#YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW INVESTED IN THEM I WAS

[iatrophilosophos]

Hmm well my thoughts are as follows

I am an anarchist and thus not invested in how we build systems of knowlege that effectively interface with the legal system because i do not believe we should have a legal system, generally speaking, so none of my responses here are actually going to answer that for you.

The dichotomy of "science vs vibes" is both incredibly funny and incredibly annoying to me, and a complete failure of imagination or grace on behalf of all who propose it.

This is of course what thr academy dose and why I hate it. It's the cornerstone of maintaining the western progress narrative: academic ideas are good and order, all others are chaos and vibes.

Science is a tool. It is also a religion rivaling Christianity in scale, scope and obsessive-yet-liturgically-uneducated believers. I am interested in science as a tool; I am fully disinterested in fundemental faith assumption of science (that the universe is governed by consistent and knowable laws). Science as religion pleads an optimism about how its *supposed* to work and discards objects of criticism as heretical. I refuse to engage with this perspective. The purpose of a system is what it does. However, i am going to endeavor to talk about the fundemental flaws of science that would still be present without capitalism and specifically bad-faith (academic def; do not earnestly believe what they have said to be true) actors. I am doing this because I DO think this critique is essential to understanding the limitations of science and how we utilize it + other systems to our best advantage.

Science is a toolset for generating a predicitive model, because humans love predicitive models. They're very useful! They help us make choices like how to care for plants and the land, what foods to eat, what medicine to take. There are actually many other tools for generating predicitive models, and I will speak to one shortly. Science accomplishes this by identifying an observation, hypothesis and variables, running scenarios in different configurations to see what may happen, and concluding something either about the experiment itself or the nature of the world. We accomplish those conclusions these days through the application of statistics, which can do some really nasty shit--not just making results seem more promising than they are!

Science is optimized for big answers on a fast timescale. It is a really useful tool in a lot of applications. In the medical field, I can say wholeheartedly that im a big fan of the scientific model as applied to communicable pathogens. I like cultures and i like testing novel antibiotics to see if they do what we want them to do. The situation of a mass outbreak is one where we want a big fast answer.

However, this tool has a lot of limits that I dont think are adequately described by just talking about the replication crisis or specific scientific atrocities. I want to push back on the idea that its "throwing spaghetti at the wall"; cuz i think we both know thats not actually true. Its testing hypotheses based on observations.

Observations are cultural. I firmly believe that one of the problems with psychiatry is that the perceptions, the "common knowlege" as is being derided here, of what Madness is and how it works predate science significantly, and they're ugly. The lobotomy is not throwing ugly evil shit at the wall and seeing what it does. The lobotomy is the "observation" that a certain kind of mad person is the way they are because they are over-active, too much, want stuff too badly, are plagued with an urge to sin so great that it must be excised before they can be saved by willpower and prayer (therapy). The hypothesis then follows: if we have "observed" that Mad people are "too much", we cut part of them away. If we have "observed" that Mad people desire incorrectly, we inhibit their ability to desire. In this way, the logic of the lobotomy is still active in the world and still being used to generate atrocities that I firmly believe we will look back on as a horrific stain on the history of official medicine in 10, 20, 50 years.

Psychiatry and psychology are easy to poke holes in, but this issue is at play in other areas of medical science as well. I am less well versed, but my associates in cardiology will very-unhappily tell you that a similar caliber of "observations" into the nature of human beings, specifically Black people, plague their field and cause deaths they themselves have witnessed firsthand.

The other foundational problem with science is statistics. This is why science as a legal basis actually sucks shit, though as I said im not really interested in constructing more legally-appriopriate knowledge sets. Statistical analysis as the bar for evaluating experimental results can tell us what works most of the time in most cases; especially in those high-quality mass-scale studies. There will be a number of cases where something doesnt work that works most of the rest of the time, and a number of cases where something works that doesnt most other times. I fucking care about statistical outliers. I am one. People i love live in this space. Land i love lives in this space. I believe there is value in high-reward low-risk low-likelihood interventions being widely available. I fully and completely reject the cultural value that most people is good enough, let alone the bar to strive for.

So, alternatives? There isnt one alternative because I dont subscribe to science as religion and thus I do not require it to be an all-encompassing world view or thrown on the trash heap; and i feel this way about other predicitive modeling tools. I believe in doing things that get the results i want for myself, my loved ones and social relations, and the land we participate in; without exploiting others in the process and in a way that hopefully supports others in achieving the same. Many tools fit in that box. I will however take this moment to soapbox about what im gonna term "conversational knolwege" because I think its an interesting model that kind of precursors our modern understanding of citations but retains a lot more nuance.

One benefit of science, and i think WHY it lends itself to systems such as legality, mass medicine, and so on: it endeavors to replace interpersonal trust and deep individual basis of knowledge. Who this benefits is a hell of a question: on the day to day scale, we can say it benefits the average person. It's nice not to have to trust your doctor, a person you probably dont actually know, who has financial and social interests that might diverge from your own, to have your best interests at heart: let alone agree with you on what your best interests actually ARE or have the knowlege and decision making skills to help you get there. Its nice to believe that everything will be okay, that there is an answer, and that you arent personally responsible for making hard decisions in the world. On the mass scale, this way of living doesnt benefit us, it benefits power. Medical codification as a stage of empire is an entirely different can of worms i could talk about forever but suffice to say: medicine is a constant cultural practice present among all people. States get big. In the same way they endeavor to retain power over people by preventing them from feeding themselves etc; they outlaw, burn, and replace the common medical culture with a system more conducive to control. Prescientific medical models have also been used in this way; as are the state-backed nonscientific medical models traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda (medical nationalism is another can of worms we can talk about with all three, western industrial, tcm, ans Ayurveda, but especially tcm...its rlly fucking interesting. Don't even get me started on the medical models of colonized countries that fall somewhere between these three powers. Aaaa! I love this shit. Anyway).

Point being: this benefit is damage control for a society that perpetuates itself via deskilling the population. What does generation and transference of knowlege look like in populations with high individual skills?

One answer is conversation. It goes like this:

Person A spends their life engaging with an area that they are passionate about and have a high aptitude for. Maybe its a field of medicine, drug production etc, maybe its a field of engagement with the land like food production or having trails that dont erode to shit or building structures that work well for the beings using them. They come to an understanding of the world based on what they personally see happen (notably, not "vibes", watching something over years is NOT the same as reading half of three news articles and adopting a worldview based on it, I think we can all agree that the latter is an unhelpful way to engage with information). They collect students who learn those worldviews. Maybe they write a book or in oral traditions, pen a folktale with something important to say about the world. Person B is one of their students just starting out in the world. They compare this worldview to what they experience. They travel, sometimes hundreds or thousands of miles, to meet a person with the same role as person A in a different community. Person B learns different things and, by transporting what person A knows into a new context, finds problems with it, and finds where it succeeds. Person B teaches. Person C, a student of person B, has a both what person A and person B thinks, and continues the process adding their own voice to the conversation. Person C carries these three perspectives and communicates them to person D, by saying who told them what they have to repeat and in what context. This "citation" is then allowed to carry elements of personality, reputation, and nuance in trust. This happens over and over again for thousands of years. Every lifetime makes it better.

The problem with this engagement of knolwege is that it is slow. It leads to understandings of the world that are not as good at adapting to the chaotic and rapidly changing conditions of our modern world and its documented to be not as good at responding to drastic shifts (e.g. natural disasters) in history. It requires every individual to participate to at least some degree in the stewardship of knolwege. It requires willingness to break from dead ends and acknowledge we were wrong. Ugly things have happened when we fail to do this and especially when social configurations make it harder: for example, societies that abuse their children are responsible for some of the gnarlier and more shocking historical medical practices, because doing something to someone when they are a child is an easy way to make humans keep doing stuff that sucks (sumn we're otherwise fairly good at avoiding).

What it is very good at is creating skillsets that are nuanced and treat situations as individual; it is good at making knowledge systems that account for statistical outliers. In part, it is because its a system that DEMANDS an answer to *why* something is known: even moreso than science, because a citation doesnt suffice, we are forced to interrogate to trust.

Maybe, especially to folks who are already fully bought in to the logic of the academy, this system cannot shine a candle to the imagined benefits of a perfect science. As I said, I refuse to engage with the imagined benefits of a perfect science, because we might as well start talking about what we should do if the moon is made of cheese. And what the real world right now has to say is that a large swath of interventions generated in these traditional modes WORK, when trialed in good faith; with limitations for drastic shifts in climate, bodies etc occurring over the last few hundred years, +/- the severing of many of these traditions and thus their ability to grow and change approximately concurrent with industrialization and the acceleration of *gestures* All This Shit. (For example, many plant-based drugs that were exceptionally low risk 100, 200 years ago now carry much higher risk or unknown risk profiles in an age of pharmacuetical prescriptions and way more possible drug interactions).

So, that is a way of answering "how do you know?" That is neither a scientific citation nor "vibes". I am personally most interested in hybrid strategies and novel study models because of my aforementioned investment in working with statistical outliers AND the rapid shifts in the world that are occurring in our lifetimes. I think it is imperative to reject science as religion and the comforting position that we'll solve all problems by following the right rules. I also think that its a mistake to resign ourselves to "the best we have", because the best we have doesnt fucking cut it, definitely not for me or people I care about.

So idk if thats the weigh-in you wanted but its what I got. Im not gonna put hella cites in a fucking Tumblr post i wrote before breakfast for one friend, and anyway most of this info is the synthesis of rlly diffuse inputs across historical texts, medical anthropology, conversations with mentors across the spectrum of academy to licensed practice to traditionally educated practitioners to wingnuts like myself, and a ton of dives into random questions about topics across the above spectrum. I can provide my standard entry reading list upon request and as always my #1 reccomendation for people who are new to medical anthropology is The Expressiveness of the Body by Shigehisa Kuriyama. Peace ✌️

"these researchers published a paper on something that literally any of us could have told you 🙄" ok well my supervisors wont let me write something in my thesis unless I can back it up with a citation so maybe it's a good thing that they're amplifying your voice to the scientific community in a way that prevents people from writing off your experiences as annecdotal evidence

[batsandbirdbrains]

You have me so invested in this “Dick is actually younger than what he said” AU that it’s crazy omg. The angst possibilities are endless, but for now I'll focus on fluff/family feels. Bruce definitely somehow becomes even more overprotective once he finds out.

If it's when Dick is still small Robin (actual age 6, portrayed age 9/10) he tries to give Dick safer missions or have him go on less patrols. Of course this backfires as Dick is a feral child he won't stop being Robin and taking on dangerous cases. He just sneaks out more and Bruce finally caves in and treats him like he used to lol

If Bruce finds out when Dick is supposed to be a teenager (actual age like 12, portrayed age 14/15) then Bruce becomes overbearing about Dick's friendships. Dick is still young enough that he only has crushes (if YJ maybe Zatanna, if TT maybe Kori) while Bruce is adamant that Dick is not allowed to date until he's like 30. Alfred vetoes this once Dick is actually 14/15 and someone asks him out who is close to his actual age. Bruce also disapproves of Dick's friendship with Roy because he feels that Roy is a bad influence/too old to be friends with Dick (Dick is of course offended and becomes closer friends with Roy partially to spite Bruce)

If Bruce finds out once Dick is actually over 18 and is Nightwing (meaning no longer living at Wayne Manor), he has a crisis that involves a lot of looking at old photos and videos of young Bruce and Dick. Mostly Bruce is upset because he probably negatively impacted Dick's growth very early on (I'm a pediatric nurse so the difference between a 5 year old and an 8 year is significant! Raising a 5 year old to the standard of an 8 year old would be very stressful for a 5 year old and lead to a lot of issues once they are older). He's also upset that he treated Dick like an adult once he was an older teen when Dick was emotionally still pretty young. But a little part of Bruce is a little happy that he got to be a part of his oldest son's life from a younger age and got to see him from preschool age.

Sorry for the long ask/HCs! I'd go into angst but I have even more ideas about that lol

Oh send all the ideas in send them in!! I love to read them!!

Bruce would absolutely feel guilty as hell no matter what age he finds out the truth. Because he’s convinced he ruined Dick’s childhood by being too oblivious to realize how obvious it was that his small child he adopted was actually an even smaller child. He knows what actual eight year olds look like. How did he let a five year old convince him he was that much older? He feels like such a failure of a father.

He just stares at pictures from the first few years he took in Dick and he can’t look away. He rewatches home videos and cries because Dick was really so teeny tiny itty bitty. God, he lost his two front baby teeth when he was with Bruce, those are like the first teeth kids start losing! How was Bruce so stupid?

But he’d been so cute with the little gap in his smile, his little lisp until his grown up teeth grew in, and it just went right over Bruce’s head.

Dick had slept in Bruce’s bed on and off for years, into his early teens even. Bruce thought maybe it was due to his patrolling, his being Robin, that maybe it made Dick more anxious than a normal kid or something. But really he’d been 10 or 11 when he stopped, when he started sleeping in his own room consistently, and Bruce finds out that that isn’t entirely abnormal.

He’s a late bloomer was an excuse Bruce always used. But he wasn’t. Dick was right on time for all his growth spurts and milestones.

It’s just such a fun trope and I don’t think I’ve actually seen it expanded on all that much tbh.

[mysticgoldfish]

“ azizam ” — amir (date everything) ~1.4k words

tldr bc i’m too lazy for a proper description; amir loves you more than himself (shockingly) and fucks you in front of a mirror to prove it!

cw :: smut, mdni !, p in v, no protection, prob ooc i haven’t played this sorrz, cunnilingus (he’s a munch), afab reader, body worship, genitalia referred to w/ female pronouns

a/n :: i’ve written smut on ao3 once before (ironically also mirror sex) but i’m an amateur writer so don’t expect too much, alsooooo i’m gonna use the nicknames he uses in the game (azizam & dear) + one other persian term. i’m not persian so if any corrections are needed plz tell me! okok ill stop now, enjoy!! also i didnt proofread

———

getting sent glasses that allowed you to speak to inanimate objects in your home was still a concept you were accommodating to.

the attention was certainly new. even outside of your home, you didn’t relish in any compliments you might off-handedly receive. you were average. you’d accepted this as a fact of life years ago.

some objects were nicer than others, some flirtier…or meaner. in a way, you almost preferred the meaner ones. the honesty was much easier to digest, no second guessing needed. the flirting made you feel as if you needed maggie by your side every second to decipher it. who was genuine, who was just trying to get into your pants, who was saying it because that’s just how they were?

so, needless to say you were quite surprised when you aimed skylar’s beams at your bathroom mirror and was met with amir. a beyond beautiful persian man. his lusciously thick black hair fell to his shoulders, which really only made you wonder if you needed to invest in more expensive shampoo.

plus, his eyes. god, his eyes. any time you stared at them for even more than a second, it was as if you’d spawned on a beach right as a tsunami had started to pull the waves back. yet, the disaster called to you. the storm pulled you back with the waves rather than striking the fear of god in you. his eyes the color of the storm clouds, of murky deep water.

but that was weeks ago.

he’d confessed his love to you officially only two days ago. not that he ever tried to hide it.

you aim skylar’s beams at the mirror and amir appears with a larger-than-life smile on his face. having just gotten out of the shower, a towel was wrapped around your body tightly. you almost just wanted to see what amir would have to say.

“ah, eshgham! you look especially dazzling today.” he pouts his lips slightly, taking in your form with a finger to his mouth. “you’ve even taken my recommendation on what colors suit you.” he smiled at the realization. he was blunt, but it came from a good place. you knew that by now.

“i did. i’ve stepped up my game, right?”

“more than that, azizam. i’m shocked you have yet to receive a call to be on the cover of a magazine.” amir was always gentle with his words when it came to you. even the harshest criticisms were delivered softly. you could appreciate someone like that.

you laughed at the idea of that even happening. with him still in front of you, you reach for your blow dryer.

“you’re a charmer, amir, truly.” taking amir’s compliments seriously had always been quite difficult for you. he always wanted to help you look your best, because that’s when he looked his best. he reflects what he sees.

you notice something different in his gaze today, something that makes your skin buzz. buzz as if you’d taken five shots of vodka without a chaser.

“i reflect what i see, dear.” he stepped towards you, taking the blow dryer out of your hand and placing on the sink countertop. “must i prove my affections another way?”

your heart flutters, hands coming up to clutch your bath towel. a soft, nearly inhumanely soft hand comes to your cheek. it tingles your skin like a sparkler, goosebumps rising at every small brush.

a shaky breath escaped your parted lips. “please do.”

“we’re begging now, dear? no need. whatever you need, it’s yours.” with that, amir’s lips dropped to yours, grazing against them ever so softly. your hands found purchase on his chest, his kiss quickly turning bruising.

the porcelain of the sink pressed up against your lower back, sending a shiver down your body. amir’s hands make quick work of your bath towel. the damp fabric hit the tile with a soft thud.

you shuddered at the cold air hitting your body. of course, amir has to pull away to admire you. his hands go just about anywhere they can reach. his lips part, but he doesn’t speak. it’s like he’s awestruck. at a loss for words.

his hand grazes over your breast, causing a shudder to rack through your body. the way he pinches your pert peak has you starting to pant.

before you know it, you’re on top of the counter. amir starts to suckle at your peak, looking up at you whenever he grants you with soft kitten licks. his other hand massaged the opposite breast.

he’s beyond turned on. partly because he’s mirroring you and partly because he’s so in awe of how perfect you are. when you’d moved into this house, he’d felt like an utter creep every time you’d look at yourself in the mirror bare.

now, he got to appreciate this bare form as much as he liked.

“ah, azizam, azizam.” he pants out against your breast, kissing and sucking at the flesh. he pecks his way down your body, kneeling down a bit more until he reaches your mons.

“she’s beautiful, eshgham. it looks like she wants me just as intensely as i desire her.” his thumb grazes up your slit, finding your bud almost immediately. he thumbs at it for a moment as he lifts your legs over his shoulders.

a stripe is licked up your folds, making it nearly impossible to keep any sounds quiet. you wanted to sincerely apologize to every object in the house for every sound you knew you were about to make.

he moans against you, licking and tonguing at every inch of your mound he could reach. his eyes are closed for most of it, until he decides to look at you. those beautiful mercury eyes are hooded, pupils blown out.

“eyes on me, azizam.”

you did as he said, not looking away as his tongue started to do circles around your clit. your jaw went slack, sounds beyond what could be described as lewd leaving your lips.

it doesn’t take long until you’re grasping at his hair and warning him you’re extremely close.

“amir…amir!” you cry out his name as you finish. all he does is smile with affection as he laps at you. for a moment, you got scared that you had ripped out a chunk of his hair. luckily, his beautiful waves were safe.

he stood up, hips between your legs. “i want you to see how beautiful you look when you come for me.” amir’s voice was a whisper as he picked you up and turned your back toward him.

you heard him undressing behind you, not to mention you could see him in the mirror. his body, like the rest of him, was undoubtedly perfect.

he wasted no time as he slid his cock into you with ease, bottoming out with a heavy groan. “ah, aziz-e delam.” the words were practically a whimper into your shoulder. he kissed over the birth marks there. his hips stuttered into your wetness, your warmth transferring all the way to his face and reddening his cheeks.

your hands gripped the counter in front of you, throbbing around amir’s cock as it slid in and out of you.

amir was a confident man, that was a fact that couldn’t be denied by you or any other object in the house, but that confidence wilted the moment he saw your parted lips and dazed face in the mirror.

“oh, azizam. you feel incredible.” his eyes met yours in the mirror, and he reached up to hold your jaw so you could see your face as well. “absolutely gorgeous.”

you wanted to respond to his words, but the way he was pressing up against your cervix with every thrust had you unable to speak.

you intentionally clenched around him, causing his hips to stutter. “ah, azizam…!” he moaned out, his large hands gripping your hips tightly. his thrusts got sloppier, his sounds got louder. you knew he was close. “can i finish inside, dear? tell me no if you must.” he murmured his words against your shoulder, trying to control himself.

you bit your lip, thinking over your answer. well, no. you didn’t actually have to think much about it. “god, yes.”

amir didn’t need any more convincing. with a breathy groan, the both of you came at the same time. he whimpered your name as he came inside you, kissing up your neck gently.

you panted, heart stuttering as you relished in the afterglow of it all. amir leaned to whisper in your ear.

“âsheghetam.”

[thesportsprgirl]

Since Lando is involved, there's of course a particular narrative that has popped up around his Monster release and which other drivers deserve it more, so I'm going to get on my professional soap box once again because oh my god shut the fuck up already.

My creds: dual BS in Business Analytics and Marketing. MA in Strategic Communication (thesis on sports PR in the social media age). MBA with a sports economics coursework emphasis. Consultant working in corporate partnerships in a variety of sports, including motorsport.

Based on what I've seen today, people have no idea how much work goes into securing personal sponsors. In order to get a personal sponsorship deal, you and your team have to pitch the sponsor and demonstrate the value that it will bring to their business through things like DATA and RESEARCH. Engagement metrics, impressions, reach, products sold, brand recognition, return on investment, etc.

If a McLaren sponsor does a personal sponsorship of Lando as well, it's because his team pitched and demonstrated that the metrics bear out that it would be worth their money. It's not like oh let's throw money at this kid bc VIBES. Or bc Zak Brown says we had to. I keep seeing people implying that they just picked him on a whim, when things like this take ages to decide, with a ton of data, a ton of research, and a ton of really smart people analyzing it before making the call.

You have to show a sponsor the reasons that they should work with you and why it's worth their money. Lando and Quadrant have done that. And it's a fuckton of work to not only get them, but to deliver the results to retain them. Some of those results are in the form of social media engagement that they've gotten from Lando and his brands likely before the drink was even contracted.

Identifying sponsors, pitching and securing their money, etc. is a multi-billion dollar industry that requires a ton of work, data analysis, content testing, focus group testing, etc. The people saying "it should have been _____" clearly either have a personal bias or don't understand the level of personal brand you have to have to get this sort of a deal.

Lando has larger reach, more engagement, recognizable brands with very passionate followings, etc. when compared to some of the other drivers people are bringing up here. He's selling out merch collection after merch collection after merch collection, and that is not true of 90% of the other drivers on the grid. He sold so many tickets to Landostand that they quite literally BUILT ANOTHER GRANDSTAND. And sold that one out, too! These are things that come with a ton of value to sponsors. Sponsors are seeking out his audience based on demographics. It's not some sort of conspiracy, it's business.

Right now, there are a couple of drivers that are LEAGUES above the others when it comes to the effort they've put into developing their personal brand, ability to drive product, and relevancy within high disposable income and retail-spending fan demographics (Lando over indexes with four key demos: young women, highly educated women, queer men, families with children). Averaged across these "big spender demos," Lando is in the top 2. I can say that based on the data I have at my fingertips.

tl;dr - Monster is looking to sell product. Data says Lando Norris sells product because people actually like him very much.

[hazard-haze]

Eddie and Volt headcanons (no player)

Soooooo

My brain has decided this shit is my new hyperifxation

And that these are my new comfort characters

But I heard that everyone was getting a hate ending with them and guess who got friendship with them first tryyyyyy! So uh, skill issue/j heres some headcanons for ya'll :)

-He doesn't do it often because he knows Eddie hates it, but Volt can 110% pick up Eddie and will abuse this power if he needs to

-Eddie is Volt's anger translator. It usually goes something like this:

Volt: "We are sorry you weren't satisfied with our service, but this is the best we can do and I'm going to have to ask you to leave now."

Eddie *passing by behind him*: "Pay your fucking tab and get out!"

-Volt cannot keep his hands still, he tries to play it off suave-ly (?) by just tapping his fingers and running his hand through his hair repeatedly but when he gets really excited or angry about something he will wave his hands with big, fast, eccentric gestures.

-Volt wears eyeliner, sometimes Eddie helps him put it on.

-Eddie is very talented at most things he does, fixing, building, mixing drinks (he can even do some tricks with shakers), and there's a plethora of odd things he's picked up throughout the years. However this makes him get pretty frustrated when things don't work out the first couple times he attempts something. While not the main reason, this is part of why he was so frustrated and irritable during most of his main plot. Volt sometimes has to remind him that it's okay to not have everything figured out immediately, or pull him from his work if he's starting to stress out or exhaust himself too much.

-On the topic of pulling Eddie from his work, that is a feat. Volt full well knows he can't just ask Eddie to take a break, usually he has to either ask him to do something easier as a favor, or blame the break on himself.

"Oh Eddie, I know your in the middle of something but could you wipe the bar down? I have no time before we open."

"Eddieeeee, I have no one to watch the new season of Cougar vs Cougar with! Would you take a break to and come watch it with me? Please! Just for a little bit! Just one episode!" (They got through like 2 1/2 before Eddie passed tf out)

-Oh yeah, Volt loves reality TV and Eddie pretends to not be at least a little invested.

-Eddie can draw. Volt cannot. Volt is very jealous of Eddie in this regard.

-Infodumpingggggggg. They infodump to one another without even realizing it, it is so much of how they communicate. They will ramble and bounce ideas off each other, mostly about the club but about other stuff too.

-On the flip side. They can also communicate by saying pretty much nothing, just through brief glances. I think it would partly be because they are literally split from the same thing but it's more in that way when you widen your eyes slightly at your bestie and that equates to like a full paragraph of text.

-Eddie is short af, Volt is tall af.

-Volt makes fun of Eddie for being short

-Like seriously ya know that audio that's like "I know we don't always see eye to eye" "that because your too short to do so"

-Eddie will get revenge. He can kick/punch really hard but he can also come up with some other very clever ways of revenge. Do not mess with the guy who has access to the tools.

-Neither of them really like just hard liquor. Volt likes sweeter drinks and Eddie likes quality craft beers. If either sees the other drinking something like scotch/whiskey they can usually assume somethings wrong.

-Volt has sooooo many ideas for the club, several of which are not exactly... possible. Eddie has to be the one to break the news to him that No Volt we can't break down the retaining wall of the bar and turn it into an inanimal fish tank. Why? Because without it the roof would collapse!

-Volt's love languages are physical touch and words of affirmation

-Eddie's love language is acts of service.

-Going deeper into that, Volt loves physical touch, as previously mentioned. Eddie however does not. But they make it work, Eddie can tell when Volt needs a hug or just to have someone next to him, Volt can tell when Eddie is getting overstimulated or just needs space.

-They both have their ears pierced. Volt did it for both of them.

-Eddie actually quite likes talking to people, I mean he's definitely tended the bar at some point, he just doesn't like talking to annoying people. He's sarcastic and his humor is a bit deadpan and he's more reserved, but he 100% can be very funny and hold conversations very well with patrons and even better with friends.

-That being said, bro does not chat while he works on maintenance. If anyone, including Volt, is working with him, he isn't saying shit unless its telling them what to do, or looking over their work. If someones lucky they get a "Good job."

-Neither have ever been a fan of the dark, but they especially would not be after the black out.

-They both hate silence, I mean they work in a night club, at this point it just feels unnatural.

-Kinda already mentioned this but Volt gets quiet angry and Eddie gets loud angry. If Volt goes silent, you know you fucked up. On the opposite end, it will sometimes be assumed that Eddie is mad because he's being quiet but that just how he is, if Eddie actually is properly yelling you know he's upset.

-Nerve damage babyyyyyy. It is all up Eddie's arms, contributes to why he's not super touchy because his arms get that awful pulling, itchy, pain when something touches them.

-Volt can get some nasty fatigue. The electricity fluctuates? Bro is immediately drained, head rush, migraine, the whole shabang.

-Not really headcanon but neither of them are good at admitting they need help or at accepting it when its offered.

-They both know each others triggers tho, and make sure to tell the other to rest when they need to. Neither take their own advice.

-Eddie hyperfocuses like crazy. If he sits down with his tools, something to fix and no one around he will not move from that spot for hours.

-Volt is always jumping from project to project, person to person, never slowing down. There's a lot to do in the breaker box and he is more than happy to juggle all of it.

-Both of them forget to sleep because of these facts. and eat (do they eat?). and talk to other things. and talk to each other. and-

-They would be cat people. Volt has definitely brought up getting an inanimal from Mateo but Eddie is always hesitant (even though he would 100% end up loving it to bits if they got one)

----

Ya'll I think I'm a loser. Instead of being out on a night off I am sitting in my bedroom writing headcanons about an actual breaker box in a dating sim that I'm not even attracted to, I just think their silly. What is my life T-T

[kyululusdelulu]

‿‿‿ Strip Kitty Cards with Sylus! ⋅ ˚₊‧ 🐈‍⬛ ‧₊˚ ⋅

Pairings: Boyfriend!Sylus x Girlfriend!Reader

Word count: 2k

Warnings: Established relationship, afab reader, smut (mdni), stripping(?), alcohol use, sylus asks for consent a lot, hand job, riding, creampie

Every visit to the N109 Zone is always packed with plenty of adventure and challenges, however, what you weren’t expecting was for the evening to take such a turn. 

Sylus had been bragging about a recent collection of rare gemstones he had secured during a deal, so your curiosity was obviously piqued and obvious through your enthusiastic texts (which he teased made you even more ‘kitten-like’.). However, you’ve been busy with missions and unable to visit him as soon as you would’ve liked, so, he made a deal with you.

If you win in playing kitty cards, with a twist, he’ll let you pick and choose your favorite ones to keep. “You have to earn them, kitten,” You remember him speaking to you through the phone , his voice a velvet smooth tone of amusement. “I won’t give away such precious gems just like that.” 

And of course, you being the stubborn hunter you are, never back down from a challenge. Sylus thrives off that, adoring how you always stand your ground and remain completely headstrong in the face of whatever you may face. No matter what, you never give up… which is why this game would be the perfect setup. He knew you would let your pride get in the way, knew you’d be desperate in trying to win against him even just to prove a point and rub it in his face. So when you’ve gotten your fair share of welcoming kisses, the both of you sat down for a game of strip kitty cards.

Sylus takes a drink from his glass of whiskey, ice clinking in the silence, the nonchalant look on his face both pissing you off and turning you on at the same time. You don’t understand how he always manages to be so damn good at this game. Does he play it in secret or something? At times, he allows you to win without explicitly saying so, making ‘deals’ with you where you get to swap cards, probably because he knows you’re just a big sore loser. Today is not one of those times, unfortunately, so the moment he places a number five card down with that smug smirk on his face, you sigh heavily and drop your cards onto the table. 

“How are you doing this, Sy?!” You exclaim in exasperation, reaching for the hem of your shirt and pulling it up over your head with a sulk. His laugh, rich and smooth, fills the air and despite the way you’re feeling right now, causes your lips to quirk up just slightly. He’s got no idea how cute he is in moments like that. 

“Perhaps I’ve gotten better from all our game nights together, kitten,” He responds, his crimson eyes gleaming with amusement and satisfaction. He leans closer, light bouncing off his silver hair in a way that makes it look even softer and ‘tousle-able’ to the touch. “Don’t give up, you haven’t lost yet. We can continue with another round if you wish.” Another round sounds tempting… if you lose, you still have socks which you could take off. It’s a last resort. 

With a nod of determination, you straighten up and place the cards you’ve used at the bottom of the colorful deck. You choose your new ones, giving yourself a quick pep talk in your head and rolling your shoulders to get ready for the deciding round. If you lose this one, you won’t get to keep one (or all) of those gemstones that he was bragging so much about. He’s not usually one to brag so openly, so it immediately captured your interest and intrigue, feeding your curiosity until you just had to know what they look like… and win them. 

Now that you think of it, this very well might’ve been a trap ─ as they say, curiosity killed the cat. Knowing Sylus and his love for comparing you to a kitten, this very well could’ve been planned from the beginning. 

You’ve never been so invested into a game before, bottom lip jutting out into a focused pout and grip tight on the cards in your hands. By the time the clock shows ten past ten, you’re taking your socks off in defeat. “Alright alright, I lost. Happy now?” You ask him with a glare, crossing your arms across your chest and looking at his fully-clothed figure as if it had personally offended you. Which, in a way it had. It’s just another reminder that you lost, as if those jewels weren’t reminder enough.

Sylus watches you for a long moment, his gaze scrutinizing as he taps his fingers against the wooden tabletop. “Kitten, come here.” His voice rumbles in the silence, spreading his legs and patting his thigh invitingly. 

With a permanent sulk, you approach your boyfriend and slide into his laps, arms still crossed as if you’re actually mad. Sylus knows you’re only just exaggerating, so he places his index finger beneath your chin and tips it up slightly so you meet his gaze. “Did you really think I wouldn’t give you the gemstones if you lost, sweetie?” He asks you, causing confusion to cross your features. 

“Is this how you make deals?” You ask, watching him closely as he pulls out an ornate box from his pocket. “Doesn’t seem like a great tactic.” The black box is placed in your hands, feeling rather heavy as you hold it. 

Sylus shakes his head, a chuckle sneaking past his lips as he responds shortly afterwards. “No. I only do this for you.” Those words alone make you feel like melting into a puddle. Who would have thought that the most dangerous man in the N109 Zone would be head over heels in love and absolutely soft for you? Your fingers brush over the red patterns adorning it, admiring each curve before opening the box. Inside, five different jewels are arranged in a neat row, evenly spaced out and polished to perfection.

“Which one is your favorite? Take your pick.” He continues, observing every microreaction on your face closely. His fingers reach out to tuck a stray strand behind your ear, lingering on the curve of your cheek for a moment too long. It’s as though he’s admiring the finest jewel he owns ─ though, in fact he actually is. You’re the most precious and valuable gem that he owns.

Your eyes are focused on the gem in the middle, its shape and beautiful rich red color standing out compared to the other four. “This one.” You state, picking it up and holding it up for Sylus to see. Upon seeing which one you liked best, he seems to preen with pride and plucks it from your fingertips.

“This is a ruby, kitten,” He speaks up, his eyes meeting yours as he watches you listen to him carefully. God, does he love your full attention being on him. “Rubies have gotten ridiculously expensive and this one? It’s worth a fortune. It has a clear cut, the perfect vivid color and it’s a big piece.” He takes hold of your hand, bringing it closer and placing it against your ring finger. His chest tightens at the sight, a maelstrom of emotions hitting him all at once. “And yet… its value pales in comparison to you.

He doesn’t need to say the words, you know exactly what he means from seeing that yearning look in his eyes. The way he looks at you, paired with the words he’d just spoken, cause you to surge forward and claim his lips in a searing kiss. You pour all your emotions into it, allowing him to feel just how much he’s making you feel in this very moment alone. He had completely captured your heart… and you don’t even mind. 

“Kitten, may I?” He asks you in a low rumble, his hand brushing against your inner thigh with a feather-light touch of worship. Goosebumps break out in that spot, your breath hitched with anticipation as you immediately help him out with the zipper of his pants. 

Sylus is huge, so you usually take a long time to allow him to stretch you out in preparation to accommodate him. However, you’re much too impatient for that tonight. Not with the way that Sylus suppresses a shaky groan as you wrap a hand around it. 

You start with slow pumps of your hand, gazing deeply into those gorgeous crimson eyes that you could drown in. They're richer than any other red you've seen, glowing with a desire that takes your breath away completely. 

Once you sit up, pressing your hand to his chest, he grasps onto your wrist to halt you. “Sweetie, are you sure you want this?” He asks you, his voice dripping with tenderness only reserved for you. 

“Yes.” You respond without any hesitation, nodding your head and leaning in to press your lips against his. He reciprocates, hands drifting over your thighs to land on the curve or your ass. “Then allow me to help, kitten…” With that, he gently lifts you, supporting you as you peel your panties to the side. 

He almost cums undone just at the sight of you, so wet and ready for him already. Still, he doesn't let you sink down just yet. 

He cups your face in his large hand leaning in to brush a brief kiss against your jaw. “Shouldn't we stretch you out first, sweetie? I don't want to hurt you…” He murmurs against your skin, trailing more kisses down the side of your neck and relishing in how sensitive you are. 

“Not today, Sy. Don't need it…” You respond, shaking your head. 

“Are you sure?” Sylus asks you once more, his brows furrowed with concern. But once you nod your head in response to the question, he finally gives in and starts lowering you onto his cock. 

His eyes dart between the sight of you taking him in, inch by inch, and your face for any signs of pain. However, all he sees is the same desire that's coiling deep in her lower abdomen. His head tilts back slightly once you're halfway, the feel of your silken heat clenching around him so deliciously. 

“You feel incredible, sweetie,” He rasps in a low groan, helping you take more of him in with a gentle push of his hips. The moment he's bottoming out inside of you, he swears he saw the heavens for a moment. He clenches his jaw, a grown rumbling low in his chest as he takes in the sight of you sitting so snuggly on his dick. Like you belong there… because you do, only you. 

He inhales sharply through his nose, eyes searching yours for a sign that he can start moving. So you give him a nod once more, hands grasping onto his broad shoulders, hips moving up and down along his shaft as you start to ride him. “Look at yourself, look how well you're taking me.” He speaks in that velvet smooth voice, though a lot more strained and breathy than usual. His hips move with yours, creating a synchronized rhythm that has your eyes rolling back. 

He chuckles at the sight of your cock-drunk expression, hand snaking around to the back of your neck and pulling you in for a kiss. He goes all in, tongue and teeth clashing as he starts picking up the pace. He swallows your moans and whimpers, hands digging into the pliant flesh of your ass as the sound of your wet coupling bounces off the walls. 

With mingled moans and harsh groans, the both of you find release just mere moments after one another. His cock twitches as it fills you up, his release painting your womb white and slowly dripping out along his flesh. He watches it drip from your puffy hole, licking his lips as he feels a wave of possessive desire wash over him once more. 

A comfortable silence fills the air, both of you glowing from the groundbreaking highs you've just experienced. It's not until he leans in, brushing his lips against your ear to whisper “One more, kitten. You can take it.” that the two of you start this carnal dance once more.

[craniumcrunch]

i’ve thought about this a lot recently — more specifically asking myself the question of, had any of the others reached out to misty, would she have accepted?

look at her relationship with walter. it started out tentative, with misty initially shying away from his advances in favour of seeking out nat. then in the compound nat forsakes her (in a sense) for lottie, and in their brief encounter shauna seeks to alienate her from the rest of the group. these are the seeds sown for the deprivation tank hallucination, wherein which her ‘perfect partner’ is one who accepts her exactly as she is. and i mean, walter can technically never fit the mould of perfect partner because he’s a MAN, but other than that he *should* check her boxes. and at a distance, he does! it’s not like misty only ever feels derision regarding him. there is a compulsion to be close to him because he is possibly the only person on the planet who cares (in his own weird way). vulnerability. a perceived, false connection, vastly different to all the others she’s formed — in which misty plays the role of the *pursued*, rather than the *pursuer* and it makes her so, so uncomfortable.

so that’s kind of what i want to talk about here. misty being the object as opposed to the subject. misty being on the receiving end of affection rather than its giver. one of the reasons her relationships just *can’t* work out is because misty invests 100% of her energy into the person she’s focused on and expects them to give, like, 7% back. and i think she’s afraid of doing things differently. i think that, secretly, she’s relieved when none of the girls call her up.

this rejection of care isn’t something we see her do with walter alone, bc then it could just be chalked up to *that*. no, when nat’s on the phone with her, back in s1, misty interrupts her before she can apologise. equally, she glosses over nat’s apology at the door. because these interactions are genuine, and misty spurns affection unless it’s something manipulated/controlled. that isn’t to say she doesn’t desire being cared for — it’s to say it’s a shallow desire, it’s her chasing an idea, like she does with romance/men.

also to do with how she subconsciously hates herself and actively pushes away anybody who emulates any one of her behaviours. case in point, walter, and you could even argue shauna — what with her stalking and their similar responses to lottie’s death and such. + shauna giving her that brief monologue at the end going like ‘you’re just like me’ and misty’s face going all blank. yeah, she’s figured out they’re a lot more similar than either of them originally thought a long time ago.

i have completely forgotten about how misty canonically spent 6 WEEKS in bed after nats death and literally none of the girls called or went to check on her #KILLINGMYSELF

[somewheres-woods]

I feel like T'ainkui is more curious of the little human than anything, I have no doubt we would see him develop feelings for her, but for now, he's slowly accepting her existence in the clan, mfker is both arrogant and prideful, he would rather fight a queen alien rather than be honest with himself . Down the line, I can imagine him fighting another yautja for having any interest in her. Like, he would yell at her for going out and about and demanding her to stay inside, but that's because he cares for her and doesn't want anybody, especially the males, to get too close to her. His methods are questionable, but that's just him not being honest with his feelings for her. Also, the mentor's just watch their relationship blooms on the sidelines. Also, getting some gossip materials with the other older yautja females

*Them ! I prefer to use they/them when referring to the reader.

I respectfully disagree with this interpretation! You do raise some points I generally agree with, but I'll explain it, don't worry!

Your first point about T'ainkui slowly accepting their existence in the clan is correct. He takes a while to warm up to others, and Reader is no exception. But despite being arrogant, he can accept that others do have strength in certain areas of expertise.

It's not that he is incapable of being honest, he's actually too honest sometimes. When he does eventually come around to the idea of feeling things for Reader, it'll be slow and hesitant.

Think of it like Beauty and The Beast!

You need to be slow and patient with him, or else he'll reject the idea of entertaining his "feeble curiosities".

As for how you view the relationship with him down the line... I completely disagree.

T'ainkui, for all his aggression and arrogance, is not controlling. Possessive? Yes, but not to the point of trying to isolate Reader. In order to be in a relationship with him, he needs to respect you. He won't be mates with someone he doesn't respect.

In yautja culture, I personally believe that relationships are generally seen as open until shown otherwise. If two are in a relationship and they only want to be with each other, that's fine. Respected even. However, if another comes along and is interested in one, fighting for their affection is seen as an acceptable challenge.

Yautja value strength in their society.

Some get annoyed by these challenges, and others understand that strength triumphs.

Very few yautja stay with the one they were originally mated to if they lost. They only stay if there's a deep bond between them. But those who have a deep bond in the first place will reject the challenge directly instead of entertaining it. Unless the two are looking for some cruel amusement or for a chance to show off to their mate lol.

So, no, T'ainkui would not yell at his human mate for speaking with others or try to lock them indoors. That behaviour isn't healthy! Even for yautja standards.

As for Reader's mentor, she's not the kind of warrior to be in gossip groups. She's actually considered the clan weirdo, often keeping to herself simply because she enjoys her own company. The relationship she sees between Reader and their chosen yautja partner, is more of an amusement to her than something she's heavily invested in. She's a loner, but she's respected as an Elder and the clan's Witch Doctor.

[boundwithpurple]

hi you don't have to answer this bc i know you get lot of asks. Agree with lot of your posts and not attached to word 'grooming' at all - also experienced incestuous abuse. maybe am misunderstanding. but feel weird about the 'children are smart / know what's happening' thing? don't think can universalize. as a child and even adult i have often NOT known what's happening when people abuse me until long afterward. not just sexual abuse but other things like bullying too. this is disability thing so it also has to do with power structure. But like i have rarely been in situation where abused and understood that it was abuse at the time. i grew up just thinking everything was kind of uncomfortable and confusing but i wasn't allowed to make any choices. i think many children and adults are like this. it wasnt that i saw bad things would happen if i resisted, it truly did not occur to me that resistance was possible, it would have been like dividing by zero to me.

yeah that’s fair! always good to be cautious about universalizing and i admit i probably overstated my case there (post i didn’t expect to extend beyond my blog/the specific context i was discussing at the time, which was lolita and one true experience it expresses which is being really intensely aware of what is happening to you ie the companion post about dolores saying hh raped her explicitly). i was responding to an overgeneralization in the other direction (and thus overcompensating, which is an occasional error) which is the idea that children NEVER know what’s happening is wrong or find it upsetting at the time, which is as equally untrue as the idea they always do. for me, i don’t think i could have named it - it took till adulthood to do that - but i knew i hated it. i was not ever convinced i enjoyed it or wanted it in the way a lot of conversations imagine - that “grooming” is the process of making children think what is happening to them is ok, that any attempt to hide what is happening to them is a result of the creation of that delusion and wholehearted investment in it (and never from calculated self-interest like keeping a family together because, for example, one parent in prison would be economically devastating). that is certainly one story but it just isn’t the only one. but in tossing off a quick tumblr post on my one side i agree i was far too prescriptive, and i apologize if it felt erasing. no one can cover every angle in any one tumblr post but obvs if you are just seeing the one post cross your dash, how should you know. it wasn’t my intention to imply that was any kind of ultimate statement. there are as many stories and truths as their are victims and i’d never want to fail to make space for that.

[saltedfishmaiden]

When I was writing my post about why Sanji loves love, why he sometimes seems too much invested in the concept and idea of it which goes deeper than being only a hopeless romantic, I got to the part with Judge and Luffy, and then wanted to make a whole post about that.

There's this sentiment that Sanji didn't need to have another story with Germa or this added background seems pointless. And while I get it somewhat, I also enjoy getting two cakes and have my fun by poking at parallels and contrasts. So here are all my thoughts and ramblings on the subject. 

I feel WCI is to Sanji in One Piece that Enchantix was to Bloom in Winx Club. For getting that enchantix transformation, all the fairies had to sacrifice something for their people. And while Bloom still gets her transformation, it wasn't at its complete because she hadn't fulfilled the condition of her transformation. Because, you know, she didn't have her people left. (I am talking about season 3, not the newer seasons). 

So how is it even remotely similar to Sanji's Germa origins? Or even ties in with Judge vs Luffy? This got quite lengthy, so under the cut, here we go:

Luffy stands as a figure of freedom and liberation. He has freed islands, thrown off corrupt governments and has saved many, many people. You should start doing good things from your home. And Luffy does it by saving every member of his crew too. But if you closely look at the flashbacks before and during the 3D2Y thing, one of them doesn't hold the same weight as the other. (It didn't for me, at least.) 

Most of the others have flashbacks to being rescued from high stakes situations. Sanji's flashback has a bigger focus on the scene where he asks Luffy if he has ever heard of the All Blue.

Luffy saved Zoro from being killed by Marines, from a death that comes from betrayal and not with a warrior's honor. He saves Kaya, Usopp, and Syrup Village from a fate that was going to befall them. Nami asks for Luffy’s help and he defeats Arlong. He declares war on the world government for Robin. Taking Franky with him so the WG doesn't constantly hunt him down is his decision in the end. Brook spent five decades in literal darkness. Luffy saves him, defeats Moria to restore their shadows, and takes him out of the waters he was stuck for so long at. He is the reason Brook can see sunlight again. He brings the light to the darkness Brook had been in. By launching the prison break, he sets Jinbei free from his cell in the Impel Down. 

Yes he saves Sanji too by fighting Don Krieg. But it differs here that after being set free from their captors or situations, the strawhats have an impact that becomes a trait or a part of their personality. 

Nami doesn't have to free her village any longer. So she's more assertive in taking charge of everyone's finances. Zoro takes quickly to piracy and while his own condition was never jeopardizing his dream, he was ready to give up for Luffy’s life. Robin decides she wants to live. Brook becomes more cheery. Chopper learns some people will love him Because he is a monster. While initially he doesn't want to be one, he is ready to become one for Luffy post time skip.

Coming back to Luffy at Baratie.. he does defeat Don Krieg. (Luffy wasn't the only one influencing his decision. Zoro's refusal to back down from his dream was doing something to his brain too.) But look at it from Sanji's angle:

A pirate crew returns from the Grand Line and attacks a ship on the East Blue that he currently calls his current home. That sounds very familiar though. 

A pirate saves him from a seemingly worse fate after that attack. That too has already happened. 

For Sanji, it's probably another Tuesday. Even if it probably repeats every nine years or so.

Interestingly, Sanji doesn't actually change after Baratie is saved by Luffy. He's still all traits and characteristics that he was. He was ready to die on the Baratie. Then, from Drum Island and onwards, his sacrificial tendencies and (passively) suicidal behavior becomes a recurring theme. At the restaurant, he declares he is ready to die because dying is how he can repay Zeff for saving him. Luffy tells him it's stupid and Zeff didn't save Sanji for him to pull this. But Sanji still keeps this stance, which he again repeats at Thriller Bark that he has always been ready to die. This thing continues post time skip too, as seen in Dressrosa where he was ready for his fate by willingly giving himself up to save the crewmates on the ship. 

So Sanji had yet to change that streak. And it makes you wonder WHY he is so ready to die, to put other's lives and dreams above his own, why his self worth is lower than Punk Hazard’s temperature? Because, again, Zeff didn't save Sanji so he can throw himself away every chance he gets. So where does his behavior even come from? A random nobody kid on a cruise ship shouldn't come with this much baggage. Then why does he? 

Those questions are answered with the WCI arc. Father vs father figure gets the focus. But Zeff isn't physically present there. You know who is? Luffy! The center stage is taken by authority figure vs authority figure. Or, well, leader versus authority figure. And the two couldn't be more different. Which the arc shows throughout.

Judge is a colonizer and symbolizes oppression. In contrast to him, Luffy is the liberator, symbolizing freedom. One of them is power hungry, the other craves freedom. Judge is someone who thrives on hierarchy, on being the biggest, the oldest, the one who looms over others. Luffy is the captain but he is also the second youngest, and usually lets his crewmates do their own thing. 

When Sanji goes back to his bio family, he ends up beaten. When Luffy catches up to him, and Sanji reacts to send him away, Luffy refuses to fight him back. While Judge ignores Sanji's pain and hurt, Luffy acknowledges it. Judge refuses to give Sanji any choice in being used as a pawn. Luffy asks Sanji what he wants. 

Judge goes back against his own word that he had bound Sanji to. Luffy makes a promise of staying there come whatever. Luffy binds himself to his promise. Judge is ready to blow up Sanji's hand. Luffy was ready to give up his own.

What Judge says he doesn't do. Luffy always does what he says.

Luffy picked Sanji as his cook at the Baratie before ever tasting his food. On Whole Cake, the food is ruined but Luffy had nothing but praise. The two stories, both, have Luffy choosing Sanji and it's not because of how good the food is. 

Judge puts everything above Sanji and Luffy puts Sanji above everything else. 

Whatever Judge does, Luffy does the opposite. We have Sanji realizing that he's worth it too. That no, he shouldn't be thrown in a dungeon or used as a chip. 

(Back to my kinda silly comparison to Bloom’s enchantix, isn't it interesting Sanji awakens his own sense of self worth while saving his family too?) 

He changes from that point forward. He asks Robin for help. He questions if Luffy would want him more useful or how he is. And doesn't wait for an answer. Because he already has one. Luffy isn't Judge. For the latter, everything is about usefulness and that's why Sanji is a failure because of what he can't do. But now Sanji knows he is Sora’s success and he already knew Luffy has never cared for what others are of use to him. 

Sanji has never doubted Luffy. He just hasn't believed himself of any worth.

Luffy at Baratie was throwing hands with a pirate who failed on the Grand Line, in exchange of not being the chore boy any longer. Luffy on Whole Cake Island was throwing hands with an Emperor of the Sea for someone he deemed worth more than his dream. That's the difference. 

[hollow-lime-green]

hello oh great fanfiction community !

i saw a stsg big bang event acc today and before that event gets rolling, i would like to say some words about fan events and specifically big bangs in general - without targeting any specific event, and maybe as some food for thought for the community/prospective event runners.

under the cut: the argument for a reverse bang (not femdom)

this is a bit of a ramble but i'm writing this as i have my coffee so you'll have to deal with it being a bit of a braindump.

so let me first just say that i love fan events and i extra love big bangs. the concept of teaming up with someone is awesome. you get to make friends, and specifically you are making friends with someone with a different but related hobby! (art vs writing)

that being said, in all fandom spaces i have ever been in - zines, events, general interaction - there is a pretty heavy favoritism towards artists. you can see this when you look at the number of artists slots in zines, relative levels of engagement in fanart vs fic posts, and, of course, in big bangs (artists select prompts, rather than writers).

now, i am not blaming artists for this (not fully - although sometimes this becomes entrenched in the space's culture, esp with zines and zine groups). there are actual reasons for this:

Zines - art takes up less space than fic - of course you can fit more of them in a zine. also, artists can do merch (imagine writing merch... fortune cookie slips?)

Likes - art is extremely quick to see and ingest, and then smash the like button. writing requires a bit more time investment and usually clicking to a second tab. it is very logical for art posts to get more engagement. (and i think the kind of engagement fics get is often more rewarding - i would not trade my comments for any number of likes. however this, and follower count which correlates, is a good general measure of 'popularity')

Big Bang/Prompt Selection - artists go "omgggg no i can't write the pitch i suck at writing!!"... and i'm going to be so real, i think they're right lmfao. i mean the answer is 'well git gud' but in my experience this is actually true, they struggle to write out pitches.

so yeah, there are real factors that drive artist power/popularity ahead of writers in these spaces. that can also influence the culture of how they are often given priority in fandom events. while i don't blame artists for that, it kinda sucks as a writer. often, as a writer, it can really feel like you're begging for scraps - limited zine spaces, engagement on posts, etc.

which is why big bangs are so great! as a writer, you get a buddy! we love buddies! (not that firefighter ship, i don't know her.) collaboration is great. as a writer, you get to pitch your ideas, and then some artist is gonna see your idea and be like "omg i love that idea" and then they claim you and you get to be buddies, right?

right?

well, this is where the equity problem can come back - because writers are the ones pitching first, they are still in the vulnerable position here. i've been in a few big bangs, and by the nature of this system (writer pitch, artist pick), you often will end up with writers who don't get a pitch claimed, or a situation where artists are pinch hitting and doubling up to make sure everyone is matched up.

which just doesn't feel great.

now, like i said, there are valid reasons for why writers pitch first - fic is more describable (there are events, it's not just a still), writers are better at words (tough to hear but true), and it also takes an ass ton of time and motivation to write (i have even seen some events where there's a big lead time on fic creation, then artists get paired later in the process).

but, consider, it is simply less fun this way. all of these events sort of function on the assumption that an artist will get inspired by fic/prompt - without giving writers the chance to do the same. for writers, there's no spontaneity in this process. we have to be in the driver's seat.

sometimes, a writer deserves to kick back with a pina colada and say "yeah bro what's the vision" as the artist says "ummm... idk i wanna do like.. pastels? kinda like, fluffy springtime? oh and here's a new rendering technique i want to try- [pulls out tablet]"

because the thing is, i can work with that, actually. i think a lot of writers can. all i need is a handful of tags - AU and some general mood indicators - and we can find something compelling to write. you wanna put the character in some ridiculous pinterest strappy outfit? i'll write the choreography of getting into/out of the ridiculous pintrest strappy outfit. you wanna do dark colors? oh the mood of this scene is about to be so dark colors. comic? bro i'll write the dialogue. that's part of why i've been so excited to write for tropefest! it's fun!!

so, a reverse bang, for the uninitiated, is exactly this: a big bang where artists pitch, and then writers select from those prompts.

they are cool and we should do them. thank you for listening to my ted talk. (who am i kidding this is definitely tedx)

[malbontesmrs]

Today’s “my husband plays HS” update:

I was wrong (about a couple of things. Who is this man, and what has he done with my husband?!)

•He took the scene with Lucifer. He hated it. And wasted one of my teacups replaying so he could “undo his poor choices”. But he took it. 😂

Him: “who is this guy?! NiCe NiGhTy, DiD yOu GeT iT fRoM eArTh?”

(Maybe ten minutes later)

Him: (to me) Nice nighty, did you get it from Earth?

(I told him he’s a nerd(affectionate), for what it’s worth 😂)

•He did not realize that Bont is part of MalBONTe. I was literally sitting next to him drawing Malbonte. 🤷🏼‍♀️

•Good news though! “If Bont’s an option, Lola’s going for him”. 😂 There’s still hope for Lola and Malbonte, after all 😂

•He told Bont Lola’s real name so they (😂😂😂) “can start their relationship based on trust”. (I can’t wait to see how THAT goes. 😂😬) (I’m just realizing as I post this that he TOTALLY knows Bont is part of Malbonte. 😂😂😂)

•He did not end up taking Fyr, so Fyr didn’t burst into the room after the first convo with Bont. When I asked him why, he told me he “didn’t think Lola needed the added responsibility of a pet”.

•“Why would I apologize for Lola’s mother?! She sucks.”

(We’re soulmates, istg 🥰😍😂)

•He commented on Lola’s bold fashion choices to attend Rebecca and Winchesto’s trial.

•Apparently, he’s “never smashed the ‘war’ button so hard” after Winchesto’s trial. He showed me the “You support Malbonte’s ideas” banner very proudly. 😂

•He accidentally led Andy on. I literally have no idea what happens after the scene where he gets all “oh sorry I’m in the way” if you’re nice to him, because I always thank him for acknowledging how annoying he is. 😂😬

Husband’s take aways from the first three episodes of Season 2:

•Lucifer’s still a jerk

•Rebecca is also a jerk. He’s hoping for a last minute switcheroo at the execution. He wants “Winchesto to be Lola’s mom now” (I agree!😂)

•Bont and Lola are soulmates. He called them Bola. He literally just learned what ship names are like six months ago. 😂 (it was actually really cute and really opened my eyes up to the fact that we run in very different online circles 😂)

More to come… he invested now. 😂

(Previous update)

[nuvemzinhacorderosa]

American TV: Let's censor swear words to avoid angry religious parents

Brazilian TV: What if we broadcast a romance between a priest and a prostitute? I don't think anyone would be upset about that.

[smartzelda]

Sorry guys I gotta speak my truth on this one

I'm not kidding when I say that I think that blaming shit media literacy from fans on shipping/shippers avoids the actual root of the problem to throw people you can easily throw under the bus (simply because it's not unpopular to consider people who post about ships or ship characters in media as having lesser or derivative tastes by default)

And here's why.

I think when you blame people who are "shippers" or "consume media through shipping lenses", the true root of it all is a mindset problem.

In actually, putting on shipping lenses can be helpful when trying to analyze a piece of media. When analyzing media you're supposed to approach it through a number of mindsets and put on different lenses (both to deepen your personal understanding of the media, and to pick it apart and see what you can find there (whether intentional or not on the author's part)), and different ships can be some of those lenses

When it comes to ships between main characters (for those who are genuinely willing to see what the narrative is showing with their relationship and what it's doing), there are times when analyzing it from a shipping lens may be helpful. As someone from KH fandom, I have seen people come to deeper understandings and pick canon apart in the process of analyzing a relationship that is genuinely integral to the story (platonic or not). I've also seen people get into rarepairs of characters who barely interact or who just suffer little screen time, and I've seen them come to better understandings of those side characters and how they potentially fit into the world of the media simply because people are now focusing on these characters and how they fit into the narrative.

Frankly, I resent the idea that the only way to truly objectively analyze a piece of media is by turning off the part of your brain that gets excited over relationships and individual characters. Don't get me wrong, that is a way to approach a piece of media and a valid one at that, but the truth is that we cannot be free of bias.

For instance, I was watching House MD with my parents circa last year. At some point I started heavily tuning into what was going on with House and Wilson's relationship. My parents, on the other hand, were largely watching casually. They're not thinking of character relationships or getting heavily invested in most characters, they're watching because they like watching. One of them in particular did try to analyze things that were happening in the show as they happened. However, when it came to the scene late in the series where House threw out Dominika's letter approving her American citizenship, my parents could understand that he was doing that because he didn't want her to leave, but not much beyond that. I ended up explaining to them that House's fake marriage for Dominika was an explicit parallel to when Wilson was living with House in the early seasons. Both situations started with House being none too happy about it but ultimately letting them stay, spending a considerable amount of effort getting them to leave/getting this situation to be finally over so he didn't have to deal with it anymore, and then by the time a piece of news comes through that would mean the person in question actually leaves, House hides this news as long as he can. Because he doesn't actually want them to leave and has grown attached. And by doing this he became a self fulfilling prophecy. By reacting to the truth of Wilson and Dominika leaving him the way he does, he seals his fate and they ultimately leave anyways. Maybe I ship Hilson, but becoming open to how their relationship was handled allowed me to transition to doing character studies and recognizing patterns/parallels that I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't particularly care about the characters or their relationship.

Likewise, I've seen mutuals complain about how people who don't like or don't care about certain characters often overlook these characters (what they're actually like and their place in the narrative), while the mutuals in question (by default) are able to come to deeper understanding of what the writers/story is trying to do because they care about this funky guy

You can't eradicate bias when you're engaging in media analysis, but you can consciously put on a range of lenses and observe the media through different povs with the goal of understanding the media better or bolstering your reading of it. And those lenses/povs can include focusing on specific relationships or the perpective of certain characters

And this is why I say it's actually a mindset problem. Shippers and people who have this one blorbo they like a lot aren't inherently terrible "fandom brained individuals" who are the root of media analysis problems. The problem only arises when people's readings/analysis of a piece of media are inherently restrictive/narrow and self centered. Your problem is with people who view a piece of media through a ship they like but don't keep an open mind about it, and whose "media analysis"/views on canon cannot be split from fanon and their comfortability levels. These are the people whose "media analysis" starts and ends with justifying their fanon as canon, whose views on media revolve around sorting characters and relationships into categories they personally enjoy rather than trying to understand what's going on.

Here's another example.

Here we have a fictional ship we'll call uhhhh...Blanebin. this fictional ship I made up on the spot for characters that don't exist named Blane and Corbin

Person A is super into Blanebin. They're part of the main cast of characters and canonically childhood best friends, so person A (as much as they enjoy fanart and fic) is also enjoying analyzing how narratively important to each other they are. Recently, Corbin started dating another character in canon, but Person A is enjoying watching how Blane is reacting to this. "Is this potentially a tell that Blane is jealous or is having complicated feelings about this? What if he was, how would that contextualize his behavior this season? Here's what I think based on how Blane dealt with explicit jealousy last season in a different situation". It's not impossible that person A is still missing further understanding due to their obsession with Blanebin, but at the end of the day this obsession has allowed them to start picking through the characters both in and outside this relationship. It has allowed them to see potential subtext and theorize on what might happen next with these characters' relationship. Not to mention that with addition of Corbin dating someone else, instead of trying to erase this fact or state that Corbin canonically isn't into that person, Person A is trying to factor in how Corbin's current dating life affects his relationship with Blane (irregardless on personal views on the nature of Corbin's relationship with the person he's dating).

Person B is also super into Blanebin. They really enjoy fanart and fic of the characters, love obsessing over their moments together, and just feel like there's really something between the characters. To person B, every moment between them is just further proof that the writers are ship teasing them. But Corbin getting together with someone else this season? Oh that pissed person B off. They cannot believe that even though Corbin and Blane are CLEARLY gay for each other the writers had Corbin get with someone else this season. Perhaps, they think, it was even a decision specifically made to spite fans. How evil of the writers to tease a perfectly good ship and then have them not get together first? They must have been just doing those teases to get views from Blanebin shippers those scoundrels. To Person B, since Corbin started dating someone when he obviously has some chemistry with Blane (even though the series is far from over) means that Blanebin can never get together now and Corbin x person he's dating is ruining Blanebin by existing. In fact, they think, this is terrible writing for Corbin to be dating someone else because they don't like that relationship and don't see the point. Obviously if the writers were good then Corbin would have started dating Blane instead because this was supposed to be the Blanebin show.

Person C despises Blanebin. Don't get them wrong, they've always enjoyed the character's childhood friendship, but they actually have always thought Blane would have been better off with Victoria. They have a lot of moments too! But they're tired of seeing people ship Blanebin. Corbin just got together with someone else, so obviously that's not gonna work out. Plus Corbin and Blane totally has always given person C bro vibes. In fact, person C thinks, sure Corbin and Blane have a close friendship, but people shouldn't be shipping them. Person C likes Blanetoria and Blanetoria can't be canon if Corbin is in the way of it. So Person C likes to read Blanebin as siblings anyways. Sure they're canonically friends, but obviously their friendship turned into brotherhood. This means that nothing can be in the way of Blanetoria and Corbin can keep dating the person he's already canonically dating. Actually, now Blanebin just straight up makes Person C uncomfortable. Don't the pesky shippers understand that Blanebin are sibling coded because they're childhood best friends and that they're important to each other because they're brothers? It's obvious to anyone with eyes.

Sure, ships are involved here, but is the root of this problem shipping? Character A isn't as knowledgeable of other characters in the plot due to this lens they're using, but at the end of the day they're dedicated to analysis. Their love of the characters is pushing them beyond what they like or dislike to try to understand what might be happening through their lens. Not perfect, but they are slowly broadening their horizons. But Person B and C's problems here are their restrictiveness. What is or should be canon to them is tantamount to what they personally like or find comfortable. Is person C actually analyzing the this fake show when they decide to "read" Blanebin as basically canonically siblings (and this all of their moments are totally a bro thing) just because they don't like Blanebin and the idea of them getting together over Blanetoria makes them uncomfortable? Is person B actually analyzing this fake show when their "analysis" of Blanebin goes only as far as asserting it's being ship teased and deciding anything short of canonizing Blanebin is a targeted attack or "bad writing" because it's not what they wanted personally to happen?

This is what I'm talking about. This is the mindset. Shipping isn't the problem. The problem is when people marry fanon and canon to the point where they have a vested interest in superimposing their fanon over canon as "a reading" and trying to make "collective decisions" on what is canon (or what canon is trying to say) based on what does or doesn't make them uncomfortable. The problem is people being restrictive and centering their own likes and dislikes in the conversation, so they can only interact with canon "analysis" wise by deciding what is canon or should be canon "as obviously agreed on by everyone". You can't simply claim you like media analysis. To be able to analyze media and bolster your views on any given canon, you must be open to looking at it through multiple povs, to studying characters without trying to pretend things you don't like don't exist or do like do exist. There is a balance that must be kept between trying to keep objectivity and putting on specific focus/bias based upon the lenses you're putting on. You have to be willing to try to figure out what a media is doing or saying, not saying you're trying to figure out what it's saying while in actuality trying to define the narrative around what people believe it's saying in ways that suit you.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[embroideredequations]

Still trying to figure exactly how I want to draw Porter, but I'm already at the point where I can play dolls with their refs and that's all that matters

[littlewonders7]

AYOO I KIND OF JUST WOKE UP AND I FIND YOU MAKE THIS MASTERPIECE FROM SAYING RANDOM SHIT LIKE OMG I LOVE THIS SO MUCH 👀👀👀👀👀👀💖💖💖💖💖✨

Bro I do enjoy you having singed finding y/n your take on him running findings on them while acting a surprising nice mentor to them! I mean that makes sense as y/n would also have knowledge on what surgery and transplant is and perhaps use it to heal his daughter🤔

No doubt if viktor gets invested then Jayce would too but like honestly the idea of y/n being more of themselves the more people talk and whisper of their existence. Maybe at one point it affects the plot as y/n is an anomaly and the rules don’t fully apply to them!

Sorry for the ramble I honestly just happy you found some inspiration from one of my post and I really enjoy how you wrote it!!! 😳😳😳🥺🥺🥺

Arcane isekai ideas for reader pt. 8

_______________________

- so you know when in isekai stories you see the reader or y/n take the art style form from that reality or either that reality looks more realistic than from the series it’s base from? Not only that but maybe the rules of fiction are different from our world( like for example cartoons like in loony toons being able to recover from situations in the “real world” that would absolutely kill an actual person, like being squished or throw hundreds meters in the air and still surviving) well I had this idea for the arcane story but a bit different

- my idea is that what if when y/n gets isekai from our world to the world of arcane they still retain some features and rules from our world that would make them stand out even more. Like for example y/n hair is more flowing and can take more shapes cause it’s not restricted in 3d model shape like in arcane, or maybe you see the way how more asymmetrical y/n body is because we in our world have asymmetrical bodies and in arcane some proportions have more symmetrical features since being 3d models like for example one size of you body being slightly bigger than the other(hands,feet, eyes). Perhaps whenever y/n gets stuff from our world it would also retain some more “realistic” features like in texture or shading. My favorite one being y/n eyes being more realistic as it gives more unsettling or outworldy feelings because of how the eyes would give a ‘reflecting to one soul through the eyes’ and y/n being more realistic maybe makes the characters wanting to stare into it more.(maybe it might be funny if y/n is terrible on making eye contact but when they do they really stare into your soul)

- maybe this could give more outsider vibes from y/n as not only do they not act or behave like in piltover or zaun but they also feel and look outworldy as well. Maybe when a character touch y/n they can feel the difference in texture on y/n body(whatever the reason may be) like they feel different than other characters from the show because their lack of some “realistic” features they don’t have. Or perhaps they become more infatuated by how the environment effects y/n in a more “realistic” way( like how the hair and clothing get dirty or wet, how the lighting is more reflective on their eyes, how you notice more of their different colors and texture on the skin,etc.) Maybe they also become more protective for y/n when it comes to injures as that also would look different and maybe gruesome for those in arcane. Ohhh maybe to have it a little more unsettling is if y/n insides are still kind looks like from our world, that would be cool!

- I remembered asking something on this on a Genshin isekai story and having thoughts about how that work overtime I thought it would be fun to bring it up again and add on to it.