#//Though this one actually would have a more definite biological component to it

[dutybcrne]

I like to think Kaeya and Albedo have a more or less joking deal to have a kid if Kaeya’s 25th birthday rolls around and he’s still unwed.

[bella-goths-wife]

So I’m not sure if you’ve ever thought about this and it’s ok if it’s too awkward but…since Velvette is the only female Vee- does that mean she’s the one who takes care of Pet during her “time of the month”? Maybe the only one who can actually understand her.

How do the Vs handle pets time of the month

Warnings: weird dynamics, abuse, power imbalance, menstruation talk, sexualisation of pet reader

You knew how to handle periods pretty well

Sure they were different because of your new form, but it was still the same principles as before

It used to be a real problem back when you were first brought to hell and living on the streets

You had to do anything to be able to get some product to help with the bleeding, literally anything

So you’ve learned to suck up pain pretty well and you’ve definitely learnt to tough out your time of the month

But you also learnt a thing or two about how to manipulate men on the streets, and your period became a handy tool in this effort

If you told Vox that you were on your period, he would act like an embarrassed dad who just wanted to get rid of the conversation in any way possible

He found that your period gave him a reminder that you weren’t a child and he found it to be a constant reminder of your sexuality that he tries to desperately block off

Your menstruation is just another reminder that your an adult demon and not a childlike pet, and Vox almost sexualises you when it comes to your period

His first thought that comes to mind when you bring up your period is that you could possibly be having sex, instead of acknowledging that this is just a biological process your body goes through

So he allows you to get away with much more then usual and will sometimes allow you days off to spend in your room

Valentino has an opposite reaction, your menstruation actually humanises you to Valentino in a way that disgusts him

Your menstrual cycle reminds Valentino that your not just one of his toys and that your a undeadly living demon

Your real and not just made to fulfil his needs

So he’d start up his usual routine of inappropriate touches despite never being sexually attracted to you, and you’d mention your period and that’s all his interest lost in you

He’ll wrench his hand back like he’s just touched hot fire before looking at you with disgust, only seeing a person instead of his personal plaything

He’ll make some kind of fetish joke that will undoubtedly make you uncomfortable before sending you to your room for the day off under the guise that he’s such a good boss and he doesn’t want you to work while in pain

But the real reason is that he cannot stand being around you when your humanised in his eyes, when he can smell the blood on you and know that even his toy has a biological component

Velvette does not let your menstrual manipulation fly though

As she’s also a female, she also experiences menstruation

And when she’s on her period she will expect for you to dote on her like she were a sick person in private while keeping her tough girl act up in public

She’d have you absolutely pamper her and even hold her for a while when she feels emotional

So when your on your period you sometimes expect the same treatment, until you are reminded once again that you are not an equal to velvette

She’ll work you the same amount and will work you even harder if she hears any complaints

If you do complain you’ll be reminded of your time in the streets and velvette will remind you that you managed to overcome that so working for her while menstruating should be no big deal

The other two would try and get her to calm down on you but she’ll only double down and claim that your manipulation tactics don’t work on her

But she will insist on you sleeping in her bed while your menstruating

She becomes overly protective of you when your on your period, she claims that men will sense it on you and take advantage of you

It almost made you laugh how she practically facilitated Valentino’s sexual assault but became overly concerned with your well-being from other demons

So it’s almost like she becomes more clingy to you once your on your period, especially if you two sync cycles

If you two sync she’ll be working you to the bone and expecting you to pamper her while also being overprotective and not letting any men around you

And she’d also be emotional so the nights that your sleeping in her bed she’ll demand you hold her for hours on end despite usually hating affection

She craves the warmth and acceptance of a female companionship and relationship, but does not want to put the work into building a friendship

And your right there, her little obsession

You can fulfil her social needs and her cravings of a connection while being sworn to secrecy and programmed to answer her every command

And your menstruation reminds her that someone could try and take you, in a similar way to Vox she associates your menstrual cycle with sex and sexualises you with more fear then discomfort like Vox

She fears that you’ll enter a sexual or romantic relationship and she’ll lose you to someone else, despite her never craving a sexual or romantic connection with you

She wants to be your friend but that would mean acknowledging you as an equal which is something that she refuses to do

So you’ll remain her pet, her loyal mutt

Her little obsession

Tag list :)

@perkypeony @the-faceless-bride @lilyalone @buttercupfangirl @corvid007 @fandomaddict505 @hazbinhotelxreader @sparkleyfishies @repostingmyfavs @aroomofmyown24 @ivebeenthearchersstuff

[nightingaelic]

NV companions reactions to taking the courier’s place in OWB

"Here and now got its ups and downs, but... focusing on the past, like it was any better? That's just Old World Blues." -Blind Diode Jefferson

Arcade Gannon: Being whisked off to a pre-war scientific research haven and adopted by a group of five floating brains in jars was actually a dream Arcade had once, but he was pretty sure it didn't involve losing his own brain along the way. Conversation with the Think Tank would leave him amused at first, but increasingly more horrified as he learned the secrets of Big MT and realized just how much chaos they could create if they weren't busy playing in their Mojave sandbox. The most intriguing part of Big MT for Arcade would, of course, be the Sink. The Biological research station, the light switches, the Sink Central Intelligence Unit and all the others would fascinate him, and he would do his best to figure out their components and try to replicate them in New Vegas for the Followers of the Apocalypse to use. This leads to more than a few circular conversations with Doctor Klein and, once he meets him, Doctor Mobius. I think Mobius' side of the story would leave Arcade depressed about the state of Big MT and the various things roaming its landscape that used to be people. His argument with his own brain, on the other hand, would be worthy of any pre-war sitcom. Though sorely tempted to destroy the Think Tank for good and prevent their wild experimentation ever escaping the crater, I think Arcade would weight the potential good their technology could do much more heavily and convince Doctor Klein to partner with him as a new head researcher.

Craig Boone: Given Boone's hatred for the Legion and their enslavement practices, the Think Tank would seal their doom as soon as they stripped him of his brain and his ability to fight back. And once he found Little Yangtze and its total pacification collars? Oh, it's on. I don't think Boone would be sly about his anger either, but given the Think Tank's flippant attitude toward their lobotomites, they probably wouldn't pick up on just how furious he was until it was too late. There are two things Boone would form attachments to while sneaking around Big MT: Roxie, the ever-loyal cyberdog with a heart of gold, and the Stealth Suit Mk II, which compliments Boone's combat style with minimal commentary. While I don't think Boone would have any strong feelings either way toward Doctor Mobius, I don't think he would kill him unless he had to. Mobius would probably be tickled by his stoic countenance, and would attempt to shower him in Mentats as a way of loosening up. Boone's brain would be a bit like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, reveling in its own sadness for once because Boone always shoved those feelings out of sight and out of mind. Their main argument would be over a compromise to confront that deep sorrow once reunited. When the Think Tank is dead, Boone zaps Roxie and himself back to Nipton, then smashes the Big Mountain Transportalponder! on the nearest rock.

Lily Bowen: I think we could class Lily's reaction to being kidnapped and experimented upon by the Think Tank as utter confusion. She would still be as benevolent as ever, trying her best to soothe the over-inflated egos of the various doctors as they debated what to do with this creature that had thoroughly stumped the Auto-Doc upon recovery, but I think she would start looking for the exit as soon as they suggested a full dissection. Lily's experience in Big MT would be very different from the other companions after that, with the Think Tank sending wave after wave of lobotomites and night stalkers after her in an attempt to regain their new test subject, and Lily beating each attack back with her trusty vertibird blade and the growing pile of new gadgets she accumulated with every location visited. I think Doctor Mobius would watch this play out with interest, and would send a few packs of robo-scorpions to herd her toward the radar fence, then surreptitiously lower the barrier long enough for her to stumble outside. The story of her time in "the Big Empty" would become a fireside hit in Jacobstown, but few would believe that she had actually found the place where all cazadores and night stalkers come from.

Raul Alfonso Tejada: Raul is already missing a few body parts, so what's one more? The old ghoul would be somewhat exasperated at finding himself in another situation of imprisonment and being forced to do work for others, but at least it's not as boring as Black Mountain. Big MT, on the other hand, is a heck of a lot more deadly than the State of Utobitha, but all Raul can do is roll his eyes every time he spots another band of lobotomites chasing him down or robo-scorpions crawling over the horizon. Like Boone, Raul grows fond of Roxie, though his favorite acquisition from Big MT's tech piles would definitely be the proton axe: He just likes the way it looks and feels when he's swinging it around. Confronting Doctor Mobius would come when the old ghoul is reaching the end of his patience with the Think Tank, though he would spare the mad scientist some time to listen to his sad story and ponder the fate of Big MT. I think Raul would be the one most in tune with his disembodied brain, and they would greet each other as old friends that share a rocky history, but have accepted each other's flaws. As for the Think Tank, Raul would leave the decision of what to do with them up to Doctor Mobius: After all, they're not his mess to clean up.

Rose of Sharon Cassidy: Oh boy. Cass is no one's errand girl, but she's also rather fond of her brain, pickled in liquor though it may be. She would blaze a deadly trail through Big MT, marked by the wrecked bodies of robo-scorpions and Y-17 trauma override harnesses (a personal scourge for the former caravan owner, maybe her teams wouldn't have been killed if she'd just had some goddamned walking suits to do the job) and the never-ending stream of curse words floating on the crater's breeze. The lobotomites would quickly learn to stay out of her way, and every new acquisition for the Think Tank would be tossed unceremoniously on the floor of the sanctum with a clatter. Doctor Dala loves the caravaner, but the others all hate her, and Cass can't help but find the feeling mutual. Doctor Mobius would not be able to sway her from high-tailing it out of Big MT as soon as possible, and like Raul, she would not see the Think Tank's containment as her responsibility. Her brain, on the other hand, would berate her for her internalized guilt and bully her into doing the right thing - which, in her case, is eliminating the Think Tank's threat once and for all.

Veronica Santangelo: The main challenge for the doctors of the Think Tank upon capturing Veronica would be prying her away from their sanctum long enough to set her on the path to retrieving tech for them. Like Arcade, Veronica would be fascinated by the Sink and everything in it, but she would be equally fascinated with the scientists themselves and their varied personalities. She would prod Doctor Klein for details about his work, decode Doctor 8's speech patterns, and roll her tongue around in her mouth for Doctor Dala's recording equipment. Getting her brain back would take a backseat to just wandering Big MT, taking in the crazy inventions from a world long gone and wondering which ones she could bring home to Elder McNamara to show him how remaining set in his ways has put the Brotherhood of Steel on a path to irrelevance. This desire would stay her hand after meeting Doctor Mobius, and would lead her to convince the Think Tank to abandon their escape attempts and return to testing silly hypotheses. Her most important discovery would be the clues left behind by Father Elijah, well on his way to becoming a mad scientist himself, and Christine, hot on his trail for the Brotherhood of Steel. All in all, the experience would leave Veronica hungry for more adventure and send her sprinting toward the Sierra Madre and an uncertain fate.

ED-E: As a robot, the Think Tank would be disappointed with the little intruder and would likely argue about whether to toss it in the scrap pile. Doctor 0 would be absolutely disgusted by the intrusion of Robert House's technology into Big MT, but Doctor Dala would become attached to the eyebot and adopt it, cooing about the elegance of its design while simultaneously bemoaning its lack of biorhythms. ED-E, confused, would humor her for a while before striking out to explore the crater and its many wonders. After its first run-in with lobotomites, the eyebot would flee in fear, straight past the X-42 giant robo-scorpion and into the clutches of Doctor Mobius. The self-proclaimed villain would take pity on the robot and release it outside the radar fence with an escort of robo-scorpions to take home.

Rex: Cyberdogs are a well-known quantity at Big MT, so the new arrival from outside the radar fence is immediately handed over to Doctor Borous for his X-8 project. With a fresh new brain, some grease on his joints, and a competent pack addition named Roxie, Rex is ready to take on any obstacle courses in the X-8 research center. Once the two cyberdogs grow bored of tearing through night stalkers and avoiding Gabe, they make their escape and lope off into the Mojave to have a litter of Boston terrifiers together.

[script-a-world]

Okay, I'm not sure if this falls into world building or characters, so if it doesn't fit world building just feel free to delete this! In my story there are dragons, and including some with silver and copper scales. Thing is silver tarnishes and copper oxidizes. Is there a logical way I could avoid this or maybe have a means or environment that could/treat prevent this?

Tex: A fairly reliable way to solve a problem like this - or at least figure out the first steps - is to break things down into manageable chunks. In this case, it would be working out the properties of the materials you’re working with: silver and copper.

I’m assuming that you mean for this to be actual, solid metal, so I’ll start there.

The wiki for tarnish is a little sparse, but it does give us some important information:

Tarnish is a product of a chemical reaction between a metal and a nonmetal compound, especially oxygen and sulfur dioxide. It is usually a metal oxide, the product of oxidation. Sometimes it is a metal sulfide. The metal oxide sometimes reacts with water to make the hydroxide; and carbon dioxide to make the carbonate.

In terms of metal mutability, this narrows down the list of research topics by a lot. The introductory paragraph of that same wiki tells us this about silver:

For example, silver needs hydrogen sulfide to tarnish, although it may tarnish with oxygen over time.

The wiki for silver, itself, has some more complex information:

Like copper, silver reacts with sulfur and its compounds; in their presence, silver tarnishes in air to form the black silver sulfide (copper forms the green sulfate instead, while gold does not react). Unlike copper, silver will not react with the halogens, with the exception of fluorine gas, with which it forms the difluoride. While silver is not attacked by non-oxidizing acids, the metal dissolves readily in hot concentrated sulfuric acid, as well as dilute or concentrated nitric acid. In the presence of air, and especially in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, silver dissolves readily in aqueous solutions of cyanide.[25]

The three main forms of deterioration in historical silver artifacts are tarnishing, formation of silver chloride due to long-term immersion in salt water, as well as reaction with nitrate ions or oxygen.

There’s some more context in the chemistry section, but what I quoted above is more or less the bulk of your starting point. As you can tell, it’s been compared to other metals - its comparison to copper is especially helpful in the context of your question.

What we can glean from this is that silver has very few things to react with in a normal environment, outside of “long-term immersion in salt water”, so ideally any silver-scaled dragons you have would avoid being in or around the ocean for extended periods of time.

Copper has been fairly well covered already by being used as a comparison to silver, but I’ll throw some more information out from its wiki so we can have a greater pool of information to work with:

Copper is one of a few metallic elements with a natural color other than gray or silver.[13] Pure copper is orange-red and acquires a reddish tarnish when exposed to air. The characteristic color of copper results from the electronic transitions between the filled 3d and half-empty 4s atomic shells – the energy difference between these shells corresponds to orange light.

As with other metals, if copper is put in contact with another metal, galvanic corrosion will occur.[14]

This bit is important for a couple of reasons - the first is that copper scales are very probably not copper-coloured, and the second is that pure copper is very unstable. I’ll get to both of those points in a bit.

Copper does not react with water, but it does slowly react with atmospheric oxygen to form a layer of brown-black copper oxide which, unlike the rust that forms on iron in moist air, protects the underlying metal from further corrosion (passivation). A green layer of verdigris (copper carbonate) can often be seen on old copper structures, such as the roofing of many older buildings[15] and the Statue of Liberty.[16] Copper tarnishes when exposed to some sulfur compounds, with which it reacts to form various copper sulfides.[17]

Here, this means that copper scales would be good for water-based dragons, which is the opposite of silver. That’s an easy point in the direction of your other question regarding environmental cues.

The alloy of 90% copper and 10% nickel, remarkable for its resistance to corrosion, is used for various objects exposed to seawater, though it is vulnerable to the sulfides sometimes found in polluted harbors and estuaries.[45]

I figure since we’re hopping outside the line of believability, we might as well toss in the idea of substantial amounts of nickel on organic beings without the ordinary toxic side-effects.

Copper is biostatic, meaning bacteria and many other forms of life will not grow on it. For this reason it has long been used to line parts of ships to protect against barnacles and mussels. It was originally used pure, but has since been superseded by Muntz metal and copper-based paint. Similarly, as discussed in copper alloys in aquaculture, copper alloys have become important netting materials in the aquaculture industry because they are antimicrobial and prevent biofouling, even in extreme conditions[120] and have strong structural and corrosion-resistant[121] properties in marine environments.

Tossing this quote out partially because I like Muntz metal (surprisingly also pertinent to the conversation), but mostly because this explains why copper works so well underwater without noticeable oxidation.

I’ll do a quick summary of the three Wikipedia articles I just poked, so we have them in one place:

Tarnishing is oxidation

Both tarnish to oxygen, and corrode to sulfides/sulfur

Copper likes water, silver does not

The one that stands out here is the reaction to sulfides and/or sulfur. Ordinarily, exposure to significant amounts of sulfur isn’t an issue in the majority of environments, so it’s a non-issue. However, since both silver and copper react so strongly to it, I figure it was pertinent to bring up (also because it’s cool, Rule Of Cool is definitely a thing when we’re talking about dragons).

From Wikipedia:

It is the fifth most common element by mass in the Earth. Elemental sulfur can be found near hot springs and volcanic regions in many parts of the world, especially along the Pacific Ring of Fire; such volcanic deposits are currently mined in Indonesia, Chile, and Japan. These deposits are polycrystalline, with the largest documented single crystal measuring 22×16×11 cm.[16] Historically, Sicily was a major source of sulfur in the Industrial Revolution.[17] Lakes of molten sulfur up to ~200 m in diameter have been found on the sea floor, associated with submarine volcanoes, at depths where the boiling point of water is higher than the melting point of sulfur.[18]

Native sulfur is synthesised by anaerobic bacteria acting on sulfate minerals such as gypsum in salt domes.[19][20] Significant deposits in salt domes occur along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and in evaporites in eastern Europe and western Asia. Native sulfur may be produced by geological processes alone. Fossil-based sulfur deposits from salt domes were once the basis for commercial production in the United States, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine.[21]

Given how popular dragon mythology is all over Asia (Wikipedia), I find it interesting that copper and silver - our earliest mined metals - would have realistically been inhospitable on a dragon in many of its purported native regions. But since this is worldbuilding, I suppose a prudent avoidance of volcanoes and ocean floors works out rather neatly.

Now that we’ve gotten the chemical standpoint down, it’s time to tackle the organic component.

Both silver and copper are toxic in sufficiently large amount (Wikipedia 1, Wikipedia 2), which is, unsurprisingly, a fairly negligible amount. One way to avoid this is to look at compounds (brass and the previously-mentioned Muntz metal comes to mind) that could be more malleable to the cosmetic look of your dragon scales - it’s less likely to be toxic, and you could fine-tune the colours you want more reliably, with some Handwavium to the actual biological aspects.

Another method would be to, well, apply some more Handwavium and just say that dragons have specialized cells that allow keratin to be embedded with metals like copper or silver. Keratin is a protein, so the logic would need a bit of finagling, but most readers would probably accept a surface-level explanation unless your plot demands a further level of development.

Another method would be structural colour (Wikipedia), and usually exists on things like fish and butterfly scales (Wikipedia 1, Wikipedia 2, Wikipedia 3). The reflective fish scales that I linked to in the first Wikipedia link could easily achieve that silver look you’re seeking, especially with minimal tweaking if you’re looking for things like tonal gradients and texture. The other two Wikipedia links, for the butterfly scales, can give you some idea on how to introduce colour while keeping many of the same properties.

Feathers can also achieve this structural colour, but since they’re constructed differently than scales, this would mean that you would need to contend with the disulfide bonds in order to keep either metal from breaking the feathers down. Whether or not oils from preening or powder down would have any impact on the refraction that could produce any colours of shiny variety is a toss-up, but certainly within the realm of fantasy.

Another option of note is to borrow from the scaly foot snail (Live Science), albeit it works with sulphur compounds rather than against it, even if it doesn’t have quite the metallic sheen you might be looking for.

[zekidork]

I wanted to write about that I think vampires have two types of hunger/thirst physical and emotional. What do you think about this?

Ooooh, I’ve been thinking about the vampire’s relationship with blood recently. There’s so much to unpack in general when it comes to a vampire’s thirst, but I think I’ll try to stick to a few points. 

I most definitely agree that there is an emotional component to thirst in a vampire’s desire for blood.  These signs are all over the place (and I’ll get into them in just a sec), but when it comes to a physical thirst, I’m not so sure about that. So let’s start with the physical one first, since I’m more in disagreement with you here. 

I don’t believe there’s a physical aspect to a vampire’s thirst/hunger; then again, I would like to maybe know what you mean by physical hunger/thirst. From what I understand of the term, it seems like you’re referring to a thirst/hunger that would need to satisfy the physical needs of a vampire. If that’s what you’re referring to, then I disagree. One of the main reasons, which was recently brought up by the perceptive Taro in ch.30, is that vampires also eat food just like humans. Blood does not replace food for vampires, they still need to eat normal foods (while I’m sure starvation won’t kill them). This means that blood isn’t a necessity in biological terms, but more of an emotional need. 

Even when blood is referred to as food by vampires, I still don’t believe that it’s in the same sense as it would mean to be hungry for breakfast, for example. It’s rather more like when someone who’s addicted to sugar says “I’m craving some chocolate bars”, which is technically food, but you don’t need chocolate bars to survive. Okay, so while blood is a substance and can be referred to as ‘food’, it isn’t necessarily food like what meat and vegetables would be (which contain important vitamins and other important nutritional factors to help keep the body healthy). Another reason why I don’t think the hunger for blood is a physical one is with how young vampires act towards blood. Vampire children don’t have strong enough fangs in order to bite a person, so they simply suck on an individual’s “life energy”. If it were a physical hunger, than even vampire children would need blood to survive (their cravings wouldn’t start during puberty). 

There’s a lot more evidence showing that a vampire’s hunger for blood is on the emotional side. It’s funny because I’ve been thinking about making a post to analyze what blood means to vampires and just how much it symbolizes in the story (there’s literally so much to unpack), but I’ll try to stick to the point. Anyways, I’ll name a few aspects that appear often in the manga to prove my point. 

“Only the blood of the vampire’s true love can satisfy their thirst”. This aspect was brought up a little later in the manga, but it was technically always there. The feelings of ‘love’ and a vampire’s thirst for blood are clearly intertwined, which only happens if the desire for blood is correlated to emotions. If vampires are only satisfied with the blood of the one they love, than that means that their emotions play a key role into how they desire for blood. For example, Yuuki throughout volumes 11 to 19 was going through a lot of issues when it came to who’s blood she desired, since she said that she’s “still attached to Zero”, which meant that her thirst couldn’t be entirely quenched. This sort of thing could only happen if emotions were related to the desire for blood.

“Think of blood as a drug”. I know this might sound crazy, but in some ways, blood and the desire for blood are heavy metaphors for drug addiction. It’s as though vampires are born drug-addicts as their nature, but they still need to eat and drink water and do all the other human things. One of the main things that shows how blood can be seen as a drug is how certain vampire classes react to it: the purebloods and aristocrats are able to handle their thirst, since they are born with the desire to drink blood, they grew up and were raised to handle it. However, the level E’s weren’t born that way, so they don’t know how to handle this obsessive desire. That’s why they act like maniacs; they lost their sanity because they were consumed by the emotional compulsion to desire blood, to the point where it hurts them physically. 

Funny story, when I was younger, I actually confused level E vampires with monsters because that’s how much they seemed insane to me. Then I later found out that they are quite conscious of their actions and are capable of conversation (as seen with Zero’s bizarre habit of sometimes talking to his prey before killing them). This actually makes the level E’s seem darker, since it’s essentially like they cant help it (that’s why even Kaname was impressed of Zero’s sanity in the initial parts of the manga, because it’s almost impossible to go against the voice in a level E’s head that’s screaming to attack anyone on sight). 

Addiction has nothing to do with physical needs and everything to do with emotional needs. When someone is addicted to something, it’s usually related to their psychological behavior. And while purebloods and aristocrats don’t act like lunatics towards blood, they still crave it. Basically all vampires are inclined to desire blood, but some can’t handle it while others can:

Purebloods, Aristocrats and level C: Blood to them is seen as candy. It’s tasty and they have a “sweet-tooth” for it. *Think of how Hanabusa was metaphorically going shopping for blood types when he was asking the Day class students “what’s your blood type?” during St. Xocolatl’s day. It’s as though he was at a store looking at different candy bars and was choosing which one to eat.*

Level D vampires: As long as they have a master, they too would most likely look at blood like some sort of candy. But maybe it might be seen as something a little more important or addictive, since I’m guessing they’re addicted to their master’s blood.

Level E vampires: Blood is a literal drug to them (like alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine, you name it). They feel like they need it, and they constantly need it since their is no satisfying their thirst. It goes to the point where they kidnap people and commit crimes just so that they can satisfy their thirst (and even there it’s not enough). 

While each vampire class have their levels of intensity of desire towards blood, it still comes back to the point that they all emotionally/psychologically desire blood to the point where their body physically reacts to not having some (like withdrawals). Paleness of the skin is an example of one of the physical symptoms of this.

I really could go on and on, but I’m afraid that’s enough of my disorganized thoughts. So yeah, I personally believe that a vampire’s hunger comes down to the emotional/psychological needs/desires of a vampire, which in turn affect the physical aspect of their lives. But there isn’t an actual physical need for blood, from my understanding. Once again though, I’m really curious as to what you mean by “physical hunger”, I would love to hear your thoughts (if you don’t mind). And if you are going to write a post on the subject, I can’t wait to read it!

Thanks again for your ask!

[hopeymchope]

Godzilla Singular Point

I came into Singular Point with some trepidation because Godzilla’s history in anime is both very recent and extremely bad. The three anime movies released between 2017 and 2019 are easily the worst work of famed writer Gen Urobuchi and honestly contain more bullshit than I can even get into here. Those movies and this series were both Godzilla anime properties commissioned by Netflix, which didn’t get my hopes up very much. Thankfully, Singular Point is a very different beast from the anime trilogy. One could argue it’s very different from most Godzilla media, actually — at least from my perspective. And I’m still a pretty entry-level fan of Toho’s Big G, all things considered.

Let me just warn you right up front: This smartphone-based virtual assistant is basically the breakout star of the series. 

When you think “Godzilla,” you probably don’t think “incredibly dense sci-fi concepts,” but with the big G’s first-ever anime series, the writers clearly set out to change that perception. Before the first kaiju even appears, the lead characters are plucked from obscurity and dropped into a mystery that involves fourth-dimensional time travel, physical objects that look different from all sides, theoretical math concepts, self-propagating A.I., and a whole lot more. And it’s NEVER made clear how all of it connects to the rampaging kaiju! Although we spend a lot of time investigating a red dust or sand that is very obviously tied to the monsters in SOME way, no one ever makes a connection that explains the relationship. Maybe we’re supposed to wait for a later season to connect the threads... but let’s get into the idea of “another season” later.

I like to think of myself as someone who typically enjoys hard sci-fi, but even with the characters spending loads of time trying to explain the high concepts driving the story, I was never able to fully wrap my head around what was going on in the mystery at the center of GSP. I rewound and rewatched a few explanations, but I still walked away feeling lost. I eventually settled on some vague, loose understandings of most of the ideas mentioned, but those understandings were subject to being ripped apart in subsequent scenes when I was shown or told something completely at odds with what I thought I knew. I can’t say I was ever bored with the thick, dense scientific concepts on offer — trying to find purchase with these far-out ideas kept me glued to the screen — but damn, I sure wish I was able to comprehend them.

What do we want?! DENSE SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION AND DEBATE! When do we want it?! AFTER THOROUGH RESEARCH, TESTING, AND PEER REVIEW!

Another weird thing about this show is that the lead characters remain in separate locations and on separate tracks for the entire duration. We have Yun — a mechanical engineer and programmer who has an amazing grasp on physics and human behavior. And we have Mei — a grad student who is deeply invested in theoretical science, UMAs, cryptids and other far-flung concepts. Both of them are basically geniuses in their fields, and even though they take opposing views of just how flexible reality is, their shared ability to think “outside the box” becomes the crucial component in solving the mystery at the core of the series. Because they don’t even know one another (despite being separated by like, ONE degree), they only ever interact via text messages and behind screen names, which feels pretty damn weird. At least  I immediately liked both of them, with Yun being the standout to me because of how his lowkey reactions to crazy shit generates a lot of humor.

This soundtrack cover LIES; you will never see these characters in a room together like this. 

Alas, we don’t get to know the characters a whole lot beyond what we learned of them in the first two episodes. It’s not long before they’re trapped in a series of complicated exposition dumps, endlessly attempting to explain the high concepts of the show to other characters as well as my dumb ass in the audience. The fact that I liked them in the first couple of episodes carried me through more than half of the show, but I was always hoping to see them share more of themselves or just display more emotion. Anime as a medium excels at emotional storytelling. But despite the major, world-altering events the characters are constantly warning us about, none of them seem to have many emotions about said events. 

Further complicating matters is how, when major events finally occur in this show, they are often kept off-screen. One character shockingly dies, but the portrayal of that death is so piss-poor that I didn’t even realize it’d happened until someone mentioned their death in the next episode. After that vague death, I was particularly sensitive to anything that looked like it might possibly be lethal. Yet a later event that is played up as a tragic, fatal occurrence ends up... fine, somehow? It’s not clear how the character survives, because — even after one of our heroes is left screaming their name in despair as they seemingly die — nobody ever talks about or explains how he’s just fine a couple of scenes later. And near the end of the series, there’s a major transformation that occurs for one of the characters, and we never see it happen nor do we understand HOW it happened. It’s just that suddenly, this character is extremely different due to off-screen reasons that are only vaguely verbalized.

I guess these two really bonded at some point for some reason? And what you are seeing here is literally the height of emotion shown in the entire show.

Even though the overarching story of the series so far pretty clearly wraps up in episode 13, we then get a post-credits tease for a potential second season. So the question becomes: Would I watch that?

Well... Godzilla Singular Point is a series with a lot of issues that kept me at arms’ length from it — tons of extremely confusing dialogue, highly frustrating choices in direction that lead to baffling storytelling, characters who are mostly exposition-dumping — and yet there’s still some foundational work here that I appreciated a lot. When the action occurs, it’s pretty cool/fun. And when urban destruction occurs, it can be awe-inspiring. The human characters, though little-explored, have likable and interesting foundations to them that could be expanded upon. And I didn’t even mention the soundtrack, which features a variety of musical styles combined with the classic Ifukube theme music and an OP that is an absolute banger. (I have a weakness when it comes to music; a good soundtrack can carry me through even the blandest series sometimes.) Even the core idea of centering a Godzilla series around hard science and mathematical concepts is a compelling one, I think! I just hated the execution of it; they went waaaaay too far on poorly explaining incredibly complex, mind-bending concepts for my pea brain to handle it. They spend so much time trying to explain things, yet somehow they never succeeded for me. 

Ultimately, I’d probably give the show another chance. But if I do give another season a chance, it’ll be on probation. I wouldn’t watch the entire season unless I could see within four episodes that they’d definitely improved things.

Would I recommend that anyone watch the series as it currently stands? I mean... not really? I guess if you really dig complex math, hard theoretical science, and/or Toho’s stable of monsters, then maaaaaaaaaaybe give it a shot. But otherwise? Naaaahh. It’s not good enough at anything to make it stand out from the anime crowd. I didn’t hate it like I hated the Godzilla anime films, but Singular Point is still something that both casual viewers and most fans can comfortably ignore for the time being. It’s not a complete disaster, and it’s not without its highlights... but it’s definitely disappointing in my opinion.

OKAYOKAYOKAY, so let’s talk about the kaiju for a bit! 

Below will be SPOILERS revealing all of the kaiju that appear in Godzilla Singular Point and giving my feelings on them. 

Godzilla — It’s interesting to see a version of Godzilla that borrows some ideas from Shin Godzilla. Shin G has been incredibly unique until now, but this Godzilla manages to fold some of Shin’s distinctive aspects in with the more classic/typical versions to build a fun new depiction. Be forewarned that Godzilla doesn’t show up until the series is halfway over, and he doesn’t get a ton of screen time, either. He’s used quite sparingly and kept in hazy settings, often framed from the neck-up when they show him. It’s a little frustrating that they felt the need to shroud him so much, but I respect the fact that whenever Godzilla is shown, the destruction he causes is on a scale far beyond anything that the rest of the kaiju ever do. He is pure devastation. 

Rodan — He’s easily the biological kaiju with the most screen time in Singular Point. Rodan is first introduced as one gigantic pterosaur, but if you’ve seen ANY trailers for this show then you already know that his depiction transitions into an asston of smaller pterosaurs, all of whom are also called “Rodan.” (Apparently the word Rodan is both singular and plural, like the word “buffalo.”) Although he looks kind of cool at first, pretty soon Rodan showing up isn’t special or threatening anymore. Rodan appearances go from “a big goddamn deal” to “some bland background noise” before the series is even 1/3 finished. The design might be a little too far removed from the original for my own taste, but even if I didn’t think that, I wouldn’t be able to care for this Rodan simply because he’s rendered so unimportant and unimpressive.

If you go out in the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise... 

Anguirus — Now check this guy out! Anguirus gets one of the coolest fights in the show and also demonstrates some powers that are well beyond anything we’ve seen him do before. Because he sticks to unpopulated areas, we never see him do much damage to Japan, but he is definitely holding all the attention when he’s on-screen. He’s a highlight for me — a total badass who is very unique in his abilities. And the stated origin for his name is goddamn adorable.

Manda — Yup, Manda is in this series... but I don’t have much to say for him. It seems like the creators of the anime didn’t have much to say about him either. His role amounts to little more than a repeated cameo, and in most of those cameos you only ever see his tail. When we finally see his full body, it’s done so briefly and kept at a distance, leaving me with no real impression. I had to look up his design online and... yup, that sure looks like Manda. Final score: MEEEEHH.

Kumonga — I definitely did not see this appearance coming! Kumonga is much smaller here than you may be used to, but she gets to star in the most suspenseful sequence in the series and easily earns the most exciting cliffhanger moment at the end of an episode. I was utterly glued to the show during her screen time, which comes with a lot of icky twists. Good ones! I honestly like Kumonga here more than I ever have previously.

NEW PHONE WHO DIS

Salunga — Uh, who? This is the one monster that isn’t based on a classic Toho kaiju but instead is a brand-new creation. I suppose that everybody who touches the Toho Kaiju franchise wants to make their own mark on it in some regard. But a big part of the fun of this series for me personally was the anticipation of seeing new interpretations and designs of classic Toho monsters. And so, given that he kind of resembles both Baragon and Gabara, I never stopped wishing they’d just used one of those guys as the basis and namesake. Taken on his own, however? He’s... pretty neat. Not unique or exciting, but solidly above par.  He resembles a cross between a lizard/dinosaur and an ape, plus his head has some nifty coloration. 

Our Jaguar!

Jet Jaguar — I guess Jet Jaguar isn’t exactly a kaiju in the traditional sense because he’s a Giant Robot. However, if you want to consider him one, then I wager he probably gets even more screen time than Rodan! We meet him almost immediately when the series begins. Initially an odd pilot-driven robot that was constructed at the whim of a quirky old factory-owner with too much disposable income, Jet Jaguar grows and changes over the course of the show, ultimately undergoing a transition in episode 7 that makes him pretty damn impossible to dislike. In fact, I utterly adored him by then. This is definitely the best Jet Jaguar I’ve ever seen. His design is recognizably similar to the original yet utterly distinct, too. Like many of the other kaiju here, he’s not nearly as big as he was when he was first introduced to the movies, but his size is ideal for battling the smaller-scale monsters that we spend most of the series on.

[cantabile-l]

Okay but what about Omega!Bucky nesting???? HC plz 🥺

So I swear this took forever to answer because - ghrjiwruw and like *gestures at* fjebjdjdjwj and !!!!! and then 🥺🥺🥺 etc ad nauseum. But PLEASE SEND ME MORE ASKS.

Okay. First of all. THE NEST ITSELF. In my mind, omega Bucky of all pairings - baby bucks, canon bucks, shrunkyclunks buck - his nest is paramount. Ideally, I'm going with a baby bucky or a canon Bucky where they have the means and resources of a home with Steve so that he has a nest that's all to himself for everyday nesting, in addition to his mating nest he shares with his alpha, i.e. their bed.

His nests must be soft, cozy, enclosed, and with a bit of light (he's had enough of darkness poor buck buck 🥺) may I present the following visual aids:

First off, this is my favourite and the base nest I'm working off of. Note the two enclosed walls to give pre-heat Bucky a sense of safety but all layered in softness. Bonus points to the multiple body pillows. Now add on the warm lights for maximum coziness, perfect for nesting comfort.

Now that's not all, but what about this fourth wall? It's not an enclosed space! Like we all know, feral omegas reverting to their instincts will often nest in closets, where they can be fully enclosed. Now this Bucky knows he's safe, but as we see here below, adding a curtain to close off his nest adds a barrier of security (even if just mentally). Important also because this emphasizes that this is the omega's space. Bucky being able to control entry into his nest with this added "gate" means that even Steve, his alpha, must only enter his omega's nest with Bucky's consent. (Extra important when Bucky’s mad and needs his own space - Steve’s gotta grovel to earn his nest entry privileges)

Last touches, Bucky would also like a variety of soft textures - different weaves of pillows, knit blankets, jersey cotton, soft fuzzy Sherpa throws.

Okay now we move onto omega Bucky actually NESTING.

First, obviously Bucky would be clingy and possessive to his alpha, Steve. This manifests in a few different ways. If possible, ideally he’d just have Steve with him, within sight if not within reach. However, this isn’t Bucky in heat, he likes his alpha nearby while nesting because instincts demand that he needs to keep his alpha nearby in case his heat does set in at any time. It’s biological during his nesting period to feel anxious, keyed up, antsy when he doesn’t have his alpha nearby. 

But other fun part of biology and hormones? Bucky is a moody little shit. Half the time he’s cuddly and affectionate and wants his alpha nearby, especially when some of the aches and pains starts setting in. He craves Steve’s comforting presence before everything just turns into mindless lust and fuck, swears that Steve’s gentle hands on his shoulders, rubbing his back, petting his head, helps soothe his mind and body better than any Midol or other meds. The other half the time:

god STEVE just stop doing whatever you’re doin--no that doesn’t mean leave the room jesus can you just NOT? (”Not what, baby?” Steve being a patient motherfucker but even he’s getting frustrated) I don’t KNOW just ugh -slams his nest curtains close- NO don’t LEAVE the room though, Steve! ( “So you want me to just stay here?... On the other side of the curtain?...”) YES stay here but I just don’t want to see your face is it that hard-

Considering all the heat sex that will soon follow in the coming days, Steve learns to just deal with nesting-homones-addled-Bucky. 

However, contrary to common stereotypes of omegas being needy therefore weak, Bucky being possessive also means he’s aggressive and strong. There’s the biological instincts to keep Steve, his alpha, nearby for his heat setting in at any moment, which are also the same primal instincts that drive him to keep his alpha as well. Now Steve preens under this attention, but in public, gotta be careful to not start a scene. Catch Bucky growling and practically spitting at any other omega who gets too close to Steve, a friendly omega working the cash who bats her eyelashes just once gets a death glare, a nice waiter gulps and keeps his distance after Bucky voices a low threatening growl - basically anyone who might even dare trying to lure his alpha away from him finds themselves at the end of Bucky’s ire. Omegas aren’t just needy helpless things, especially strong confident omegas like Bucky? Bucky is a damn possessive territorial omega mf-er when it comes to his alpha. 

But of course, you’ve got your traditional soffie nesting behaviours too, even with our badass omega buck. He’s damn good at building nests if he can say so himself. Around this time, Bucky’s definitely augmenting them with laundry from Steve’s pile. Shirts and maybe even boxers (Bucky definitely tries to stuff those in discretely - shush - no one needs to know) are intertwined with the pillow walls and throws. But sometimes that’s not enough. That’s when Steve will be lassoed into the nest for a nice cuddle session or a romp through the sheets (literally - Bucky rolls Steve around in the nest to really mark his scent in). Bucky’s nerves tend to be especially shot with nesting hormones. But xanax can’t compare to crawling into his well-scented and broken-in nest, and just being enveloped by both his and Steve’s scents, mingling together into a single scent that’s not easily distilled into its components, but just suffuses feelings that go straight to Bucky’s core: love, safety, comfort - home. 

[panvani]

So far what do you think on the relationship between Vanitas & Misha compared to Gil & Vincent

Not especially comparable aside from the general deuteragonist elder brother/supporting antagonist younger brother dynamic. The way Mochizuki writes sibling relationships when they’re biological (as in Vincent and Gil’s case) vs when they’re through adoption/choice (as in Vanitas and Misha’s case) is very different. Nearly every example of a sibling relationship without a biological component (Oz and Alice, Oz and Ada, Sharon and Break, Jeanne and Chloé, etc.) have been far more healthy and warm than relationships that are based on blood relation (Vincent and Gil, Lacie and Oswald, Domi and her siblings). There are exceptions, of course (Noise and Vincent have a sibling relationship with no blood relation, and their interactions are for much of the story built around making each other as miserable as possible) but Mochizuki’s stories, in line with the general theme that one’s birth does not make you who you are, tend to portray familial relationships formed by choice rather than by birth as more healthy. In fact, Vincent and Gil are the only biological sibling pairing to appear in Pandora Hearts that are not directly or indirectly responsible for each other’s deaths.

That said, Mochizuki’s stories tend to prioritize sibling relationships as the most important form of love. I know that’s a bit controversial, but considering that Mochizuki is the youngest of four, has specifically attributed her choice to become a mangaka to her older sister, frequently thanks her older siblings (especially her eldest brother and his wife) in her afterwords, and has at several points made self deprecating remarks regarding her lack of marriage/romance... it’s not surprising that her stories would favor relationships between siblings, even though romance is a prominent element. Pandora Hearts is primarily driven by sibling relationships- it’s the point in establishing that the Child of Ill Omen is most frequently the younger sibling of Glen while establishing these are the two most influential forces in the progression of the narrative. It’s why Oz and Alice ultimately had a sibling relationship instead of a romance, because the narrative as a whole considers sibling love to be more powerful than romance. So far the biggest acts of love in Vanitas have been Jeanne’s attempts to save Chloé, who she regarded as an elder sister, and Vanitas’s childhood attempts to save Misha, who he regarded as a younger brother.

My reason in comparing Vincent and Gil’s relationship to Vanitas and Misha’s despite not really seeing them as all that similar is because Vincent and Gil’s relationship fucking sucks. Exactly how unhealthy their relationship was (and it was deeply, deeply unhealthy) is something I’d have to explain over SEVERAL posts, but they are deliberately set up as the sibling relationship most likely to fail. Like I said before, every single biological sibling pair in PH ended with one sibling directly or indirectly killing the other with Vincent and Gil as the sole exception. They in particular are astounding because the nature of he Glen/Ill Omened dynamic is to set up a power structure that inevitably results in the elder sibling killing the younger. Gil’s narration directly admits to using Vincent, to making him into a scapegoat for Gil’s own bad behavior, he ends up telling Vincent directly he doesn’t care at all what Vincent does so long as it doesn’t affect Gil, and Vincent wants to be treated that way, because being treated terribly by Gil is conducive to the circumstances necessary for Vincent’s suicide.

Compared to that? Vanitas and Misha have it pretty good, actually. Throughout the story Vanitas has been characterized as invariably selfish-- even when he does give things to others, it’s to establish power over them or further his own goals. This is because of Vanitas’s own inability to accept kindness, but it’s what he does nonetheless. Though he’s incredibly self destructive and masochistic, Vanitas is not in any way selfless or kind. That he do what he did for Misha in Mémoire 48 is major, because Vanitas, clearly terrified, sacrifices his own well being for Misha’s sake in a way that would have no benefit to him aside from being spared the sight of Misha’s suffering. Vanitas loved Misha very, very deeply and it’s clear he still does in the immense guilt he has surrounding him as an adult. Similarly, Misha wants Vanitas’s affection, takes genuine pleasure in his presence and approval. He identifies Vanitas as something warm and deliberately seeks him out just because he feels safe around him.

Vincent and Gil never had that. There wasn’t ever any warmth between them. What they had was out of necessity, as neither had anywhere else to go. In Retrace LXXXIX Gil says that as a child he had hated Vincent so much it made him want to die, and in the way Vincent narrates their early childhood and his subsequent obsession with controlling Gil’s feelings it’s obvious he had understood this. It’s a major problem I have with a lot of people’s depictions of their relationship, actually- Vincent didn’t want what he wanted because he felt he had lost Gil’s affection. Vincent wanted what he wanted because he didn’t believe Gil had ever loved him to begin with. The problems didn’t start with Sablier, they just reached a boiling point there. Vincent understood himself as something that Gil used, and believed the problem was not a wrong turn in their relationship but that Vincent had been born at all.

So, yeah, in short: if Gil and Vincent, who had absolutely nothing going for them at any point in the story and everything going against them, were able to make up... then Vanitas and Misha, who clearly did really love each other and want for each other’s presence, will definitely be able to do the same.

[ladymaigrey]

You make such an interesting point about Foggy not being as empathetic as people write him as which is something I've never really considered because I enjoy that aspect of fanon, but now that you've said it, you're absolutely right. That's not to say that Foggy isn't in essence a good person but deep empathy isn't his strong suit. He cares about the people surrounding him but it seems not to the almost aggressive and absorbing way Matt has been shown to. Foggy is average not only in that he isn't flipping across rooftops but also in the battles he chooses to fight and causes he takes on. It's "just call the police" instead of risking everything yourself. It makes me wonder if that originates from their different upbringings and different conditions? I could probably write an essay about it ahahaha 😅

To be fair - deep empathy is not a strong suit for most people. :) I wouldn’t say that Matt is particularly strong in expressing it either (though, I’d argue he is capable of feeling it more - in fact, his powers probably contribute to it).  I think the harder question to answer (not that you asked it :) ) is - what drives Matt and Foggy to do what they do, and how much empathy is a part of it? @ceterisparibus116 and I have tossed this one around several times. I think their differences lie in the sizes of their moral circles - i.e. the people to whom they feel like they have a moral responsibility to care for and treat with justice, be loyal to them, have similar values to them, even to our possible detriment. (See writings of Peter Singer or Simon Laham for a much more particular explanation of this, if you are interested). So, for Foggy - his moral circle is much narrower. He is family oriented. His definition of family, of course, includes not just blood family, but Matt and Karen. So - for them - Foggy will go over and above anything he would do for just random citizen. Foggy’s “drive” for justice actually comes from following Matt, as his family member - he basically adopted Matt’s values not just because he feels they are right (he probably does, but that’s secondary) - but out of loyalty and love for Matt. Which is probably the main reason he was so pissed in Nelson V Murdock: not only dis Matt fail to display the same level of loyalty to Foggy as Foggy did for him, by lying to Foggy for years, but Matt’s values are not what Foggy believes them to be. So, Matt was doubly amoral, in Foggy’s view: Matt was making morally-dubious choices as far as the principle of lawful justice is concerned, AND Matt was disloyal to his family. All of this is not to say that Foggy doesn’t want to help anyone outside his moral circle, but the level of his own detriment (or detriment to those in his moral circle) that he’d put up with is less. For Matt, his moral circle includes the whole city, particularly the victims of injustice (whom he hears on nightly basis).  His is the logic of “I can do something about people’s suffering, therefore it is my responsibility”. Which is why he often disregards the needs of his family (Foggy and Karen), in favour of the more pressing needs of other people. He has a lot more to balance. (Which he can’t, because it’s not humanly possible. Add to that self-loathing, disbelief in being worthy of human affection and acceptance or any regard at all, unless he is Doing Something Worthy + abandonment issues + Catholic Guilt + perfectionistic/neurotic personality - and you get the Matt-with-one-foot-in-depression-pit that we know an love :) ) But, how much is “empathy” a driver/contributor to the actions of Foggy and Matt vis-a-vis those who fall into their moral circles? Well, performance of caring or just acts does not require empathy per se. Sympathy, logic, even self-interest can result in the same acts. I think Foggy is strong on sympathy - i.e. he feels sorry for someone and tries to help them (e.g. Mrs Cardenas). But empathy - to take on someone’s alternative set of views - to understand them and understand their actions - that is uncomfortable for him. Maybe, it’s anxiety-raising. He avoids doing that.

But how much is Matt driven by empathy vs sympathy vs moral sense of justice? Oh boy, I struggle with this one...  There’s a mixture of everything in it. On one hand - his senses make him very aware of what other people feel, which is the primary component of empathy. I think he gets overwhelmed by that - which is where anger (the Devil) comes into that. He fights to stop the injustice both for the sake of restoration of the justice and to not feel other’s pain. Anger - being an instinctual response to threat - has a side-effect of shutting down empathy. It’s sort of the same mechanism that parents get when they get angry at their crying child and yell “Stop crying!” The biological empathic response to crying just hurt the parents, they just want it to end, and aggressively shut it down. At the same time, this cycle of - empathy=hurt=anger - well, it’s not exactly a cycle that reinforces voluntary expressions of empathy. So - I recon, Matt avoids it almost as much as Foggy, except - he can’t avoid it. That’s not how Matt is built, and his senses don’t allow him. Honestly, I think the difference here also lies in their personality types. Foggy is more extraverted. More open to new experiences, he is calmer - he is just more positive. Matt - as I said, more neurotic, introverted, closed-off, angry. Of course, all these traits were definitely reinforced by their family experiences (Foggy felt safer and more loved throughout his childhood - his world was less threatening to him.) But, the, somewhat-paradoxical outcome, though, is that Foggy still protects himself from the hurtful effects of empathy as much (or maybe, even more) than Matt, who has much stronger reasons to do so. And that, I think, is just down to who they are.

Anyway, I wrote an essay! :) And, I welcome your essays on the subject :)

[kitesilver24]

Peptides As Well As Your Creases

Distinguishing Between Historical Lamb And Also Goat Bones Using A Single Collagen Peptide

Content

Sarms Are This Year's Large Muscle Medicine However Are They Safe?

Uk Neqas Guildford Peptide Hormonal Agents.

Peptides Are Inadequate.

Organic Function And Classification Of Amps.

As opposed to the snugly taken care of framework of vancomycin, a direct peptide has to embrace a bioactive conformation upon binding to its target. Common settings of macrocyclization revealed for the example of a common peptide chain having 2 cysteines, a lysine, as well as a glutamic acid. The peptide foundation is given up orange, carbon in black, nitrogen in blue, oxygen in red, and sulfur in yellow.

Is Ostarine a drug?

Enobosarm, also known as ostarine or MK-2866, is an investigational selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) developed by GTx, Inc. Enobosarm.Clinical dataLegal statusUS : Investigational New DrugPharmacokinetic dataElimination half-life24 hoursIdentifiers20 more rows

It is appealing to believe end results for people with cardiac arrest might be enhanced by titrating therapy to BNP degrees. Tests were carried out in specialist facilities, used a range of BNP tracking approaches, and did not recognize a BNP target to treat. This research is appealing, yet better examination of which people with cardiac arrest might profit is probably needed before this becomes standard technique. BNP monitoring could be reliable for more youthful patients with minimized ventricular ejection portion. However, the populace with cardiac arrest that is challenging to take care of is frequently older as well as commonly have various other ailment besides cardiac arrest.

Sarms Are This Year's Large Muscular Tissue Medicine However Are They Risk-free?

The Bachem Personalized Synthesis Group can supply thorough advice on personalized peptide adjustment of dye identified peptides. For optimal results in FRET evaluation, the Trend Fluor ™ dyes should be integrated with the exclusive quenchers of the Trend Quencher ™ array. The discharge spectra of the Tide Fluor ™ dyes have a wonderful overlap with the excitation ranges of the advised Tide Quencher ™ acceptors, resulting in an effective relieving process. Suggested mixes of Tide Trend Fluor ™ dyes with Trend Quencher ™ peptides and their compatibility with other dyes are listed in Tables 1 and also 2 below.

October 2014 saw the magazine of a research study, launched by Andrew, of the impact of bread fermentation time on the digestive tract bacteria of patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. This is the first component of a broader examination right into the under-researched concern of just how breadmaking method affects digestibility as well as nutrient schedule. Bread Issues plays a consultatory duty in this job, which will certainly give robust proof for public-health-led innovation in milling and cooking modern technologies. However it's unlikely to deliver on any of the advantages provided above unless lactic acid microorganisms have actually fermented the dough for several hrs. Bread is commonly prevented by those affected by weight-gain and also metabolic disorder-- appropriately, possibly, in the case of industrial white loaves with a high glycaemic index.

Uk Neqas Guildford Peptide Hormonal Agents.

The 2010 National Heart Failure Audit approximated that in 100 individuals in the UK has cardiac arrest. It has an inadequate prognosis; around a 3rd of individuals admitted to medical facility with cardiac arrest pass away within one year. Management presently costs the NHS around ₤ 625 million a year.

Bikes resolve therapeutic needs and also clinical applications that can not be gotten to with existing therapy modalities. , Inherent flexibility and also structural versatility of Plasticins membrane-damaging peptides as a method for functional flexibility, Eur. , Secondary framework as well as rigidness in model proteins, Soft Matter, 2013, 9, 9548 RSC. Identification of elongation element G as the preserved cellular target of argyrin B, PLoS One, 2012, 7, e42657 CrossRef CAS. The facility of one or maybe several constrained cyclic motifs assists to decrease this negative thermodynamic account of a peptide. Of course, this benefit can just come to be apparent when the applied mode of rigidification does not interfere with binding (e.g. via steric clashes), making the reasonable style of appropriate loop frameworks a tough, yet, beneficial venture.

Peptides Are Not Enough.

The study does not show up to support a modification to medical practice. The 2010 NICE standard on the management of chronic heart failure advises that BNP (or its acquired N-terminal pro-Btype natriuretic peptide, NTproBNP) is measured in individuals with believed cardiac arrest that have no background of heart attack. Immediate referral and echocardiogram assessment are suggested for those with a BNP level over 400pg/ml. Levels listed below 100pg/ml are stated to make the diagnosis of heart failure not likely. In the friend study, the total death rate was 142 clients per 1,000 per year.

This does highlight the requirement for many years round out of competitors screening.

I assume in pharmaceutical terms the concept is to utilize SARMS rather than androgens at times, as you mention they can be selectively adjusted to create tasks differently to androgens.

Though there's no way to understand just the number of people are acquiring them, analysis of London's renowned "fatberg"-- the mass of oil as well as raw material located in the funding's sewers-- found SARMs existing in higher quantities than both MDMA as well as drug.

I would recommend that anabolics aren't detectable for months however, many will certainly have a really similar time training course to ostarine, relying on the dosage as well as method of management.

Over the past five years, on the internet look for SARMs (or "careful androgen receptor modulators", including andarine and also ostarine) have actually been climbing gradually.

The variety of situations is expected to climb with the ageing population. The research was restricted by the quality of the previous tests, the schedule of data as well as the scarcity of monitored people in general practice. Additionally, there was no obvious mechanism located that might discuss the little advantage. So, these findings must be considered tentative and also are not definitive enough to sustain a change in practice. Other study is underway that might better define the area for this examination. The importance of over expression at the mRNA level is verified by redetection of selected TUMAPs from step 3 on tumor tissue and also additionally by metrology of the TUMAPs themselves.

Biological Function And Also Classification Of Amps.

Absorption enhancers are the components which temporarily disturb the intestinal tract obstacle to improve the drug permeabilization. Instability of peptide is because of the proteolytic cleavage of the peptide backbone. NIHR is the nation's biggest funder of health and care study as well as offers the people, facilities and also modern technology that makes it possible for research study to prosper. NICE guidance advises the dimension of BNP in individuals with new-suspected heart failure; additionally, plasma NP levels normally fall after therapy.

all things Purchase AOD ">

What does MK 2866 do?

Ostarine (MK-2866) (Enobosarm) This selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) has been studied and proven to improve lean body mass and physical function. It also increases tendon strength, ligament health, bone density and encourages collagen turn-over.

High degrees of c-peptide with a reduced degree of blood glucose might be an indication of insulin resistance, either type 2 diabetes or Cushing's disorder. Low degrees of c-peptide and also high blood sugar levels can be an indicator of type 1 diabetes.

Anavar Not Ate Cardio, What Are Human Development Hormone Supplements.

Strategic monitoring of a treatment location calls for tough decisions to be made regarding which programs to buy and which to allow go. Recognizing the rapidly altering competitive atmosphere for your drug candidates is an essential input right into these choices. It is very easy to lose track of the more comprehensive photo when a clinical program is in development as well as obtain blindsided by outside occasions. Bicyclic peptide antagonists of the serine protease plasma kallikrein inhibitors have possible application in genetic angioedema-- a dangerous illness characterised by regional swelling in subcutaneous cells and body organs. Supplying thorough remedies to sustain medication substance as well as medicine product growth programs.

Long-distance runner Kiranjeet Kaur fails dope test - Sportstar

Long-distance runner Kiranjeet Kaur fails dope test.

Posted: Wed, 04 Mar 2020 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Death prices were greater in the BNP-monitoring group than in the BNP-testing and never-tested teams. This probably shows that this tiny group were sicker than various other clients. BNP-guided treatment had no overall result on risk of fatality from any kind of reason (risk proportion 0.87, 95% confidence interval 0.73 to 1.04). Sub-group analysis discovered it lowered mortality for participants matured less than 75 years (Human Resources 0.70, 95% CI 0.53 to 0.92) but except older people.

This programme of job set out to evaluate the professional as well as cost-effectiveness of BNP-guided therapy for individuals with a brand-new medical diagnosis of heart failure between January 2007 and also March 2013. https://pharmalabglobal.com/product-category/hcg/ is a problem where the heart can not pump blood effectively sufficient to fulfill the demands of the body. It has lots of reasons, typically, previous cardiovascular disease or hypertension.

" I have actually utilized JPT's peptide swimming pools (PepMix ™) for many years currently, with wonderful complete satisfaction! Initial CMV derived peptides and also currently additionally EBV. Thus far, we have actually released data in one publication and plan numerous extra in the near future." Biobetters as well as biosuperiors are based on existing medicines however are not the same to them. They improve upon the initial and also can in many cases be extra efficient whilst supplying less side effects. They are additionally considered much less of a business danger than establishing an all new medicine. Zentraxa has to date showed their biosimiliar capabilities with Teriparatide as well as Zadaxin - drugs used mainly to deal with Osteoporosis as well as Liver disease B specifically. They leveraged this experience to style, develop and examine 'bio-superiors', medications which have enhanced medicinal properties, greater activity, decreased adverse effects and also reduced immunogenicity than the pioneer medications they look for to surpass.

XPRESIDENT, a technology system initially created in the laboratories of the pioneering immunologist Hans-Georg Rammensee and coworkers at the University of Tuebingen, and continuously boosted at the spin-off immatics biotechnologies. display screens the targeting ligand for binding to a mammalian receptor.

A C-peptide test is a blood test which is performed to figure out how much insulin your body is creating. This might work for establishing whether you have kind 1 or kind 2 diabetes or whether you have insulin resistance. DNA vaccination through RALA nanoparticles in a microneedle delivery system induces a powerful immune response against the endogenous prostate cancer cells stem cell antigen. DNA vaccination for cervical cancer; an unique innovation system of RALA moderated genetics shipment through polymeric microneedles. Scancell is establishing novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer cells based upon its ImmunoBody ® as well as Moditope ® modern technology platforms.

in the optimal ratio with phage preserves the tumor specificity of RGD4C/phage-based gene delivery vectors while boosting the gene distribution efficacy. Comparing archaeological lamb and also goat bones utilizing a solitary collagen peptide.

[stickvoice1]

Sarms Uk.

Distinguishing Between Archaeological Lamb As Well As Goat Bones Using A Single Collagen Peptide

Content

Sarms Are This Year's Large Muscular Tissue Drug However Are They Secure?

Uk Neqas Guildford Peptide Hormones.

Peptides Are Not Nearly Enough.

Organic Role As Well As Category Of Amps.

In comparison to the firmly dealt with framework of vancomycin, a straight peptide needs to embrace a bioactive conformation upon binding to its target. Typical modes of macrocyclization revealed for the example of a common peptide chain consisting of 2 cysteines, a lysine, and also a glutamic acid. The peptide foundation is given up orange, carbon in black, nitrogen in blue, oxygen in red, as well as sulfur in yellow.

Is Ostarine a drug?

Enobosarm, also known as ostarine or MK-2866, is an investigational selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) developed by GTx, Inc. Enobosarm.Clinical dataLegal statusUS : Investigational New DrugPharmacokinetic dataElimination half-life24 hoursIdentifiers20 more rows

It is tempting to believe outcomes for people with heart failure could be improved by titrating therapy to BNP degrees. Trials were conducted in specialist clinics, used a selection of BNP tracking approaches, and also did not identify a BNP target to deal with. This research study is promising, however additionally assessment of which individuals with cardiac arrest could benefit is most likely required before this becomes basic technique. BNP surveillance could be effective for younger clients with decreased ventricular ejection fraction. Nonetheless, the populace with cardiac arrest that is tough to take care of is often older and also usually have various other ailment besides cardiac arrest.

Sarms Are This Year's Large Muscle Drug Yet Are They Risk-free?

The Bachem Customized Synthesis Team can supply in-depth recommendations on custom-made peptide alteration of color classified peptides. For maximum cause FRET evaluation, the Trend Fluor ™ dyes should be combined with the exclusive quenchers of the Tide Quencher ™ array. The discharge ranges of the Trend Fluor ™ dyes have a great overlap with the excitation spectra of the advised Tide Quencher ™ acceptors, causing a reliable relieving process. Recommended combinations of Tide Tide Fluor ™ dyes with Tide Quencher ™ peptides as well as their compatibility with other dyes are noted in Tables 1 as well as 2 below.

October 2014 saw the magazine of a study, launched by Andrew, of the result of bread fermentation time on the intestine germs of people with Short-tempered Bowel Disorder. This is the initial component of a wider examination into the under-researched issue of how breadmaking approach affects digestibility and nutrient accessibility. Bread Issues plays an advisory function in this work, which will supply robust evidence for public-health-led development in milling and also baking innovations. Yet it's not likely to supply on any one of the benefits provided above unless lactic acid germs have fermented the dough for numerous hours. Bread is typically avoided by those affected by weight-gain and also metabolic disorder-- appropriately, maybe, in the case of industrial white loaves with a high glycaemic index.

Uk Neqas Guildford Peptide Hormonal Agents.

The 2010 National Cardiac arrest Audit approximated that one in 100 individuals in the UK has cardiac arrest. It has a poor prognosis; around a third of individuals admitted to healthcare facility with heart failure pass away within one year. Administration currently sets you back the NHS around ₤ 625 million a year.

Bikes deal with healing requirements as well as clinical applications that can't be gotten to with existing treatment techniques. , Intrinsic adaptability and structural flexibility of Plasticins membrane-damaging peptides as a strategy for practical adaptability, Eur. , Secondary structure and rigidness in model proteins, Soft Matter, 2013, 9, 9548 RSC. Recognition of elongation factor G as the preserved mobile target of argyrin B, PLoS One, 2012, 7, e42657 CrossRef CAS. The facility of one or perhaps numerous constrained cyclic concepts helps to decrease this unfavorable thermodynamic account of a peptide. Obviously, this advantage can just end up being evident when the applied mode of rigidification does not conflict with binding (e.g. through steric clashes), providing the logical style of suitable loophole frameworks a hard, yet, rewarding endeavor.

Peptides Are Inadequate.

The research study does not show up to sustain a change to scientific technique. The 2010 NICE guideline on the administration of chronic cardiac arrest suggests that BNP (or its derivative N-terminal pro-Btype natriuretic peptide, NTproBNP) is determined in people with believed cardiac arrest that have no history of cardiovascular disease. information BPC157 France as well as echocardiogram evaluation are advised for those with a BNP degree above 400pg/ml. Levels below 100pg/ml are stated to make the medical diagnosis of heart failure unlikely. In the associate research study, the total fatality price was 142 clients per 1,000 per year.

is presently being activelydeveloped by GTxas a therapy for muscular tissue squandering in lung cancer people.

This does highlight the need for many years complete of competitors testing.

I assume in pharmaceutical terms the idea is to utilize SARMS instead of androgens at times, as you explain they can be precisely adjusted to develop tasks in different ways to androgens.

Though there's no way to recognize simply how many of us are purchasing them, evaluation of London's well-known "fatberg"-- the mass of oil and raw material located in the resources's sewers-- discovered SARMs existing in greater quantities than both MDMA and also cocaine.

I would certainly suggest that anabolics aren't observable for months however, numerous will certainly have a very comparable time program to ostarine, relying on the dosage as well as method of administration.

Over the past five years, on-line look for SARMs (or "careful androgen receptor modulators", including andarine and ostarine) have been increasing steadily.

The number of instances is expected to increase with the ageing population. The study was restricted by the quality of the previous tests, the availability of information and the deficiency of monitored clients generally technique. Furthermore, there was no obvious mechanism found that could describe the little benefit. So, these findings should be considered tentative and are not definitive adequate to sustain a modification in method. Various other research study is underway that might much better define the location for this examination. The significance of over expression at the mRNA degree is confirmed by redetection of picked TUMAPs from action 3 on tumour tissue and also additionally by quantification of the TUMAPs themselves.

Biological Duty And Also Category Of Amps.

Absorption enhancers are the elements which momentarily disturb the intestinal barrier to enhance the drug permeabilization. Instability of peptide results from the proteolytic bosom of the peptide foundation. NIHR is the country's largest funder of wellness and also treatment research and also offers the people, facilities and also modern technology that enables research study to thrive. GREAT assistance advises the measurement of BNP in individuals with new-suspected cardiac arrest; even more, plasma NP levels usually drop after therapy.

What does MK 2866 do?

Ostarine (MK-2866) (Enobosarm) This selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) has been studied and proven to improve lean body mass and physical function. It also increases tendon strength, ligament health, bone density and encourages collagen turn-over.

High levels of c-peptide with a low level of blood sugar could be an indicator of insulin resistance, either type 2 diabetic issues or Cushing's disorder. Reduced levels of c-peptide and also high blood glucose degrees can be a sign of kind 1 diabetes mellitus.

Strategic management of a treatment area needs difficult choices to be made concerning which programs to buy and also which to allow go. Recognizing the quickly transforming competitive setting for your medication prospects is a key input right into these choices. It is easy to lose track of the broader image when a clinical program is in progression as well as obtain blindsided by external events. Bicyclic peptide villains of the serine protease plasma kallikrein preventions have potential application in genetic angioedema-- a dangerous illness characterised by neighborhood swelling in subcutaneous cells and also body organs. Delivering comprehensive remedies to support medication compound and also medicine product development programs.

Long-distance runner Kiranjeet Kaur fails dope test - Sportstar

Long-distance runner Kiranjeet Kaur fails dope test.

Posted: Wed, 04 Mar 2020 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Death prices were higher in the BNP-monitoring team than in the BNP-testing as well as never-tested teams. This possibly mirrors that this tiny group were sicker than other clients. BNP-guided treatment had no total result on danger of fatality from any type of cause (hazard ratio 0.87, 95% self-confidence interval 0.73 to 1.04). Sub-group analysis discovered it minimized death for participants matured less than 75 years (Human Resources 0.70, 95% CI 0.53 to 0.92) however not for older individuals.

This programme of work laid out to evaluate the scientific and also cost-effectiveness of BNP-guided therapy for people with a brand-new diagnosis of heart failure between January 2007 as well as March 2013. Cardiac arrest is a condition where the heart can not pump blood effectively sufficient to satisfy the needs of the body. It has many reasons, generally, previous heart attack or hypertension.

" I have actually used JPT's peptide pools (PepMix ™) for several years now, with wonderful complete satisfaction! First CMV acquired peptides and now likewise EBV. Until now, we have actually published data in one magazine as well as plan several extra in the near future." Biobetters and biosuperiors are based upon existing drugs however are not identical to them. peptides uk Canada bpc157 how does it work is packed with essential features improve upon the original as well as can in some cases be extra reliable whilst offering fewer negative effects. They are likewise taken into consideration less of a commercial risk than developing a brand-new drug. Zentraxa needs to day demonstrated their biosimiliar capabilities with Teriparatide and Zadaxin - drugs used primarily to treat Weakening of bones and Hepatitis B specifically. They leveraged this experience to design, develop as well as check 'bio-superiors', medicines which have improved medicinal residential or commercial properties, greater task, minimized adverse effects and reduced immunogenicity than the producer drugs they look for to improve upon.

XPRESIDENT, an innovation system initially created in the laboratories of the pioneering immunologist Hans-Georg Rammensee and also coworkers at the University of Tuebingen, and continuously boosted at the spin-off immatics biotechnologies. displays the targeting ligand for binding to a mammalian receptor.

A C-peptide test is a blood test which is carried out to find out just how much insulin your body is generating. This may work for figuring out whether you have type 1 or kind 2 diabetes or whether you have insulin resistance. DNA inoculation through RALA nanoparticles in a microneedle delivery system generates a potent immune reaction versus the endogenous prostate cancer cells stem cell antigen. DNA vaccination for cervical cancer cells; a novel technology platform of RALA mediated genetics shipment using polymeric microneedles. Scancell is establishing unique immunotherapies for the therapy of cancer cells based upon its ImmunoBody ® as well as Moditope ® technology systems.

in the ideal ratio with phage preserves the tumour specificity of RGD4C/phage-based gene delivery vectors while improving the genetics delivery efficiency. Distinguishing between historical sheep as well as goat bones using a solitary collagen peptide.

[raichukfm]

To a confused anon: I’m here to offer my assistance, as best I can. As a fair warning, I have a bad habit of shoving my foot right in my mouth and coming off as an ass, but I promise that’s not what’s intended here. Also, I spent a lot of words on all this. If you don’t want to read a lot of words, scroll down past the break a bit and read the bolded bit, because that’s the most important part, I think. Also, anybody seeing this because they’re following me, this is here to show somebody else, so you can read it if you want but keep that in mind I guess.

Step one, as I am a real trans woman who happens to be gay, I can speak pretty authoritatively that this is gay. Because I’m a woman, and I like women. So it’s gay when I like cis women, and equally as gay as when I like trans women. If I hypothetically liked a cis man or a trans man, that wouldn’t be gay, and also I’d find out I was bi I suppose. If I liked someone that wasn’t a man or a woman I’m not really sure what word I’d use for that, but that’s not really the point. Sexuality, sexual orientation, and sexuality are complicated things. But, generally, what you are attracted to is someone’s gender. You may also be attracted to their sex, or you might not. It’s possible to be attracted to someone’s sex and not their gender. It’s possible to be attracted to someone because of an incorrect perception of their gender. It can be messy; real life is messy. Generally, people will define their own sexual identity in regards to their gender, because that’s what most people care more about in their identity. Usually, that aligns with sex, which is pretty cool, but when it doesn’t for someone, the person generally thinks of themselves as that gender that they are. That’s... kinda the point. So, if you were exclusively attracted to women, you would think yourself straight if you’re a man, and lesbian if you’re a woman, regardless of if you were cis or trans. Similarly, most people are attracted to gender; specifically, gender presentation. It’s by definition more visible than gender identity or sex, and also coincides with both, most of the time, though it can coincide with only one or neither, in other cases. You sort of have to learn or infer those. However, people don’t only care about gender presentation. (Okay, some people probably do.) Which has two major components: 1. People almost always care about a potential partner’s gender identity. It’s just a basic interpersonal thing, even if it doesn’t impact one’s preferences. And if there is a preference, it’s not necessarily a dealbreaker, but... If you like men, then finding out someone you find attractive is actually a woman would probably tamp that down a bit. For one, they are likely (although not necessarily) going to adapt their presentation to be less masculine in the future, but even beyond that... They’re a woman. That in itself can put you off. It’s also possible for that to interface with romantic attraction more than sexual attraction. And that’s okay. A good thing to keep in mind is that your feelings are just feelings. It’s possible for them to go against your self-concept, or have unfortunate implications. Feelings aren’t conscious beliefs. So if you’re attracted to someone for their sex, but aren’t attracted to their gender identity, that’s just an awkward coincidence. No more, no less. Don’t let it get to you, and don’t be a creep or jerk about it. If someone’s gender identity changes, or they come out to you as a different identity than you had previously thought, and that’s not congruent with your sexual or romantic orientation, that’s okay. It can definitely be worthwhile to stick together and see if it works out, because it genuinely might. But it’s also entirely legitimate to split up because of it. The thing is, if this was someone who you cared about, that shouldn’t go away even if your attraction does, so be kind and supportive. They might need distance, or you might, I’m no relationship expert, but do your best to help both of you through something like that. 2. People often care about a potential partner’s sex. This is not a controversy-free take, but it is entirely legitimate to be attracted or not attracted to a sex regardless of gender. That’s fine. Feelings are feelings. There is however, as in all things, an onus not to be a jackass about it. If you are attracted to cis women, but not attracted to trans women, just treat them decently, and turn them down nicely when you must. If you’re attracted to cis men, but not attracted to trans men, just treat them decently and turn them down nicely when you must. If you have a strong preference for or against a certain kind of genitalia or other sexual characteristic, that’s legitimate. But if you’re together with someone and then find out they’re not what you’re attracted to in some respect, you still have to be a good person about it. You don’t owe anybody affection, romance, or sex, but you have to be decent. That goes for physical features the same way it goes for habits, beliefs, anything else. I think what leaf brought up with the fetishizing thing is that a lot of the time the people who (loudly) care about a trans person’s sex treat this as, well, a fetish. And while I think it’s fine to fetishize whatever, a lot of the time that fetishization of a concept involves treating real, actual people shittily, reducing them to objects or . It’s not an inherent quality to caring about someone’s sex I use “care about” a bit broadly there, such that it doesn’t necessarily mean “have a preference about”, because some people genuinely don’t have preferences about gender identity, or about sex, or about either, but still wouldn’t really disregard those. This is maybe muddying the water a tad, but oh well. This is mostly focused on binary gender identities, because the whole straight/gay etc. terminology is mostly focused on those, but the general principles also include nonbinary people. I’d elaborate, but I think it’s pretty straightforward how they fit in. The short of it: If you’re attracted to someone, whether that attraction would be classified as “straight” or “gay” is most respectfully contingent on your respective gender identities. It may be useful to understand your own sexual attraction as contingent on the other person’s gender presentation or sex instead, when it’s not congruent with their gender identity, but I’d stress that’s only for understanding your own feelings. Whatever horny part of your brain might not get the relevant nuance, but you’re a whole intellect, so you don’t get that excuse. If you’re romantically/sexually attracted to somebody you intellectually wouldn’t consider a romantic/sexual partner, that doesn’t invalidate your orientation, but it doesn’t invalidate their identity, either. That’s a bit long for something I’m calling “the short of it” but brevity has never been among my skills. As for another point that apparently came up in asks, about the very nature of gender identity as a thing, I’m going to do my best to crack that nut. I think there is a very simple case to be made: Gender identities exist. If you ask someone, there’s a likely chance they’ll feel pretty strongly that they have one. They might tell you they’re a man, or a woman, or something else. People who don’t believe they have a gender will probably feel fairly strongly that they don’t have one. Even people who don’t believe in transgender or nonbinary people almost always believe in this, even if they want to call it something else. Your gender identity is the gender, if any, that you identify as. We’re just defining the term as that. It turns out, people generally tend to identify with genders (or at least sexes), so we have a term that refers to an idea and correlates with observed reality, so... We have a real thing! Score! I belabored the point a bit, but that’s just the thing. The argument against transgender or nonbinary people tends to be that gender identity isn’t a real thing, that it’s denying reality, or that it’s . But... You can verify it exists. It has to. And it doesn’t obey any restriction to only being two genders, because you can see a sizeable amount of people whose stated identities don’t obey that restriction. I mean, you can disbelieve this, you can think essentially everyone is lying, but that’s a bit of a reality denial position. So the question isn’t “Does gender identity exist?”, because that question has an answer you can’t actually reasonably deny. The question is “Does gender identity matter?” and, um... Again, I’ll invoke the argument that most people care about it. Cisgender people usually care about their gender identity, including those that think it inextricably linked to their sex. Transgender people certainly care about it. What grounds is there to think it doesn’t matter? The arguments I see all tend to rest on this assumption that this is a made up thing, but... It’s not, as earlier stated. It’s based on thinking gender identity must necessarily align with sex, but; you have to just arbitrarily assume that; there’s no justification for this other than it appears to be obviously true to some people. But “It’s obvious, duh” isn’t really an argument. “It’s basic biology” also isn’t an argument. Sex is a fairly basic biological idea, although it’s itself considerably more complicated than just XX chromosomes = biologically female and XY chromosomes = biologically male. But gender identity is a thing to do with your mind. Ergo, it’s your brain, and as it happens, that’s considerably more advanced biology. There’s no obvious reason why a mental self-conception should necessarily correlate with biological sex, and the observable evidence doesn’t point to such a necessary correlation, since transgender and nonbinary people exist. Given that gender identity exists and people care about it, I think there’s a pretty clear case to make that you should respect other people’s gender identities: They want you to. It’s kind. It’s at best rude not to do it, and being rude is one of those things generally agreed to be bad. It’s a whole archetypical way for things to be considered bad, in fact. Any argument in good faith based on psychology will pretty easily come to the conclusion that it should be respected, because that’s the field consensus. The studies show it helps people deal with gender dysphoria to be treated as the gender they identify as. All the anecdotal evidence in the world is there to show you people overwhelming prefer to be treated as the gender they identify as. And the utilitarian counterarguments are... that it poses logistical issues? That’s okay, those can be addressed. That it makes some people uncomfortable or annoyed? It’ll probably be easier for them to get over that and adjust to the way things are. That accepting it will lead to some disastrous consequences? Well that’s... I mean it’s already largely accepted. Last I heard, there hasn’t been any disastrous wave of disastrous consequences here to foreshadow the coming storm. So, to put this aside, if you don’t understand gender identity: That’s okay. It’s messy, but relatively simple. People feel like they are a certain gender, and want to be accepted and treated as that gender. (Or feel they have no gender and want to be accepted and treated accordingly.) That’s the same for cis and trans people. Whether or not that gender correlates to any physical or biological feature in them isn’t really the point of it, because it’s a mental thing. No physical part of you directly correlates to what your name is, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t important to you, for instance. (And, as a last note, if you’ve seen a statistic that the rate of suicide attempts don’t fall after one transitions, it’s being grossly misrepresented. Every time I have seen that with its actual source given, if you follow said source, you find the statistic is from a question being asked about whether the person ever attempted suicide in their life. So, someone who was suicidal pre-transition who lost those suicidal tendencies after transitioning would still answer “yes”, and thus be marked down as such and post-transition. Therefore, the fact that the percentage was roughly the same for pre- and post-transition people says exactly jack shit about the effectiveness or lackthereof of transitioning for suicidal ideation. Every other piece of evidence I’ve seen points to transitioning, and more generally affirming someone’s gender, helps with the negative effects of gender dysphoria. Of course, don’t listen to me. Look it up. But I implore you, basically never trust someone’s summary of the research, at least not totally; the media all too often sucks at summarizing science, and average people are often worse, and that’s without an ideological axe to grind. Find the source if you can. You don’t necessarily have to read the whole thing, but check the abstract or such. As an example, I had a college textbook claim that “Women use their whole brain during conversations, while men use only half”, with a citation to an I think Wired article that restated a BBC website article that incredibly poorly reported on a paper that was actually about putting people in MRI machines listen to books on tape. Women had more activity across both hemispheres of the brain while men had activity more centered around one. It was about strokes and how signals travel across the brain, not communication. Professionals can cock stuff up bad. I’m not saying “Don’t trust the news” or “Don’t trust anybody”, but it doesn’t hurt to check into things as much as you can, and that goes doubly so for research and science.) 

[lorin18]

I See Humans but No Humanity

“Being human is given. But keeping our humanity is a choice.” This is an anonymous quote that can be related to many different topics. But in this blog, let me relate this quote to a certain one: animal testing.

Animal testing refers to the procedures or methods done to animals for medical purposes, biological researches, and efficiency of substances. Scientists believe that this a logical way to save lives because the genetic and biological components of humans and animals are quite similar. But if I were to ask you, with all our fast-paced technological advancements, is animal testing still that necessary?

Throughout history, animals have been used for biomedical researches. From the early Greek physician-scientists Aristotle and Erasistratus, to the Arab physician Ibn Zuhr of the twelfth century. And because of this, scientists argue that animal testing was proven to be most effective as it is the oldest and most prevalent known yet. They also support their claims through facts such as chimpanzees share 99% of their DNA with humans, mouses are 98% genetically similar to humans and that mammals, including humans, are descended from common ancestors, and all have the same set of organs (heart, kidneys, lungs, etc.) that function in essentially the same way with the help of a bloodstream and central nervous system. (California Biomedical Research Association, 2013) But upon knowing that this method started at a time where technology was still evolving leads us to my first argument: animal testing should be phased out and be replaced by alternative procedures that are cheaper and more accurate.  

Although the claims stated above are reasonable, there are still a lot of researchers who went above and beyond the system just to concoct alternative and operative methods to replace this inhumane act. First, are the high-speed algorithms created by the researchers at Rutgers University of New Jersey which is a much cheaper alternative that can obtain data from online chemical databases. This helps them compare substances and their possible reactions faster unlike the time-consuming animal tests. Though medicines like cancer and HIV drugs, insulin, antibiotics, and vaccines were made possible through animal tests, this alternative will help speed up the evaluations of upcoming vaccines such as the vaccine for COVID-19.  

The second alternative is the in vitro testing such as the Human Organ-on-chips. Harvard's Wyss Institute has created these microchips that can perfectly mimic the structure and function of human organs and organ systems. According to them, they made this life-changing step because animal testing is not only cruel, but also, tedious and so much more expensive. These microchips are definitely much more advance and can accurately recapitulate the microarchitecture and functions of living human organs, including the lung, intestine, kidney, skin, bone marrow and blood-brain barrier, among others. (Wyss Institute, n.d.)

Secondly, I would like to point out the fact that animal testing is cruel and inhumane. And as irrational as it sounds, it actually isn’t. Every year, about 115 million animals are used. This includes, mice, rats, frogs, dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, monkeys, fish and birds. They are used for biology lessons, medical training, testing of drugs, cosmetics, and food. And unfortunately, most of them either die, or are held captive almost for the rest of their lives. During the testing, animals go through so much. They are exposed to drugs, chemicals or infectious disease at levels that cause illness, pain and distress, or death, forced chemical exposure in toxicity testing, food and water deprivation, short and prolonged periods of physical restraint, and killing by carbon dioxide asphyxiation, neck-breaking, decapitation, or other means. (Humane Society International, 2012) And these are just some of the ways they suffer. There’s so much more, and if this harsh act is continued, there would less and less of their kind.

“Being human is given. But keeping our humanity is a choice.” If I’m going to be honest, not until a few weeks ago, I would say that I am pro animal testing. But after deliberately researching this topic, I’ve come to a realize that this was such a brutal act. I could lay more arguments but let me end it here. Though animal testing did contribute a lot, I think this is now the time to stop.  

[floatingcatacombs]

Why Tomoyo’s Mom is a Political Lesbian

12 Days of Aniblogging, Day 1

In my Cardcaptor Sakura gushpiece last year, I made an offhanded promise to write about why Tomoyo’s mom is a political lesbian once I finished my watchthrough. With all 70 episodes under my belt, it’s time to investigate what I was grasping at there.

I will never be over Sakura’s poncho in episode 2

We hear about Tomoyo’s mom as early as the second episode of the show. After Sakura and Tomoyo make plans to break into their school at night, Tomoyo arrives with a full security escort in a tinted vehicle, with an armored van full of costumes for Sakura right behind her. You see, her mother is the president of a very large toy company, which means that she’s ridiculously rich and able to assign bodyguards to her kid like it’s nothing. The two observations that instantly come to one’s mind are that a) all of the bodyguards are women, and b) they all have the gayest haircuts imaginable.

“And here are my conspicuously butch and femme bodyguards”

The rest of Tomoyo’s family situation really only shows up in Episode 10 and 11. We are properly introduced to her mom (Sonomi), and the chip on her shoulder. She’s out to spite Sakura’s father in increasingly lavish ways, and we learn that this stems from a long-standing grudge – Sakura’s dad married the girl that Sonomi was also helplessly in love with. So that’s the ‘lesbian’ box checked off of my argument.

That haircut..sure is asymmetric

But what about the ‘political’ part of ‘political lesbian’? I probably should have started with that rather than Cardcaptor wiki synopses. Political lesbianism is a combination of second-wave feminist ideals with the notion that sexuality is a choice. Rather than dumping a manifesto onto you, I’ll sum up the underlying philosophical argument at play here:

1. Sexual orientation is a choice, as is choosing to act on sexual orientation. 2. Heterosexuality is inherently patriarchal and oppressive. 3. Women have an obligation to avoid and fight patriarchy wherever they can.

___________

Conclusion 1: All women should avoid heterosexuality. Conclusion 2: All women who continue participating in heterosexuality are abandoning their obligations.

This is a seriously weighty argument. If we accept all three premises, we are left with the conclusion that not only is heterosexuality harmful to women, but women must abandon straight relationships, otherwise they are actively collaborating with the enemy.

What does the world even look like if one follows this argument to its conclusion? Most political lesbians also believe in lesbian separatism – the notion that women’s liberation cannot be achieved by collaborating with men. Women ought to give up marriage, families, and sex with men, otherwise they will never be able to overcome institutional sexism. As an alternative to sex with men, women could consider…sex with women! But whether they have sex with women or none at all isn’t a big deal in the scheme of things. What really matters is the political action of refusing heterosexuality.

political lesbian praxis

The Daidouji family’s living situation all but confirms Sonomi’s commitment to separatism. She lives in a modernist mansion where all of her maids, guards, and other servants are women. Most notably, she has no husband or male partner to be seen whatsoever. Sakura even makes the observation that Tomoyo never talks about her father. Other than whatever happened for Sonomi to have Tomoyo, she appears to have completely cut the concept of men and patriarchy out of her life. If her goal was to create a lesbian separatist dynasty, she appears to have succeeded (Tomoyo is, of course, a baby lesbian in the making).

Me gaining class consciousness

There is a certain allure to political lesbianism. The idea that men are the root of all suffering and cutting ties to men provides a fairy-tale escape for some women. For anyone who has ever felt threatened or imbalanced in heterosexual relationships, it offers an explanation on top of the way out. Of course, choosing to be a political lesbian still requires swallowing some pretty big pills. Should we try?

The most challenging premise at first is the idea that sexual orientation is a choice that can and should be changed on a whim. The social construction of sexuality is definitely not a mindset that has won out. In fact, the modern gay rights movements in the United States has specifically been spearheaded with the idea that gay people are “born this way”, a purely biological challenge to the idea that someone can just decide to like women once they hear about the evils of men. Indeed, the political lesbians of old were somewhat split on whether sexuality is socially constructed or a biological impulse. However, they can just take the middle ground and argue that it doesn’t really matter – lesbian relationships may or may not be able to provide an alternative to heterosexual relationships for historically straight women, but what really matters is the political act of refusing heterosexuality. If a woman cannot bring herself to love other woman, she can simply take a vow of celibacy or otherwise avoid men. This brings us straight to the second and third arguments – that heterosexuality itself is oppressive and must be actively resisted.

Sure, patriarchy and oppression are bad, but the routes chosen to argue against them are important. Although they believe in flexible and constructed sexuality, political lesbian’s arguments against heterosexuality are extremely biological. The seminal pamphlet “Love your Enemy?” argues that “there is a very special importance attached to sexuality under male supremacy when every sexual reference, every sexual joke, every sexual image serves to remind a woman of her invaded centre...” Penetration, specifically, carries strong symbolic significance in reinforcing the power of men on top of its physically invasive component. Even non-penetrative heterosexual sex still contains that roleplay of power and powerlessness to a political lesbian. There is no loophole that will allow women to keep loving men ethically – the demands of political lesbianism are Kantian maxims.

Sonomi loved Sakura’s mom to the point of viewing her pairing off with a man as a betrayal. It’s very easy to see it as an ideological betrayal on top of the personal one.

The elephant in the room is, of course, the third-wave notion that femaleness and maleness are not inherently tied to genitalia. After all, to the shock and chagrin of many a radical feminist, some women have penises. Is their sex inherently heteropatriarchal? What about men who don’t have penises? Do they have a get-out-of-jail-free card from this whole mess? What about nonbinary people, who have been completely ruled out of this conversation so far? In arguing a biological model of oppression, political lesbians will need to be able to answer for all of this.

Most of them respond by biting the bullet and doubling down on their original positions. They claim that trans women are just scheming men in dresses, that trans men are gender traitors who want to abandon their fellow women in pursuit of male privilege, and that nonbinary people are simply confused. It is through this reasoning that so many political lesbians grew up to be trans-exclusionary radical feminists. Many former members of the Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group, such as Julie Bindel, have gradually pivoted from arguing for women’s rights on all fronts to single-mindedly becoming obsessed with making sure that trans people are forcibly excluded from all gendered spaces. Not only is it depressing to see so many radical feminists fall down this pathway, it’s terrifying to watch as TERFs gain more and more of a media foothold as they start to team up with their enemies, the religious right, over their shared hatred of transgender existence.  

shut the fuck up, terf

It’s a depressing turn of events! Still, even knowing that the movement is rooted in transphobia, can political lesbianism be salvaged? The idea of women’s-only-spaces as a place for comfort, safety, and liberation still feels powerful and immediately understandable and implementable. Though the mainstream LGBT+ movement gained widespread acceptance through advocating that there was nothing they could do about their sexuality, compulsory heterosexuality is still a real thing for many women and spaces to help recognize that would be very useful. Of course, the definition of a woman is going to have to broaden to be trans-inclusive, and as recent efforts to amend the Gender Recognition Act in the UK have shown, this is very difficult in the current TERFy political climate. But I don’t think that every bit of political lesbian ideology needs to be shelved or trashed. As future waves of feminism start reigniting and reconciling various second-wave and third-wave conflicts, I’d estimate that political lesbianism is going to get a fair reevaluation amongst mainstream feminists sometime within the next decade, with the bad parts hopefully cut and the strong parts returned to public consciousness.

pretend kero-chan is giving this lecture ok

So where does this leave Tomoyo’s mom? uhhhhhhhhhhh

Tomoyo’s mom manages to achieve the lesbian separatist ideal of a life lived without men, but she only manages to do so by taking advantage of her vast wealth to set up her own miniature state of sorts. However, this totally goes against the radical feminist principles of grassroots organizing and class consciousness. In achieving the physical goals of political lesbianism, Sonomi has completely missed the symbolic goals of the ideology and is actually reinforcing heteropatriarchal power structures. With her vast concentrated wealth and vertical power hierarchy over her guards and maids, Sonomi is reproducing the very male supremacy power structures that radical feminists work to fight against. Though she may fancy herself a political lesbian, she probably would not be welcomed by any of them.

Also her hairstyle is still kind of bad. terf bangs, lol

[bi-kisses]

Can you give me the compelling version of the transmed position? Like, one of my close friends says she shares a lot of the philosophy but goes in a very different direction, but I want to understand more than "gender is an intrinsic part of neurology identifiably only by dysphoria (and also mb nonbinary people don't exist)"

Gender is an intrinsic part of biology. Let’s start there. That’s the baseline transmed position, or at least MY position. This will be a long post, all info under the cut.

So gender, as a lot of anti-transmeds view it, is considered a social construct. Problem being this social construct is reliant upon variables such as gender roles (i.e. not universal concepts). This idea gives a LOT of leverage to anti-trans ideals because it implies that your gender itself alters when placed under the scrutiny of different cultural lenses, therefore it isn’t fixed. This means being trans isn’t inherent to who you are and is, thus, alterable. Itso facto, being trans is something you can opt out of because gender isn’t real, isn’t fixed, and isn’t reliant on any inherent part of you as a person.

But that ISN’T the case and it’s transphobic (as well as inaccurate) to describe it as such. Gender is based on the wiring of your brain. I’m reading a great book right now called ‘the sexual paradox’ that discusses a lot of this wiring and the differences between men and women in detail, so if you’re feeling research-y, check that out.

Essentially a lot of brain scans and other such studies have reliably observed trends between the brains of men and the brains of women. There’s a fair amount of overlap, so you can’t always tell the sex of a brain just at a glance, but there are components specific to each sex. I’m not going to claim trans women’s brains are 100% female, because they aren’t, but instead I’m going to claim this; the part of a trans person’s brain responsible for recognizing their body (for more info, look up ‘proprioception’) has been influenced  by hormones in the womb that change it to resemble that of the opposite sex. This causes gender dysphoria and, since your brain’s internal setup can’t be altered, will only be effectively treated by transition. This is the aspect of a person that makes them cis or trans.

The tucute position is confusing when placed in this context. They claim you can be transgender (i.e. require transition) without gender dysphoria. But when analyzed based on neurological data, the only accurate line to be drawn between a masculine female brain and a masculinized trans man brain is that part involved in recognizing your body. Every other aspect can be varied along the spectrum of male/female brains and, subsequently, doesn’t indicate anything about the person’s gender (instead it may reflect their personality but that isn’t wrapped up in your gender as many seem to believe).

To quickly address gender euphoria, which I’ve seen a lot of really good posts circulate about recently, gender euphoria is actually the absence of dysphoria. When your resting state is that of discomfort, sometimes you grow so used to it that you don’t realize it’s uncomfortable. Then, when that dysphoria is relieved and you feel what cis people feel, it seems incredibly liberating and joyful, being perceived as euphoric even though that’s not really the case. This is common to people with depression for example, where the absence of emotion becomes so normal to them that momentary relief from their mental illness is viewed as incredible joy when it’s really not. So gender euphoria is simply a misrepresented manifestation of gender dysphoria.

So to claim that you can be transgender without gender dysphoria is to claim that gender’s definition is NOT biological, NOT linked to actual tangible scientific data, and doesn’t make any sense. 

For links/sources and deeper explanations I beseech you to check out my discourse shortcut because everything is there and I really hate retyping the same thing over and over.

As for nonbinary people, that argument’s sources and info are all in the discourse shortcut above as well, but I will write out a tl;dr for you.

As stated above, female and male brains exist on an overlapping spectrum (picture a venn diagram if that helps). They vary along those lines and most people fall somewhere between the two. For a non binary brain to exist and cause non binary dysphoria, the hormones to influence said brain in the womb would have to be a mix of the two or neither, correct? That’s how most NB people identify (agender, bigender, demiboy/girl, etc), as far as I’ve seen. But the problem with those identities is they don’t make any sense and aren’t neurologically possible.

A lack of hormones influencing your brain leaves you with female aspects as, biologically speaking, that’s the genetic default. A mix of hormones isn’t exactly a viable situation logistically (due to factors such as hormone receptors, the mother’s own body and situation, etc). And, as previously noted, there is already a lot of overlap between men and women’s neurology, meaning even if you were in the precise middle, you’d be a normal person whose gender relies, again, upon their gender dysphoria. In summary, it’s impossible to have a brain that is evenly balanced between the two genders or lacks features of either. So that brings us to non binary dysphoria.

Essentially, atypical gender dysphoria isn’t well defined enough to make viable arguments for it. Either dysmorphia is being confused for dysphoria, or fluctuating dysphoria is being confused for non binary dysphoria. If you only are feeling dysphoria about certain aspects of your body I’d recommend digging down and finding the reasons you feel this way and what your ideal body would be. I’ve also heard a LOT that after top surgery, for example, trans men suddenly notice their bottom dysphoria even though it was non existent before. Sometimes your perception of your dysphoria is influenced by what’s most prominent to your brain, confusing you as to your true gender identity.

If you have further questions please feel free to ask, you can reblog this or DM me, I’m happy to elaborate or listen to rebuttals.

[theorynexus]

Pseudo-Liveblog Experiment Begin:  Chapter 1B.

The name that will be settled upon will be John Egbert. This name, like all of the other human children of importance in the world, will be four letters long in its first, personal half; whereas the latter half-- the surname --shares with the Harley children but 6 letters. Such a matter symbolizes the ectobiological bond which is shared between the Egbert and Harley families.  The nature of that bond essentially establishes that if neither of their guardians had had children, the four members of those families who were produced in John’s ectobiological experimentation would be the only humans who had direct genetic relationships with one another among all members of the human species (general genetic features that ensure one fits the definition of “human” in a biological sense, notwithstanding).  (Irony, by the way: It’s his birthday in more than one sense.) Other factors to note on this page are: ---     The plain white style of his room feels typical of MSPA works, but the splash of color on both his shirt (a ghostly figure, symbolic of the fantastical) and the SBURB logo suggest that there is a bit more:  perhaps the colorless, bland nature of his room are in fact trying to communicate that this mundane life is not for John-- either in his destiny, or his personal opinion.  These themes are later explored as he has a bit of a mental breakdown (played for laughs) at his father’s Serious Business(man-ly) career, when John is unable to find any peace whilst confined to the ship as he traversed the Yellow Yard, and finally, as he gets depression and drifts away from all of his friends in the aftermath of the victory in the Alpha Kids’ session. This desire for adventure and incapacity to handle confinement directly relates to (and could be considered an early hint at) his Breath Aspect. The apparent colorlessness shall be dealt with later. ---       The rolled up poster shall be related to one of his Interests, later on, and displays the relatively active nature of this interest (meaning his collection habit is ongoing). ---        The accompanying fatherly note will be one of many, which become something of a joke later on, but at the same time display the fact that his love for John is very genuine, despite the fact that John is responsible for the accident that killed his mother, and he is not his Dad’s biological son, but half-brother. ---          The fact that John is playing the SBURB Beta is vaguely important insofar as it corresponds with the fact that the Alternian Trolls are also playing the SGRUB Beta. This serves as a part of a chain of mirrored sessions that doesn’t seem (at least to me) to be indicative of any wider meaning than to emphasize the fact that the human and troll session/universes are inherently linked and destined to work together:   Alpha/Beta|Beta\Alpha ========> C. ---           It should also be noted that the SBURB/SGRUB logos (beyond in the former’s case also being visually representative of the Plothole Juju/Ultimate Juju) have important thematic resonance in their color.  There are many, many points that the Green/Purple/Red/Blue color patterns will come up in the story. For instance, they can obviously be shown to be the colors of the Beta Kids. Furthermore, these colors are the colors of the Alpha Kids’ sprites (likely suggesting that the kernalsprites will always be colored based on the theme of one’s guardians). While these colors might initially seem to be meaningless noise, in fact, they are quite symbolically important:   Each color represents a component part of Lord English, and hold an apparent connection to those parts in some way or another. Particularly:                      ~The Alpha Trolls’ session was largely obscured from the reader, and not overly important compared to the others (Equius casts his vortex of Void upon it, as it takes up his strong bl00, presumably, though no actual SGRUB Alpha symbol is ever seen [which is another way that Void is effecting it]);        ~The Beta Trolls’ session was bomBARDed with destructive Rage, to the point that none of the trolls could overcome their fear to die in order to God Tier, all but a few of the trolls wouldn’t even TRY to hear their Denizens out when they were attempting to give them The Choice, Karkat’s frustration and impatience led to his group not finding the last genetic sequence for the Genesis Frog, and many other tiny instances of Rage clouding people’s judgment came up (Eridan constantly hunting angels; numerous dramatic confrontations between players occurring, both before and after the Reward door appeared; people began to troll the humans without thinking it through; et cetera). This would obviously link this purple-themed session with Gamzee;         ~The Beta Kids’ session was the one that coincidentally birthed the Knight of Time as a player, which coincidentally meant that there would be a very small time for a great deal of growth and gameplay. However, there were also more temporal shenanigans going on in this session than any other, especially when one considers the fact that, despite the fact that the Trolls were the ones who brought time-hopping Trollian into the picture, Karkat was the only one in their session who appears to have suffered greatly due to its potentially vexing capacity to railroad people into certain actions and generally be troublesome. (These factors together [along with the fact that this is where the Lil Cal puppet essentially originated, despite its thereafter circuitous path through Paradox Space] point to Caliborn’s influence as Lord of Time afflicting this session particularly savagely.);           ~The Alpha Kids’ session was generally host to a great deal of relationship drama, and saw the very nature of the Game itself shifted and broken. While this could also be a result of an extremely powerful Life player working to undermine the DOOM Aspect’s constraints on )(er agenda, given the fact that fully developed Prince of Heart powers can warp the very nature of the Narrative to serve their master’s purposes, it is not too much of a stretch to suggest that this too could be categorized as a sign of Lil Cal/The Auto-Responder’s influence warping the nature of their session. (Interestingly, one could argue that at the same time that Lord English is exerting the various vectors of his will on these sessions in particular [which are particularly important to him insofar as they end up producing the conditions which allow him to come into being], they are also the four sessions whose events lead up to the eventual defeat and apparent destruction of Lord English. This is likely a result of Alt!Calliope passively balancing out power with their own, but is also an example of the law of Paradox Space which suggests that the cause of some problem will also inevitably be its solution, as Aradia explained and I quoted a few posts before this one.) ---            This is the first usage of the Num3r4ls of th3 Bl1nd Proph3ts, by the way, though it is not immediately obvious.  These come to play various important roles in the story. The primary and most obvious one is that the humans’ sessions (both Alpha and Beta) start out with 4 13 year old kids (though I think the first event after this for it to come up again is on John’s Cruxtruder timer).  One which is more final and perhaps more interesting is that both in order to properly begin and properly end the Alpha Kids’ session, 4 initial players would eventually have to grow to a sustained 13 (John, Rose, Dave, Jade, Karkat, Gamzee, Terezi, Kanaya, Vriska [replaced later by Calliope], Jane, Roxy, Dirk, Jake) in order for victory conditions to be achieved.      While it’s obviously impossible to know for sure, the addition of another player (and thus the symbolic evocation of the Numerals) may have been the reason the 8-Ball Session’s bad luck was counteracted, and the players were able to win, unlike in the [S] Game Over. timeline.  The fact that this (initial) 13th player was a luck-oriented Light player doesn’t hurt, either. ---                 The cake on the left is but one of many, reflecting the fact that John Egbert’s birthday is that day, and the fact that Dad Egbert mysteriously has a great liking for Betty Crocker products.  (This is in fact because his mother’s adoptive grandmother WAS Betty Crocker.  While he did not inherit the company due to the fact that Betty Crocker gave it to Grandpa Harley in her will, he may or may not actually work at the company. The company at which he conducts his Serious Business was never quite named, and Betty Crocker is one of two major businesses which play a role in Homestuck. All things considered, this is not much of a stretch.)