#...other than what I know theoretically based on knowledge I have

[chimerafeathers]

when i was initially playing isat, there were a number of things that pinged on my “overused/shallowly used storytelling tropes” radar (specifically, the version of that radar built from reading too many tumblr posts complaining about or otherwise criticizing “tumblry” tropes—regardless of how much or how little i agree in some cases, my Awareness of them has increased).

then i finished the game, and decided that pretty much everything i had been side-eyeing had been more than earned, given weight and depth beyond my expectations.

and then i got my friend to play the game, and he ended up having a lot of similar initial reactions. specifically, when he got to the “family” scene in the full friendquest run through the house.

my friend had a stronger reaction than i did, but what Odile says here is something that both of us fundamentally disagree with. we ended up talking about the value and importance that intergenerational friendships can have—passing on history, providing frameworks for a range of healthy relationships beyond “family” and “peers” (including what respectful boundaries look like when interacting with safe adults), sharing skills and knowledge, forming a supportive network of people that you can turn to if your blood/legal family fails you. humans are a community-based, highly social species; it’s literally fine and good for an old lady to be friends with a preteen.

but it’s a very Odile thing to say, and tbh i’m more similar to her viewpoint in my personal life in that it takes a very specific level of comfort and intimacy before i will truly consider someone a “friend” rather than “someone i know (/friendly).” but he worried that having it said like that, point blank, would reinforce the concept of “you can Only be friends with people your own age, and the only valid relationships outside of that are Family and Romance (aka precursor to Family).” on top of that, there’s the idea that friendships can’t be “enough” on their own, that they always have to be labeled as something else to be meaningful.

which is a fair concern, in my opinion! but in the full context of the game, and in combination with other elements (ex. the Daydreaming One and Bonnie fitting the party into specific family dynamic labels), what Odile says there is kind of a misdirect. because they ARE friends, whatever else they call each other—and because Siffrin’s unique circumstances mean the idea of “friendship” feels so much more terrifyingly fragile and transient than it might to anyone else.

so following that conversation, unable to properly defend the heavy-handedness without delving into major spoilers but still wanting to get my thoughts about it out, i wrote my train of thought into my notes. (for the record, the “defense” i wrote out was no longer necessary whatsoever once my friend finished the game. he Gets It.)

so here’s what i had, hot off the “AGGHHHH I NEED TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT THIS BUT I CAN'T BECAUSE SPOILERS” presses of several months ago (with a couple edits for clarity/more public presentation and to wrap up the end point):

YES friendships can be deep and intense and consuming. that is objectively What Siffrin Is Feeling. HOWEVER. with all due respect, Siffrin’s perspective of interpersonal relationships is fucked and he needs maximum assurance that things aren’t just going to go away.

there are a LOT of levels of friendship. they are relationships that, theoretically, can come and go easily for a lot of people. “we used to be friends.” “someone i used to know.” “an old classmate.” people drop out of contact, change interests and hobbies and lifestyles, move away, get jobs or partners, and suddenly someone who was so important to you becomes a distant thought. someone you might remember on occasion, if you’re reminded they exist somehow.

there are lifelong friendships, too, that can be no less intense or even deeper than the bonds of blood. but how can you know that the person who calls you “friend” means it like that? if the feeling runs deep for you, but the bond is untested by time or distance? what if this is all a friendship of necessity, of convenience, and it will all fall apart as soon as you have no common goal forcing you together?

of course it will! they all say it will, every time they smile and talk about going home to their friends and families and jobs and say I hope you visit! instead of stay, stay, stay with us, we want to stay with you.

it feels like a promise waiting to be broken, when you believe that “this journey meant so much more to me than it did to any of you.”

when your greatest fear is forgetting and being forgotten. (how long until they forget you?)

but the idealized promise of “family” is that the bond does not degrade, that it can persist invisibly in the face of time and distance and change. something that no longer takes persistence to maintain lest you drift apart, because you can survive drifting apart—you will remember, you will be remembered, you will remain connected. something that would instead demand great force or neglect to truly sever.

it does not matter if this is true. Siffrin needs it to be true. they need a bedrock instead of shifting sand, always slipping away from them before they can grasp it. he craves routine, stability, permanence.

there is no guaranteed permanence when it comes to life, to human connection, of course. Siffrin knows this—that everyone they once knew and loved, every bond that might have once shaped them, has been erased, with no means to reclaim what he lost. family included. and Loop acknowledges this, too, at the end—that one day, Siffrin will have to be okay with letting go. he can’t keep them all glued to his side for their entire lives. they know this.

even so, “family” is as permanent as it can get, right? at least, if their friends become family, some of the uncertainty eases. if they all agree on this, it means they aren’t content to let each other fade from memory, to become “someone they traveled with, once upon a time.” so once it’s introduced as a possibility, Siffrin clings, clings, clings to that thought, drawing comfort from the idea that maybe they all feel as much for him as he does for them.

but we know that just saying the word isn’t enough. the loops didn’t break just because they called each other something different. the fear and loneliness run too deep.

even when being called some form of “family,” the bonds seemed so much more thin and fragile than what Siffrin craves.

they were all still going to leave.

Siffrin is trying so goddamn hard to be okay with that. they fool themself into thinking they’re okay with that. because they have to be! everyone else has something to return to, it’s normal for them to have lives beyond journey’s end, it’s just him who will have nothing left once it’s all over, and they’re. fine. it’s fine.

if they hadn’t made that wish (and if somehow they beat the king first try), they would have parted ways, maybe visited each other from time to time, and Siffrin would have done his best to cope while loneliness and fear continued to dissolve them from the inside. because that’s the normal friendly thing to do. it’s what all of them expected the others to want, and were all afraid to vocalize otherwise.

i get the pushback against everything being “found family” these days. i get that sometimes people are ““just”” friends, or mentors, or coworkers, or something that defies labeling, and that those relationships are rich and varied and don’t have to have the “family” label slapped on top to be important, pigeonholed into rigid set roles, because a lot of the time it doesn’t fit and only serves to undervalue and warp the nuances of the relationships that they actually are. i LOVE when friendship is treated as something that can drive someone just as insane with love as romance or family. in the real world, people should be encouraged to cultivate a huge range of different types of friendships and relationships to broaden our understanding of the world, each other, and ourselves, and prioritizing family over all else can be actively harmful.

i also think that if Siffrin could conceptualize that fact as something that could be anything but agonizingly one-sided, maaayyyybe the time loops would not have happened! i think that if after All That, the rest of the party had gone “you’re important to us, but like, we still do have other shit to do. we’ll keep in touch though!” Siffrin might have just imploded. actually, sorry, scratch that, that literally happened in the game and the world nearly ended.

this story has to be “found family.” maybe they’ll get there one day, but Siffrin is simply not well-adjusted enough (or at all) to trust that any other kind of relationship is real enough to last. and it takes NEARLY BREAKING REALITY for them to accept even that much! that it’s possible for him, specifically! that the words aren’t empty dreams, that they’ve found something that they’re allowed to keep, that it’s not as one-sided as he’d convinced himself out of fear and self-loathing. that they won’t forget or be forgotten.

if Siffrin didn’t have the exact fears and insecurities and traumas that he has, i might still be looking at all those heavy-handed family conversations and going “urgh, okay, we get it, this is a bit much.”

but now i kinda appreciate those convos way more??? because it feels more like a conversation, a point of contrast with what this story means when it invokes “found family.”

it's not about the rigid roles or cozy aesthetics of family. Siffrin is not looking for a mom or a cousin or a sister or a little sibling. they want a home. somewhere to go, people to return to instead of just “visit.” roots, connection, permanence, safety. that is what “family” means to him. why his sadness is Mal du Pays—homesickness.

that’s also why just saying it isn’t enough! that’s why the final loop had to be ugly and broken. Siffrin needed to see that these people wouldn’t abandon them, even at their worst. that they could see him lashing out and bitter and needy and hurtful and still see someone worth loving. and that they would do this all before the word “family” is ever spoken, and would still do it even if it was never said.

the heavy emphasis on family and labels is, in some ways, a misdirect from the actual problems and the actual solution. the full friendquest run is a fakeout for Siffrin in that "the power of friendship" isn't enough to save them—at least, the one-sided, shiny veneer of it isn't. it takes raw, painful, soul-baring vulnerability—no masks to hide the ugliness, no "i'm fine, tell me how i can help you," no running away. the solution is ultimately "the power of friendship" and/or "found family," whatever you want to call it, as long as by those things you mean something messy and stubborn and mutual in its earnest devotion, riddled with misunderstandings and mistakes and the ever-present capacity to hurt each other, and still, always, bursting with love.

[arolesbianism]

I've been passively watching an isat playthrough while twiddling my thumbs in my current oni save as I wait for my new power systems to be done and hey guys. I think one of these bitches is aromantic. Why did no one tell me one of these bitches is aromantic I would have played the game myself if I knew that

[icewindandboringhorror]

Other Misc. Rambling Thoughts on the topic:

(~ !!!!!!!!! if you're just reblogging this post for the Poll section, please reblog the original post without this addition* lol. ~)

(*not that there's anything super personal or weird about the addition, just that it's meant to be kind of casual Side Commentary, not really part of the Main Point Of The Poll, so it would feel kind of weird for it to be emphasized by being included in reblogs unless the reblogs were explicitly about the side commentary, etc..... if that makes sense.. ANYWAY!)

It's neat to read the written descriptions that people are mentioning in the tags, since it's almost like I can see or conceptualize the idea as well, but it's just.. I'm not SEEING it.

Like for example: I can imagine a vase, it's a muted mint green and slightly translucent, elaborate golden birds sprawled down the side in streaks of thin rough watery paint, the base material shimmers gently in the light, there's a small chip where it's cracked on the handle, etc, etc. .. But as I'm thinking about this I see literally nothing.

It seems like perhaps some people can visualize an object first, and THEN describe what they see. But I sort of work backwards. I am building the object in my mind, I can never see it, but it's a collection of concepts. Rather than visualizing all details as a whole at once, I am adding each detail one by one, building onto the IDEA of the thing.

The vase doesn't have a crack on the handle because I just automatically visualized a vase with a crack. It was more that I cognitively understand the concept of a vase, what they tend to be made out of, how they tend to look and feel, the properties they have. So based purely on that knowledge, I can imagine "a chip is something that a vase could have, it would look this way and behave this way" - more like... I'm constructing a bullet point Fact List about the object rather than seeing it.

So if you tell me to imagine an object, I can, in a way, imagine that object in great detail, but it's just.. I'm not SEEING those details, more just knowing it's qualities in a purely conceptual way. Sometimes in the tags when people are like "yeah I can see the skin of the apple, texture, little dots on the surface" it's like… I can imagine that too, I can know it's there, but just with no visual attached.

I guess rather than SEEING something and going ''ah. I know what this looks like because I have seen it''. I more just skip that visual step entirely and go ''I know what this looks like, I just randomly have a list of information about the concept in my mind.'' etc. Maybe similar to how sometimes in dreams, even though a house may look completely different and be in an entirely fake 'dreamlike' environment, you just somehow KNOW intuitively that it's meant to be your childhood home or something. Even when it looks nothing like it in reality. There's a built-in base knowledge of the properties or information of some things within a dreaming mind, etc.

--

This also makes me wonder about like.. how storytelling and myth is so important to cultures all across time. Or how this could tie also into concepts of religion.. etc. etc. If so many people really can kind of conjure these vivid images in their mind, then maybe that's part of why certain things are so meaningful to them? Like a "religious experience" being something you can actually really SEE/feel/lingering with you in your head, rather than just abstract words on a page, detached purely theoretical ideas, etc... hmmm

.

Plus also just for average emotional stuff too, even outside of broader cultural conceptual attachments..

Like, I don't think there's a direct 1 to 1 link (obviously not all people with mental illnesses that significantly reduce their emotional or expressive capacity also MUST have aphantasia or vice versa), but it's interesting as someone who DOES also have a much more lessened emotional range/pretty flat affect/etc. etc. to think like.. Maybe I WOULD be more emotional, in a way, if I could have these vivid experiences..?

Perhaps memories would hold deeper significance if they could really stay with me vividly. Or storytelling would evoke more of a deep emotional reaction to me if I could really picture and feel the things that are going on. If things were more TANGIBLE in my brain, rather than always merely conceptual highly abstracted ideas.

Kind of like, it's probably easier to get over the death of a pet or something, if after not seeing them for an hour you already don't remember what they looked like (beyond just a vague fact list of traits), and you have no vivid memories or mental reminders of them (beyond just factual information stores). COGNTIVIELY you can appreciate the idea of their absence, of course, you still miss them, but there's just no remaining visceral sensory ties. A very "out of sight, out of mind" sort of thing in terms of attachments, memories, emotions, etc. Maybe certain things are easier to "get over", when you're not having constant mental sensory reminders that occasionally rekindle your feelings about the event or etc.??

(like for example, maybe someone could remain angry about an argument longer if they could vividly replay it in their head over and over again. VS just like.. 'Yes I can factually recall the fact I had an argument, and I do have knowledge stored about what precisely was said, but any sort of sensory data such as sights/smells/feelings, etc. from the actual moment of the event are long gone and can never be conjured again in my mind." etc.)

Which again, I think lessened emotional permanence and image permanence in the mind are NOT inherently linked, can all be caused by different things for different people. And, since I can't visualize anything in my head, maybe I'm misunderstanding how it happens and the effect it may have on stuff like remembering things you miss or replaying arguments, etc. etc. But it's still a little interesting to think about, if they could influence each other to some degree.... :0c --

Lastly, It's also weird because I'm actually pretty good at estimating distance and spaces? I can quickly assemble furniture without an instruction manual, pretty easily have a concept of how much space a chair may take up in a room, how two mechanical parts might fit together - BUT, I am literally not actually visualizing anything. I cannot see 3D objects in my mind at ALL. It's like.. just based on the pure List Of Facts About Things Which I Have Observed.. I can intuitively go "oh this works like this/this is this size" just because.. I know it's that size. I don't have to see anything to know..?

But then on the other hand, I'm terrible at directions without a map (I guess because a 3d outdoor environment has WAY more complexity than like.. "Will this square fit into another square?"etc. lol ).

BUT, I also draw/sculpt/etc. entirely without references, and seem to do mostly okay at that..? Like.. I can't even remember the last time I actually used a reference or looked at anything whilst drawing. It's all muscle memory, and me just adjusting as I go until something "looks right" on paper, I never have a set image in my head (or external reference) before hand.. Hrmm....

AND.. I used to say that I had a photographic memory when I was younger, which I know NOW is not true (I always thought it was just an expression, not that people could literally see things in a photographic way). But what I was describing is, I do often associate information with imagery, just... without imagery....

Like "Oh, I know that I took my medicine earlier today because I have a distinct memory, a snapshot of a moment in time, of me rattling the pill bottle in my hands as I looked up at a stop sign while in the back seat of a car". When I say this, I can't ACTUALLY see/feel/hear a pill bottle, or vividly picture a stop sign, but it's more just a factual recall, of. Even though I don't see these things, I know they happened, the information of them happening (me hearing a sound and also looking at a stop sign at the same time) has been stored in my brain as a memory, a collection of linked facts. --

As for other senses, I cannot taste or feel anything in my head AT ALL.. wild that some people mention that. I mean, again, I can have a purely factual recall as if reading a textbook, knowing the information of 'X item typically has X texture, therefore I can imagine what it may be like to feel it' or 'X usually has this taste' etc. - but I can never actually experience those senses in any capacity in my mind alone. I would say audio is my strongest mental sense (maybe a 2.5 or 3 (if it were translated onto the above scale where 1 is most vivid and 5 is nothing)), then visual (4.5 at most, usually 5), and then taste and smell and such are just complete 5, absolutely nothing, I didn't even know people could experience taste or feeling just in their mind alone.. lol...

I know this is just a silly bad quality random screencap of a screencap that I found on facebook lol, BUT it's a succinct enough image to easily describe the concept in a quick/accessible way hopefully :

-

(and of course, feel free to elaborate in tags, etc.! (especially elaborating about other senses as well.. can you "hear" in your mind just as well as you can "see"? taste? etc.) It's an interesting topic to me, as someone who's like a 4.5 at MOST lol. I'm curious what option will be the most common :0c )

[fluffyglass]

How is fur color passed down through grumpuses?

A post about grumpus genetics

I know that the number one question regarding this topic is how on earth Snorpy and Floofty are complete opposites on the color wheel, and we'll get to that. But to get to that point, we have to talk about how the pigments in grumpus fur work. This is purely theoretical and not based in any canon whatsoever, it's just a very nice excuse for me to make charts. ONTO THOSE CHARTS!

At a very very basic level, there are three genes associated with grumpus fur color. They are called the M, Y and C genes after the colors they represent; Magenta, Yellow and Cyan respectively.

All hues of grumpus fur are combinations of these three genes. However, they are not all that goes into the determination of a grumpus' fur color. Alongside our friends M Y and C, we have their less common siblings, K and D! The K and D genes reflect the darkness and lightness of the fur color respectively.

(They don't have letters in this diagram. You'll get why later)

However, obviously every grumpus doesn't have the same amount of each pigment. That's where a handy distinction comes in: m, y, c, k and d are weaker versions of their respective genes. You'll be seeing a lot more of them than their full brightness counterparts. In fact, K and D are so dark and light that they're regarded as mostly theoretical genes, as either of them being active would make the fur entirely black or white.

Okay! We have all our letters sorted out. Three colors, two shades, and we know what they all mean. So, how do we take these and turn them into actual colors we can use? Let's use an example to demonstrate.

Filbo here is going to be our example color. He's cyan, but far less saturated than the pure C pigment. So he has one strong C gene, one weak k gene, and one weak d gene. He lacks the M and Y genes entirely. This results in him being the mellow light blue we all know.

You may have noticed that little "code" in the top left of the image. "Ckd" is the identification for his specific fur shade! Every fur shade can be identified with a code in this way. If a grumpus were to have all 5 genes active at the same time, that code would be MYCKD. No matter the strength of each gene, the order will always be the same. Magenta, Yellow, Cyan, Dark, Light. Absent genes are omitted from the code. Let's look at a few more examples so you can see what I mean.

Gramble's code is myd. It's fully lower case, as all three of his genes are the weak variations of their respective pigments. Weak m, weak y, and weak d.

Wiggle's code, mmY, may seem confusing at first, with its fancy double M. A doubled weak gene being part of a code means that the pigment it's associated with is a weaker version of the standard weak gene. There isn't an equivalent for the strong genes, as you can't get more pigmented than the pure pigment. To explain it simply, the strong gene is 100% pigment, the weak gene is 50% pigment, and the double weak gene is 25% pigment. Just know that if you see two letters in a row, it means that only an itty bitty bit of that pigment is in the final color.

With all our knowledge put together, Triffany's lengthy code can be understood. Weak m, strong Y, weak c, and double weak d. Her final color is only slightly lighter than the green you would get from just the code mYc.

Cool! Now we know how fur pigmentation works, and how to identify a color code. When do we get to the genetics stuff? RIGHT NOW BABY

A grumpus' fur color isn't just a 50/50 split between their parents. If it was, every grumpus would be a gross shade of grey or brown in a generation or two. Instead, there's a (somewhat) predictable way that each different gene combines.

The simplest combination is between two pure hues. A strong M and a strong C will result in a weak mc. Why is it a weak mc? Because when passed down, each pigment will get a bit weaker to account for the other pigment being added. This keeps the fur colors from getting too dark and saturated too fast.

The opposite is true when two grumpuses share a color gene. In this case, each parent's weak m gene combined into a strong M gene. Their strong Y and C turn into a weak y and c, which combined with the strong M, make that lovely purple. I think a somewhat random color is a much better compromise than the sort of sad grey that the kid would be if their parents colors were simply blended together.

Unlike color pigments, shade pigments cancel each other out instead of combining. So, a weak k gene and a weak d gene will simply vanish, leaving only the colored pigments. This is to prevent colors from getting too desaturated and grey. Grumpuses are colorful, dammit, I want them to stay colorful!

These are all very basic overviews of how colors are passed down through grumpus family lines. Let's look at a practical example now. You heard that right. It's finally time to look at those damn Fizzlebean siblings. Floofty's the older one, so let's start with them.

Getting this color from the previous codes is really really weird. I mean, where did the k gene come from? That's where things get complicated. So, get ready everyone, we're going another generation back!

As with humans, grumpus color and shade genes can be passed down by grandparents that "skip" a generation. The double weak k gene comes from their grandparent's weak k gene, that just so happened to skip over their parent. Perhaps both family lines had recessive K genes that then manifested in Floofty? I'm just saying shit at this point. Enough with Floofty, let's bring in THE OTHER ONE!!!

If Floofty had too many pigments in their color, then Snorpy seems to have too few. With a strong M and weak m from his parents, he logically should have a strong or weak m gene, not a double weak one. How do I explain this? That's the key: I don't. In this fur color theory, I'm presuming that Snorpy has a condition that gives him a heavy magenta deficiency. Come on, man. It was really hard to make a pair of siblings being purple and yellow work. Give me a break.

Also, if you look at Snorpy's code, it may seem familiar. That's right! Snorpy and Wiggle are genetically the same color. Isn't that fucked up and evil?

This is also an excellent segway into my next point. See how neither Wiggle nor Snorpy are exactly the color produced by mmY? While a code can get very very close to a grumpus' fur color, it'll never be truly exact. Genetics are unpredictable! It does let us have the very funny fact of Wiggle and Snorpy being technically the same color though. If you tried to tell Wiggle she was actually yellow, she would think you're colorblind. If you tried to tell Snorpy he was actually orange, he would think it's a government plot to gaslight him into not even trusting his own eyes.

I don't have any more examples. That's basically how my grumpus fur color theory works! You are all free to bask in my newfound glory of freeing the Bugsnax fandom from gross greyish fankids. Go forth and think far too hard about video game muppet colors. Frankie out.

[reidmoony-toast]

Never let me go. ౨ৎ

"But the arms of the ocean delivered me"

Spencer Reid x gn!reader

Spencer and r are investigating a case that involves a lake and a rickety old boat—the problem? They can't stand each other.

Content: based off this vid of George Russell and Carmen (it's so random I know but I was inspired), fluff, banter, enemies (ish) to lovers, forced proximity, romanic tension, Spencer does the Darcy hand flex (!) cw: lil bit of violence (they briefly mention a case) wc: 2.1k an: I started this AGES ago oh my lord but anyways I hope you enjoy this very weirdly specific prompt, ilyy <3

· · ───────────── ·𖥸· ───────────── · ·

About halfway down to the dock, you are seriously reconsidering this whole ordeal. Maybe it was Spencer’s confidence when he expressed his knowledge of boats when the officer offhandedly mentioned his massive workload, or maybe it’s your dedication to the job, or your unfortunate tendency for some light masochism. Whatever reason your brain had conjured previously has vanished into smoke between the police precinct and the gravel path you now traverse. 

The officer leads the way, Spencer walking beside him, discussing the impending trip that the two of you are about to take. Together. Alone. In the middle of the lake with a man who might have the theoretical—but certainly not the practical—knowledge to drive this boat without killing the both of you in a freak boating accident. 

You finally reach the dock, and you examine the death machine moored in front of you. It was an old police dinghy, with a small frame around the driver’s seat, and inflatable sides to increase its safety level. The officer begins to explain the workings of the boat, and you squint out at the expanse of lake before you, as you try to pay attention—if only so you can call Spencer up on anything he does minutely wrong. 

The officer eventually deems the two of you water-safe and gives his final farewells, echoed kindly by Spencer. After a few seconds, while Spencer is checking the mooring line, you clear your throat pointedly. 

Spencer glances up, eyebrow raised in question. You fold your arms across your chest. “I’m not getting into that boat with you as its captain.”

He stopped with the rope all together. “Technically, I'm the Skipper. Captain is saved for bigger vessels with more authority.”

You roll your eyes. “Yeah whatever, smart-ass. Still not letting you be my Skipper.” You huff. “I don't have a death wish.”

He lets out a long sigh, like you’re a petulant child. “You volunteered to come and look at the dump site with me. No backing out now.” He returns to his work, like your indignation is simply fleeting because he knows he will win in the end. “Plus, I need a second pair of eyes.”

You let out a loud groan. As much as you can’t stand to spend over an hour in a rusty old boat, with nobody for company but Spencer Reid, you have a job to do, and you can’t very well flake out now. What would Hotch say if you came back now, with the only excuse being ‘I can’t deal with Spencer’? Most likely something about being disappointed at your immaturity, that you can’t even manage to work with one of your fellow team members. 

“Fine.” You snap, unendingly irritated that you have to concede to Spencer. The corner of his mouth tips up in triumph, and you have the violent urge to kick him in the face. He’s in the perfect position for it, too. But, of course, being a mature adult, you gallantly resist.

“I’ll grab our stuff, you can get in.” Spencer passes you, heading to your equipment bag, as you step to the edge of the pier. It’s a much further way down than it had looked from where you were previously standing, and you pause for a moment, assessing the best way to get into the boat without falling into the chilled lake water. 

You sit on the edge, attempting to lower yourself down into the dinghy below, but your legs are too short, and you scrabble for purchase, trying to reach the boat floor, and succeeding, but only with the tips of your shoes. 

“Do you need help with that?” Spencer speaks up from behind you, a lilt of amusement clouding his voice. You continue your pitiful attempts to climb into the small boat from the too-high dock. 

“I'm fine.” You say, petulantly, not bothering to turn to address Spencer, as you knew he would be smiling at your misfortune. Finally, you shakily lower yourself down until you fall heavily onto the floor of the boat, staggering when it rocks in the water. 

“Whatever you say.” 

You turn just in time to see him swiftly, and with a surprising amount of grace for a man you have seen trip over nothing but his own feet, enter the boat. He lets out a low chuckle as he passes you towards the controls. 

“Show off.” You scoff loudly, and roll your eyes so hard you’re surprised they return back to the realm of the living at all—although it's not like he could see it anyways as he fiddles with the buttons at the helm. 

You and Spencer spend the whole boat ride, and examination of the watery dump site, bickering about god knows what. From Spencer’s questionable driving skills, to your glove application, to your differing opinions on the case. While the whole situation was bothersome, you find yourself surprisingly unvexed, even to go so far as to somewhat enjoy yourself. You shake off those thoughts—Spencer is a pain in your ass, and that will never change.

“You’re seriously doing it wrong.” You say for the hundredth time, as Spencer jerkily guides the two of you back to shore. 

“I’m doing fine, okay?” The boat jolts, and you wobble, letting out a yelp, before finding your feet again. “Stop doubting my abilities and trust me.”

“I am most definitely doubting your judgement, and I do not trust you!” You tightly grip one of the rusty beams of the cockpit. “I was almost flung out of the boat just then, you maniac!”

“Calm down.” Spencer counters, sounding exasperated.

“I think I have a say in how I go out, and dying in a dusty old police boat with you of all people is not what I choose!” You make a noise of frustration when Spencer simply laughs at your agonising. 

“Is that really a bad way to go?” He keeps his eyes on the approaching dock, but there is a lilt of amusement in his tone.

“The worst.” You groan out, and Spencer chuckles jovially.

By some miracle, Spencer manages to dock the boat, and he motions for you to disembark first. 

You stare at the dock, and your stomach dips. You might have had trouble getting into the boat in the first place, but getting out? That was a whole other story. This was certainly going to be a lot trickier than it was before. 

“Need some help?” Spencer pipes up, just like before—the deja vu was very definitely unappreciated. He must have seen your assessment in your hesitation, and taken it as yet another opportunity to terrorise you.

“No.” You move to the edge, judging the large distance before you—the gap was considerably larger now, and it was much harder to traverse up than down. You blamed Spencer’s questionable boat-driving skills. The length wasn't a problem by itself, but paired with the height, it was an impossible feat for someone with your frame. You bend your knees, ready to jump across—your hopeless plan to somehow get yourself from the boat to the dock. You lean forward, but almost lose your balance, stepping back abruptly to prevent a very unpleasant outcome.

You finally bail on your fruitless attempts when you realize it would most likely end with you either in the water, very injured, or with a severely bruised ego. Less than if you let Spencer help, that is, but the other two options weren't something you wanted to experience. 

You exhale slowly, knowing you had to admit defeat. You turn slowly, facing Spencer. He grins, knowing what your look meant. 

You hated needing the help of others, preferring to do everything yourself; assistance from others always felt like a personal failure. You also knew you could be… stubborn, and you had rejected Spencer's help already, so this was certainly a blow to your ego.

You stare at him impatiently, waiting for him to get the memo that you need his help. A shit-eating grin spreads across his face and his eyebrow flicks up in a silent mocking question. 

“Spencer.” You deadpan, fixing him with a glare. 

He shoots your name back to you in the same flat tone, eyes dancing in amusement. You glare back, unblinking. A battle of wills arises in the form of prolonged intense eye contact, but you unfortunately don't possess the demanding expression you were hoping for, and you begrudgingly admit defeat.

“Can you…” You groan at the words you have to utter. “help me.” 

“What’s the magic word?” 

Scratch that. The scathing look you were searching for? There it was. Spencer snorted, wholly entertained by the whole situation. You debate shoving him straight into the grimy lake. 

“Please.” You grit out. 

“Thank you.” He says cordially, like he was a perfect gentleman. Yeah, the lake could definitely help him see the hard truths. 

He walks forward carefully, trying his best not to rock the boat too much. As he enters your space, your chest tightens slightly, but you don't read into it. That was something to unpack later. Much later. 

“Can I?” Spencer asks, and you realise he's asking permission to touch you. You nod quickly, watching in morbid anticipation as his hands snake towards you, settling carefully but firmly on your hips. You snap your attention away, desperate to break the strained silence with the first thing that comes to mind.

“Are you even strong enough for this?” The execution of nonchalance you were aiming for is partially botched when your voice comes out breathier than normal. 

“Ouch.” Spencer hisses, tutting amusedly. “You’re relentless today, aren't you?” His hands break from their hold on your hips and fold across his chest, and you feel an utterly irrational sense of disappointment. 

“I might not be Morgan, but I’m still an agent.” He glances down at your form, sizing you up like you’re a bothersome math equation. “Also, I’m guessing you weigh about as much as a small sack of potatoes, so you’ll be fine.” 

You scoff at that, but don’t argue back, and Spencer takes it as his green light. 

“Brace on my shoulders or you’ll make this very difficult for the both of us.” He replies, and you hesitantly place your hands on his shoulders, not wanting to get any closer to Spencer than you already are. 

He rolls his eyes. “Are you even trying?” 

“Geez, I’m so sorry I respect the personal space of others, I won't be so considerate next time.” You jab back, narrowing your eyes at him. He responds with an amused huff, but doesn't speak as he gently moves your hands to where he wants them. You shiver.

One ends up on his bicep, while the other wraps around the back of his neck. His hands fall back to your middle, but instead of settling back on your hips, his large hands mould to your waist, flexing as he finds his grip. They tighten and he pulls you closer than ever. You find yourself with nothing to say—witty retorts form in your throat, yet none seem willing to come out.

“Ready?” He says in your ear, voice low. 

“No,” you answer, still very apprehensive at his physical ability to get you all the way to the dock. 

“Too bad.”

Before you can retort, he lifts you with surprising strength and ease in one smooth movement, and you let out a small squeak at the suddenness of it all. He swings your body around, using the momentum to haul you onto the high dock, long fingers digging into the flesh of your hips to keep hold during the precarious lift. It was more of a controlled throw, if you’re being picky—which you always are.

You wobble slightly, but manage to gain your balance on the waterlogged wooden planks. You glance back to Spencer, who is standing stock-still on the little boat, eyes a little unfocussed. You watch as the warm hands that were just clenched on your waist flex once, twice, before he blinks a moment later and looks towards the dock. Towards you. 

“All good?” He asks, voice strained.

“I’ll live.” You stare at Spencer for a moment, before shaking yourself from your slight stupor and turning to head back up the hill. 

“Now hurry up,” you call over your shoulder. Spencer simply sighs, lifting himself easily from the boat and jogging to catch up, hauling your shared belongings onto his back. 

As you finally re-enter the precinct a little while later, Spencer peeling off to debrief the team, you swear your hips still tingle from where his hands were wrapped tightly around them mere minutes ago. 

But, like you said. You would think about that later.

· · ────────���──── ·𖥸· ───────────── · ·

Thank you for reading, feedback is appreciated x

Tags: @reidology13 @thegloryofliterature <3 - Comment to be added!

Masterlist ౨ৎ

[coraniaid]

trick or treat!

This is a Kendra headcanon that I like a lot but that I'm not sure will ever make it into anything I'm writing.

So: Kendra occupies a pretty strange place in the wider setting of Buffy. She's the first Slayer other than Buffy we meet, but the show itself is pretty aggressively uninterested in her. After the two parter she's introduced in, she's not mentioned again until Becoming, when she comes back to be killed off. She'll only be mentioned a couple of times after her death. Years and years after the show ended, Joss Whedon retroactively gave her full name as "Kendra Young", even though Kendra herself tells Giles that "[she] has no last name".

And the little scraps of backstory we do get about Kendra don't really feel consistent with anything we learn about how Slayers and Potentials operate, either. Kendra was identified as a potential Slayer when she was very small, and her parents (apparently willingly) gave her up to be raised by her Watcher, a Mr Sam Zabuto. She's very, very rules-focused, and familiar not just with the Slayer handbook but with more general details of the supernatural (for example: she's read about Angel before, which Giles himself hadn't, and she can cite sources about the Order of Taraka that Giles seems not to have read).

Meanwhile, the Council didn't know anything about Buffy or Faith until they were both Called, as far as we can tell, and even Potentials like Season 7's Kennedy who were identified at a young age don't seem to have been treated much like Kendra. Kennedy was trained to use weapons, but she doesn't seem to have separated from her parents (at least not based on how she talks about her childhood to Willow) or expected to memorize the contents of multi-volume arcane texts that even a Watcher like Giles describes as being "a bit stodgy" (in fact she tells Willow that magic "seems like fairy tale crap", so her theoretical knowledge must be pretty limited). Something is strange about Kendra. She's not like the other Slayers.

Kendra herself tells Buffy that "[her] people" take Slaying very seriously and that she sent to live with her Watcher at such a young age that she "doesn't really remember" her parents. And ... okay, well, let's be honest: this is mostly just bad writing. It can be explained by a combination of the show trying to position Kendra as, at all levels, an opposite to Buffy [Buffy lives with her mom so Kendra doesn't; Buffy's parents don't know she's a Slayer so Kendra's do; Buffy dislikes studying so Kendra must excel at it; Buffy has friends and dates so Kendra can't, etc.] and not caring particularly if the results add up to anything consistent. And it can, more damningly, be explained by the Buffy writers' regular automatic assumption that non-white people living outside the USA are necessarily more "primitive" and more in touch with old, pre-modern traditions, that they are less interested in the happiness of the individual and more respectful of authority and in doing what is best for the collective. That Kendra's people are like the Incans who sacrified the girl who we only know as "Ampata" (not her real name, of course), or the Shadow Men who activated the First Slayer, or Jenny Calendar's Uncle Enyos (who explicitly contrasts the beliefs of his "tribe" to those of "the modern man").

But what if things were different? What if this wasn't just another example of the show's constant background racism?

As it happens, as early as Season 1 we were already introduced to a group of people who take Slaying very seriously and who pass knowledge of the supernatural and the occult down to their children. People who think of themselves as having "destinies" and who make "tiresome speeches about responsibility and sacrifice". What if this group is, unbeknowst to her, the people Kendra is refering to when she tells Buffy about "[her] people"? What if Kendra's parents were Watchers?

We know that the Council don't always identify Potential Slayers at a young age, but they did manage to identify Kendra, at a young enough age that being a Potential is practically all the life she knows. What could explain that better than if Kendra herself grew up surrounded by Watchers? As soon as they decided to start looking for nearby Potentials, they'd have found one practically under their feet.

What if Kendra's parents had been expecting to train her as a Watcher, but now found themselves having to face the fact she might be Called as a Slayer? What if that's why her training focused so much on reading books and studying theory; why it made her into somebody Buffy describes as a "she-Giles"? What if her parents were hoping that she would grow up never being Called, until she was old enough that she never would, and she could become the Watcher they were always hoping she would be?

Well, we might ask: why then does Kendra claim not to remember her parents? And why does she tell Giles she doesn't have a last name?

This is, in fact, something of a mystery in any case: if Kendra's parents knew she was a Potential and were happy for her to be raised by Watchers -- even if they weren't Watchers themselves -- why was it necessary for them to cut off all ties with her? Why did she have to be raised in isolation? It can't have been for secrecy, because these people would have known that Kendra was a Potential Slayer. Again, this isn't something we see the Council insist on for any other Potential Slayer. Was there some ulterior reason that Kendra couldn't be allowed to know who her parents were, or to talk to people who might have known them?

Well, remember what Quentin Travers accuses Giles of having in Helpless: "a father's love for the child ... and that is useless to the cause". How might somebody like Travers reacted to finding out that a Watcher had potentially given birth to a Slayer? Would he trust them to raise her? Would he allow it?

What if, instead of cheerfully giving her up, Kendra's Watcher parents -- or perhaps parent, singular -- had to agree to raise her as if she wasn't theirs, just to prevent the Council from swooping in and taking her away? What if the reason Kendra thinks she hasn't got a last name is that, if she'd remembered what it was, she'd have noticed it was the same as somebody else she knew? What if, while Buffy had a Watcher she often thought of as a father even though they weren't biologically related, and who was punished for being too much of a father figure, Kendra had a Watcher who was related to her, but who was under Council orders not to tell her that he was?

What if "Kendra Young" was born "Kendra Zabuto"?

[drphonestre]

Jimmy | Psychological analysis of Mouthwashing's protagonist

Reminder: this analysis is based on my knowledge of psychology and on the sources I have seen in my studies (Psychanalytic and Clinic) at university. I apologize if my English isn’t perfectly understandable as it isn’t my primary language. Thank you for reading and feel free to express your POV, but also to share my post with credits (Phonestre).

Note: studying Jimmy’s personality and psychology isn’t an easy task as his anamnesis cannot be done completely, but only theoretically. Psychoanalysis isn’t much translated and possess mostly French and German terms. I have tried to translate them the best I could when I couldn’t find official translations.

Theory: Jimmy has BPD (borderline personality disorder) I will prove my point by evoking the symptoms from the clinical and psychoanalytic perspectives.

Psychanalytic perspective

First of all, it is highly noticeable that Jimmy is presenting symptoms of psychosis. Theses symptoms are a part of the borderline personality disorder (which is equivalent to the “trouble de la personnalité limite” which translates to “Limited personality disorder) in which we can find, as well, symptom of neurosis.

In Jimmy’s personality, the symptoms of neurosis which are the most noticeable are the need for control and the fact that he sets himself high standards. He needs to be the best and to succeed and tends to beat himself if he cannot be as good as he wants to be (saying that Curly is a way better captain than he could ever be, for example, and his mental breakdown after he realizes it).

We can also notice the Foreclosing (Forclusion in french) in Jimmy’s behavior and especially in his hallucinations : every mistake he make, every wrong step causing negative consequences ends up haunting him in a symbolic way, through visual and auditory hallucinations (for example : getting hunted by Polle which seems to be representing his culpability, the accumulation of his mistakes, and his possible unborn child with Anya. Each mistake from Jimmy only makes his hallucinations worse).

“The foreclosed symbolic will be brought back into reality through visual, auditory, etc. hallucinations. Delusional ideas can appear linked to sexuality, to the body, to love, or even to sexual intercourses.

There is a form of breach when it comes to the Other (with a big “O”, the unfamiliar individuals, the foreign), which makes building relationships or even having acquaintances difficult”

His only close friend seems to be Curly, in which he seems to recognize himself (the other with a small “o”, the familiar, the mirror).

In the limited personality disorder, there is a noticeable instability in the relation to others (with a small “o”), switching between idealization and depreciation.

In his friendship with Curly we clearly notice it :

Idealizing Curly as the best captain, the best version of himself, his best friend, the one he wants to be… (IDEALIZATION)

Raw hatred, feeling as if Curly was abandoning him, and that Curly was self-centered, egocentric, arrogant… (DEPRECIATION)

And yet, we can indeed acknowledge that he identifies himself to Curly (other with a small “o”), as he keeps switching between viewing Curly as the captain, then viewing himself as the captain, and showing some confusion about who really crashed the ship (thinking it’s Curly’s fault, then acknowledging it’s his own fault at the end, struggling with denial).

He wanted both: to have all that Curly had (job as a captain, success, and a form of social recognition) and to be Curly himself (getting a promotion from the company and starting a new life without difficulties, not ending up at the bottom again).

The imaginary registry will then be of major influence, causing paranoia with the persuasion of knowing what the others had planned and what they thought : persuaded that Curly wanted to abandon them and start his new life, that he didn’t like them and felt as if he deserved better than being with a bunch of “failures”, but also thinking that Swansea was keeping the cryo for himself, and that Anya was going to kill Curly when she locked herself in the medical room.

This is something we also find in the jouissance without limits (Lacan), he is persuaded that others will want to hurt him in one way or another and show a high instability in life (difficulties on earth, probably linked to having the past of a criminal).

“Jouissance causes an absence of phantasms at times, which is shown by a lack, or instability of personal goals (personal projects, professional, instable and/or that keeps changing) and irregular symptoms”

His relationship with others is driven by aggression (tendencies to yell on others, try to intimidate them, using his impulsivity to gain control on others by fear and authority) or erotism (for example: joking about being attracted to cartoon horses to Anya, SA…--> Inappropriate sexual behavior)

“The subject being stuck with difficulties to differentiate himself from others will stay in an erotic or aggressive attitude toward others.”

Jimmy seems to present a certain dysfunction in the symbolic registry : indeed, he seems to take idioms literally, for example “climbing at the top of the ladder”, needing to climb down to climb another ladder, saying that he keeps climbing even if Curly doesn’t. (Climbing at the top of the ladder means getting higher and higher in their profession in that situation).

Jim also seems to be attached to Curly, because he represents who and what he wants to be from one hand. It’s an attachment based on identification. The only moments where he seems to be friendlier and warmer with Curly is when he relates to him, or recognize himself in him (Before the crash : when Curly felt down and that they were both going to be in troubles, wanting to “fix” the situation for both of them. After the crash : realizing that they both failed when they tried to do their best, realizing ONLY when he ended up In a similar-ish situation)

“Most of his relations are empty of any warmth, and that most of the emotions are expressed in a formal way, the personal feelings entirely included. The identification seems like a solution.” (Deutsch)

Jimmy ended up identifying his job at pony express as his own life, so when he lost his job, he felt as if he lost everything. If he doesn’t identify himself as his role (co-captain, that gives him a sense of control), nor as Curly, he is nothing. He doesn’t have any particular hobbies out of weightlifting with Curly (source: devs), so everything seems to revolve either around Curly and or his job. This identification allows him to ignore his past filled with difficulties, which give him a sense of worth when it comes to his existence.

Clinical Perspective

For that part, I will use what I’ve learned from the DSM-5, for the Borderline personality disorder. Most of the things described as symptoms are fitting for Jimmy and what we can observe from his behavior through the game.

Unstable vision of himself and his identity

Unstable self-confidence, setting high standards toward himself (and others…) Ex. “I need to do everything myself” Dissociation under stressful events Hallucinations (Polle, Curly) Seeing himself in Curly

Unstable visions of his goals in life

Ex. Feeling like he lost everything because Pony Express doesn’t exist anymore, making him lose his job that gave a meaning to his life. Difficulties in the past with a noticeable demotivation (Ex. Curly had to motivate him to join the job, source : how fish is made)

Difficulties to understand and recognize the emotions of others with an interpersonal hypersensibility

Focus mainly on his own feelings and perceptions, which makes him have high expectations toward others and lack empathy

Perceptions of others based on negative aspects

Focused on what he thinks about others, points out everyone’s flaws : Seeing Swansea as a liar and useless, seeing Anya as useless and whiny, seeing Curly as self-centered and hypocrite, …

Intensity and Instability in relationships

Ex. With Curly --> strong bond but that keeps switching between “you’re the best” and “I hate you”

Mistrust toward others with suspicions of hidden intentions

Ex. Persuaded that Curly wanted to get rid of him and move on, that Swansea was trying to save himself, that Anya didn’t want to take care of Curly…

Needs of validation from others

Jealousy toward Curly, angry and annoyed whenever he hears about Curly being an excellent captain, wants to be him instead and getting the praise, doing his hardest to be called as captain

Anxiety toward abandonment (real or imaginary)

Saw the end of Pony Express as an abandonment from Curly which caused an episode

Unstable attachment pattern

Insecure Ambivalent. Ex. Sometimes, he listen to Curly expressing the way he feels, and does the same (trust), and at other moments, he doesn’t even want to hear him say anything and turns abusive

Negative affects

Anxiety, depression (with suicidal thoughts, ex. The crash), feeling of emptiness

Disinhibition

Impulsivity and risks taking (the crash, his behavior toward Anya and Curly, bursts of Anger…)

Antagonism

Hostility (always into conflicts in a way or another, with a passive-aggressive, sarcastic behavior, tendencies to victimize himself)

In men, BPD shows itself in a rather different way than in women. We can notice more : moods swings, difficulties to regulates own emotions, fear of abandonment, outbursts of anger or rage (resulting in violent behavior and more impulsivity), episodes of dissociations.

After all, his job brought him a sense of stability, of control… Something he seemed to not be able to achieve due to his “difficulties on earth”.

The loss of his job and the feeling of abandonment seems to have caused an episode, and even a “split” in the way he views Curly. The crash of the ship is nothing but the consequence of impulsivity, caused by the emotional despair. After all, we don’t really know… what if Anya didn’t hide the gun ? maybe he would have used it immediately to end himself. After all he could easily get the code to gain access to it.

The fear of what could happen once back on earth accumulated with all the negative, stressful feelings contributed to his impulsive acts. He knew he would end up “at the bottom of the ladder” again because of what he did to Anya (and that she was pregnant). He was probably fearing to get abandoned by Curly, who seemed to have done a lot to help him get through the difficulties of his past, since he helped him to get his job and become co-captain. Curly seemed to be his main source of recognition and pride, since he always pointed the positive in Jimmy, and believed in him. (Curly could be what we consider the “favorite person” of Jimmy, which is quite common in patients with BPD).

“I hope it hurts”

“pain is how we know we're still living”

From Jimmy perspective, it could be linked to him feeling constant pain, which is common in BPD. “I hope it hurts” could be seen as  “I hope you can get in my shoes”, or could simply being hope that Curly survived. I don’t think the second sentence was meant to be mean, but more of a fact that he relates, in a way.

“You are what you eat”. I think this popular sentence works well to talk about the scene where he cuts and eats Curly’s leg. Cannibalism is a metaphor I often saw in patients with bpd, and it’s true that the barrier between hate and love (whether it being friendship, romantic, etc.) is incredibly thin. So, it tends to mix together. I think that Jim might have craved being Curly, the captain, so badly that he ate a part of him to become him. I mean, in the end, he made Curly eat a part of himself, as if giving him back the role of captain, and right after that he apologized and took responsibility.

Psychosis allowed him to adapt post-crash, making reality more acceptable through delusion and hallucinations, so he doesn’t snap and kill himself. (ex. Victimization, feeling of persecution and fear of abandonment, pushing him to blame others for his own mistakes and misery).

This is why at the end, when he realizes that he is the culprit (since there is no one else but him and Curly, confronting him to reality), he ends up killing himself and saving Curly (since he still cared about him and genuinely felt sorry, after all, he thought the crash would kill them all, not only put Curly in such a state).

Indeed, people suffering from psychosis tend to snap and make a suicide attempt when they are confronted to raw reality, that is often unbearable for them if filled with guilt.

[odileeclipse]

genuine question, with ur Sage of Truth x reader series, how do u come up with the stuff about magic study

..ok im bad at explaining but like u know the like magic terminology, the formulas, stuff like that relating to the magic stuff the reader is studying. Is coming up for that stuff hard? Did u base it off other stuff? I just think it's really impressive

Also, another mini question, how do you go about writing the Sage of Truth? His character is very interesting, and the way he speaks is very poetic and wise and stuff. It must be really interesting to write.

But yeah. Loved ur part 4 for the series i get go giddy and happy when I read every new part cause it's just so goodd!!

Hope ur doing well mootie and getting good sleep 💞

This post is going to be a little messy because I'm just going to word dump rq since I don't know how to explain it without rambling on so my apologies mootie <3

Okay so a majority of this is based off of chemical reactions I replace everything with magical words! like balancing magic is based on like the stabilization of chemical reactions and some of it based off of Grignard's reagents reactions how things need to be completely dry (in our case our will cause it's magic) or it's highly reactive and violent. Some things are philosophical and yes, it's actually a lot harder than it sounds because even I don't have a full grasp on everything I speak on, but since it's magical it gives me more creative freedom to make it seem like something else... I don't know if it makes sense but for example, the reason the professor says it's a philosophical approach is because I based it off of a philosophical thing I learned about reason, it basically states that reason alone can't make you do things and that only another emotion can overrule another and that reason doesn't know about emotions. So in this case reason would be magic, but the philosophical question is, "Can you make a choice based off of reason alone?" Of course I think not which is why I think it's only natural that in order to have strong magic you need to be mentally and emotionally strong in our case have strong will. But something that helps me is like brainstorming reactions beforehand, like I couldn't pinpoint exactly what I'm deriving from because I write them down as I get into this sort of flow state. But it's just based off of my knowledge of general+organic chemistry. Which is why if you go back a lot of it is about reactions. And alchemy and astronomy but those are my biggest influences.

This may be a very disappointing answer guys but it's hard for me to answer because it's not like I come with it on the spot it takes me like a while...it's not so much the writing part because I'm a pretty fast typer (I think) my wpm is 77 so it's not super slow but not super fast but that's around 4k words per hour (assuming no distractions) and my fics for this are like 4-7k words so the writing part itself is not the time-consuming part it's thinking about how I might apply chemistry.

Coming up with magic terminology, formulas, and theories is one of my favorite parts of worldbuilding. It can be tricky, but it's super fun once I get into a flow. I usually base it on a mix of real-world concepts (like alchemy, astronomy, linguistics, and physics) and existing fantasy magic systems, but then I tweak it to fit the vibe of Blueberry Yogurt Academy. For example, if I were to create a spell for, say, astral projection, I'd probably think about how ancient scholars might have viewed the soul leaving the body. I might mix in terms from dream theory, old star charts, or even quantum entanglement to make it feel like something a scholar at the Academy would study. But again a lot of it is made up so any magic or anything that coincides with "real" magic is purely coincidental. I really just try and mix words that fit together of course I do have to do my own research and stuff but most of it is just made up magical things based on things I've learned things about.

As I'm writing this I remember I wrote something it's when I was brainstorming on my google doc which I'll just paste here I think it's a lot more clear sort of? But basically this is sort of the bare bones of it and then as I'm writing I embellish to make it legit of course I do have to go on wikipedia to search for "magical terms"

Theoretical Magic & The Law of Truth

Magic in this setting is deeply tied to knowledge, logic, and perception it requires both understanding and precise execution.

The Law of Truth will be a governing principle, suggesting that magic operates based on absolute truths rather than subjective beliefs. If something is factually incorrect, the spell structure collapses.

This makes magic an academic pursuit, requiring scholars to study universal truths, paradoxes, and logical structures to correctly wield it.

The Structure of Spells

Magic isn’t just about reciting incantations it follows a formulaic, almost mathematical structure.

Spells are constructed like arguments or equations, with components that must be balanced:

Premise (Concept/Intent): The foundation of the spell; must be logically sound.

Catalyst (Energy/Source): What fuels the spell, possibly drawn from the caster’s understanding or external forces.

Expression (Manifestation): The way the spell takes form, shaped by the precision of the caster’s execution.

This is why (y/N) will struggle they might understand the premise but fail at the execution, or vice versa.

The Use of Glyphs & Magical Notation

Spells can be written using glyphs, sigils, or a special notation system that encodes magical principles.

It’s possible that magic is recorded in a language that must be understood logically rather than memorized, making it extra difficult for beginners.

The reader has difficulty with this aspect, which is why they might struggle with practical application.

The Sage of Truth’s Role & Perspective

The Sage is a master of this magic system, likely because they grasp universal truths without bias. Their magic is precise because their understanding is flawless.

They probably teach by guiding the mc to see things objectively, rather than just drilling formulas into their head.

The Reader’s Weakness & Potential Strength

At the beginning, they struggle because they approach magic like a school subject rather than a fundamental truth of existence.

However, their struggle will make it known that they have the capacity for deep insight; they just need to learn how to see rather than just study.

There’s potential for them to develop a unique style of magic later, possibly blending intuition with logic.

And now for my favorite part the sage of truth, so I looked at all of his voice lines thanks to the wiki <3 and I based it off of that and I tried to come up with a persona I think he would embody. He is very different from Shadow Milk Cookie which is super apparent in the KR dub because his voice is so much gentler and kinder and his whole persona to me says he is a kind studious person who wants to see people succeed. He wants to spread knowledge and to me, that seems really philosophical and something I've noticed from philosophical scholars is how poetic they are in how they speak. One of my favorite philosophers even before learning about him in the academic sense is Bentham the way he words things is so interesting to me however I do think it is morbid he wanted his body to be preserved in the classroom because he thought it would bring his students motivation. But I digress.

He doesn't waste words because everything he says has purpose and truth woven into it. It's why when the reader pries into hearing more about him it sort of throws him off a little bit. His speech is more "elongated" slower? because he doesn't rush as I think he believes that truth doesn't falter or hurry and example of something I would write for a different character vs him would be like.

Instead of saying "You're struggling because you don't understand the fundamentals," he’d say: "You attempt to sculpt from air and wonder why the form does not hold. Foundation must precede creation, lest you craft only illusions."

The only reason I can do this somewhat is because I used to love writing poems...I have a lot of bad poems though...

But to me it seems that he perceives truth in all of things which makes him really eerily perceptive, and since he has a lot of experience under his belt (he is a renowned scholar) he can see the mc struggle before they voice them but it's also partially because the mc gives it away with their facial expressions which often time are more telling than anything they say. He also guides rather than command pushing the reader to understand instead of handing solutions he nudges them towards revelations. I think he also plays into his persona a bit where he doesn't mix emotions and studies perhaps with his most dearest friends right? but not with someone he's supposed to be guiding I won't say more on this as I have a lot of ideas for how I will develop their relationship. He also isn't cruel and understands frustration is an essential and fundamental part of learning.

But the thing is he does see potential in you as the reader... Hopefully this answers your question...

As you can see I put a LOT of thought into this fanfic and into this response but ever since I made that poll I had an inkling about who was going to win based off of the first day so that's when I began brainstorming.

This is sort of the process for all of this however I just want to note that it is difficult and sometimes I just rely on my own intuition even if it's wrong and then i go back and read if it's really bothering me I just change the whole paragraph and scrap the previous writing I think that's the beauty of writing being able to revise and allowing yourself to part from previous work. however, if I really like it I'll just keep it somewhere to the side.

[gynandromorph]

god this shit took forever to sketch. another NofNA emulation comic. it reminds me of the midterms in secretary, for obvious reasons, but Legend is sort of an inverse secretary situation, where she is exceptional at fighting, but wants to write.

let me see what i can remember...

PS, the blue-eyed black lemur, has been friends with Legend since their mutual first season at college, as mentioned above her reference sketch... they probably became more friendly after being paired up to peer edit each others' work. PS has since graduated from college and works as a markscraft. Legend frequently commissions PS to scribe for her, not only because they are friends, but because PS is one of the few markscrafts in the area who isn't a rodent. many primates go into law or medicine. mainly Legend commissions notetaking in classes -- she is too insecure to share her stories. PS has a more relaxed, informal personality, and i tried to get that across -- i think it's relevant to why she decided to become a markscraft instead of pursuing more intense study. still, i also tried to get across that they are good friends, not just scribe and customer, particularly with the amount of touching that PS does. the impulse to touch and groom is probably innate for her as a primate. there isn't as much information about her species, but in ring-tailed lemurs, lemurs usually only groom based on the strongest bonds, rather than more communal aggregate grooming as a sort of social currency. i honestly don't know what PS would need to note during finals, but i think Legend just Wanted her there anyway.

the bird, DL, fighting the squirrel, GG, is a grey shrike. i imagine him as an average student in the middle of his education, but i think he is in the class for combat purposes, because pressure point manipulation can be incredibly powerful, more so if from a less expected species like a bird.

mr. deciding is a much more serious, no-nonsense teacher, possibly due to his specialty. when you're teaching students how to explode a kidney with a handshake, you probably just play it safe and try to put the fear of god into them before any kidneys get exploded. i wanted this class to have a much heavier emphasis on safety of the participants than the class in secretary, with a more focused goal than "who can beat the shit out of each other better." i think the goal of fighting to show off knowledge here is still Fucking Insane, but it's just. their culture, i guess. you can technically "move" your pressure points, so being able to defend yourself by utilizing this knowledge can also show off what you've retained. the mouse next to him is a proctor, who is an extra teacher brought in to judge and often write for another teacher, but primarily as a peacekeeper and bouncer. in classes where a student can theoretically totally disable a teacher by just touching them once, the precaution is seen as necessary. the mouse is probably a combat-oriented point invocation instructor.

the mandrill, MK, is a first-season or first-year student -- i assume that one class, from midterms to finals, is a season, as secretary seems to start near autumn. midterms have snow, and finals are during early spring. anyway, that's tangential. i think he's very new to the educational system. i pictured him as a medical student. in his fighting style, i made him more defensive; he doesn't really know nearly as much about attacking an opponent in a fight. he does think at least about his opponent's most immediate reactions, but doesn't have enough experience with fighting to think ahead to the degree that Legend does. you can see him make the same mistake that Legend did against Machinations, which disables his non-dominant hand. needless to say, he will probably always be aware of headbutt proximity now. he attempts to use two factures in the fight within a style meant to evoke debilitating vertigo by manipulating the connection between the occular, vestibular, and proprioceptive systems. it's obvious that he created the style from his medical classes. it is fairly empty as far as styles go. interrupted facture: nystagmus, which causes the world to spin around the opponent by involuntarily twitching the eyes back and forth. second facture: strabismus, which misaligns the pupils, primarily impeding aim. denied by Legend because a honey badger does not rely on vision or a vestibular system as much as a primate does -- not something he really considered when making the style. factures that never ended up being used: pursuit, which forces the target to follow a spinning image of themselves instead of looking where they should; and mask's lasting, which forcibly initiates saccadic masking, suppressing the intake of new visual information altogether.

the large bird is a bateleur. the mouse is just a regular house mouse. the lizard is an ornate sandveld lizard. the opponent of the lizard is a common mole-rat, also called an african mole-rat (even though most species of mole-rats live in africa). the monkey god i'm not super sure but i believe it's just a vervet monkey. the other mouse is also a common house mouse.

GG is a second-year student, which is the last year for a rodent. i think she's been kind of aimless -- she thinks incredibly fast as a squirrel, and finds solving problems in the moment to be a much more successful endeavor than trying to plan ahead. she doesn't worry about the future and doesn't ruminate on the past much. she's aware that she isn't the best ever and doesn't apply herself as much as others, but it also doesn't particularly bother her. kind of ironic, given the aesop she slops onto Legend after the fight. i imagine that she will eventually choose the name Serendipity. i tried to write her lack of foresight, but compensatory quick thinking in both fights. like the shrike, GG is a combat-oriented student. the style she briefly introduces at the beginning is called fanciful flower's delightful blight. it is based on the deadly nightshade flower and its berries -- which are toxic, obviously, and a hallucinogenic. squirrels flick their tails for many reasons, and the most common reason is simply a default flicking to attract predators. their tails are designed to "deglove" easily; if a predator lunges for their tail, which is the moving part of them, the skin and fur will tear off, and the squirrel can escape. delightful blight utilizes the attention-grabbing flicking of the squirrel's tail as a nightshade plant to induce a trance-like state. the berries represent temptations so much more pleasing than what you ought to focus on. a nice berry and a flower to smell are so much nicer than struggling in a fight. even when you resist them, they linger in your mind, and "plant seeds" when the berry falls as self-restraint is worn down over repeated abstinence from the temptation. factures induce hallucinations and nausea. she primarily uses the base rodent style to fight Legend here, but also uses base squirrel style twists, which include more acrobatics, backflipping, and contortions.

the two things that really catch Legend off-guard use limbs that she doesn't have, and most opponents don't have -- elbows long enough to use defensively, and a long, rope-like tail. she is otherwise supposed to be fairly adept at analyzing what an opponent will do, usually a few steps ahead, related to her ability to fabricate narratives quickly. you can see her also come up with a lie for kicking GG fairly quickly... she was going to say the impulse was in her legs because she was trying to move away from GG's strike.

anyway if any part of this fight is like... unfathomable i can probably explain. i've already been typing for way too long, lmfao

[skyedancer2006]

Ok so Cookie Run hyperfix go brrrr I wanna talk about the Beasts for a bit :)

I’m absolutely loving these guys so far; they’re such good mirrors of each of the Ancient Heroes (especially Shadow Milk to Pure Vanilla, but that’s a topic plenty of people have talked about before lol). Them being negative flips on the Ancients’ virtues, showing how even things like Knowledge and Resolution can have harmful sides, is something I enjoy a lot, and I’m looking forward to what the game does with Eternal Sugar and Silent Salt once they release.

Right now though I want to ramble about their title: Beasts. Why are they called the Beasts? Aside from the mass destruction and chaos they caused, the name doesn’t seem all that fitting. They aren’t animalistic in any inherent way; they aren’t “mindless beasts” as the saying goes. They were former heroes and saviors that had a fall from grace.

I’ve seen some fan works giving them more beastly forms they can change into like the Dragon Cookies do. And if anyone knows me, you know I love a good old transforming/shapeshifting character! So I latched on to this headcanon real quick, cause honestly it would make their title make a lot more sense. Also it’s just cool :)

So, what sort of creatures would these theoretical other forms resemble? Time to analyze each character, their design inspirations, their symbolism, and more to determine this. This got long, so I’ll put it under a cut

Shadow Milk already has a very clear connection to snakes, both through the religious symbolism with the Garden of Eden (which is seen in his gacha animation via a snake eating an apple; image below), and with snakes often representing lies and trickery; Deceit.

So him being something snake-like is the obvious choice.

Mystic Flour is also relatively easy: spiders. There is an abundance of spider enemies in the Pagoda areas, with the boss of the first half being the Webbed Spider Queen:

This spider already bears a resemblance to Mystic Flour, with its abdomen having markings that look like her face and Soul Jam. It also comes out of Mystic Flour’s cocoon, which honestly looks like the stereotypical “spider cocooned its prey” depiction, background webs and all.

Mystic Flour cookie’s philosophy about enlightenment and letting go of worldly desires is heavily based on Buddhist beliefs, and spiders actually do have some symbolism in Buddhism and the Vedic philosophy from India. In the Vedas, spiders are depicted as hiding reality in illusion, similar to the illusory perfection Mystic Flour creates. And a spider web is a common way of explaining the Buddhist concept of interpenetration; all phenomena in the universe being interconnected. Less connection to Mystic Flour there, but I wanted to note it.

Burning Spice also has religious symbolism behind him, this time coming from Hinduism. He is heavily based on the destruction deity Shiva’s more wrathful depictions. In Hinduism, destruction is more of a neutral force; part of the balance of the universe along with creation and preservation (the deities Brahma and Vishnu respectively). Burning Spice being such a harsh inversion of that neutrality fits the Beasts’ theme of being twisted virtues.

Shiva has a few animals associated with him, such as bulls, cobras, deer, and the one most important for this discussion: the tiger. Burning Spice already has stripe markings on his arms, and his main follower that we see in the game is Nutmeg Tiger Cookie.

Making Burning Spice a tiger would be a bit odd because of Nutmeg Tiger’s existence as one of his followers, but the idea of a giant, wrathful, firey tiger is just too perfect for Burning Spice in my eyes. Maybe add in some bull features to make him stand apart a bit more.

Eternal Sugar and Silent Salt I can’t really do much with yet since we don’t know anything about them other than their respective corrupted virtues, being Sloth and Silence. Eternal Sugar’s design seems to have an Angel and Devil theming, so perhaps some sort of bird? And Silent Salt I have absolutely no ideas for. I’ll have to figure these two out once they get added to the game and we learn more about them.

Anyways, hope yall enjoyed this silly analysis thing :) Also take a bonus doodle of snake/dragon Smilk that we did before making this post and that inspired us to write it in the first place lol (design still being workshopped; looking at him now we really should have made his hair into a cobra hood)

[nightxcreature]

Don't Call Me (SoldierboyxReader)

Summary: Reader and Ben have an altercation after an interview gone wrong.

Warnings: Cursing, Verbal Threats (Homicide), Sexually exploiting women, Jealousy, Anger, Angst

Pairing: Soldierboy x Jealous!Reader

A/N: Number two for @jacklesversebingo 2024! This one is based off the prompt: "Got something to say about that?" "No." "Well, you look like you do." Prompt is in bold. As always, edited as well as I can and this one has been proofread lol Criticism welcome, reposts, likes, and comments adored. 💕

Part Two is out now! It's titled "Payback".

My leg feels like it’s shaking a million miles an hour, electricity radiating down my arms. We had been sitting in Vought headquarters for the last three hours doing interview after interview with the flirtiest journalist. Her blonde hair bounced past her shoulders, her boobs on display no matter where she turned, and the sickly-sweet smiles she sent Ben sent bile up my throat every time. He was eating it up, of course, he always did. It didn’t matter how many times I let him fuck me, He always ate up these stupid interviews. They praised him, practically stripping themselves bare to please his ego. It was always the same statements, ‘You’re the world’s greatest hero, Soldier-Boy.’ ‘What would we ever do without you, Soldier-Boy?’ ‘What’s it like being the strongest man alive?’ ‘Do you want to sign my tits?’ Okay…that last one only happened once, but that doesn’t change the fact that they never have anything to say to me. If he had brought Mindstorm or Black Noir, hell even the twins, I’m sure this interview would be going a completely different way. The men are always front and center for these girls; Crimson Countess, Stormfront, and I are the last on the list, and the jealousy that boils in my veins at that knowledge is second to none.

                Of course, watching her throw herself at him wasn’t helping the situation. I can’t keep the little green monster at bay whether thinking about her ignoring me or about him wanting her. I always wondered if he thought of me when they were shoving themselves at him; I know the answer, but maybe in a perfect world he thinks of kissing my lips, of my hands on his body and his mouth on mine, of our bodies moving together and our minds melding as one when… “Hey! Hey! I’ve been yelling at you forever, Y/N!”  His voice snaps me out of my fog, and I turn to face him as he continues, “What? Have you got a dick up your ass? Pay attention!”

                The journalist laughs as I nod, rubbing a hand up his arm, and my eyes narrow, “Sorry, we’ve been doing this for hours and it feels like we’re getting nowhere. Are there any important questions left, Sweetheart, or are you just gonna sit here and keep theoretically sucking him off?”

                Her head snaps back and her jaw drops as she takes in what I asked, “Ex-excuse me?”

                “Do you have any important questions for me, or should I just leave the two of you alone?” I repeat slowly, “I’m getting a little sick of watching you two eye-fuck each other when I could be a fifth of Jack deep in my hotel room by now.”

                “I-I didn’t write down an-any questions for you.” She stutters out and flips through the papers in her lap, “I’m sure I can think of something though.”

                I roll my eyes and stand, “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got better shit to do than this.” Turning on my heel, I storm out of the room and down the hallway. I barely make it to the elevator before I hear Ben’s heavy boots behind me. “Got something to say about that?” I ask turning to look at him, his features cold. Arms crossed and jaw set, the little muscle there jumping as he breathes.

                “No.” He responds curtly, a slight shake of his head the only change in his demeanor.

                “Well, you look like you do.” I snap, stepping into the elevator as the doors open. He shoves in behind me and we ride down in silence.

Just before we reach the ground floor, he slams a hand down onto the Emergency Stop button and corners me into the back of the small area. His eyes are blazing, breathing ragged, and his hands blocking me in, the epitome of anger all rolled into one man.

                “What, Ben?” I ask annoyed, glancing at his forearms above my head, “I have places to be.”

                “What the fuck is your problem?” He cuts me off, the vein in his neck bulging as he glares down at me, “Do you think just because I fuck you that you get to be a bitch to everyone else that wants to fuck me, too?”

                “I don’t give a shit who gets in your bed.”

                “Yeah? It sure seemed like it back there.” He nods behind him and his frown deepens, “What the fuck is your problem?”

                I sigh and duck underneath him to start the elevator back up, but he snatches me by the hair and shoves me back into the corner, “I’m not done talking to you.”

                I shove him back, standing taller to get in his face, “Well, I’m done talking to you. Hell, I’m done talking about you! That’s all anyone wants to talk about.” My breathing begins to shake, and I can feel my eyes blazing as my voice raises, “Do you think all this came from having a sexual relationship with you? From me being jealous that other women are in bed with you? No, Ben! That bitch didn’t even have questions for me. If I have to be there to watch you flirt with these stupid women over and over, the least they could do is ask me something more than how uncomfortable my suit is if I gain a few pounds!”

                He rolls his eyes and takes a step closer to me, towering over me, “You’re seriously going to act like this over her asking the face of Payback a few questions? Get it through your fucking skull,” He spits, tapping a finger against my temple, “I am not your boyfriend. I am not your friend. I’m your boss, I use you for a good time and I leave. That’s it.”

                “Fuck you, Ben!”

                “You already did.”  He smirks and slides a hand behind him to press the button, “And you’ll do it again.”

                Shock reverberates through my body, and I can feel the electricity building in my palms at a rapid pace. I hate him. I hate his cocky attitude. I hate his stupid face. I hate that he’s right. God, I hate him. Unconsciously, I reach out to grab his arms, but he steps to the side as the doors slide open. A raise of his brow tells me that he knows just as well I do, he was a centimeter away from the shock of his life.

                “That would be the last thing you do, Sweetheart.” He whispers maliciously, “You’re a great lay, Y/N, but I’ll kill you before you can blink, and we both know it. That sweet pussy isn’t worth all this trouble.”

                I smile sweetly, a sudden surprising confidence taking over my body. I blink once, twice, and finally a third time before staring him dead in the face, “I’m still breathing.” Flipping him off, I step out of the elevator and head down the hallway, “Don’t call me, Asshole.”

If he’s going to kill me, I’m going to give him a damn good reason.

______________________________________________________________

A/N: This one was a little easier to write without a tiny human running around the house, I actually got it finished while she was in school. I have been so nervous since dropping that smutty fic yesterday, so here's a little angst and anger to make me feel better lmaooo

[quotesfrommyreading]

Much of the public discussion of Ukraine reveals a tendency to patronize that country and others that escaped Russian rule. As Toomas Ilves, a former president of Estonia, acidly observed, “When I was at university in the mid-1970s, no one referred to Germany as ‘the former Third Reich.’ And yet today, more than 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we keep on being referred to as ‘former Soviet bloc countries.’” Tropes about Ukrainian corruption abound, not without reason—but one may also legitimately ask why so many members of Congress enter the House or Senate with modest means and leave as multimillionaires, or why the children of U.S. presidents make fortunes off foreign countries, or, for that matter, why building in New York City is so infernally expensive.

The latest, richest example of Western condescension came in a report by German military intelligence that complains that although the Ukrainians are good students in their training courses, they are not following Western doctrine and, worse, are promoting officers on the basis of combat experience rather than theoretical knowledge. Similar, if less cutting, views have leaked out of the Pentagon.

Criticism by the German military of any country’s combat performance may be taken with a grain of salt. After all, the Bundeswehr has not seen serious combat in nearly eight decades. In Afghanistan, Germany was notorious for having considerably fewer than 10 percent of its thousands of in-country troops outside the wire of its forward operating bases at any time. One might further observe that when, long ago, the German army did fight wars, it, too, tended to promote experienced and successful combat leaders, as wartime armies usually do.

American complaints about the pace of Ukraine’s counteroffensive and its failure to achieve rapid breakthroughs are similarly misplaced. The Ukrainians indeed received a diverse array of tanks and armored vehicles, but they have far less mine-clearing equipment than they need. They tried doing it our way—attempting to pierce dense Russian defenses and break out into open territory—and paid a price. After 10 days they decided to take a different approach, more careful and incremental, and better suited to their own capabilities (particularly their precision long-range weapons) and the challenge they faced. That is, by historical standards, fast adaptation. By contrast, the United States Army took a good four years to develop an operational approach to counterinsurgency in Iraq that yielded success in defeating the remnants of the Baathist regime and al-Qaeda-oriented terrorists.

A besetting sin of big militaries, particularly America’s, is to think that their way is either the best way or the only way. As a result of this assumption, the United States builds inferior, mirror-image militaries in smaller allies facing insurgency or external threat. These forces tend to fail because they are unsuited to their environment or simply lack the resources that the U.S. military possesses in plenty. The Vietnamese and, later, the Afghan armies are good examples of this tendency—and Washington’s postwar bad-mouthing of its slaughtered clients, rather than critical self-examination of what it set them up for, is reprehensible.

The Ukrainians are now fighting a slow, patient war in which they are dismantling Russian artillery, ammunition depots, and command posts without weapons such as American ATACMS and German Taurus missiles that would make this sensible approach faster and more effective. They know far more about fighting Russians than anyone in any Western military knows, and they are experiencing a combat environment that no Western military has encountered since World War II. Modesty, never an American strong suit, is in order.

  —  Western Diplomats Need to Stop Whining About Ukraine

[thewertsearch]

Though we adore Him we shall never enjoy His beauteous Croak.

Kind of fucked that Sburb still programs reverence for the Genesis Frog into the Prospitians of unwinnable sessions. It gave them a god they can never see.

We spill our blood on acres of black and white so they may cross the yellow yard.

So this is what Hussie was hinting at.

Since Rose has recently gone full Lovecraft, I suspect the 'yellow yard' is an intentional reference to the Yellow Sign, a symbol associated with the Cthulhu Mythos. If the kids' escape hatch is something this eldritch, then it almost certainly involves the Furthest Ring.

At last in Skaia's reflection through broken glass He may find the pond in which He's meant to squat.

This seems to confirm that the reboot session is winnable - and it sounds like Jade's Genesis Tadpole will be making the trip there.

The Scratched version of Jade will be able to benefit from her predecessor's work. Assuming she's still a Space Player after the reboot, I guess.

This is a book on theoretical physics, and complex spatial geometries based on the hypothetical addition of orbs to the queen's ring.

Oh, come on. You can't tease me like that and then not show me a fifty-dimensional Battlefield.

This sort of nonsense is regarded as crackpottery at best. Why would the queen ever wear more than four orbs? Four towers, four orbs, four heroes; this is a sacred truth.

There's something a little disturbing about the Carapacian inability to comprehend other sessions - especially since it's completely in-character for Sburb to deliberately engineer their brains that way.

I'm picturing a Player trying to explain to her Exile that their Prospit is one of many, and the knowledge just... slides out of their mind.

Holy shit, WQ!

You know, this is probably the most human thing that we've ever seen a Carapacian do. The ability to create art is completely irreconcilable with their NPC status - and it makes it all the more tragic that they're doomed by the game.

Writers of Prospitian fiction tend to write what they see in clouds. Hence their fables tend to be events which simply haven't happened yet, or happened in another realm. They like to use the word fiction so that kids don't get TOO scared.

Jack couldn't see into the clouds, but Prospitians can. You clearly don't have to be a Player to use them, but you do have to be on the Prospit side of the spectrum.

[yuri-is-online]

How do you think Yuu’s otherworldly education compares in common subjects between Twisted Wonderland and Yuu’s world? Would a Yuu being 16 influence if the prefect is ahead in any classes? I’m sure this would be dependent on the standard age for levels in a school system and what kind of school system we are looking at.

I’m going to use math as an example for my rambling. Math isn’t a skill that requires any magical knowledge as a background, so Yuu could theoretically be ahead in that subject. (I have no clue what math skills are required by grade in a Japanese school which NRC is partially based on.)

Using my high school as an example. Our math courses followed the track: Algebra 1, Trigonometry, Algebra 2, Pre Calculus, and then AP Calculus or AP Statistics depending on the year. A freshman could easily make it into a higher math like Calculus before graduating if that person started farther along in the track.

So a Yuu (from the 4 year system of schools) could have been approaching a higher level of a subject at 16. And if Yuu’s math skills were better than the level of a first year, I’m not sure a placement test would have been offered to Yuu since that would require effort from Crowley Grim’s level would have to be accommodated on top of fitting Yuu’s schedule with normal first year classes. Which would be such a disservice to Yuu, even if the class being easy gives more time for the subjects that need to be learned from the ground up.

I have thought way too hard about this. I am sorry for the rabbit hole and the asks being so close together.

- 🦐

No need to apologize for sending asks shrimpy friend, you always have the nicest theories. You can spam me if you please.

We know from a few tidbits here and there that grade skipping is allowed, but it depends on where you are in Twisted Wonderland. Given that the original intent for Idia was to have him be a child prodigy who had speed ran his way into NRC, I would assume grade skipping is allowed by the school board, but well. You have already hit on the tiiiiny wittle issue with Yuu.

Grim and Yuu's grades are averaged, if I understand what Crowely says at the start of the game and Crewel's vignette correctly. The idea was that since Yuu would automatically fail any magic based classes, Grim would pick up the slack there and Yuu would be able to help him learn practical life skills. Yuu being smart probably would help them, but their other half would still need to be brought up to speed about things like basic math before Crowley would consent to let them jump ahead a year.

You are correct that this would be a disservice to Yuu. Deuce's dorm uniform vignette has him struggling to solve simultaneous equations. Ace and Cater both list this as a basic math skill they learned in middle school, meaning they are excepted to know this, so a Yuu who was in something like Calc or AP Stats would be in a very advantageous position... but they still would need to teach basic math to Grim and keep on him so he did his homework for his other classes.

So the TL;DR:

No Yuu being more advanced than the other freshmen probably wouldn't help them graduate faster. It might help them educate Grim faster, but this assumes he wants to work which he does not.

Yes this is almost entirely down to Crowley not wanting to put in effort and his decision to count Yuu and Grim as one student.

If we are being honest it probably is more convenient for Crowley to have Yuu be a first year given the work he wants them to do for him. He gets to keep them around longer that way lol.

[jbk405]

I very much enjoy Mass Effect 3, but there's no denying that it plays pretty fast and loose with the worldbuilding and continuity established in the first two games in order to set up its main plot.

The idea of a Lost Superweapon that is passed down from cycle to cycle is in direct contradiction to the original establishment that there is almost no information passed between the cycles. In the first game Liara is an archaeologist who hasn't even heard of the Reapers despite 50 years of study. Not even as a conspiracy theory that she has dismissed due to lack of evidence. The complete lack of surviving knowledge from the preceding cycle is its own clue that Something Else Is Going On. The idea that the Mars Archives include detailed data on how to build the Crucible makes no sense if nobody else in the galaxy even found a single scribbled note "Giant machines from before time killed us!"

Plus the Reaper invasion during the Prothean cycle started at the Citadel, as it did in all prior cycles, which cut off all communication and contact between different sections of the Prothean empire through control of the Mass Relays. Each small section could only communicate and travel to areas within normal FTL range. The idea that Protheans in the Local Cluster (Earth), the Exodus Cluster (Eden Prime), and the Athena Nebula (Thessia) could all have current information and data about the project is laughable.

The original message in the beacon on Eden Prime that we discover in the first game was sent by the Protheans from Ilos after the Reapers had completed their harvest of the Prothean civilization, reactivated the Mass Relays, and returned to dark space. It was a last-ditch effort to contact somebody -- anybody -- who had survived the slaughter, and was sent out when there were no Reapers still here to interfere. There was no active galaxy-wide Prothean defense or plan during the war itself.

What I think they should have done in ME3 was excise the idea of the Crucible as a Pre-Prothean device completely, and had it be a modern-day invention.

Based on recent breakthroughs in dark energy research, the Citadel Council has already begun work on a theoretical dark energy manipulator. It's intended for...I dunno, faster FTL travel through areas that don't have Mass Relays. Whatever. But it works with fundamental energy sources, and at previously-unheard-of power levels. Since the writers decided to ignore the dark energy foreshadowing from ME2 as the source of the Reaper cycles, they could use it for this.

Once the the Reapers invade at the start of ME3, the Council desperately tries to turn any science research already underway into a new weapon against the Reapers. This dark energy device is just one of a dozen projects all running concurrently, since they don't know what's going to work.

Our initial missions are running around trying to get them all up and running, gathering resources and defending against sabotage. One by one the other projects are either destroyed by the Reapers (or maybe Cerberus), or are abandoned by the Council once it's obvious that it won't be effective. The situation gets more and more desperate as the options dwindle.

Eventually, the idea comes to hook up this dark energy device to the Citadel, since we know that it is the control system for the Mass Relay network. And this device, which at full power may be enough to destroy a Reaper, now has the magical ability to deliver that energy across the whole galaxy at once.

"But if it is so easy that we can think it up, why wouldn't any previous cycle have managed to defeat the Reapers on their own?"

We have the advantage of the warnings from the original beacon on Eden Prime, and the delay to the start of the invasion courtesy of the Protheans from Ilos. The simple fact that we have any knowledge of the Reapers is more than the preceding cycles ever had. The Reapers were also prevented from decapitating the galactic civilization all at once by invading the Citadel first. Starting at the edge of the galaxy and spreading out from there gives us time, and prevents them from locking down the Mass Relays to isolate every different cluster.

This can still be credited as a Pan-Cycle victory, since without the extra time and advantages we got from the Protheans we would have died like all preceding cycles. But it doesn't magically give us a ready-made solution in defiance of all previous games.

[stupidlittlespirit]

Seeing how Ford typically responds to situations based on logic, and considering how smart he is he’s a little too good at rationalizing not-so-great decisions, I think someone who has high emotional/social intelligence and empathy.

Yeah sure you’re not as good as he is with astrophysics and biochemistry and other such whatever, very few people are, but you have a frankly remarkable understanding of other people and their emotions, and as much as it initially bothers him, you give it to him like it is and not just what he wants to hear. Ford has always appreciated that about you.

I just love the idea of two people who are both equally very intelligent, just in different ways. Where one comes up short, the other thrives.

just my thoughts 💭 hope you’re having a nice day :>

It's funny because I think as you said, at first it would be quite unnerving to him.

Society in general considers intelligence to be defined by 'IQ' levels (which are bullshit anyway) and a person's books smarts, for want of a better word. Emotional intelligence isn't considered to be as desirable or as needed, and therefore you're not often perceived as being smart on the same level as someone who's a lawyer or something. Emotions are just as vital as theoretic knowledge, but they aren't considered as 'serving' a person's needs, however in actual fact, that's exactly why the world is the way that it currently is (imo): A lack of emotional intelligence.

I think Ford would be guilty of holding that belief throughout the majority his life, too. He's always relied on, and been told that, his IQ is all he needs and is more important. His emotions will make him weak and he's too smart to worry about all that.

If he met someone who was very capable of pulling apart their own/his/another person's behaviours and feelings and then combing through them to examine the factors that inform those reactions, I think it would be very jarring for him.

People often (in my experience) tend to feel quite exposed by that; it makes them 'vulnerable' because people like to hide how they feel in order to protect themselves, and they can get quite defensive over it. Which is very normal!

I think he would be similar in that regard. You'd have to do a lot of work around teaching him the tools to examine his own feelings and helping him communicate them, whilst gaining his trust to let him understand that you're not going to use that intimate knowledge of those emotions against him. You just truly want to help.

Where other people lack the insight, gently showing them their own dissected feelings is really helpful for getting them to understand them themselves and I do think that it can assist them in communicating their needs with less shame because they know you're a safe place to unload them.

I'm also suuuper biased to the balancing thing, as you said. Partnerships that compliment each other in that way are very cool to me. He's the brains, you're the heart. Not that the other isn't capable of either, but just that you each have your areas of expertise and are a bit better at it than the other. And that's okay.

Personally, I do think that high levels of emotional intelligence are on par with ability in things like astrophysics because they require very extensive work and study to examine and understand, just like any science. In math, for example, you have clear, defined answers, whereas with stuff like this, you have to be aware of SO much in terms of context and individuality, and a lot of it is undefined. It requires understanding on many different levels.