#sprinkle in that identity stuff

[ri-afan]

Soulmate au - first words on skin

“Woah, hey, you probably shouldn’t be doing that.”

“…Are you my conscience?”

Person 1 is a vigilante helping someone with a probable concussion after an attack of some kind.

Person 2 is a person who’s had many a philosophical debate on whether or not the words on their skin made them reckless or if they were reckless all on their own.

[colorpicked-flags-from-one-guy]

The unlabeled flag picked from this one frame of Zuko!!

[ask-the-rag-dolly]

FINALLY THESE ARE OPENS

Whats your opinion on other ships like

Gangle x Zooble

Queenie x Kinger

Jax x Kaufmo

Caine x Kinger

Caine x Moon

Ofc this is optional but I'm just curious

umm ......... neutral ! ... " oh people ship these ? ... good for them ! ..." i don't mind that they exist ! ... i just only ever latch onto one romantic ship because i'm a weirdo who has an extremely specific dynamic she loves and it's ' opposites attract w/ bad communication and a lot of emotional problems to go through but it's ok holding hands will totally solve all of it '

[nyarumitsu]

i'm kinda really in love with the idea that if miles realizes something off about his gender identity, it's gonna be when hes around his late 30s to even early 50s honestly it will take him a while. he's the embodiment of this tweet

which will probably prove my point of him realizing stuff like that post soj or something, AND I'M ALL FOR IT!

i really like applying this to transfem miles the most cuz she'd have a realization from the most mundane of moments and spend like an entire week at the very least thinking of a new name she'd go by and it's all really beautiful old fashioned names and she spends all night researching about hormones and transitioning on top of finishing all her paperwork and when she finally starts... you know, transitioning and wearing more stuff that she actively likes she gets really gender euphoric and like. Yeah i love you (reads notes) Matilda Edgeworth it's always never too late to realize your identity queen

[crystallizedday]

SO

I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE NEW DELTARUNE CHAPTERS OR I WILL EXPLODE

I wanna primarily talk about my take on the knight’s identity, but I’ll sprinkle a few other thoughts of mine in if I can, cause HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Anyway

MASSIVE spoilers for Deltarune chapters 3 & 4.

DO NOT CLICK READ MORE IF YOU DO NOT WANNA GET SPOILED!!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

So

To me, it’s down to Dess & Carol Holiday.

Like

Look at this design.

Those are DEFINITELY antlers.

Toby knows his audience.

He’s poked fun of it in the game before (ie the theorist rant about Mike)

To me, he wouldn’t just include a design detail like that & NOT expect us all to think about the Holiday’s

So either he intentionally made them look like horns

Or it’s a red herring

& I highly doubt it’s the latter.

I DO think there’s a potential red herring, but it’s not in the knight’s design.

SPEAKING OF TOBY KNOWING HIS AUDIENCE & LIKELY HAVING THESE SPRITES HAVE SPECIFIC DETAILS

THOSE HAND HOLES ARE NOT A COINCIDENCE, & I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL!!

However, I don’t think it’s as mind blowing as it may seem at first.

Most of the fandom already agrees that Gaster has SOMETHING to do with the plot of Deltarune.

The hand holes don’t feel like something that indicates that Gaster is the knight.

Instead, it feels like it merely connects the knight TO Gaster.

Either the knight serves the former scientist (since there is no knight without a leader they follow)

OR

They BOTH are of equal power, people who were once of the light now prisoners of the dark.

Whether they have the same goal is… not clear.

However, the very fact that we now have solid (even if unspoken & rather interpretive) confirmation that the knight and Gaster ARE related

Is a big deal

Even if we all kinda knew that already.

NOW

Back to the Holiday’s.

I actually played through chapter 3 & 4 myself without looking anything up beforehand.

Yes, I missed some things, but from what I DID see, I first came to the conclusion that Carol, Noelle’s mother, was the knight.

In chapter 4, Kris talks to someone on the phone.

Kris seems to be working with someone who wants the dark worlds to spread & grow, hence why they stop the player from reading the bunker code written inside Dess’ guitar (keep that last fact in mind).

We don’t know for certain who this voice belongs to.

Is it the knight?

Gaster?

The same person Spamton spoke with back before his fall from fame?

It all seemed ambiguous

Until this happened.

Kris tells the person on the phone that they failed to stop Susie from getting the guitar.

The person then says they’ll be “right there…”

Which leads to

You cannot tell me with a straight face that this is a coincidence.

Noelle KNOWS her mom’s work hours.

Why would Carol suddenly come home so early?

If Carol was not the one on the phone, then someone or something HAD to come over to Noelle’s.

The voice specifically says “I’ll be right there.”

Not “I’ll stop her”

Or “I’ll send someone.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Carol is the ONLY person who arrives at the house before Susie’s kicked out & Kris follows her.

Not to mention

Like

Toby didn’t highlight “you” in RED merely to create emphasis.

He rarely does that.

We see him highlight stuff in YELLOW in this chapter, sure

But the only other thing he’s highlighted in red (from my recollection) was when Noelle talked about listening in for the presumed “mouse” while she & Susie wait in Dess’ room

& the red text hinted for you to make noise.

Considering that hint was for YOU & not KRIS (since you’re separated from Kris during this scene)

Me thinks it legitimately means something

& wasn’t just Toby deciding to be a lil funny & switch up his text colors for kicks (even if that WOULD be hilarious…)

THE POINT IS

I highly doubt Carol’s talking to Kris in the above scene, or at least, not JUST Kris.

I think she’s talking to the player.

The “you.”

We know from chapter 2’s Snowgrave route (specifically when you are about to defeat Spamton) that “you” refers to the player, not Kris.

Carol’s line here feels intentional.

ANOTHER INTERESTING THING

This COULD be seen as like

A metaphorical thing

(ie to show how “cold” Carol is toward others)

But considering Noelle’s whole thing in chapter 2

& the background ambiance when she arrives

& how Susie comments on FEELING the ACTUAL temperature drop…

It just feels

Too odd to be purely metaphorical.

Do I think this confirms she is the knight?

No.

To me, it merely shows that Carol is a PART of whatever this whole thing is.

Carol COULD be the knight

But to me, it doesn’t feel as thematically fitting as Dess being the knight.

Cause like

Dess is MISSING.

We don’t know HOW she went missing.

No one hasn’t seen her in quite a long time.

It makes sense that Dess, either willingly or forcefully, became the knight.

& when I say “became”

I mean like

MORPHED into it.

She IS the knight.

It is no suit of armor she can take off.

It is no dark world form she can shed if she were to enter the light world (assuming she ever could).

She IS the knight, & the knight is HER.

She is forever warped by a past event we have yet to see.

Plus

Carol feels like she has a few intentional red herrings that would make fans point to HER as the knight

Mainly the kitchen katana that she apparently uses to cut fruitcake with.

THAT feels like a straightforward red herring

Cause it’s TOO obvious.

Besides

The knight doesn’t wield a katana.

If Carol were the knight, I feel like the knight’s sword would be a lot more elegant looking, more katana-like.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see Carol KNOW about her eldest daughter’s fate & actively be working with her.

…

Also WHY IS THERE A NOTE IN DESS’ GUITAR??

Who put that there?

WHEN did they put that there?

I doubt it was Carol. That feels like a weird place to put a code. She feels like the character to have the code on HER at all times.

The code was likely from Dess herself.

Why was it put there?

To remind Dess how to open it (likely causing her to explore the shelter & later go “missing)?

Or perhaps

Somehow

It was written after her disappearance

As a quiet call for help

For SOMEONE to open the bunker & end the nightmare.

Carol could still know about the code without being the one to write it.

If Kris can spot the note so easily after only looking through the guitar ONCE

We can wager that Dess’ MOTHER, who LIVES in that house, likely found out about it at some point, ESPECIALLY if she truly is a part of the madness somehow.

Assuming this is all true, I wonder if Carol never plucked the note out because doing that would require breaking the guitar in some way, & she does not have the heart to do it.

That idea’s more headcanon-y than anything

Cause I’d just love to have a scene like that play out

Where she mumbled to herself about just getting rid of the damn note

But can’t without hurting the strings

Showing that she DOES still care. She DOES have humanity.

It’s just buried in the freezing cold.

…

… so while this seems like a good ending spot

I wanna say one last thing.

Fellas.

F e l l a s.

The later chapters don’t HAVE to abide by a set formula.

I keep seeing people argue whether this or that was the secret boss

& I’m just like

Fellas

It doesn’t have to match chapter 1 & 2’s format.

Hell, chapter 2 diverted from chapter 1’s format by making IT’s secret boss someone you encounter in game no matter how you play, a stark contrast from Jevil, who you can play the entire game without ever seeing a LICK of dialogue about him.

I think, out of everything, we shouldn’t worry about “who the secret boss is.”

No.

We should be more concerned about the shadow crystals & where they end up.

Cause APPARENTLY

DEFEATING THE KNIGHT IN CHAPTER 3 LEADS TO SUSIE CHIPPING OFF A PIECE OF THEIR SWORD

& WHEN YOU GO TO PICK UP THE SHARD

YOU ADDITIONALLY GET A SHADOW CRYSTAL!!

At first, I assumed the shadow crystal came FROM the sword, but that may not be entirely right.

Even still, I think the crystals either come FROM the knight

Or the knight & the crystals come from the same place.

Now, how specific characters get a hold of it

Is… up in the air.

We see Gerson hand one to Susie in chapter 4.

He tells her that someone likely wanted him to use it, but he didn’t find it interesting, so he never really did anything with it.

Perhaps someone (the knight, Carol, Gaster, who knows) is giving certain Darkeners shadow crystals for some unknown reason.

Whatever the reason is, considering the bosses to get these shadow crystals all tie to EXTREMELY hard boss fights, it’s likely a source of power the corrupts the user, just as it did with Jevil & Spamton.

So

By that logic

I suppose the knight IS the secret boss

But more so that the secret to the boss is that it’s winnable

Which feels

Very hilarious & overall Toby-ish to me, not gonna lie. IWNWODMWOCKSOMXOSMXODCM

But uh

Seriously.

We gotta look at how these bosses connect on a far less shallow level. We can’t be too occupied with interpretive patterns in the chapters’ varying story beats

Cause those story beats aren’t always gonna be repeated.

After all, repeating story beats make the rest of the potential chapters predictable

& I doubt Toby’s gonna be doing that…

Anyway uh

That’s all for now.

…

Ya know

Aside from how we finally got concrete confirmation that monsters bleed (so the whole “when you kill sans, you cut through some ketchup he had hidden away to make it look like blood” debate no longer matters)

Ralsai directly addressing how there MUST be another ending to their story (& suggesting that Toby’s “one ending” claim may be tied to the prophecy specifically)

Dead monsters having the capacity to be “revived” in the dark world, even if we can never be sure if it’s really “them”

THE FUCKING SNOWGRAVE CONTINUATION SCENE IN CHAPTER 4

LIKE HOLY SHIT

But that last one’s for another time

… probably.

For now, imma just

Close off my ramblings here before I spend another 2 hours of my day talking about how these two chapters absolutely DESTROYED my brain.

[midnight-shadow-cafe]

hello!! I’m a bit new to reading your stuff and I already LOVE it!!! And I was just wondering that because you did one with Ghost’s wife and baby meeting the team that maybe perhaps possibly you could do one for Gaz? If you don’t, I understand, and if you already have then I’m sorry for asking. ok, bye-bye!!!

—Lunar🐱

You Brought Who?

Pairing: Kyle “Gaz” Garrick x Wife!Reader

Warnings: Fluff, light domestic themes, found family vibes, established relationship, soft smut/spice (MDNI), affectionate teasing, Kyle being a very good husband and dad

Author's Note: This was such a joy to put together—team bonding, tiny chaos, soft!Kyle, and just the right sprinkle of heat. Hope you love it as much as I loved writing it!

Summary: When Kyle invites the team over for a casual hangout, he finally reveals the part of his life he's kept private—his wife and daughter. The surprise is mutual, the warmth is real, and the night takes a turn for the intimate once the house quiets down.

Masterlist

MDNI18+MDNI18+MDNI18+MDNI18+MDNI18+

Kyle had always kept his personal life close to the chest.

So when he casually dropped a, "You lot free Friday? Come round mine," into the squad chat, the silence that followed was deafening.

Price was the first to respond, gruff but curious.

Did hell freeze over?

Soap followed with something less tactful.

Since when do you host things? You live in a flat or a secret underground base?

Ghost, as usual, offered just:

Fine. I’ll bring something.

The truth was… no one really knew much about Kyle Garrick’s life outside work. They knew he liked his coffee sweet, was terrifyingly efficient in combat, and had a mouth that could cut a man to ribbons if pushed. But he never really shared things—not like Johnny with his endless stories, or Price with his well-worn wisdom, or even Ghost with his rare but grounding insights.

So when they showed up at the address Kyle had dropped—nice part of town, neat little front garden, cozy semi-detached—they were already off-balance.

Then the door opened.

And everything tilted.

You greeted them with a soft smile and wide eyes, dressed in a cozy knit set that looked far too soft for someone associated with a man like Kyle. You didn’t look shocked to see them. Just… mildly amused. Like you were used to this energy, and maybe even fond of it.

"Hi," you said. "Come in. Kyle’s just finishing up in the kitchen."

Price blinked. "You must be…"

"His wife," you supplied, stepping aside to let them in.

Soap nearly tripped over the welcome mat.

"Wife?"

You laughed, nodding. "Three years this fall."

"Bloody hell," Johnny muttered, glancing toward Ghost like he’d just learned Kyle had a second identity.

You led them into the warm, softly lit living room, where a little girl—tiny, curly-haired, with big brown eyes and a tiara perched on her head—was arranging plastic cups and stuffed animals around a tea table.

She looked up and beamed.

"Hi! I’m Talia. I’m four and a half. You wanna come to my tea party?"

Ghost, who had been about to sit down, froze mid-motion.

Kyle appeared then, casual in joggers and a hoodie, a tea towel over his shoulder, and absolutely unbothered by the stunned silence.

"Everyone," he said calmly, like it wasn’t earth-shattering, "meet my girls."

It took a moment for the team to catch up.

Price recovered first, moving forward to shake your hand with a chuckle. "He’s kept you hidden well."

"We weren’t hiding," you said, smiling up at Kyle. "Just… keeping it ours."

Soap crouched to meet Talia’s eye level, eyes wide with disbelief and delight. "You’re telling me this guy is your dad?"

She nodded proudly. "He’s the best one."

Ghost, standing stiff as ever near the wall, gave her a nod. "You run the place, then?"

Talia grinned. "I’m the boss of tea parties and bedtime songs."

Soap burst out laughing. "She’s a proper legend already."

And just like that—she had them.

Ghost ended up wearing a plastic crown and holding a stuffed bear named Sir Grumbles.

Soap was dramatically “poisoned” twice and made a scene both times.

Price, ever the steady one, sipped imaginary tea like it was the finest Earl Grey in Britain.

You watched from the kitchen, hands wrapped around your mug as Kyle leaned next to you, one arm slung around your shoulders.

"They’re not what I expected," you admitted.

He kissed your hair. "They’re not what anyone expects. But they’re good men."

"They love her already," you said, voice soft.

"Course they do." He smiled. "She’s perfect."

——

Later that night, with Talia fast asleep in bed and the team lounging in the living room—Soap and Ghost bickering over whose stuffed animal was knighted first, and Price quietly watching it all with a bemused smile—Kyle pulled you aside into your shared bedroom.

He shut the door gently behind you, voice low. "You okay, love?"

You nodded, letting him press close, hands warm on your waist. "More than okay."

He kissed you—slow and sweet, like he had nowhere else to be. The noise faded behind the door, the world shrinking down to just his breath on your skin, his fingers grazing under your shirt.

"You sure?" he murmured, lips brushing your jaw. "We’ve got a full house."

You smiled, curling your fingers into his hoodie. "Then you better be quiet, Sergeant."

He laughed softly, voice thick with affection. "Not a chance."

You rolled your eyes, laughing softly, but it quickly melted into a gasp when he dipped his head to your neck, kissing slowly, lazily, like he had all night to savor you. His hands slid under your top, calloused palms skimming your skin as he laid you back against the sheets.

"You looked so damn good today," he murmured, voice low and warm. "Watching you with them. With her. Had me counting the minutes."

"Kyle—" you whispered, breath catching as he pushed your shirt up and pressed kisses down your stomach. "They’re just in the other room."

He grinned against your skin. "Then I’ll go slow."

And he did—painfully, blissfully so. He made love to you like it was a language only you two understood, soft gasps and whispered praise tangled in the dark. When you finally came undone beneath him, his name slipping past your lips like a prayer, he followed close behind, burying his face in your neck and holding you close.

——

Afterward, tangled together under the covers, you let yourself melt into him, chest still rising and falling as he brushed his fingers down your spine.

"Still glad you brought them?" you mumbled sleepily.

"Best decision I ever made," he said, kissing your temple. "Besides marrying you."

The next morning was chaos—but the sweet kind.

You found Talia sprawled on top of Ghost on the couch, a tiny hand gripping his vest while he slept rigidly beneath her, clearly unsure of what to do.

Soap was face-down in a pile of stuffed animals.

Price was already drinking tea.

Kyle slung an arm around your waist and kissed your temple.

"You see it now?" he whispered. "Why I wanted them to know?"

You leaned into him, smiling at the quiet sight of your daughter curled up against one of the world’s most intimidating men.

"Yeah," you murmured. "I see it."

Hope you enjoyed! Please consider liking and reposting! -Midnight💜

[cryptocism]

I got some questions if that’s ok? lol

1: has Thad ever admitted his feelings to Kon? (Probably not lol)

2: let’s say Thad does, what’s Kon’s reaction?

3: got any headcanons/triva stuff for Thad?

4: what about Bart?

oh boy ill do my best to give decent answers!

1: hmm i think it would depend on the circumstances? but overall ur right probably not haha. Thad navigating new and terrifying relationships in an absurdly neurotic and dramatic way is one of my favourite avenues to take his character so if he ever DID it would have to be extremely embarrassing for everyone involved

2: ppl may have gathered im a big fan of unrequited/onesided romance lmao so 90% of the time id say Kon tries to let him down easy

3: ohh Thad headcanons...

i mean piggybacking off of the konthad discussion i do think of Thad having a crush on Kon as a very puppy love/hero worship kind of crush. like i can't really see them in a real relationship bc im too attached to Thad putting Kon on a pedestal lmaoo. like here's this guy who is also a clone but still has his own identity/life/friends/interests outside of Clark and yet also has an amicable relationship with the guy and his family! it's all Thad has ever wanted!!! and with the rose-coloured lenses on he doesn't clock all the ways Kon actually really struggles with basically all those things.

yall already know abt my goth Thad propaganda which is based on very little except that he'd likely want to differentiate himself from Bart's appearance and a vibe that he's naturally drawn to a darker/edgier aesthetic (based on his palette-swapped black Impulse suit and the needlessly dramatic cloak and the look CRAYDL goes for when they inhabit the technoplasm monster)

^this is a little in conflict with another canon-adjacent headcanon which is Thad's hyperactive level of social awareness. i do think he wants most people to like him unless he's deemed them an enemy, so he fronts a very amicable sociable young man when he's around strangers or people he wants to impress. im reconciling it with the countercultural goth aesthetic by saying he can contain multitudes :P (also i think of Thad as having a delightfully dialectical brain that both desperately wants to be unique and special but also instinctively tries to comply with societal expectations)

not based in canon at all but i think he should be into the kinds of animals people find weird/gross/strange. #1 rat/snake/spider/insect defender he should have a pet snake named cornwallace or something.

4: aand Bart headcanons!

i really like how into video games he is especially in his solo and i would love to see that explored more as a genuine special interest. he tops speedrunning leaderboards and finds the insane easter eggs and secrets. his username (which is either his full legal name or an inscrutable series of numbers and letters no inbetween) becomes infamous in several online circles. ppl beg him to start streaming but Bart doesn't care he's in it for the love of the game

i really enjoy Bart having an eclectic aesthetic big fan of the grunge skater stuff he was wearing in the 90s and in sprinkles throughout the 2000s. one thing abt modern comics that makes me a lil sad is how everyone seems to have the same general sense of style :( (which is more a fault of tight deadlines and lack of characterization rather than the fault of the artists lbr)

the man strikes me as a collectibles guy he likes the fun of tracking down rare trading cards/action figures/etc and the satisfaction of a complete set. i think he would use facebook marketplace worldwide and have endless frustrations trying to communicate with the sellers

i want his having read a whole library to actually have an impact on things so i do think he has a grasp on most latin alphabet languages (having read every X to english dictionary) so his vocabulary is awesome but his grammar and accent are Trash (like he can read signage but struggles to hold a coherent conversation)

[your-local-uwu-artist]

THE FINALE

once upon a time I hit timmy turner with the pony beam and then this happened

notes under the cut!

Little Wisher (timmy)

-he's a pegasus because I felt like 'dimsdale' sounds like it would be a pegasus town fsr

-I figured he'd be a blank flank sense he's only 10

-I considered 'wishing well' as a name instead but thought little wisher sounded cuter

-I find it bland that when someone ponyifies a character with brown hair they just make them brown so while in the original post I did include a brown version I much prefer him in purple~

-Wanda and Cosmo get to keep their names, They're still fairy godparents, their species is closely related to the breezies

Pineapple Square (spongebob)

now that I think of it he could probably keep his full surname of squarepants but just 'square' sounds like a dessert so I like both

-I considered making him a merpony but decided I wanted all of them to be ponies and make the diversity in the type of pony instead

-I also considered making him a pegasus but I felt being an earth pony would probably fit better

-I also considered a number of cutie mark options, but sense a lot of ponies have cutiemarks related to their job I felt a spatula would make the most sense. I added some fun flowers to go with it though :3

-I like to think the equestria equivalent of bikini bottom would be a town on a beach thats on the outskirts of equestria, and that it's full of a bunch of different species and not just ponies

-fndjsanfk drawing fluffy hair is so fun :D

Neutronic Sprinkles! (jimmy)

-original was gonna be 'sprinkle Neutron' but I don't think it runs off the tongue well

-anyway I'm naming him Sprinkles because apparently some people call sprinkles 'jimmys' and his hair looks like icecream

-this is also why he gets to keep a nuetrual brown color scheme because chocalote ice cream

-so i ALMOST made him a unicorn, but then I reconsidered, because i felt him being an earth pony would make him being a super genius much more impactful, like, unicorns tend to be associated with the science-stuff and invention and innovation of Equestria. generally speaking at least. additionally the apple family has got us under the impression that country/southern=earth pony and retroville is in texas so *shrug*

-His cutiemark is the symbol from his shirt, I think he probably got his cutiemark earlier then most, and plenty his age are still blank flanks

Scifi Phantom (or Phantastic) (danny)

-his name came to my mind immediately, idk why really

-he's a unicorn mostly because no one else is

-in his pony(non ghost) form he has black mane and light blue coat, his cutie mark is a purplish planet with a ring, and some snowflakes around it, it turns blue in his ghost form

-I figured it would make sense to keep his cutiemark concealed as Phantom, sense that's probably 'secret identity 101 in equestria

-in pony form his tail is just basic spikey and short, as a ghost it's all fun and spectral!!

[randomnameless]

Why do the FEH devs insist on ignoring Nabatean lore so much?

I recently had a surprisingly cordial discussion on redshit with someone about the "nabateans = colonisers" take, and one of the main points raised was that the game was purposedly foggy around Nabateans/Sothis/their story because it would obviously favor a certain narrative (and thus make another narrative look, uh, not that marketable anymore).

To be honest, we still ended up with a product that had a lead go "this race and its blood* is the reason why the world sucks" and yet that lead is still marketable enough to have raunchy cipher cards and 5 FEH alts, so I actually wonder if, while pissing on that lore had that purpose, it was ultimately pointless since Supreme Leader can still sell goodies despite her incarnation in FE16.

And not only Supreme Leader - but the entirety of WC where we basically have 70% of the cast crying/complaining about their "mixed blood" or lack of and basically adding their 10 cents to the "this race and its blood is the reason why the world sucks".

I mean, can you imagine Sylvain selling any goodies and alts if Flayn replied to his "wah wah people only are kind to me and want to fuck me because I have Nabatean blood :(" by some uncharacteristic "good for you, I have to hide my ears, had to dye my hair, have to lie about my family because if the truth is found out about my identity, I will be hunted and vivisected like an animal and harvested for parts by people who call my kin abominations - just like what happens in the game where the same people who call my kin "abominations" ally with a classmate who calls me a creature and pretends I am incapable of human feelings based on my race".

FE Fodlan's main selling point is its cast of students, for various reasons, but even if I tried to kid myself, Nopes and FEH made it clears : students are the main selling point.

If you spare more time and attention to the Nabatean plot/lore, the students either grow from "likeable" to "despicable" or worse, you won't gaf about them because yeah sure, Hilda might be upset because people expect things from her due to her crust, but it would feel like a "peanut" compared to Seteth's irrational (granted, it's not so irrational since GW exists) fear that Flayn's newest friends would dissect her if they learnt she was a Nabatean, and being conflicted by finally letting her have human friends and form bonds she crave, or protect her due to the trauma from the genocide of their species.

Don't get me wrong, I love peanuts, I mean, not everyone can have a tragik of loaded backstory!

And yet, given how this verse's DNA is "can you fight against the red emperor who uwus about you", they had to add copious amounts of Earl Grey to their games so there's no clear-cut factions :

The "Your alien blood and its influence on the world corrupted it, so I want to reform it under my command" vs "I don't want to die and you oppose me due to my race and side with the people who genocided my kin"

is turned to :

"Your alien blood Crests and its your church's influence on the world corrupted it, so I want to reform it under my command"

"I don't want to die and you oppose me due to my race and side with the people who genocided my kin"

Sprinkle with the cast's hammering here and there that the "reforms" might be needed - but never develop on what they are - and add a few baseless and groundless takes as a toping (basically everything Claude says about tolerance and the general "isolationism/foreign policy" stuff) and you get FE Fodlan where the Red Emperor's war isn't seen as the catastrophe it is in the other entries from the series!

Now, for FEH...

FWIW, the F!F!Billy's trailer had them try to explain that Sothis was a bit pissed about her slaughtered/massacred children when Nopes never gave any reason about why she was pissed - maybe on Billy's behalf bcs Jerry's dead, but come on, she would indeed deserve the medal of the worst parent in the franchise if that was the case, since Billy can murder her daughter without Sothis taking over ! - but given that they cannot write/go against the source game those characters are from.

They tried a bit, with B!Supreme Leader and Hegemongard's FB, but then it stopped (because she had no "new unit" released since then lol) and I can understand why : Hegemongard came out before the Supreme Emblem, and Hegemongard hates dragons who are seen/perceived as gods by some of their human followers. Come FE17, and now Supreme Emblem accepts Alear because they are "one of the good ones". We can come up with HCs and details and talk about what are emblems or if Hegemongard's views were only hers at the end of AM all day long... But imo, Doylist wise, it still feels it's a retcon because the devs from the main games tried to scrap and remove the most "controversial" traits she had.

For the other characters... Well, you see what Marianne is in FEH (but even in her base games), she's one of the few characters who reacts - in a way - to the partial history about relics and demonic beasts and all... only to give sad uwus to Maurice.

FE16 (and Nopes) refused to have any "student" character react to the Nabatean lore/reveal, about what are relics and all. There are no lines, Claude shared some knowledge in the explore section of VW's last chapter, but we don't have anyone muse or think or even talk about what are relics, what are crests, and what kind of fuckery their ancestors or the ancient humans of Fodlan did.

With that in mind, FEH can't do much : either they write Marianne in a retcon-y way like what happened for Hegemongard (and they're not afraid to piss on characterisation, look at Lyon!), or they flanderise her "character" and develop her around 3 lines she had in the game in her paralogue, and continue to give sad uwus about Momo when he was at best a guy who slaughtered and murdered so much that he abused the Nabatean turned into a relic to the point where he turned in a demonic beast even if he had a matching crest, or at worst, had been part of Nemesis's piñata party in Zanado and was something of a genocider.

Tldr :

Why FE Fodlan never gaf about Nabateans : earl grey + the marketable cast has to stay marketable and you can't sell peanuts at the same price you'd sell swordfish

Why FEH dgaf about Nabatean lore : they can't afford to retcon characters + they have to sell peanut alts with the same seasoning they had in their base game.

For what it's worth though, I think FEH is more daring than the base game(s) given how they gave more lines and screentime to Rhea - through her different alts - than GW. And they even designed her Halloween!alt's lines to piss on some of Claude's assertions, while the various FB involving members of the church also - indirectly - reply to some accusations thrown their way in FE16 when, FE16, never gave them an opportunity or lines to explain that those takes were full of dung.

*"but random, maybe she doesn't know that the crests she often decries is "dragon blood"!"

It's highly debatable, especially given what she and Hubert throw to Billy in CF - but even if she doesn't, Doylist wise we still have a character who, knowingly or not, says "this race and its blood* is the reason why the world sucks" and who is never called out on her prejudice. That's more of an issue regarding the general writing though, she has to be a red emperor and took pages from Ashnard's book, and yet, the player must still feel bad and want to romance her, so her mindest/goal cannot be looked at too closely, because, I guess, even the devs thought it would be difficult to romance her (thus sell goodies!) if more light was shed on the "blood from this race corrupts our people" schtick -> which in turn would also make characters whose backstory and gimmick rely on "crying about crests" be way less likeable, thus marketable and able to sell goodies.

[artist-in-training-wheels]

Updated designs as of: 8/20/24

Remember when I said I was knee-deep into SAMS/LAES? Welp, I still am- so here's my (mental) designs of all the core characters (Not scaled for height)! Some notes/extra thoughts under the cut :D Added their pallets to make coloring easier!

Main 4:

Work:

I swapped Sun and Moon waist thingy; I just think they would do that since they're close. Their arm ribbons were also changed to purple to match!

Moon has a cape instead of a ruffle like Sun because... idk, I think he'd like it!

Earth and Lunar also have matching cuffs; theirs is pale/light cobalt blue.

Gave Earth's dress more Princess vibes; why? Idk, just felt like she would like it!

Sun's joints can be seen since he hasn't died and been "placed" in a new/updated body!

Casual:

Moon and Earth (kinda) have casual outfits, so I thought I'd make something for Sun and Lunar.

Sun HAS his matching friendship bracelet with Dazzle- I finally decided to draw it ^^

Sun's shirt says, "Here comes the Sun" I feel it would mostly be a gag gift, but he likes it!

I almost gave him a sweater (cause he gives me sweater vibes, tbh), but then I saw his Q&A video and went, "damn, never mind, I guess".

Lunar's hoodie was also a gag gift (cause its color scheme is similar to Gemini)- but he likes it too much, plus it's soft :D

Made Earth's sweater a bit darker, mainly cause she has a lot of light colors already (the pink comes from the sprinkle sweater!)

I also feel like the boys would take off their bells when they're not working.

It was asked how and... idk they made an interdimensional portal- I'm sure they found a way to take off the bells lmao

The other 4:

I hate how I did Ruin's rays and hat. But nothing was working for me, so... oh well...

I gave Jack the two tips for his hat because I think he'd like those- same with the arm sleeves!

Also- yes he has a friendship bracelet with Dazzle- he keeps it protected under his arm sleeve, it's identical to Sun's!

I really like how Solar came out. Specifically his boots and shirt design!

He gives me knee boot vibes, so I gave him shoes with a sun and a moon on the back (they lace up just didn't feel like adding those details)

I Like how Eclipse came out- Miiiight redesign him... depending on how the Eclipse and Puppet Show goes, but for now, I'm content :)

I never mentioned it, but I do imagine that Eclipse has a second set of arms. I would think Solar did, too, but those were taken away during his revival because of the "Eclipse sees other Eclipses as inferior" stuff!

The Evil 4:

I made Dark Sun look like Regular Sun... cause that's kinda his whole thing! But if I were to give him a different outfit- it would be Eclipse's!

Few changes to Nexus (I can't take him or his model serious tbh, I kept laughing XD), decided to give his hat a Wither shard at the tip because power (and possible corruption) go BRRRRR (Side Note: Made an AU on it :D)

I'm not sure how visible it is, but on his right cheek, you can see a virus of some kind—I really like that, so I put it on him because I really like the idea of him slowly being corrupted due to his insanity!

He has a darker shade of boots similar to Solar because... well, Solar :)

World President Earth (or WP Earth) has a lovely wine-red dress with her flag as a cape (the same flag seen in the thumbnail)!

The flag is held together by a smiley pin because why not =)

Evil Lunar (while tempting to go with Current Lunar design) has the design of the previous version because, well... that's the form he gained the power in (from my understanding)

The tip of his hat is a dying Star because that feels appropriate, in my opinion.

I MIGHT do Foxy, FC, Monty, and Puppet, but I'm not too sure, tbh, since my mental image isn't too far off from their models. Anyways, time to return to my little gremlin hole and watch the series :)

[luciusdaskel]

Because this psychology stuff is fun, how about an MK?

Since people seem to like the Macaque episode analysis, I'mma do Monkey MK. Specifically Episode 4 of Season 5.

Ok this turned into an entire thing that's not just that ep lmao

I made a "keep reading" line because holy hell is this post long- (Also I just wanted this posted so no fancy quote pictures this time- rip-)

Well first and foremost, we need to identify roughly MK's mental state and make a rough blueprint of it all.

First event that really kicks off MK's traumatic run is the Macaque episode. Sure there's minor details that came before but if you notice, since that episode, MK has not been the same even if it's a very tiny difference.

I guess a minor piece that's important for this is the Spider Queen special, mostly for one line. "Wow MK you're handling your spider phobia really well!" "I'm internalizing a lot of things right now-"

A minor piece is Wukong's leave in sleep bug, but more important for an in-depth analysis of MK.

Then the next one is Minor scale, which is Episode 5 of Season 2, aka when MK meets LBD, which is when she gets into his head.

LBD mixed with Macaque's past grooming makes MK very anxious, which is understandable. Thus creating a sense of fear.

Oh also Shadow play has some play in it but it just shows more frustration and worries, which he's likely been suppressing at this point. Also a bit more grooming, maybe? Idk gonna look at that later lol.

The entirety of season 3 but notably Smartie kid, aka episode 3, I guess The Winning Side, aka episode 4, The King The prince and the shadow, aka episode 9, the Samahdi Fire, aka episode 10, and of course the special for the infamous "For destiny, right?" "No, to pain" scene.

Then we catch up with MK's worries and doubts in Episode 1 of Season 4. The end of how me the monster and Pitiful creatures, aka episode 6 and 7. The brotherhood, aka episode 9, is notable because MK isolates himself for the first time. The fight with Azure and the end of it in Season 4's special.

Finally we are at Stings that bind, aka episode 1 of season 5, for all this trauma's response that's in MK, then sprinkle fear from Temple of the goddess, aka episode 3, and we got were MK is at in episode 4, which is our analysis.

So we have a map of sorts, showing how MK's mental health has declined and how his own thoughts started to turn against him. Why did I go over this before the monkey? Well, I just wanted to make sure we got our bases covered lol

So what is this Monkey form? Why do I want to analyze it specifically? Well... I'm sure it's no surprise it's a great representation of Carl Jung's Shadow Self theory (a bit ironic if you ask me). This leads it to be a great representation of how intrusive thoughts can break you down, creating depression, self-destruction, unstable identity, imposter syndrome, spirals, isolation, and more. Thus a great representation of of these mental health issues as a whole in my opinion.

So what even is a shadow self? Well, a shadow self isn't inherently bad. It's a part of you that is a mix of desires, weaknesses, and instincts. Actually there are good ones that provide creativity, "that gut feeling" instincts, and some insights like constructive criticism, and embarrassment (I know it feels bad but it IS a good emotion. Otherwise you'd probably do that embarrassing thing again and again.) However, Carl Jung, the founder of this psychological theory, primarily focused on the negative aspect of it, which is exactly what Monkey MK has devolved into for MK. These shadows are the manifestation of your intrusive thoughts, destructive behaviors, negative emotions, and suppressed traits and thoughts.

A good example I can think of on exactly what creates a shadow is from Inside Out 2. They have a dam of memories they just throw away because they want to repress them, unintentionally leading up to the climax. I won't spoil it but just know that letting those thoughts form into Riley's sense of self did wonders for her future and her health. Granted because it's a movie the process is very quick compared to real life, but you get my point.

MK has been making this dam of his trauma since Season 1. Which accumulated into Monkey MK. Well... he tried to face it but he was facing the wrong thing, but a positive is a positive. Which was in the Spider Queen special, he didn't confront this shadow but he did confront himself on his own assertiveness and reflected on himself. If only he did that again before season 5... With the grooming from Macaque, it made MK more susceptible to LBD's manipulations and her own grooming. Grooming lower's one's defenses or can impair a lot of thinking processes, and I can see one of the effects of Mac's grooming making MK unprepared mentally for stress and or blows to his self-esteem. For more information, I highly recommend you read over my Macaque episode analysis. The few reblogs by @zephyrusswinds goes into detail about MK's feelings and I just add on to their words.

This link has all the reblogs I'd like you to read.

As pointed out in that post, MK doesn't open up about his issues, likely because of Macaque's influence because the nature of grooming, and this habit carries on throughout the series. Before hand MK had a fairly open communication, mostly referring to episode 2. He had issues saying no to Mei and Sandy but also he easily opened up to Tang when Tang asked what was wrong. On top this, of his desire to help people turning into a desperate need. So with these two things combined, MK has a cocktail of dodging his issues, inflamed people pleasing, and a newfound savior complex. That's not even covering MK in the focus episode, where he literally has no way of dealing with stress until Wukong gave him that lesson.

Oh yeah, also the part about internalizing? It's ok to use your fear as motivation, but internalizing and, presumably, never addressing it only leads to problems. This also shows that internalizing things has been happening since Season 2. Then with Macaque's influence, MK then get easily manipulated by LBD. Her words get to him and makes the already dark void that Macaque planted bigger. He needs to be a good person, but also what if he's not and Monkey King chose wrong because of it? This creates anxiety and a deeper need to be good. Not quite until he self-destructs, not yet anyways. This anxiety is openly expressed to Macaque, after pushing MK to express it and likely only making him want to close up more. I mean, I'd not want to dump my insecurities on my abuser and especially when he can pretend to be my mentor, a person I trust. That creates trust issues and a more emotionally isolated person.

Oh boy with Smartie kid MK feels like he needs to be useful to the group now that he doesn't have powers. He often plays off stress and other negative emotions with humor and I can't think of a more humorous yet stressful time for MK. He just lost his powers, he knows Macaque is after them, everyone is over heating- It's just not a good time, so he becomes the smart one most likely for laughs. Then the winning side had Macaque taunt MK until he got his powers, also note his own words of "[...] And gold vision? That's like the baby power, and I can't even do that! I'm not even as good as a baby!" The Samahdi fire episode has MK forced to watch as his best friend is hurt AND on top of it both her and his mentor fly off. This would just be painful in it's own right, but also consider MK, at this point, feels like he needs to help everyone plus his best friend. He has a savior complex by this point, I feel, and when you can't help someone, it hurts like a papercut in lemon juice. Because what good are you if you can help others, especially when someone needs you the most. MK risked his life to save Mei because that fire can kill even Wuong, just for her to fly off to avoid hurting him.

In the end all is good of course, LBD gets her ass handed to her after MK made a plan. Not gonna cover the Macaque part since he doesn't affect his mental health. Then LBD parts with him with one last piece of manipulation "it all leads to pain". MK, with his savior complex, internalizes her words and BOY HOWDY DOES IT AFFECT HIM.

We see the near direct results of her words afterwards in episode 1 of season 4 where it's clear MK feels like he is responsible for everything wrong. This is his savior complex at full display. He feels so much guilt and now it's starting to eat him alive. He represses it until the ink scroll starts to notice him and break him more. Now his shadow has a form, and the ink scroll took that form. It's possible originally was closer to Wukong or Macaque (placing bets on it being Mac), but the scroll made it more like MK to mess with him. Regardless- It has a form now.

The rest we all know, MK commits a Mei and flies off to process things. Then fights Azure and has a ton of fun doing so. Possibly letting all the anger from all the time he's been manipulated lose, creating release and enjoyment. On top of the fact MK always has loved beating the snot out of his enemies- Then MK gets scared of this power and shuts down. All of episode 1 of season 5 is MK literally running dry to escape and dissociate from his own power.

MK was likely trying to tire himself out so he'd not have the energy to be that strong again, on top of trying to run from his thoughts. Making himself lowkey a workaholic and absolutely destroying his health. ... Which is a different topic as well but to recap, the first two days of no sleep aren't too bad but you'll have mircosleeps, which we see MK having, by the second. By the third day, healthline says one might experience depersonalization, anxiety, distortions in how they perceive the world, and more. And it just gets worse the more you don't sleep.

That's also neglecting that not sleeping makes you as functional-able as an intoxicated person.

This is from Cleveland Clinic, a medial website.

Sooo... MK's going through a rough time emotionally AND physically because of his own self-destruction.

So he's self-destructing before he even gets to the suicidal point. Goodie. Once he gets to Sandy and the black tortoise, his shadow self has grown genuinely out of control. By the start of season 5, it's morphed from anxiety to depression and self-destruction, and from depression to suicidal thoughts after the Vermillion bird.

HOW TIME FOR THE HECKIN EPISODE-

So the main thing of the episode is to control yourself by using mediation and the same method used in shadow working, or therapy focused on your shadow.

Monkey MK is the shadow and we already covered how MK has been repressing and Monkey MK has been growing stronger-

The parts that Monkey MK points out is MK's lust for the strength fighting gives him and how addicting his chaotic power is. I have a theory on how chaos is like a drug but that's for another analysis. Then once MK fights against it, after some support from Sandy, by admitting that his shadow self is part of him.

"You're just a part of who I am!" "Rage? Fear? Desperation?" "Yes!"

Then after that he says to himself "You're me, but I'm in control." which is exactly what shadow work says.

This is from Psychology Today.

The entire scene is one of many shadow working sessions MK will need to go through but this first one was the first big step to him accepting himself.

However, Sandy is right at the end, that was not a good or proper session, but it did help MK in the end to have that first step in shadow working and learning to accept himself.

Just remember if you are going to attempt shadow work, just remember that it IS difficult to face your shadow because it's literally facing the part of yourself you might dislike or even hate. So, as Sandy said, it's a process and you work at it every day.

TLDR; I rambled about MK's mental health issues, what is a shadow self and why Monkey MK is a shadow, and how the episode reflects shadow self therapy, aka shadow work. (Also I made this a few months ago and I just finished it just now lol)

[siriuslygay1981]

･ﾟﾟ･｡About my Main Marauders DR｡･ﾟﾟ･

Pt. 1 mm.dr

Me:

Pureblood, Older Twin, Older brother, Troublemaker, Genius, Artistic, burnout, determined, stubborn, powerful

Friend group(s): (In order of meeting)

The marauders- Peter, Sirius, James, Remus

The valkries- Marlene, Lily, Mary, Emmeline

The pantheon- Regulus, Dorcas, Evan, Barty, Pandora

Family:

Peter Pettigrew- twin brother, 16 minutes younger, identical in everything but eyes (plus small differences such as some of my beauty marks, height and such)

Annabeth pettigrew- Younger sister, illegitimate, sassy, three years younger, princess-tomboy

Martin Pettigrew- father, abusive, strict,

Heather Pettigrew- Mother, absent, narcissistic,

Cane pettigrew- Cousin, annoying, pompous,

Constince pettigrew- cousin, annoying, likes to act like royalty

Evaline pettigrew- grandmother, recluse, mysterious for most of our lives,

Endgame S/o's:

Sirius

James

Remus

Noteable S/o's:

Gilderoy lockhart

Bellatrix black

Lily evans

Barty+Evan

Some Background!

Theres a lot of lore that is easier to write about when it comes up so ill keep it short. Canonly peter is white....thats not the case here. As im a poc ive changed things so that our family is poc.

Annabeth is illegitimate and hidden from society for most of her life. I grow up raised to be the perfect heir, shielding peter from the responsibility. Our father keeps his eyes off of the other two because i keep him away from them.

When we were six our mother bans our house elf from helping us with anything. I venture out to the muggle word because of that. There i meet my gang, i meet them after about two years of scavenging on the street. They dont know anything about my home life or anything personal for many years.

Ive met but was never properly introduced to sirius through pureblood events before (also how i know a few other people), james used to be in the same neighborhood as peter and i, and we did know each other for about two and a half years before he moved away.

Ive been researching stuff on animagi for six months (before first year). (My family has a big library...and i happen to be a reader.) I found out about animgaus stuff early on, just a bit before hogwarts. I researched more at hogwarts and started the process three months into hogwarts. I finish the animagus process a little over the middle of the year. Im able to shift into any animal. The animal i shift into depends on multiple factors. I find out about remus' secret and so i use my animagus secret to help him. He isnt aware, no one is besides me. Obviously until second year when the other marauders find out hes a werewolf and want to become animagi.

I meet the marauders, officially, on the train to hogwarts!

This is mostly the beginning of first year! With a bit of lore sprinkled in! I know i kinda rushed the animagus thing but I can't say i regret it one bit?

[wishing-well-bah]

names ; Hurricane(Drizzle, sprinkle, charm) Indigo Pacific

pronouns ; he/him, they/them, pitter/patter, Rain/rainself, Storm/stormself, Drizzle/drizzleself, Shower/showerself, Raincloud/raincloudself, Drip/dripself, Drop/dropself, Dew/dewself, Mist/mistself, Cloudy/cloudyself, Moon/moonself, Luna/lunaself, Lunar/lunarself, Star/starself, Sleepy/sleepyself

identities ; cis or trans man, bisexual/romantic, queerplatonic, spring rain!, Sharklink, sharkkin, flying fishkin, Stormcoric, Rainsleepy, Lisrainox, Stormynightskygender, Raindrombellic, Rainynightgender, Noctoraindropgender, Lunaventis, Phosnightial, Nightgender, Starsundic, rainypupgender, SLUGCATIC!

source ; Brainmade / Bahtive

face claim ; Link 1!! Link 2!! Link 3!! Link 4!!

species ; shark/flying fish mermaid/siren

roles ; Charge, Moodbooster, Motivator, Companion

sign offs ; ⛈️, 🌧️, 🌦️, ☔, 💧, 🌊

aesthetic / moodboard ; Link for color palette

songs / playlist ; Wriggle(Cosmo Sheldrake), cure for me(aurora), Under the water(Aurora), VS SAYU(NSR OST), CAPSULE(RGB), Meaningful Stone(Shower Duty), Maiko Iuchi(Tea Time)

user boxes ;

comforts ; showers/baths, the pool, rainy days, sprinkles(light showers of rain), bubbles, shiny stuff(like holographics or glitter), hanging out with his headmates

discomforts ; mean people, spaces that are too bright

personality ; hyper, upbeat, quiet yet strong and loud when he gets goin, still loves helping others and loves to encourage people. just a bit more obvious whimsy in his step!

interests ; Helping others, ARGs, games like stardew valley

birthday ; july 22nd

his partner Bah is here!(intended to be a facet to him) (link)

[ukfrislandembassy]

Ok like nobody seems to have noticed but Juliette Blevins has recently put out a case that Great Andamanese might actually have been Austroasiatic all along (to complement Jarawan possibly being an Austronesian relative). There's some stuff that's certainly suggestive, but it'll be a bit more work needed before I'm ready to accept these 32 proposed correspondences as anything more than chance, particularly after the Indo-Vasconic debacle. Still, below the cut I'm going to try and give this a fair review.

All of this is from 'Linguistic clues to Andamanese pre-history: Understanding the North-South divide', in The Language of Hunter Gatherers, edited by Tom Güldemann, Patrick McConvell and Richard Rhodes and published in 2020 (a free version of the chapter can be found on Google Scholar).

Looking through the data, it actually seems relatively rigorous as a set of comparisons; she's done a shallow reconstruction of a Proto-Great-Andamanese from wordlists (seemingly a relatively trivial exercise, though with caveats noted below) and is seemingly comparing these to reconstructions from the Mon-Khmer comparative dictionary.

Many of the correspondences are basically identical between the two reconstructions with at most minimal semantic differences, e.g. (in the order PGA~PAA respectively) *buə 'clay' ~ *buəh 'ash, powdery dust'; *muən 'pus, dirt' ~ *muən 'pimple'; *cuər 'current, flow' ~ *cuər 'flow, pour'; *cuəp 'fasten, adjoin' ~ *bcuup/bcuəp 'adjoin, adhere'. However, I wonder if the Proto-GA reconstructions here have been massaged a bit to fit the Austroasiatic correspondence more closely; in Aka-Kede for example, each of these words shows a different vowel; pua, mine, cor(ie), cup. It's not fatal by any means (in fact if the correspondences could be shown to be more complex than simple identity that would actually help the argument), but definitely annoying.

There's a couple of PGA items which are presented as having a straightforward sound correpondence in PAA where the semantics is close but doesn't quite match, but also alongside a semantic match that differs slightly in sound, e.g. by a slightly different initial consonant, e.g. *raic 'bale out' ~ *raac 'sprinkle' /*saac 'bale out'; *pila 'tusk, tooth' ~ *plaaʔ 'blade'/*mlaʔ 'tusk, ivory'; *luk 'channel' ~ *ru(u)ŋ 'channel'/*lu(u)k 'have a hole'. I think there's possibly a plausible development here, with perhaps one form taking on the other's semantics because of taboo, or maybe due to an actual semantic shift (she notes that the Andamanese use boar tusks as scrapers, which could explain a 'blade'~'tusk' correspondence in itself).

There's an item which seems dubious on the PAA side, e.g. she proposes a correspondence *wət ~ *wət for 'bat, flying fox' but I can't find a *wət reconstructed anywhere in the MKCD with that meaning, not even in Bahnaric where she claims it comes from (there is a *wət reconstructed but with a meaning 'turn, bend'). Meanwhile, *kut 'fishing net' ~ *kuut 'tie, knot' seems wrong at first, as search for *kuut by itself only brings up a reconstruction *kuut 'scrape, scratch', however there is also a reconstruction *[c]kuut which does mean 'tie, knot'.

There's an interesting set of correspondences where PGA has a final schwa that's absent from the proposed PAA cognates, e.g. *lakə 'digging stick' ~ *lak 'hoe (v.)'; *ɲipə 'sandfly' ~ *jɔɔp 'horsefly'; *loŋə 'neck' ~ *tlu(u)ŋ 'throat'.

More generally, a substantial proportion of the proposed correspondences are nouns in Great Andamanese but verbs/adjective (stative verbs) in Austroasiatic, some of which are above, but also including e.g. *cuiɲ 'odour' ~ *ɟhuuɲ/ɟʔuuɲ 'smell, sniff'; *raic 'juice' ~ *raac 'sprinkle' (a separate correspondence to 'bale out' above); *mulə 'egg' ~ *muul 'round'; *ciəp 'belt, band' ~ *cuup/cuəp/ciəp 'wear, put on'. This also doesn't seem too much of an issue, given the general word-class flexibility in that part of the world, though there don't seem to be any correspondences going the other way, which could perhaps be a sign of loaning/relexification instead.

I mentioned that a lot of these seem to be exact matches, but of course what you really want to indicate relatedness are non-indentical but regular correspondences, and here is where I can see the issues probably starting to really arise. We've already noted some of the vowel issues, but we also have some messiness with some of the consonants, though at the very least the POA matches pretty much every time (including reasonable caveats like sibilants patterning with palatals and the like). However, that still leaves us with some messes.

The liquids and coronals especially are misaligned a fair bit in ways which could do with more correspondences to flesh out. Here's a list of the correspondences found in initial position in the examples given.

*l ~ *l: *lat ~ *[c]laat 'fear', *lakə 'digging stick' ~ *lak 'hoe'

*l ~ *r: *lap ~ *rap 'count' (*luk 'channel' ~ *ru(u)ŋ 'have a hole'/*lu(u)k 'channel' could be in either of these)

*r ~ *r: *raic 'juice' ~ *raac 'sprinkle'

*r ~ *ɗ: *rok ~ *ɗuk 'canoe'

*t ~ *ɗ: *tapə 'blind' ~ [ɟ]ɗaap 'pass hand along'

*t ~ *t: *ar-təm ~ *triəm 'old' (suggested that metathesis occurred, though to me there probably would need to be some reanalysis as well to make this work)

I invite any of my mutuals more experienced with the comparative method to have a look for yourselves and see what you make of the proposal as it currently stands. It would certainly be an interesting development if more actual correspondences could be set up, though I do have to wonder if more work would also be needed on Austroasiatic to double-check these reconstructions as well.

[cartoonsinthemorning]

Hi forgive me if this has been addressed before! I'm a little new to your fem!stan stuff (I saw your ask reblogged by Boston and snuck out of the back of their foodtruck to send this) but I love the idea and was wondering does stan pretend to be Stanford when he falls in the portal? (If that is the route that's taken in the au at least) because it would be really interesting to see if constance would enjoy the freedom that comes with being a man but at the same time I think it would drive (incel) ford up the wall if he came back and saw his sister running a successful business out of his house. There would be this extra layer of tension as ford has to grapple with his own learned misogyny. Though I also imagine exploring the multiverse and seeing the way gender is explored or even ignored in other worlds would probably force him to have some realizations before hand but whether or not hed really allow himself to internalize those realizations is another story. Bros got an easy excuse to not analyze his own sexism since hes trying to hunt down bill

And then when he comes back and sees his sister is doing just fine would probably wound his pride a little bit. All those fantasies and unfair expectations of their roles hes built in his mind are forced to come crashing down once again

I'm also just kind of obsessed with the idea of constance finally learning how to be /stan/ in gravity falls because she never had the freedom and safety to do so before. I'm sure a large part of rejection of any femininity whatsoever came from not having the option to do so in the past. But then she watches the kids over the summer and sees mabel embracing makeovers and grappling hooks hand in hand. Dipper is insistent on being a "man" but never once tries to tell mabel she needs to be a "woman"

This ask is all over the place sorry I think i had a point to the start of this and now I'm just rambling about your own au to you lmfao

Anyway love the concept (and your art!!)

-🐶

Hello! Thank you for passing by and sending me such a nice message, sharing your own ideas with me! and many thanks for the compliments too, of course ❤ That said, I'm afraid my answer will be a tad disappointing. Because, the fem!Stan I enjoy to imagine is cis, and I can't imagine a cis woman being able to consistently pretend to be a man for thirty years, without losing their mind (in the same way it's detrimental for most trans people to supress their true identity for a lifetime, non?). Especially, in the same way canon Stan is very masculine (with a sprinkle of femininity, despite his shame about it), I like to imagine Constance as a lady who is very proud and comfortable in her womanhood- despite her loud voice and direct and somehow brash manners. Even in her younger years, when she was classified as a tomboy by most, she loved girly things- dresses, make up, gossip magazines, etc. without issues. I think of Stan in her 60s wearing tacky jewelry, lipstick, and hair-curlers at night, tbh. That's why, in this AU, my mind skirts around the part were Ford gets stuck into the portal.

For example, I sometimes imagine 30s Ford simply having a change of heart and dismantling the portal, and (now former) Drifter!Constance living with him from that point on (and, of course, I elaborated this one up until Stan and Mabel get into the picture, but for the sake of brevity I'll stop here). Or, I bend canon a little, making up that the people of Gravity Falls only heard of some researcher who was gonna build and live in a shack in the forest, but they never actually got to see them, let alone find out if it was a man or a woman. It's a version were the chaos Ford caused in town while posses by Bill either never happened or he did it without getting caught by police or getting seen. And, about the name on documents and stuff-- Constance was a marinated and resourceful conwoman at that point, she simply found a way to make things work. Hell, they have the same last name- maybe this time she registered Ford as deceased, passed herself as his wife, and inherited the Shack and the rest of Ford's possessions. I know many, reading this, would think it's heartless of Stan, but to me this trick is fucking hilarious. Especially, I'm grinning like a maniac imagining how mad and appalled Ford would look as he realizes the trick Constance pulled- not only because what a fucking ASSHOLE she's been, to use his "death" to appropriate his stuff- but also!! secretly!! because WHAT the FUCK- he often fantasized about Stan being his wife, but this is the most cruel and ironic monkey paw situation EVER!! To reconnect back to your speculations about sexist!Ford being humiliated and mad about Constance running a business independently: I like it! it's fun to read! But, I have to go deeper. I usually think of Ford's sexism toward Constance to be the outside layer, so to speak. I think deep down Ford always knew Stan had the potential to be strong, resourceful and independent, despite what their ma, pa, teachers and other people said. Ford grew next to her, he knows what this girl is capable of, how determined she is. And that's the point...What he really dreads, what he really hates, is the idea she doesn't need him, at all. That's what would make Ford actually upset about Stan running a business: knowing that, hadn't she brought him back, she would had been fine, without him. Sexism would be the mental shield Ford uses to protect himself from this painful acknowledgment: He's just mad because his fraud of a sister thinks she's being successful, but all she accomplished was using her physical appearance and womanly ways to seduce and manipulate. That's all, really. I roll my eyes at him, here, which is a good indicator I got him in character, if I can say so myself. The last scene you shared, with Stan realizing her nephew and niece aren't as oppressed by gender roles as she herself used to be- and bypassing them, even- is SO sweet 🥺 I have absolutely no doubt in my mind: one thing that does NOT change in either the canon universe and the genderbend one, is that Stan would love and adore Dipper and Mabel- and learn a lot from them ❤ PS: is the puppy icon your anon signature? it's so cute! 🐶 look at this fine boy. Great choice.

[everything-transmasculine]

Sometimes I feel doubt about being a trans man because I always see people who complain about how bad their dysphoria is, and mine isn't as bad or frequent. I'm not one of those trans people who knew from the moment they gained consciousness that they were the gender they identify as, I realized when I was about 13 and I do get dysphoria, especially about my chest and voice, but It doesn't cause me to have reactions that are as intense as some of the other trans guys i've seen describe them. I also feel a kind of guilt about still being a little feminine. I paint my nails black most of the time, and I do like stereotypically feminine things like pink and flowers and very very occasionally I'll wear feminine clothing, but I feel very ashamed about doing so, and I especially felt this way after finding out that this was apparently a trans guy stereotype.

Another thing is that I feel very uncomfortable about being trans in front of my family and teachers. I feel great and very secure in my identity when I'm with my friends, and I'm so grateful to have them, but I came out to my parents and got an odd response. My mum said "people can use he/him for you ad call you by your preferred name, I just wont because you're my baby and It's hard for me to see you as not a girl." And my dad is essentially the same but he adds sprinklings of passive transphobia on top and sometimes refers to me in overly feminine ways because he knows it winds me up. I have one uncle who is brilliant and refers to me as my preferred name and pronouns and treats me how I want to be treated, but I told my aunt (his sister) and she said "Well you were my very favourite niece before (I was the only girl cousin out of four cousins) and now you're just another one of my nephews." She also tried to have a conversation about trans women with me which was weird because 1. I'm not a trans woman so why are we talking about them, and 2. please can we leave trans women alone for gods sake, they're being harassed enough already.

I feel bad for feeling negative towards her reaction though, because she isn't awful or anything, I think the situation was a bit uncomfortable and also she bought me my first binder and I don't want to be ungrateful.

I've also had some great reactions from teachers who, after I told them my preferred name and pronouns, said "Sweet, will do, remind me if I forget" But I had a weird reaction from one teacher who said she couldn't because apparently it's against my schools policy (It's not) and she proceeded to tell me that it doesn't matter how you present or what name you use because "It's just a name, and It's you on the inside who counts" and that really pissed me off. She has no fucking clue how it feels to be constantly referred to as something you're not, and after gathering the courage to figure out who you think you are and then tell people so you can be who you are, be rejected. I hated how she was trying to come off as supportive but was just being such a coward.

All of this stuff has made me constantly doubt myself about being trans, and wonder if I'm just a cis girl who is making a big drama out of my identity, but when I'm alone In my room, I feel like I can exhale and just be me without judgement, and when I'm not being judged or perceived, I'm still a boy. I cannot imagine a future for myself where I'm female, but I can see one where I am male.

Sorry about the rant, I get it if it's a lot but I really wanted to get this off my chest and also maybe some advice and/or insight from a more experienced trans guy? Thanks :)

hi anon! no worries about the longer ask - its what im here for! :)

this ask really hit close to home for me - i didnt know i was trans until i was 14/15 personally, and didnt start transitioning in the “traditional” sense (ie, hormones, legal name and gender marker update, etc) until i hit 20! i hadnt even decided on my legal name until i was 21! theres no rush when it comes to transitioning, and everyones transition will look different - for reference, my partner knew it was a man from single digit age, but was only able to start transitioning in its 20s due to safety risks.

i also had a very… tenuous… relationship with my family after i began my transition, that eventually led to me cutting my father, and his wife, entirely out of my life. it was not an easy decision, but it was a necessary one - and now, almost 4/5 years later, i still dont regret it in the slightest. my mother was kinder to me, and likes to ask me questions about being trans - she doesnt fully understand it (she is a firmly cis woman who was raised in a conservative small town, on a farm, so that definitely impacts her worldview in a lot of ways) but that doesnt mean she doesnt love me. one of the smaller things she did to acknowledge my transition is change my contact in her phone to “my kid”… something simple, but that meant the world to me when i was just starting the journey that is transition. what i mean to say is - you will find people, blood family or found family - who will love you, and support you, for who you are, unconditionally.

i also completely understand having low dysphoria! ive grown comfortable in this body of mine, over the years, and what little dysphoria i do have will be gone once i have gotten top surgery. you dont need to be some ultra dysphoric, binary manly man to be transmasculine - you just need to be yourself. and there is no wrong way to do that, i promise you. (i also love to paint my nails, i usually pick black as thats what matches my wardrobe!)

one of the methods ive used to explain what its like to cis people is the pants theory. imagine, if you will, your whole life youve had to wear jeans. since birth, youve had to wear starched blue jeans, and everyone who was told to wear jeans at birth can only wear jeans. but imagine one day you see someone wearing sweatpants. youve never worn sweatpants before - you didnt even know they existed! - but you cant get them out of your mind. one day, you even get the chance to try them on. and they fit perfectly. sure, some people still love jeans, and want to keep wearing them… but you want to wear sweatpants. so you do!

its not a perfect analogy, thats for sure, but the pants theory has helped me break it down for my mother, my grandmother, my uncle… lots of people. and sometimes people just need to see it in a different light - nothing about the self has changed, just the gender! ultimately, while we may transition, we are still ourselves. and sure, the self of before was a daughter, a son, a child, whatever - but you dont perpetually stay a child. you grow, you change, you learn. the me of 15 hated olives, the me of near-24 loves olives. nothing has changed about the self, other than preferences. i am still me. my name may be different, my clothes, my hair, my voice - but i am still me. and i think thats the point that these people against transition have a lot of problem seeing - its not that youre still you, they think that the old you is being superceded by a “new you,” when that isnt the case at all. but now im getting into transhumanism and what is the “self” lol.

all thats to say… if what you see in the mirror is a boy, you are a boy. thats as simple as it is. whoever you are is whoever you are, no matter what. youve got this anon - its hard out there, but i believe in you. :)