#(part of the reason is that i'm incapable of being normal about my interests)

[vowofbrotherhood]

assorted mcyt sketches

[respectthepetty]

I love Be My Favorite

Y'all, if this show does me dirty, I will be inconsolable because I love it so far. This is like Paris Hilton's debut album all over again. I showed up because I was interested in the mess, yet it's turning into a masterpiece. I'm watching this at normal speed with the sound on, and that is the highest compliment I can give to a show.

Kawi is incapable of shutting the hell up, so there are no secrets beyond the time traveling one, and he can't even keep that a proper secret. Homie is spilling all the tea all the time. Pull up with some Earl Grey and scones because we are sharing too much information at this table today.

That argument between Kawi and Pisaeng leading to this was the cream in my tea.

FUCKING DELICIOUS!

Pisaeng calling Kawi out for being fickle with his feelings just for Kawi to throw that shit back into Pisaeng's face and call him a hypocrite since Pisaeng isn't clear about his feelings for Pear, AND because this is a layered conversation, it's also about Pisaeng not being clear about his feelings for Kawi. This is the quiche of this tea time because it was feeding my soul and filling.

BECAUSE PISAENG WAS HONEST ABOUT HIS FEELINGS!!!!!

ALL OF THEM!!!!

These damn head nods this week are going to be the end of me! First Step by Step's Jeng, and now Pisaeng coming in with the head nod of admission. It's like the little cake you get once the tea is over. It's tiny, but it's a special treat after you thought you already had everything you needed.

And Pisaeng might even tell Kawi next week how he feels, but Kawi already knows because of the future, so the issue could only stem from Pear not knowing it's Kawi, and that's okay because the visuals of Pisaeng, blurry and unfocused, being in the background and in between Kawi and Pear the entire time they had this conversation is such a good scene that I'm biting my knuckles like I do when I see how cute the tea setup is.

Oh and Pear being an actual character and GOING OFF at those idiots was the cucumber sandwich at this tea time aka the best part.

Because she doesn't need to romantically like Kawi to know that Knot and the seniors are bullies. Kawi is trying to fit in, but from being pushed into the pool, and forced to drink, to recording the confession, they really proved they ain't shit and should not be invited to classy events like tea time.

Kawi wants to belong, but on his way along the road he thinks leads to perfection, he is gathering actual supportive friends who will help him to his real happy ending. This is the blueberry jam and lemon curd for the scones. Some may ignore them, but they are absolutely necessary to enjoy the journey.

Because all roads lead to DJ Squirtle.

No, this DJ Squirtle.

Earl Grey himself and the entire reason I LOVE this show.

Please, baby Jesus with the historical accurate skin tone, continue to serve me this good ass tea.

Amen.

[communistkenobi]

I'm not gonna lie Nick, I've been following you for a long time and I almost always agree with what you say so this isn't in any way meant to be polemic or hostile and you don't have to answer if you don't want to. But, as a trans person myself, I don't understand how genital preference can be transphobic? I mean, the way people declare it can be transphobic, or the reason for it - but preference itself? isn't it, for most people at least, an intrinsic thing? Again I'm not asking this to bait you into discourse or anything I just. Genuinely trust your judgment on things. that's all, love <3

If you don’t want to sleep with someone because they’re, for example, fat, or disabled, or intersex, or have some other physical characteristic that would alter a sexual encounter in a way you wouldn’t expect with a “default” or “normal” body - is that not on some level bigoted? If you tried to sleep with a cis guy but found out he had a micro penis and decided against sleeping with him, or you tried to hook up with a cis woman with large labia and got turned off, is that “just an intrinsic preference”?

Yes people have preferences and preferences do not carry inherent moral judgement. But it’s worth asking: where do my preferences come from? if you meet a trans person, and you are attracted to them, and the only reason you don’t want to sleep with them is because you don’t want to interact with their genitals, because you believe a trans person’s genitals are universally unattractive, then like, why lol? “Transphobic” is a flat descriptor for bigoted beliefs or assumptions about trans people, and in the pantheon of transphobic things to believe or say or do, that’s not like super high on the list. I don’t think you’re an irredeemably bad person or whatever. You are also not doing activism by having sex with people you’re not attracted to or don’t want to have sex with, I’m not suggesting anyone do that because that would be bad for everyone involved. But attraction is socially mediated and explored - fetishes, kinks, turn-ons and turn offs can have embedded social values in them, some of them good and some of them not - and if your only hang-up with fucking a trans person is because they have “incorrect” or “incongruous” genitals to what you normally expect, then I think that’s a shitty hang-up to have. Is it “intrinsic” to find a trans person’s body a turn off? Are we intrinsically programmed as human beings to find transgender people’s genitals unsexy? I think any appeals to intrinsic nature quickly get into essentialistic territory, because whatever is intrinsic or “human nature” is necessarily outside of the social, incapable of change, and I don’t think it does any good to insist that the domain of sexual preferences exists outside of the social and political realms.

Yes sex will be different with a trans person who hasn’t had full bottom surgery than it would be with a cis person, and yes you will need to have conversations about what feels good or look shit up online (which you would do with a cis partner anyway!), but unless you’re solely interested in like, missionary reproductive PIV cishet sex catholic style for the rest of your life, I think it’s worth interrogating why trans genitals are a hard no for someone, especially when “genital preference” is such a handy shorthand for cis people to articulate their deep seated rage, disgust, and fear of trans people in a “polite” or inoffensive way - and, often, in a violent way, and that violence is rationalised on the basis of the “common sense” belief that trans people trick cis people into having sex with us despite our “bad” genitals.

I don’t want to have sex with anybody who thinks my body is disgusting and I’m assuming most people don’t want that either lol. But a lot of cis people find my body disgusting because it’s a trans body, and a huge part of that disgust is because I don’t have a dick - worse, I have a “mutilated” “grotesque” version of “female anatomy” because of T. None of those evaluations of a tran’s guys genitals are intrinsic, nor do they exist outside of social values about what “normal” or “beautiful” bodies look like.

And again to use the fat example, it took a lot of personal work for me to properly admire fat people because of how ingrained fatphobia is, and part of that fatphobia was directed towards myself - it took years for me to find myself even remotely attractive, especially as I progressively gained weight into adulthood. And that is not for “activist” reasons, it’s not activism to find fat people hot - but I am consciously working through some of the shit society tells you is gross or bad about human bodies and it’s made my life better lol, and as a consequence I can fully allow myself to admire other fat people. I think any state of mind that allows you to find beauty in more places, find pleasure in a wider range of human forms, is generally a good thing. I once dated a guy who hated his nipples being touched because he thought it was gay to enjoy that, and like, sex with him sucked lmfao. he was incredibly homophobic and that homophobia directly impacted the amount of pleasure he was willing to engage with, both with himself and with a partner.

So yes I do think it’s transphobic. It’s not end-of-the-world transphobia, you’re not a permanently shit human being, but anyone who refuses to have sex with trans people on the basis of us having the “wrong” genitals is not worth pursuing because we deserve to sleep with people who find us hot and don’t need to “rationalise” away touching our genitals. I don’t want to have sex with those people and no trans person should either. But I’m not giving cis people an out with “oh it’s just a preference” because I think that’s a very lazy and unserious way of engaging with your own desires

[spicedfink]

Someone posted their opinion on tophabe and I'm not going to @ them since people are apparently being weird but it did make me want to voice my tophabe take because tbh it made me feel insecure and like I needed to explain myself because they were right and so real for what they said.

My thing with (s2) episode 8 is first off I can only process parts of it at a time because that episode made me uncomfortable Second is there is one major factors I take in when thinking about tophabe and a few minor factors: The biggest thing is Joan the canon end game love interest as far as we have been shown tried to point blank kill everybody which is objectively worse. As for minor factors I'll use bullet points: - Cleo also manipulates Abe not to that degree but for longer - All the cast are kind of bad people but the show only framed Topher's actions as bad which I found weird when I really thought about it then they said Harriet was a theater kid and I stopped caring about what the writing was meant to convey - Him giving good advice first in s2e8 reminds me of how I used to give a friend of mine bad advice as a joke when they kept ignoring my real advice and for some reason they took my joke advice seriously. - Topher wasn't in the classroom with Abe so he didn't know the teacher had been hitting on him so it feels like he's just making shit up on the spot - I don't see how Topher would have seen this working. Like it shows him being right there when it starts but like how? I know it's just because the plot said so but the actual "go sleep with this gross person" seems more like a "oh Abe would never actually do that" line of thought - like it reads more as "if I can get Abe insecure he won't ask Joan out" then "Abe will defiantly go for this" (still shitty but less) - It's a cartoon and their actions are exaggerated - s2e8 was such a horribly done episode all around that I can't do anything other than cherry pick it - poor mental health is hardly an excuse but man do I believe his therapist isn't doing him any favors (which is why I have his change therapist in my fanfics) - The fact they're still shitty high schoolers meaning they all have the most room for growth and I'm projecting my own journey of because and actual good person and figuring out my sexuality onto him (obviously wasn't his level of shitty but I said dumb shit and did weird emotionally charged things thanks to how I was raised and poor mental health) - Episode 1 of season 2 Topher got the t-rex arms so I attached myself to his character right then and there ("he's autistic just like me") - I like happy things. The show gave a character who they made clear was suppose to be disliked and bullied for being horrible and didn't show him do anything actually that bad until episode 8 out of 10. And before that ranges from normal weird teenager things he'd logically grow out of, trying too hard to be socially accepted and being mentally ill??? Like no. No I'm personally not going to think this character is a horrible person incapable of growth... And this is why my serious non one sided tophabe headcanons are all for when they are older because I really think Topher would, you know grow up and regret his past actions. Also since I see Topher as queer: internalized homophobia and the such are a bitch (speaking from experience)

I don't actually have a good reason for why Abe would like Topher back past I just think it'd be fun. If Abe gets with Joan and is friends with Cleo I think he should still be friends with Topher though

[yuikomorii]

Greetings, I come with late night ramblings abt diabolik lovers. Big fan of your blog, I really like the side of the fandom which discusses the characters

Sometimes i wonder what it was like for the mukami bros to turn into vampires. Since vampires look so similar to humans the fact that they are a different species really slips my mind sometimes.....

So sometimes I find myself wondering what that psychological shift was like. The mukami bros were all pretty young and had grudges against humans in some way when they were turned, so parting with their humanity wasn't on their minds I think lol.

But despite spending lot of their childhood/puberty around vampires they still do act a lot more human like than the sakamakis. Granted, the sakamakis def have a lot trauma that compromises their ability to have any type of healthy relationship. But characters like ayato suggest that vampires aren't inherently incapable of the more "human" emotions (don't rlly know a good word for it mb).

I do remember ruki saying somewhere that because he is weak he stays with his family (not the only reason ofc, but having to band together/find strength in numbers to survive is a very human-like thing), yet he and his bros abandoned being human/ hold some level of resentment for humanity.

Anyways all that to say the mukami bros have an interesting relationship with their "humanity" and I'm overanalyzing characters in an otome game of which the lore is constantly retconned. Complicating this is the fact that we don't have a "average" or "normal" vampire to compare with

Also reject totally missed an opportunity to make a character that didn't want to be turned into a vampire, and had to struggle with the changes.

// Hello, thank you for enjoying my blog!<3

Hmm… If the person who becomes a vampire is kind-hearted and mentally stable enough to avoid wishing revenge upon someone or using their newfound vampire status as an excuse to treat people badly, I sincerely doubt that the psychological transition from human to vampire would hit that hard. Trauma caused the Mukami brothers to develop such a vicious nature, exactly like Yui in HDB did at one point when, as a result of being mentally broken, she started killing people in an After story. While pure-blood vampires do have their own set of morals and they obviously need blood to survive, I wouldn’t say they are inherently evil, taking into account that in LP and VC, some vampires were nice to Yui and the Diaboys. They are indeed predators, that’s something they can’t control no matter how much they try, but not all of them are malicious.

The Mukamis got rid of their humanity but they still kept acting like humans around one another because, after all, that’s how they were initially accustomed to. As for the Sakamakis… due to trauma as well, they were pretty twisted since childhood. I mean, most of them were the main cause something bad happened to any of their brothers in the past, therefore it’s to be expected that their relationship is not a healthy one. However, vampires are actually capable of experiencing human emotions, and Ayato is the living example of this given that he is confirmed as being the most human-like out of all due to the fact that he was already capable of displaying these emotions prior to meeting Yui (for example: wanting to sacrifice himself for his brothers, ruining Karl’s blue rose so as Cordelia wouldn’t get sad, crying when Cordelia died and, most importantly, valuing his life). Additionally, a vampire will begin to experience human emotions the more Eve's blood he consumes, so... that's basically part of the plan, according to what Karl said in Ayato’s DF route.

I wouldn't say the Mukamis hate humans; they held a grudge against aristocrats, but not humans in general, because they only see them as an inferior species. As for Ruki, the reason he would feel weak without his family isn’t only due to banding together or finding strength in number but rather it’s about them as his emotional support. Kou, Yuma, Azusa respect, praise and accept Ruki with all his qualities and flaws, therefore feeling needed and appreciated is actually what makes Ruki strong.

[lenardslittlemeowmeow]

Hello again! This is a post for people who have read my recently published fic "To The Unfriendly Neighborhood"!

I promised, didn't I?

This is an art piece I did while writing the fic! Major spoilers for the fic underneath the read more! Please give it a read and then come back and check this out :D

Now that only people who have read the fic (or are willing to spoil themselves) are here…

I proudly present: Jewel!

Yep! She needed a different name during the concept and ideas process because half-Unfriendly Junebug was too long, so we (me and a friend) decided on Jewel! Because Jewel beetles look very similar to Junebugs and are closely related.

And this is her!

This is her normal everyday wear! Her hair is tipped bright green because she convinced Gordon to buy her hair dye. Her skirt is long because it helps to hide her legs without them getting tangled up (I wanted to show them off lol). She's supposed to be disproportionate by the way.

This is her jacket outfit. She wears it when she's having a bad day and needs more of a "shield" from the world. It doesn't quite fit perfectly because it's an old employee's jacket.

And now the fun part, details and extras about Jewel and the story!

Story details:

- The reason Norman and Lenard thought Jewel didn't actually meet Gordon is because they hadn't encountered him themselves and made assumptions.

- Pearl actually knew who Gordon was, but she didn't think he was coming back and thought Jewel was just being wishful and naive.

Jewel details:

- Absolutely despises Norman. Particularly the Norman who wasn't aware of Gordon's existence and was the first to tell her he wasn't real, even when he was. She's sorta indifferent and standoffish to the other Normans, but she's downright aggressive to the original.

- When it comes to the puppets, she gets along best with Lenard, since he helped her through her transformation and the whole ordeal afterwards. They're very close.

- Struggles with delusions and hallucinations, often Lenard and Gordon are the only ones who can help her out of them.

- Very protective of Gordon. Almost constantly by his side. On bad days she'll growl at anyone who gets too close to him. Can and should be likened to an overprotective attack dog.

- Will sometimes just. Pick Gordon up. Like when you hold a cat by the armpits. Carries him around like a teddy bear. (He learns not to fight it lol)

- This is made funnier by the fact that she's 6'3, and I HC Gordon as 5'2.

- Has chronic pain in her legs and missing eye.

- So many body insecurities. So many.

- Intrusive thoughts galore. Do you know how many times this girlie has vividly imagined tearing her friends apart? Hates it with a passion.

- She becomes pretty cynical, but she tries to see the best in others regardless.

- Picks up cursing from Gordon, gains quite the potty mouth. I HC that the puppets are literally incapable of cursing until they turn Unfriendly, and Jewel is just Unfriendly enough that she's not blocked from it.

- Pretending to be friendlier than she is is incredibly difficult, so sometimes she'll go deeper into the studio, find an abandoned room, and just tear it to fucking shreds. Goes absolutely apeshit. Sometimes she just needs to let it all out.

And with that, I am done! Please ask questions about her or this AU if you have any, I love her lots and would adore if someone else had an interest in her!

I'm sort of working on a post-TTUFN fic about that last point on Jewel, so stay tuned! No guarantees cause I'm burning myself out a little, but I should have a short one out sometime, at the least :3

See ya!

[justlarkin]

Whack, but my favorite parts in the main quest are the lessons learnt bits from the WRs and them remembering or revealing their true intentions for coming to Tokyo. Subverting expectations and all that jazz.

-Tezcatlipoca revealing that he doesn't give a shit about fighting them anymore and that he just misses his brother.

-Balor hasn't been dealt with in the main quest, but his part in Valentine Fantasy is interesting. Everyone's initial impression of him is that he regrets killing his grandson and just wants a do-over with his grandchild, but lol not entirely. Killing his grandson wasn't the part he regretted. It was the fact that Lugh didn't have a choice in the matter and that he was forced to fight Balor. If Lugh challenged him on his own volition, Balor most likely would've fucked him up with zero hesitation or regret.

-Smoky God being introduced as their savior, who is different from the others, just for him to immediately turn on them and try to kill them is great. Even as he was dying, he still wanted to do it. The only reason he didn't call off Sandayu's protection and instruct him to kill them instead is because he was physically incapable of doing so. Lol get nae naed on bitch 🖕🖕🖕.

-Shiva was originally presented as someone who was hellbent on destroying them out of hatred, but then he eventually remembers the real reason he came to Tokyo. It was never for revenge. Shiva just wanted to talk to Kamadeva. The whole destroying them thing actually originated from a bizarre show of love that got muddled over time. Shiva was convinced that their death was inevitable, so he decided he'd be the one to kill them. This way they wouldn't be tainted by the others.

-Fuxi is so obsessed with his sister and adores her so much that it's only normal to assume that their relationship was peachy, but nope. It turns out that even if he loved her, he never respected her or saw her as an equal.

-Still wanna strangle LWs for doing that little fakeout with Wakan in Seaside Fashionista, but I'll admit it was good. Giving off the vibes that Wakan Tanka simped for Heyoka just to have Mugen Tanka reveal that he actually hated him was very funny. 10/10 reveal.

These aren't even mind blowing revelations, I'm just easily pleased.

[glomofnit]

Hey! I really want to get into Discworld because I love seeing you post about it- can I please get a rec of maybe the first three books I should read? I've heard that most fans have a preferred order lol

Omg, you have no idea how excited I got when I saw this ask, I'm so glad my love for this series is proving infectious! Unfortunately by asking this of me you have in fact activated my trap card, so please buckle in because I'm incapable of being normal about this topic.

Alright so in terms of where to go next, there are these sort of thematic arcs throughout the series that are like threads you can follow, each with their own starting point. Obligatory flowchart incoming:

I won't go into them all in detail, but I can give you a few key recs and then you can pick and choose your reading order from there based on what interests you.

So first of all we've got Small Gods, which is one of the more popular starter recs, and for good reason. It's more or less a stand-alone so it's a good way to dip your toe in and get a feel for the series as a whole, which is slightly less relevant here since I know you've already read The Colour of Magic, but it's still quite good and worth mentioning up front. It's about the god Om who goes to manifest himself in the world to address his latest prophet, but winds up stuck in the form of a small tortoise because despite having this huge religious institution in his name, it turns out this prophet is his only remaining true believer. Said prophet then gets swept up in some political intrigue, all the while being yelled at by an irate tortoise whose voice only he can hear. It's a good indicator of the style of comedy and general vibe of the rest of the series, and it's where I started reading so it's got a special place in my heart.

I also recommend Monstrous Regiment, which is one of my all-time favourites. It's about a girl who dresses up as a boy to enlist in the army so that she can find her brother, and ends up part of this sort of ragtag underdog regiment. It's surprisingly queer, although no specific labels get used so a lot of the characters just have a sort of nebulously not cis/not straight vibe, but there is an actual canon wlw relationship, and at least one character who based on the text I would argue is a trans man even if those exact words are never used. A lot of the Gender™ in this book really resonated with teen Rowan for reasons that wouldn't become clear until several years later lol. By modern standards of representation it does stumble a little bit, but you can tell the overall intentions were good and it still feels very queer-positive. It's also just a fun read, all the characters are really endearing, there's a vampire who has sworn off blood and is instead obsessed with coffee and I love them with my whole entire heart.

My other biggest rec is Going Postal, which is another of my all-time favourites and where the reference in my url comes from. It's about a conman who's been caught and is about to be executed, but instead gets put in charge of the city's failing postal service. It's another really fun read, and it's got two direct sequels (Making Money and Raising Steam) wherein said conman gets put in charge of other public service institutions as a form of enrichment to keep him out of trouble.

This is already long so I'll just quickly cover the other main arcs. The Watch books are all extremely good, probably my favourite arc overall, they've got more of a police procedural crime mystery vibe so if you're into that Guards! Guards! is the starting point for those. If you're interested in the witches I'd recommend skipping Equal Rites and starting with Wyrd Sisters, it's a parody of Macbeth and it's very good. The other two Industrial Revolution books are stand alones that can be read whenever; Moving Pictures is a parody of the golden age of Hollywood, and The Truth is about the invention of the printing press and the Disc's first investigative journalist looking into a conspiracy to frame the patrician for murder. The Death novels are good but not the best starting point imo, worth coming back for at some point though, and parts of Night Watch make more sense if you've read Thief of Time first but it's not required. Rincewind is also worth revisiting eventually, he is one of my favourite characters, but maybe wait until you're already hooked before going back for The Light Fantastic and the rest of his books.

Ok, that's it, I'm cutting myself off here lol. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to infodump, I hope at least something in here is helpful! Please keep me post on what you end up reading next!

[rollercoasterwords]

i think a lot of people have different definitions on fetishisation which makes it harder to approach as a conversation

i’m curious how you yourself would define it?

i currently have no real standpoint on the matter but it’s a topic that i’d be interested to explore

true!! and honestly that's one of the like. issues with this style of "hot-take activism" that i think is becoming increasingly common with the growth of short-form content social media because like. if you are not willing to take the time to first explain the foundations of what you're talking about, and in your mind "fetishization" means one thing but to another person it means something entirely different, then u two could argue back and forth all day in the comments of like. a tiktok post but that conversation will never be meaningful or productive if you are literally talking about different concepts.

so! good question. my working defintion of fetishization would be the reduction of a human being to a sexual object based on a facet of their identity, such that you no longer view that facet of their identity as part of a whole and complex person. so like, in the context of this discussion about "mlm fetishization," i would consider fetishization to be when someone views gay men's homosexuality not as a complex part of their identity but rather as material for getting off, in real life. so like....someone who does not view real live gay men as whole and complex people, because they are incapable of seeing past the sex object they have made of their sexuality.

and part of the reason that i say i struggle to find like. evidence of material harm in women writing mlm fic is that. i think by and large most women who write mlm fic do view gay men as people, and don't treat them as objects of sexual fetish. like to the extent that there are women who make weird comments or maybe don't treat gay men normally, i think that issue is more down to individual instances of homophobia and ignorance than it is like. a systemic issue that causes material harm to real-life gay men.

like i mentioned in the notes on that original post, i'm reading "girls who like boys who like boys" by lucy neville right now, which does a really good job of trying to take a comprehensive look at the reasons women are drawn to sexually explicit media involving gay men. and one thing that becomes clear very quickly when reading is that women (even straight women!) are not monolithic in their attraction to mlm SEM. most women have varied and nuanced reasons for why they enjoy mlm SEM that go beyond "oh i think men being gay is hot"--most of them don't even care about the labeling of sexuality within this media, which indicates to me that the sexuality in and of itself is not an object of fetish. and to the extent that most women do seek out mlm SEM because they think men being gay is hot, it's not a matter of "i think men being gay is hot and that their homosexuality is only relevant in the context of getting me off." does that make sense?

like--real quick, i'll give an example with lesbianism. because i see people saying all the time "it's weird when men watch wlw porn so it's weird when women write mlm!!" which. drives me up the fucking wall for a number of reasons BUT. what i will say about it now is that there is nothing inherently wrong with men getting off to sexually explicit content involving two women. genuinely--there is nothing wrong with men experiencing sexual attraction to women and finding it hot to see two women together and getting off to it. the problem is the context of patriarchy in which this is taking place, which leads men to objectify and dehumanize women on a systemic level, in a way that causes material harm and leads to fetishization. the problem is that many men who watch lesbian porn do not view lesbian relationships or sexuality as a valid and complex identity that exists independent of their arousal. (also, watching porn and writing sexually explicit fic are. two very different things in the first place).

at the end of the day, sexual attraction and arousal are not inherently evil things to experience, and getting off to something is not in and of itself the same thing as objectifying it. the problem is when this starts to affect the way you treat people in real life, and if you getting off to something makes you incapable of viewing that thing as something that exists outside the context of you getting off. that, to me, is what fetishization is.

[ein-liebloser-wanderer]

How about a yandere monster drider anomaly?

Based on recent headcanons I posted before. That will be the foundation for this.

Since it isn't mentioned what you wanted exactly, I took the liberty of writing headcanons.

~~~~~~

⸸ The Araneae — General Headcanons (Yandere/Lovesick Edition) ⸸

Description: They want to eat you out. Maybe in a sexy way, maybe for dinner. Or both. Who said dinner can't be sexy times also?

Warning/MID: yanderes are their own warning, slight blood, slight terror/violence, mature themes (read the contains list)

Contains: dark humor, anthropomorphized animals (not just spiders), blue-and-orange morality / morals and self-sacrifice are entirely human concepts, emotional detachment, lack of empathy, sexual cannibalism, courtship, obsessive behavior, imbalanced power dynamics, typical spider behavior, manipulation, silk restraints

That being said, let us dive into the center of the spider's web...

~~~~~~~~~~~

⸸ The Widows and Widowers, and the Spouse Eaters. There is a reason why the world gave them these names, and these ones don't even cover the more creative ones.

⸸ They put 'consume' in 'consummation', and for Outsiders and humans, this ritual is horrific and a big no-no in society (I'm not counting you, you kinky bastard).

⸸ Things are much more different nowadays though. Parenting with both parents is becoming more normalized, and literal consummation of marriages is a guaranteed life or death sentence.

⸸ With help of therapy, medication, public awareness about their biology, and just societal progression, most Spider Folk have the support needed to suppress their instincts.

⸸ Emphasis on the word, 'suppress'.

⸸ Because if it was possible to rid one's self of such instincts, then the Araneae wouldn't have their very own statistic for spousal homicide, would they?

For a comparison, it's the equivalent of horny people doing the No Nut November challenge. For those with low to nonexistent sex drives, uh...think about going on a diet.

⸸ Remember, the Araneae are reclusive, preferring to keep their identities hidden from most of society (except from the authorities, of course). They deeply value the very few that know of who they truly are, and cherish their significant others like one would a rare Pokemon.

⸸ And yes, I have mentioned in my last post that the Spider Folk are incapable of bonding and empathy. But when you are a cold-hearted animal, romance is really just the enjoyment of enjoying your partner's company, finding them attractive (physically or emotionally) with the added bonus of passing down your genes.

⸸ So, they might not feel the empathy we value so much as humans, but lust and attraction? Absolutely. Why else would they let themselves be eaten by their partner?

⸸ So much so that one can only hope that if a Spider were to stalk court you, you could only hope that they would eventually lose interest or find better prey. It's unlikely, but who am I to destroy that fantasy?

⸸ Also, don't even try to run away. A struggling prey will only arouse them even more, and like the true predators that they are, they won't care if it hurts.

⸸ Nowadays, most Spiders would think twice about devouring their significant other. The romantic idea of having their lover for life is becoming popular. But that being said, some won't hesitate to do that if it isn't an option.

⸸ After all, the only way to divorce your husband in spider society while still keeping the 'til death do us part' bit of the vow is by being his death.

⸸ If you think you can avoid this by dating a male, then I have bad news: it won't.

⸸ For spiders, it is all about strength, and whoever is the strongest in the relationship gets to decide what and how this relationship will go.

⸸ If a male Araneae is dating you, it's probably because he was thinking 'this one can't run away' when he met you at the hospital.

⸸ As I have said in my general Headcanons for the Spider Folk, males are more subtle. When evolution decides that only the most agile and cunning of males can pass down their genes to the cannibalistic females of their clan, it should be expected of them to be very good at manipulation.

⸸ But going back to subtlety, here is example of why males are more paranoia inducing than females.

⸸ Imagine. You two are having a nice dinner over at his place when he gives you a present. It is wrapped in one of the finest silks you had ever seen him made, and you can't help but be at awe at the intricate patterns and imagery adorning it.

⸸ But then, you finally unwrap it, and it was revealed what he had actually gifted you. A single hand, pale and stiff from rigor mortis...and that mark. You recognized it. He was the only one who had such discoloration on their hand.

⸸ Before you could even throw it away, you suddenly feel something wiry thin and sharp wrap around your neck. It pulls your head to the back of the chair, forcing you to still. Warm blood trickled down your throat, and you dared not to move...lest you get yourself decapitated.

⸸ All the while, various thoughts were running through your head. How did he even get behind you? How did he move from his seat without you noticing? Had his silk always been this sharp?

⸸ But out of all the things you wanted to say, this was all that came out of your mouth: "Why?"

⸸ He could answer you...but why bother? You would never understand how mind-crippling his love is, never know how paralyzing the fear of losing you to some other anthropomorph.

⸸ If you were a spider, he would sacrifice his life for you, let you eat and ravage him alive. He'll be happy knowing that he was able to give his all to you.

⸸ But you aren't a spider. You are an Outsider. If you are unwilling to love him the way he knows how...then he shall do it for you.

"Dont cry...Soon, you'll be with me...Forever and ever..."

~~~~~~~~

Ahahaha...this was requested when? April?

Oh, dear.

[burinazar]

Thinking about the aspect of -- masking, I guess? I don't know what it is; every human does it to some extent -- that leads one to manifest the behaviors expected of them, beyond the normal parameters of code switching, and then lock themselves into this role even when it's constricting.

I was deeply affected by "Hatchling", the short story by Sayaka Murata that was at the tail end of her collection I recently read, wherein the protagonist involuntarily manifested the kind of traits assigned to her by other people. when i notice this behavior in myself i don't know how to parse it because it's so often framed as something done by people who are very manipulative or very socially aware or interested in impressing and tricking others and i am none of these things lol I think I'm actually incapable of deceiving people about myself on purpose -- but given i was reading the collection thru the lense of being relatable to people who Have the Neuron Divergence it felt like this huge breath of fresh air to have it be seen as part and parcel of just Masking or otherwise A Thing some of us weirdoes end up doing without having set out to do so, just as part of navigating the world.

Unlike the moderately uplifting ending of most of the other stories in the collection this one has a haunting ending where the protagonist ends up locked into playing a role with her partner that she did not want to play forever. It was really disturbing. My mental health has been doing badly lately (like so bad. worst since early 2022) and I keep feeling like I can't reach out to anyone (or, if I reach out to my parents in particular, it'll be doing so coming from the place of a crawling baby and not a mature adult dealing with problems) and having this story in the back of my mind made me examine how this is related to that and how much this gets in the way of things for me in general when those things are 'admitting there is a problem' and there seems to be no space to do so in the interactions people are expecting to have with me, the flow of which I am powerless to go against.

I myself definitely have, like, a prevailing personality in a way that's more overly manifest than the protag so I don't have the same problem she has but lately it's really grated on me how much I do this and how it's a barrier to being vulnerable or asking for help or being honest with others about how poorly I'm doing in certain respects.

I am unpicking how this overlaps with the 'super duper bad undiagnosed ADD -- > total divebombing of performance after leaving structured settings' thing because people's expectations are also a sort of structured setting. And my expectations for myself are too nonexistent to be used as one. (This, combined with the immovable conviction I'm not qualified for xyz things and deep horror of trying to feel i Belong in stem settings, all makes it really fucking hard to put effort into seeking a new career lol)

Mm not sure where I was going with this all tbh. However, maybe semi related: I'm giving myself permission to be worse and more cantankerous in internet and text contexts and also to start posting about difficulties and mental health type stuff again.

By the way this is one of the biggest reasons I've said I find Anthy relatable? Which people do not like to hear me say I've found lol (I'm thinking bc their understanding of me as a person is very counter to their understand of Anthy!) It's because (among other things -- this isn't the only reason) even though she definitely has A Personality of her own so much of her inclination in how she conducts herself is pouring herself into the container people hold out for her.

ok that's the post

[randomnameless]

I feel like FEH's nature as a gacha game ocasionally causes IS to have to twist certain characters around so they can better sell them to FEH's audience, like the Fallen Corrins; they're taken from the end of Chapter 5 of Fates, a chapter where they're stuck in their dragon form, have practically devolved into a feral animal who attacks anyone they see, and whose maximum speech capacity is to grunt and roar in pain/exertion/anger.

Since a character that's completely incapable of speaking would be less desirable for the average player than someone with actual voice lines and confessions, they wrote themselves into a corner and had to invent a weird version of Chapter 5!Corrin where they've already gone on their rampage and returned to normal after Azura calmed them down, but for some reason are stuck being forced to unwittingly use their draconic powers in exchange for severe pain and an urge to give in to that side of themselves again; none of that tracks with what actually happens in chapter 5, where they show no signs of struggling to control themselves after regaining consciouness, especially not to the extent the Fallen ones do, and are very quickly given a dragonstone by Azura to make sure they can't go berserk again and can control their dragon powers properly.

The Fallen Corrins explicitly say that their friends and family helped them regain control of themselves and that they're ashamed for hurting Azura, so unless these Corrins both hail from a world where their dragon blood is inexplicably significantly more powerful and possessive than it ever was in Fates proper AND were summoned into Askr during the ridiculously short time-frame between being told that they went berserk and being given the dragonstone to stop that from happening again, the entire concept is broken from the start; all because IS couldn't just market a mute angry dragon to their playerbase in their gacha game.

It's the same reason they did what they did with Fallen Linus; sure, a mindless mute zombie isn't the most interesting of characters, but there was no need to include that version of the character into FEH if IS already knew they wouldn't sell well without heavy changes to the source material in order to make them more marketable.

Hmm

I still note they made mute!Soren an unit lol

More seriously, as a rule of thumb, I'd prefer if FEH kept characterisations the character had in their original games even if, as you said, some alts definitely need to be... modified.

You mentionned the Fallen Corns, but in general, a lot of Fallen Heroes fall under that banner, Fallen Julia exists for the last half of the last chapter in FE4, Fallen Ike is an AU, Grima(sses) were created from scotch and glue, Fallen!Bilthis apparently cares about her kid (obviously an AU lol), etc etc...

I still am completely baffled at what they did with Fallen!Vigarde like sure, he was given lines from his zombie self in FE8, but the part where he goes "my power is to great for this vessel" or something is completely bonkers, Fomortiis only possesses one dude from that family, and that dude is Lyon. Remove Fomor-Lyon moving zombie!Vigarde's strings, and Vigarde is barely something more, uh, "sentient" than Monica (yes, the one from FE8 if you're wondering).

I ranted enough about how I fucking hated the FB between Lyon and his possessed self - maybe to sell Lyon as something more than a mere tool played and sacrificed by Fomortiis who preyed on his ambitions - and if that was supposed to sell me more on Lyon, then good job devs, FEH's Lyon is, imo, not FE8!Lyon thus not the character I care about.

Granted, I rant and rant and rant, but I'm also someone who's overjoyed when, saaay, FEH pisses on the source material when the source material sucks, like Julia has more characterisation in her base intro than in her entire game(s) because the devs see her as something else than a falchion with legs, and I've already ranted about Fodlan, but in general, IS seems to want to "correct" some stuff that came out wrong in earlier games (or piss on certain lolcalisations).

And it's always kind of difficult, with seasonal units, to come up with lines, like take Deghinsea for instance, all of his lines in the games are, hm, very serious and not light at all. And yet, he has a cute Halloween alt that would feel in-character, so to say, with the giant bald lizard we kill at the end of FE10.

But when it comes to creating a new unit from scratch (Altina? Ullr?) sometimes things work because the new thing created from scratch feels coherent with the world they're supposed to come from, and sometimes it's way more, uh, muddy (Elimine?). And you can bet I'll be overjoyed if mythic!Willy is released, or mythic!Indech/Macuil, even if it means the devs will have to invent a lot of things to make those characters feel like characters and not... pixels with new skills (but then they didn't care about that when they made Nerthuz...).

In the end, I think it's still the old discussion when talking about a fanwork, is something OOC or IC ?

And even if Heroes was developped by IS too, like the base games, sometimes the OOC comes out too clearly. Sometimes, everything works because the fanwork that is heroes works. It all depends on the twist IS uses to, as you said, sell characters.

I just hope that potential remakes won't use FEH as a base (with the twist they brought to characters) but use the... game being remade as a base, even if it clashes with the FEH characterisation.

Like, I'd hate it if a Sacred Stones remake characterises Eirika only as the naive princess depicted in the FE13 DLC or the "I want to be like my brother" brave alt, while removing the "Enough. Hold your tongue." part of her character.

[durtystars]

i know the show (and george himself) claimed that george was the opposite side of ross but honestly i never saw it. and the more i thought about george's S1 portrayal (the only one i can bear) the more i realized that, sorry folks, he and francis are far more "two sides of the same coin" of a duo than he and ross.

now let me cook. look at both men from the outside. they're weak personality wise (or, to avoid like i'm bashing francis, weakER than ross), have huge daddy issues and because of that are deeply insecure (george out of rejecting his father's love out of shame, francis' from constantly belittled out of his father's favoritism for ross), are constantly trying to show they are strong enough to stand on their own (and failing); heck they even surrounded themselves with "stronger" people to convince themselves of their attempts at strength (francis with george, george with his fake friends group that went in a puff of smoke for no reason).

so where does the contrasts lie? where's the "two sides of the same coin" at? a simple fact: one has the love of ross. you see the more i think of it, francis had more of a chance to become george if it wasn't for his family (but in this case, we'll just say ross). say that ross wasn't his cousin but, seen from afar, unable to be grasped like george's POV. i really think that he would be jealous over his father's favoritism to the point of viewing him as george does: having a hatred and enamoring for him at the same time.

the very idea of them being "friends" at all is such a deeply interesting thing to think about. because if you ask me it was a long time coming. they're just too similar for something not to happen. and as i said the only thing that really prevented francis from becoming "bad" (or george) was that he ross (or in this case, he is synonymous with love now) and george didn't. so what happens if you take ross out of the question? exaaactly. it also makes me think of ross questioning liz on francis and george's "friendship" after he came back. it genuinely surprised him. and of course he would be, since he and francis were inseparable all their lives. it's also interesting to see the dynamic of francis and george by itself as well? the fact that george drew francis away from ross (love) and into his own world of darkness and self pity. and that the only way francis could stand up to him is if he gained security and self worth (i should also add here that, interestingly, the both considered suicide. and while the one became stronger from it, the other became weaker. i would argue that the one who became stronger only had the ability to because he had love, while the other doesn't even know what it is).

for my last comparison i would love to touch on george's seduction of francis, because it is truly so riveting to me. in his preying on francis, george is already coming from a weak mindset. he doesn't know love (in my opinion, he's incapable of it but i believe he can come close to it if pushed that way) and as such has no real interest in francis. and he knows that (1 as an outsider (2 the fact he's not ross will never get his attention, so instead he puts on a facade of a stronger man that will attract him. any normal person would see right through george and know he's faking it, but the vulnerable and equally weak francis falls for it (inevitably imo). notice how verity was never friends with george? nor charles. and liz always had an arms length relationship with him. no, the only person who was ever close with him was francis. and so in this relationship, we see two weak men feeding off of each other's insecurities, insignificant self worth and fathered rejection. francis falls for george's imitation of strength, which in of itself is starkingly weak that he cannot find a shred of himself that is good to use on francis, so he just does what he always does in life, taking parts of actual strong people and applying to it himself in a way of survival, almost. the only way such a deeply messed up could work on anyone is if they were as weak or even weaker than him. thus in comes francis, who happens to be connected to the man he's obsessed about. he must have thought he was blessed from above.

as for george and ross, what can i say? besides that they were rivals (mostly on george's end anyway) both lived in cornwall, i guess? i have tried to make a connection on the yin/yang affect and nothing much came to mind which made me believe the push for it was contrived. i could write even more about francis and george, however, but i'll stop here.

[eldritchamy]

Hey, hello, how do I hear more of your world building because whenever you have it in tags of stuff, I am OBSESSED

I mean currently the answer is you have to be a specific person in my Discord DMs (and future housemate), who is the recipient of all of my infodumps about this particular topic.

The reason for this is that she's my ACTUAL DM (who runs a delightfully homebrewed Ravnica setting which takes a VERY liberal approach to MTG's concept of a multiverse), and my own homebrew Une-iverse is sort of the version of my characters and their story that exists in my head (I normally refer to this as "Story Mode") and is slowly being built out into its own whole world and, with any luck, several books. She greatly enjoys my infodumping in general, and has also been thrilled to have me as a player (in my first DND campaign!) because, and I quote, "Your passion and care for the story of your character is infectious." Her DMing style also very much jives with how I like to play the game, and the other players in the party, and their characters, are all excellent.

I'm pretty big on establishing and keeping to narrative arcs, and so far I'm pretty happy with where my character is in her journey as a person and how she's relating to the world around her, and in particular her story NPCs. One of my NPCs in particular (my favorite and the one I'm proudest of coming up with) she plays almost EXACTLY how I envision her, so every scene with that character is like a 5 pound brick of dopamine physically pummeled into my bloodstream through blunt force. She's also a very interesting character mechanically, so she's been the subject of QUITE a few infodumps about the mechanics of time and Second Sight and causality. I may make a post about that specifically, because I have a really cool way of explaining it.

When she first put out the call for a campaign she wanted to run, I was the first person to respond because I'd recently been in a bit of a DND hyperfixation (thanks in part to Critical Role) where I had turned a character concept I came up with several years prior into a functional PC. Her pitch for the campaign she wanted to run fit with the character I had started building, and I figured it was as good a time as any to actually get over my anxiety about it and actually join a party.

....While writing up my character's backstory initially, I was typing in a document that hit seven pages before my character was even born, if that's any indication of What I'm Like As A Person.

A fair amount got revised during and after character creation (I homebrewed an entire new 5e class (Witch) between levels 1 and 3 and she let me swap to it). I had some really cool ideas for her character backstory and her story NPCs (whom I, in an extremely on-brand obsessive fervor, had given some pretty deep backstories of their own), and she really enjoyed the creative direction I took everything character-wise and narratively.

And I STILL send her walls of text about character stuff and how they relate to things that happened and why they had the reactions they did to what events in their backstories and how everything interacted to make them such fleshed out and compelling characters.

Because when I get excited about a topic I am utterly, hopelessly incapable of shutting up about it. But she likes it and has a mutual interest in the particular topic, so she's ended up the person I direct all of the infodumps at.

As far as I can remember, I haven't posted anything about it except what's in either the "eldritch OCs" tag or more recently the "Uneiverse" tag on my blog.

I could be encouraged to post more about it, if enough people show an interest. I do think my cosmogony is pretty neat. I do need to work out a historical timeline, though, because currently some Pretty Major Stuff is a bit up in the air in terms of "ok cool but WHEN".

[lm-tomatito]

For the bingo how about Rick or Doctor (Trent) from Fomt. They're my two favourite bachelors so I'm interested to hear your opinions on them 😊 ❤

Sure, I'll do both of them✨

I don't usually think too much about him, but I find Rick as a very interesting character.

I feel like I'm part of an unpopular opinion because most hm fans seem to dislike him or ignore him. I even made a post asking about others opinions about him in the past lol It's nice to see more people who like him!

I think he has a deeper and much sadder reason to be the way he is. He feels or thinks he must be the responsable one of the family, which maybe makes it difficult for him to trust enough in others, and can't help but have a very strong opinion about his father, that being more negative of course, but at the same time being incapable of hating him (if I remember the stuff about the watch correctly). Sometimes I think he can be a bit afraid of abandonment, so he tries his best to take care of the closest people to him, something that can lead to bad results. I also have the impression he doesn't really have that much people to talk to about his struggles, and that's why sometimes Karen can feel overwhelmed in some of the events.

It's a bit difficult for me to express all I think about this while keeping it short right now, so I'll finish by saying I understand and even kind of feel relatable to some of his problems.

I don't have much to say about Trent, which makes me a bit sad because I do enjoy his character very much, it's just the interpretation I have of him is either canon or someone else's ideas.

Just like everyone else though, I think he must have an interesting story behind him.

Added the "not enough screentime" because I wish I could see more events of him outside the clinic, and with other characters besides Ellie. He appears in festivals and all, but I guess I just enjoy interactions between characters one wouldn't normally see. Could be I'm just not remembering enough :')

[tsotc]

your and your boyfriend's ocs are all interesting, i'm looking forward to when the carrd is done. amnuai and absinthe are cute together! could you tell me more about anurak and petrichor's dynamic? does amnuai have a "i'm saddled with unnecessary feelings" moment(as you mentioned ce is like edgeworth.)? and i'm curious about udomwit's dynamics with petrichor, estmund, and anurak. how does udomwit handle anurak and jerome's.. differences?

Anurak is actually one of Petrichor's more regular clients and as such their relationship is like "I'm your therapist but by god I want to hit you with a car" and "I want to strangle you for failing to use Lady Halone's name in place of your 'god'". Anurak doesn't live at Façade save for when he's having a psychotic girl moment and the church isn't letting it stay with them for Psychotic Girl Reasons. Petrichor is a very reasonable person but oh my god you're fucking insane what's wrong with you.

I don't think that Amnuai has had that moment purely because Absinthe doesn't have a brain for the most part. Ce is ungodly unaware of cer own emotions but incredibly in tune with other people's, including absinthe, so doesn't find it hard to dance around cer feelings for him in a way that still allows for his affections and cer caring. There's a chance that ce's been like that to Petrichor before (they get along well and are mostly sane and normal, unlike Literally Everyone Else) but it manifested like "Would that I could live in a world without Absinthe. I find it difficult to lay my heart to rest when he's around." "Im going to call you a slur are you okay with that" (SAID JOKINGLY).

UDOMWIT. MY GUMBLY FUCKING MEOW.

Despite being one of the most eccentric people there (minus anurak, who believes halone speaks through him etc. etc) she's fully convinced that she's destined to be a background character in everyone else's stories and acts as theatrical and as memorable as possible to try and cement her place in other people's legacies, if only for a night. She and Petrichor are playing gay chicken in the sense that wit won't allow herself to burden someone like him with her love and petrichor is solving peoples problems to avoid dealing with his own (he and amnuai tend to bond over this). She loves him though and it's clear for everyone to see. Udomwit calls everyone "love" and "dear" but it shows up a lot more with petri than anyone else, she loves through food and asks him to taste test her menus and desserts a lot, the act of sharing a business together is one of love as well.

Wit has known Estmund for a very, very long time. He's actually the one who taught her more refined cooking stuff when she came to Coerthas for the first time (up until then she was mostly just a homecook and that hasn't really changed). This Was A While Ago. 18 summers or so? Udomwit is like 38 and Estmund is like 52 but nobody believes how long they've been friends bc one larps as a vampire and the other Goos His Face everyday with Plant Goop to keep looking 25. Hyur curse. Whenever Estmund comes to visit he brings a sodoku or crossword book and they do it together. The two of them tend to bounce resippies off of each other a lot and its nice when they cook together because everyone goes home with like 3 full plates of food because god these two don't know how to cook small portions when they get excited about food.

She. Does not handle Anurak well. She's bad with conflict because oh she just wants to keep everyone happy and well fed and safe but isn't incapable of putting her foot down when things get dire, even if it really does break her heart a little to do so.

Anurak keeps its head down at the bar unless Jerome is there mostly under threat of Amnuai Is Going To Beat You To Death. They get on rather well, don't get me wrong, but only whilst Anurak is having a normal one and when things stir up with Jerome she isn't usually the first to jump in to stop it. This isn't out of lack of responsibility or anything, just that she's a Little Scary when she's angry or being authorative and Petrichor is better at de-escalation wrt those two. Anurak. is like a cornered animal 9 times out of ten, Udomwit is a calming presence for the most part and let's him get the stress from being Catholic out a little bit when Petrichor isn't around.