#it's a complex issue i guess and i dont have the answers

[trans-soapberry]

post. Post-posting clarity where you're like "wtf was I talking about". But also post-posting confusion where you're also like "wtf was I talking about" but it's less about your mental state While Posting and more about "okay. I've written many words. I remember. Approximately 20% of them. What the fuck are the rest of these?"

[ryuichirou]

So i'm reading your yandere/hypnosis post and i get to Vil being utterly jealous enough to try on Rook; and it makes me think about his drive and the second place club lol (Leona, Jamil and Vil) like D: poor them they're always outranked by that ooonnee person! Can our boys catch a break? whether that person knows or not I always tend to feel bad--especially for Vil since i remember his inner speech in book 5 and the fact that his most trusted person ended up being such a big fan of the person who makes him feel like second best. wait i love rookvil i think i made myself sad LOL NOoo--aahh I rambled im sorry, i guess the main question i wanna ask is what do you think about those particular three always having to come second to their respective counterparts? I think your opinions and insight is so interesting that i'd like to know your thoughts on this! and you don't have to answer for all three characters if you dont wanna I was just curious on your thoughts! Anyways, have a good day and stay hydrated! it's hot this summer oof

Anon! Took some time to get back to you as well, sorry for the late reply. Summer is already over, but it’s still SO HOT…

Without diving into just how much I love the ending of book5 and the whole Rook-Vil-Neige thing (I feel like I talk about it all the time LOL)… It is interesting how these Vil, Jamil and Leona always get to be second best, isn’t it? But ironically, I don’t think I ever grouped them in my head based on this. Maybe it’s because of how different their situations are? But also now that I think about it…

Vil isn’t better than Neige, and he tries to be better by working hard.

Jamil is better than Kalim, but he can’t be better because of his status.

Leona may or may not be better than Falena in some ways, but he doesn’t even bother.

Ignoring the fact that this “better” is always subjective and in actuality things are more complex than that… and also trying not to sound like an armchair therapist that’s just telling anime boys “you should have done this you idiot”, but.

Jamil got the most development in that sense because this internal conflict is very straightforward, in fact, he was the easiest one to describe with these little sentences I just wrote. Jamil wants to stop pretending to be worse than he is, he wants to work hard and to show how great he is without being forced to get worse results than Kalim. He is only the second best because he consciously allows Kalim to be the best whenever he is given this choice. And he isn’t always given a choice: a lot of times the system decides for him, just like when Crowley chose Kalim to be the housewarden. Still, even in that situation, Jamil knows for a fact the shape, the density and the nature of this ceiling he can’t break, he’s been aware of it for his entire life. This is why it’s easy to pinpoint moments of Jamil’s growth: when he expresses how much he hates pretending to be worse than Kalim, when he says that he won’t hold back anymore, when he gets to dance and rap at VDC as a lead-vocalist and, ironically, when he gets scolded by Leona in ch6 (I have some issues with their sub-story, but still).

With Vil, the difficult part is to understand what exactly he understands as “beauty”: I mentioned it in a bunch of Vil-centric posts, but we’ve seen how in-canon he was described as too beautiful, therefore not as relatable as Neige. So this isn’t about beauty, and in a way I think this isn’t about Neige either. This is about Vil’s own feeling of self-worth and self-expression, and how people perceive him; Neige is just a very good point of reference, a good metric, especially considering that they always end up being compared to each other and that comparing numbers of followers is easy and seemingly objective (which is a cruel trap a lot of people fall for).

What I’m trying to say is that Vil isn’t fully and constantly aware of “the shape of this ceiling”, or rather why he can’t reach Neige; this is why we had that ending to his book. This isn’t solely about skill or quality, but those are the main things Vil focuses on.

And Leona… I am not sure about him, to be honest, because it boils down to one problem that I have with him: I am not sure what he wants.

It’s easy to compare him to Jamil because it seems like his issue lies in being frustrated with the system: he will never be the first because Falena is literally the first born son. But I don’t think it’s fair to compare a prince with a servant like that, because even though Leona wouldn’t be the king, he still has a lot of power and opportunities, and we’ve seen Falena valuing his strong points and expressing that he wants Leona to help him. One might even say that he invited Leona to be by his side, as a brother and an equal. But this isn’t what Leona wants in actuality, is it?

His “ceiling” seems to be obvious, but I guess his actual frustrations lie elsewhere, and those are kind of difficult to see because of how inconsistent he is. But maybe it’s just me being frustrated with his character again lol

I am replying so late because I really thought I would have some kind of conclusion about this whole thing, but it seems like I don’t lol Still, it was an interesting topic to think about.

Thank you for your ask! <3

[npd-confessions]

Not sure if my last confession was on anon 😭 so just make sure it is I guess lmao

- 💥💢

It was not, lol. Here's the confession, and I'll answer it below.

--

That did help a lot thank you! I think from that explanation, I have no empathy but just sympathy. I also lack the emotion of compassion but you said it was action based and then by actions I am a very compassionate person (I do it to gain reputation and supply only lmao).

Admittedly, there have been times where I've came close to feeling empathy but it always gets immediately blocked out before I could even truly experience it. And I don't think feeling "sad" to get out of a situation counts, because I'll feel sad but it really just feels like a cue my brain gave me to start fake crying, performing and showing it to everyone so I could get passed off. This emotion, which literally feels fake but ITS STILL THERE, will come up only when I know I need to fake something like that. I blame the heavy atrocious masking and face training I did for years as a child.

So feeling that kind of "empathy" only when it benefits you probably isn't the real stuff right... I never felt motivated to do anything good or to help anyone by these emotions. Even with sympathy like you said.

Thank you again for answering this because it kinda made me realize empathy and lack thereof is probably more complex than what people perceive? It is different for everyone after all. My first description of my emotions are always "I have empathy but it's just broken and missing important pieces for its functioning." I describe it like a machine. My emotions feel exactly like some sort of a machine. This is why I don't connect with humanity cuz of this fucking shit lmao

I think I do feel pity too? But yeah its complicated. I only feel it if I relate to a person very heavily, it's like I'm projecting myself onto them and only see me, i dont see anyone else. It's also a rare feeling as well. I don't even remember the last time I felt it nor what it felt like.

Anyways hai. It's 💥💢

I didn't wanna be known in the last anon but now its okay. I think what bugged me is because I no longer come off like I know everything about myself and need help from others. It's cringe 🥹 -- I'm glad I was able to help. The specifics of this kind of stuff can be really difficult to pin down, so I don't blame you for being confused. I also don't feel very connected to humanity because of similar internal issues, so I hear you on that one.

[misiahasahardname]

top 5 ii and primos characters?? i dont know anything about primos but im curious!!

LET'S GO !!!!!!

ok. inanimate insanity.

as expected by literally everyone, LIGHTBULB takes first place for me!!! she was my favourite ever since i first watched, she's such a comfort character to me, i relate to her so much. she's such an entertaining character with some really fun gags, and also she has broken my heart many a time with her writing (some of her struggles hit REALLY close to home jrhhrgrhrhrh). i love reading analysises about her, i love when people understand her the way i do... she's such a well written character istg!!! also michael does a BRILLIANT job with her voice imo

silver spoon is a classic "pathetic boyfailure michalina got attached to because of their fake ego masking an inferiority complex" character for me. i like putting them through the horrors. i love them to peices therefore they must face a myriad of pain and suffering!!! also they're SO FUCKING FUNNY I SWEARRRRRRRR this guy sucks so bad i can't get enough of them <3 (if you couldn't tell by my 27 minute video of silver clips)

ok from second place down i struggle to place characters right but. i'm putting knife third because he has not gotten out of my head since act two of the season two finale. the brainrot is INSANE!!!!! she's had SUCH a great arc throughout season two, and his death was probably the best way they could've possibly ended that arc. her voice is also VERY satisfying to listen to, especially his new one omfg i am in LOVE!!!!!!!!!! the thoughts about her are intense. (not me pushing my pronoun agendas for these objects LMAO)

i'm tired of hiding this... i LOVE dough inanimate insanity. he's so fucking stupid i CANNOT get enough of him. every time he's on screen he absolutely EATS!!!! he's got some great jokes (and his voice makes them land even better), and i'm OBSESSED with his dynamic on bow. THE PURGATORY PARTY STREAM HIM BEING SO NEUTRAL ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE BUT BEING SO NICE ABOUT BOW OHGHHHHH MY HEARTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!! also i made up lore about why dough didn't make it on time. if you even care. yes it's related to my stupid spikey mervert and dough pairing.

apple my babygirl. i love you sweetie you are doing such a good job!!! keep going!!!!!!!! apple is SUCH a cutiepie every time she's on screen i'm giggling and squealing she is SO SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!! i love characters that are just carefree and whimsical. i love writing her friendships all her relationships (canon and hypothetical) mean so much to me <3 she also has some REALLY funny moments for me. "in her defense... she told me!!!" ALSO THE TOY HORSE SHE GOT IN INANIMATE ANSWERS IS CANON I LOVE THAT!!! (dino brawler extreme is such a swagalicious name)

THIS WAS REALLY HARD i have SOOOOO much characters i adore but these had to stick out the most

OK NOW FOR PRIMOS.

i bet you never would've guessed what with how much i draw her — it's tere! YES she's the only primo without a dedicated episode, YES she's the t sister with the least development, YES most of her character traits were completely made up by me, and YES i love her!!!!!!!!!!!! even before the show was out to the public (all the clips we had was the fuckin intro everyone hated) i saw her design and was like. ohhh yeah this is gonna be a fave. AND SHE WAS!!!!!!!! the cancelled episode summer of maribossa made me so ill btw SO MUCH MISSED POTENTIAL!!!!!!!! WE NEED A TERE CENTRIC EPISODE IN SEASON TWO PLSPLSPLSPLS

in contrast to tere, i thought i wasn't going to like big nacho at first. in summer of primos there was a lot of me cringing at fart humour and i was afraid that was all he would be (because apparently that's only acceptable in captain underpants), but my expectations were completely flipped on their heads because this kid is actually really sensetive and kind and funny like what the fuck??? AND HIS SINGING VOICE??????? BRO HAS INSANE PIPES GOD DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love the big nacho adios song. bro has some issues. (also i'm eating up the dyslexia rep)

i understand all the hype tater made for her, lita is SO COOL!!!! like you look at her character design and you just KNOW she would be amazing to hang out with. idek what to say about her she's just. absolutely a brilliant character and i love her loads <3 did NOT see the mummy issues arc coming but it was really good i must say

i couldn't quite decide but y'know what. y'know what. i like lotlot... snrk..... a LOT LOT. (ok yeah that was lame). like before the show dropped i found it hard to figure out what her deal was because her design really wasn't saying much?? but now that i know i can say with confidence she is a really fun character!!! she's such a vibe. she lives for the spooks, and i respect that. also i gotta say i ADORE her dynamic with tater, they're such an underrated duo. they were so fun together in summer of the thirteenth primo istg

i'm kinda stuck between scooter and nachito tbh??? COMPLETELY different characters ik but like. i adore them. scooter had a nice coming out of his shell arc, he's gor a great singing voice and i can always appreciate a character with an eye for fashion, and nachito is such a sweetheart, so full of love and support!!! also love his voice, confianza is such a bop... lowkey really enjoy toñita too??? she's so sassy it's hilarious. I DON'T HAVE ANYONE TO GO IN FIFTH PLACE I LIKE ALL THE PRIMOS A LOT😭😭😭😭 (ig they're slightly harder to sort individually since they're a unit? i have no idea tbh. just take this as a three way tie then)

turns out primos was also hard... i see a lot of the primos as equally good. or maybe i'm just really bad at decisions LMAO

YEP THAT'S MY LIST ENJOY

[correctproseka]

re: my last ask;

like WHEN are we gonna tackle and solve kanades whole martyr/savior complex? or the trauma of basically being an orphan because lets be honest, her dad isnt doing great and idk if he'll ever recover its been years already. what about the years of damage enas poor relationship with her father caused her? and i dont just mean in her art and self confidence (tho the game still hasnt concretely shown her growing from that yet either) the years of harm being so heavily guarded and isolated caused mizuki? or her actually trying to learn to trust and rely on others? stand up for herself instead of running? learning to live as herself with more real genuine confidence?

in the time we could have explored all those things we've spent months showing the build up of mafuyus shit family life, the explosion, resolution and now it seems the game is trying to do reconciliation (once again i am running off of wiki summaries, though im mostly caught up on the en server) all without touching on the things ive listed before and its not bad, i love mafuyu and i love his story, how its portrayed and how well written it is but i just want more for the others

mizuki disappeared for a long while and we only get one event where (according to the conclusion im drawing from the wiki summary) only one person cares enough to reach out and try to talk to her and now we're moving on? back to saving mafuyu? thats incomplete, wheres mizukis comfort event? when do the others show deeper (or at least ena level) care for her? when do we focus on kanade? ena?

from what i overhear even wxs does better with this balance so it cant be because the sekai came from only mafuyu so then what is it? why does it feel like the others are being ignored?

gods i wish en server would catch up with jp server already i need answers

-rambler anon

Ok first, again, i need to make it clear that Kanade and Mafuyu did care about Mizuki. Mafuyu was planning on chasing after Mizuki if she was the first to see the girl in Ena5 (thank god it wasnt, that would probably be scary as fuck lmao), I guess the summaries didn't say that part. Like i said, i wish there was an event in between to show exactly how much Mizuki is important for the other two as well. In the end, Ena found her and kanamafu are relieved.

And you can expect Kanade's issues to be the dead last to be mentioned, she is trying to hide those and doesn't accept help at the moment.

Also, in both Mizuki and Ena's event that focused on Mafuyu, they were also important event for their own characters. Ena's I Nandesu was literally so important to her character, and Mizuki's kitty had some nods to herself in the writing. They were helping Mafuyu, but not all focused on her. (Samsa the same, but Kanamafu are more closely linked).

The others will still have their own events with those issues, it will just happen as ID smile happened, randomly within the bigger arc, bc its mostly closed for Ena and Mizuki.

And the rest i already answered before, i think you're right but i also think the game will fix it all up, because i have hope with what they're doing with niigo, so far, Ena and Mafuyu's story are so satisfactory to me.

[rubbership]

one of my irls was talking abt the same homestuck stuff youve been lately and Oh my god i had no idea her name was That bad. it is no fucking wonder you call her ruby instead. from a watsonian perspective Why the fuck would you name a child that. from a doylist perspective Why would you name a character that

i know. i know. i know. i know. its so bad. its so fucking bad. i call her ruby because it was a codename for her when she was first designed- so, in a way, it is a Form of name for her, which i guess is.... smarter than not giving her an alternate name at all? but still.

sorry for writing so much i didnt mean to, this shits just kinda rattling around in my head a lot (im almost certain you meant these questions rhetorically but also. here i go answering.)

from a watsonian perspective, i. i will be honest. i get it. i Get it. homestuck has always been about fetishes and kinks and unhealthy relations with sexuality and how those things develop in people at young ages. this is something people like to act like the epilogues invented but its so baked into the existence of homestuck that you could not have homestuck without discussion of those topics. and with that, comes exploration of those characters as adults and their extremely unhealthy sexual habits that came with the abuses they went through as children in the original comic. jade and roses being hightlighted heavily here. if you dont know (idk how much you know about homestuck) jade is an extremely isolated child who was forced to grow up in solitary and considering she was raised by a version of jake english, i doubt her parental figure was the best rolemodel. shes canonically neurodivergent and has epilepsy, shes canonically trans in some ways (best not to get into that but shes the first ever cis-transfem because she fused with her dog.) and these were all things that caused her to become extremely focused on furry culture and all things related to internet furry culture. rose on the other hand is very directly meant to be a victim of grooming at Doc Scratches hands which goes almost completely untouched through out the series. with these two types of complexes being paired with them not being able to ground themselves in the new world after the game due to untreated trauma and dissociation, they treat ruby like she is a big game of chicken, essentially acting as if ruby is one big deviantart oc. a big game of "wouldnt it be funny if?" and this is meant to be bad! rubys name is criticized over and over and over and ruby herself has HUGE signs of csa trauma in her narrative even in the little bits we see. its meant to show how even some of the more well rounded characters (jade and rose) have allowed themselves to become completely monsterous due to unexamined trauma and unrealized issues connecting to their childhoods and the game itself, and how thats allowed them to play god with their child in the same way they were played god with in the original series.

THAT SAID. I HATE IT. I HATE IT A LOT, I HATE READING IT, i hate feeling semi-complicit in it, and further more, i really dont like the idea that people are reacting to this as if its not inherently traumatizing for ruby the character to be named that. which, i know is a bit ridiculous for me to be like "think of the characters feelings!!" but the thing is inappropriate sex shit like this aimed at young kids and teenagers IS A FORM OF CSA, and is meant to be taken as such within the confines of the story! but somehow that feels like it is lost amongst everything, and it ties back to my criticisms of there never being enough bite or negative consiquences to these things. though, hipefully, this will improve in the future updates.

from a doylist perspective, i think its just kind of. weird writing. i dont know! i want to say its bad but i can't tell if its BAD BAD or if its just that it makes me uncomfortable, deeply- and i mean, thats the point! but god does it make it hard to engage with her character at all! i feel like there has to be better ways to do something like this too, but i dont know. the fact that its happening at all has left me in shock and i dont know how to improve it. its just bad all around. and i guess its like, if they really commit to it being what im interpreting it as and meant to show how awful jade/rose have become and will be changed as ruby begins to define herself in her new session, maybe ill have a new perspective on it!! but for now im just like man. man. that REALLY sucks. it really, really sucks.

[the-indigo-symphony]

hi i hope this isnt weird. saw a mut rb your 'creative folk having characters talk to them' post and now im like of like. Oh.

ive had some plural friends clock me as 'vaguely plural' / had people assume i'm a system so im like. im having a 'perhaps my experiences are in fact, not universal' moment.

ive just never felt like it fits the bill for plurality, because ive always had a pretty tight grip on 'me' being the pilot / dont have altars switch out/in to talk like i see so often. its complex definitely but i guess im asking if there's any good resources for someone like me :?

(you can answer this privately or publicly, i dont mind either way)

Hi! Not weird at all. I see this somewhat often when people come to me about questioning if they're plural, and I think it comes from a lack of information about just how varied plurality can be. So, let me go over what your situation reminds me of.

Firstly, yes, there are resources for what you're talking about – and communities, too. There are plenty of systems who rarely or never switch, and they're called specutien systems and/or systems with P-DID (Partial Dissociative Identity Disorder). These systems may not experience full switches – as in, a total loss of control followed by someone else having full control – but they may experience switches where someone else has partial control, or are otherwise "close enough" to be able to communicate/affect them in some way without taking any control. These are known as co-fronting and co-consciousness respectively, and it's specifically what "talking to your characters" reminds me of.

There's also, of course, the possibility that you are experiencing full switches and are just forgetting due to amnesia, but if you don't have noticeable memory issues (noticeable by yourself or others, I should note, since the fun part of forgetting is you forget that you forgot), this probably isn't something to be too concerned about. If it is and/or you want to cover all your bases, try keeping a regular journal and see if there's any large gaps you can't explain.

Honestly, I recommend the journal for general purpose, too. It's a very useful tool for communicating, especially if you can't or don't switch; you can write down what your alters say to keep track of conversations, making sure you don't forget or mix up what was said, and use it as a sort of "evidence book" to yourself, especially if you add in other little details that support the idea that you're plural (such as, in your case, others assuming you're plural, too). Even if you've talked to your alters before, learning to talk to them as alters can be a new challenge to get used to, so try what techniques catch your eye and don't be afraid to take your time figuring yourself/ves out.

Of course, there's always the possibility that you're not plural, in the end, but hey, you're looking to learn something, ain't ya? Whether you are or aren't plural, you'll learn more about that aspect of yourself, and probably learn more about systems along the way.

To recap: specutien, P-DID, co-fronting, co-consciousness. Those are the four things I recommend you most look into, but you may find other topics or terms that you think may also fit you, so don't be afraid to explore those. Just looking up those terms on Tumblr will get you some folks talking about their own experiences, but there's also Pluralpedia as a wiki for plural terms, and at least two, maybe three, of those terms have been mentioned in academic and clinical papers about plurality, if you want to read those.

Hope this helps! Good luck figuring out yourself/ves!

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

what is it about cruise ships that you find ugly? like are there any specific ones you hate or is it just all of them?

okay so ive been puzzling over to how to answer this for A While™ because:

theres so many ugly cruise ships i would love to roast, and theres a part of me that wants to make a sideblog about it a la @mcmansionhell but for cruise ships

i am autistic and this is my special interest and i also want to infodump about ship design conventions

theres also really pretty oceanliners like the ss france that got converted into cruise ships where the magical girl transformation sequence malfunctioned badly.

its not always just like the exterior thats badly designed, theres both Awful design inside the ship like the disney wish, and Awful business plans and conduct like the epirotiki lines

...but, thats a lot.

so instead, ive settled on four exterior design issues that i think you can see in a lot of cruise ships even if you dont know shit about ships.

this is by no means an exhaustive list but just some common observations that you will see in 97% of cruise ships.

im also gonna include an example ship for each and also further examples when needed.

so without further ado:

1. your ship looks like a bus and a ferry had an unholy love affair that ended with a baby neither wanted.

as an example of this anchor-christ, may i introduce you to the celebrity edge

something about the stern (back) just reminds me of diamond busses here in the uk while the bow (front) has a distinctly ferry-like look.

the super-structure that you see peaking above the spaceship-bridge on the bow is giving me double-decker bus energy.

the orange viewing box elevator thingy gives construction site energy, but also gives me public transport vibes? like i can just see something similar being added on buses with no explanation and we'd all just be like i guess buses are getting the budget silicon valley treatment.

further, celebrity edge has relatively sharp angles at the stern and bow. if you look at a lot of ocean liners, youll see shallower sweeping angles curving down, while a lot of cruise ships will have these sharper angles (though by angles, i mean curves still) or just will stop at the stern:

[Image ID: collage with five ships. In the top left corner, there are two images with the profiles of the SS France and the SS Andrea Doria. In the top right, there is the stern of the MSC Meraviglia. Bottom left: the stern of the Costa Deliziosa. Bottom right: stern of the Norwegian Epic]

though not pictured above, the rms queen mary actually earned her title at the miss pacific ocean competition where a cruise ship will never win because theyre just too ugly.

but my point is that the abrupt ending of superstructure and ship at the stern looks like a bus. it just does.

there is also like "this is just a block of flats" energy with the costa deliziosa, but thats getting into the next point:

-

2. oh no gang, billy bear misplaced his msc seaside hotel and now its floating out to sea on a barge! can you help him?

yes this is a butlins reference, what are you gonna do about it? call a red coat on me?

the msc seaside is one of many cruise ships where it looks like someone put a hotel on a barge... which is what a cruise ship actually is.

like, they are barely ships. anyone who says theyre going on a cruise to explore the ocean is trying to buff out their tinder bio. while cruise ships technically can sail across oceans, they dont. their journeys are incredibly short they sail very close to land, avoid any rough weather and its mandatory for all of their captains to have a north american blue grouse fursona.

and thats all because a cruise ship is hotel complex on a barge. its purpose is not to sail far because its just a hotel. there are multiple swimming pools and restaurants and night clubs and fucking rollercoasters on some of them. you can buy souvenirs, you can go do yoga, you can get a massage and as long as your surname doesnt end with a double n, you can put your kid into the available childcare.

forget sending the british army to pontins during covid, lets send them to pontoons!

hotels on barges are the most common version youll see, but there are other variations which include:

chopping mall 2: carnivore cruises

the 2006 remake of the anchor-christ: abargements/if youre renting in a block of flats on a barge, do you pay rent to a waterlord or is your landlord firmly stood on ground?

the happiest place on earth: disneywater!

the entire shenanigans going on with the freedom ship which i do not have time or energy to get into right now, so lets all just calm and down and take a breath and...

-

...3. close your eyes, imagine, feel it. youre on a cruise ship, the ovation of the seas; its an early august night and petrichor deluges the air. the skies above you glisten, a whirlpool of colour illuminated by hundreds of tiny flecks of light. youre alone on the deck, standing at the stern with your arms precariously balanced on the barrier as you turn your attention to the ocean below. its dark, the gentle waves nearly imperceptible yet bar the bone-white crests against the hull. you watch, captivated, listening to the ocean sing its terrible song. yet then somewhere behind you, the mellow thud of hoofs on the wooden deck weaves between the waves and the melody. you look up, lock eyes, feel a hurricane surround you as he stares back, do you remember to count his fingers?

so, you might have noticed that a lot of modern cruise ships, especially the bigger ones, look like some check-mark tech-bro on the bird app used an ai to steal the work of naval architects, photographers, artists, etc. to generate "their own design" for a cruise ship.

the example i chose for this was the ovation of the seas:

the super-structure has copy and paste vibes. the ship also looks like its lurching forward to attack me but thats beside the point.

one of the issues the designers for these ships - i would say naval architects but cruise lines sometimes choose someone for head of design who is not a naval architect and has never been on a ship before for shits, giggles and profits- run into is that its really difficult to make a long blank wall look good.

if youve ever made a house in the sims, youve probably ran into this yourself. youre happily building your house and it looks really good at the front and the back, but the side of it is just a wall and adding windows is giving copy and paste vibes.

my trick for this is either fake chimney, add an extra small popout, vines everywhere or hide it with trees, but these are not viable options for a cruise ship.

trust me, i checked:

hence, we end up with very long ships where its just ctrl c ctrl v for 300+ metres.

so how do you fix this?

well, idk maybe you could take notes from any of the longer ocean liners built in recent history.

you know, like the ss united states or the rms queen mary 2 or the ss michelangelo or the ss normandie or the mv kungsholm or the ss principe perfeito:

now im not saying all of these liners are the most beautiful boats ever; theyre not. as much as i adore her, queen mary 2 is a little ugly. most of them even have an element of copy and paste.

but none of them feel ai-generated. and a lot of them look really really pretty. you can tell that they were designed by human beings.

because the naval architects and naval designers who knew what they were doing. weve got clever use of colours, gorgeous use of curves and sweeping lines that balance out all the design elements. the sameness is broken up when possible, and the ship has focal points designed within to catch your eye.

and all of them have beautiful bows. most ocean liners had/have noticeable bows due to functionality; they needed sharp bows to cut through waves because they were crossing the ocean every week. and so extra care would be taken to both make the bow work for its function and also, look really fucking cool.

the ss normandie specifically has a unique bow shape and structure designed by vladimir yourkevitch, a russian naval architect who had emigrated to france after the russian revolution.

the bow is slanted and looks almost clipper-like. theres this clear bulbous bulb (thats the wrong term but the bit at the bottom) beneath the waterline. this design is matched with a slim hull designed to be hydrodynamic, which made her a very fast ship.

she and the rms queen mary fought over the blue ribband for several years before ww2 broke out. [x][x]

its a little wibbly-wobbly-looking but it gives her a very distinct profile and she just looks really cool. you dont notice the repeating pattern of windows on the super structure because of how striking her entire design is.

and well, there has been attempts to capture this with cruise ships.

they run into problems with it though because their bows are not designed the way ocean liners' bows were because a cruise ship does not need to cut through waves. itd be really weird if you were in a fancy restaurant and you were giving a steak knife for your caesar salad.

so what else can you do to make your bow look so beautiful her kissing booth would be sold out all weekend?

-

4. your bow art is ugly. it is ugly. it is really ugly. please stop putting art on your bow. it is all ugly.

yeah.

take a moment .

.

its okay.

i promise

,

.

shes not real.

.

you can breathe.

take another breath.

.

.

youre okay.

.

.

.

are you scrolled far down enough that you cant see her anymore?

yeah so that was the aidanova. probably the worst bow art i have ever encountered but im yet to encounter any bow art that isnt awful.

pride of america is terrible; caribbean princess' is just completely out of place; norwegian prima is the epitome of "what the fuck?"; majestic princess' makes the ship look naked somehow.

now i will concede that a lot of bow art is probably aimed at children because family cruises are a thing, but i wont concede that it changes anything.

the bow art is still ugly and i struggle to see how it would be appealing to a child. like engaging children is more than just throwing some bright colours and patterns on a canvas? children are smarter than that and even in my joking post making fun of cruise ships, im not gonna stand for the way we invalidate the personhood of children. theyre not things to be distracted with simple solutions.

weirdly the aidanovas is the one id be less harsh about in terms of engaging children because there is more to dig into like a boat version of thomas the tank engine or like how do boat body work? the art isnt surface level.

but its still just ugly. the shape of the bow does not compliment the face and the change in colour in the eyes is very distracting.

tbh, if youre gonna do bow art, youve got two options that arent awful:

actually aim it at kids in a way thats not just surface level look at bright colour braxter. have focus groups with kids, gets their feedback, have kids contribute. respect the intelligence and personhood of kids.

just go all out. balls to the fucking wall, just break every damn rule in the book and apply every technique your art teacher hated. the ship is gonna be ugly anyway, make it fun ugly. camp is in. pantomime it up in this bitch!

-

and anyway, that concludes my "brief" answer to this question 👍

btw if you would follow a blog that just trashes cruise ships because of how ugly they are, please tell me because like, if enough people would enjoy it to make the effort worth it, i Will do it.

[beatriceeagle]

heyy! i found your tumblr from your ao3 and some mutuals and godd i could talk about ur fics for ages! i do have some questions though, i recently got into reading comics and i was wondering

why did bruce believe the other superman in infinite crisis when he said earth's heroes had lost their way?

and how was jason actually resurrected?

and what are your thoughts on the relationship between dick & bruce

it would also REALLYY help if you could give me the names of the comics to read for this info! not sure how active u are on this and u dont have to answer at all but i hope this ask finds you well and having an amazing day <3

i know 3 questions is a lot haha and im really sorry for bothering youu

No worries at all, this was fun to answer! (By the way, I'm still semi-active on my DC sideblog: @flybynightwing.)

The comics to read for the answers to your first two questions are Identity Crisis for the first, and Batman: Under the Hood and Red Hood: The Lost Days for the second. (And I guess Infinite Crisis if you want to get really into the weeds.) Nutshell answers: Bruce believes that Earth's heroes have lost their way because he recently discovered that years ago, a group of JLA members secretly wiped the memory of a supervillain who sexually assaulted Sue Dibney, and then wiped Batman's memories when he realized what they'd done. Jason was resurrected when Superboy Prime punched a hole in reality, which ended up kind of copy-pasting the timeline in which survived the Joker's bomb over the timeline where he died. (It's complicated. But that's the gist.) He was initially basically catatonic, but recovered his faculties after Talia al Ghul dunked him in a Lazarus Pit.

As for my thoughts on Dick and Bruce's relationship... I could fill several fics with those. (And I mean. I have!) There's no particularly good way to nutshell those thoughts, because their relationship is long (DC's longest) and complex and intense. I think they are the most important people in each other's lives. I think they saved each other. I think Bruce has treated Dick so so so so badly and caused him just an unbelievable amount of psychological damage. I think Bruce is the person Dick admires most in the world and that that is not unrelated to the psychological damage. I think Dick is the person Bruce admires most in the world and yet he can usually only express that in fucked up mind games. I think they actually enjoy each other's company a lot when they're not fighting.

The comics I would recommend reading to answer this last question are basically the entire history of Batman, Nightwing, and Titans comics, but to give you a short list:

Dark Victory, for the most-cited Post-Crisis Robin origin story

Robin: Year One, for a look at how Post-Crisis tended to reinterpret Dick and Bruce's early years

New Teen Titans Vol 1 #39, Batman Vol 1 #416, Nightwing: Year One, for three versions of how Dick stopped being Robin (each one retcons the previous—it will give you a sense of how the story shifted over the years)

New Titans Vol 1 #55 and Batman: Year Three, for a look at how Bruce and Dick's relationship changed in response to Jason's death

A Lonely Place of Dying, for the introduction of Tim Drake and the beginning of healing

Batman: Prodigy (an epilogue comic to Batman: Knightfall, which is also worth reading but less related to Bruce and Dick), for Bruce and Dick's more-or-less full reconciliation (don't worry, many many many issues remain)

And then for longer runs of comics that deal heavily with their relationship throughout:

New Teen Titans Vol 1 / Tales of the Teen Titans Vol 1 / New Teen Titans Vol 2/ New Titans Vol 1 (these are all renamings/renumberings of one ongoing storyline written by Marv Wolfman and George Perez)

Gotham Knights Vol 1, especially the first ~30 issues

And obviously Nightwing Vol 2

I can't give you much in the way of post-Flashpoint recommendations, because I just can't with New 52 and Rebirth/Infinite Frontier has frustratingly little internal consistency about what things are actually in continuity.

[conanssummerchild]

im pissed and im petty and bitter so here are my ex best friends red flags bcs fuck her and now that we're not friends i can stop pretending she was perfect

1. she had such a fucking superiority complex

i swear to god she always thought what she was doing was better or right, for example im really bad at school and she was little miss straight a's, which is fine, until she made it my business too. one time i was talking about struggling in maths and she gave me some advice and i said i did it differently and she said like "well who's in the low maths class?" i never talked to her about academics again. and thats only one example of so many

2. she complained so goddamn much

i swear to god every fucking hour she was venting about something, and it was really uncomfortable ngl bcs i never ever talk about my feelings and i wasnt used to someone being so open, which yeah i know my way isnt healthy either but i swear she had to make everything become about her feelings, like shut your fucking mouth

3. speaking of, she said like that it was weird for her when i talked to her about my dad

like i said i dont talk about my feelings but since she was so open i tried to be more open for her, but i guess i shouldve just kept my mouth shut, bcs i never ever complained abt her venting but when i did it it was too much aparently also i asked her this:

and she never bothered answering. hypocritical if u ask me

4. she reminded me too much of my sister

this isnt a flaw of her own and more of a me problem, but she was too much like my sister and i shouldve identified that as the issue it was earlier on (if ur not familiar with me, me and my sister have a really bad relationship) maybe then i wouldve been able to work through it and it wouldnt have been a problem

5. she was lowkey kinda patronising

she used this fucking voice at me sometimes (usually in autism related issues) and i tried to convince myself it was sweet and comforting but really it felt like she was speaking to a child (i do not fucking like being infantilised.) in fact a lot of the ways she treated me made me feel like a child and it fucking. sucked.

6. everytime i was struggling she would tell me how hard it was for her

I GET IT OH MY GOD SHUT UP. like the first time i didnt mind it, because i knew it was true, but like was it really necessary to say it every. fucking. time? i dont talk about my feelings normally. if she knew i was feeling bad it was only because i was feeling so bad i couldnt hold it together anymore or i was nonverbal. i understand im difficult to deal with like that but telling me how bad it makes you feel just makes me feel more like shit. not everything is about you and your feelings dude

7. she was really gatekeepy over this one youtuber i started watching

ok so theres this youtuber zara beth who one day i discovered on yt and i rlly liked her and so i told my ex bsf and she was like oh yeah i bet u only watched her videos on autism 😒 and she was being like so passive agressive the whole conversation like GIRL, CHILL. even if i did only watch her videos on autism whats wrong with that (and like i didnt even, i watched all of them on 2x speed and binged her entire account)

THE THREE DOTS??? 💀

8. several of the few times i would tell her abt smth that i was upset over she would just straight up change the subject 😭

9. she liked physical contact too much

ik this isnt a red flag really but im not comfortable with so much physical contact so we weren't compatible in this way

10. she liked video calls too much

again, not really a red flag but video calls and just phone calls in general make me so uncomfortable and exhausted and honestly its even kinda overstimulating and she always wanted to call

11. she said she didnt feel like anything was going on in the aftermath of us having had a disagreement, but it built up so much that we havent talked since. so i would say maybe we shouldve talked about it (like i suggested). ('my face was grey but you wouldnt admit that we were sick' vibes)

theres more red flags, but there was also so much good, it wasnt all bad, which makes it hurt more, she truly showed me what it felt like to love and i miss her painfully every day.

[sunnybunny2468]

answering a entire ask game for one oc because i can (but its probably only gonna be miley)

(use the link for a key!!)

🌈 orange and grey, mainly neon orange and darker shades of grey (not black, more of a #48494a than a #acadb0 if that makes sense)

👁️ from how i see it? a moody teen who's only like that to counter his best friend. and while that's semi-true, he is meant to be a bit more than that.

💝 eeeeh....he just puts on a grey hoodie and calls it a day 99% of the time. he's always cold.

⚠️ 'incredibly paranoid and easily provoked, interact with caution.'

🌨️ outside with his camera, taking photos of anything that catches his eye, and probably napping in a few places while he's at it.

💙 somewhat messy, a few posters and a desk + spinny chair, closet, and a messy as hell bed

👖 i mean. hes in hs.

☕ he likes soda, cherry to be specific, but also can do with energy drinks sometimes. not often. he would refuse to ever sleep if he had them more.

🧁 8/31/2007, with his friend group. his parents try to leave something for him (one works day shift leaves a gift, one who works night shift gets a cake) but he spends the day with the rest of the quartet. Bri especially makes sure she wears something miku related (since him and miku share a birthday)

🧠 fight. easily fight. though he moreso.....either makes the other person try to hit him so he can dodge and blame it on them, or lets them tire themselves out.

💭 ooooh boy. inferiority complex, anger issues, paranoia, yeah hes doing great. a lot of shame, since he doesnt really feel like he's a good or worthy person.

💔 absolutely hard. he can come around to it after a WHILE, but forgiving himself is off the table.

❗ keeping his friends from other people bullying them, taking photos of important things, and just staying alive.

⚔️ he tries to stay out of it, unless it's someone he cares about or a unfair fight. then he steps in and ends it by either surprising the other person or scaring them off.

🌍 eeeh. he doesnt give a shit. he's not dying, is he? and he's a bad person, right? why worry about a way to redemption when you know you're already damned?

🌊 ...he really wants to take care of animals. cats, specifically. sadly, animals don't like him much, so he doesn't think it's possible.

✨ taking photos of his friends and keeping them physically. it's something to remind there are people who spend time on him and want him around. helps his self-loathing.

🧶 photography. he loves photography.

🍪 rain, somewhat flowers, and fire/smoke.

☔ he loves it. in his words, 'it keeps everyone else inside, so it's just me and my umbrella.'

🌲 his friends houses, but also a abandoned gazebo he found in the woods while taking photos. he goes there when he feels like being 100% sure he's alone.

⚡ no, not really.

🗡️ his camera, maybe?

💛 awkward as FUCK. he'll push lavender instead, he knows he's bad at it.

🧡 eeeeh. if you're trusted, absolutely.

👁️‍🗨️ don't. just dont. he HATES it.

🐺 he's alright with it. not for too long, but for a bit, sure.

🔅 cursing. LOTS of swearing.

🌱 (doing it from from ic dialogue) "Eh?- Early memory?- ...I guess meeting Bri is early enough. She approached me, pulled me up from my seat, and dragged me out to go play with her! ....I was looking for an excuse to talk to her, don't worry. Sometimes I wonder what would've happened to me if we never met...."

🐰 eeeeeh. depends on the person.

🍁 autumn. he likes it being cool but not too warm.

🌕 he'd be a standard orange fox. he loves them.

🦷 ......probably not. i hope.

🐉 dragon.

🐸 a lot of sarcasm, snide remarks and teasing.

🚷 he's blonde and has blue eyes (i have brown hair and hazel eyes)

�� 'I’ll take all your pain, so you’ll escape and leave someday' 'I’ll bear the weight for your sake', 'Your compromise is my invitation to fight', 'But don’t forget with whom you are associated, Which sounds unfair, but fair play is overrated', 'It’s not about the strength, it’s about where you strike', 'I’ve weaponized my helpless spite, Now how about that pride of yours?', 'A matter of morals, of course, Poor little boy can’t solve all his problems with force', 'It’s karma, dude!', 'I’m an undead hero', 'Pressure, pressure! A slick rhymed hooligan', 'Me, the result of blame-shifting, no, can’t find that funny, With just one mistake and I’m out of chances', 'Flames closing in, are both sides losers?', 'Let’s raise umbrellas as we shade the world from rain'

[wetalkedaboutthisshinji]

Ramblings about Chris Elman and wtf his identity even is

I'm talking all endgame spoilers for Ward so PLEASE dont read if you haven´t finished it.

(SPOILERS FOR WARD)

Eventually I'll make an actual essay about Ward because there a lot of stuff. Ward is, IMO, not bad but is such a confusing absolute chaos of good and interesting ideas that kinda get lost in the haze of insanity. Like I do think Ward is good but it's the least good of all of Wildbow's stuff that I've read and I sincerely feel if he actually editted it it would be as good or better than Worm but he wont so whatev. I guess I'll just scream to the void.

Also, OOOOOOFFF because Chris is actually a very complex character! And this complexities IMO are NOT well examined in the story proper! My hot take is simply that Wildbow just kinda....didn't fully explain or problematize or, like, made a plot of this, despite it clearly being both set up for it as well as quite honestly necessary to understand one of the main characters.

What is even Chris's mental age?

In a way Chris is a clone with all the memories of a man somewhere between 20-40 years old. He was made specifically to relive the traumatic events of his creator's life so that he would trigger in the exact same way and have the same powers, an utterly insane idea that hadnt even been shown to be possible. He retains traumas and anger from this life, despite it not being technically his own, and in his own internal narrative often sees himself as Lab Rat, the minor villain that turns out was actually one of the most powerful villains in this universe. Several people treat Chris not as his own person but as Lab Rat cheating death, coming back.

Note 1: the reveal that Lab Rat is Chris's creators is THE WORST twist Wildbow ever did. It comes out of NOWHERE, it's about a character that had NO relevance since Worm ending and no presence in Ward proper and, while not IMPOSSIBLE in this universe it takes so many unlikely stuff and leaps of logic that it just...wow. They really do it like they expect the audience to flip their shit but I had to wiki walk a lot to even get what was going on. And when I did my answer was not "Holy shit! This is crazy" but a very confused "Is that how triggers even work?"

I believe the issue was that commentors on the webpage where so filled with complex headcanons that when Wildbow decided to follow on one of them everybody that was there week by week was so busy losing their minds to even contemplate the fact that it was all kinda from left field.

Note 2: My personal headcanon is that Chris and Lab Rat have actually slightly different abilities as Chris seems more focused on serums that temporarily grant powers instead of just making monsters but that might be just how they are different in their usage of their powers --another point for "Chris is not Lab Rat" bag imo. Also he's clearly a Trump? Like, he can clearly mix powers? Isn't that OP? Why doesn't anyone react to this random suddenly becoming Eidolon Lite?

Going back to the main topic, the other thing about Chris is that in another wqay he began existing sometime around Gold Morning so he's also 2 years? He is the thingy that Taylor Hebbert helped Lab Rat toss over the ocean. The monster maker's last creation, made out of a dare, to show how great this own power really was, made to do "something big". Created out of hubris, whim and irresponsability.

Chris began existing as a literal monster without a human body, possible non-sentient, driven by "directives" that he biologically has to follow. So in a way he is kinda close to Nilbog's creations, as a byproduct of parahumans irresponsably going all Frankenstein. The way he constantly associates himself with monsters and non-humans is...kinda a point from him? And this clearly informed his actions on the Titanomaquia but it was A Bit Rushed (take a drink when you say this regarding a secondary character on Ward ending).

And like, he is also clearly dominated by the "Directives" his creator left and those drive him but he kinda rationalizes them as things that he truly wants and becomes emotionally invested in them but at the same time you could argue he IS a victim of his own creation....but nobody finds out he even has directives he HAS to follow. Not to mention the insanity of sometimes seeing yourself as a person but at the same time having orders of that same person installed since birth in your head in a way that you cannot fight.

And, like, he himself seems to be incapable of making up his mind whether or not he is his creator? Like he sometimes seems to truly believe himself to be this older man, despite the fact that he's physically another body and also began existing as a completely different being and demostrably has different attitudes and has to follow the order of the original Lab Rat. But he still has his memories, his hatred for people, his grudge against his sister. So he does have more maturity than a 12-year old. But he IS immature because he's also 2 years old. Victoria essentially forgives everything he pulls because she essentially internalizes him as even more of a child than Kenzie and, well, not wrong? His actions really do scream of a child going "You can hit me :P" at times with Team Breakthrough, which arguably are the first and only people that have treated him as his own person, something he himself is not sure he is or isn't. So he lashes out at them and constantly annoys them but it's always this extremely self-destructive thing? It's a very compelling dynamic, a friend turned enemy that kinda just wants to attention but doesn't want to admit it. He wants to be validated as an evil monster but this people have seen both sides of him and know he is closer to an annoying 12 year old that he himself will ever be to the Endbringers.

Jessica outright believes him to be his own being and sincere about heroics and when she asks him what he truly is Chris just shrugs? Because he himself doesnt know and his only real way to treat humans is lying to them so he has never been able to even be aware of it all?

And like, Jessica KNEW. And you could argue that it's a plot hole that she allowed Chris into the team because she fell for his lie and openly wasn't worried about him turning evil. But I would very much indeed like to understand what would it mean for Chris, who began life as a literal monsters during a war and was forced into memories that werent his to be trusted by another person. And what Jessica saw in him to make her believe he could be a hero.

Dont worry tho, Jessica disappears at the end of Ward and this is not examined in any way. Take a drink!

IMO the whole Chris arc is for me one of the parts where Wildbow really dropped the ball because IT IS important and IT IS interesting and there is so much you can do with it but he just kinda stays in the background most of the time.

[rosethreeart]

Hi! If you don’t mind, I have some questions about your… identity, I guess? I hope this does not read as passive aggressive or anything. Here goes: why do you identify as white passing rather than white? With how race works in Latin American countries, if someone looks white they are a white person. There are a lot of white Latinos, especially in Argentina. Is there any particular reason you choose to not identify as white? Is it because Latinidad as an ethnicity is racialized in the US? If you were in Latin America, would you change your racial identity? Asking this a fellow Latino, though in Latin America (CHILE BABY). I look white and am treated as such even though I have indigenous family. But things work different in the United States sooo I am curious! Thank you! Hopefully this is not rude

I can’t answer the “would you change your racial identity if you were in Latin America” cause that would require me to have a completely different life which I will not speculate on. Also I don’t see why I would?

But to answer your other question(s):

the Latino (father’s) side of my family is NOT white or white passing in the slightest. I’m white from my mother’s side. I also have an autoimmune disorder called vitiligo which affects my skin tone so I quite literally have no melanin in a good portion of my body, which is why I’m so white passing.

(I’m not gonna act like I’m on expert on the subject so forgive me if I’m a little wrong or missing out info/perspectives)

But yes, being Latino/latinidad is racialized here in the US! Here in America white usually refers to European decent from Europe. To some people being white fully depends on DNA % to others it is purely based on looks and to other-others it’s based on personal opinion and personal/cultural identity(which I think should be preferred). But just because someone looks white doesn’t automatically make someone white. This country is a huge mixing pot full of diverse people of all sorts of backgrounds and histories so the way we view race/ethnicity is also diverse and complex. I think a lot of white passing and mixed people refuse to identify as solely white cause it is like an erasure of our background, leaving only the white part visible, and its also is just factually incorrect! There are a lot of Hispanic and Latino people here in the states who are also white passing but not mixed or European/White in the slightest. And not all white passing people actually look white/European. A lot of times when people say white passing they mean solely the skin tone and sometimes the facial features. That’s not to say that white passing people DONT experience white privilege, because we do but that doesn’t negate any of our cultural backgrounds, our family origins/history, or our ethnicity. And odds are when a person finds out you’re mixed or not fully white they’ll treat you differently in a more negative way. We still face certain prejudices, it’s just that we tend to experience it in different ways then most people usually do or think can happen. A lot of issues with being mixed and white passing gets swept under the rug because they’re made to seem like non-issues or minor inconveniences by non-mixed or non-white passing people.

We Americans take lots of pride in our heritage!

[affinitystoryblog]

🍝 for sinie and chilla

UPDATE FOR CHIELLA: her name is now OFFICIALLY spelled Chiella. it reads better while still looking pretty and being a unique spelling of Sheila! my best friend pointed out how the "Chilla" spelling could be misread as "ch-ill-ah" with the standard ch sound instead of how i intend it. Chiella's name is pronounced like the name Sheila. :)

NOW ONTO ANSWERING THE QUESTION :D

🍝 SPAGHETTI — what is/are your oc's favorite food(s)?

so i...i actually never thought about their fav foods which is crazy lmao so i guess im starting here!

Sinie

tbh this is kinda hard for me?? because i see sinie having a diverse palate. since i cant think of a specific kind of food that would be her favorite, because i feel like she would be like me in the sense that she likes A LOT of different kinds of foods and would try anything if it looks good. in fact, im gonna go as far as to say she would even try things that id be like nah not for me. i have texture issues with certain foods, but i dont see sinie having that problem. SO her favorite kinds of foods would be:

Dessert (she has a huge sweet tooth)

Italian, it is definitely her comfort food. her dad has deep italian roots and so she loves it when her dad cooks because she's a huge daddy's girl (and also he can throw down in the kitchen)

Asian (korean, thai, and indian specifically. i feel like she'd, again, be like me in the sense that she thinks spicy food tastes soooo good but it is hell on earth to eat because its SO SPICY. also loving deep, complex flavors)

Chiella

Coffee (prefers it on the sweeter side)

Dessert

Seafood

aaaand thats all i got for now! im gonna keep these notes in the back of my mind as a canon thing for them. i dont see it really coming up much or being all too important to really show in the story itself, but still nice to have that info in the back of my mind uvu

details about ocs ask meme

[cy-cyborg]

Tags from @the-chickenshit-oddity

#stupid question definitely #but does that mean like. if the skin's cut at 90 degrees and idk the bone's flush with it or smth. it still only takes one month for it to #like scar i guess? #that seems so crazy to me #like obviously i believe you lol #but my colleague kicked me in the shin three weeks ago and it didn't even bleed but still scabbed over and it only fell off just yesterday #anyway #this is me expressing surprise

It's not a stupid question! The answer is yes, but there's more going that explains it.

It's not that it takes less than a month for an amputation to fully heal. It's that bandages suck for amputations lol. Seriously, I've been an amputee since 1997 and I've met a total of maybe 5 nurses in that time and no doctors who can actually bandage my stumps in a way that keeps them on more than a few hours. Stumps are tapered in shape, and usually there's not really anything for the bandage to grip onto, so it just falls off. If you want it to stay in place, you have to do it up super tight, which restricts blood flow and can cause issues in that early healing stage, so a lot of modern doctors have moved away from using them in favour of large adhesive pads called post-op pads (essentially, giant bandaids). New stumps also swell A LOT so bandages aren't good for them for that reason either.

However, even when they were the standard, bandages didnt need to stay on long, because you dont need the entire wound to heal before you remove them, just the external part of the wound. Just a warning for anyone squeamish, I'm going to be talking details for how amputations are treated.

So when a limb is amputated, you don't just leave the wound at the end open. Even as far back as the medieval era didnt do that. That will kill you. If blood loss doesn't, infection will, so you have to close that wound.

Today, the way they typically do that in ideal situations is by cutting down through the limb, then stopping when they hit the soft tissues (skin and fat) at the back of the limb, then cutting down a bit to make a kind of flap and pulling that up and over the open wound. The flap is stitched to the front and sides of the limb and over a few weeks, the end of the stump fuses with the skin pulled over the wound (well kind of, it's a bit more complex than that, things like a bursa grow, witch is a fluid sack to keep the skin loose, non-amputees have them on their elbows and I think heels and knees, but I don't know when/how that starts lol). Externally though, the skin is given help to heal with stitches, so the outer wound usually closes in less than 2 weeks. When I had my right leg amputated in 2019, they did it this way, and I only had bandages on for 5 days before they switched to the badaid thing. After that point, all the healing is internal, so bandages don't do anything.

Before this method though, or when there isn't enough skin left to do that, they used to just grab the top and bottom of the soft tissues on the amputated stump and pull them together, then use stitches to keep it closed. In some cases, they'd cut the bone a little further up so it could close, but not always. This is why a lot of older amputees had kind of pointy stumps (at least for their first few years post amputation before the fat and muscle tissue grew in properly), but modern amputees tend to have more rounded ones. This is how my left leg was done in 1997, and the results are a lot messier, it causes more pain, but the external wound still closes in around 2 weeks, sometimes 3, so bandages aren't usually needed past that point.

The last option if neither of these are pheasable is a graft to close the end. I actually had my right leg amputated twice, first below the knee in 1997 and then again, through the knee in 2019, and the initial amputation was done this way. There was a patch of skin and tissue on my heel that was undamaged, but everything up higher was too far gone for the standard method at the time, so they took that bit of healthy heel skin and slapped it onto the end of the stump the close the wound. Like the other ways of closing the wound, the stitches hold it all together and it heals externally first. Once that is done, and the only healing left to do is internal, bandages don't help anymore.

The one exception to all this is methods of amputation that do a lot of damage to the skin. Burns, bombs, some skin and blood illnesses mostly. Those are slower to heal, and might need to stay covered longer, but outside of very extreme situations you don't tend to see this very often.

You will often see amputees wearing compression sleeves long after that month is up to help manage swelling, and most amputees will wear a white or grey silicone or cotton sock under their prosthetics for padding, but we dont wear these all the time - the socks are specifically only worn when wearing a prosthetic, the compression sleeves are only worn for the first few months to a year, and only for a few hours at a time outside of some burn victims. Both these things can look like bandages from a distance, but they are not.

Just a reminder that unless your amputee character lost their limb less than a month ago, their stumps don't need to be bandaged.

[pesterloglog]

Jade Harley, Karkat Vantas, Dave Strider

Candy, page 5

JADE: did you hear that john left his house?

JADE: multiple days in a row even!

KARKAT: NO FUCKING WAY. THAT’S INCREDIBLE. I’VE NEVER HEARD OF SUCH A THING.

KARKAT: SOMEONE LEAVING THEIR HOUSE? STOP THE FUCKING PRESSES.

JADE: karkat....

KARKAT: IS IT A SLOW NEWS DAY IN THE CONSORT KINGDOM OR SOMETHING?

JADE: im being serious dumpass

JADE: i was really worried about him!

KARKAT: I’M BEING SERIOUS TOO. I WAS ACTUALLY BEGINNING TO WONDER IF JOHN HAD DIED.

KARKAT: BUT WHAT THE FUCK WERE WE SUPPOSED TO DO ABOUT IT? IT’S NOT LIKE HE ANSWERS THE PHONE.

JADE: well if you CARE so much then maybe dont respond with sarcasm when i tell you that hes getting better!

DAVE: guys its not a competition we were all worried about john

JADE: were we??

JADE: whens the last time either of you tried to hang out with him?

KARKAT: WHEN’S THE LAST TIME EITHER OF US LEFT THE HIVE?

DAVE: yeah shut ins living in glass hives shouldnt throw uh

DAVE: actually if we lived in a glass hive way too much light would come in for karkats brutal photosensitivity issues

DAVE: so wed probably cover all the walls with like

DAVE: lots of curtains and sheets of thick fabric

DAVE: so i guess maybe we COULD throw stones?

DAVE: like kinda small ones so that the fabric could easily absorb the momentum

DAVE: also me and karkat would probably be too lazy to throw the stones that hard anyway

DAVE: so i think actually this scenario is pretty workable here

DAVE: it provides for a certain threshold of allowable minimum hypocrisy

JADE: dave this sucks

DAVE: no it doesnt

DAVE: im giving thoughtful and critical consideration to a cliche which is long past due

DAVE: a glass house with wall to wall curtains creates what im going to theorize as an incredibly important “self owning buffer”

DAVE: this is a huge breakthrough and also its fucking science

DAVE: you of all people should appreciate the work being done here

JADE: oh my GOD

JADE: i never thought id be thinking of you as my weird nerd friend by the time we were in our twenties

DAVE: yeah well i never thought youd be like the premiere woo girl on the planet

DAVE: what are you even doing here with us

DAVE: dont you usually spend your weekends at 48 hour interspecies raves or doing arctic expeditions with jake or whatever

JADE: those two things are not always mutually exclusive hehe

KARKAT: UGH

JADE: im just enjoying my youth

JADE: you could be enjoying it too hehehehe

JADE: but seriously.... what do you two even do holed up in here together all the time?

KARKAT: OH I’M SORRY, HAVE YOU NOT SEEN DAVE’S ILL BEGOTTEN ART EMPIRE?

KARKAT: HE’S GOT HIS OPPOSABLE DIGITS STUCK IN SO MANY DOUBLE-STACKED HUSKLOAFS THAT EVEN I DON’T KNOW ALL HIS PEN NAMES.

JADE: ok so thats what dave does

JADE: what do YOU do??

KARKAT: I UH

JADE: sit around and play video games all day?

KARKAT: HEY! THAT’S NOT THE ONLY THING I DO! I’VE...

KARKAT: DONE LAUNDRY.

DAVE: once or twice

KARKAT: ALSO, WHAT HUMANS REFER TO AS “GROCERIES.”

KARKAT: I DO THE GROCERIES.

DAVE: thats not a fucking figure of speech man

DAVE: you dont do the groceries you go out and buy them

DAVE: and even then you dont actually do that

KARKAT: LIKE FUCK I MPHUMPHLE...

DAVE: he means that he uses the alchemizer in the basement sometimes

KARKAT: WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?

DAVE: oh and when hes in a bad mood hell go yell at trolls on the internet

DAVE: not like trolls as in the troll species i mean

DAVE: literal trolls who talk shit online

DAVE: i dunno a bunch of them could be actual trolls i guess

DAVE: but not strictly

KARKAT: DAVE!

KARKAT: DON’T FUCKING TELL HER ABOUT THAT.

DAVE: why not dude i think its cute

DAVE: hes on all the major political sites of course but he spends most of his time going after people who leave abusive comments on my sweet bro and hella jeff posts

DAVE: like hes got a whole complex network of burner accounts and sockpuppets on my homepage set up for every possible scenario

JADE: jesus christ....

DAVE: its incredible hes driven at least ten people off the site by creating thinly veiled parody accounts of their usernames

KARKAT: STOP TALKING ABOUT THIS!

KARKAT: MY EXPLOITS ARE HEROIC. GO ABSOLUTELY FUCK YOURSELF.

DAVE: karkat shoosh

DAVE: im so proud of you

DAVE: couldnt have done better myself

DAVE: well i mean i definitely could have but i have better things to do with my time

KARKAT: THANK YOU DAVE. THAT WAS HEARTWARMING AND NOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT EMBARRASSING. CONSIDER MY HONOR UNDENIABLY DEFENDED.

JADE: actually karkat its more like youre the one defending HIS honor

JADE: thats sooooo cute.... a knight whiteknighting for another knight

JADE: dave its like karkats your adorable little house husband!!!

DAVE: uhhhh

KARKAT: WHAT THE FUCK IS A HUSBAND?

DAVE: er

JADE: a husband....

JADE: a husband is a little like what you both do already

JADE: only with....... certain “benefits” :)

KARKAT: WH... WHAT KIND OF BENEFITS

JADE: heheh dont play dumb karkat

DAVE: jade dude cmon

DAVE: leave him alone

JADE: if youre really that clueless.... i can show you....

JADE: OW!!!!

JADE: karkat what the HELL!

KARKAT: WHAT THE HELL??

KARKAT: YOU’RE SERIOUSLY ASKING *ME* WHAT THE *HELL*!?!?!?

KARKAT: JADE, YOU WERE TRYING TO CHOKE ME TO DEATH WITH YOUR WEIRD, SOFT HUMAN FINGERS! WHAT WERE YOU TRYING TO DO? REACH INTO MY CHEST AND PULL OUT MY FUCKING PUMP BISCUIT FOR A MIDDAY SNACK?

KARKAT: IS THIS BECAUSE YOU’RE HALF BARKBEAST NOW?

JADE: NO!!!!!!

JADE: i was FLIRTING you dummy!

JADE: oh my GOD you two really are hopeless!

JADE: why do i even WASTE my TIME???

KARKAT: THAT’S A GOOD FUCKING QUESTION!

DAVE: so apropos of nothing

DAVE: just a cool segue into a completely different topic for no reason

DAVE: did you guys hear that jane was gonna run for high office

KARKAT: NO FUCKING WAY

JADE: oh wow

KARKAT: YOU MEAN...

DAVE: yep

DAVE: the fucking presidency of earth c

JADE: i mean shes been positioning her megacorp and stocks in a way that looked SUPER suspicious the last year or so, so id wondered about it

JADE: but i didnt think shed actually do it!

DAVE: nah she was totally gonna pull the trigger on it after all these years but decided against it at the last minute for some reason

KARKAT: THANK FUCKING GOD. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A COMPLETE DISASTER.

DAVE: i know right thats what i said when roxy told me

DAVE: especially for the economy

KARKAT: REALLY. THE ECONOMY. THAT’S WHAT YOU THINK IS BAD ABOUT IT?

DAVE: oh yeah and the troll thing is bad too i guess

KARKAT: OK, SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT. YOUR PRIORITIES ARE: NUMBER ONE, THE ECONOMY, WHICH LET ME REMIND YOU IS BUILT ENTIRELY ON INFINITE, FAKE MONEY THAT WE CAN MAKE AS MUCH OF AS WE WANT.

KARKAT: NUMBER TWO, THE POTENTIAL GENOCIDE OF MY PEOPLE.

DAVE: ok wow

DAVE: lets like

DAVE: slow our roll here

DAVE: lets slow any roll that makes me seem more xenophobic than i am ok

KARKAT: WHATEVER YOU SAY, DAVE “NOT XENOPHOBIC” STRIDER.

DAVE: thats good

DAVE: lets keep using the phrase not xenophobic in sentences that contain my name

KARKAT: SURE MAN. THAT DOESN’T SOUND LIKE SOMETHING A XENOPHOBE SHITHEAD WOULD SAY AT ALL.

DAVE: look im not the bad guy here

DAVE: jane is

DAVE: or... was

DAVE: until she decided not to run for president

DAVE: lets all just thank whichever christ was responsible for making whatever decision resulted in her deciding not to do that

KARKAT: WHAT?

KARKAT: DON’T CHANGE THE SUBJECT, XENOPHOBE.

DAVE: no look

DAVE: ill be the first to say that jane is xenophobic as fuck

DAVE: im not

DAVE: like at ALL?

DAVE: but she is

KARKAT: OK DUDE

DAVE: but i dont think shed go so far as to commit genocide

DAVE: thats really exaggerating her faults

DAVE: like wed have to get pretty far away from the people we were when we started all this for that to be a viable outcome

JADE: hmmm

JADE: well i hope she gets a better hobby

JADE: there are a lot of less ominous things she could do with her time

KARKAT: WHAT, LIKE FUCKING HER WAY THROUGH HALF THE POPULATION OF EARTH C?

JADE: get fucked karkat