#but I feel like it misses a chunk of developement on many points

[chaotixxxdoorframe]

Actually, make Jentry Chau vs the Underworld a movie and Kpop Demon Hunters a serie and most of my issues with both of them will be resolved.

[somewhereincairparavel]

a huge chunk of the pjo fandom has turned into such a superficial, judgemental and PROBLEMATIC group who defeat the purpose and point that the books were trying to make, it's so fucking atrocious. the prime example of mischaracterizing/reducing the value of characters who are already misunderstood/misjudged in canon. this fandom does this to every.single.character.ever omg

percy jackson is so relatable to many people is because he didn't have to capacity to absorb textbook knowledge but was HIGH on street smart knowledge that got him to succeed. the whole point of his character is that he had low self esteem because he was ridiculed at school by the faculty and the students for being a 'dumb' and 'useless' guy that made him think he's an inconvenience to his mom. the baggage he carried is so overlooked.

the fandom saying stuff like 'annabeth had adhd and dyslexia too but she carried percy' is so fucking disrespectful. one, she's an athena kid who's supposed to be smart that's like the whole point, and that does NOT mean percy wouldn't survive without her. he's a DIFFERENT character and he doesn't need to be a scholar to be a powerful demigod who has his own identity. stop belittling him and comparing all of their adhd/dyslexia struggles. just because annabeth is smarter does NOT mean percy has less value than her, and that whatever comes out of his mouth is just silly gibberish, which is exactly what y'all are trying to imply. no he did NOT get by with just "luck" he's smart and capable enough to actually achieve things. It isn't rocket science.

making jokes like his only purpose is to have a goofy personality and wondering how he 'pulled' annabeth is NOT cute whatsoever. just deprives him of his canon developement and fails to recognise him as an important person because he is not book smart. the level of belittlement. in a way rick also contributes to this character assassination because he added another scene of piper saying something along the lines of 'thank god annabeth is there to keep percy from going wild/doing something stupid' like no miss girl

I could go on about how the fandom infantilizes nico, brushes of hazel's flaws/traits because she's a 'smol' bean (when she literally cusses out octavian, why do y'all hate the idea of her being bold/badass when she literally is??) belittling frank's power because he's 'just an innocent goof', saying stuff like 'in my head leo is a tall guy because rick did him dirty with the height when he is so hot' that's basically implying that he loses his attractiveness because he's short and wanting to confine him into those toxic masculinity standards

slandering rachel and calling her a pick me for liking annabeth as though annabeth already had a claim over percy in BOTL when he wasn't even in a relationship and even had a small liking to rachel (belittling BOTH rachel and percy in the process, is percy not allowed to have feelings too? is he only obligated to like annabeth?), also with the fandom's clear misogyny in their treatment of nico liking percy vs rachel liking percy, go on a moral policing hunt when it comes to jason, piper and percy but goes right ahead to defend and glaze luke's behaviour to annabeth, percy and silena (also victim blaming silena because she was manipulated as a teenager by a fully grown adult who KNEW what he was doing, using her)

stubbornly not wanting to recognise jason as an important character and reducing him into a 'whiney pick me guy who wanted everything to be about himself' and that he's 'boring' not realising that his abusive environment both as a baby and as a teenager suppressed him into struggling and not being able to feel worthy to even have feelings of his own, villianizing and getting on pipers throat for calling percy unimpressive simply because she LOVED and was LOYAL to her then boyfriend?? is she not allowed to have a preference??? heck id be more concerned if she did call percy hot whilst being in a relationship wtf.

and DONT get me started on the grover belittlement and erasure please, saying that percy and grover are only annabeth's 'sidekicks' on quests, as though he wasn't capable to go on a hunt for pan all by HIMSELF not knowing he'll ever be back.

[decojellyfish]

hello, i like your writing and was wondering if you could write some more guard dog! (character of your choice) with a little kitten reader?

Helloooo! I am terribly sorry for how long this took! College has me very busy and worn out, leaving me little to no motivation to work on fics. I really hope this makes up for the wait, as well as the other fic requests I'm working on!

------

Kitty

Hybrid AU! TF141 Retired Guard Dog! Gaz x Kitten! GN! Reader Reader is addressed with either 'you' or 'kitty' !!No Romance for Obvious Reasons!!

SFW ~ Fluff Warnings: Kind of OOC Gaz at some points

𝗡𝗼𝘄 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴: "fish in the pool - yeule" 0:09 ━●────────── 2:47 ◁ㅤ ❚❚ ㅤ▷

───♡───────────── Beginning

It had been 6 years since Kyle’s spot among one of the highest-ranking K-9s  had been replaced by another dog after his sniffer began to deteriorate due to a mission gone awry. Chemical warfare had been at play, leaving damage to his lungs, nose, and eyes. He was now left partially blind and developed asthma. After it was decided he could no longer work for the military, he was honorably discharged.

‘Honorably discharged my arse’ Kyle would find himself thinking whenever it was pouring rain, and there was no roof over his head to keep him dry and no walls to keep him warm. He was placed in a shelter when he retired, but that was short-lived as more and more hybrids were placed into the shelter, thus ending up in Kyle being one of many hybrids that were removed from the building – and kicked out onto the streets.

His dark eyes grew tired and full of hatred and disgust by the day. With each person that passed by, he could taste how his mouth grew more sour and his expression one of permanent bitterness. He had a home, warm food, a warm bed, everything. And these privileged little snotty hybrids didn’t know how not to take that for granted. He hated it, he hated them.

It was one of those evenings where the rain was heavy, and thunder was roaring somewhere far away. He found himself lurking around a petrol station for any kind of change or food. He was, yet again, unsuccessful in getting anything more than £4. But he had saved enough to get a sandwich to eat. He rested out back behind the building, hunched over his food so it wouldn’t grow soggy.

That’s when he felt a pair of small hands start tugging at his sandwich, making him let out a firm, loud growl. It was dark, and his shit-sight could only let him see silhouettes in the daytime. But he could sense the figure was small, a child probably. One that clearly hadn’t been taught manners. His chipped ears would twitch as they plucked out the sound of little sniffles and an angry churn of a hungry stomach.

“Go find your mummy, child. I ain’t sharin’.” He grunted. He was met with a small whine and felt the little hands grab at his meal again. He barked at them, “Fuck off, you greedy thing!” When he pulled back, he could feel a chunk of his sandwich missing that he hadn’t eaten, followed by the soft sounds of chewing. With a reluctant sigh, he went back to eating.

He could still feel your presence, though you were quiet. Just to make sure, he reached out and gave you a little push, confirming that you were, in fact, still standing there, probably wanting more. “Why don’t you go back to your parents? I’ve got nothing of use for you.”

He was met with silence, making him push more, “Don’t need to be scared. I’m sorry I yelled at you, I was hungry. But, you shouldn’t take people’s food like that.”

There was more silence. But he felt your presence move and sit next to him, and he felt you nearly sit on his tail. “Go, go away. I’ve nothing left for you.” He sighed, now giving up. He was tired and soaking wet from the rain. He sensed no movement; you were a stubborn little thing.

With that, he got up and began his way back to where he could sleep for the night. He used a cane that his previous shelter had provided him with, though, he mostly used it in the dark when his blurred surroundings became a cacophony of blues, greys, and blacks. Scraping it against the ground before him as he walked, he was so focused on the sound and finding a good place to sleep that he didn’t notice your small form following closely behind.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

The morning was bright, and the rain had since gone away, though the grass was still wet and had gathered morning dew. Kyle woke up with a small groan, a few of his bones cracking as he stretched. However, he immediately became aware of his surroundings when he felt another sleeping body that was a bit too close for comfort. Sitting up, he looked down at you, now getting a better chance to look at you.

You were a hybrid like him, a cat hybrid. Your fur was orange, but the color had rusted due to the dust, dirt, and grime that was stuck on you. Seems like you were in the same boat as him, on the streets. But you were so little, so young, why the hell were you here and not somewhere warm?

Kyle began to nudge you awake, wanting to interrogate you. “Hey, wakie-wakie.” You grunted and stretched your legs out before curling your spine as your dusty ears folded back for a second. “I’m not your pa, why’re you still here?” You stared up at him, letting out a soft grunt in response.

“You don’t talk, huh? Why’s that?” He asked as he folded his cane up, storing it away in his bag. You grunted again in response, blinking at him. “You just gonna follow me around like a little guttersnipe? Is that it?” He chuckled, standing up which resulted in you following suit. To his surprise, you nodded.

He sighed and began to walk to a street where he could try and make some cash with you following quickly behind him. “I suppose there’s no getting rid of you. That’s fine, just make your own money. No leeching off of me.” Kyle stated firmly.

A few minutes later, he found a spot on a sidewalk where he sat down and put his sign and hat out in front of him. You stayed by him, seated and now whimpering in hunger. “I know, the hunger sucks. You’ll get used to it, kitty.”

The day passed, and at some point, you had actually left Kyle alone. He had no idea where you went, but he paid no mind. That is until you came back around noon with a smile on your face. “What’s got you so perky, kitty?” His eyes widened when you suddenly pulled out wads of cash.

“What the- you shouldn’t steal…!” He scolded you with a hushed voice, not wanting to attract the authorities if they were nearby. “That’s wrong, kitty, you’ll get in massive trouble for that kind of stuff.” He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. You had a guilty look on your face, your slightly matted tail hanging low on the ground in shame.

Kyle sighed before motioning you to sit by him while he looked around for any onlookers. “...just put what you have in my bag, okay…?” He whispered, pushing his bag to you before you emptied the contents of your pockets into it. He was surprised by how much you’d been able to steal, from pickpocketing he assumed. “But still, no stealing. Got it?” You nodded, unable to hold back a small grin of pride from how mildly impressed he was.

A few moments passed before Kyle turned to you, “Do you know how to talk?” His voice was curious, laced with worry. His brows raised when you shook your head no, a small sound leaving your throat. “Your parents didn’t teach you or something?” You simply shrugged in response. “I suppose I’ll take that as a no.”

There was more silence between the two of you. Just the sound of people walking by, only glimpses of their conversations could be caught, the loud engines of the cars and buses that drove by, the rare instance someone would put a few quid into Kyle’s hat. “...how long are you gonna stick around?”

You shrugged again, another small sound leaving you. “You just gonna follow me forever? Till the end of time?” He cracked a smile at you. You smiled and nodded eagerly. “I made that much of an impression last night?” Kyle laughed a little. He stared at you, slightly leaning closer to get a better look at you. You were too young to be living like this.

He ruffled your hair as he leaned back, “I suppose I’ll have to teach you some vocabulary then, huh?” You squealed and laughed, pulling his hand off of you. That sound made him feel something, something that shifted. He’d never felt a paternal instinct before, but there was something about that feeling. Something that he welcomed with open arms.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

It had been a few months since you two met, and things were looking okay. You had learned a few words, memorized most of the alphabet, and were working on small sentences. Kyle had actually caught you whispering to yourself, his ears twitched as he focused on what you were saying. He had to hold back a smile when you were just repeating sentences over and over again, and trying to make up new ones.

Money was looking okay as well. Kyle had been saving before you came into his life, though he had managed to finally get close enough to having a home. Not a luxurious one, but enough for a trailer. He had more motivation than ever when you decided to stick around with him. He wanted to get you off the streets as soon as possible.

You were currently on the swings at a playground, chanting “Higher!” as Kyle pushed you. “Christ, I don’t think you can go any higher, kitty.” He chuckled. “Y’might wanna start coming down, it’s almost time for lunch.” “What’s lunch?” “Sandwiches.”

With that, you came down from the swing and went to the park benches, settling down for lunch. You munched on your lunch, a soft purr emanating from you. “Are you happy?” Kyle asked with a small smile, which grew as you nodded rapidly. “Is it the sandwich or the park that made you happy?”

“Two!” You exclaimed. “Two? You mean both of them make you happy?” Kyle smiled, “Yeah, both.” You replied. “And you.” You quickly added on. “Me? I make you happy?” He pointed to himself, his eyebrows raised. “Yeah!” You affirmed before taking another bite out of your meal.

Kyle smiled with a happy sigh, wrapping an arm around you and pulling you close. “Well, you make me happy too, kitty.”

───♡───────────── End

Thank you all so much for your patience! I hope you can forgive me for the wait :)

------ Taglist: @venavanup @draculauraspage @tf141gloryhole @obnoxiousbag @chanel-princess-world @ssc7514

If you would like to be added to the taglist so you can read my latest fics, let me know! Thank you :)

[yes-no-maybe-soo]

Hello, I hope I'm not bothering you with this message, but I wanted to ask you something.

I recently started playing Love and DeepSpace a few weeks ago. I actually downloaded it because of Sylus—his edits kept appearing on my feed, and I was instantly drawn to him. However, after downloading the game and going through his chapters, I found his behavior toward the MC quite problematic.

One of my friends told me that Sylus isn’t like the typical dark romance characters from today’s BookTok trends, which honestly made me even more excited to explore his story. But when I watched Long-Awaited Revelry, I was honestly shocked by how he was handling the MC. I couldn’t help but wonder—is this really the same man who once sacrificed himself for her?

I tried my best to dig deeper into his lore, and I genuinely found his character to be selfless and sacrificial. But I’m struggling to understand how someone so selfless could hurt the MC in the main storyline. I can overlook many things, but one scene in particular really gave me a huge ick—when he takes her to Philip's shop. If I remember correctly, he uses his evol on her body, and she even says, “It hurts.” Then he replies with, “You will hurt even more.” That scene truly unsettled me. How could he say that when she clearly expressed she was in pain? Isn't that physical abuse?

Please correct me if I’m misunderstanding or wrongly labeling it as abuse. I just can't seem to make sense of that moment, especially after immersing myself in his backstory. It feels like the writers did him dirty in Long-Awaited Revelry. I mean, if someone could sacrifice their life for the person they love, how could they ever intentionally hurt them—even to remind them of the past?

It’s really hard for me to connect the version of Sylus we see in that scene with the one from his 5-star memories, where he seems like a completely different, much softer person. I genuinely love him a lot, and that’s what makes it even more upsetting. I usually adore dark characters—the kind who would burn the world for their beloved but would never hurt their beloved. Sylus doing this in the main story was unexpected and, honestly, kind of icky for me. 🥲

How do I come to terms with his redemption arc after knowing what he did in Long-Awaited Revelry (especially that physical hurt while taking her to the shop)? Is there a deeper context I might be missing—something that justifies his behavior? I really don’t want to dislike him, but it’s hard to reconcile such a hurtful scene with the selfless man his backstory shows. And again im saying i do not hate him but its just hard to overlook that scene especially knowing that he loves her so much and is willing to do anything for her. It seems like the Sylus who is shown in the long awaited reverly is not the same Sylus who is shown as so selfless in his myth and in his recent soft memory cards.

So I've already gone into this a bit in two previous asks that you can find here and here. But I can delve into it again, though my answer will be the same just more in depth I guess lol ^^

Ok so here are my main points

I don't at all think that this is a case of bad or inconsistent writing by Sylus' creative team. Sylus is a carefully – meticulously, even – crafted character who'd been in development for at least 5 years before he was introduced in the main story. I guarantee that his team know what they are doing with him and that they'd never do him dirty. They love him as much as if not more than we the fanbase do.

It's important to remember that we lack a lot of lore and context. We don't have all the puzzle pieces yet when it comes to Sylus or his relationship with MC. We're missing a huge chunk of backstory starting from their escape from the nebula up to Sylus' Anecdote. It is very possible that something happened in that time (or perhaps in another myth?) that can provide further explanations for Sylus' behavior in LAR. We'll just have to be patient and see.

For now though the simplest and most logical explanation to me is that Sylus is acting out of character in early LAR because he is in emotional distress. He is hurt, distraught, frustrated, desperate, possibly even fearful. He did not at all expect for things to happen the way they did, for the love of his life to not recall him at all even after coming face to face, for her to hate him, nor for her powers to be weak. I think it's pretty clear that he worries something was done to weaken her during the time that he wasn't observing her from afar – hence why he takes her to Philip and why he asks him if "someone put in a suppressor". Her suddenly deteriorated power makes him anxious for MC's future safety, and his fear has good reason – he is aware of the dangers posed to her by EVER.

He is also just simply desperate for her to regain her memories, which is also understandable. His pain and grief and frustration over his literal soulmate being unable to remember a single thing about him makes even more sense now after Death and Rebirth and the Timelock Key event. I'm ngl I wouldn't handle the same scenario well at all either, but would probably have a major crashout, especially if I'd done and been through all that Sylus has. In early LAR Sylus is basically a person who is desperately trying to remind a loved one (a literal chosen soulmate at that) with amnesia of their past and of themself. (An example of his trying to jog her memories is this part right here where he is recreating an environment mimicking the arena they fought in as kids).

To put it simply, Sylus isn't calm or rational or gentle because the situation he is in is deeply emotionally distressing and unexpected, and in his distraught state he is willing to cross lines he would not in normal situations. He loses himself, going as far as to override his core principle re: MC (her autonomy and consent). In this instance of raw hurt and desperation he thinks that the ends justify the means. This alone shows that he is not in a good or normal state of mind (and again why would he be?)

Now, that being said, does Sylus' emotional distress excuse his actions or make them justifiable? No. Because what he did in LAR simply isn't justifiable and isn't meant to be.

Like I've said before, you'll never catch me defending his actions or making excuses for them regardless of Sylus' reasonings. His behavior was wrong, and is portrayed as such by the narrative. We are meant to be uncomfortable and upset by those scenes. And we are meant to take MC's side and empathise with her as the victim of harsh and fucked up treatment, (while we can also with the context we now have also empathise with Sylus' emotional pain and anxiety – but we shouldn't excuse or justify him). Sylus himself realizes that he went way too far and obviously deeply regrets it – that's why his behavior changes notably afterwards. He is never again forceful or coercive with MC, but on the contrary always walks at her pace, and is twice shown to be prepared to let go of her. And I think his character is all the more beautiful for the fact that he is capable of learning from his mistakes and of bettering himself.

So in summary; Sylus behaving out of character in those early chapters makes perfect sense considering the circumstances and is imo an instance of good and realistic writing rather than bad or thoughtless. The writers were not in any way doing Sylus dirty, but were showing us a character that is flawed and emotionally hurting and capable of fucking up royally in certain situations, but who is also capable of real self reflection and of learning from his mistakes. The early chapters in LAR are integral to his character development, adding layers and depth and vulnerability to him and thus, ironically enough, make him more "human".

This is my perspective anyway, and I hope that it provided some food for thought ♡. I do want to say though that if you still feel the same re: Sylus' behavior, or if you have a completely different perspective from mine, that's ok and understandable. As always I am simply stating my own personal thoughts and interpretations, nothing more nothing less. Not trying to influence or change the way anyone thinks or feels or stating that my interpretation is the "correct" one. I am just working with the material we currently have and trying to piece the pieces together in the way that makes most sense to me, but which inevitably might not to others.

[mindlessly-dying]

Now, I don't know if this is a feeling other people have amongst the fandom, but I just wanted to put my 2p in about something. (this has been sat in my drafts for a while, but after this ep, i needed to get this out there)

A personal opinion of mine about 911, is that I wished some of the ep plotlines would go over a couple episodes. Something I really struggle when it comes to the show is that there are these brilliant plotlines that get scrapped way to quickly, then we end up with ones that leaves the fandom feeling a little cheated. We have seen the writers create character arcs and plotlines that last chunks of the season (like sperm donor Buck, Eddie's mental breakdown, Hen's medical school, Doug, Bobby's addiction/past, Wilson family foster arc, and so on).

Hear me out, imagine if Maddie had to spend the next few episodes trying to adjust to not having her voice, while processing the trauma. The doctor in that episode says she would probably not have her voice for a while. The audience has to watch as she struggles with the attack along with the pregnancy and maybe even Chimney being in the lab. The scene where she lost sight of Jee would have been far more impactful of the audience watched Maddie struggling and when Jee goes missing thing of the fucking stomach dropping moment when we believe that there is all hope lost, then shit, she's got her voice and Jee is OK, all is right with the world... then bam... lab arc.

One thing I will die on the hill off, Buck should have struggled with discovering he is a saviour baby, his whole childhood was shattered, his family lied to him... c'mon, I'm not the only one who things that one conversation with his family and a therapy session with his folks is gonna make it all ok. In my opinion, it would have been a little more realistic and more interesting watching him struggle with the weight of it throughout S4, and it comes to it's peak when the factory fire happens. Us as the audience has been watching Buck struggle with having his world completely flipped, in the factory fire we then watch as he pushes past everything. He overcomes his fears and issues, by just being Buck (and it would have been eeeevvvveeeennnn better if he cut off his parents at this point as well, just saying).

So with the funeral episode, it should have been longer, or at least the episode should have been more centred around the characters. The amount of one off episodes that literally add nothing to the show. Now, I understand that this show wasn't created to be streamed, and I've been watching it on and off for years now. I binged it back in 2022, then watching it weekly from then on. I think that if the show played out the plots just a little bit more, it would be a more impactful show, more heart wrenching and just a bit more. There is this little thought in the back of my mind when I watch 9-1-1, its as if they are burning through as many plot points and arcs as they humanly can -- often at the expense of negating previous character developments.

[outrunningthedark]

To me Tim has 4 characters he seems to care the most about writing about: Athena, Bobby, Buck and Hen. The other mains tend to have their plots surrounding those 4 characters and/or even when they are not the central, those 4 characters take up a good chunk of the plot. I think Maddie (I find he’s hit and miss with Maddie. I think he was more interested in her character earlier seasons not so much now though), Chimney and Eddie he just isn’t as excited to write about and I believe this because for the past couple of seasons, their character plots have been stale tbh. I could be wrong but that’s the impression I get watching the show.

The mistake Tim made with Eddie and Maddie was in ending their introductory plots much, much earlier than necessary. Eddie and Shannon could have made up for good. But it would have been after YEARS of will they-won't they teasing. Or Shannon could have still died. But killing her off in say, season four or five or maybe six would have left a MUCH bigger impact on the audience and Eddie's character because there would have been MORE of a story to tell in the meantime. Maddie was written as a survivor of domestic violence. But when you kill off the abuser immediately after the audience finally sees him in the flesh? Well. Even Jennifer has been open about her frustrations with Maddie having very little going on because happy on her is boring. Just like Devin, Tim likes bringing Brian back in different forms because THAT is a story he actually cared (still cares) about. THAT is a character he was actually invested in.

The interesting thing about Chimney - something I feel doesn't get discussed enough, tbh - is that we're never going to know who Chimney could have been or was supposed to be. And this isn't me being "anti-Madney". This is me pointing out that whatever ideas were being tossed around for Chimney in season two went out the window the minute Jennifer said she wanted Madney to be a couple. Once Tim went along with her suggestion (no surprise there) it's like there was no longer a need to fully develop Chim's journey because now almost everything could be connected to Maddie. (So much so that Tim and whoever he was answering to in season 5 made the decision to remove Kenny from the plot because Jennifer was on maternity leave!) And as far as Hen is concerned...the story lines are definitely repetitive, BUT I do give the show a bit of a break there because the most important people in her life (besides her best friend Chim) are all side characters who can only show up when the network (the contract) dictates. I think the fact that so many of her scenes revolve around the kids or her marriage at least SHOWS Tim cares about Karen/respects Tracie and wants her to be included whenever possible. It's just...can we get something besides "they're trying to tear our family apart"? 🤨

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

can we have some moth with a cold blooded reader, like reader is naturally freezing cold and doesn't give off heat for whatever reason, but they actually enjoy the cold rather than feeling discomfort or pain!

oh my moon and stars i have so many friends like this, i sometimes wonder if they're secretly reptiles

Foul Legacy can withstand extreme cold- the Abyss is like ice no matter what, after all- but he's pretty sure that most humans aren't supposed to be able to! then again, Childe and all of Snezhnaya immediately contradict that by living in one of the coldest surface areas of Teyvat, so at this point the poor Abyssal moth is just confused. still, he makes sure to keep a close eye on you whenever you run around in the snow or in the freezing dead of night, yet you never seem to worry or fall ill. you're cold to the touch, just like him, and seem to relish leaning against Foul Legacy and leeching his chill away like a freezing little vampire. he doesn't feel the cold very much, but even Legacy lets out a small yelp of surprise whenever you wrap your arms around him, hair and fur fluffing up into a soft, poofy cloud

summer is atrocious for everyone, you because it's way too warm and you miss the cold, and Foul Legacy because you have a tendency to lean against his cold armor and sap away the frosty feeling. you develop the habit of munching on ice cubes to help with the heat, Legacy's fangs crunching on a much larger chunk and his tongue inevitably sticking to a few places. luckily, due to his Hydro Vision, he can easily make a few watery narwhals, sending them floating and flipping over to you and brushing against your cheeks with a lovely coolness. at the very least, Childe is immensely happy with this revelation. why? because this means that you would adore being in Snezhnaya, and he's wanted to take you to visit his family for the longest time, so he can officially introduce you as his beloved

[blightedcrow]

Okay re your tags on this

THANK 👏 YOU 👏

Even the game itself i feel like doesn’t take the emperors route as seriously as the others. I’m not an emperor gal myself (i wish raphael had a romance route but that’s a whole ‘nother rant) but I respect the tentacle lovers, and they got done dirty.

Also Like i get they couldn’t do every race, but we did not need that many elves.

And, we should’ve been able to romance/ at least have in the party default dragonborn durge. I will die on this hill, there should’ve been a way to include him.

Oh no you've unleashed a wall of text I'm so sorry HJFKS

God honestly yeah?? The Emperor's romance had a lot more potential that I expected to get into when I accidentally stumbled onto his route. (Gonna use he/him for The Emperor since my design for him was the masculine form!)

He has such a compelling story *and* it's not a perfect fairy tale romance and I think that's truly what I loved about the idea of his romance. I admit I wasn't planning on going down his route at all, mostly because it was my very first playthrough (and didn't realize it was even an option) and had plans to romance Astarion and Halsin but my game glitched so hard in the middle of Act 2 and made Astarion dump my Tav unprovoked and Halsin just fucken disappeared. But after accidentally getting onto his romance route, I really loved the idea of him and Tav.

People really do treat him and his romance as if it was the most disgusting possible outcome but like ?? Dude's a sweet talker, has a smooth af voice, charisma is off the charts, and frankly he treats Tav so kindly* - even if his intentions aren't entirely genuine. **If you treat him kindly, of course. I don't think people realize he's only hostile towards you if you're mean to him first.

People can't complain about the manipulation when a good chunk of the companion romances also have their own not-so-well-intentions within their actions with Tav. Looking SO loudly at Astarion.

There was a lot that could have been done with The Emperor tbh, but honestly the way Wyll's storyline was kind of a one-and-done, tossed off to the side never to be touched upon again, I'm not entirely surprised that they never came back around. 😩

I would have *LOVED* to see what they could have done for the default Durge as a companion omgg I think it would have been neat to see what the "canon" Durge questline would look like from outside and see just how corrupt or kind they could be and what kinda relationship with Thorm, Orin and Gortash that could have developed. And how spicy the different endings could be for their romance??? PLEASE

I definitely think they could have done better for companion races. I LOVE elves, even my original Tav is half-elf, but had I known going into it that the entire crew would mainly just be elves and humans, I absolutely would have chosen something else HJKFS We didn't need one of each, but it still would have been nice to have some variation

BG3 is still a great game and for what we didn't get, they made up for in general storyline choices and just how many different routes is made possible and whatnot of course but MAN. man. we missed out on so much potential 😩😩😩

It feels a little messy, a little rushed, in a few departments for sure. Gotta make up for it in my own Tav's lore now as a result, smh

I do appreciate that we had some technically romance routes with non-companions, it's a shame they aren't super well thought out or treated kindly but mAN, the wasted potential?? IP holder is a FOOL at this point imo I'm gonna keep blaming them specifically

[multiplicity-positivity]

Hey I dunno if you’ve gotten this before but. Do you have anything on autism and DID/OSDD? Specifically resources or accounts and such (since I’ve seen the positivity post)

I struggle with emotional dysregulation, big memory issues (huge chunks of childhood and adolescence missing, forgetting things constantly, dissociating emotions from memories, etc,) frequent daydreaming/spacing out/dissociation, that type of thing (and a bit more that’s a little too complicated to explain in an ask lol)

I’ve always kind of figured it was just part of me being autistic (I’m professionally diagnosed and definitely very autistic regardless lol), but I’ve recently gone down a bit of a rabbit hole relating to plurality and now I’m wondering if it could be a symptom of DID/OSDD instead/as well (I was originally looking at something else and stumbled into the tags somehow. The original thing that led me here was foxes. I think. And then I had a bit of a panic as I realized how some of the symptoms were VERY close to some of my experiences. Especially the memories.) but i also can’t tell if it’s just some sort of brain fog(???? Is that the correct term?) / alexithymia / Unknown Autism Trait 3 that nobody ever talks about and is difficult to find any sort of explanation or resources for. And my brain protested and had the equivalent of being on the verge of a sobbing meltdown or mental overload of some sort when I tried to think about stuff relevant to the topic so I don’t think it’s going to be of much help to me right now.

obviously not asking for diagnosis or to self diagnose at all (since. I understand you cant really do either of those /lh /nm) but I’m curious if any of you know of any resources relating to this specific type of stuff? I feel like I’d go insane trying to find any info on it. (And also I don’t think my brain would want to cooperate if I asked it to because it basically shuts down, gives me a headache, and turns to a pathetic wet sobbing cat whenever I try to think about the possibility so I doubt I’ll be identifying as anything anytime soon but. I want some stuff to think over at least.)

hey, we also are autistic and have dissociative identity disorder. unfortunately, there isn’t really too much research on the overlap between autism and complex dissociative disorder diagnoses at this time, that we know of, but we do think that autistic people may have a higher likelihood of dissociating and developing a cdd than neurotypical people.

we really love mike lloyd’s work at the ctad clinic, and he has an insightful video on the intersection of autism and dissociation here:

here is an open access paper by katherine e. reuben and ayden parish on dissociation as a symptom in autism - it’s an interesting read and wasn’t too difficult for us to parse:

also, here are a couple life experience pieces by folks with both did and autism:

our own autism has contributed to our trauma history in how we were treated, formed attachment, and understood the world as a child. for our own system, our autism and our did are inextricably linked. we are certain that many other autistic systems feel the same.

if exploring this possibility for yourself is causing you great distress, it may be for the best to put this off to the side for now until you have reached a point with more stability or a greater support system in your life. please don’t overwhelm or cause yourself harm by looking into this possibility on your own, if it is unhealthy for you.

if you are in therapy or have a mental health professional in your life who you trust, this would be an excellent thing to bring up to them. though hopefully these resources can help you get started learning about this topic if you have the spoons/ability to do so.

we are no medical expert or research professional, but we are happy to talk more about our personal experience of being both autistic and a did system if anyone would be interested. best of luck to you, anon, with figuring this out. we know how confusing and challenging it can be!

[ouabhs]

acftl review (finally)

I give it a 3 ⭐️ (as much as it pains me) even then it’s only this high bc I love evajacks so much

so I was finally able to gather my thoughts into one post and while there were many things I enjoyed a few others didn’t sit right..

1. the whole story curse thing.. it makes sense that the story curse would twist things which is why some things were left unexplained but it doesn’t feel like it was done deliberately?? it just felt like stephanie genuinely didn’t know how to tie some things together.. like sure not every single thing needs an explanation but she emphasised certain things wayyy too much in the first two books for them to be completely ignored for example evajacks talking to each other in their minds. Even the broken heart scar wasn’t addressed again after like halfway through acftl

2. too much apollo.. sorry this is not even just me being biased or whatever like I do agree his pov helped explain the plot from a different perspective but he got wayyy more of a backstory and a conclusion to his character than jacks for a someone that wasn’t as present in the last 2 books.. and this was supposed to be jacks’ series kinda (ik it was evangelines too) but I feel like jacks got sidelined hard and that’s disappointing. It also didn’t help that whenever there was an intense scene between evajacks the pov would switch to apollo.. to be fair I think having 3 povs was just hard to execute in general

3. the kiss scene.. usually it would not be a big deal but it’s a big part of jacks character that he can’t kiss girls without killing them idk I thought him finally getting to kiss evangeline would be a lot more… grand? they barely got a page or any detail and then the next chapter was “once upon a time there was kissing and more kissing 🥰🥰” which was even more underwhelming. Even apollo and evangelines kiss scenes were longer and more detailed and they got multiple

4. the overall vibe of the 3rd book felt very different to the first two I couldn’t put my finger on it at first but I feel like it had something to do with the writing.. at some parts it felt familiar (like all the descriptions and the fairytale aspects) but others it just felt different?

5. during too many scenes it just felt like stephanie was rewriting tbona.. like I haven’t really seen anyone say this yet but a good chunk of the book was quotes from tbona which I feel took up a lot of unnecessary space and could’ve been used to develop other plots or characters? Literally someone that hasn’t read tbona could get a gist of what happened cause it’s all summarised in there 😭

6. the plot in general.. contrary to popular belief I don’t think this was that romance focused (as people claim as to why things weren’t explained) because I think stephanie incorporated more plot in here but it was just different to what we saw in the last books because previous characters (luc, marisol, tiberius, kristof) weren’t as present in this book and new characters plots and explanations were just thrown in.. not much felt connected

7. jacks’ backstory.. (going back to my second point) how he became a fate was really glossed over I feel and was only briefly mentioned but I just wanted more.. I do like the fact that he said he did it for chaos and I wish their friendship was delved into more because he literally turned to immortality because his friend would be alone. What about his parents? His friendship with Lyric? The merrywood three in general? His life when he was trapped in the card?

8. the first fox.. again wayy too significant to be missed out especially since jacks doesn’t really remember whether or not he had a thing for her and chaos said evangeline was similar to her.. how was there no link?

I definitely have more to add but for now my main takeaway is that while tbona was very hard to top I feel like acftl could’ve been so much more especially since it was set up so well.. I think so many people are disappointed because it doesn’t hold up as well for the last book in a series but I’m just glad evajacks got their happy ending 🫠

[binarybreak]

Hey all! Just wanted to say:

1) The season two premier was such a fantastic way to develop both interest and intrigue in the new season, I was so stoked, you all did a fantastic job making me (I can't speak for the rest of your audience) invested in these characters, the mystery of what happened to Team Baby, and what happens next. I completely understand your monthly release schedule (it's a tremendously impressive accomplishment, especially considering this is a fan project made by people who, I'm sure, have plenty else going on in their lives,) and I'd never be like "okay guys, hurry it up," but I will say that I'm very anxious to hear the next episode!

2) I'm reading over the rules for Digidice, and I just have one question: am I missing something, or is there no mechanical difference between the Tired condition and the Sick condition? Like obviously you'd play them differently as a character, but they're essentially the same thing rules wise?

3) Are there any plans for developing a bestiary/monster manual type of thing? Like obviously fans already know all the classic Digimon and are more than willing to run with fakemons so you wouldn't need pictures or lore, I'm just concerned about the poor DMs needing to come up with stat blocks for NPCs on the fly when things go off the rail. To be clear, I'm not asking you to make one, I was just thinking I might have fun making one, but I didn't want to bother if there's already one in the works

4.) I have tried actual play after actual play podcast. The first podcast I ever listened to was TAZ*, and since I loved it so much I scoured the genre for any more content I would like. You are the first actual play since TAZ to actually catch and hold my attention. I don't know what it is about you other than a simple matter of personal taste, but you are rocking it. Thank you for making this show

*Unless it was Ars Paridoxica. Definitely one of those two

1. Thank you! Trust me, I am also eager to get to the next part of the story. If I could do this show as my full-time job, and release a new episode every week, I absolutely would.

2. Yeah, currently they're just two different flavors of the same condition. Played different ways and cured in different ways. The condition system is something I'm probably gonna totally overhaul if I ever do a second edition.

3. At some point, we will probably release Digidice stats for all of the digimon that appear in Binary Break (canon and original). Might also stat out a fair chunk of the most popular canon digimon who don't appear in the show, just as a resource for other GMs, and cause making digimon in that system is legitimately fun for me. In the meantime, feel free to stat out as many canon digi as you wish. Some folks on my Discord server were recently discussing the possibility of a sorta collaborative project to make something along those lines, but right now it's just in the "wouldn't it be cool if" phase.

4. That is some wonderfully high praise. It really means the world to me to hear you say that. So far the reaction to the season 2 premiere has been just lovely. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. 💜

- Claire

[fake-ascension]

damn. i miss aventurine sm..............

i feel like i did him SO dirty bc he was the character i was most excited for and knew right away i was making an oc to ship with

his whole story in the trailblaze mission hit me like i truck like. i sobbed multiple times and it was so agonizing because i got SPOILED for the 2.1 quest bc genshit/hsr twt is horrendous and were posting CONSTANTLY about 'oh look here's his broken cornerstone and this text message that said he may or may not be alive' so i was so fucking anxious leading up to the actual quest

but at the same time i was in a different fandom space at the time (probably still sobbing over neuvi/wetrabbit........ or wait no it was otto i think) i was so emotionally invested but also. not at the same time jfdsklfds

like aster/pollux has got to be one of my most complex characters ive made:

was raised in an annihilation gang sub-faction of halovians and probably committed wayyyy to many war crimes, including ravaging entire planets into Nothing

has some sort of epiphany that causes them to defect from the annihilation gang; not out of guilt but they were rabidly falling into ix's shadow and was just like, 'nothing matters, whats the point of living to destroy or to destroy to live'

they are pulled out of the void by a self annihilator/doctor of chaos, the 'real' aster. who happens to be a victim of a civilization that was decimated by the annihilation gang, the sole survivor that will be remembered by none

i can't even describe aster & pollux relationship; its completely undefinable. they are two nobodies who would travel the universe and no one will remember them.... but its ok bc they have each other.

aster eventually dies, loosing the fight against ix's shadow. and pollux is about to be completely swallowed by the void, you would think that theyre like 'oh no i cant be alone i dont want to be alone the only person that knows me is gone and nothing else matters' but theyre actually just experiencing the overwhelming feeling 'they cant die, they deserve to be remembered by anyone and everyone this wonderful human being CANNOT be remembered by just me'

and thats when they are gazed upon by fuili, becoming an emanator of remembrance: all because they wanted to keep the memory of their dead friend alive

thus pollux takes on the identity of 'aster' becoming their friend, its their way of keeping aster 'alive' and honoring their memory: with a goal of interaction with as many people as possible so that aster will be remembered by them.

the guardian of recollection's purpose to preserve ALL memory of the universe while aster's purpose is to keep the memory of ONE person alive

wiat this was. supposed to be abt aventurine and avenaster.............

i guess bc aster is so developed on her own w/o the need to attach her to a canon character romance for a good chunk of her development. i'd say that acheron and the astral express have the BIGGEST influence on aster

like i love wetrabbit and silvanus so much but. silvie is much more of a personal character to me, she still has complex character traits but a lot of her development is fueled by nearly the entire fontaine cast and that allowed me to think more abt her close relationships with the cast & especially neuvi. so i get more ship content

but anyways. stan luckyrabbits <3

[devolusion]

it's become relevant recently, so i wanted to put a proper breakdown of elysia's body and how her prostheses work, as well as a bit about her relationship to her organic body ( since i've already talked about her relationship to her prostheses ). a lot of this is influenced by existing technology, but a lot of it is also me leaning into the fantasy aspect of the universe, so keep that in mind!

at the highest level, ely's entire left arm, the front of their chest and most of their internal organs that would be housed in said chest are prostheses. elysia built them all herself, and has been refining them for years — her first version was created when she was sixteen and on a terrible time crunch, so admittedly much of the tech was comparatively rudimentary. at this point, her body is extremely advanced. more advanced than anything the fatui have built, much to their chagrin.

getting into specific — elysia's ribs are all reinforced metal at this point, and they've reinforced the front of their spine as well. most of their ribs are "shorter" than organic ones to give elysia more room to fuck with their internals; they don't reach all the way around. their sternum and collarbone are combination of metal and bone. most of the remaining muscle in their chest is organic, but much of it is supplemented with mechanical parts, and they're missing chunks of muscle that they either couldn't rebuild or which weren't necessary once they redesigned their ribs. their entire right lung, much of their left lung, their liver, their heart, their gallbladder, much of their pancreas, most of their stomach, and about half of their intestines are all artificial. she lacks internal reproductive organs entirely, as well as an appendix. many of these organs don't look much like their organic counterparts; elysia has designed them to be more efficient / require less bloodflow to function / be smaller / etc.

the biggest difference is how their heart works and handles bloodflow. their heart doesn't 'beat' — it provides a steady, continual flow of blood, though ely still feels a phantom heartbeat / a phantom pulse. their blood moves through their body at a slightly faster rate than a human at resting heart rate, but their heart rate cannot 'spike' when panicked. that being said, it can still increase blood flow to areas that need it; the way your arms get more blood when you're exerting them, so do ely's, and it will move faster if ely is trying to get more oxygen or the like.

most of ely's veins are organic, but major connectors between organs are made of a fleshy substance ely developed that acts closer to what you might consider IV lines. this makes it easier to ely to "pinch one off," so to speak, disrupting blood flow to an organ they need to remove / replace / fix / etc. their body is designed so that each part of it can function without the other parts to the extent that that is feasible.

all of this tech is housed within their chest — their back is all organic, but their outer chest is made up of metal paneling. the two primary panels can be opened up like a cabinet to reveal muscles and organs, enabling them to easily make adjustments. the metalic parts are smooth, matte white, and wrap around the bottom half of their neck, cover most of their collarbone — though not their shoulders — and extend just short of the ends of their ribs. their back is still completely organic.

in the center of their chest, they also have something not unlike a "keyhole" — people who've seen elysia use their firearms will know that the keyhole looks roughly the same size as the elemental cartridges they've built to power said firearms. elysia has also designed their body to able to process and use their elemental cartridges in the event of an emergency if they don't have access to their guns, though elysia dislikes using this ability for a variety of reasons. they don't like turning their body into a weapon, and using the cartridges in their body also necessitates revealing that they're not all organic in a way that's dangerous for them.

that being said, when they DO use these abilities, they shove the cartridge into their chest, and their body processes the energy within, converts it to the appropriate elemental type, and feeds that elemental energy into their arm, allowing it to act as a canon ( or other things, the cannon is just most common ). their body stores most of the information about how this conversion is done behind most of their organs, closer to their spine. it looks a bit like the marks on circuitboards in a computer, thought obviously significant more advanced. the internal "logic" is clear to elysia and would be to most who are extensively familiar with engineering were they to see it, though it's originality is all - elysia and no one else has designed as efficient a way to store and use elemental energy without a vision, let alone inside a body without destroying it. it was a real bitch to install.

she has built the equivalent of nerves into her body, externally and internally, where appropriate to ensure she can tell when she's being touched, but tried to keep them limited enough that she's unlikely to be completely debilitated by damage to her prostheses. that being said, she built them with the idea of "i need to be aware when i'm hit in a fight, but i don't want to be in too much pain to function if it's bad," but not with edge cases like actual torture in mind — if someone was, let's say, vivisect her, that would still hurt a fucking lot. and the organic muscles in their body can hurt as much as any other person's.

the rest of her body is covered in scars ( most from the same event that lost them their arm and chest ), and she isn't particularly anxious about them. that being said, she is noticeably protective of their organic body, and while she's not precious about minor wounds, will go out of their way to avoid major ones and get visibly anxious should she feel like she's at risk of, say, breaking a bone in her leg, let alone actually losing any more limbs. little frightens her more than that. elysia, particularly when her mental health is bad, tends to view her organic body as the "real her" and she's terrified to lose any more of it.

[theviolenttomboy]

Found this interesting segment off of an Anime News Network post about Nintendo:

This past week, there was a lot of news about Nintendo and their corporate policies; their new employee rate is clocked in at an astounding 98.8%, which isn't just high for the industry. That's an unprecedented high for Japan in general. There was also the development that the upcoming Super Mario Wonder wasn't developed with a deadline in mind—developers were allowed to iterate on ideas and metaphorically throw stuff at the walls to see what stuck. The result is, well, Super Mario Wonder. And let's not forget, this year's The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was also delayed by a whole year in the name of polishing the base game—the result is absolute programming witchcraft, courtesy of how well the ridiculously-intricate Fuse mechanic works on a Nintendo Switch (while "bigger" open-world games can't even keep their physics in line). Also worth pointing out is that Nintendo was willing to start from scratch with Metroid Prime 4 because they didn't like how the game was coming along in development. Nintendo is the result of a studio actually giving a rip about what they put out and making sure the people they hire are well-cared-for while they do it, not just in the office but also in their personal lives—while Japan doesn't formally recognize same-sex marriage, Nintendo extends the same benefits to developers in same-sex partnerships as they do to heterosexual ones. (For the record, Nintendo isn't perfect, and I look forward to Nintendo of America cleaning up their act with regards to their contractors.) Smarter people than myself have also pointed out that, unlike many American studios, Nintendo rarely—if ever—sees the kinds of mass layoffs that the likes of Activision-Blizzard see. The people working on Super Mario Wonder likely include many veteran staff who have worked at Nintendo long enough to get a grip on how a Mario game should "feel," and in turn are allowed to offer advice to younger, newer developers who know they don't have to worry about their job security. Compare this to the likes of EA, who so callously lay off key staff, including some of their most celebrated writers. While the peanut gallery explains how "underpowered" the Switch is, Nintendo has quietly written the book on sustainable production. (It's a real shame that there isn't much they can do about GAME FREAK.) I've seen some folks claim that Nintendo can only do all of these because of how much money they have. And this is valid... to a point. I can see Supergiant Games (creators of Hades and Bastion), Coldwood Interactive (creators of Unravel) or rose-engine games (creators of Signalis) not being able to just dump a ton of work to start all over again on a current project, or just delay a game for an entire year because they wanted to make sure all their "T"s were crossed. But if we're talking the usual American stand-bys—Gearbox Studios, BioWare, NetherRealm Studio, Infinity Ward—then you can miss me with that load of bullcrap. As always, the late Satoru Iwata taking a 50% pay cut during Nintendo's lean years is a big, fat black eye to the rest of the gaming industry that loves to report their record-breaking profits before dropping the axe on whole chunks of their workforce. And it's a tremendous indictment to the likes of Bobby Kotick and other overpaid executives who sit atop these gaming studios.

[kidflashimpulse]

Finally got to read the new chapter and oh my goodness. So many moments that just made me go ‘awwww.’

I love the way you write Barry and Bart’s dynamic. Obviously we’ve seen a bit of the tension the two of them can have with one another, but this time we got to see some of that sweetness (and humor). Bart trying not to grin when Barry tells him he did good was so sweet. Then there was that part of them talking with the kid, and the mention of Bart helping out at Barry’s job (and bringing donuts! I love when people bring donuts to work… best coworkers for the day).

Then there’s a bit of Bart and Ed. Poor Bart- he should’ve just woken Ed up, he’s about to go a long while without him and his maaaaasive… heart :) (Barry’s borderline horrified reaction hahaha). Also the bit about Bart saying he can’t quit Ed- that’s so sweet dude omg. HELP AND BART SPREADING GAY RUMORS ABOUT HIMSELF? Who would’ve thought the public took him for a straight man… poor Bart.

Lastly the mentions of Jay. God, if Bart doesn’t see him before he leaves that’s gonna make it even more soul crushing. And man, you really laid it on thick this chapter. The but about him tucking Bart in sometimes- I don’t even have words that’s just the sweetest thing I may have ever read.

Overall, 100/10 as usual. Incredible work; thank you for sharing your art with us. I know you mentioned a new story about Bart being missing in space, but nonetheless I don’t know what I will do with myself when this one finishes. New chapters have been something I look forward to for… goodness, over a year now? Anyways, thank you again. I hope you have a good day/night whenever you’re reading this <33

u would not believe how hungry i was for donuts when writing that in like i’m still craving them as we speak when will i get my goddamn donuts damnit

it’s so important to me to try to remember to flesh out the good moments between bart and barry, especially since i’m such a fan of them beefing and having tension/discord, i feel like if anything it contributes to the “stakes” of their relationship so i’m really glad to hear that from u :) <33

this is probably way too serious of an answer to smn that doesn’t warrant it lol but hey, what the heck 😂 so of course ppl perceive queerness in all sorts of different ways considering it’s such a spectrum but to me bart’s appeal as a gay guy (in both the comics and the show) is that he’s just such a guy (i have no other way of expressing this 😭) but then he can also so easily slip into having more neutral traits and insights that r just really refreshing in gender expression (not necessarily wrt to his identity, just his overall sense of being), i don’t know, obviously a massive chunk of my interpretation lies in my subjectivity, but the way i see him, i could see “media” perceiving him superficially as straight + combining that with what i feel like is a “speedster reputation” (atleast in YJA) just results in a bunch of moments that allude to those things, that scene included, whether it be for laughs or a very low-key social commentary 😂 but ultimately i just enjoyed writing those scenes cause they cracked me up so i’m glad u enjoyed them too 😂😂

can u imagine bart jetting off into space without resolving anything with jay? that would actually be so funny, don’t tempt me 🫡

regarding that new story of bart in space, yes it largely revolves around the time of his disappearance during YJ phantoms because i’ve been kind of dying to write that (it’s been 84 years and i still can’t believe the episodes ended up like that) but it’s my least developed drafted story so even though “chronologically” its a Part 2 in the series of fics that AAIT is a part of, Retrocausality is the current sequel to AAIT, that hopefully, once AAIT is finished, you might be able to look forward to <3

it’s actually so bizarre that it’s been over a year now with AAIT (possibly even two at this point ??? i have no idea lol), i never imagined it to turn out the way it has and i have to say, it exceeded my expectations (just purely based on the writing journey and experience) by so much, and that’s 100% because of the feedback i managed to get from it. I know i say this time and time again but it’s just so true, i really mean it so much, the response to the fic has really added so much life to it ! and honestly i probably wouldn’t have been anywhere close to finishing it if it weren’t for all the support throughout it. Truly incredible stuff that I will never forget !!

so THANK YOU for ur continued support and joining the journey, i can’t put to words how much i appreciate it truly ! Thank you again for reading and I really hope I continue to write stuff that u can enjoy 💛💛

[trashland-llamas]

Rabid; A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus

[Review; 2.75 stars]

Y'know how when you read a fanfiction on AO3 and accidentally miss a tag? Yea, that's what reading this book felt like because I found out about it from a TikTok that pitched it as the history of rabies which yes, but also not really. 

It somehow made its focal topic not feel like the focal topic. In that it somehow got pushed to the side and frankly annoyed tf out of me. There was also barely any structure outside of the frowned upon 'in this essay, I will...' type. The chapters poorly established what they were meant to cover. To the point that I would ask myself multiple times ‘What is the point here? Why are you including this information? Relevance?’ while reading. Hell, my reading journal entry for this book is 3-4 lines per chapter, summarizing what they’re about. Most of the chapters were about how rabies has been portrayed in media and has been the origin of certain horror subgenres (werewolves, vampires, & zombies) but even that fell flat. 

If you are genuinely interested in the medical aspect of the history behind rabies, then all you need to read is chapters 5, 7, & 8. And can just skim the rest to find what little there was.

Furthermore, there were citations at the end of the book that weren't even done correctly. As in, they were just the link to the website. No website title, website publisher, date published, nor date accessed. None of it. 

[Chpt summaries under the cut]

Chpt. 1 - mentions of rabies in Greek & Egyptian mythologies, earliest mentions in medical texts & attempted treatments, pets vs strays

Chpt. 2 - Middle Ages; Saint Hubert & deer iconography in Christianity, mentions of dogs in the Bible, how basilica established in Hubert's name treats rabies (la taille), how rabies & the Bubonic plague relate to one another + the origin of the words rabies & rabid

Chpt. 3 - Vampires & werewolves; how they could be folklore based off of/around rabies & how many cultures have folklore regarding wolves/dogs being representative of demons/possession + lycanthropy based witch-hunts & the 1st literary mentions of vampires

Chpt. 4 - Colonial America; Benjamin Rush & Mease & how the theory of spontaneous rabies in dogs halted progress + canicides, where people killed dogs en mass due to rabies-related fear

Chpt. 5 - Louis Pasteur & his work in microbiology; how his vaccine for anthrax led to him developing a vaccine for rabies. Also the scientific community established key characteristics of the virus

Chpt. 6 - the zoonotic epidemics of the early 1900s-1930s & the differing vampire stories they all inspired. How that then lead to the start of the zombie apocalypse subgenre in horror in the 1960s. Bats & rabies (1950s/60s) being recognized as a carry of the virus after decades of cattle herds in South America being decimated. The zoonotic origins of AIDS in the 1980s & how it diverged into xenophobia

Chpt. 7 - Jeanna Giese & Matthew Winkler case studies + the Milwaukee protocol & how some individuals could inherently have rabies antibodies in their system

Chpt. 8 - 2008 outbreak in Bali, a country that had been rabies free until that point and how they have went about dealing with it

^^Want to note with these summaries, that without including the citations at the end, all of these topics/subtopics are covered in 236 pages. Hardly any of them were covered with the depth needed to fully explore them. Most could be expanded upon if they removed a good chunk of fluff.