#ive just recently started developing it to a point of realization <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[clanoffelidae]

Now that I’ve mentioned it I wanna infodump about my alien dragons bc I haven’t talked about them in a long time and mentioning them just activated the neurodivergency

Doing everything in brief bc I’m on mobile and also have to work on moving today which I. Haven’t done yet. But I WILL-

Anyway. The basic premise for them is I wanted to tell a story about aliens living on Earth for so long people didn’t realize they weren’t originally from Earth. The fact that their biology is similar enough to an Earth organism to be mistaken for one by people without genetic sequencing or looking through the evolutionary lens at things (not realizing they seem to have no common ancestors) is the whole point.

The fact that they can breathe Earth’s atmosphere, the fact that they can consume the food that grows on Earth to meet their dietary requirements, the fact that they have surface level similarities to Earth life is all intentional! Because their story is that a ship crash lands towards the end of the last Ice Age, enough survive that they manage to gain a foothold on Earth, but soon enough they themselves have forgotten their own history, and now both humans and dragons believe that they have always shared this planet. Dragons have their creation stories, they say they were born of a giant, metal egg that flew in the heavens and spewed fire; that’s why they’re scales are as tough as that metal egg’s shell, that’s why they fly just like the egg, and that’s why they can spew fire as that egg that bore them; but those stories are the only remnants of their history.

But I also wanted them to still be alien, to still be such that a reader would look at them and the assertion that they are from Earth and start to see that things aren’t what they seem, it’s just the characters who never question it, because that’s the way it’s always been. Dragons have been here as long as human history recalls. But the reader can start to see that things might not be what they seem. (But neither side is hiding the truth, because neither side knows.)

And so we have the dragons. No special name, no special words to refer to them, they’re just dragons. In this world the mythos of dragons isn’t mythos, they’re right next door and you can go talk to them. Stories of dragons aren’t of mythical beasts, they’re stories of heroes of legend, just like humans.

Of course, the reader would quickly notice that they don’t quite line up with our classical ideas of dragons.

For one, they’re human-sized. They typically walk on four legs, but will often stand up on two to work with objects or even just have conversations. Standing up on two legs has the same social connotations as standing up from sitting; you might hang out on four legs with your friends, but if someone you want to be respectful towards approaches you you will stand up on two and straighten up unless invited to return to four. Of course, there are exceptions. It is not unheard of for groups of solely dragons to walk on all fours even in formal settings, though it is not the norm. Not the majority, but not unusual either. With humans present, however, it is considered quite rude to remain on all fours in a formal setting (barring, of course, obvious physical maladies necessitating it).

Dragons have opposable digits like humans, although they possess six rather than five, having a thumb on either side. They have similar ranges of dexterity and so both species are fully capable of using one another’s tools and machinery. Dragons also have lips dexterous enough to allow human speech, and so can speak human languages with no issue. Their digestive systems can also process human foods, including dairy; dragons themselves nurse their young.*

Their eyes are often noted to be exceptional, one of the most blatant indicators of their non-Earth origins to those looking. Their eye structure doesn’t match that of any known species.

In a way they could almost be likened to proto-eyes, for the whole organ is dark and light receptive, functioning similar to a pupil. In order to adjust focus and reduce the amount of light let in dragons have thick, dark membranes around the outside of the eye, that constrict to a circular opening like a drawstring bag. This opening moves and changes sizes, the eye itself remaining fixed in the dragon’s skull. The ocular membrane is not distinct from the rest of the eye’s color, the best indicator of where a dragon is looking being where their eye has a reflection rather than matte, as the matte black indicates the presence of the ocular membrane rather than the eye underneath. Many common nicknames and pet names used by dragons for humans they love; be it platonic, familial, or romantic; often involve the eyes. ‘Jeweleyes’ is the most common, akin to ‘sweetheart’, for the first dragons who grew close enough to look into a human companion’s eyes long enough to truly observe them likened them to precious gems for their multitudes of colors, both across the species and within the individual.

Dragons have three sexes, not two, and quite differing familial structures as a result. Dragons have males and females, akin to many Earth species, with the males having similar ranges in overall size to human females and draconic females conversely matching human males in this way. This, along with their scaled hides, is why many believed they must be related to reptiles in some fashion when draconic origins were first being investigated.

However, dragons have a third sex, known as nesters.

Nesters are non-reproductive, bearing no genitalia. Their size ranges are double that of the average draconic male, and they are so heavy that few are able to sustain flight after puberty. They have a front facing horn from the center of their foreheads akin to a unicorn, although it is curved like a blade. This horn sheds from time to time much like claws shed their sheathes. Nesters also grow a mane of hair-like fibers around their shoulders and upper chests akin to a lion’s mane after reaching puberty.

Nesters are the primary caretakers of draconic young, with their evolutionary purpose in times long past being to guard the children while the males and females hunted. Males and females produce eggs, but once the eggs are laid, it is the nester who takes over and broods over them, later raising the hatchlings who come from them in time, nursing* them when they are newly hatched and caring for them until they are adults. As such, they are what would be considered a dragon’s parent, with many dragons sharing the same parent, but with many different biological ‘parents’. The term ‘guard’ is used akin to ‘mom/dad’.

Long ago, dragons had only males and females, but lines that produced nesters produced more successful offspring, although the nester did not directly contribute genetics. In time, nesters became a commonplace part of draconic biology, and dragons grew to have three sexes as opposed to two.

Nesters were archaically considered the leaders of their clans, being the strongest as they were. Nesters would fight for clans not unlike male lions might fight for prides, their front facing horn being used for combat against both predators and other nesters. Thankfully, unlike lion prides, nesters did not kill any offspring present upon defeating the previous guard, as they themselves are non-reproductive. The reason they had to fight for a clan is because they require a lot of resources, they need a lot of food to remain healthy. A clan could only afford to have so many nesters before the resource consumption outweighs the protection provided when every day is a fight for survival.

Thankfully, this was long ago, and there is more than enough food to go around in the modern day. Many dragons still live in clans composed largely of males and females with a few nesters, but many also choose to live their own way, and many also intermingle with humans and their families. Gender stereotypes have also diminished, with nesters no longer being upheld as natural leaders and the voices of males and females rising to prominence. (Dragons never had much stereotyping or equality differences between males and females, only between those two groups and nesters.)

Common nester stereotypes include a mixture of those attributed to male and female humans, with nesters being seen as both child-rearers while also being ferocious combatants. To be weak is seen as undesirable, and a nester who doesn’t want to raise hatchlings might often be told they will change their mind later, especially by older generations. They are expected to be strong and brave, the last line of defense but the most powerful one of all. Thankfully, time lessens the strains of these expectations, but they have still shaped draconic society and influence it to this day.

There’s so much else I could say but I mostly just wanted to pick up nesters and show them off. Non reproductive third sex twice the size of the others whose ‘role’ is to raise the children, lead the clan, and absolutely annihilate threats that get too close.

Dragon kid to human kid on the playground: my guard could beat up your dad >:(

Human kid who’s never actually seen a nester: nuh-uh >:(

Elementary school teacher who knows nesters are like 10 feet tall at the shoulder and can lift entire cars: I have no doubt about that sweetie how about you two talk about something else-

* = Dragons produce a milk-like substance from glands in their throat that is fed to hatchlings orally similar to birds. To make it easier for them to feed without spilling it is first curdled internally to create a cheese that is then deposited into the hungry mouthes of young hatchlings. Dragon mouth cheese is my favorite form of psychic damage :)

Instead of pre-filled baby bottles there’s mouth-cheese charcuterie boards

God bless the unknowing human who thought to snack on their nester friend’s weird cheese plate

[suffarustuffaru]

im back on my reinhard/julius agenda but hear me out okay.

au where they become friends much sooner. childhood friends au.

julius’s whole world shakes when he goes to the knighting ceremony for children of noble knighting houses and he sees reinhard there—reinhard, whos powerful and Amazing and intimidating and it makes julius realize that hes far behind reinhard. it makes julius realize that he has to work harder to reach reinhards level of skill and power. but hes all starry-eyed, and he manages to catch reinhard after the ceremony and starts excitedly talking reinhards head off because reinhard is just so—awe inspiring—and ten-year-old julius at this point has way less filter and impulse control so why shouldnt he try and get close with reinhard of all people?

meanwhile reinhard is even more depressed after recently being 1. officially knighted and 2. officially given the “van” title and 3. his dad is gradually getting worse and he feels like its his fault, but julius is the first person around his age that actually shows interest in befriending him, so reinhard is just awkwardly going along with it because he doesnt want to chase julius away. hes super SUPER eager to finally have a friend. thats what they are right?? hopefully?? and reinhard is desperately holding onto this because yeah, julius likely wont like him anymore real soon, but itll be good while it lasts right?? he doesnt even mind that julius keeps asking questions about knighthood and training, because everyone does that anyway, so reinhard offers to help train julius and BAM they are now gonna meet regularly 👍

joshua meanwhile is Suffering even more than he already was because not only did julius develop an infatuation with reinhard, joshua also—like in canon yeah—faints during the knighting ceremony because FUCK I CANT LIVE VICARIOUSLY THROUGH JULIUS IF HES GONNA BECOME FIXATED ON REINHARD AND LEAVE ME BEHIND AND ALSO I HATE REINHARD AND JULIUS FOR BEING SO PERFECT, and then joshuas worst nightmare becomes true because reinhard notices this and offers to help joshua and julius home, and julius accepts of course, and joshua wakes up to reinhard and julius being buddy buddy and then reinhard starts visiting the juukulius mansion regularly so joshua is absolutely SEETHING. SEETHING.

anyway reinhards regular visits go great 👍 all he has to do is walk (Travel At Extremely Extremely Fast Speeds) to julius’s house and back 👍👍 and it doesnt take much time for julius to get out his favorite books and info dump excitedly to reinhard because reinhard of course will listen to all of this and feel all warm inside because 1. oh are we friends now? 🥺 and 2. aw julius is so passionate about this 🥰 but then it takes a turn because of course julius has his hero worship with REID ASTREA. theres a tappei qna that confirms that reinhard Knows what reid was like, and if reinhard knows that at this point, he just sits there awkwardly while julius goes on and on about how cool and awesome reid was.

reinhard then has to decide whether to break the news to julius or not, but given how in canon julius didnt know what reid was like until he actually met reid, reinhard probably didnt tell him if reinhard knew at that point. so little eight year old reinhard sits there and goes “aha yeah… reid… what an interesting person…” which then turns the subject to reinhards family, which then leads into some talk about julius’s family too—but while julius is more likely to open up a tiny bit, reinhard is more like “my father is a good person who tries his best 🙂” and julius is like “i hear that hes. kind of not. but ill take your word for it i guess haha i mean IVE never met the guy” (he recognizes reinhard getting Upset about this subject) and reinhard is like “my father is a good person yes 🙂”

meanwhile alviero juukulius is very aware of all those nasty rumors about heinkel astrea and the astreas in general and alviero is Very Aware about his nephew/adopted son’s budding friendship with reinhard, who now regularly shows up to the mansion via Speed Walking, but alviero is like. well reinhard is a very well meaning child, i just hope no drama comes out of this haha.

anyway one day little ten year old julius with his Reduced filter and impulse control (tappei has said that younger julius was a Bit of a troublemaker) goes “reinhard you should sleep over at my house please 🥺 and maybe we should sneak out of my house past curfew and go on an adventure or something lol” and reinhard is like going ??? because of course breaking rules almost never occurs to him and the idea of breaking one makes him anxious. but julius is like “cmooon please 🥺🥺 itll be fun 🥺🥺 we’ll be out and back here so fast, no ones gonna know, itll just be us 🥺🥺” and reinhard of course 1. cant say no and 2. julius would be very happy if he agreed, so he goes along with it. they go have fun they have some kind of adventure and for a moment reinhard forgets all about all the Various Pressures he is under <3

and then they go back to julius’s house and alviero is waiting there casually like “snuck out again julius? *insert exasperated sigh*” and reinhard FREEZES UP hes like “oh sir ahah its not julius’s fault. it was all my idea actually. all mine. i dragged him along with me. you should punish me instead. im really really sorry i broke the rules sir” because he’s afraid julius will REALLY get in trouble. and julius and alviero stare at reinhard like he grew another head because “jesus christ its not that deep, youre not in That much trouble. im just gonna like ground julius for a bit, its not like im gonna. kill him. or anything.” and also “JESUS CHRIST YOU ARE NOT OKAY??”

anyway yeah reinhard is a very welcome visitor to the juukulius mansion (unless youre joshua) but every time he goes home, carol and grimm help make sure reinhard’s visits arent noticed. but. well. one day heinkel will notice. its inevitable, especially when eventually reinhard and julius will officially join the knights together. and heinkel will probably give this nasty little laugh and go “well. have fun while that lasts.”

and it doesnt last.

[imaginespazzi]

Bestie bestie bestie!

Hello :) Where to even begin after so much time.. I guess first I'll note that my last anon to you is starred below just so we can follow the thread of last convo somewhat (and honestly just wanted to ensure you knew I at one point wrote in over you hiatuses)..

Ok on to more new stuff: Biggest news is Im off to the wifeys motherland (ironic a bit as I believe shes currently playing in my fatherland). I'll report back on food a day drink 😋 ca va?

Yay Liberty, they did it! 🗽Plenty of kudos to the Lynx as well. Was a great series all around. Even if my nerves barely withstood those overtimes & dramatic endings.

Coaching movement in the W continues to make my head spin. OMG the Thibaults are gone, didnt see that coming tbh! I remain seated for all the hirings/happenings to come. And cant believe we're almost to the lottery selection w still so much upheaval in place 🤯

Hope all is well w you despite lifes busyness. Take care

** Hi hi hi bestie! Yes that anon was me ha. I realized after sending that I left of my emoji signature, but was pretty sure youd connect things, given some hyper specific topics ha. Hope life is treating you alright apart from just being busy!

Im personally just relieved that the Libs managed to even things up last night, while still trying to process the 2nd half & OT of game 1 lol. That one was all just absolutely bonkers. Crazy entertaining, even if it hurt my NY supporting heart at the time.

When it comes to the coaching moves, def in agreement that Indy doesnt deserve good things. What do you make of who the Valks named HC? Seems a good hire to me at a quick glance, but Im also leery of anyone who might be involved w the Aces lawsuit ordeal (tbf Im not super well informed on that, but dont believe Ive ever seen her referenced w that stuff). Yeah objectively I dont feel that a (random) late winning run/playoff push, external circumstances w the standings aside, was worth dropping your odds of getting #1/Paige from like 30 to 10 %. Still struggle to understand why they ended up trying to fight the path that established itself early on. Granted kind of unexpected and extreme circumstances, but still, lemons to lemonade if you will. Im not feeling eager for the draw next month..

Honestly it will be interesting now to see/follow any Liz activity while she hits the offseason as college ball starts up soon. Curious to see if any crumbs or reactions come up at all. W those two seeming to be at an avoidance phase, another college wbb couple needs to step up and provide us w some (non toxic) drama to follow over the season ha! Not you tho Pazzi, you stay lovely/wholesome/stable/healthy

One additional GH note - I obvi live for snark, so wanted to share my fav lines from Ch 10

“Won’t somebody please think about the complications” Jana in full menace mode and so funny. "I mean other than the woman you married as well that is" The fact that Azzi will not ever say her name I just love. I also have this idea that Stephie, when older and knows pretty much everything re her parents history, will continue the she who shall not be named thing in support of her mama. (And Im not entirely discounting the possibility of a bit of real time drama w Olivia that wont help w this whole Azzi grudge).

Wishing you a good start to the week!! -☕️ **

Hi hi lovely I missed you <3

Ah babes that must have gotten lost in my sea of asks because I've been so bad about answering them. It's funny how much has change since whenever you sent that thought because the W has become a revolving door of coaching changes.

I really like the Valks HC choice. She's been very effective with the LVAces and I expect that to continue. Same with the recent news we go today of Tyler Marsh with the Sky. I think LVAces coaching staff in general is so strong and them branching off is good for the league and both the Valks and the Sky with these coaches and a little bit of time for player development should eventually be really good. Ultimately the lawsuit is a front office issue and I don't think these two had much to do with it and so until I see issues in their new respective teams, I don't think we can hold it against them.

LIBERTYYYYYYY. So happy for them and of course props to the Lynx. And honestly thank you to both teams for giving us what I think, despite that one foul, is the greatest W finals we've ever had.

THE THIBAULTS ARE GONE. You were one of the first people I thought of when I saw that news. Honestly I have no idea what to think. I really didn't see it coming and as much as I've done a lot of nepo baby this nepo baby that, I don't necessarily know if this is the right choice but I'll wait to see who they appoint as the head coach to really figure out my thoughts.

Lottery in 2 weeks?? What the actual hell? Like y'all we're likely gonna know where Paige is going before we even see Azzi on the court and that's insane to me.

OOOOH I have some CWBB drama if anyone wants it. Did y'all peep Last-Tear's Poa's shady insta caption she deleted? Her and Sam'yah Smith were a thing and streets are saying maybe she cheated?

Pazzi are being wholesome as always. "Silly girl" - what if I jump off a cliff :)

[verathena14]

okay ive been brainrotting about them for a while soooo imma make a post where i ramble!

my children are Blazetalon/Blazebright (she/they), the orange tabby, Goldfire (she/her), the golden-ish cat with the scar between her eyes, and Dreamchaser (he/they), the dilute calico tabby with a scar over one of his eyes.

Goldfire and Blazetalon are childhood friends, as they both grew up in the same family unit in IceClan. Blazetalon was found abandoned as a kit, and Goldfire's mother, Goldenstream, had recently lost a kit, so Goldenstream decided she would care for Blazetalon as one of her own considering they were around the same age as her kits. So Goldfire and Blazetalon were a bit of a slowburn ("a bit," hahahaha) with both believing they saw the other as a sibling until eventually they both realized that wasn't true.

Dreamchaser first met Goldfire at a gathering, a couple of moons after she became an apprentice. They became friends pretty quickly, Dreamchaser developed a crush about halfway through their apprenticeships but Goldfire was Oblivious tm cuz she'd just broken up with her previous gf :( But Dreamchaser drinks his Respect Women juice so he doesn't try to push anything on her and is content with them being friends for the time being (esp since they're from different Clans, though my Clans are a bit more lax about cross-Clan relationships than canon)

Once they become warriors, Dreamchaser and Blazetalon become friends as well- and while there's a bit of mutual attraction, Blazetalon is already kinda-together with Goldfire's brother, Blackface (who would most definitely not be okay with polyamory) and also Goldfire was finally starting to show reciprocation for Dreamchaser's affections so nothing really comes of it (yet)

Then a lot of shit happens, Dreamchaser leaves MoonClan after a lot of Internal Politics (leader dies and deputy is disgraced, rando who Is Not Fit For Leadership takes over) so he nope's out of there to join IceClan (and if he can finally be with the cat he loves, it's even better!) Goldfire and Dreamchaser finally become Officially Mates, but shortly after their kits (Eclipseheart, Elkdapple, and Eveningshade) become warriors, Elkdapple gets murderized and just a moon later, Heronfur, Dreamchaser's rival for the position of deputy, kills Dreamchaser.

Goldfire goes into an almost-depressive state, even though she's been appointed deputy by Blazetalon (who is now Blazebright because StarClan don't exist here) Blazebright (who broke up with Blackface after he left to join FlameClan for. reasons.) helps her heal, then they realize "wait i was in love with you this whole time. whoops." and they get together yayyy <3

and then Blazebright dies in battle so Goldfire is leader, but at this point she's like... slightly over middle-aged? so she doesn't have much time left unfrotunately :(

Then when Goldfire dies (a peaceful death, the girl has suffered enough) she joins Dreamchaser and Blazetalon in the afterlife! she doesn't want to have to choose because she loves them both, then Dream and Blaze reveal that they love both her and each other so the three of them "live" out their afterlives as a wholesome polycule in cat heaven forever and ever <3

[courtney-deserved-better]

I’m curious about your writing process. Like do make outlines from start to finish, or plan things out as you go. I love how your writing feels so well written and planned out, like everything you write has some sort of payoff. Anyways sorry for rambling😅, have a good day❤️❤️❤️❤️

ooo this is such a great question! my long fics generally tend to be pretty planned out. but ive been learning recently that having less of a plan and just jumping into a story is actually better for my motivation and for plot points happening organically. part of the reason i tend to write competition fics as opposed to other settings is that the structure of total drama allows me to do less planning and rely on what comes up spontaneously because i already have a framework im operating within. so i tend to plan out elimination orders and general arcs for characters.

i would say of my long fics, slippery slopes is the most planned out, amicus curiae is somewhere in the middle, and reprised and the courtney time travel au are the least planned out. i had very specific scenes i wanted to have happen each chapter of slippery slopes and i think part of why it's a strong fic is because a lot was planned out in advance (like, months and months in advance). but there were still moments that surprised me (alejandro and courtney's friendship was never meant to happen) and caused me to deviate from my plan for the better.

i started writing amicus curiae on a whim and i got 40k words in before i realized that the courtnemma relationship would work way better if they actually knew each other before the fic started (originally they met on the show). it was a really good discovery but unfortunately meant i had to rewrite ~20 chapters to fit that which was a pain in the ass but ultimately for the better. amicus curiae was a fic where i was really figuring things out as they went along (i changed who the winners would be 3 times) but i still had a clear idea of the personal journeys i wanted the characters to go through that weren't necessarily reliant on the competition/structure (ask me about this more once im able to talk without spoiling it!!)

the courtney time travel au is a serious experiment in that its very focused on interpersonal relationship and yet almost no eliminations are planned out in advance. everything is very spontaneous despite being a rewrite of the first season both for me and for courtney in the fic. which i think helps it not become too rote! but i also have no idea how things are going to go from point a (the basic straining chapters, which i just finished) to point b (the post finale chapters).

im writing reprised for fun as something low stakes and silly (because i love amicus curiae but its angsty enough that writing it can be emotionally exhausting sometimes) and i have the elimination order decided and very basic arcs/plot points for some of the characters but its open ended enough that i can have fun with it! and it probably wont end being one of my more narratively strong fics but that's okay <3

one of my more recent struggles with amicus curiae has been spending so much time developing the alenoah and courtnemma relationships that i find myself going aaaaa!! how am i gonna get these two together before the fic is over?? its really taught me to have a clear idea of when character dynamics shift, especially for romantic ones that are going to get together sometime throughout the fic. i love pining but i find pining for almost the whole fic and then only having the characters get together and be in a relationship for like two seconds at the end to be somewhat narratively unsatisfying.

so yeah i would say i try to plan out the character & character relationship arcs and i use the structure of competition fics for framework, but i don't plan out many details/specific scenes before i write them unless they pop into my head and then ill write the idea down and come back to it when its time to write the scene. i find that not planning out conversations/interactions can make dialogue much more organic when i write it on the spot and can lead to new discoveries about the characters.

as for payoff, i tend to go for the general rule of chekhov's gun: if there's a gun in the first act, it has to go off in the third act. basically, i try not to introduce any narrative threads if i don't intend to resolve them in some way later on in the fic. for example in slippery slopes, i introduced my version of alejandro's family issues with him alluding to his oldest brother carlos distancing himself from his family, and in the last chapter i have carlos showing up for alejandro and helping him get away from his family as well. pretty much as soon as i started writing alejandro thinking about carlos, i knew carlos would be there for him in the end.

planning things out can be super helpful and i certainly couldn't start writing a long fic without having any kind of plan, but ive found that having suuuper detailed outlines and knowing every little thing that's going to happen in advance is personally stifling for me as a writer and kills my motivation. so im learning to strike a healthy balance.

thank you so much for this ask! i love talking about writing!

[mountain-lion-gremlin]

i'm just wondering how real p-shifting is. i really want to be able to do it, but i don't know if it's something that's real, feasible and worth my time working towards, or if it's not.

i guess something that would help is some sort of proof that it's been done before. if it genuinely has, i absolutely want to get going on my own journey.

and i'm not saying it's impossible, but i just want to learn how possible it is and if current methods lead to genuine results. thanks!

OH OKAY, let me help you a bit fellow anon.

Honestly im not sure how exactly to affirm if it's real or not. I've had evidence such as growing fur strands, half shifting in my sleep, and even learning recently that when I was very little I had p-shifted before. That's just me, I've been a shifter for a long time and eventually came to this through WAY TOO MUCH exploring and asking myself hard questions.

Usually though, the best thing I can tell any curious individual is to just... go through the very first step of being a shifter. Its incredibly helpful, and will answer the majority of present questions at the beginning stage. If you want more details on this I will gladly do a follow-up, but currently I still have to collect and get my facts straight about this first step. More developed guides (such as phenexus weyr and even blaze's guide to shifting) will be much more helpful then what i have to say. Perhaps I'll have a guide to give one day too after all of this 💀

I can tell you though to just go for it. Not start p-shifting i mean, you wont be able to do so for a long time if you eventually figure out you are a p-shifter. Its better to know by exploring instead of just never trying because you are afraid of it not being real.

P-shifting is only a tiny part of being a shifter (as I've said over and over again lol) but similar to theirans our identities live on within us our whole lives. It's just keeping a healthy balance of understanding where you are at and that, usually, you might not be a p-shifter at all and that's OKAY.

Sorry I like talking. Perhaps that could help you a bit if you decide to begin your journey.

REGARDLESS.

i would honestly also love good evidence (images, videos, etc.) of p-shifting actually happening because of the methods that exist. (Disclaimer methods aren't "rituals" that are 100% guaranteed to give you results, they are only building blocks to help you develop your own style when you decide to voluntarily shift)

Ive had to realize that 1.) There is a whole community around it, from all walks of life and information, which gathered to give us the information we have today because they all experienced similar things too. 2.) time and time again there have been stories, from history all the way to now, where people have shifted into creatures and animals constantly. 3.) In truth you find your own evidence eventually, within yourself weirdly enough.

I can't speak for everyone (hell naw) but for me I eventually came to a point where i no longer needed to see from others that p-shifting was real, I knew it was real through my own evidence and experiences. Shifting involves a lot about connecting the dots tbh, sometimes it can take a hot minute to make the right dots connect.

If there is physical evidence out there, nowadays it's so incredibly targeted and never given a chance to believe. Like, honestly, tech is so good nowadays there is no way actual physical evidence could exist within the community anymore.

What im basically trying to say is that although physical evidence can help, at the end of the day you have to find it within yourself to see as true. Nobody can really convince you to believe otherwise 🤷

Thank you for sending the anon, and if you read this and want any more help or expansion on anything, please let me know and I'll be happy to expand. I'll probably stick around for a little longer to answer anything else anyone may want to ask.

[nin-jay-go]

@x-catspace-x

heard your req about a swap au loud and clear >:3 maybe it was a mistake to give the au fiend More AUs to play with but i totally haven't been thinking about this nonstop recently (im lying. ive been thinking about this nonstop)

more details about the swap au under the cut if anyone's curious :0

in case it wasn't clear from the image, the swaps are as follows

kai - skylor

jay - unagami

cole - morro

zane - cryptor

lloyd - harumi

nya - kalmaar

with bonus swaps of

wu - garmadon

pixal - mr e / echo (still haven't decided if i want mr e to be echo here)

since everything's all swapped around, it means that harumi is the daughter of wu (hehe haWUmi), and wu is the lord of darkness and master of destruction. misako stays where she is bc i couldn't think of anyone to swap her with gfkjdhfgkjh (and btw she has glasses bc i hc her to be albino and albino ppl tend to have poor vision, so i thought it'd be cute :) since i used to hc lloyd with glasses at some point i thought it would fit)

skylor's mom died recently, and she's been trying not to think about it by drowning herself in work at the noodle shop, where her dad chen is trying to get her to lighten up and not work so hard. she gets approached by garmadon to train with her mother's fire and she accepts. chen is a wonderful dad and i LOVE HIM

unagami (prefers gami) is a Gamer™️ and has two whole dads (milton dyer and okino). despite being tiny, permanently babyfaced, and a Gamer, he talks very politely and uses a lot of big words. okino raised him like that :) scott is the previous elem of lightning but i haven't decided where he is in the story yet, but i want him to be gami's uncle. also gami is a vtuber

morro was found as a kid rooting through garmadons trash, so ofc garm went "hm. i want this rat as my child" and adopts them dkjfghdfjh they got their earth power from their parent, who is still unknown to everyone. they're still just as emo bc they have an excuse to wear black at all times jdkfghkjdfg (morro also gets kai's jealousy arc and realization that the green ninja is to be protected, so they end up taking kai's role as the green ninja's older sibling, in this case rumi)

cryptor was built by cyrus borg in this au, but still deep in the forest where no one could find them. he was originally built to assist borg with household things but he started to see cryptor as his son as his ai developed. borg got kidnapped at some point, so cryptor is trying to find him. unknown if cry knows about being a nindroid at first or not, but he's prone to short circuiting due to how snappy he gets.

and kalmaar (sometimes called kali or mar depending on their mood) is the water ninja now! bc i thought it'd be absolutely hilarious to put this purple bitch boy in a hero's role dfkjghkjdhfg he got exiled from merlopia after his father and (adopted) brother disagreed with his human-loving notions, and decided that weakness wasn't tolerated. and because of Magic i guess, kalmaar is able to shift from his squid form to a more lego head-esque form (aka i did not want to draw a squid head. good lird). also i made him genderfluid bc i can

any more questions are welcome :) my ask box is open!

[icharchivist]

was having banri thoughts lately just bc like. why not right. and then i suddenly remember u mentioning that some ppl... did not like banri at the start? which is wild to me bc in my mind ive always been ride or die for him. like i love juza so much but i feel like. that doesnt rly oppose liking banris character as well? banri is such fun character drama at the beginning of autumn and then his and itarus dynamic is fun from the start... gosh and the acting in the final bits of the autumn troupe between him and juza! suchhh fun tension. like. idk. it just started making me think like wow. digging thru a3 on my own with mostly the influence of like, just you has probably skewed my opinion of what the common perception of a3 is like. for example in my head winter is the most popular troupe which... it maybe isnt? i feel like recently i saw u mention summer might be the most popular(? this couldve been a dream) and i didnt realize itaru was super popular until like. last month. i mean if i had to pick a character i thought was the most popular i'd pick. misumi.

LKFJDLKFJD god what an ask

yeah i doubt i'm exactly the "common a3 experience" but to be perfectly honest i haven’t really kept tabs on the fandom per se since hh mid-2020 when i started to dig into some tags and saw so much negativity i was just :/ and stopped doing so (the curse to liking rascals </3).

Nowadays my knowledge of the a3 fandom is mostly the people interreacting with me, which already generally means that they vibe with what i post, so it gives me a skewed vision of the fandom like, are we all like that? or are the loud voices that made me go avoid the tag still here yaknow?

More stuff under cut

For Banri, i'll admit i wasn't too hot about him when i started the game, which now i regret so bad because he's my precious little meow meow hands down. He has such a good arc!!!! I know in my case i just had a hard time because i cared for Juza right away and i was still so high on Summer's development i kept comparing Banri to Tenma and going "here's why Tenma is amazing and Banri is cringefail". But it lasted me until a bit before Banri sees the portraits, when he starts to be conflicted, after that i was all, oh wait i like that guy. And then the more content i saw of him the more i loved him and he became my fav Autumn Chara. (so if you want to ramble about him more you’re free to do so because i’m team i adore this guy. please do. you’re so right in what you say of him.)

But so i did expect people to have my experience - hard time in the beginning, then mellowing on him before the end of the Autumn Chapter. And it wasn't the case 😭😭😭😭 At least at the time, the Banri's takes were rancid. Like it was genuinely annoying at a point, you couldn't go anywhere without some Banri bashing fuckery, even after his initial arc, people just. really hated him. My most hated takes were that i saw so many people say Banri would bully Yuki or stuff implying they would have an antagonistic relationship and it's probably why i cling to Into the Night so much, like HELL you're going to twist one of my fav crosstroupe dynamic!!! I legit saw so many things reducing Banri to a menace and a bully, and if not that, talking about how much everyone in the dorm hated him, and it was really driving me insane then.

I remember once making a post about how i was so close to blacklist "Banri" because people didn't filter this bashing with tags so i was just ready to just, not see Banri anymore, but it was breaking my heart. But somehow after this post i got a few people coming back at me about how it annoyed them too and i saw some of those people make their own posts in a more. direct way. and after that i never saw Banri bashing again. My power (< absolutely not, coincidence at best i'm sure).

A lot of Banri bashing i saw back then were from "newcomers" in the sense that it was after the anime aired, and a lot of people were just coming in without knowing about the events. imo i think the events do help giving a better feel to Banri in general so the fact people were fresh from the anime might have skewed things. I remember a friend who was in that case, newcomer and all, only read the main story, didn't like Banri after reading the main story. Then, Main story act 2 came out and while they didn't read the events, they read the main story and they started liking Banri there (because he did develop so much since then)

And as a whole i'd say, by act 2 it must have died out a bit.

There's another chara who gets bashed a lot but. Act 2 stuff 😔. Unfortunately a chara i like a lot so this was my breaking point of "i'm not checking the tags anymore none of you know how to behave". I think it mellowed since then? and i know the chara is popular in the JPN fandom meanwhile.

else i've seen like, Tasuku having very little content from fans and a few people being mean to him when they talked about him, but it was a long time ago and i sure hope it died out. I don't think i'd say he's bashed, more that most folks don't have strong feelings about him and stopped just with a bitter taste over his anger toward Tsumugi in the first winter chap.

Now. About popularity, Winter is DEF NOT the most popular troupe. Pretty sure it plays between Autumn and Summer in term of popularity. That said it's not like any of the troupes are unpopular so any ramblings about each Troupe would be meet with pleased reactions from the fandom, so it is harder to gauge that but yeah.

Troupewise something i noticed is that i think Summer is the most popular in term of GROUP, while Autumn is the most popular in term of Individuals. So a lot of people liked Summer specifically for their dynamic and how each of those charas played out each other more than individually liking each of them, while for Autumn it was, they liked all of them strongly! not specifically for their dynamic, though of course it plays a part, but as individuals. I mention it because i think it was the key difference in rank up in why i think Summer plays were okay to rank up to while Autumn were a nightmare. (that said that can also be "blamed" on "fans gravitate around characters that have elements they have as well" or something which means Autumn fans were more likely to be competitive and stubborn in a way Summer were more mellow.)

Itaru is definitely the most popular character of the whole game, period. It's not even a competition at this point it's so funny. when the EN server was live, anytime Itaru had a rank up card was a bloodbath (< survivor of Kniroun ranking up at 0.2%. Didn't sleep normally for the whole duration of the event it was so much.).

By the end of the server things were dying out a bit but still in general you could get a vague idea of popularity by how wild the rankings could be. For instance the fact Tasuku's ranking was a breeze without even trying was indicative of how he's not that popular.

In general i've noticed, at the time at least, that Winter ranks up were rather easy. I've ranked up for a few of Summer and i didn't see much of a problem otherwise*. Spring was really chill unless Itaru was in rank up. Autumn was THE Bloodbath. There were Autumn Stans organziation all over, the appp SYSTEMATICALLY broke EVERYTIME Autumn was around, it was always much more challenging, so yeah man.

Misumi* is probably the one i'd consider the second most popular character of the game, pretty much.

(*The funny thing is that Misumi got his lead play very early in the server's history, and i know i ranked up for him then and i didn't think it was too hard. In retrospect i'm sure it has more to do with the fact the game didn't have as many people playing it, than it had to do with popularity, so my word on Summer not being a problem is based on weird stats)

A while ago, for the Taiwanese server, there was a special set of cards in term of popularity on this server. Itaru got a SSR, Masumi got a SR, and Misumi got a R.

Masumi is in a weird position because i'd say he's fairly unpopular in the EN server, while he's popular in the JPN and Taiwanese server. Honestly i'm assuming he's especially popular with the teen audience.

AND THE MOST TELLING PART:

The first Cross-troupe's play was involving the most popular character of each troupe, by a poll being made by the JPN server. The leads were Itaru and Banri, then Misumi as a secondary character and Tsumugi as a more support character.

Meaning at the time, this was the order of the 4 most popular characters of the game.

When the mixed troupe event came to the English server, i remember a poll circulating on tumblr and likely twitter as well, trying to see if the EN Server had different favorites. Itaru still came on top, Misumi followed closely afterward. For Autumn, it was Juza and Taichi that were on the top of the Autumn poll, not Banri, and for Winter, i think it was still Tsumugi but Homare was very close behind.

So that was the popularity at least back then, god knows opinions now.

I've seen Homare be extremely popular on tumblr for sure. I have no doubt in Juza's popularity as well.

I saw a lot of Taichi fan going "Taichi is underappreciated" but i saw so many of them i was kinda just thinking "bro i'm pretty sure Taichi is in the popular character squad by now" But i'm also on the other hand as i've once seen a post saying Hisoka was popular and it stunned me a moment going ????? because as a huge Hisoka stan i don't see it???? There's a few devoted fans, and he has a better fanbase in JPN server, but in EN server??? (I'm comparing the last rank up for Hisoka VS the last rank up for Taichi in my mind and i genuinely don't see it for instance) so i also think it's likely i have a "fav blindspot" where i just don't think people are vibing with the charas the way i'm vibing, just. exactly like what i'm talking about with the Taichi stans so.... (that said i also once was tagged in a post that was going "i don't think i've ever seen a Hisoka or Tasuku stan" and a friend just went @ icha come here. Schrodinger Hisoka who's both popular and unpopular depending on who you're asking. And Tasuku IS MY UNDERRATED MEOW MEOW)

I think i recall Tenma being popular for a time, and Yuki is well appreciated by everyone around here. Kazunari has a loud fanbase but i'm pretty sure the seiyuu thing was a huge blow to them and a lot of them got more quiet at the time.

And for what it's worth i do think there's a sizeable portion of the fandom that really like Tsuzuru, but i think it's just, something you get to see a lot when a huge part of the fandom is creatives. And to be completely fair, Clockwork Heart is the one event i had a massive burn out at and didn't pay attention to the rankings at all, so i can't tell if people went really wild about it. And the next Tsuzuru rank up event was literally the last event of the EN server and i'm sure it's not indicative of anything since a lot of folks just didn't want to bother. So unlike the others were i'm using rank up as a gauge of popularity i can't tell how Tsuzuru's might influence his.

SO YEAH that's for what i could pick up BACK THEN, as i remind, i didn't really look deeply into the fandom itself. I'm really good in my corner so it might not actually be indicative of the fandom trends and i'm maybe completely off base.

Then about how, i, personally, don't represent the fandom, unless the fandom changed since then: When i first liveblogged a3, it was when the server was new and no one was on tumblr about it, so i was a little unfiltered from people's opinions. when i came back about a year later to comment on act 2, getting all worked up, and running then into the growing fanbase on this website, is when i started to run into fan takes and everything.

And, let's be clear, i came back because i was crying very hard over Hisoka and Azuma and the full Winter Troupe, and Chikage, so i really came here with my Big Winter Boots only talking about Winter and then Spring.

I ended up getting a feel of what people were talking about a lot at that time, and kinda ended up talking more about what i considered my Underrated Gems.

For instance, i absolutely adore Itaru. I ranked up for him, i've bleed for him, i love the dude. But he's so popular i figured i legit had nothing to say about him that a hundred people wouldn't have been able to say before. So i've mostly didn't really talk about him much despite loving him a LOT because i just didn't think i had anything to say. (now in my current reread i'm doing it so disconnected from what i know of the fandom that i indulged in talking more about how much i like him LMAO)

Meanwhile, there's characters i love that i know the fandom don't talk about much so i end up talking about them more, and it's the case of Tasuku. I wouldn't be surprised Tasuku is really low on most people's popular list. I'm just Not Most People and you're going to hear me ramble about that hunk of a man every few days or so.

I've made my niche in the Winter Troupe appreciation gang and i'm pretty sure by now a lot of other Winter people follow me as a result because i couldn't shut the fuck up, so then my perception of the fanbase gets skewed because i just think of Them ahah.

And there is the fact i adore the rookies, mainly Chikage and Guy, but don't talk about them so much mostly because they came out later in the main story and i've been rereading act 1 so many times instead,,, and didn't talk much about act 2 in case some people managed to save themselves from being spoiled (like you!!)

So my personal perception of a3 is probably not reflecting the whole a3 fanbase really much. God the amount of times i talked my friends's ears off about Winter, that they kinda just humored me without thinking much about it, until they found out one of the More Popular Chara (Itaru, Tenma and the whole Autumn Troupe mostly) and suddenly they're like *twirls hair* heeyy Icha tell us more about a3. It's genuinely so funny to me.

and again i don't know perhaps i'm full of shit, and it's not like i've kept tabs on the fandom recently either!

But that is at least a bit of what i remember in term of popularity and what i can say is that i shouldn't be taken as an example of the fanbase's views in general.

I'm vibing in my corner, and by experience, it usually meant i ended up talking about more niche things, but since i'm disconnected from the fandom i'm pretty sure i still have opinions that are popular opinions. So who knows! not me!

So yeah that's all i can say about the popularity of the a3 fandom. Def not an indication of it by me.

and it must be funny for you since you only really have me as your fandom gateaway because well. *waves at post* yeah.

The more you know!

[ziptieparty]

i havent seen anyone alloromantic specifically talk about their experiences in aplatonicism, so i thought that more input from a different perspective could be useful?

i relatively recently (maybe 2-3 months ago) saw someone use the word "aplatonic" to describe themselves, and several things clicked into place with me, my general thought process being something like "of course theres a subset of aspec labels for platonic attraction, people feel romantic and sexual attraction separately so obviously theres a platonic side to." and i left it at that for awhile but something about it stuck with me.

i suppose ill start at the beginning,

when i was a kid i was mainly friends with boys, and for awhile i attributed this to being trans and just relating more to male peers. i do still believe this to be a factor but now thinking back on it i realized there was a pattern to my relationships.

at one point or another, i had had crushes on almost all of them.

i realized all at once that the only reason i had even spoken to a majority of my childhood friends was because i had been romantically attracted to them at the beginning of our friendships.

now, i can anticipate some kind of argument along the lines of "thats just how crushes and friendships grow with everyone" or some such nonsense

but i can say with my whole chest that thats not what was happening.

im not very good at explaining things in a way that makes sense to most, but i will attempt to be as clear as possible.

a lot of people wanted to be my friend.

i was funny and loud and friendly to my classmates. i liked to play tag at recess and brought pokemon cards and my tamagotchi to school before they were banned. i shared the parts of my lunches i didnt want, i stood up to bullies, and sat with people that were alone.

but that was about the extent of it

i was friendly

but i was never your friend

i generally considered myself a "loner" and no matter how friendly or talkative or persistent or technically compatible my classmates were-

it never took.

i just. wanted to do what i wanted to do.

i had kids i interacted with often and i named them friends when prompted to list any, but i never actually. spoke to them? it was more like i sat next to them and we did things alongside eachother (parallel play style) and i would say little things to them like hello or good morning or maybe that i liked their shoes but i never like. discussed what i liked with them or vice versa. i couldnt tell you a thing about them beyond their names.

this pattern continued until i started to develop crushes, suddenly i was initiating contact with kids without outside factors. i sat with them and gave them the sweet parts of my food and for the first time

i asked them questions

i wanted to know if they liked the cartoons i did and who their favorite characters were, i was curious about what they liked and what they thought. their input mattered to me.

a majority of my relationships from then on followed similar patterns, i thought they were cute or funny and so i talked to them and could tolerate the connection that followed.

i didnt keep my feelings for a lot of them of course, i had no way of knowing who these people were before getting to know them but the point still stands; i had to have a crush on them first.

this wasnt always the case with my friends, sometimes when i would interact with someone the stars would align and id stay in contact somehow and id end up with a friend that didnt start with romantic feelings.

my life gets messy from my teens on and i will spare you my life story, but i ended up in a position that i only had one person i could pass off as a friend. the relationship was just like the ones from my early childhood, i just kind of existed alongside her and i couldnt really tell you anything about her.

ive never formed bonds with anyone without outside influence and the ones i did were rare or romantic at first. isolation doesnt really bother me, i dont like or need to talk to people often, my own family barely knows me and has to force my interaction

sometimes i kind of joke with my husband that id never had a real friend before because i could never tell him anything about the friends i still had when i had met him, and now i think i have the words to describe why?

im not entirely sure what i should label myself, demiplatonic fits but i feel is a disservice to the people that i was or am friends with that were faster and didnt start romantically. perhaps grayplatonic or something but im just going with aplspec for the moment.

[ridiasfangirlings]

miss ridia i just want to thank you for keeping this fandom alive, i think ive said this in another ask but i just felt like saying it again you are the true protector and provider of the fandom tysm<3 also apologies if this is messy, english isnt my first language

so, since i only recently reentered the fandom a couple weeks ago i watched the seven stories movies for the first time and idk, felt a bit nostalgic cause to me it kinda felt like Gora was officially saying goodbye to k and the fandom, then i started to think, even if they wanted to make a 3rd season or another movie, what could they possibly add to the story? then i found your tumblr and felt like there was so many things Gora could have done with the anime but didn't, and it only made me sadder to think that despite that they are still moving on from K.

ok this is getting too long so heres my question:

if you were given the job to make a 3rd season, a movie, or just some kind of continuation for k, what would you do?

besides removing the fanservice and the over-sexualization of the female characters, what would the overall story of this new season/movie be? would it take place right after the events of Circle Vision Nameless Song, or would you give it a timeskip to our present-day? if you were to choose a timeskip, how would post timeskip characters be, physically and personality-wise?, would you intend it to be a definitive end to the franchise or would you make it in a way that it would give room for more to be added?, would you use the same characters we have seen so far or would you try to implement a brand new set of characters? maybe something in the middle like picking some characters from the original cast but adding new ones as well? if so, which original characters would you keep and how would they relate to these new characters? who would be the protagonist(s) of this movie? which character would you give more screentime and development to? which female characters would finally be getting a proper backstory and development? would you make any characters canonically part of the lgbtq+ community? would you make it more diverse? like adding a character/giving a character a different ethnic background besides being japanese or leave it as it is? would you revive any of the deceased characters? if not, would you continue to show any of them via flashbaks or add more depth to them?, would you kill anyone? if so who?, and how would the other characters react? how would that affect the story?, what would you do with sarumi? would you leave them as they are, two bros being dudes? or would you make them canon? If you were to make them canon, would you give them a "happy" ending? If not a happy ending, then what?, would you add anything else to Fushimi's family drama? maybe give him some form of reconciliation with aya? would there be any forgotten character that you would have making an appearance again? like Aya, or that one lady that kinda hung around homra and was only shown in the first episode hiding behind yata (and wtf i just realized yata wasn't that scared of her omg)?

omg this is so fucking long

TLDR; thxs for keeping the fandom alive, how would you make a continuation for K?

K is now all about Fushimi, all other characters are inconsequential, it's the Fushimi show now :D Well okay if I was making like an 'actual' continuation and not 'fanfiction continuation where I do what I want' maybe just like mostly about Fushimi. As far as things like bringing characters back from the dead, representation, etc I'll start with that. I don't think I would bring anyone back from the dead save for perhaps villain purposes *cough* Niki *cough*. I wouldn't want to bring anyone else back to be honest – I really really hate when a series kills a character off, milks it for emotions and makes the emotional through-line of that loss an important point for multiple characters and then just brings the character back to life easily with no issues, I feel like it invalidates all the emotions the show was going for previously (looks in the direction of a certain K-clone series also made by GoHands which went from mediocre to ugh in a single reveal). If I was going to bring, say, Mikoto back to life it would be to just not have him killed at all in S1 and let him deal with the aftermath of that in ROK, not to bring him back far after the fact when there's really no reason to other than 'the fans like him and he's popular.' Dead people stay dead.

From a representation standpoint I probably wouldn't change much either, my preferred sequel would focus on the named cast and frankly it's large enough without bringing in more characters outside of new villains (and I would be wary of making the show's only character of color the new villain). Similarly I would actually stick to the status quo on the relationship side too – if it was my own fic I'm here for Sarumi all the way but to be perfectly honest I wouldn't want to enshrine it in canon simply because I’m selfish and like all the other Fushimi pairings too and want to let those possibilities stand. I wouldn't mind finding a more natural way for Fushimi to mention at least at some point that he was in love with Yata as a kid and maybe leave it open from there, like make it clear that Fushimi Does Not Like Girls and basically put Sarumi on the same level as IzuSeri, like it's possible but not straight out canon.

Storyline-wise I'd sorta like to clear up some dangling character threads from previous seasons and maybe set a stage for possible later developments if needed. Slate-kun in Circle Vision makes it clear that the Slate is 'alive' in a sense and I think you could do something with exploring that, like where the Slate came from and how its powers work. Honestly I'd probably steal from the post-series fanfic I never wrote where someone discovers the remains of the Slate and decides to try and 'revive' it in order to gain power. The villain gathers up a team of criminal Strains who want to keep their own powers and resent that Scepter 4 is still trying to control everyone, maybe making the villain like a charismatic 'King' type in his own right who's named the Strains his own clansmen and is declaring war on the previous clans. The story would open with multiple assassination attempts on the current Kings, Homra and Scepter 4 under siege and just managing to keep Munakata and Anna safe while say Shiro does get to end up in a coma but is saved from death by Kuroh and Neko (who are then largely offscreen for a good chunk of the story because they've had enough screentime, I would want to focus more here on Scepter 4 who are criminally underused in the series and also my favorites it's my scenario I do what I want).

So then the rest of the story could involve trying to find who's behind everything while also discovering more about the Slate and trying to learn if it's even possible to destroy the Slate, like imagine they discover that the Slate was previously destroyed way back in the past and then like 're-formed' itself to the current Slate and now everyone realizes that oh shit we didn't solve anything. Also as part of the villain's plan to recreate the Slate he may need to experiment on someone who currently has powers and who better than a certain grumpy third in command who still has three powers. Fushimi gets to be kidnapped all damsel in distress style and maybe we could even work in some Green (or former Gray, which also intrigues me as a possibility) clansman Niki who faked his death and has been hanging around behind the scenes watching the chaos. Character-wise I would use that revelation to delve a little more into Fushimi's issues that the series glossed over, his feelings towards Yata and towards Munakata and his clan, letting him have a real proper realization of how important they are to him. Meanwhile the search for the origin of the Slate could be used as characterization fodder for Munakata, who's been grappling with the issue of who he is if not a 'King' and learning the origins of this power lets him like explore his own origins and who he wants to be going forward. Basically give the Blues some needed screentime, let Fushimi and Yata have some nice moments, maybe bring in the Greens to give them more of a solid post-series relationship with the rest of the cast and actually make a firm decision as to whether the story wants to wipe out all powers or commit to superpowers existing and continuing to exist.

[nevertellmetheodds2017]

meh

I’ve now completed three cycles of Trodelvy (this drug is given on a 21 day cycle, with two weeks on, one week off) & my first CT scan is not great. I have some new lesions in my lung & liver, and now my kidney wants in on the action & has developed some suspicious spot which could be infection or abscess but is also suspicious for mets ... & given that I don’t have any symptoms of kidney problems, I think we’re leaning to it being a met.   

Now normally with a progression you would switch treatments. But these new growths aren’t huge (yet. My cancer, alas, does love to grow large quickly...) & there is just a tiny possibility that some of this new growth happened during the almost 6 weeks between my last scan & stopping tecentriq + abraxane (Dec 17) & starting Trodelvy (Jan 26). So my oncologist, after conferring with a colleague, recommended trying 2 more cycles of Trodelvy and scanning again at that point.  My other option was to switch to the next line right now. 

I’ve decided to go ahead & try two more cycles of Trodelvy & fingers crossed the cancer doesn’t explode like a maniac in the interim. If there’s a chance this works for me, I don’t want to burn through treatment lines too quickly because as you’ll remember, metastatic triple negative cancer doesn’t have very many to start with.

Trodelvy is supposed to be our new wonder drug but here’s the thing: Trodelvy only works for 1/3 of the people who try it. So it’s possible that I’m just in the 2/3s that it doesn’t work for.

This is one of those things that people don’t talk about much or realize. I heard from someone recently whose first line of chemo was not effective & they had not been prepared for that at all so it was a huge gut punch. Some people might know that after a while chemo stops working, but not many people realize that many of these drugs never even *start* working for most patients. You have to trial & error them and hope that you end up being a responder.  It’s just a bit of a frantic race to try to find something that works before the cancer takes over & before all the harsh poisons you keep pumping in damage the body too much. 

My 3rd cycle of Trodelvy was dose reduced (75%) and I now have to again use the filgrastim shots to increase my white blood cells. Overall I tolerated that cycle very well but it trashed my red blood cells & my hemoglobin was 82 at the last check. The oncologist said if we start dipping into the 70s we should look at a transfusion. I seem to keep hovering in the 80s -90s range - low enough to feel it but not low enough to transfuse...

So anyway. I’ll be doing Cycle 4 starting tomorrow, again at 75%. It’s about five and half hours overall with the drive there & back. I get 20mg of IV dexamethasone as prep so I’m usually pretty wired for the rest of the day (& the day after lol).  Remember to follow me on Instagram if you’re not already  Just like here, I post when I feel like it, which sometimes means there are long gaps... :) 

[albedos-experiment-gone-wrong]

BESTIE U BETTER MAKE A POST TALKING ABT ALL UR AUS PLSPLS I NEED IT

Omg ive never had anyone actually want me to talk so like

this makes me so happy?

Okay so Royal AU!: Lumine and Aether are the twins of the Kingdom of Abyss, they originally were to rule together but when Aether got the chance to explore the outside world and found that the war they've been raging on the rest of Tevyat is wrong so he leaves and he travels across the rest of the world and learns alot about the world they live in. Kingdoms: Dragonspine- Under the rule of Albedo (had to stop myself from writing Albehdo), Not many people live here, The second most distrusted/liked kingdom (first is Abyss ofc), the people that are just outside of Dragonspine in game are the main citizens because I'm very creative Sucrose is from Mondstadt and lives there but is found in Dragonspine more often, along with Klee Mondstadt- Not quite sure who's the ruler but I'm leaning towards Jean as the representing Princess/Duchess whichever has the better status ( i think Princess) She's constantly found with the trusted knights Amber and Kaeya to insure nothing bad happens to her. Also the common citizens are : Venti- the most popular bard Diluc- Owner of the best Winery in all of Teyvat Lisa- The School Teacher and Librarian of Mondstadt Noelle and Bennett- The young couple that works for the Knights....but aren't knights. Fischl- She's some random girl that nobody knows anything about, she's certainly not from Mondstadt but she's accepted anyways, she'll often come with new intel one the other kingdoms Liyue- Hehe...okay so this one.....isn't developed at all. The only reason I've yet to write it. Thought about maybe it's run by a series of clans all ruling over different areas but....idk Inazuma- Actaully, a dictatorship type thing Baal/ Raiden Shogun is the "Queen"

Yae Miko is the advisor Ayaka is a princess of a noble family thinking of revolution (im so creative :D) Yoimiya is just some girl that popped out of nowhere and quickly gripped the handles of Inazuma and started to turn things upside down along side Ayaka And that's all I've got for this one so far, I know Im missing like half the games characters but this is something I've thought of recently, like...today High School AU 1: Aether is the new kid, and Albedo was assigned as his welcomer person. Aether ends up picking a dorm with Albedo, Xingqiu, and Chongyun and they do dumb shit together :D 

this is probably my simpliest au of them all lol High School AU 2:  (no offense to Kaebedo shippers but I don’t see it working but if thats your otp or you cant handle people not shipping them...dont read. or do i like getting hate, makes me famous for my takes :D)

Kaeya’s been crushing no Albedo. Hard. But Albedo is totally not into it, but Kaeya finally makes some progress when he gets him to finally agree to go to the dance, even if it’s just as friends. But then Aether comes and unknowingly ruins everything. 

However, I don’t like writting Kaeya as the jealous type, so he lets go quite easily as he sees that Albedo’s really happy and all he wants is for him to be happy :) (aofbeog this could be me just really not wanting to write Kaeya anymore angst because Kaeya angst is so....angsty and sad (i have such a big vocabulary) and hes already super dark in lore so yea)

Siblings AU (Hu Tao and Xiao): Okay so I mostly explained this one in my dump in your post but Ill explain again <3

Zhong Li got bored or lonely or smth and adopts children (Xiao, Hu Tao, Qiqi kinda is his kid at this point because shes almost always at their house but Baizhu is legally her parent)  So one day Xiao’s babysitting (i actually hc him as kinda irresponible with children like hell walk out of a store without them and be gone for a while before realizing hes missing a whole human, or hell be all “ill duct tape you to the wall” and actually do it until Zhong Li comes home LMAO) and Hu Tao just so happens to be a home instead of work or smth 

And Xiao’s kinda like “alright so you live here, and Zhong Li’s your dad, but like....we arent required to be siblings, right?�� 

So Qiqi runs off and Xiaos freaking out because this is the 4th time this week and its only wednesday so hes looking and Hu Taos looking and they just so happen to come across this alleyway Hu Tao would sit in and cry as a child because the others were mean and their parents wouldnt let her play with their kids and she was really lonely and so they go down into it and sure enough Qiqi’s there 

And Qiqi’s all “Qiqi’s sad because all of Qiqi’s friends have mommies and daddies but Qiqi doesn’t and so Qiqi came here to cry alone because it’s dark and cold and nobody’s here to see Qiqi....” and Hu Tao’s all “Yeah, actually. This alley’s never done me wrong when I needed somewhere to sit and...just...ah, think about things alone. But y’know Qiqi, you could talk to Xiao or I. And you do too (i think thats the right too im not too sure) have a family! Zhong Li is your dad, we’re your siblings, and Ganyu could be like the cool Auntie! So don’t cry alright? Could you do that for me please?”

And so Xiao catches onto what Hu Tao implied and so he’s like “well shit. nobody should be alone and sad, much less when theyre just a baby” so Xiao tries kinda hard to be a better big brother (but Hu Tao always thought he was a wesome)

And finally my last high school AU:  (really, really underevloped but this is just kinda a chill crackshit 

Childe and Lumine are dating, Aether highly disapproves. Albedo and Aether are dating, and Lumine’s like “albedo? the weird kid? that never talks? and when he does its always in smart people words? that albedo? wow aether im suprised you understand his smart people talking.”  Xingqiu and Chongyun are dating, Xingqiu was really sheltered as a kid so hes always doing something stupid and dangerous and Chongyun goes along with him to make sure hes not killed

yep yep!! most of these are just headcanons lol sorry it took a while :<

[daaziscoolbesties]

i yearn for one(1) thing only, and that is to have a nice, simplistic, cartoonish artstyle. an artstyle that doesnt rely on anatomy, but the "movement" of the drawing, if you get what i mean.

i dont want realistic proportions and traditional colors and basic poses and gradient shading, i want funky lil dudes in funky poses with funky styles littering my sketchbook :( but alas i havent figured out how to develop that kind of style yet, my brain wants anatomy to look nice but also i dont want to draw eyes. i dont want to take time out of my day to learn how to draw lips i want to draw a line that extends past the characters face. i dont want all my characters to have pointy chins with curved cheeks i want their heads to be round and friend-like or full of sharp edges depending on their personalities and styles. i want to give them all not-quite human ears, blob feet, simple faces, but at the same time i want enough detail to convey the story or emotion im trying to tell.

ive spent so much time recently agonizing over how to use 3d model websites, using real-life references and tracing over them for practice, color-picking from real images to try and do realism and failing miserably, but you know whats easier than that? funky little dudes. little dudes who do not care if their legs are too long or their hair is too bouncy. i dont want my characters to look human.

ive spent enough time on the artfight website to realize that most people who classify their characters as "human" have the most basic ass designs (no offense to people who like basic human designs its just not my thing) or its like dnd-medieval style outfits which i cant draw for the life of me (ive tried). again no offense to people who actively enjoy and draw characters like that. i just need my dudes to have that certain,,, off-ness to them. tails are cool. wings are swag (especially if they arent even like,, fully attached,, ), elf ears are so wonderful to me no matter how much theyre overused, horns are so much fun to draw, and colors!! i have no knowledge in the color theory department so this works great for me!! the only thing i really know is dont shade with black, other than that i just colorpick from references usually but i dont want to do that!! i want the colors to hurt people's eyes but in a satisfying way. like the character's design is so nice to look at that you dont mind your eyes hurting a bit. like how im enjoying writing this post even though its 2 am and the brightness on my computer wont go any lower.

and then another thing ive noticed from being on the artfight website is that a lot of people classify their characters that are anthro/have anthro features under humanoids/monsters. like i made a google form to find some people to attack and someone sent me in a character with some sort of animal (wolf? idk) arms and legs. like dude!! peak character design i love her. but me personally? i cant draw that shit, its so hard for me. i tried a while back and its just Not my thing. nothing against furries i just. cant. and i dont want to either.

and i got another submission that i accidentally deleted that was like full anthro/wolf-like like my comrade,,, i cannot draw animals what makes you think i can draw an animal who acts like a human lmao. i can do like. very basic tails, and also animal ears but i cant do the arms and legs and such i just dont know the anatomy, and i know i was talking about how i dont want to care about anatomy but i feel like for anthros you really do need to know at least basic animal anatomy so you know how the limbs look and shit and i dont have that knowledge and dont feel like gaining it.

and then there were some submissions that i absolutely adored. there was one that like, was vaguely human shaped but definitely was not a human. they had a dark-ish lavender colored skin and horns and tusks and like goat ears and a sorta fluffy tail with spikes on it and they had wings and such and they were such a pleasure to draw i love them. and they had a fairly simple outfit too, nothing too complicated. and then i also enjoy object head characters, theyre so neato to me. i got one of those and i really wish i had the motivation to work on it cause it looks so fun.

i want to make funky characters but id have nothing to do with them because the only book i ever tried writing (key word tried - never got past planning it out) had strictly human characters in it, and most of the books i read are humans/humans with powers in situations specific to them so id have no idea what lore to make with the dudes. assuming i have the motivation to make lore and backstory because honestly i just really enjoy character designing its super duper fun.

(side note a song about trucks doing the deed came on just now and its interrupted my flow, apologies).

i only have three actual characters right now. one is an original roleplay oc whos design is literally athletic shorts, an oversized long sleeved grey sweatshirt, long purple hair, and demon horns. the second one is my persona whos design some sorta medival knight outfit kinda thing? but not ugly it looks really cool (idk one of my friends designed it bc i won some contest from him but the drawing was on a super small scale so idrk the details,,,) with a plague doctor mask and crown, and shoulder length wavy brown hair, dyed bright pink at the end. and then my last one im not too comfortable using other places because theyre a character my friend is using in the story hes writing, and thats really the only place theyve been used. but theyre easily my favorite and im already writing a ton so ill talk about them too.

they're a sorta elf species thing from another planet, with pale green skin and pointed ears. they also have a tail, its like,, super thin, but with a feathery bit at the end. probably not the texture of a feather but i dont know how else to describe it. they have short, curly, almost-draco-malfoy-blonde hair that when it gets too long they can put in a man bun. their eyesight is kinda shitty so when they got to earth, they were exploring some supply closets around the airship. drop off area. thing. like airport but for rocketships and also fancier. yeah. they were exploring that area and found a nice big pair of round glasses with grey frames. and they also found a cowboy-style hat and a sharpie so they wrote their name on the underside of the brim of the hat and stole the hat and glasses (but left the sharpie in the supply closet).

yeah theyre my favorite, my absolute beloved, my child, so cool. i want more characters like them but with maybe a bit more snazzier designs. theyre super cool and all but they could have more pizzazz if they werent in a story where its too late to give them more pizzazz. i just want to be able to give my characters thigh-high boots with a bunch of buckles and fluffy hair with tons of accessories crammed in and abnormally large and long ears that can harbor many piercings and horns that can hold rings on them and special little details on their outfits like who knows what but i dont have any characters to do that too, so i have to make them from scratch, which is always hard especially when you have artblock.

and i also have like 17 characters i need to fully draw, line, and maybe color for artfight before august 1st. so i dont know. i have many things to do and plenty of time to do it but instead i spend my time halfway watching repetitive youtube videos that get boring or sleeping all damn day because i stay up too late doing things like this or i just do nothing at all and its tiring and frustrating but i also feel nothing about it like theres no consequence if i dont do it besides you know. not doing it, not gaining that experience, not making something i enjoy.

so i should do it but i dont for whatever reason, i think its called executive dysfunction but im not sure. this post started out very differently than it ended and i said somewhere up there that i was writing this at 2 am but now its almost 3. this is so many words why couldnt i have put this energy into something productive

[neo-shitty]

toffee!

ah yeah, i think quarentine has given people some opportunity to actually just sit with the person they are, rather than be rushing around for the person they want to become. its good you got smth good out of isolation! ah thats great! hope you had fun and ur partner in crime speeds back home so you can get out more hehe.

ah yeah ty, good suggestions.

hmm good point, i was sort of putting it separate to the whole not-sexualising thing, but yeah. mmm yeah i totally agree, some of the enhypen fics/imagines *shudder* and even reading innie stuff is just a bit *icky* cos everyone still thinks of him as our agi ppang. yeah def would be good but sadly this just seems to be the world we live in. :(

ah yes the holy masterlist (not sarc) i have actually read in the rain and gladius maximus before, but ill go look for in class! oooh thats good! character development lol. hmmmm yes champagne problems was the angst to end all angst, that shit hurt. it was actually one of the first of your fics i read and i recall almost crying over the whole thing, it was so heartbreaking, i can see how it almost made you want to drop angst. good that youve allowed yourself some lee-way tho :)

hehe thats so cool. okay here we go, ill try not to be mortally offended (/hj)

cheese - yes same, i liked it but that was all there was, it wasnt a super standout track. it was rlly underwhelming for me but some of the hook is super catchy so there is Redemption (tm) in store for cheese maybe

thunderous - mmm, yeah at first i totally agreed, i think they suffer from too much good music syndrome, that all their other tracks are such fucking bops its hard to stay at that level of perfection. the choreo was beautiful tho and tbh, the track has grown on me since ive been watching all the vids abt it. its my brothers favourite track

domino - YES GODAMMIT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE TITLE TRACK. the raps, the vocals, the vibes, the fucking domino sound in the back? i would have streamed that shit on repeat. but tbh, as good as it is, it doesnt have that sort of grandness/oomph that skz seems to like in their title tracks so i can see why they chose thunderous (tho domino would have been so good) *sigh*

ssick - yeah same, not my fave track by a long mile, the crowd cheering was a ?strange? choice and the chorus was a bit bare/empty, plus like i mentioned earlier, it was kinda funny to me for some reason but ill still play it if im playing thru the whole album

the view - ahh one of those not like other girls (/j) i honestly think its just a good party song, just a bop to play in the background when nobodys rlly paying much attention. its pretty generic pop music but catchy

sorry, i love you - hehe yeah i thought it was going to be sadder as well, but i rlly loved the fact that they all just got to sing, which almost never happens, i dont think ive heard felix sing for a long time, so i enjoyed it. wasnt rlly a standout track but i just casually like it. looking forward to the fic haha

silent cry - this song i swear, some bits are rlly good and then others are just? why?? it does sound like a dance song tho idk. definitely not one of my faves either

secret secret - YES its so good! its such a chill song and i love their vocals in it. the combination of lo-fi/fake strings backup stuff and their heavenly vocals just makes it *chefs kiss* im listening to it rn and just... its so beautiful. it gives me pumped up another day vibes ya know? like my pace is edgy get cool, this one is energetic another day i feel like. overall i love it

STAR LOST - ah thats so cool! i didnt know that! on first listen this song had a similar vibe to secret secret but then the beat came in and ahh its such a good song. i can totally imagine them putting this song to a concert footage vid, this song is so sweet.

red lights - LMAO YES ITS SO AWKWARD WHY DOES IT GO ON FOR SO LONG ah thats good! yeah good point, its quite intense hehe. but that is my fave trope and this is lowkey my favourite track on the album so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ just the combination of hyunjins and chans voices, the backing music, the lyrics ahh red lights my beloved

surfin’ - yes lmao its always a shock, i feel like they should have put gone away in between them, but its such a fun cute song, i cant get rlly mad. yeah, as an aussie i think im contractually obligated to like beaches lol. sand im not such a fan of, but my familys rlly into fishing and my brother loves bodyboarding so we stay at a beach house at least twice a year and we live like 5 mins from 3 different beaches (hehe all aussie cities are on the coast lol) so thats cool. do you like beaches?

gone away - ah gone away my beloved, i love this song sm, its just so pure and showcases their vocals and lyrics so well. yes the pitch change is very out of the blue, i feel liek they went directly from seungmins soft vocals to hans powerful ones which was an interesting choice, but hey, im not complaining

wolfgang - YES IKR ah im so happy he got to be included in that era and song. yeah its such a full on song i cant rlly listen to it if im in a quiet mood but its very motivating :)

hehe mood, i hope they do! ahhh no rest, but at least you wont have to pull a blink and wait a year for any word from the group lol. im not rlly into nct but im excited for them! ah hopefully youll be able to sneak some rest into that chaotic schedule, with enhypen (idk if u stan but yeah) squeezed into it haha

<3 w.a. 🐺

i wheezed at partner in crime, it reminded me of smth. i have a lee know fic in the drafts that i wrote 'in honor' of him (and his departure-ish). i'll tag you when i finish it, if you want. it's a rather hilarious one.

oh my god. based on my experience on the collabs i've joined before, writing explicit shit for '01 & '02 is not accepted (nct's maknaes) but with enha's hyung line '01 & '02 somehow it's okay? i do a double take every time i see fics like those i mean, technically, it's legal but still what the fuck. maybe it's just not for me at the moment. not at us venting our frustration about this. it's just something that's so accepted here that i am (in all honesty) slightly uncomfortable about. but oh well. that's kpop writerblr for you.

man i could've linked all the fics in the ask instead so you wouldn't have to go looking for them! i think i saw you like in class the other day (the fic i renamed into sharp-tongued, god it took me a while to remember the new title). describing champagne problems as an angst to end all angst is one way to put what i was feeling back in december. it just hurt to write and admit?? if that ever happened to me i would prolly cry :d

okay back to the album talk! i love how you answered with more thoughts. i love exchanges like these! i am a victim of the cheese hook and it's now one of my favorite tracks in the album. PLS, TOO MUCH GOOD MUSIC SYNDROME. that's on our self-producing kings 😌💅 also, your brother has taste! as i am typing this, domino's currently playing in my head and i realized that too, that it doesn't have that 'vibe' of a skz title track. honestly, this could be a title track of another group. ssick is starting to grown on me because i found the beats cool kdjsk not the not like other girls 😭 the view is the generic pop that i don't like but i get why a lot of people enjoy it. sorry i love you scratches a certain itch that i find myself singing the first few lines every time i remember it. i too would want to hear felix sing more!

> a mini junction on the album talk bc i got side tracked. on that topic, i want skz to switch positions at some point like i know those allrounders are capable of doing so. specifically, i want to hear seungmin rap!!!! (yk in the recent weekly idol he talked faster than changbin in a challenge and changbin is like the fastest rapper in kpop that's active atm if im not mistaken. my dandy boy has some potential and i want it UNLEASHED.)

back to album talk. silent cry is basically sad music to twerk to. secret secret is definitely one of my favorite tracks :( i loved how you compared the tracks HAJSAH i burst out laughing bc yk what, you're right! i want to make a star lost edit of skz but i simply do not have the time i want to cry. i love the song so much. ok, my dreaded track, red lights. idt i have played the track since we last talked. my friend sent me the lyrics tho and i'm itching to write a twisted au out of it. idk if you're comfortable with yandere but somewhere along those themes. the obsessive type of love that's sweet at first but turns rotten. IMAGINE IF THEY PUT GONE AWAY BETWEEN ASHJA it's like going from 50 shades to the notebook.

i was about to ask if you lived near the coast and you literally mentions it here god im so stupid. yes i LOOOOOOOOOVE beaches so much. living in an archipelago is fun :( i live in a part of the country that's more island than city so every time i want some vitamin sea it's accessible. i heard the waves in australia are great :( anYWHOOO gone away :(( every time it plays im compelled to skip it because it makes me sAD AND NOWADAYS I DONT HAVE THE TIME TO BE SAD. contrary to you, i dislike my quiet moods because i tend to overthink a lot.

i have this little analogy about how there are stays that enjoy songs the generic pop + mellow songs and then there are other stays that enjoy the noisy tracks. in my mind, it's like a perfect balance that makes me feel like all the tracks are loved in the end. just by different people.

PULL A BLINK. bro i fucking hate yg entertainment. they have the biggest kpop girl group LOCKED in their basement when they could be (and i mean this in the most business-like way not morally) milking money of the quad. they're yg's biggest hope at not being bankrupt atm so it's a damn fucking mystery to me as to how they aren't doing anything. (jk i just realized lisa solo album soon, but i still need a ot4 cb hELLO)

i stopped looking forward to the teasers. rest > kpop boys. i don't want to sound like a cult member but have you tried checking out nct? are they just not your thing? (i get it tho, that's one hard group to get into). and yes i do stan enhypen!

wow i love how long these asks are! they're like online penpals. but i also want to ask about you! how have you been lately? are you feeling okay both mentally and physically? how's the weather there? do you have anything that you want to talk about? maybe an interesting book you read? feel free to bring up anything you want to share! i'm getting conscious about talking about myself HAJHSJ

and yet another long answer B) i am sooo sorry T___T should these ask exchanges feel draining to you, feel free to stop sending them in AAAA

[flightofaqrow]

Meta: Road to Recovery

OKAY SO

Yesterday, @ littleblackqrow made this excellent post about Qrow hitting rock bottom in vol 6, [< that’s a link to it, my blog isn’t always great with identifying that] which breaks down:

Him being forced to literally face the consequences of his actions in regards to drinking.

Him not dealing with frustration or lack of direction well.

The rising tensions of his interpersonal relationships, people starting to lose patience with and call him on his bs, especially as he gets worse.

How important his relationship with Ruby is and not wanting to put that at risk.

Beautiful. The good stuff. Go read it if you haven’t.

But I also present to you another nuance that affected his descent and ultimate decisions: a complete blowout identity crisis. 

This got long so I’m going to try and separate it into phases.

I. Loss of Identity

"I gave my life to you because you gave me a place in this world. I thought I was finally doing some good." 

When Ozpin’s secret is revealed, Qrow’s reaction is to believe his entire purpose for the last 20+ years was working towards something that was never really a complete plan and probably doomed from the start. None of it mattered: The work STRQ put in. His choosing the opposite side of his own sister. Losing Summer. All the spying, fighting. The whole idea of having huntsman to begin with and all the effort he put in to be one of the best. All of the things he didn’t do instead.

In one fell swoop he loses his whole identity. 

On top of finding out one of his most trusted people not only kept secrets, but lied to him - someone he’s likely stood up for and defended with bared teeth and is now finding out those other people were right.  On top of what is still coming that has to be faced and all the lives in danger.

Ruby is right to be worried he won't take it well. Who would?

II. Rock Bottom

It's why even the apathy scene where he knows he fucked up isn't enough. The whole situation still feels hopeless. He still feels empty. Oh, and let's add on finding out his own hero and inspiration was one of the ones who gave up and ran away. 

[Aside: When they were riding in the cart and Maria said “especially when some of you are clearly stronger already” I’m pretty sure that included Qrow. Look at him through her eyes! A huntsman 40+ who’s dedicated his whole life to the occupation, and even though it’s clearly taken a toll and he struggles, he’s still out there fighting the good fight to the bitter end like you’re supposed to!! She can’t be only talking about the young ones being skilled.]

So rock bottom hits.

But.

But.

"If you think you can keep up with us kids, we’d be happy to have you."

Eventually we have the scene where Ruby stands up to him and offers him a new place at her side.  She’s too smart for her own good. Even if it’s subconscious and intuitively, she knows what he needs. Maria’s still there, too. Still means something to him, and she reinforces this idea, coaxing him to make better choices: 

"Guess you didn't give her enough credit either."

The seed’s been planted, but he's still too stuck in his own head and guilt to see it yet. 

III. Breaking Down and Building Back Up

This finally culminates in his breakdown when the airship abduction plan starts falling apart: 

“Every choice I've ever made has led me here, and I've dragged you along with me. Oz, myself, the others... We're responsible for the mess the world's in now. I shouldn't have come, shouldn't have let any of you come... What was I thinking?!” 

Hopefully, this hits a little bit different now. It’s not just semblance-based guilt or even recognizing his recent failings. It’s everything crashing down around him. Literally every choice he’s made.

But then Ruby absolves him. [wow look at what can happen when you actually talk about stuff.] She steps up as her own person and a full on leader for the group, and finally, finally frees him from everything up until now; even this self-imposed intermediate job of being the responsible adult. And then once more reminds him of who he is and that there is still a fresh start to be his own person. She uses his full name for a reason.

“We could still use Qrow Branwen on our side.”

So he chooses to join the fight. Because of course he does. 

He’s Qrow Branwen. 

The huntsman who does what’s right.

IV. Staying Sober

So when all is said and done, and they’re winding down from the battle, and he goes for a drink, it isn't just not wanting to worry Ruby that stops him. He can’t even see her face. [Although, saying "just don't go giving me heart attacks like that again" aloud does, I think, finally cause the immediate flash of insight / irony that Ruby probably feels the same way about him, and is definitely a factor]. It's not even him confronting or atoning for his actions.

No, this moment is him making the transition from being Oz's spy (when it was all fun and games and he could get away with stuff because he was that good and worked alone), to realizing that if he's going to take on this new role as a committed support for RWBY + ORNJ (in a deadly war with uncertain and changing tactics, against an unkillable being), then, I need to be sharper. I need to be more present. I need to be a better me.

This is him looking right down the mouth of his flask and deciding for himself to leave it in the past with Ozpin and his own former identity, and to instead move forward and grow alongside everyone else.

Yesterday’s post made the beautiful observations of Ruby’s expressions during this scene, but let’s look at Qrow.

[I’m busy having a personal crisis, don’t touch me.]

[Well, I guess it’s okay.]

V. Bonus Round

And let me point out that once more, at the end of the battle, Maria reinforces him, this time by validating his performance in this new standby and support function. [Which is also probably closer to what he was used to being in STRQ, and more comfortable for him.]

“You weren't half bad yourself today, Qrow.”

This is self indulgent but I’M ADDING IT ON BECAUSE THIS SCENE BLOWS MY MIND, OK!! ALL WITHIN 40 SECONDS WE SEE:

Qrow being validated. 

Qrow talking about his feelings.

Qrow accepting a compliment with poise. 

Qrow genuinely relaxing and smiling.

BECAUSE OF MARIA!!!!

VI. Some extra asides

1. I think this all is part of why we see such a spike of bird form in vol 6 as well. Besides just making more sense than other battles maybe, since it’s something at a cliffside and tall forest, it's all he has left at that point. Ozpin and prior orders lost his respect. He lost the group's respect. He's already given the kids all the information he has. He's barely feeling useful as a huntsman. But here [man, the hope and pride in his voice when he says "you're not the only one who can get a bird's eye view" !!], here is this one thing that's special that he can still do and offer that no one else in the group can!! So he relies on it a little more than he normally would just to feel worthwhile.

2. SEE SECTION V - CLOVER YOU ABSOLUTE DOLT. Qrow’s already demonstrated all the things you’re trying to say he needs to work on. HE’S ONLY DEFLECTING AND FLUSTERED BECAUSE IT’S YOU SAYING THE THINGS!!! I don’t understand how the ship isn’t approached more from this direction instead of wanting Clover to be that development for him, but I always tend to handle ships differently I guess.

3. Expanding on that, Clover helped him have a fresh start with a new person to start feeling out this new self, and maybe work through some baggage. But I really think Qrow and this decision is stronger than to relapse much, if any, over the loss of him. I don't think he blames himself as much as some seem to believe either (yet another separate post), but even if he ends up with a bunch of guilt in vol 8, going sober was never about any resolution of his semblance or friend troubles. BUT at the same time stress is still stress so we'll see.

I feel like Nora running out of breath, bless you if you stuck with this the whole way.

[juniperpublishersoceanography]

Precision Aquaculture: IPAT- Juniper Publishers

Introduction

The Definitive Principles of aquaculture cannot be written in indelible ink. This science is a part of a continuously improvement program. Way back in 1960’s it was recommended to feed the carps with rice bran and oil cake, because they were available in cheap. After the realization that these organic feeds are poorly utilized by fish and the fact that nowadays these raw materials for many other beneficial and much more economical activities and with increased demand, the cost of these raw materials has increased significantly. As advised in classic aquaculture, if it is mixed in 1:1 ratio and fed to fish, the cost of production will be Rs. 99/kg. But now in many parts of the country, the farm gate value of carps (Rs. 80/kg) does not rise above the cost of production. Till recently, carp seed rearing and farming at any scale was highly profitable because of the low cost for the inputs. But this is no longer true, as the cost of basic traditional inputs like cow dung, poultry manure, ground nut cake, rice bran and fixed costs of land; total input costs have increased many fold, while the farm gate value of the fish seed and market size fish remained almost constant. Though aquaculture production models are highly dynamic, unless we assess the economics and understand the scale of economy of any given activity, systems may not be economically or environmentally sustainable. In early sixties, most of the aquaculture production systems were extensive- that is using a low input extensive approach to production. Rice bran, ground nut cake (GNC) and cow dung was available then at cheaper cost. The cost of GNC in 1983 was Rs. 3.80 and it is Rs. 40/kg in 2014. The cost of rice bran was Rs. 1.60 and it is Rs. 18-20/kg currently (Figure 1).

USSEC Sponsored IPAT Program in India

US Soy Bean Export Council invited different stakeholders related to aquaculture and organized two programs in India. One at Vishakapattanam on 17.05.2016 and another at Kolkata on 20.05.2016. Mr Umakanth and Dr Yadunandan, and the USSEC team were instrumental in bringing different stakeholders on one platform to discuss a new aquaculture technology. Mr George Fullerton, Auburn University, USA delivered a special talk describing Intensive Pond Aquaculture Technology or IPAT. It was simplified and technically narrated by Dr Vijay Anand, Director, Asia Sub Continent, for USSEC. The institutes like National Fisheries Development Board, Hyderabad, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Cochin, Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture, Chennai, College of Fisheries, Mangaluru, Aquafeed producers, progressive farmers, shrimp hatchery owners and others related to field of aquaculture were present. The concept was well received by the stakeholders.

Visit to China

In continuation with the above described program in India, the selected group of stakeholders was taken to China to visit farms which demonstrate show the successful IPAT models. See and learn is better than hear and learn. The team of 60 delegates from countries like India, Vietnam, Egypt, China and USA were there as participants. Dr Jesse A. Chappell, Extension Specialist, Auburn University, Ms Deena Hansel, Aquaculture Program Manager, USSEC, Xiaoping Zhang, China Country Director, Mr Joe Zhou Enhua, Technical Manager-freshwater Aquaculture, USSEC, China, Dr Lee, USSEC, China, Mr. Jim Zhang, Program Manager- Aquaculture, USSEC, China, were moderating and technically facilitated the Program.

Delegates were taken to a Government of Farm which is 70km away from Shanghai City. Dr Chappell explained the concepts and immediately delegates were taken to the IPAT farm just few meters away from their office. Then everybody was able to actually see and learn from a real-world operating IPA system I had many doubts when I was listening to IPAT lecture at Vizag, India. Had I asked those questions, it would have been rude on my part for asking such questions. Thank god, I got a chance to see what they were telling in their lectures.

What is this IPAT?

Integrated Pond Aquaculture Technology (IPAT) developed by Auburn University and USSEC is trying to popularize this technology globally. It is just developing raceway structures within the pond system and creating river-flow within the system using only air! Remember those who are getting good fish or shrimp production with Mekong River using its robust natural flow. In an earthen pond say about 1ha, the production raceway or cells having 6-9 inch thick walls and measuring 25m X 5m X 1.5m. The total area of the cells will not cross 0.01.5% of the total area of the earthen pond. This means a 150m2 cell area is enough for 1ha pond. Using air blowers at the inlet end, water is airlifted and taken through the raceway and subsequently to the pond. The last addition 3m length of the cell is a solids or sludge collection point. Sludge is collected using simple pumps which move along the width of the cell. In 150 days, the grass carp production ranges from 140-160kg/m3. In China, they were culturing grass carp, channel catfish, big head carp, etc. They were fed to satiation with soy based floating feeds using automatic feeders. The production cells are positioned at one corner of the ponds. The water gushes out from the cells is guided by a baffle till the opposite corner later by using aerators, water is guided and makes a circular motion and ultimately again reaches the inlet of the cells. The technology is based upon continually flowing water pushed around the pond by air-lifts (Figure 2).

Is it Really Version 8.0?

Indian aquaculture started with stocking wild seeds (version1.0) later moved to stocking hatchery bred seed (Version2.0) along with a manuring schedule (Version 3.0) which wasnatural food based. Slowly, farmers started feeding rice bran and ground nut cake (Version 4.0). With continued advancement in aquaculture technology growers began using aerators (Version5.0) and use of sinking feed pellets (version 6.0). Floating feeds are now added to Indian aquaculture (version 7.0) and now IPAT as Version 8.0 (Figure 3).

Advantage IPAT

I. Entire crop is visible all the time

II. Uniform growth

III. Easy harvest

IV. Disease management is easy and inexpensive

V. More production efficiency and output

VI. Sustainable-financially and environmentally

VII. Reduced organic load on the system

VIII. less labour per unit harvested

Challenges of IPAT

a. Electric Power is essential for 24h; stand-by generator required

b. System Initial investment is little high

c. Round the clock monitoring may be required

Of course, there are solutions for these above said challenges; but at a cost. By looking at the economics, it is worth investing on the essentials that this system demands. Wherever, there are already ponds, they can immediately adopt and switch to IPAT Before switching to this new concept, one must make sure that they can meet the demands of IPAT. The other issues like market demand, species selection, cold chain and such other related issues also have to be taken into consideration before venturing into commercial unit.

Why it is Precision Aquaculture?

It is precision, because one can precisely know and monitor the growth rate, mortality, feed requirement, feeding, water quality, production, productivity, BC Ratio. Depending on the market demand, precise partial harvest is also possible. Using advanced technologies, water quality monitoring probes can be deployed in the cells and whenever the intended parameter varies beyond the specified range, the gadgets give signals to make changes. This can be linked to television at home/office or cell phones and take appropriate decisions to protect and contain the crop (Figure 4).

Other advantages of IPAT

Pangasius farming is going on in India in about 40000ha. But farmers are facing problem in marketing because of the yellowish color of the meat. In still water aquaculture, discoloration of meat is a usual phenomenon because of the stress related ammonia load in the system. If the pangasius grown in IPAT system, pangasius meat will have the whitish color that industry prefers. IPAT offers scope for:

1. Seed rearing

2. Stunted fingerling production

3. Live fish marketing

4. Aqua tourism

Disclaimer

This article is a document of personal field experience of the author. Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries University, Bidar or any other institutions in India and abroad are not responsible for the content, data or opinions in this article. Farmers and entrepreneurs need to take an author's and other experts' opinion before implementing it in the field.

To Know More About Journal of Oceanography Please Click on: https://juniperpublishers.com/ofoaj/index.php