call this final hunt using the wilderness to trick shauna and lottie... but those are the only two who care... so like who are they playing along for.... i guess tai kind of but a) she's always been iffy on believing it and b) she literally had van count cards to have NOT the wilderness choose so.......... also lottie reveals she knew the whole time the impetus for the hunt was fake. so like they actually for real hunted and ate mari... literally just to trick shauna...... who apparently doesn't sleep or anything because i don't understand why ten fucking people can't just cuff her while she's sleeping and grab the only gun and boom problems solved. which granted has been an issue for several episodes now like shauna just declares herself in charge of everyone and everyone else is like "oh no shauna is so scary we have no choice but to submit" like? you literally outnumber her, you are in the woods, she cannot spy on all of you at the same time.... she also literally hasn't done anything that scary until this season like when she beat up lottie it was because lottie let her/asked her to....... i just can't get over how fucking stupid it has been. just take the fucking gun while she's sleeping! and if not, please take 30 seconds of screen time to explain why it does not occur to anyone to do this.

[emerald-cloud23]

Genuinely hate what they did with the Serpentine Lore in s4 if I can be honest and ramble my frustrations here? (I go and talk about other Serpentine too)

The Anacondrai, both the dead tribe and the cultists, have very obviously a different shade of purple scales and a severe lack of black/yellow markings and crystals that Pythor has as well as the very different neck and head shape which are all very valid reasons to be disappointed in their designs, I am too. But it gets worse.

S1 shows us how Scales became the Hypnobrai general- he got different markings, got a tail and was the only one who held the staff. There was a second in command (which was Scales' previous rank in the tribe) and each member of the tribe that wasn't the general had legs. Plus, there's about four to five different designs per tribe (depends if you count the leader/general with their clearly shown special markings and tail). There is only one general per tribe.

The s4 Anacondrai lack all of that. All of them have a tail, even Garmadon and Skylor recieve snake tails despite clearly not being the Anacondrai general. This season mentions there's multiple generals in the Anacondrai tribe, yet we're only shown Anacondrai with the tail. Not a single one with legs or distinct designs. The lack of a resemblance to Pythor's markings, colors and head/neck shape is enraging enough but the absolute lack of diversity in their designs is so painful to watch as someone who literally has a degree in media design. They make it look like Pythor, even pre-bleach, like a completely different type of Serpentine while all the others are the same bland carbon copies of each other. They're literally my least favorite tribe because of this and I don't even have any Serpentine minifigures yet (except Crystalized Aspheera, but I'm getting to her later anyway) but even if I did, I wouldn't want to display them. I'd willingly display any Serpentine tribe except the Anacondrai. And that's saying something for someone who finds the designs of the Vermillion reminiscent of guts and thus dislikes them.

On the topic of the Vermillion, why not briefly discuss why there's not a single one of those with a Serpentine tail? Easy: they're the tiny baby snakes that just somehow through Ninjago logic can form human-sized Serpentine that can talk and do everything perfectly. They're basically just the little baby snakes though, and last I checked babies can't take over leadership positions.

Now, a brief look at Aspheera because people don't like that she has the ghost tail in sets instead of the Serpentine tail. And that's also really easy to answer: she's not a general, she's a sorceress. Not a general. Yes, she has a tail in the show but she has a completely different rank from the other Hypnobrai of her time that we know of (btw, I love that Char is in the flashbacks with her (except when she frees Wu and Garmadon), that's so cute imo). Speaking of Hypnobrai, did you pay attention to her in the flashbacks vs. her when she's released from the pyramid? When she's young she has Hypnobrai markings on her head but when she is free she doesn't. Why? I'd say it's like the earlier mention of markings, like how the general has their own distinct markings for whoever takes that spot & that exiled Serpentine (remember, she was to be magically entombed for her crime of overthrowing the king) just lose their markings altogether so you can easier identify those that are no longer a part of the tribe. There, problem solved. And for the question on how she could absorb fire and crystal powers? Simple: sorceress. She ccould've probably used Nya's water in crystalized too, if not for the New Ninja and police coming to lock the ninja up.

Also.. The pyro vipers? They're mummies. I assume they've been long dead even before Aspheera and the pyramids lava 'ignited'/revived them. I've no guess what tribe they could've been from but I definitely doubt that it would be a fire-related one. However, the Hypnobrai evolved physically and changed into the type that we've known since 2012 some time after Aspheera got locked in the pyramid. I also like that we got to see the Hypnobrai no longer being purely blue/grey with some yellow but that there's also some pink and purple ones now. That is, what I would say, a result of the four Serpentine tribes being locked under Ninjago city and uniting in more ways than just "we're all friends now".

[peachphernalia]

For the character ask game: 4, 8, 9, 14, and/or 23 with …. *drumroll* Whole [and the crowd faints in surprise /sar/vsilly]

Can answer as many or as few as you’d like!! Everything is super /nf, just curious . I like hearing your thoughts on These Guys :3

HOORAY this is about to be very fun for me

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

well . i actually have thought about several. i know this question is asking for onebut i Really struggle to narrow it down so [not-so] rapidfire list:

putting him into venturiantale pie as a case is extremely funny to me . pie gets a call about this guy who keeps splitting into three people by mistake & then trying to kill himself which is like a normal client for them . ghost deduces that this must be some demons or something but they seem to not be doing anything Evil to the general public [preoccupied with making an album] so it’s problem solved really . whole is billed $1000 for this

marble hornets . just think it’s funny for him to be going through the album’s events & also slenderman is there. for some reason

undertale . preferably with hms haunting him chara style . because i think it would be fascinating to watch him work through those moral dilemmas . he’s a perseverance soul btw

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

already went over thisone in a previous ask but basically . Nothing ! i don’t have much i dislike with fanon whole characterizations

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

oh god i don’t think so . i like him a lot but i think we are both people who would be very difficult to live with & we are similar in all the ways that would make that . Bad. i think. i fear we would get into fights . maybe iam cynical

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

funnily enough whole is the one guy of hmsw that i don’t really have an aesthetic i lean into when thinking about his outfits . i guess he’s a little grunge adjacent but he isn’t , um. Cool. heart hands . i think it would be really cute to dress him up in goth or scene or something though . ouw actually scene would be Really cute i need to think about that more

23. Favorite picture of this character?

ok there is a lot of art of him i like obviously but i feel like it’s cheating to not pull something from the actual videos . therefore

this fucking screenshot of him . I Like It. i took it for one of my dumb soulwhole meme edits & it’s been in my camera roll because i laugh every time i see it . what are you looking so angry for . why such FurrowedBrows. why so Pissed Off can you chill out man

[daily-nightamins-at-25-00]

HELLO!!

Hello!! Welcome to the (un) Official Nightcord at 25:00 pharmacy!! Here we distribute all vitamins and supplements under the 25-ji group of medicine!!

Here at the Nightamins at 25:00 pharmacy, we give out all kinds of vitamins for your health!!

Vitamin Ena: Very prominent and effective, known for helping with blood circulation.

Vitamin Kanade: Helps with hearing and gives emotional comfort.

Vitamin Mafuyu: Prevents brain implosion. Very dangerous to stop taking.

Vitamin Mizuki: Helps mental health and gives self confidence! Some hair supplements are a part of this vitamin.

Along with vitamins, we also administer supplements to assist with your daily life!!

Supplement Niigo Miku: Assists with emotional regulation and reduces depression.

Supplement Niigo Luka: Gives a boost in creativity and ideas.

Supplement 25-ji Rin: Provides emotional support and gives comfort.

Supplement 25-ji Len: Helps with digestion and has a calming effect.

Supplement N25 MEIKO: Assists in solving logic driven problems, like puzzles.

Supplement N25 KAITO: Gives motivation and energy, while regulating exhaustion.

Please take these meds with caution!! Taking infrequent doses and varying sizes will cause side effects to pop up! Stopping consumption of these vitamins and supplements will lead to death, so tread lightly.

Taking more than prescribed will lead to severe side effects, some of which include social reclusion, anger issues, becoming nocturnal, death, cardiac arrest, loss of sanity, nausea, etc. More severe instances of these side effects will occur from malnutrition and deprivation of Nightamins.

Nightamins are distributed every day! Scheduled to meet up with almost every time zone!

That being said, the schedule is as follows:

Vitamin Kanade is to be taken on every 01, 05, 11, 15, 21, and 25 days.

Vitamin Mafuyu is to be taken on every 02, 06, 12, 16, 22, and 26 days.

Vitamin Ena is to be taken on every 03, 07, 13, 17, 23, and 27 days.

Vitamin Mizuki is to be taken on every 04, 08, 14, 18, 24, and 28 days.

Supplements will be provided on every 10, 20, and 30 days in the following order:

Supplement Miku during January and July

Supplement Rin during February and August

Supplement Len during March and September

Supplement Luka during April and October

Supplement Meiko during May and November

Supplement Kaito during June and December

On each 09, 19, 29, and 31 day, the vitamin will be a random art piece either official or unofficial.

#notamin for non vitamin posts

#nightamins at 25:00 for daily vitamins!!

Each member will have their own tag! It being their type, surname initial, and name! (Ex: vSEna, s25Len, vAMafuyu, s25Meiko, etc.)

This blog also has some occasional accidental milgram and other fandom content. Reference to the Amane President post that I reblogged on the wrong account and won’t take down.

My firefighter related ramblings because I love them <3

#Fire Department Ramblings for that btw

Important!!: I am very bad at tagging and will continually forget to do so on non-nightamin posts. I’m working on it but please be patient and careful!!

DISCLAIMER: I am a minor ( @calleigator (pjsk id is 432929375353335813) and am NOT affiliated with SEGA, Colorful Palette, or anything official related to Project Sekai. Also this was very much inspired by @daily-vitamin-ena so thank you!!

Also!!: I am the Janitor ™︎ for Fazlens :D

OG divider by @/Kawaii-Lau!! Edited to suit Niigo

[becauseimanicequeen]

WHAT I’M CURRENTLY WATCHING

ONGOING:

TO BE CONTINUED (Thailand): I’m having the time of my life with this one due to the main characters’ lack of communication, fear of fessing up to their feelings toward each other, the drama of the past, and Poppy (I always love Poppy!).

LOVE IS BETTER THE SECOND TIME AROUND (Japan): I love mature QLs (mature as in adult characters that are complex, flawed, and feel real, and that deal with real-life problems). This is no exception. I also love stories with the possibility of getting a second chance (because everyone makes mistakes).

1000 YEARS OLD (Thailand): This one is way too cute for me (I have a hard time vibing with too much cuteness). You would think this is a series about vampires and aliens, but it’s actually about soup and umbrellas. The only reason I’m still watching this is because of said umbrellas. The umbrellas got me hooked! (Welcome to the real struggles of a visual artist.)

CLOSE FRIEND SEASON 3: SOJU BOMB! (Thailand): There are too few episodes for me to say something substantial about this one. The neon lights in the first episode got me good, though (and I’m a slut for neon lights). Also, I love drunken shenanigans (in fiction, btw) and it’s delivering on that front.

TWO WORLDS (Thailand): This is another series with too few episodes for me to say something substantial. I like the vibe so far, though. Also, I always have a sweet spot for artists so Khram has a special place in my heart.

DEEP NIGHT (Thailand): I love the club setting (again, neon lights are my thing) and the chemistry between the characters (especially between Seiji and Pan). There’s also the possibility of a poly relationship (which I and so many others are hoping for).

(I hope I don’t get as clowned about this poly relationship as I got clowned about Non showing up alive in DFF.) (Either way, I’m staying in this clown car because I need poly! Hope is said to be the last thing leaving a person...)

CITY OF STARS (Thailand): This is really sweet. The characters are sincere and have great communication skills. Fueang and Krom maturely solve every issue that shows up. It’s nice to see a great relationship like this for a change (even though I do love watching miscommunicating characters as well).

ANTI RESET (Taiwan): I’ve recently started watching this and easily got into it since I could binge several episodes. It has an interesting story (falling in love with a robot that seems very real and human). The chemistry between the main characters is great and the visuals are gorgeous (Yi Ping’s house is beautiful, even though the front door never seems to be properly closed, like, ever).

A SECRETLY LOVE (Thailand): Right now, the only reasons I’m watching this is because of Kimmon (the actor who plays Pluem), Kut (who plays Khonprot, since I haven’t moved on from his role as Din in Chains of Heart), the sapphic side-couple (even though it’s a fake relationship right now) with rhyming names (Soi and Froi), and the neon lights. Mostly because of the neon lights! (I’m such a slut for neon lights!)

UNKNOWN (Taiwan): When I say that I’m obsessed with this series, it’s because I am. These characters live in my mind rent-free 24/7. The chemistry, the palpable yearning, the dialogue, the emotions expressed through the acting when there is no dialogue, etc., etc., etc. It’s just soooo great.

(Unknown does cover a topic that’s generally seen as taboo (“adoptive” brothers falling in love), so, be aware of that. I don’t have any issues watching series with taboo topics because there’s very little stuff I get uncomfortable with when it comes to fiction. So, I’m in love with this series with my whole stone-cold heart.)

[new-tella-us]

For seduce me situations, could you do one about how each incubusbwould help Mika when shes having severe anxiety attacks?

AYYY a Seduce Me Situation ask!

Turns out, according to Demon War's logic, they have the ability to just calm her down with enthrallment. But that's not a fun answer, it's just a cheat sheet so, I have a small bit of lore to explain that away.

It's not in the succubus culture to just force emotions in or out of your fellow demons and while doing so to humans is more acceptable, the boys specifically wouldn't feel comfortable doing that to Mika. It's seen as invasive and, even when consensual, an unhealthy coping mechanism as it only solves the surface emotions rather than the underlying problem. So they would only use their enthrallment if she wasn't calming down or it was getting so bad that she was hurting herself.

James is getting her to sit down and trying to see which method of calming someone down would work for her. Some people need silence while others feel more grounded with white noise in the background. Some needs physically affection while others don't want to be touched, etc. Once he finds what works (mainly being held and reassurance) and she calms down, he's going to try and gently ask her what spurred this on. He wants to nip this problem in the bud so it doesn't get to a point where she gets hurt.

I think I mentioned this before but Erik defaults to trying to ground her. Try to keep her within reality rather than letting her disassociate. This includes breathing exercises, physical touch (if she's okay with that, which she is) and whispering sweet nothings. I imagine he's had to calm down some of his brothers in a similar emotional state before, mainly Damien right after the death of his mother, so he has experience.

Sam has N O idea what he's doing. He sees Mika freaking out, barely able to breathe and he wants to help but all he could think to do to try and calm her down is to pick her up or hold her close. He would be the best at that at least. He might be the quickest to break the "No enthrallment" rule and use his enthrallment simply because he doesn't know what to do but, afterwards he's getting to bottom of what's going on and why Mika's acting like this. He doesn't like to see his doofus sad.

Matthew would briefly panic before calming himself down to help Mika. He'd try to remember how his mother used to calm him down as a child and that ends with them on the couch. He's rocking her back and forth, holding her in his arm and softly humming a lullaby while petting her head. A little childish but I imagine it makes Mika feel safe. After she calms down, he gives her a little forehead kiss before making something for her to eat. I think food is his default.

Whether Damien finds her via mind reading or (if this is post his route) just finds her, he'd immediately settling her down and cuddling her. It's sad cuddle hours, boys. He's specifically holding to keep her from hurting herself in her panic. This goes double if this is post SM 1 as he wouldn't have enthrallment as an option if things got really bad. He's absolutely crying but he wouldn't let her see that as he waits for her attack to pass. This is where things slightly splinter based off the timeline. One of the things that calms Mika is the sound of rain (this is kinda based off canon btw). If this is before Damien's SM 1 ending, he'd know this immediately and turn on some rain ambience. If this is Post SM 1 but Pre SM 2, since he's not actually human, I imagine he still has this almost six sense where his mind reading once was so he would guess she needs background noise and would put on rain ambience. And if it was Post SM 2, aka straight up human Damien, by that point, he was probably told, so same as the first one.