#but instead of imagining a world without rules and community they imagine a world without rats and mold and plant virusses

[queeranarchism]

If people make cutesy posts about growing food and herb spirals and composting but never talk about stuff like preventing and getting rid of rats in a garden, I get this suspision that they either haven't actually gardened much or they're more interested in presenting an aesthetically pleasing image than in actually preparing people to deal with a garden.

[unadulteratedsoulsweets]

A DC X DP IDEA #44

Three Teens, Three Crowns, and a Whole Lot of Nope

Imagine dis…

I was just shuffling around my playlist when I heard that song from the animated movie El Dorado and it made me thinking, so here it goes…

…

DANNY’S POV

The moment my best friends bit the ghostly dust, the universe decided to hand us a set of crowns we didn’t ask for. Because obviously, nothing says “Congratulations on your tragic deaths!” like a full-time job in the afterlife.

Tucker, in a plot twist no one saw coming (except maybe Clockwork, because that guy cheats), turned out to be the reincarnation of some ancient Pharaoh. Not just any Pharaoh—oh no—he got the VIP pass straight to the top of the Egyptian pantheon, answering only to me, the so-called King of the Infinite Realms. Because if there's one thing I’ve learned, it's that my best friend is destined to be the world's first tech-savvy, WiFi-dependent god-king of the afterlife.

Sam, on the other hand, had always been a little too into nature, and I guess the universe finally decided to roll with it. When she synced up perfectly with Undergrowth’s power, the big walking salad declared her his heir, making her the literal Queen of Nature. So now, Sam basically has dominion over every plant in existence, which means I can never make an offhand comment about preferring artificial Christmas trees without getting a death glare.

And me? Well, since I yeeted Pariah Dark back into the sarcophagus where he belonged, the Infinite Realms figured I should be the one running the place. So, lucky me—I got promoted to Ghost King, a position that comes with all the responsibility and none of the training manual.

Now, you’d think that’s enough responsibility for a trio of teenagers who just wanted to survive high school. But no, Clockwork took one look at us, decided we sucked at ruling, and thought, Hey, let’s make this fun! So instead of, I don’t know, giving us an actual lesson in leadership, he chucked us into a completely different dimension (because, sure, why not?) and told us to start cults.

Yep. You heard that right. Cults.

No warning, no instructions, just a “figure it out” and a push into the deep end. One minute we’re in the Ghost Zone, the next we’re scattered across this weird universe like a really weird cosmic prank.

So now I’m stuck in Gotham, which, by the way, might be more haunted than the Ghost Zone itself. I have no idea where Sam and Tucker ended up, but if I know them, Tucker’s probably convinced a bunch of tech bros to worship him as some cyber-god, and Sam’s singlehandedly turning a park into her new throne. Meanwhile, I have to somehow convince people to follow me without sounding like a lunatic.

This is going to be fun. (Spoiler: It won’t be.)

…

SAM’S POV

Gotham reeked of smoke, oil, and decay. Beneath its gothic beauty was a suffocating lifelessness, an unnatural cage of steel and concrete. The city was a graveyard where nature had been paved over and left to rot in the shadows of towering skyscrapers. It was unacceptable. It was offensive. And Sam was going to change it.

She wasted no time. The moment her feet hit Gotham’s cracked pavement, she started planting seeds—both literally and metaphorically. It began with whispers. A small movement. A group that promised something different. Gotham had no shortage of lost souls—criminals, outcasts, the downtrodden looking for something beyond the city's endless cycle of crime and punishment. But Sam wasn’t offering power or chaos like every other Gotham lunatic. No, she offered something much rarer: sustainability.

Food. Shelter. Community.

It started with fresh produce, rare and valuable in Gotham’s urban wasteland. No one questioned where it came from, only that it was fresh, free of toxins, and worth more than a stack of stolen cash. The deal was simple—manual labor in exchange for nourishment. Gotham’s criminals, many of whom spent their lives getting stabbed, shot, or beaten in some turf war, found the idea shockingly reasonable. Hospitals ate through their earnings. Gang life was profitable until you bled out in an alley. But a place that provided food, healing, and protection? That was something different. That was better.

The movement grew. What began as a handful of desperate people looking for a way out became something bigger. The streets whispered of a new force rising, one that didn’t deal in violence or corruption but in roots—roots that burrowed deep, that refused to be ignored.

At first, the Batfamily dismissed it as background noise. In a city filled with psychopaths dressed as clowns, what was a little nature cult? But when Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn vanished—not in a grand escape, not in a fiery explosion, but simply faded into the movement—their indifference turned to concern.

When Ivy resurfaced, she wasn’t the same. The wild unpredictability had been tempered into something focused. Controlled. She still worshipped nature, but now she had a leader, someone she called High Priestess. And that leader wasn’t some ancient force of the Green. It wasn’t a metahuman, a scientist, or a villain. It was a teenager.

A black-haired, violet-eyed girl who stood in front of kneeling followers, leading ceremonies beneath the growing canopy of Gotham’s first true forest in centuries.

Sam had never been one for blind worship. She despised mindless devotion. But this wasn’t about faith—it was about purpose. The people who followed her weren’t zealots; they were survivors. They had seen what Gotham’s endless cycle of crime and violence had to offer, and they wanted out. She gave them that. She gave them a cause. And if it meant being called a cult leader, then fine. Whatever. Labels didn’t matter. Results did.

And Gotham was changing.

The city fought back, of course. The corruption, the crime families, even the Bat himself—none of them liked an unpredictable element in their precious, miserable ecosystem. But Sam had never been one to back down. Gotham was sick, diseased, rotting. She wasn’t here to burn it down like some power-hungry villain. She was here to fix it.

And if the Bats wanted to stop her, well—

Let them try.

…

TUCKER’S POV

Metropolis was beautiful. It was clean, it was bright, and it was bursting with technology. Skyscrapers gleamed under the sun, state-of-the-art AI patrolled the streets, and futuristic inventions were integrated into everyday life like it was no big deal. This was a city that worshiped innovation, where science and technology weren’t just tools but pillars of society.

Tucker should have been in heaven.

But he had a mission to complete before he could sit back and enjoy the wonders of Metropolis. Clockwork’s orders. And if the old ghost had taught him anything, it was that ignoring his cryptic guidance usually led to bad things. So, no indulging in the city’s top-tier tech just yet. He had a kingdom to build.

At first, Superman didn’t even notice him. That was fine. Tucker wasn’t looking to pick a fight with the world’s strongest hero. He moved in the background, setting up encrypted networks, hijacking digital footprints, and planting just enough static in the city’s airwaves to keep any unwanted super-snooping off his back. The occasional glitch in Superman’s super-hearing? That was Tucker, laying the groundwork.

But the real disruption came when people started vanishing.

Not just any people—tech specialists, programmers, engineers. The kind of minds corporations fought over, the ones Luthor’s company owned through shady contracts and blackmail. One by one, they disappeared from Metropolis, slipping through the cracks like digital ghosts.

The city was no stranger to missing persons. Metropolis saw its fair share of people vanishing into the underbelly of crime, alien invasions, or one of Lex Luthor’s ever-growing list of sinister schemes. But this? This was too precise, too targeted. Luthor’s R&D departments were bleeding talent at an alarming rate, and the usual suspects weren’t responsible.

The only common thread? The Code of Ra.

It started as an urban myth—a secretive group offering sanctuary to tech minds who had seen too many of their peers exploited, coerced, or “recruited” by the so-called forces of good and evil. They were promised a place where their work was valued, where they were free to create without fear of it being stolen, weaponized, or locked behind corporate greed.

And at the center of it all? Him.

Tucker hadn’t just built a cult—he’d built a kingdom. One where technology wasn’t a tool for war, where engineers and programmers weren’t disposable assets, where knowledge was sacred. He offered an intellectual utopia, a society where the greatest minds could work without limits. And the best part? They wanted to be there. There was no brainwashing, no coercion. The world had burned them too many times, and Tucker had simply given them an alternative.

And, okay, maybe he leaned into the whole Pharaoh thing a little. He was a reincarnated ruler, after all—might as well own it. Gold-trimmed robes, sleek futuristic stylings with ancient Egyptian aesthetics, and a throne room that looked like a cyberpunk temple. He’d always thought he’d look good in royal attire, and damn, was he right.

But his people didn’t follow him because of the theatrics. They followed because he gave them something no one else had—freedom.

Superman, unaccustomed to dealing with cults, found himself in unfamiliar territory. He had fought tyrants, warlords, and intergalactic conquerors, but a movement built on voluntary devotion? That wasn’t as simple as punching a bad guy. Normally, this was the kind of mess Batman or Wonder Woman would handle. But Diana was off-world, and Gotham had its own cult problem. That left the burden squarely on Superman’s shoulders.

And Tucker? Tucker was more than ready to enjoy the show.

…

DANNY’S POV

The desert sucked.

Like, really sucked.

If he ever made it out of this, he was going to personally petition the Ghost Zone to just delete the concept of sand from existence. Sand was evil. It got everywhere, it was hot, and it made him feel like a melting popsicle under a blowtorch.

His ice core hated him. His human half hated him. The sun was having the time of its life roasting him alive. And then—nothing.

When he woke up, things got weirder.

For one, he wasn’t dead. Which, honestly, was a pleasant surprise considering the whole “heatstroke and possible dehydration” situation. For another, he wasn’t lying in the sand anymore. Nope. Instead, he was inside a coffin.

Not the first time he’d woken up in one, but still, rude.

He sat up, blinking blearily, and was immediately met with dozens of kneeling figures in dark robes. No one screamed. No one attacked. They just...stared.

Which, honestly? Way creepier than ghost attacks.

The air smelled like flowers, incense, and something ancient, like he’d been dropped in the middle of an old temple. Around him were offerings—literal offerings—of gold, silver, and silk. And the people? They were whispering. Murmuring things he barely understood, eyes shining with what he could only describe as religious awe.

Which was never a good sign.

Danny had questions. A lot of questions. But the big one?

What the actual heck was going on?

It took some time—aka him sneaking around, eavesdropping, and pretending he had any idea what he was doing—but eventually, he figured it out.

These people? Every single one of them had died before. Not in the casual, “oops, tripped and fell” way, but in the full-on, flatline, bright light at the end of the tunnel way. And somehow, they’d come back. Some were resurrected, others survived things they shouldn’t have, but they all had one thing in common: they felt drawn to him.

Apparently, he was some kind of cosmic beacon for people who’d taken a one-way trip to the afterlife but forgot to stay there. To them, he wasn’t just some random ghost kid—he was the King. The embodiment of balance, life and death, chaos and order. The guy who got to decide whether people stayed dead.

And that was so not on his resume.

But did that stop people from kneeling at his feet, swearing loyalty, and building a cult around him? Nope.

Did he ask for it? Also nope.

And somehow, it just kept getting bigger. At first, it was just the devoted ghost-adjacent weirdos. Then mercenaries. Then, a group of assassins and a guy named Ra. Even Slade freaking Wilson showed up one day, standing ominously at the back like the world’s most intense chaperone.

Danny didn’t do cults. He wasn’t qualified for cults. He was barely qualified for high school.

But Clockwork had said he needed to establish one, and, well...mission accomplished?

Now, all he had to do was find Sam and Tucker, reunite with his spouses, and figure out how to explain to them that, uh...he might have accidentally become a god-king of the undead.

Yeah. They were never gonna let him live this down.

…

 PS: If someone out there wants to continue or make a fic about this you are free to do so, don’t forget to tag me though.

PPS: I tried a new type of writing. How is it?

[mckinlily]

Imagine a world where Bruce Wayne did not become Batman. Instead, he is just a Normal Dude. Or as normal as a billionaire deeply dedicated philanthropy in a city as insane as Gotham can be.

Because make no mistake: just because Bruce is not Batman does not mean Gotham is not Gotham.

There are a few new players though—on the Rogues side.

Timothy Drake is the teen business tycoon of Drake Industries. Absent of the inspiration of Batman and the socialization and warmth of Dick Grayson, he is ruthless and logical to a fault in pursuit of his goals and just as viciously chaotic as the disaster little brother Jason knows.

In other words, he’s Gotham’s youngest supervillian. The only good news is his chosen nemesis is Lex Luthor. Maybe. Timothy doesn’t care much about collateral damage. It’s not his goal to harm civilians, but he certainly doesn’t include their safety as a priority in his convoluted schemes to mess with Luthor.

Talon is an undead murderer who slaughtered a huge swath the Gotham’s 1% five years ago and, despite being spotted many times since, has never been apprehended. He appears when he wants and disappears just as readily, and Gotham just has to accept there’s a killer stalking their streets and there’s nothing they can do about it. Sometimes Talon has been known to rescue people, especially, but it’s never clear how or why exactly Talon chooses who is victim verses aggressor. And the end is always brutal and bloody for those Talon deems aggressor.

Damian is still Bruce’s biological son and raised by Talia in the League of Assassins. But when he was left in Gotham and met his father, this Bruce was so baffled and thrown by a child assassin that Damian immediately takes as rejection and runs away. (He doesn’t even stay long enough for Bruce to be sure it wasn’t a hallucination or very strange dream).

Damian is almost immediately found and adopted by Talon, so now Gotham has TWO bird-themed killers liable to jump down on you from nowhere and for any reason.

Oh, and god help you if you so much as make Talon’s baby Owlet sad. If you’re lucky, it will be the last thing you do.

Barbara is an ordinary librarian…who can be hired as a mercenary hacker for the right price. The public isn’t afraid of her because they don’t know she exists. More than one politician or public figure has been ruined because of the blackmail she unearthed on them. But what side exactly is the police commissioner’s daughter on? And how much of Gotham does she have under thumb?

(Is she a secret ally and accessory to Timothy Drake’s many plots?)

Steph, thank god, is actually NOT a villain, super or otherwise. She’s the one vigilante attempting to help Gotham. Spoiler has connections among some of the caped community like Supergirl or Wonder Girl. But without Bat training or the police cooperation forged years ago by Batman, she’s mostly just striving to survive while taking on Gotham’s many, many gang. Make no mistake, she’s impressive. But desperate. Spoiler comes with guns and explosions. So. Many. Explosions. Gotham has never heard of the “no kill” rule. And likely never will.

(Cass also lives in Gotham. But no one will ever see her or even know she’s there.)

Jason….well. Baby Jason never stole any Batmobile tires and never was adopted by a strange but kind billionaire. He was never killed at 15.

He died in the winter before he turned 13.

And then one day, Adult Canon Jason gets thrown into this dimension. And somehow Gothan is WORSE?! How is that even possible? Also his siblings are running around being super villains and killing people? Bruce! Control your children!!

But this Bruce does not have children (he’s still mostly convinced Damian was a prank or hallucination). He is horrified by the idea of children fighting crime. He has absolutely no idea how to handle exceptionally talented chaos machines with too much passion and no sense of self preservation. And he’s frankly a little disturbed by Jason himself and his guns and refusal to “work within the system” and Jason nopes out of there so freaking fast.

Jason also, slowly, has to become okay with the realization that his siblings are not insane because they were made Robin. They became Robin because they were already insane. There was no way to create a normal human being out of any of them.

(Jason does not want to look too closely at what that says about him.)

In the end, Jason teams up with Steph. He connects her with Dick/Talon, who is more than happy to have a new Owlet to train and preen, and Damian only slightly stabs her. They manage to persuade/threaten Tim into caring enough to help get Jason back to his dimension with misuse of Drake Industry research equipment. Damian very much does stab Tim. Tim retaliates by locking Damian in an industrial freezer. Dick thinks they’re bonding. Jason introduces them to Babs, but frankly he has no idea what he’s hoping to achieve from this. Probably nothing good because Dick, despite being an under-socialized undead assassin with some weird mannerisms and ways of speaking, still manages to pull a woman way out his league like Barbie. And Babs seems to have no problem with the “murder” part that description.

Jason never realized how much Bruce’s strict moral code and “the Mission” were key to the rest of them becoming remotely positive influences in society. Or how little Bruce has to do with his siblings getting into dangerous, violent situation. He doesn’t like anything about it.

They work out how send Jason back, and he returns to his dimension with the feeling he’s just left Alternate Gotham to a gang of supervillains.

…at least they’re together?

And Talon Dick won’t let any of his new Owlets die and will rain bloody vengeance on anyone who tries. So that’s good. For them at least.

(Jason feels absurdly like he should be apologizing to this universe’s Bruce. Or. Someone. He doesn’t. But he feels like he should.)

Back at in his dimension and at the Batcave, Jason pauses and just stares at Batman for a very, very long time. Finally, he takes a deep breath and solemnly nods just once before taking off into the Manor for Alfred’s cookies.

Bruce has no idea what the fuck just happened.

[solar-sunnyside-up]

Collective memory and isolation:

Humans aren't built to hold all their stories within themselves. This due to our social nature, instead we are built to remember things via a collective memory. A downside of this, is humans have a tendency to forget huge glaring chunks of information in the proccess, as well as re-write certain events on a collective scale.

An example being how we forgot how to make Roman Concrete until very recently due to 2 key ingredients being missing. They weren't ever written down because it was sooo obvious that they never thought it would need to be clarified, the missing information being Salt water rather then purified water (which?? They where by the ocean and only had drinking water from v spesfic parts why waste it on construction??) and Lye (which is just everywhere!) Adding these 2 things makes a concrete that basically self repaires and lasts centuries while not absorbing heat as much as modern ones.

One day, I imagine a world where all our baking recipies will have the same effect as we never spesify "Chicken" eggs because what other eggs would we be using? Imagine when chickens are no longer the universal egg source will our recipies too fail?

None of us have ever experienced the original set of Community as it was known prior to the Nuclear Family set up. And yet, humans for 99% of their existence have been hunter gathers, only within the last few thousand years have we been able to travel down roads, only the last hundred have we had mass machines.

This is all a very long way of saying, the thing recently lost from collective memory is Community but it's not gone forever it's just HARDER to do because your recreating it from basically square one. All community these days seems to be manufactured rather then an organic settling of a system yet another false shiny thing attempting to replace something innate to us all. This is because people are still creating spaces to exist even though currently the envrioment is doing everything in its power to isolate us

It isnt my fault or your fault that this re-creation and re-story-aition of community and family is so difficult. But it also isn't our elders who where the last ones to remember the last wave of shrinking of community. It is entirely the fault of Ruling classes obession with isolation both physical and emotional, that we should instead focus on our own indivual stories via social media creating a Story of ourselves but speaking to no one. That we should make all our hobbies profitable, that if we are seen we must be productive or profitable in order to justify existing.

Currently these Ruling Systems put in allll this work to ensure we need the Ruling Class for survival, all to ensure their elite status within those systems. Currently they have it, we cannot feed ourselves, build housing, even access drinking water or heat without the permission from this ruling class.

And yet, the memory of community exists despite everything our bodies ache for stories and community.

Our bodies remember community just like our bodies remember having tails, it's been apart of us for so long of our evolution it isn't able to be entirely separated from us. Sure community might now an atrophied muscle which we are all struggling to use again but it's there and it can be used, it'll just hurt the first dozen or so times you use it and build the strength back up.

But one day it won't be difficult at all, it'll become as automatic as breathing.

[cultofcola]

kerry. girlie. i'm in a pickle here and i need your help.

so, i'm scripting a food blogger dr! which has been real fun so far, but i have one issue: school.

i'm in high school, and the school i go to here just doesn't fit the vibes i'm going for in this reality. i want something barely-structured, something that's clearly founded and run by hippies, a school with mostly gardens and just a little bit secluded, a place that seems like a technicolor manic pixie dream girls wet dream. do you have any ideas or inspo for what to script?

girl. you will go the best school ever. its like going to the fairy world without actual fairies…. maybe people hallucinating them thanks to the weed.

i. the school: first of all, gardens. full of plants and flowers. and some statues that look a bit too real. that’s the main part of the building – and the strongest thing about it; imagine the amazing perfume you will smell every morning. in the springs ??? you are basically a disney princess. there are still buildings (who look like luna lovegood designed them) who are there…. because it’s a school. you need them. maybe the school it’s in the middle of the woods, a bit unusual for an high school and that’s why it’s so amazing. near a river, or even better, a waterfall !!! imagine putting your feet in the clear water while meditating, or smoking weed. kinda the same thing? there are seating areas, but the people mainly use the earth or hammocks when they feel a bit fancy.

the school gardens:

the sitting areas:

the school buildings:

ii. classes: you (unfortunately) need them. because you are in high school and even if you may like a lot of money with your food blog, you still have to. but. it’s not like the others school (and not in a pick me way…..) because teachers are a bit… unconventional. and the subjects too. the classes are in those weird funny looking buildings, even if the majority of times you will be outside – in the sitting areas, or just in the gardens. the classes feel like a reunion instead of something you are forced to do (and you can skip them without having problems) and teachers are guiding you into reaching your highest self: meditation, yoga, outdoors music festivals, reading, writing, drawing, singing, rhyming, games, puzzles, cooking, baking, pottery. everything that makes you and your soul happy. self-expression is in. math’s rigid rules? out.

community is a big part of your school. they take it very seriously. fashion? oh!!!!! you can read someone by looking at what they are wearing, and i think it’s beautiful.

also, your school has a nap room. because yes.

[reality-shitting]

do u have any tips or facts for beginner shifters?? (I am *very* new here as one of my friends recently began to try and i wanted to see what it was about)

Sorry if i have asked for too much!

Omg lovey, you asked the bare minimum, please do not feel sorry 😭 I am more than happy to help!

1) Y'know how some people are visual learners, hands-on learners, etc? The same can be applied here. Do you get invested in daydreams? Try visualization. Do you have a keen memory and a brain like a sponge? Perhaps affirmations. Do what feels fun and natural and don't try to force yourself to do something that just isn't vibing with you.

2. Don't be afraid to ask questions. This is basically unknown territory in a world that needs everything to be seen to be believed. You're already going in the right direction by questioning that. What's a consciousness? How does time work? Am I my body, my mind, or something else? This is a very new mindset for you and it'll naturally be confusing. Be patient with yourself and don't hesitate to question everything.

3. Your Reality, Your Rules.

Do you want to script in that cringiest, most rainbows and fluffy unicorns type stuff into your DR? Do you want to be a 10,000 year old vampire angel princess who cries blood and is also a student in My Emo Academia? Just wanna be an inch taller? Go for it. You can do and be whatever you want in your DR. Nothing is too big, too outlandish or too mundane. This is about what you want. Don't let anyone tell you no.

4. Burnout is normal.

Crash outs will happen. After all, you're trying to reprogram your brain after you've spent your entire life attuned to an opposite. You may feel frustrated, angry, disappointed after some time has passed without shifting - it happens to experienced shifters too. Take care of yourself. Take breaks. Shifting is fun, not a chore you NEED to do. Let yourself breathe instead of suffocating yourself with 24/7 meditation, robotic chanting and 1 Trillion Affs Subliminals on 10 hour loops for 6 days straight.

5. Imagination Is Your Friend.

Let yourself play with your new journey! Roleplay, fill out questionnaires, drop some facts about your DR, immersion is wonderful! Remember playing with toys as a kid, how easy it was to get lost in your make-believe wonderland? Think of this like you and your DR self switched places, and you are your DR self inhabiting your CR body. What can you tell me about where you came from? How vividly can you build your memories and share facts with me about your other life? What songs do you like? What's your favorite food? What does it feel like to be you?

6. Community

Welcome to Shiftblr! As many will tell you, this is probably the most resourceful shifting community. However, YouTube also has an interesting shifting community! Subliminal makers, meditation guides, shifting storytimes and tips! We also have quite a few Discord servers and the Shifting Corner community here on Tumblr!

7. Don't Listen to Shifttok.

No explanation for this one. Just don't do it. Whatever it is, it's probably incorrect.

Shifting Keywords: DR (Desired Reality), CR (Current Reality), WR (Waiting Room), Permashifter (Someone who plans to shift away permanently), Respawner (Someone permashifting and wiping their previous memory)

[ombre-ame]

As we navigate this whirlwind of modern life, it’s impossible to ignore how things seem to be growing colder, more distant. Technology has undoubtedly brought us closer, but somehow, it’s also put a gulf between us—a kind of emotional separation where connections, despite being constant, feel hollow. We talk more than ever, but do we truly listen? Do we allow ourselves to feel the weight of each other’s experiences? In this fast-paced world, we often rush past empathy, leaving behind the very essence of what makes us human.

At the heart of this shift lies something particularly concerning: the growing political polarization that is defining our times. What was once the arena for spirited discussion and differing opinions has become an ideological battleground where compromise and understanding seem like ancient concepts. We’ve traded empathy for echo chambers, where "us versus them" narratives thrive and the art of truly listening gets lost. We’re so focused on defending our beliefs that we forget to see the people behind the opinions. Imagine a world where, instead of sharpening our defenses, we sharpen our understanding of one another.

Then, of course, there’s the rise of individualism—a cultural obsession with personal success that can sometimes feel like a silent war against the collective. There's no denying the power of self-determination and ambition, but when the pursuit of “me first” overshadows the care for “we,” we lose something fundamental. It's not just about succeeding; it's about succeeding together, ensuring that every step forward we take is a step we take as a community. Without empathy, success becomes a lonely, hollow prize.

But here’s where it gets interesting: amid this cold, fragmented landscape, there is still room for something extraordinary. There’s a glimmer of hope in a world where compassion isn’t a rare trait, but a guiding force that shapes every interaction. Picture a society where empathy is the rule, not the exception, where we don’t just hear each other, but feel each other. In this world, political disagreements wouldn’t deepen the divide—they would open the door to real conversations. We would look at each other not as adversaries, but as fellow travelers, each carrying our own burdens, joys, and stories. The goal wouldn’t be to “win” but to understand. And imagine the ripple effect of that understanding: policies driven by compassion, communities built on trust, relationships strengthened by empathy.

The road we’re on may seem like one of increasing division, but the beauty of human nature is that we’re never fully beyond redemption. The power to turn things around is always within our grasp. By choosing empathy—by deciding to see the world through another's eyes, to listen deeply, and to respond with kindness—we have the ability to reshape our future. A future where connection triumphs over isolation, where kindness reigns over division. It may take effort, but it’s a path that leads to something much greater than we can imagine: a world where compassion and understanding are the ties that bind us all together. Wouldn't that be a world worth striving for?

~Robin

@ombre-ame

Thinking outloud@ombre-ame

Mar 7/2025

#ombre-ame posts #my words #original writing #spilled thoughts #robin m#my writing #mine

[comikas-fandom-dump]

Kekkei Genkai are a recessive or dominant trait? It is possible that someone born from two parents without Kekkei Genkai in a clan that have one, inherit the characteristic?

Kekkei Genkai Genetics

Good question. Unfortunately, I did not study biology, but I did do some research (mostly asking some biology-savvy people in the Naruto fandom and digging out my 10th-12th grade biology book - they did not, however, proofread this current version of the post). Still, take everything here with a barrel of salt unless you see this post getting peer-reviewed.

What you are asking is whether or not, in the world of Kekkei Genkai, parents can be "hereditary carriers" as opposed to "users" of a Kekkei Genkai gene. To refresh everybody's minds, this usually occurs in recessive inheritance patterns. However, spoiler alert, I think a lot of Kekkei Genkai don't rely on recessiveness and dominance alone and, technically, a person can also end up as a hereditary carrier of a dominant gene. It's not exactly the same concept but results in a similar situation.

(I hope you don't mind me explaining irl biology first; if you do, skip the first half of this post until you reach the Sharingan section)

Recessive and Dominant Inheritance Patterns

Recessive or dominant inheritance occurs because genes always come in double packs - one half of a child's chromosomes originates from the mother and the other half originates from the father. However, those two gene variants (also referred to as "alleles") do not always contain the same genetic information. This is when a child will end up with a "heterozygous genotype".

As Anon previously mentioned, one of the two heterozygous alleles will usually play a recessive role in relationship to a dominant allele, the latter of which will "win" against the other and determine the phenotype.

For communication purposes, we will always assign each allele a letter. Dominant alleles use upper case letters (eg. "B") and recessive alleles use lower case letters (eg. "b").

To visualize this, if one parent has brown eyes and contributes a dominant (B) gene while the other parent has blue eyes and contributes a recessive (b) gene, the child will end up with a heterozygous genotype (Bb), that contains both genes.

Since the allele for brown eyes (B) dominates the blue eyes allele (b), the child will have brown eyes as a phenotype. The child remains a carrier of the recessive blue eyes allele (b), however. Imagine it like a smaller gene being hidden behind a bigger one. The recessive allele is still there, you simply just cannot see it.

If a child instead inherits two blue eye alleles (b) from their parents, they will be born with a homozygous genotype (bb), translating into blue eyes. This is the only circumstance under which a recessive gene won't be hindered by a dominant one.

Additionally, a genetic trait itself is never inherently recessive or dominant. "Recessive" and "dominant" merely describe the relationship between two alleles. A gene that is recessive toward one gene can still be dominant in relation to another (eg. brown eyes > green eyes > blue eyes).

To visualize: A Chunin might dominate a battle against a Genin but a Jonin will still likely wipe the floor with that very same Chunin. Same applies to dominant inheritance patterns.

TL;DR Dominant traits (B) are always expressed. Recessive genes (b) are only expressed if no dominant gene is present. Dominant (B) + Recessive (b) -> Dominant Inheritance (Bb) Dominant (B) + Dominant (B) -> Dominant Inheritance (BB) Recessive (b) + Recessive (b) -> Recessive Inheritance (bb) "Dominant" and "recessive" are not absolute as they don't define the genes themselves but their interaction with another gene instead. A trait (g) dominant to a recessive trait (b) can still be recessive to a different trait (B). b < g < B

The Limits of Dominance and Recessiveness

The problem is, those previously established rules surrounding recessiveness and dominance do not always apply. Two well-known examples are co-dominance (eg. blood types) and incomplete dominance (eg. red + white = pink flowers) in which neither allele in a heterozygous genotype is recessive and instead results in an entirely new phenotype.

Not just that, dominant/recessive gene inheritance patterns are not the be-all and end-all of gene inheritance and are sometimes mixed with and influenced by polygenic, epistatic, or gonosomal inheritance patterns.

Polygenic Inheritance

In the real world, polygenic inheritance is common in traits like skin color and height. In the world of Naruto, it might come into play for traits like nature affinity or chakra potency.

If a polygenic inheritance pattern is present, the trait will be determined not by a yes/no question but instead by the cumulative effort of multiple genes. It will create a spectrum of phenotypes, depending on both the number and the exact genes that have been inherited.

To visualize the concept, imagine dropping food dye into a glass of water. The more drops of food dye and the bigger the drops of food dye are, the stronger the color inside the glass becomes.

In reference to Anon's ask: If a Kekkei Genkai were to be polygenic, parents might pass on a Kekkei Genkai to a child in spite of not having access to the ability themselves, simply just because their child reached a certain "threshold" whereas the parents did not (eg. your water nature affinity is not strong enough for you to acquire ice release). This can be entirely independent of "gene dominance".

Epistasis

Epistasis, similar to polygenic inheritance (as well as co-dominance and incomplete dominance), describes the interaction of two or more non-allelic genes. Unlike polygenic inheritance, epistasis produces an entirely new phenotype rather than a spectrum of phenotypes.

Epistasis comes in various forms, hence coming up with just one analogy wouldn't be doing it any justice. Sometimes, one gene masks the effect of another (eg. a person without hair cannot be blonde), and sometimes, genes instead require one another for a phenotype to go into effect (eg. sweet pea flowers will be purple but only if two specific mutations interact - otherwise, they will be white). In Naruto, this may play a role in the inheritance of the Rinnegan among others.

In reference to Anon's ask: Just like before, this can easily create a situation similar to the traditional hereditary carrier. A parent may carry a gene that they themselves have no access to as it either requires the presence or absence of yet another gene.

Gonosomal Inheritance

Additionally, as opposed to being located on one of the 22 different autosomal chromosome pairs, genes can also be passed on through gonosomes (X and Y chromosomes) and therefore rely on the gender of the child.

Traits passed down via the father's Y Chromosome will always be present in his sons, never in his daughters. If it's via the father's X Chromosome, it will never be inherited by his sons, only his daughters. If it's on the mother's X Chromosome, sons have a 50% chance of inheriting the gene. For girls, this number is entirely reliant on recessiveness/dominance.

In reference to Anon's ask: If a Kekkei Genkai were to be gonosomal, the father could never be a "mere" carrier and would typically have access to the ability.

In-Universe Examples

Now, there are multiple different Kekkei Genkai in the world of Naruto, all of which are determined by different, non-allelic genes entirely (otherwise, individuals like Kaguya or Mei Terumi would not have more than one Kekkei Genkai). This means that we cannot make blanket judgments about all Kekkei Genkai when it comes to their respective inheritance patterns - We can only make case studies.

However, any resemblance to the previously mentioned inheritance patterns might just be coincidental after all. Kishimoto's writing itself doesn't give me much of a basis when trying to gauge the extent of his expertise in genetics. Honestly, that's just how wild genetics can be, giving a biological basis even to the random whims of an author.

Regardless, I'd like to go through a couple examples.

Example: The Sharingan

Since I usually discuss Uchihas, let's use the Sharingan as our first example and apply a purely dominant/recessive inheritance pattern both for simplicity's sake as well as to better accommodate Anon's ask.

For communication purposes: E = Dominant Sharingan Gene e = Recessive Sharingan Gene N = Dominant Non-Sharingan Gene n = Recessive Non-Sharingan Gene

Sasuke and Sakura have a daughter, Sarada, who has inherited the Sharingan. As far as we know, Sakura does not descend from the Uchiha Clan, which means that she also doesn't carry the genetic information for the Sharingan on either allele. In other words, Sasuke is the only parent whose genes contributed to the manifestation of Sarada's Sharingan.

This outcome can only arise under the condition that at least one of Sasuke's alleles is dominant (En or EE) in relation to Sakura's. So, depending on whether Sasuke's genotype is homo- or heterozygous, these are the two most probable possibilities:

Option 1: Sasuke's genotype is homozygous and dominant (EE)

Option 2: Sasuke's genotype is heterozygous and has a non-Sharingan gene (En)

The two most probable scenarios aside, even supposedly dominant/recessive inheritance patterns can be more complicated than that.

For example, the Sharingan may also be inheritable via two different genes (E and e) of varying dominance. Hypothetically, this may either occur through the introduction of another Otsutsuki Clan member's genes or the mutation of the initial Sharingan gene that originated from Indra.

This could give Sasuke a heterozygous genotype (Ee), passing on different Sharingan genes to his children, as you can see in "Option 3". Unlike previously, this might cause Sasuke's children to be born as hereditary carriers (individuals who have inherited the genes but do not express the trait due to the gene's recessiveness).

Option 3: Sasuke's genotype is heterozygous (Ee)

But all of this only applies under the condition that Sakura's alleles are homozygous.

Similarly to "Option 3", there's an "Option 4" in which there are multiple different "non-Sharingan" genes in the Naruto-verse. Some of these non-Sharingan genes may be dominant (N) and some others might be recessive (n) in relation to the Sharingan gene (E). Under this condition, both NE genotypes (the Sharingan is not expressed), as well as En genotypes (the Sharingan is expressed), may occur.

Option 4: Sakura's genotype is heterozygous (Nn)

In yet another scenario, Sakura may have Uchiha ancestors and secretly carry the Sharingan gene. This may hypothetically be the case if one (or more) of Sakura's ancestors had been married to or had had an affair with an Uchiha. Since Sakura herself never awakened the Sharingan, we have to assume the gene that was contributed by Sakura's Uchiha ancestor is recessive (e).

Option 5: Sakura's genotype is heterozygous and has a Sharingan gene (Ne)

And, of course, there are multiple combinations of all of these previously outlined options. I won't explain them all here, but you get the gist.

That being said, the Sharingan being a "generally more dominant" trait remains the more probable option here.

While Sakura having a secret recessive Sharingan gene (e) is theoretically possible, it would be a very unlikely coincidence of secret clan ancestries. It is much more likely that Sarada's genotype is heterozygous (En). In addition, we know for a fact that Indra Otsutsuki's genotype was heterozygous (En) as well. Since she couldn't possibly have possessed the Sharingan, Indra's mother must have contributed a recessive gene. So, if nothing else, there is at least one recessive non-Sharingan gene in circulation.

While the Sharingan itself is still supposedly rare within the Uchiha Clan, this could instead be the result of "low penetrance", as @the-real-sasuke-uchiha suggested. The obvious threshold here is the Sharingan's awakening condition in the form of psychological trauma and/or turmoil, constituting an environmental factor. Psychological responses, in turn, can also be influenced by genes that influence a person's response or resistance to stress, anxiety, and trauma.

Example: The Byakugan

I won't go as far into the details as last time, but the previously illustrated Sharingan logic also applies to the Byakugan.

In the case of the Byakugan (b or B), we know that only one of Hinata's children inherited the Dojutsu (assuming this is not the result of low penetrance instead). Boruto got a recessive allele from Hinata (b or n), whereas Himawari received a dominant allele. For this, either Naruto and/or Hinata must have a heterozygous genotype.

Hierarchy: N > b > n B > N > b

Naruto is heterozygous (Nn): Boruto (Nb, nn, or Nn) = Naruto (Nn) + Hinata (bb or bn) Himawari (bn) = Naruto (Nn) + Hinata (bb or bn) Naruto is homozygous (nn): Boruto (nn) = Naruto (nn) + Hinata (bn) Himawari (bn) = Naruto (nn) + Hinata (bn)

But there's also a hypothetical scenario in which the Byakugan is a recessive trait and Naruto has a secret Byakugan allele.

Boruto (Nb) = Naruto (Nb) + Hinata (bb) Himawari (bb) = Naruto (Nb) + Hinata (bb)

And just like last time, you need to consider that there might instead be two different Byakugan alleles of varying "dominance" in circulation (B and b).

Boruto (Nb) = Naruto (NN) + Hinata (Bb) Himawari (BN) = Naruto (NN) + Hinata (Bb)

And of course, then there's also the possibility that Naruto's and Hinata's genes are co-dominant on the "Byakugan allele". This might have expressed itself through Himawari's blue eyes that only turn white whenever the Byakugan is activated. Alternatively, this is just a regular eye pigmentation gene, unrelated to the Byakugan.

Example: Nature Combinations

While Earth and Water Release are the basis of Wood Release, in the manga, Kakashi points out that their simultaneous activation is what defines the Kekkei Genkai, meaning that the presence of two basic chakra nature affinities is non-sufficient. This means that the inheritance of nature combinations is both influenced

By a polygenic collection of genes determining your individual affinities for the five basic chakra natures (Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Lightning), which are the basis for the Kekkei Genkai.

By an additional gene that determines your ability to activate two or more chakra natures simultaneously and combine them, probably constituting epistasis. However, without affinity for two or more basic chakra natures as a basis, the gene would be masked (read: useless).

Of course, this doesn't mean that dominant and recessive inheritance patterns don't play a role. Both the nature affinity as well as the Kekkei Genkai genes are likely subject to recessive/dominant inheritance patterns.

As for a real-world example, let's look at the inheritance of coat color in mice. It follows both an inheritance pattern of epistasis as well as one of recessiveness/dominance. The "black coat" gene is dominant toward the "brown coat" gene. However, there is also a dominant "pigment" gene and a recessive "no pigment" gene at play. The resulting black, brown and white mice are a complex interplay between their parents pigmentation and coat color genes.

Now, if we apply this to Haku and his Kekkei Genkai, we can assume that he inherited a dominant Ice Nature Combination gene (I) from his mother (compare with Chapter #29). That's because his father should naturally lack the gene unless he has secret ancestry from the Yuki Clan (technically possible but unlikely).

Haku (In) = Mother (II or In) + Father (nn)

But it is also entirely possible that Haku's mother could not use Ice Release herself, due to lacking Wind (A) and/or Water (B) Release (or both). That would make Haku's mother more of a "carrier" of the gene rather than a user, meaning that her husband would have contributed the genes for Haku's nature affinities.

Now, unlike Ice Release, Hashirama's Wood Release might be recessive instead as none of his relatives have ever been said to possess the Kekkei Genkai and there is no known association with the Senju Clan as a whole. Again, penetration plays a role, but we have not been given a reason to assume that Wood Release relies on some sort of trigger.

Back to Anon

Now, this was a whole lot of needless fantasy science but it was fun regardless. I hope I could give you an approximate idea on just how complicated genetics are how inheritance patterns might affect the distribution of Kekkei Genkai within a blood lineage.

Regarding your initial question, Anon, there are no definitive answers, unfortunately, for multiple reasons:

"Recessive" and "Dominant" are not absolute and depend from gene interaction to gene interaction. Heck, there might even be different versions of the same Kekkei Genkai gene.

Different Kekkei Genkai may not (and most likely don't) follow the same inheritance patterns as other Kekkei Genkai.

While we can make educated guesses, we don't know the definitive inheritance patterns (polygenic, epistatic, gonosomal, etc.) of any Kekkei Genkai. From an irl POV, we don't even know whether Kishimoto had any thoughts on the matter.

But once again, recessive/dominant inheritance patterns are not the only setup that can lead to surprise Kekkei Genkai users born to parents without Kekkei Genkai abilities. Nature Combinations almost certainly do lead to such as they most likely rely on epistasis (unless, I don't know, the Ice Release gene always comes in a triple pack with Water and Wind release). The Byakugan might just meet the criteria for a recessive inheritance pattern (unless Hinata's genotype is heterozygous) and even if it isn't, it could be of low penetrance instead. Meanwhile, the Sharingan appears to be mostly dominant.

[rootspiral]

Oh I gotta know your opinion on the covens fave books, with bonus questions: do any of the older witches have absurdly strong opinions on very old books, and does Lilia prefer to read in her native language?

Fascinating question! Let's start with Lilia, because I've also been wondering if she ever came back to Sicily after emigrating – however far back that was. When was it, actually? Did she wander Europe covenless and sad for a century or so before catching the first ship to the new world in the 1600s? Or did she join the wave of 19th/20th century southern Italian immigrants? How involved was she in the Renaissance art circles? Did she ever meet the greats? Did she model for any of them? I hope she had time to cozy up with Artemisia Gentileschi at some point, they would have been a match made in heaven.

I think it would have been difficult for her to travel back once she moved, with money being such a big issue for her, and she'd have lost contact with her roots for a while. Until she discovered how easy it is nowadays to get ebooks in Italian! I imagine her as the most technological of the coven after Jen, so you know she got her hands on a second hand e-reader (NOT a Kindle, thankyouverymuch) and started pirating Italian recentish literature like crazy, with special emphasis on female authors, she read and loved Deledda, de Céspedes, Maraini, Ginzburg, Morante, Murgia. She thinks Elena Ferrante is overrated.

(It goes without saying that you shouldn't pirate books and use your library card instead, but Lilia is a witch and by extension a rule-breaker.)

Despite her recent forays in modern literature, Lilia's favorite author has always been and always will be Boccaccio. As a teenager she would write racy Decameron fanfic – I mean, even racier than the Decameron itself. She used to save copies from church bonfires.

//

I headcanon Jen as being born in the late 1800s and I think that as a young adult she was somewhat part of the early 20th century Black cultural scene (when she had the time in between work and studies), she definitely partook in the Harlem Renaissance even if she was critical of some aspects of it. She was more into music and fashion but also read plenty, her favorite author being Zora Neale Hurston.

After Boston she stopped doing most of the things that brought her joy, including reading. But ironically enough, nowadays she has constructed a bit of a #booktok persona: it all started when she posted a picture of Normal People next to her morning matcha (someone had forgotten it at the organic coffee shop and she snatched it for the aesthetic). That seemed to interest her followers, so she started publishing biweekly videos reviewing all the buzzworthy new books. She doesn't actually read the books and the reviews are written with chatGPT (yikes). Hopefully that'll stop now that she doesn't need to scam people for a living.

//

Alice only ever reads for pleasure. 1980s fantasy holds a special place in heart because she grew up with it, she loved Terry Pratchett, Diana Wynne Jones, Tamora Pierce, Brian Jaques, Terry Brooks and Margaret Weis (in this exact order.) Today she still reads mostly fantasy and romance, her current favorites are the Locked Tomb series and Baru Cormorant.

//

Billy lately has made it his mission to inhale all Wizard of Oz lore and is making his way through the fourteen books, he's on Patchwork Girl right now and loving it very much. So far Ozma has been his favorite.

//

Agatha used to be a Goodreads top five user until she got kicked out for breaking basically every community guideline. She runs a literary blog called "The Cunt of Montecristo" and has been a controversial celebrity in the online reading circles for at least 30 years. Despite being mostly into nonfiction she has reviewed thousands of novels and has very specific beef with long-dead writers that don't make any sense unless she somehow knew them in person. She also claims to know which authors were queer and which were boring and hetero. Her pinned page is a list of all the female authors she hypothetically, definitely not for real fucked, with notable mentions like Eliot, two Brontë sisters (Anne thwarted her), Zelda Fitzgerald, Fannie Hurst, Austen of course (took her v card), and Alcott (she's the reason Jo didn't end up with Laurie).

Regrettably (or luckily) she never met Woolf. Dickinson wouldn't give her the time of day. Mary Shelley was too straight and too into pale-ass moody idiots, Agatha never forgave her and indeed Frankenstein isn't at all her favorite book and she doesn't cry every time she reads it.

//

If you try to give Rio a book she'll read it under a minute at Sonic the Hedgehog speed then toss it back like, ahaha yeah that was a good one. She'll never mention it again.

[corkinavoid]

Fun Fact about Fiance to a Star

Notes on the magic system that I went by. Honestly, it has absolutely zero impact on the plot of the fic, I just like coming up with worldbuilding facts.

The simplest way to do a spell is to find a book of magic and copy the drawing for the desired spell, then say the magic words to activate it. If you have enough magic within you and have copied the drawing perfectly, the spell will work. Every spell can be drawn or written down, so the books containing them are widely spread and easily found in the book shops.

But this method of learning limits you to the hard set number of spells you can learn. Most common mages are fine with that, but if you wish to learn how to alternate your spells or even create new ones, you would have to attend a school of magic. It does not have to be AMITIE, there are other, smaller schools, or you can find a personal tutor or join any kind of group, guild or community whose goal lies in learning any kind of magic. Whatever your desired method of learning will be, you will find out that the drawings and magic words are not just some random scribbles and sounds but a complicated language with its own system and rules. And knowing these rules will allow you to come up with any kind of spell on your own.

With enough practice and a good imagination one can bypass the physical drawing of the spell. If you can clearly imagine what needs to be drawn, you would only need the verbal activation word to cast a spell.

Otherlings - spirits, demons, gods and Ancients - are the source of any and all magic in the world. They don't need any kind of spells or drawings to create magic, but, depending on their occupation, their powers can be limited or inclined to different kinds of it. So if you don't have enough magic within you to perform a spell, you can ask an otherling for help and strike a contract with them.

What most people don't know is that every spell they use is technically a short-term contract with an otherling. While the official contract is always set with a fair price for the otherling's help, the simple spells come with the price of simply using your own magic instead of the otherling's.

Technically speaking, and that is also very much not a common knowledge, the amount of magic you will have is genetic. It depends on if any of your ancestors were an otherling, and if they were, then how powerful. These days it is rare to find an otherling in human form openly admitting to being one: the population of dark spirits, widely known as demons, have been slowly increasing since the Coronation of Pariah Dark two centuries ago. And the fact that dark spirits prefer mascarading as humans to get closer to them and feed off of their magic, effectively draining them, did not give the otherlings a good reputation.

There are multiple ways to use magic without the official contracts with otherlings, if you do not possess enough power for the spell-casting. There are magic plants and herbs, the jewels and metals infused with energies and powers and various artifacts and weapons with spells already ingrained in them. For example, Sam does not, in fact, have a lot of magic, but she is proficient with herbs and potions. Tucker has a mediocre amount, but he mostly uses it to power the enchantments for the artifacts he makes, and Ember has a lot - her father was the spirit of Festival Fire, hence her inclination towards the music and explosive temper.

These genetic inclinations that come from your blood relations with otherlings are usually referred to as personal traits, or just Traits. It's common knowledge that Traits are passed down in the family, so most otherlings who take the human form are usually perceived as humans with Traits.

The blessings and curses are the same thing at their core: a gift of power from an otherling that comes without contracts or any Traits. The difference between a blessing and a curse depends solely on your own judgment.

[shipburner]

Over two years ago, I was inspired by @transhitman's personal Disco Elysium Skill project to make my own Disco Elysium Skills. Today, I am proud to present my own take on the idea, the Internal Family Skills, having finally gotten my brain in gear enough to finish it in a showable capacity. This isn't the final form of the project, but I'd need to learn CSS to make a full fake menu on my Neocities, and a new tablet to make the Skills as painterly as the game's art style (which I might not do, since this style is basically what the inside of my brain looks like).

We're starting off with the Manager (MGR) Attribute: Your capacity to present sufficient normalcy and interact with the people around you. Its six Skills are:

Bureaucracy

Disguise

Distress Tolerance

Hiya

Pakikiramdam

White-Passing

[ Firefighter | Exile | Self ]

Bureaucracy

Understand process and procedure. Pull on the levers available to the public.

COOL FOR: Pencil-Pushers, Concerned Citizens, The Maliciously Compliant

Bureaucracy is what humans use for detailed communication in place of emotional honesty. This is not, in fact, an imposition -- rather, it allows for smooth cooperation and organization at large scale without the superior's scorn or the inferior's resentment getting in the way. Your Bureaucracy skill familiarizes you with paperwork and precedent, assures that the powerful view you as properly compliant, extracts assistance from systems that don't care about you as a person, and teaches you how to work to rule.

At high levels, Bureaucracy lets you navigate hierarchies, provide and access information easily, and fill in gaps in existing procedure where there is none. It'll also make you a fussy, obstinate smartass who refuses to participate with anyone emotionally or act without structure. At low levels, however, you'll be adrift in a paper sea designed to silence, exhaust, and oppress you.

Disguise

Manipulate with masks. Fit yourself into palatable forms.

COOL FOR: Changeling Children, Sociopathic Butterflies, Emotional Laborers

Disguise wants you to know that if you can't be yourself, it's always okay to be someone else. As your handy-dandy superficial charm, Disguise feeds you the lines necessary for a given situation: Need to act mindful and demure at work when you're imagining gutting your manager like a fish? Disguise is already on it. Want to seem like a problem-solving super-genius when you're actually in the middle of cybersex? Disguise is running the social buffer. Trying to avoid telling the truth to your parents or scaring the hoes at the local queer scene? Got. You. Covered.

At high levels, Disguise makes you terrified of failing to live up to your image, to the extent that you'll partition off your life into different personas. You won't be tempted to become any of the masks, but by God will you not take any of them off. At low levels, though, you'll have to take all the lumps that come with never telling anybody what they want to hear.

Distress Tolerance

Endure immediate pain for long-term gain. Stay in the trap to remove the one who set it.

COOL FOR: Forward-thinkers, Sensitive Souls, Cluster Bs

Distress Tolerance is your lexicon of adaptive coping mechanisms. It snaps into action when the world is painful and unfair, identifying pain relief and things you can control. Distress Tolerance reminds you to go for a walk instead of lying in bed, to spend time with people you love instead of fighting online, and to box breathe instead of hiding in a cabinet and sobbing. It also helps you keep your goals in mind: the point of enduring the pain is to avoid hurting people and to have a better life in the future.

At high levels, Distress Tolerance makes you hyper-sane, and thus hypernormal. You'll fall victim to the seductions of personal responsibility, assuming that it's simply your duty to put up with the world's iniquities. Without it, though, you'll be a panicking woman-child ignorant of her own agency, unable to do anything about those iniquities but lash out at the people who love you.

Hiya

Feel shame yourself. Anticipate shame in others.

COOL FOR: Overton Glaziers, Panopticon Inhabitants, Human Dignity Enjoyers

Hiya isn't the cop inside your head, it's the patriarch -- instead of trying to shoot you when you've deviated from the accepted standards of behavior for a given community, it just makes you feel fundamentally unlikable and helpless. This isn't entirely a bad thing, since the accepted standards of behavior frequently involve putting others first so you don't make them feel fundamentally unlikable and helpless. That said, while Hiya teaches you that standards of behavior can change, the only tool it gives you to accomplish that is the cattle prod called "shame".

At high levels, Hiya makes you socially invulnerable -- because you don't do anything objectionable in the first place. Not only will you be self-sacrificingly afraid of being deemed deviant, you'll cringe and withdraw when others embarrass themselves regardless -- and you'll enforce shame yourself to make the cringing stop. Without it, though, you'll literally be walang hiya: a shameless, self-gratifying boob incapable of thinking about others' feelings.

Pakikiramdam

Understand that others’ needs are different. Find out what they are.

COOL FOR: Relationship-Builders, Active Listeners, Safety Tool Users

Pakikiramdam feels out everything that isn't explicitly said. It's a Skill of social moderation formed through trial and error -- knowing what will tickle someone's funny bone, whether acquiescence is hiding upset, and whether they see a given action as common courtesy or a true effort. Pakikiramdam creates models of others' internal states to better foster and maintain kapwa; to this end, it reminds you to check in, slow down, and look at the conversation from outside so you're on the same page about what's going on.

At high levels, Pakikiramdam will make you truly empathetic and understanding -- as long as people can stomach you being a busybody who demands adult communication and introspection about their wants at the drop of a hat. Too low, however, and you'll simply barge through situations assuming you already know what everyone wants, giving you no chance to build empathy in the first place.

White-Passing

Defend yourself and get away with it. Recognize and use what authority you have.

COOL FOR: Egotists, Dissatisfied Customers, Fifth Columnists

You are the phenotypical expression of a multigenerational effort to make you and your desires untouchable in any social situation. White-Passing measures your ability to live up to that standard: Can you talk over people in a meeting to make your point heard? Can you talk to a cop like he's a brave and dignified defender of your security? Can you justify the entire extractive supply chain in order to demand a better customer service experience?

At high levels, White-Passing will get you what you want, and getting what you want will reinforce the rightness of your power. Not only will this make you an entitled little martinet claiming power you lack, it'll chain you to the structures that have given you what power you have. But without it, you won't even be able to get past the cop in your own head, let alone the ones outside it, and you'll make a cult of your own disenfranchisement.

Notes:

Bureaucracy's ear-thingies are a reference to Intergalactic Advocate Bob from Jupiter Ascending.

The mask Disguise is wearing is based on Caves of Qud's gentling mask.

Thanks is due to Jeremiah Reyes' 2015 article "Loób and Kapwa: An Introduction to a Filipino Virtue Ethics", which was instrumental in me figuring out how exactly my lolo's ethics filtered through my dad to me, for good and for ill.

[minweber]

Musings on Custodes: Assorted Headcanons

Decided to get together some of the stuff that's been rattling around in my head for a while and which doesn't seem significant enough for a topic of its own. As usual, everything presented here is basically just my headcanons for Custodes, only some of which are supported, to varying degrees, by current lore:

Custodes don't communicate with each other in combat - as in, fight and perform complicated group maneuvers without talking to each other. This is barely a speculation, because the codex straight up says that they fight silently. There, however, it is used mostly to denote that they don't have a battlecry, and they do also use Thoughtmark, so can still very much communicate while staying silent. I think it would be very cool and fitting to push it further, and take it to mean that they actually don't communicate, as in don't pass any information to each other in battle. Instead, whenever they fight as a group, each of them just knows what each of them should do, and has an absolute certainty that everyone will do their part, perfection in all things and all that. They essentially operate like a reverse hive mind, with each individual thinking for every member of the group, and it all always syncing up through the magic of Posthuman Big Brains. It is very silly, but the exact kind of Dune-like super brain powers that 40k in general seems to find so irresistible.

Custodes despise the Minotaurs - like, as much as they can despise someone who is not an actual traitor... Maybe a bit a more. Have you ever noticed how High Lords of Terra, the mighty rulers of the Imperium of Man, are not in full control of the very world from which they rule? How there is an incredibly powerful military force, over which they can exert exactly zero influence, always lurking around their seat of power? And how they seem to have created for themselves an army spear-wielding superhumans with a hellenistic motif, armored in red and... bronze? Yeah, I have no idea how intentional this was on part of writers of old Imperial Armour, but Minotaurs are 100% poor man's (lord's?) Custodes, made to imitate control over something that was forever beyond their creators' reach. And I do oh so believe that Custodes themselves would see it, and man oh man would that grind their nuts. They aren't keen on Astartes in general, and the ones that are essentially parodies of them, bound in service to those they would certainly consider lesser men? Oooh, superhuman patience or no, there would be salt.

Most custodians are what we would call some variation of aroace - this one is a full on headcanon of mine, based on nothing save my quixotic quest for depiction of warhammer posthumans that is more than just "very smart and very scary when angry". Whenever we talk about "more evolved human beings" in sci-fi context (I genuinely hope that my slight obsession with this topic is viewed solely within it), it is worth remembering that evolution is not like, a scale. Nothing is just "overall better" than anything else, it is all about adaptation to circumstance and environment. So too custodians are not simply "humans, but better" - they are shaped specifically for their role as Emperor's companions. Which, I think, would have interesting effects on those parts of them that lie outside this purpose - like experiencing attraction very differently from most humans. Here I should hurry to add that I am using the term aroace incredibly broadly, more as a closest available analogue to something that maybe doesn't exist in observable human experience, rather than in all of its defined nuance. But yeah, I like to imagine that a lot of them don't experience romantic and sexual attraction at all, their brains and body chemistry just not wired for it anymore, and those that do, do so in ways that may be alien to us. For example - being more detached about it, their feelings blending the line between emotional and intellectual, their love or lust less... visceral than ours can be? Something that is not more or less, but instead just different.

They do not idolize the Emperor, and may actually be pretty critical of him - Wait, stop, I can explain! Yeah, we begin to really veer off now - but I do so love characterization rooted deeply in contradiction. I don't challenge the idea that they are unflinchingly, mind-numbingly loyal to him and would commit any heinous crime on his word. But I also like to imagine them having the same sort of "predisposed towards the same personality traits and flaws" thing that Astartes have with their primarchs. Having their unique personalities all grow around the same powerful inherited core. Basically, they all see him in themselves - and if they thought that he was infallible, then... Well, it's not as interesting as the opposite, is it? What if instead they see him as a deeply flawed figure, and see those flaws reflected in them, but at the same time are too much like him to admit either? Isn't it delicious - to be able to see how deeply flawed and toxic are the ideals that you follow, and yet be shaped by them to such an extent that you cannot help but desperately chase them?

Kind of flowing logically from the previous two - Custodes are capable of experiencing attraction, but never to each other. It's just all too easy for them to see all the parts of him, of themselves, that they don't like in others of their kind. In fact, maybe this goes beyond attraction - maybe this is the reason that they have trouble truly working together and trusting one another?

[eriochromatic]

I am in love with the wha cross guild designs. Can you say something more about them? Like the thought process behind them and stuff.

sure! What I focused on first is how Mihawk, Buggy, and Crocodile's motives and personality would translate into the WHA world (I need a loose story first to be motivated before delving into the design!)

tbh I think with one piece's characters so focused on freedom and living without constraint, all pirate characters would technically be brimhats LOL (and Coco's arc of realizing the flaws of the current insitution is quite similar to Koby and the marines).

Devil fruit powers are easy to translate into seals tattooed on the skin (hence wha!Buggy's seal on his chest letting him split his body and wha!Crocodile's on his hand giving him sand manipulation). Mihawk is more interesting since he doesn't have a devil fruit, so naturally wha!Mihawk also doesn't have tattooed seals. Another way for a witch to become a brimhat is dabbling in forbidden seals, so wha!Mihawk has cursed seals on Yoru instead (which makes him a brimhat without modifying his body)

As for cornerstone character traits in the original: Mihawk is the greatest swordsman, Buggy is… just vibing LMFAO, and Crocodile is ambitous/power hungry/looking to rule his own kingdom. Obviously the greatest swordsman title means nothing in WHA, so wha!Mihawk instead is a great artificer, with Yoru being the strongest magic imbued weapon in existence. I'd like to think Yoru's seals were initially within guidelines, but Mihawk felt those rules were suffocating Yoru's potential, which is when he started using cursed and forbidden seals instead, all for the sake of Yoru becoming stronger.

Buggy I'd imagine is kind of like how Iguin is introduced in Coco's past- as a solo traveling witch mingling amongst common folk rather than being in a community of fellow witches. I think he'd be addicted to that feeling of superiority he'd get from being a revered witch in the eyes of the common people, so he's probably the head of a traveling circus troupe (where he's the only witch) touring the countryside (keeping a relatively low profile in the realm of witches, never staying in one place too long so the Knights Moralis don't go after him). Buggy's definitely not as altruistic or eager to help those in need as witches are supposed to be in WHA society, but of course he'd put on a good show to entertain the masses.

Eolio mentioned something interesting in chpt 53 ("We can be as in the tales of yore. King and witch, side by side"). There might've been more references to this concept of a monarch/person in power with a witch as their advisor (I just can't find it at the moment a;sldkfs) but I'd imagine that's what Crocodile would be doing. Like Buggy, I think he also gets a sense of superiority by being alongside commonfolk (vs Mihawk who's goal is to genuinely just make the strongest weapon possible and not interested in mingling with others). But instead of Buggy's route of mingling with commoners, Crocodile would definitely go the more sinister route- find some easily manipulated king or high lord and get into his good graces, eventually becoming the witch operating in the shadows and whispering machinations in his liege's ears. We don't know much about the pennisula yet and how far the witches' institution reaches so I don't know the exact position of power Crocodile feels safe aiming for without the Knights Moralis coming for his ass (a ruler might be too obvious lol but then again Crocodile tried to take over Alabasta right underneath the World Government's noses so who knows).

As for the designs themselves: Mihawk's fluffy plume being reminiscient of a brushbug is what started this entire idea for me, so I knew I had to add that in somehow. For each character I picked an overarching motif/theme I wanted in the character design, as well as adding in WHA design elements. WHA characters all tend to have large cloaks to cover their body while writing seals, and even though Cross Guild is all brimhats, nobody starts out as a brimhat so I'd imagine a large cloak or something top heavy would still be familiar to them even if they don't care about covering seals anymore.

For Mihawk I leaned a bit more into the vampire theme than his usual (cloak silhouette is bat like, plus the additional crosses everwhere. His sleeves aren't exactly attached to his jacket (like OPLA) and I also added that detail in the pants haha. I think Yoru is the real star here with all the seals on it, the two big ones are actually modified seals from the Ars Goetia (since they're supposed to be cursed after all); the top one is Glasya-Labolas (manslaughter and bloodshed) and the bottom one is Ronove (taker of old souls). The flower pattern on his sleeves is also not as paisley looking since it doesn't fit with the WHA artstyle, but there's so much hatching that at the end of the day I don't think it mattered lol. His cloak is the least cloak like since he needs to be able to swing that sword HAHA also he's not interacting with normal humans much anyways, usually he only interacts with witches that try to challenge him. Personally I think wha!Mihawk is quite bad at drawing seals on the fly- his specialty is being able to carve complex ones on metal perfectly so they'd be suitable in a fight later.

Buggy I went full medieval jester mode (I always tend to lean toward that aesthetic for Buggy rather than Joker Batman anyways haha). A couple of star motifs here and there, as well as slashed sleeves to reinforce the slicing and dicing of his body. Overall there's just a lot of vertical and horizontal lines on his body for that purpose. I really wanted to let Buggy's beautiful hair down since WHA's style is lovely with that kind of flowing hair. Oh all three of them are also wearing slyph shoes!

Crocodile's coat is directly inspired from Iguin's (esp for that scale motif); overall I wanted to incorporate flowy ornaments for him since I'd be drawing a lot of flowing sand; hence all the tassels on his cloak and sleeves. Cutouts are there for him to use sand manipulation more effectively. I know in canon both for him and Buggy the clothes also are affected by devil fruit powers but I don't think that would be the case here- Buggy's clothes also probably have seals in them and no one would be able to see if he's on stage but I think for Crocodile, since he'd be working with normal humans more he does have to be more cautious about things (hence why he also has a more traditional cloak compared to the others). Sand hat for coolness also for convenience bc he can just dissipate the sand if he's trying to disguise himself (like how Ininia's ribbons can appear normal instead of brim shaped). I also gave him a smoking pipe instead of a cigar because the pipe can be used as a red herring of sorts- to outsiders it might appear the pipe being the source of power (like for Mihawk's sword) but Crocodile's sand manipulation ability has the same scope as canon.

ANYWAYS that's probably a way more detailed response than you expected but hopefully that was interesting to read my thought process behind things! even though i captioned it Cross Guild I guess it ended up being more East Blue/Alabasta saga personalities than actual post Wano Cross Guild dynamics haha

[a-d-nox]

web of wyrd: the root chakra

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the numbers we are focusing on today are based on the red bubbled numbers in the web then the sum of the two equal your emotional number - ex: as you see above and in previous charts, my energetic number is 21 and my physical number 2. so to get the emotional number i have to sum the two: 21 + 2 -> 23. recall that numbers must be summed a second time if they total 23 (i.e. 2 + 3 → 5) and above.

but what does this number mean?

the first chakra set we are examining is the root chakra (muladhara); it signifies how well we survive/persevere, our stability/foundation, our ancestry, and how grounded we are. it governs the bare basics of human existence. bodily it governs our urinary tract, genitalia, large intestine, tailbone, sacrum, hips, legs, feet, bones, teeth, etc.

so let's talk about some examples:

2 - the high priestess

a physical muladhara 2 might be the type of person who looks timeless like they can be both younger than they are and older than they are. often they will hear the phase "old soul in a young body." often these individuals are rather attractive. they are governed by the moon - they may have a lot of feminine aspects to their body - mainly they are likely to have very womanly hips. these people tend to "feel it in their bones" when something is off. they are also not the type to show their teeth often; they may look a bit like the priestess in the card - their mouth is set in a bit of a frown. they appear stoic to outsiders and some even look as though they are a statue or a piece of strange artwork. people may really enjoy taking pictures of them or using them as a muse in an art studio because of how still they can be. i feel like these people age very well - they follow the maiden, mother, crone cycle that is expected of a 2.

muladhara energized 2s internally need to look within for guidance. they have a hint of the divine in them that often leads them to be "intuitively inclined"; they are like the physical 2 person - they feel things "in their bones." their intuition communicates with them in a very bodily, whole self way. they might not be birth mothers but they are the universal mother instead (elementary school teacher vibes). they are often more grounded energetically than the average person because of their intuitive gifts - they don't let the waves knock them down.

emotional muladhara 2s often can find hormones heavily influence their attitude - especially as they age. blocked 2s might have a fear of aging or looking too old or too young for their age. many emotional 2s are body conservatives - they aren't very comfortable wearing form fitting clothing. they prefer to leave things to the imagination of others. often these people are the type to shove down their emotions so that they can make it through what they are experiencing - they recognize the emotions, yet they put those emotions aside to remain stoic and levelheaded in their situation.

21 - the world

a physical muladhara 21 tends to age very beautifully - often they go from self-cautious young person to self-confident individual. the world is ruled by saturn, so they frequently "glow up" later in life. modeling might be something these people are interested in - they are that level of beautiful; they often get a lot of recognition from those around them for being so. they differ from 2s in that they are less conservative when it comes to the body. they grow into people who are comfortable sharing their body without judgment or fear of others.

muladhara energized 21s go through obvious stages in life that are meant to help them grow into better human beings. they are often the type that can go through anything and still come out on top - they know how to survive and preserve to say the least. energetically, this is probably the most vulnerable placement for 21 to be. the lady of the world card shows her whole body except for where the root chakra is located (hips, uterine region, genitalia, etc.) so people with 21 energized muladhara placements often do require work on their root chakra.

emotional muladhara 21s aren't about existing; they want to live and thrive - they don't like the bare minimum from life. they often overcome a lot of situations where they feel they lacked closure or didn't receive what they thought they would. they learn how to award themselves closure so that they can move on from difficult situations in a healthy manner. they often avoid depressive thinking by acknowledging that there is so much yet to come. they also become very emotionally mature at a young age and can often be cheerleaders for those around them who are going through difficult times throughout their entire lifetime.

5 - the hierophant

a physical muladhara 5 a person a great doctor and/or physician - they have a solid knowledge surrounding the body and how it works. they can also be "health nuts" these are the supplement and herbal gurus, who recognize that the body is a temple and often preach to others how they could be taking care of theirs better. these people often have a very strong bone structure - very few break their bones, instead they find themselves often "breaking" other people's bones like a chiropractor or orthopod. though i would like to throw in, they tend to be very rigid and sometimes judgmental of how other treat their health.

muladhara energized 5s feel like the type of people that you can look up to for guidance in a dire situation. they often have a lot of people all at once asking them "well what do we do now?" people trust that they will have the wisest answer on how they can best move forward. they have a very traditional vibe that makes me think of people who you see as being old-fashioned or they look like they are from a different point in time like those that wear a lot of vintage pieces. their aura just makes them feel unyielding and stable; as though they will always be themselves no matter how much time passes.

emotional muladhara 5s often feel as though they are delayed in life when there is a block on this chakra - they may feel like they are constantly trying to meet milestones and keep up with others. a big lesson for them is to realize that though they feel behind, being behind is kind of the best because they can see others make mistakes and gain wisdom that way. being in the back/behind means you see everything in front of you anyway. they often learn better coping skills / survival skills because of this set up. emotionally they can seem pretty "lizard brained" in emergency situations - "survival of the fittest" for sure. sometimes though they might bottle up too many feelings and seem closed off to others emotionally. it might seem like they are disinterested or apathetic to other people's situations, though many people come to them when they are at their emotional lowest.

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[8-bitpixelheart]

Some world building for my Apotheosis setting <3

Harlsia

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Summary

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The frigid lands of Harlsia are known for their rich metal deposits and intensely friendly demeanor. One would imagine that the constant cold, only ever getting as warm as ‘brisk’ during the summer, would create a grumpy and isolated people. However, Harlsia keeps morale up with constant festivals and communal supplies. In most towns and villages, cooking is done communally by volunteers throughout the week. Most homes lack a kitchen for this reason, and instead have larger areas for entertaining guests.

Environment

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Most of Harlsia is a wide open tundra, with a bit of forest to the south and mountains to the west. There are few arms but plenty of lakes and rivers. There are a few snow dunes as you get closer to the mountains, but it’s mostly surprisingly flat with few hills or adjustments in the land. It is considered quite dangerous to enter the waters of Harlsia, as the climate renders them incredibly cold and death comes quick to those who go swimming.

Settlements

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To ask the capital city of Harlsia is to start an argument. Those to the west of the mountains believe that the capital is Miriva, a sprawling city with thick stone walls. The poorest of the city live in slums within Miriva’s walls, cramped together in the dimly lit space. However, there are some that believe that Archen is the capital city, as it houses the royal family. A few generations ago there was civil unrest, causing the royal family to build the stronghold city of Archen on the other side of the mountains. Archen is completely self sufficient, with farms, fishing, and more all safe within the city’s gigantic walls.

Other notable towns include Norida and Kaldis, two major mining towns. Norida is lucky enough to specialize in gemstones, pulling all manner of gemstones from the earth. As such there’s also a heavy military presence in Norida to protect it from bandits and other threats. Kaldis is a metal mine, pulling in rare metals that can’t be found anywhere else as well as more common necessities.

Politics

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Harlsia is ruled by a hereditary royal family, passing the crown to the eldest child. The current family ruling is the St. Grey family. A few generations ago, Harlsia was going through an economic downturn that was stirring unrest amongst the people that prompted the St. Greys to build their fortress city of Archen. However, the discovery of gems and metals in the ground smoothed the situation over. Now the royal family is fairly beloved, though they remain in Archen.

Economics

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Harlsia is very well off, with their exports of gems and metals. They don’t tend to export anything else, holding onto their fishing industry with iron claws. However, they do tend to import quite a lot of fresh produce and livestock. Surprisingly despite their wealth, they don’t often import things of luxury or art pieces.

Food

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A lot of food in Harlsia is dried, salted, or otherwise preserved. Fermented vegetable dishes are a popular and necessary way to consume needed veggies. Harlsia doesn’t eat a lot of fruits or import a lot of sweet things, so their desserts are often simple and on the bland side. Their savory dishes however are very seasoned, often on the spicy side to help combat the cold.

Legends

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A long time ago, people woke up without memories in the middle of the cold and snow. It was difficult, and there was little food, but they were determined. They banded together to create a little village. They worked hard and discovered the old gods, they who laid the groundwork for the system we use for the gods today. Though we have lost the site of that little village, we have not forgotten their values. Survival, community, strength.

There was once a great dragon by the name of Thousandfang that claimed much of Harlsia as his territory. Thousandfang was a cruel tyrant in his youth, but as he aged he came to discover the error of his ways. He made effort to apologize to the people of Harlsia, to make it up to them. And they came to forgive him and accept him as one of them. Thousandfang lived out his life as the guardian of Harlsia, eventually dying. He was buried outside of Miriva, and a monument was placed over his grave.

[dchuntress]

rambling more about my personal headcanons for dazzler, continuing from my previous post! if you vibe with this idea, then great, if not, that's fine too!

!! okay so i personally headcanon alison as neurodivergent, particularly undiagnosed adhd, and i project a lot of my experiences on her, but i was initially inspired to see this take on her when i read her older comics and saw her talk a lot about how her powers affect her at a sensory level

she can feel sound and not just hear them, she can feel the energy she absorbs coarse through her veins and accumulate there, and that's why she finds it murder to hold onto too much light energy for too long

to me or at least in my portrayal, her powers and her neurodivergency are interlinked in a way; i hc she has synaesthesia, which helps to explain how she can do so much with her light powers without formal training and it also works with the vibe of her powers since she again feels sounds and can predict which sort or how much she needs for a certain effect

also a bunch of other aspects of her that i'm expanding on more through the lens of her being neurodivergent yet undiagnosed:

- she grew up under the care of an austere, cold, and serious father who was very strict about discipline, meanwhile alison was more of a free spirit and didn't like routine or anything mundane, yet her father forced her into a life of studying constantly to be an excellent lawyer, she managed to get into law school but dropped out when she's had enough of living by his rules

- in my portrayal, alison has never been an x-man or a superhero, which was true in the older comics before writers eventually had her change her mind; her passion has been singing, not fighting. i imagine that the extreme discipline, organisation, and orderliness of superhero teams was *not* for her at all. but instead, she was just assumed to be useless and incompetent by everybody including herself

now as a singer, i feel this is a double edged sword for her because on one hand, she has a great support system in the form of her team who helps her stay organised while she can focus on just the creativity part of making music; as a result, she has more energy and assuredness to really focus (read: hyperfixate) on her career and be able to get projects done because her team is there to help her when she feels overwhelmed while jumping from one project to another

but on the other hand? it's not so rainbows and sunshines, she is extremely aware of people's emotions and moods, of every level of sound within a decent radius, has emotional regulation issues, deals with insomnia, gets agitated easily, and so on; further feeling like a burden, or immature, or weak because she sees all of this as her personal failing and has yet to consider she's not neurotypical. i also want to explore the themes of undiagnosed adhd in adults, and also in general, the neurodivergent experience of feeling like something's inherently different or wrong about you. she's had this innate, nagging feeling her entire life; when her father told ali that her dream was foolish and ridiculous, when her powers manifested at fifteen and she wouldn't know for the longest time that she's a mutant, when the x-men told her to quit her job and join them instead. and yet, this nagging feeling of feeling like you don't belong or you aren't just right IS what pushes dazzler to go "fuck it" and be the change she wants to see: to embody radical acceptance by accepting everybody regardless of who or what they are, becoming a queer icon by ensuring a safe space for the lgbt+ community in her realm, doing away with genetic testing at her concerts, coming out as a mutant publicly when things were really bad and risking her life and growing career to show her support for mutants, and refusing to put herself in a label or category, doing what she wants unapologetically, faking it till she makes it— and hoping that younger people, especially mutants, know that there's more to this world than the path molded for them, the molds they otherwise have to cut parts of themselves to fit in; that there are more sounds to hear than muffled screams and battle cries, that there are more colours to see than shades of black, white, and grey.

this is why her control over her powers depends on how she's doing emotionally depends so much on her mood, her mental health, her emotional stability, and just how she's doing well. on her good days, she's fine, great even. on her bad days, everything starts to sound like it's mad at you.