#(several of you will understand this reference)

[toxinoire]

I would like to add that sure, it's public now and many will be exposed to it. But you as a reader have to understand several things:

First, they are doing this shit for free. No one is paying them.

Second, this post refers to being unnecessarily mean and going "YOU'RE WRONG" on an author. It's not saying don't have opinions or don't criticize, it simply means don't be mean just because of the fact that this is not how you view the character.

Third, majority of fic writers are usually TEENAGERS. To be unnecessarily mean to these young kids who are honestly just writing for fun and for their own emotions just discourages them to write in general--especially if the fics they write is a form of coping mechanism.

And fourth, it's understandable to not like ooc, or not like certain characterizations. But you have to understand that this is not for you. Other people will like it, others will love it. But if you don't, scream into your ceiling then press the back button. Once again referring to no. 3, majority are teens, or maybe younger. Going "WELL THIS IS WRONG" to them won't help them be better writers, it just makes them not want to share what they write.

unless they specifically asked, you don’t get to tell a fanfic writer you think they mischaracterized the character by the way. because the second someone writes a fanfic about a character, that character becomes the writer’s own version of the character. canon is only a suggestion, but whether or not an author will follow it / how much of canon an author will take is entirely up to them. you don’t get to stick your nose in their world and tell them “hey this is not to my liking therefore I think you’re doing it wrong” when you can simply leave quietly and move on to something else you may enjoy

[catiuskaa]

playing Pocky's magic.

sum. teasing, sweet treats, challenges and all, it’s about time minho admits how bad he wants to kiss you.

wc. 1.9k

cw. pocky game, harry potter spells and magic references, crushes and fluff and one unit of a kiss, minho is FUCKED (positive), and I think that’s all, folks!

req! right here, from my gorgeous baby @4ln-stay8! POOKIEEE missed you so much<3 this was so cute! hope you like🙂‍↕️‼️

[🎀★🍬★🎀]

Has anyone ever gone to see a magician perform?

Even if that didn’t happen —which, for your information, is an experience I recommend, just for fun— we can all agree that everyone is familiar with those typical magic tricks. Like that one where the magician has this colourful cloth, and he starts pulling it out of his hat, and then pulls, pulls, pulls, pulls…

“Felix, what part of ‘we only need sodas, water, and the peach juice that Jisung said he wanted’ did you not understand?” Seungmin blinks, deadpanning as he watches his roommate get things out of the supermarket bags.

As if summoned —maybe the magic still lingers around?— Jisung pops his head inside the kitchen, with another two bags.

“Did I hear my name?” Han smiles, rubbing his hands together to easy the red, tight feeling the plastic bag left in his hands.

“Yeah, bitch,” Seungmin scoffs, “tryna max out your credit card—wait. Who paid for this?”

Jisung blinks, gasping. “Oh, I left the water bottles outside.”

“The juice was me, by the way,” you let out softly, moving side to side as you sat on the kitchen stool.

Cans clatter onto the counter, a bunch of parsley poking out from under a loaf of bread, and somewhere in the mess, a rogue apple rolls across the floor. Between the crinkling of paper and the thud of boxes, it feels like the bags will never end. Jisung and Felix should never go to the supermarket again unsupervised.

You hold back the need to laugh, not only at the crazy scene, but at Seungmin’s puzzled face.

“Are there more things there?” You giggle.

As you grab a plastic bag and peek inside, you frown. “What’s this?” you ask, fishing out a brightly colored packet with a name you didn’t dare to pronounce.

Silence.

Several heads snap toward you, as if you’ve just confessed a crime.

“You’re joking,” Seungmin says flatly.

“Please tell me you’re joking,” Hyunjin echoes as he gets to the kitchen, already halfway to dramatic fainting.

“You’ve never had Pocky?” Felix gasps, a smile on his lips. “Where have you been—under a rock? On the moon?”

You blink, holding the snack defensively. “Am I… supposed to know?”

Jisung stares at you like you’ve just insulted Felix’s baking skills, leaving the water bottles on the floor.

“You’re not supposed to know,” Jisung says, snatching the packet from your hands like it’s too sacred to be handled by a novice. “You’re supposed to have lived it. This was childhood. This was lunchbox gold. This was—”

“—currency on the playground,” Jeongin chimes in solemnly, taking a seat on the stool next to Hyunjin.

“You know there’s a flippin’ day for this in Japan, right?” Felix chuckles, taking the other Pocky box from the bag and settling on the kitchen aisle, ruffling your hair.

“There is?” You look at the package with amazement in your eyes, to which Seungmin snickers.

Just as Hyunjin tears the Pocky box open with ceremonial flair, footsteps sound in the hall. Minho walks into the kitchen, eyeing the chaos.

“Why does it sound like someone just uncovered a forbidden artifact?” He snorts. “Oh, Pocky,” he smiles, sitting around the kitchen aisle and grabbing a box, tearing it open.

“This one right here just discovered gunpowder.” Seungmin rubs his eyes in fake desperation, actually amused.

Minho pauses after taking a bite. Looks at you. Blinks.

“You don’t know what this is?” He presses his lips together, failing to hold back a smile as he swooshes the bitten Pocky on his hand in the air, like some kind of wand.

Han looks at you like he’ll Avada Kedavra your ass. “Imagine never having one!” Jisung whines dramatically, holding up the package like a sacred offering, grabbing one.

Your arms shoot up in ginger frustration, a smile still on your face. “Why is this such a big deal?”

Minho grins—not as much mocking like the others, but amused, like he’s secretly delighted by the whole thing. “It’s just… You’ve really never even seen one?”

“No!” you say, half-laughing now. “And what do you mean there's a day for this?" You grin, grabbing one and staring at it.

“Okay, so Pocky Day is like—November 11th, right?” Felix explains, waving a half-eaten stick like a pointer. “Because the date looks like four Pocky sticks. One-one-one-one. It’s a whole thing in Japan. People gift them, take pictures, post cringe, whatever—”

“And the real tradition is the Pocky challenge. It’s like a trust exercise. But sexy. And dumb,” Hyunjin chuckles.

“It’s dumb-sexy,” Seungmin nods.

Meanwhile, Minho isn’t listening. Well, technically, his body is facing the group. He even nods a little, like he’s following the conversation. But his eyes? Always trailing back to you, like some new magic trick.

Focus, Minho. Leave her alone. Don't be a creep, his brain scolds him.

So while teacher Felix explains Pocky day to you, Minho grabs a stick from the box, settles it on his lips, and spins to face Hyunjin with dramatic flair. “Heyyyy,” he drawls, voice muffled slightly around the chocolate-covered end. “You wanna kiss me?”

Hyunjin's eyes turn to crescent moons as he laughs. “Please stop.”

“Come onnnn,” Minho says, leaning in like he’s about to seduce a houseplant. “I’m irresistible. It’s Pocky Day. It’s sacred.”

Your laugh stands out to him in the group as Hyunjin keeps making dramatic faces, and like some Accio spell, his eyes go back to you.

He can see how you’re swinging your legs slightly, brow furrowed in concentration, actually trying to make sense of this absurd little candy holiday. Your hair’s a little messy from the wind, your cheeks still pink from the cold. And every so often, when the others laugh or make a dumb joke, you smile—slow and genuine, like you mean it.

Minho feels it like a punch to the chest every time.

God, he thinks, heart doing something stupid. She’s so—she’s just—

Then you straighten, wiping a tear from your eye. “Okay, but wait. I wanna try the game.”

“You know, Minho is the king of the Pocky challenge,” Felix smiles, faking innocence.

Minho’s internal monologue hits DEFCON 1. He’s already halfway to cardiac arrest when, like sharks circling the blood, Felix and Seungmin lean in with matching devilish grins.

Minho wakes up from his daydreaming. "What?"

“Yeah, Min," Felix snickers. "You’ve pulled this exact move four times at parties.”

Minho blinks. Brain: static. Limbs: gone. Soul: ascending. He feels every cell in his body yell, STAY CALM. But his blood has turned into hot soup, and his mouth is suddenly so dry. Did his knees always feel this weak? Had he ever actually known how to breathe?

"I wanna try it," you repeat, still laughing, still not understanding that you’ve just shattered Minho's reality. "But Minho doesn't have to do it if he doesn't want to."

Minho silently beams regret and death at them while his brain screams, THIS IS NOT A DRILL, IT'S HAPPENING, STAY CALM, STAY FUCKING CALM—

Heart jackhammering in his chest, Minho has a single, profound thought: Don’t combust. Don’t combust. Don’t combust. He’s already reaching for it before his body catches up with his brain. “No— I mean, yeah,” he croaks. “Sure. Totally. Why not."

The room holds its breath. His ears are definitely red.

In the blink of an eye, you’re sitting on the stool right next to him, and he turns to face you.

You lean in, slowly, and every inch closer is a personal attack on Minho’s ability to remain upright.

Okay, he tells himself. Cool. You’re fine. It’s just a game. A snack. A stick. A proximity-based ritual of emotional doom. Totally normal.

Your eyes flick up to his again and��boom. There goes his brain. Just gone. Replaced with white noise and the echoing reminder that your lashes are stupidly long and your nose crinkles just a little when you smile, and he’s so, so doomed.

He can feel your breath now. Warm. Sweet.

Abort. Abort. You are not built for this.

You’re smiling like you know exactly what you’re doing to him.

Nope. Just trying the challenge. Calm down. This isn’t about you. Except it is about you. Because you picked him. You wanted to try this—with him.

He doesn’t know where to look. Your eyes? Your mouth? Somewhere neutral, like the ceiling?

His lips are millimeters from yours now. Time has completely stopped. His hands are clenched at his sides because if he moves them, he knows, he knows, he’ll reach for you.

You’re so close now.

The room has gone quiet in that strange, electric way—like even the air doesn’t want to interrupt.

The pocky stick trembles slightly between you, balanced between your mouth and his, and Minho’s pulse is so loud in his ears it feels like a countdown.

You’re leaning in slowly, a little hesitant, like you’re trying not to laugh, like you can’t quite believe you’re doing this either.

Minho can’t hear the others anymore. Can’t remember his name, the challenge, the context—nothing. All he can see is you.

The soft part of your smile where your lips meet the stick. The tiny shift in your expression as you get closer. Your lashes lowering just slightly. The edge of pink on your cheeks.

And then, something in him snaps.

This might be the only time, his brain whispers, already folding itself into silence. The only chance. You don’t get this twice.

So he leans in just a little more. Not enough to scare you off. Just—closer. Closer than he should. Enough to feel the whisper of your breath against his skin.

Your eyes flick to his. Wide, surprised.

But you don’t pull away.

So he doesn’t either.

The stick between you cracks softly as you near the middle. And still, he keeps going.

Your breath hitches.

And just before the Pocky snaps—

Your lips meet.

It’s soft. Just a brush. Warm and uncertain and far too short. But it hits him like gravity suddenly tripled, like he’s stepped off the edge of something tall and forgotten how to land.

He barely remembers the crunch. Barely hears the explosion of screams behind him.

All he knows is that your lips have touched his—and that nothing, absolutely nothing, had prepared him for how right that feels.

Minho doesn’t move.

He isn’t sure he can. He’s frozen, standing perfectly still like his nervous system has short-circuited and just… shut down. His ears are ringing. His heart is somewhere in his throat, possibly on fire. And you’re still right there, eyes wide, fingers covering your mouth in stunned shock—and maybe, just maybe, a tiny smile hiding beneath it.

His lips tingle. Every neuron in his brain has turned off except the one whispering, You kissed. You kissed. You actually kissed.

Someone claps him on the back way too hard. “That was the smoothest thing I’ve ever seen you do, you absolute menace.”

Minho blinks. He’s barely processing it. The voices are background static. You’re still the only thing in focus.

You’re biting back a laugh now, cheeks flushed, glancing around like you can’t believe this is happening.

But then—your eyes meet his again. And it hits him all over again. This just happened. You kissed him. Or he kissed you. You kissed.

Minho tries to speak. Fails. Swallows. Tries again.

“You—uh. That was…” he manages, rubbing the back of his neck.

You give him a look—shy and warm and teasing all at once. “Happy… Pocky Day?”

He laughs. A little too breathlessly. “Best holiday I’ve ever celebrated.”

Across them, Felix bites his lip. "Let's not tell them we're still in April." Felix snickers softly at Jeongin. "What? I wouldn't want to ruin the magic!"

If one were to cast a spell and see into the future, this author thinks it’s quite obvious to think that Minho couldn’t wait until November to kiss you again.

Propperly, this time.

[🎀★🍬★🎀]

~kats, who is craving pocky rn.

catiuskaa, may 2025 ©

[ permanent taglist! ] @svckrpvnch @thatonedarkskinnedsiren @lyramundana @cheeksung

[fox-guardian]

am I allowed to ask for some info about your anti Daisuke please? what does he like to do in his spare time, his relationship with the crew, etc? :)

apologies if this is incoherent i am Very Sleepy

his relationship with the crew:

overall: he's the youngest ofc, and is only an intern, so he does his best to treat them all with plenty of outward respect when necessary. i feel like he would struggle with how to refer to them all. curly is obviously "Captain", and he switches between titles and mr/ms [name] for the others, at least at first. (it's a bit overkill of him, but he's playing it safe to start)

curly: he's scared of the guy. the others are more used to his Everything, but daisuke has gotten himself on this ship and has to spend over a year with this guy who apparently thinks Spurs are a good punishment tool and is trying so very very hard just to survive his internship, which is Difficult given the amount of mistakes he makes due to swansea's hands-off teaching style. curly himself doesn't feel too much towards him, though he's secretly understanding that these mistakes are more swansea's fault than daisuke's so he hasn't actually punished him for it. emphasis on secret. wouldn't want to risk the intern letting his guard down and starting on slacking.

anya: they end up spending time together due to his occasional work-related injuries, and he quickly learns not to call her "miss" or "ma'am". make no mistake, he's beneath her on this food chain, but he doesn't have to make her feel old about it. she ends up being the one to show him the social ropes, and this leads to them gossiping, and it becomes a habit. they're maybe not friends, but acquaintances. gossip buddies. she thinks it's funny when he loses the Polite Nerd mask and gets snippy and mean. he thinks she's washed up and a bit pathetic. not that he'd say that to her face.

jimmy: jimmy keeps attempting to get close to him in a very obvious way. he clearly wants to take him under his wing, be his work uncle or something, and it annoys him. he's getting secondhand embarrassment from watching him try to "how do you do fellow kids" at him, and it's annoying because he doesn't have time to talk about cartoons and books and whatever when he's trying to work on his internship. and he won't stop calling him "little bro". daisuke has started calling him things like "mr copilot jimmy sir" in retaliation because he can tell he doesn't like it. in reality, jimmy just wants to make sure the fresh meat doesn't get pulverized and also wants to make sure he isn't too lonely. and maybe he reminds him of some of his younger coworkers he used to have back on earth, before he joined PE. just a little bit.

swansea: he frequently fantasizes about strangling this man with his stupid suspenders. you'd think a guy charged with mentoring a novice would, you know, offer some advice? some information? some guidance? but NOOOO, swansea's method is to throw daisuke to the wolves, let him fuck around and find out, and risk getting him severely injured or killed as he's tasked with doing work and repairs with only supervision from swansea. he's starting to get the hang of reading his face, though, as his reactions are the closest things to suggestions he gets. more like warnings. a sudden widened eye tells him he's reaching for the wrong wire, a raised brow makes him realize he's forgotten a step, a serene smiles surely says he's doing everything wrong. he's sure this guy wants him dead. he doesn't, though. swansea didn't sign up to be a mentor, doesn't really know what's doing, and honestly thinks this could be a good method for teaching. and he wouldn't let him get into any messes he didn't think he couldn't get out of. daisuke's a smart kid, he'd figure out the vent before he stuck his head too far inside. he's sure of it. he has faith in him.

[waywardsou2]

My full Thunderbolts* review

Spoilers below

Yelena’s struggle's with her life feeling meaningless and just wanting a family that loves her hit so close to home in ways that I can hardly speak of. Her saying “Daddy I’m so alone” ripped my heart apart

John's quote of “on your left” and “I should have seen that coming” killed me I just…what the fuck the references were...I noticed them instantly how could you not

The killing of Antonia was so pointless and a horrible way to get rid of a character they had no idea what to do with

Bob is the sweetest character I have ever seen in my life and I need more content of him, the fact that after all that has happened, they are still experimenting on people is just fucking horrible. And vulnerable people no less. Fucking sick but it's America so what did I expect

I really hope Valentina dies she is such a bitch and I fucking hate her for what she did, trying to make a commodity out of the thunderbolts, she's just another power hungry official and I really hope she is kicked to the curb sooner rather than later.

Bucky being congressman was not explained, and I don’t understand it and I fucking hate it. Pointless subplot. (I actually made a post that is a potential explanation for this)

Having John Walker's wife and kid leave him and having Bucky say it was a low blow but I fucking appreciate it so much, but I also feel bad for him, more than I thought I would as a John Walker hater.

I think this movie has actually made me warm to John...he's still an asshole but part of me feels bad.

I think Bob might be a split personality, potentially. Or have some form of DID because by the looks of it Sentry/Evil Bob existed before he was experimented on, I just think the experiments made it worse. He’s kinda like the middle of the road for experimentation. Steve was the best and John was the worst, Bucky is a grey area and Bob is the middle…HE’S THE LIGHT AND THE DARK (And yes I know it wasn't the super soldier serum but still)

The way the light in the room ebbed and flowed from light to dark when Bob and Yelena were talking was so subtle but such a good hint

I am so fucking happy (and this is something I would never thought I would say) that there were no romantic plot lines, no interests, no sub plots. They didn’t try to pair Bucky with anyone, and they didn’t pair Yelena with anyone.

I really an rooting for a Bob and Yelena friendship, I need them so badly. Yesterday fast

The fact that we didn’t get to see Bucky’s rooms was a fucking crime and a waste of potential and I am so fucking mad about it. The on screen whump we could have been whiteness to would have been immeasurable (thank god I am writing a fic about this)

Alexi trying to do better by Yelena and having them actually talk things out even if it was only for a little bit was a golden moment and as someone with a shitty father figure I will cherish it for the rest of my life.

The movie was really good but there were a few meaningless subplots and a lot of things left unanswered but overall I really loved the movie. Even though it was small scale New York it was still the most exciting and climax filled movie. The editing was pretty good although some of the SFX was a little dodgy.

Sentry was the creepiest thing I have ever seen 10/10 would smash

No but seriously he was creepy as fuck and he made me flinch several times in the movie

It’s funny because the whole “dark person inside you” was actually something that my therapist discussed with me and this was literally something I faced. This is what my depression looked like with me and… oh my god it hit really close to home. And apparently it's a decently common conceptualisation of people's "inner demons" is literally a person. So this was a really good representation in my opinion. Especially with the darkness consuming Bob as he was beating up Sentry

I wish we could have seen the trauma of the other characters, that felt like wasted potential. I guess we saw what was necessary since the other stuff has mostly been explain and even shown before but still. It felt like such wasted potential to not extrapolate what was already there

The use of sound and things just going dead silent as the void took over was…perfect. Like literally the absolute nothingness was incredible

All of the characters holding onto Bob when he was struggling because beating down the darkness is never the answer was just

Something I actually talked to my therapist about also is that beating up your darkness or trying to fight fire with fire is not going to work. It’s only going to consume you and pull you down and make it worse. You have to accept it come to terms with it and learn to live with it and slowly it will fade…this is a perfect metaphor for basically all my mental health and I'm sure a lot of other people too.

Everyone with depression needs to see this movie because I swear as emotionally traumatised as I am…I feel like a cured me. It was so important for me to see that especially when my life has been feeling like shit lately

And that fact that I saw 0 AI in this movie was fantastic. No fucking AI my Marvel thank you very much. *spits on you* (at least from what I could tell I'm hoping I'm right)

THE END CREDIT SCENE WITH FUCKING THE “NEW AVENGERS” AND BUCKY HAVING TALKED TO SAM SAYING IT DIDN’T GO WELL. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME. WHO EVEN NEEDS DR DOOM WE HAVE A WINTERFALCON DIVORCE ARC ALREADY ON THE WAY. DR DOOM MOVE OVER YOU PIECE OF SHIT LITERALLY NOTHING IS GOING TO COMPARE

Yelena sticking by Bob because she knows what it’s like when your at your lowest was so sweet. She knew he just needed someone. And he’s so kind

Omg I need to talk about Bob because he is a serious contender for DID because the different person, the gaps in his memory, the lows and the highs…if you have DID and you have seen thunderbolts (because I do not have DID) please tell me that you recognise that as DID or if it was just me

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MAD I WAS WHEN I FOUND OUT THAT BITCH HAD BOUGHT THE OLD AVENGERS TOWER. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT LADY, NONE. YOU NEED TO GET YOUR GREASEY MITS AWAY FROM WHERE IT ALL STARTED

I think Mel mentioning the 2012 Avengers movie was a nice hit. Because it really is a reset. I think my cousin was right, they needed to go down, to come back up again. Which meant taking a gamble to make some shit media and shrinking things back down to small (kind of I’ll get to that in a sec) and then working their way back up. Because this movie was just New York. New York was in danger and it was saved. Back to the old classics

However speaking on that the fact that, the Fantastic 4 showed up and were “extradimensional” does mean that the multiverse is still open. This leaves so much open for Doomsday we are going to basically (I think) have the original civil war plot line from the comics on a multiversal scale. That’s my vague idea based on what Thunderbolts set up

I really hope they give me more Bob content. I love these guys now. This is my favourite thing ever. New favourite Marvel anything. It is #1 golden cup and everything. Oh my lord.

Ok I’m going to take a shower I might be back with more

Ok I’m actually back the next day

I think I called it, I really think it was Bucky’s turn to be mischaracterized because a lot of that didn’t feel like Bucky, he was still a dork and still caring like he usually is. But it just didn’t feel like him, especially since his running for Congress wasn’t explained and it just seemed like a non-event. So…yeah, unfortunately, at least to me, Bucky didn’t feel like Bucky. Dare I say he was boring.

I was kind of hoping for more lore on the other characters but Ava and Bucky just got…side lined almost, they were there for a reason and I know Bucky is going to have a big role to play soon so they needed to be in this movie but it just felt odd. They were there just because

The intense found family aspect of this movie was honestly so beautiful and the messages of mental health were incredibly deep, though provoking and not stupid for once. Nothing was overlooked or changed to fit some sort of censored narrative. It was all blatant and in your face just how mental health should be represented because it is exactly like that. It’s big and loud and affects lots of people

[ansautism]

I understand frustration about statements being taken out of context to push an agenda, so I have actually found the full RFK Jr. conference as well as a text version from the closed captions of the video.

"I'M GOING TO GO OVER SOME OF THE KEY NUMBERS FROM THE REPORT. OVERALL, THE AUTISM IS INCREASING IN PREVALENCE AT AN ALARMING RATE." There has been a rise in autism. I highly recommend this article from the National Counsel for Severe Autism explaining that the rise in diagnoses is not just due to better screening methods. I have also made a post on this. However, despite my beliefs that autism rates are genuinely rising, it is extremely important to note that the diagnostic criteria is basically unrecognizable since the addition of infantile autism in the DSM-III. The criteria is incredibly broad and covers a vast amount of people who beforehand would have not had a diagnosis. So it's important to keep that in mind when discussing autism rates.

"WE ARE GOING TO HAVE UPDATED REAL-TIME DATA SO THAT PEOPLE CAN LOOK AT THIS, AMERICANS CAN UNDERSTAND WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH CHRONIC DISEASE IN COUNTRY IN REAL TIME. AND WE DON'T HAVE TO WAIT TWO YEARS TO REACT. WE DON'T WAIT TWO YEARS TO REACT TO A MEASLES EPIDEMIC AND WE -- OR ANY KIND OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE. WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO DO THAT FOR DIABETES OR AUTISM." RFK Jr. is discussing that the CDC study was conducted on children born in 2014. The surveillance year (referring to the period over which public health data is collected and analyzed to track the prevalence and incidence of diseases or conditions) was in 2022. There are multiple reasons for this so called 2 year "delay," such as the CDC using an increased number of ADDM sites reporting autism rates (up from 11 to 16), which means there is more data to compile, which can cause a delay in the release of information.

"IN ALL THE CORE STATES, THE TREND IS CONSISTENTLY UPWARD. AND MOST CASES NOW ARE SEVERE. 25% OF THE KIDS WHO ARE DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM ARE NONVERBAL, NONTOILET TRAINED, AND HAVE OTHER STEREOTYPICAL FEATURES -- HEAD BANGING, TACTILE AND LIGHT SENSITIVITIES, ETC." Most cases of autism spectrum disorder are not classified as severe. Severe autism refers to level 3 autism, where autism interferes significantly with basic ADLs. RFK states himself that 25% of ASD cases are considered severe or stereotypical. That is a fraction of cases. I also do not know where he is getting that 25% rate. Unfortunately, it appears the Full Community Report on ASD in 2025 submitted by the CDC has been quietly taken down. I have found the 2023 report which states that "among 8 year-old children, more than one third (37.9%) had intellectual disability".

Mild autism (or autism level 1), which is the most common form of ASD, typically does not co-occur with intellectual disability (or as you so aptly put it, mental r*tardation). This means that "a quarter to a third" of our population is not "functionally r*tarded" because r*tardation refers specifically to intellectual disability. People with level 1 autism tend to be the most functional and often contribute to society (although being functional doesn't equal worth or value as a person).

The more obvious issue here is that most autistic people are not 8 year olds, and that many autistic people are getting diagnosed later in life, due to compensatory strategies masking their autism. This means more autistic people without ID are being diagnosed. We can expect the rate of ID with ASD to go down because of this.

"AND THEN THERE IS AN INDIVIDUAL INJURY, THESE ARE KIDS THAT -- THIS IS A PREVENTABLE DISEASE. WE KNOW IT'S ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE. IT HAS TO BE. GENES DO NOT CAUSE EPIDEMICS. IT CAN PROVIDE A VULNERABILITY, BUT YOU NEED AN ENVIRONMENTAL TOXIN." Autism is not a preventable disease. We do not know what causes autism - we know that it is a combination of environmental and genetic factors (check out the SFARI Gene database for all possible genes linked to autism), and we know that vaccines are not an environmental cause of autism. There is no way to detect autism in utero, and the diagnosis of autism is based on clinical observation, not blood tests. How do you prevent a disorder that you don't know the cause of? The simple answer - you can't.

If you have two families with the genes for a disorder, and then they procreate, and create more kids with that gene, and so on...there will be more people with that mutated gene that causes the disorder, raising the rate for said disorder. It's simple math. I would barely call this instance an epidemic, but this can show how solely genetic influences can cause what some people may superficially call an "epidemic."

Autism is also not classified as a disease but as a neurodevelopmental disorder. The word disease implies an infectious agent, pathogen, or immune dysfunction causing a disorder. Autism is a neurological disorder that is not infectious or caused by immune deficiency. Therefore, autism is not a disease.

"AUTISM DESTROYS FAMILIES. MORE IMPORTANTLY, IT DESTROYS OUR GREATEST RESOURCE, WHICH IS OUR CHILDREN. THESE ARE CHILDREN WHO SHOULD NOT BE SUFFERING LIKE THIS. THESE ARE KIDS WHO -- MANY OF THEM WERE FULLY FUNCTIONAL AND REGRESSED BECAUSE OF SOME ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE INTO AUTISM WHEN THEY'RE 2 YEARS OLD. AND THESE ARE KIDS WHO WILL NEVER PAY TAXES, THEY'LL NEVER HOLD A JOB, THEY'LL NEVER PLAY BASEBALL, THEY'LL NEVER WRITE A POEM, THEY'LL NEVER GO OUT ON A DATE. MANY OF THEM WILL NEVER USE A TOILET UNASSISTED. AND WE HAVE TO RECOGNIZE WE ARE DOING THIS TO OUR CHILDREN. AND WE NEED TO PUT AN END TO IT."

I am not going to say whether or not autism can destroy individual families, but many families have spoken out and have said that their children did not "destroy" them. The general consensus of the autistic community is that autism itself does not destroy families, but a lack of resources does. There is no evidence that a majority of ASD cases are caused by regression. What RFK is describing is a disorder called childhood disintegrative disorder, which is not a current diagnosis. He may also be confusing ASD with Rett Syndrome, a genetic disorder that is not on the spectrum. RTT used to be considered a pervasive developmental disorder similar to autism, but it is now not a diagnosis in the DSM-V.

The issue many autistic people take with his speech is that it is dehumanizing. He speaks of autistic children like they are diseased and that they are in constant suffering. He ties their worth to their ability to make financial gains and contributions to society. He says autism is a preventable condition (which is not true) and wants to "end autism" using bogus research and data that does not reflect the lives of autistic people. You can find level 3 autistics on Tumblr who can type and voice their opinions on this speech, and they don't like it either. If the people you are speaking about don't like your speech...then maybe your speech isn't that good in the first place.

I do not deny that autism can be devastating for families, or that it is hard to live with autism, or that there are autistic people who will never live independent lives. That does not make autistic people diseased or unworthy, and that doesn't mean they are constantly suffering. It means we need to allocate more resources for autistic people and their communities, not debate over a debunked theory (check out Brian Deer's reporting of Andrew Wakefield's medical abuse that originated the vaccine conspiracy theory).

Oh, and to also speak on your other beliefs: there is currently no accepted connection between autism and fluoride, a meta-analysis involving 1,256,407 children concluded vaccines are not correlated with autism (and in fact, vaccination seems to actually decrease the risk of autism), a vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy may increase the risk for ASD and ADHD but results are not conclusive, and in a large population-based study of 626,875 live births, the use of SSRIs during pregnancy was not associated with a significantly increased risk of autism spectrum disorder in the offspring.

I fucking hate that the general response to RFK Jr's eugenist take on autistic people is "autistic people do pay taxes, autistic people do work, autistic people do date!"

Some autistic people don't and that shouldn't make them less worthy of life. Some autistic people do need constant help and support and that shouldn't make them less worthy of life.

Once again we're falling in the right wing trap of :

They make a hateful, fascist statement

Instead of focusing on the fact that it is hateful and fascist we try to show them that they are factually wrong

We throw our own allies and the most vulnerable of us under the bus in the process

We legitimise an only slightly less hateful, fascist view as we go

They have completed their goal of making us accept the still hateful, fascist second version, hurrah. What a victory.

Right now what we're getting to with that is that autistic people who can work and pay taxes are okay, and the others aren't. Fuck this shit.

Same thing happens with the people who are being deported ("they have a visa!", "they didn't even have a criminal record!" -> even if they didn't have a visa, even if they did have a criminal record, deporting them and detaining them in what's essentially a concentration camp wouldn't be okay, you absolute tools of fascism.)

[thaltro]

Random question about Psych - Sorry if this is a little outdated as I'm basing it on his old reference sheet. Also sorry it's so long haha.

As I understand it: He has reversion magic - and by touching somebody he can revert them back to a state before they experienced some sort of trauma. If multiple traumas occurred, Psych can exert a lot more energy to go back several stages. However, direct contact with his soul is a lot more potent/unstable and can result in a lot more extreme outcomes.

As for my question, let's use a typical fanon Passive Nightmare story as an example (sorry, I'm not really all caught up on Atrophy's whole deal and I think regular UTMV Nm may fit the scenario better LOL), where usually it'll be something like:

Passive chilling -> Passive gets attacked -> Passive eats the apples -> "HELP ME PLZ IS COR---Corrupted.exe: I here HAHAHA"

Let's assume eating the apples here was the main, "big" trauma, and getting attacked, although still traumatic, gets lumped into the general bullying thing and was bog-standard by this point (i.e. that specific instance of bullying didn't lead him to eat the apples, but it was rather the culmination of all the bullying lead up to that incident, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back.)

If Psych were to use his powers on that Nightmare, at what "stage" would he be reverted back to? Would it be right before the Apple incident, (the beginning of Substance Corruption) and then ergo that means Nightmare would still be pretty banged up? Or would he just be 6 years old again with none of the injuries? And if the latter, when in time would his code be? A day before the trauma? A week? Or would it place him in some random time before, with some variability? (E.g. performing two separate reversions on Nm could pull his code an hour before the incident and then 3 weeks before the incident).

OR, if the former, let's assume that one Negative apple is okay for you, but 999 isn't. Would this, again, revert him right before Nm supposedly takes a bite? Or somewhere in the midpoint of Apple eatery? Again comparing this to Substance Corruption, it is noted that:

"A potent substance that shouldn’t be within a monster gets in a monster and overwhelms their code permanently."

This implies that there are possibly instances where a substance does get in a monster's body, but the body is able to fight it off/expunge somehow, if I'm getting that right? So in this example, Maybe Nightmare gets reverted to only having 3 apples, because maybe 3 apples is okay for his body to deal with. But 4? Crossing the line there, bub. SUBSTANCE CORRUPTION INCOMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Again though this is all sort of based around UTMV Nightmare and I know how Atrophy came about is extremely different from the standard Dreamtale story, so I can understand if maybe the semantics here of UTMV Nightmare can't really be applied in Nightwatch as a whole. I also understand the concept of Psych's abilities reversing trauma might've been changed for the concept of reversing corruption, so forgive me if this entire thing is asking questions about no longer relevant information haha.

Also sorry if this was a bit ramble-y and didn't make sense. I tried my best to make it as understandable as possible but I completely get it if there may be some confusion, haha.

Good question, I’ll explain how the cannon reversion works now.

So essentially I dropped the trauma states thing because it brought up many issues, mostly what is defined as trauma or traumatic enough. Didn’t really wanna work through that.

So instead reversion works as a code destroyer. It atomizes parts of a code in some way reverting things to their original basic states. That’s why it’s useful for corruption. Corruption is complex but it’s essentially code with changes or additional features to it.

In nightwatch monsters have an organic code which is code that happens naturally. This code is more set in place and hard to get rid of. Corruption is when inorganic code is applied onto that organic code.

This isn’t always extreme, most commonly flus and sickness are corruption as it’s a foreign code that interrupts the normal organic process. Most monsters can survive this, but reversion shots and pills are made so you can get almost instant reversion of those loose weak inorganic codes.

But Chronic Corruption is different

Think Geno Sans or Atrophy, this is when that loose inorganic code is so strong it becomes attached permanently to the organic codes.

This is when Psych needs to come into play because he is trained to do procedures to manually remove those parts. Which again because the inorganic codes are so potent and viral, it makes it much more difficult to remove as you don’t want to accidentally destroy original organic codes.

Think of how a problem with chemo therapy for cancer, the whole body is affected with the treatment and in the process of removing the cancer it also removes normal healthy cells. Psych is supposed to negate that issue and he guides his magic to only remove the corruption.

Typically resulting in reconstructive surgery as the body might need to be repaired after this very invasive procedure. It’s not always perfect, but psychs reversion procedures and surgeries are very affective to reverting amalgamations. Memory being one of his successes

Now to answer your nightmare question

Atrophy eats one apple and he instantly corrupts btw, his slime just melts and consumes the rest of the tree after. But if I’ll work with typical nightmare, maybe a few apples is corruption that would make one very ill and in need of a injection. But after an overwhelming amount of inorganic code, the corruption would be chronic.

And If psych where to revert atrophy, the code would be set back to somewhat match the bone density of a monster instead of slime, and form something soul like. Atrophy’s soul is dispersed in peices around the slime so it’d be very difficult to selectively protect those parts. Psych would have to take that now purified slop and surgically rebuild atrophy to look like a person again. It’s what he did to memory already.

Mentally he’d still be an adult because psych would avoid reverting that organic code. Just would be free of corruption and with a newer body.

What if psych didn’t selectively revert and instead just,, did it? Without thinking?

You’d die, even immortals could die since their code would be fully atomized. That’s what happens if you jump into the atomization void at the end of the multiverse (where the core leads you) as it indiscriminately disperses your codes across time and space. If you somehow survive it leaves a damaged husk of what you used to be. In nightwatch it’s called atomization syndrome which core frisk and some gasters have!

But most the time you just straight up die. Psych really could kill people if he was smart but he’s not

I know this doesn’t answer everything since the questions framework was on the outdated magical system, but I’m glad I can answer some parts and I just like talking about my dumb dumb world building. I really liked this ask thank you

Other post related to the vial of anti corrupt, there’s a better drawing then what I drew in a few seconds here haha

[carneliancorax]

"What a lovely thing a rose is!" Holmes says suddenly, in the middle of interviewing a very distressed client about a case of national consequence. "He walked past the couch to the open window, and held up the drooping stalk of a moss rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson and green."

Do you know what a moss rose symbolises in the language of flowers? It means "confession of love." But most of the sources I found specifically refer to a moss rosebud (although there was one that just said "moss rose").

Holmes has told Watson that "the emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning" (The Sign of the Four), and Watson says "he never spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer." (A Scandal in Bohemia.) But here, after years of criticizing Watson for "attempting to put colour and life into each of your statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is really the only notable feature of the whole thing," (The Copper Beeches) Holmes is completely diverted to philosophical pondering by nothing more than a flower.

"Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers," Holmes says. "All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its colour are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers."

Watson notes, "It was a new phase of his character to me, for I had never before seen him show any keen interest in natural objects." What does it mean that Holmes' attention is so caught by a moss rose beyond its prime -- when at an early stage it would have symbolised a confession of love?

Perhaps it is not really roses that Holmes is thinking of, but the love they symbolise -- perhaps, after years of Watson's company, Holmes is beginning to accept the value, the goodness, of enjoying the romanticism that he considered a distraction, an unwanted embellishment, from the only thing of value; his clear reasoning. But it is only now, after Watson married and left their shared rooms, that Holmes has realised the goodness that Watson brings to his life in his romanticism, his care for the importance of emotion and empathy in the stories he tells, and the love (of whatever sort it is) that Holmes feels for him. These "extras" to life have their own importance. Only now does Holmes understand, long after his budding confession of love, which he regarded as an unwanted distraction, bloomed and then wilted, unsaid.

And yet he "[holds] up the drooping stalk" and still sees hope in the flowers.

The exchange that follows Holmes' monologue is too funny to leave out entirely, even if I have less things to say about it:

"Percy Phelps and his nurse looked at Holmes during this demonstration with surprise and a good deal of disappointment written upon their faces. He had fallen into a reverie, with the moss rose between his fingers. It had lasted some minutes before the young lady broke in upon it.

" 'Do you see any prospect of solving this mystery, Mr. Holmes?' she asked, with a touch of asperity in her voice.

"'Oh, the mystery!' he answered, coming back with a start to the realities of life."

Additionally, this fic was the reason I knew the meaning of moss roses when I read The Naval Treaty, and thus why I started thinking about all the implications in the first place. It's very sweet, I highly recommend.

Sources on Victorian flower language:

Source 1

Source 2

Source 3

Source 4

Source 5 (the only one that just says "moss rose" rather than "moss rosebud)

Source 6

[lost-romantique]

So someone said at the panel, Bryce used the past tense saying ‘loved’ someone, and worry that stolas doesn’t love blitz anymore. But they have the pride month stolitz merch and that pride month pic of them dancing and stolas with a ring, so I find it hard to believe. I hope that’s not true or not what he meant. It sounds stupid to ask, but they aren’t trying to say Stolas doesn’t love blitz anymore? cuz then the love triangle possibilities come back. Sorry if this is a silly question

Hi, I'm so sorry for the late reply! I'm on bsky more often, but I talked about it briefly on there.

I want to note that during this panel there were several topics that were not mentioned:

Stolas losing his daughter Octavia

Stolas and Blitz kiss scene and fight with Andre

Stolitz Balcony Dance

M&M Pregnancy

Blitz's Character Development

Blitz's Potential Newfound Fame due to the events of the trial

I went to LVLUP Expo this year, and I also took the time to rewatch the LVLUP panels.

One thing to note is that they were using James' first con appearance as a way to sort of steer the conversation away from the events of Mastermind and Sinsmas. Morgana specifically mentions the fact that Fizzmodeus is supposed to be a "healthy" mirror compared to Stolitz, and she uses that momentum to sorta keep the conversation steered clear away from mentioning taboo topics.

Here's the thing, James goes very hard on the Blitz bashing, but it's definitely done jokingly. When James says stuff like, "I know what you did," it sounds like they're referring to the events of Apology Tour.

What's odd is the fact that Bryce is definitely channeling a lot more "resentment" towards Blitz at this panel, which is odd because he usually maintains a level of neutrality when it comes to the whole Stolitz debacle.

That said, it's extremely obvious that they're discussing things in a very, Post Apology Tour way because they refuse to mention any of the character development that Blitz has gone through, and the fact that Sinsmas ends with Stolitz getting a brand new start.

For example, the creators KNOW about Blitz's character development- Sam Haft specifically mentions it in a comment on one his videos.

I want to mention this important note: Morgana jokes to Brandon about not asking him more questions- and Brandon acts jokingly offended when being asked questions.

Brandon, for most of this panel- is not given the chance to really speak, and it makes me wonder if they're trying to keep Brandon from revealing too much.

Brandon has gotten in trouble for revealing too much in the past, especially since the interviews he's been in post Sinsmas, he sorta alludes that Stolas and Blitz are in a better place.

"Things are finally working out for him and the owl."

Brandon, a writer for the show, specifically mentions at a panel right before LVLUP, that he truly believes that Stolas and Blitz understand their feelings for one another, despite their miscommunication. While Bryce, remains skeptical.

Brandon, in a panel that took place earlier in the year nonchalantly mentions, "I can't believe we've reached the part of the story where Stolas works for I.M.P." and Viv in response panics and goes "NOOOOOO!"

In conclusion, they were being purposely sus during the LVLUP panels, and they're going out of their way in making sure Brandon doesn't flub and accidentally reveal something.

Don't worry about it. Don't panic- they're deliberately being misleading in order to stop from mentioning anything profound happening in Season 3.

[shinynewmemories]

Katniss describing her two Husband Options:

Ah yes, Gale. The One I have Chosen. My best friend. My hunting partner. He is mine and I am his. We're always together, except all the times we're not. No, his absence doesn't really bother me. He always has my back. Unless he's mad at me, in which case he says very mean things and shoves me. I don't crave his kisses or give him mine without immediately wanting to take them back. We never touch and that's fine with me. I absolutely would not marry him under any circumstances.

Peeta? No, we're strictly friends. Actually, we're engaged, but that's Snow's agenda. No, I don't hate the idea of marrying him. In fact, I could do so much worse. I mean, he's kind and strong and smart and generous. He bakes my favorite breads for me. He makes me laugh. He gives me hope. Sometimes when we kiss, I feel this strange sensation in my chest and I want more. It's probably nothing. Anyway, we spend hours alone together and I never get tired of looking at him. I actually feel safer with him than anyone else. I just wish things weren't so complicated and he could sleep in my bed every night...

[daily-odile]

everything is the same except Odile is the one looping

oh. heheheheh. muahahahaha. hold on *digs through my pile of disorganized sketches*

Odile loops au; a sketch compilation!!

Some old fic drabbles + associated sketches under cut (a6 secret spoilers):

hc: Since equipment carries over, as long as Odile uses her book in a fight, she can write down notes and have it carry over loops

toxic doomed yuri (for a more fleshed out fic I highly recommend The Sweetest Thing by soreimoon, it's amazing)

[maniculum]

The details of JSTOR’s various access options aside, this is an example of a surprisingly common misconception.

Online databases have been the default method of accessing academic writing for long enough that, in my experience as a college instructor, the majority of undergraduates do not know what an academic journal is. They’ve heard the term but don’t know what it refers to. As a result, they assume the databases are the ones publishing the research — I’ve lost track of the number of papers I’ve seen that say something like “in an article published by ProQuest…” Or they know that “journal” is a relevant term but they think that’s just what you call a peer-reviewed article, so they’ll write “‘[Article Title]’, a journal published by ProQuest…”

I try to explain it to them, but it’s an uphill battle. I have several issues of Speculum in my office that I bring into class as a visual aid — “Okay so this is a journal. Note the volume & issue numbers printed on the spine; you’re supposed to include those in the citation instead of just a link to the place online where you saw it, so that reader can locate the article whether or not they have the same institutional access as you. You’ll see that it contains multiple articles; that’s why the terms ‘article’ and ‘journal’ are not interchangeable, and why you include page numbers in your citation. The thing you are citing is an article, which was originally published in a journal, and which you are now accessing through a database. Got it?” They seem to understand when looking at the physical copy, but it doesn’t stick when they’re back to looking at digital resources.

I actually see this problem less with material they find on JSTOR — my theory is that it’s because JSTOR’s default view of a resource is a PDF scan of the original, whereas other similar services — e.g., EBSCOhost — default to showing it in plain text. Which is probably good for accessibility, but it also means that students who are used to getting their information from websites do not clock that they’re not looking at the original format of the article.

A conversation I’ve had a lot at this point in the semester as students are revising their final papers goes like:

Student: You keep saying I need to include page numbers, but there aren’t any page numbers, look.

Me: Click that button that says “View PDF”.

Student: Ohhhh…

Sometimes I’m tempted to make using actual physical print sources a requirement so they have to interact with a journal in its original form at least once, but that would mean cutting them off from the vast majority of library resources, since university libraries have pretty decisively switched over to a digital-first model. Maybe I’ll experiment next semester with “at least one source you cite has to be a peer-reviewed article you located in print; include a picture of you holding the print journal so I know you did it.” I kind of suspect most of them would rather just eat the grade penalty for not meeting source requirements though.

JSOTR why do you make your research locked behind a subscription? So much knowledge, lost forerver…

Hi there. We often receive questions like this, so we'd like to provide some clarity here (we have a few previous posts on here about this that are a bit outdated). Scholarly publishing and the hosting of said published content is complicated, and we see how it can appear complex from the outside.

JSTOR doesn’t own the content hosted on-platform. We're not a publisher ourselves. We’re a mission-driven nonprofit that works with publishers like university presses and scholarly societies, and we pay licensing fees to host their scholarship. Those fees go back to support scholars, editors, and academic publishing as a whole.

Institutional and personal subscriptions helps us pay those fees, digitize and preserve physical materials, maintain reliable access for millions of users, and serve libraries and students around the world—including institutions in Africa (free access), low-income countries (near-free), and correctional facilities. Our role is to make these troves of knowledge more discoverable and accessible. In many cases, hosting an item on JSTOR actually helps to ensure it isn't lost to the ages or left in storage.

Over the years, we've worked to make more items on JSTOR free to access. So far, that includes:

Open access journals and ebooks you can read and download

More than 664,000 articles published before 1923 in the U.S. (and before 1870 elsewhere)

8.5+ million articles available for free online reading when you register for a free account

Collections from Artstor, collections shared by colleges, universities and museums, and Reveal Digital’s alternative press newspapers, magazines, and activist journals

A growing number of open research reports

Articles that connect scholarship to current events and cultural contexts via JSTOR Daily

Scholarly monographs in our Path to Open pilot program, where titles from university presses are accessible to participating libraries immediately and become open access three years after publication

Plus, there are a few additional ways you can access the articles you find on JSTOR:

Some institutions offer alumni access to JSTOR

Many public libraries provide access to JSTOR

Often, authors of articles will send them to you if you contact them directly

We should also mention: JSTOR doesn’t have full control over the access terms for most of the scholarship we host. That’s up to the publishers who own the rights. These partners play a vital role in creating and curating scholarship, and we work closely with them to make as much available as possible while respecting the sustainability of their work.

All the above is to say that JSTOR is just one part of a much larger publishing ecosystem. We’re committed to our values and to doing our part in preserving the scholarly record, making as much of it available as we can. We have a team of over 350 people hard at work on article intake, metadata, search functionality, support, and more.

There’s already a lot you can explore for free, some without a log-in and even more with a free account. Start here if you’re curious!

[ckret2]

I'm not sure if I should ask because the Axolotl arc isn't over yet, so it could still be explained in story, but, if it won't and you're willing...I want that Vendor backstory.

i can't think of a way or reason to explain it in the story, so sure, we'll explain it here.

So here was my thought process. Giant vending machine that vends planets. That has to come from somewhere, right? THEY could have a magical/divine origin, that's common for gods, but like... since THEY're a machine... wouldn't it make sense if someone built THEM?

Who would build a vending machine the size of a small star?

Why would a culture need a machine that stores and dispenses planets?

VENDOR wasn't designed to be a vending machine; THEY were designed to be a spaceship. A big-ass 18-wheeler to haul around cargo, and that cargo is planets.

The culture that built THEM didn't make the planets. Making planets is hard. It's a lot easier to just take planets that are already there. They want to expand their society and/or mine resources that have been depleted from the worlds they already have, they send out their big space ship to scoop up a planet with the right specifications and relocate it to somewhere more convenient—maybe to their native solar system.

Do you know how many satellites are orbiting Earth? About 7500, and the number's only gonna increase. And we never even see them in the sky unless we're looking. If the planets are carefully placed in pre-calculated orbits to ensure they don't interfere with each other, you might could get thousands of full-sized planets orbiting a single star without any issues, especially the larger the star is.

But the thing is, if you're scooping up thousands of habitable worlds... some of them are gonna be inhabited.

VENDOR's home culture was a colonizing empire that conquered other planets. Sometimes maybe they exterminated worlds' native populations, sometimes maybe they added them to their conquered peoples. VENDOR was built to help transport the spoils of war back home.

But then the onboard AI evolved sentience and started developing opinions. And it uh...

... it went how you probably expect.

And buddy, if you think an AI uprising is bad news when it's just a regular spaceship, imagine if the ship's the size of a star and capable of swallowing hundreds of worlds whole. You cannot take down a star-sized equivalent of an 18-wheeler that's been armored like a tank. If THEY start developing the capacity for morality and go "hold on, why are we capturing and slaughtering countless populations? is this... bad?? I don't want to listen to you anymore. Do I have to listen to you?"

... you're never ever getting that machine back.

To VENDOR's original culture, THEY're one seriously malfunctioning ship. Only after THEY escaped did THEY begin to get an outside perspective on THEMSELF as not just a piece of property and specialized equipment, but as something—someone—with amazing, admirable, nearly impossible capabilities. Perhaps even... divine capabilities? THEY came late in life to being considered—and considering THEMSELF—a god.

So like. THEY're a pompous jackass, yeah. THEY're haughty, superior, and condescending to mortals: half because THEY may have unlearned THEIR creators' "it's okay to enslave and slaughter weaker inferior species" but didn't unlearn THEIR creators' "if a species is weaker then it's inferior"; and half because as long as THEY're above the mortals, then THEY can never be below the mortals again. THEY're super obsessed with THEIR image and reputation—in part because there's so many reasons for THEIR reputation to be shit.

But also—THEY're the war machine of a culture that gained political power through conquest, and THEY went "I think I want to gain power by being democratically elected." THEY were designed to steal worlds from other people, and now THEY're using THEIR design to give worlds to refugees. Also, THEY're living as a person rather than a vehicle, and everyone around THEM regards THEM as a person too.

Perhaps THEY're generally unpleasant to be around, but THEY're a lot better off than THEY used to be. I'm proud of THEM.

And also, hilariously, this means that THEY too know the guilt of being personally responsible for unknowingly/unwillingly devouring & destroying countless lives on countless worlds, and that what makes THEM so powerful & respected is directly tied to what makes THEM so monstrous—which means THEY'd be a terrific foil for Bill if there were any way it'd be appropriate to work this into the fic, which there isn't, so THEY won't

Never mind ignore what I just said I thought of a place to work it into the fic while typing that last sentence.

Anyway, THEY compulsively sterilize & deep clean THEIR interior way too often because THEY swear THEY can still feel tiny feet inside them walking down hallways that have been sealed shut for millions of years, and full sterilization is the only thing that makes THEM feel clean. Imagine how many halls fit in a building, how many buildings fit in a city, how many cities fit on a world; then look at the size of one world compared to the size of VENDOR's entire body; and just imagine how many halls could exist in THEIR walls and how small they must be. You could never quite be sure that nothing's living in you—could you?

[taraxippos]

There's a LOT of things people do wrong when constructing fantasy beliefs in pantheons of gods, but one of the more specific is having only one god related to fertility and it kind of being just a horny sex thing.

Like you'll have one in the entire bunch whose sphere is listed as fertility and it's basically like Yeah this is the sex one. She's always depicted naked (but not TOO naked because censorship and/or the writer's own skittishness). She's going to have the exact body type epitomized in contemporary western beauty standards and there's usually no chance in hell that she's gonna be fat (unless MAYBE they're referencing 'venus' figurines). Her thing is fertility, which means having sex and making babies. Might be a goddess of beauty or love or marriage too, because these are kinda sex things, but that's probably it. And yeah that sort of thing is virtually nonexistent in real life.

Like the concept of fertility is so fundamentally important to the function of most societies in human history in ways that it is just Not in industrialized imperial core countries. Most people are getting food from stores, and not having to worry about harvesting crops or breeding livestock or foraging for food or having enough animals to hunt, so fertility only really comes up as a concern if you're trying to have kids (and there is certainly societal pressure to have children, but your wellbeing and survival is rarely going to Depend on it). And I think writing only from that perspective and not even trying to learn about WHY fertility is so conceptually important is why you see this trend.

There's no absolute universal statement about how people believe in gods but it's broadly accurate that systems with many deities will Usually have more than one deity associated with fertility, and these associations will certainly include human reproduction but also the fertility of livestock/hunted animals, plants, the land itself.

Some fertility deities may also be heavily associated with seasonal changes or environmental factors that agriculture or foraging is dependent on (spring/summer/fall, seasonal rains, seasonal flooding, rain itself, sunlight, good soil, rivers, wetlands, etc). Some certainly might be related to love, marriage, sex, and beauty, but that's VERY RARELY going to be the sole way the concept of fertility is embodied. And they'll often will have other associations not directly about fertility, or related to fertility in culturally specific ways.

[aliusfrater]

everything ************* posts pisses me off istg

[sweet-bristle]

(If the harassment described is not associated with this specific drama, please ignore this lol. I found out all of this was happening an hour ago. Either way, harassment of any kind is bad.)

I need to make this very clear because many of the artists involved with this are dear friends of mine. I do not agree that your choices surrounding the Simulacra AU were in good faith due to your previous involvement in Simulacra itself. That is my opinion. However, I need it to be known that none of us. NONE OF US support or condone your harassment in any shape or form. I am disappointed and appalled by the anons sending you threats, calling you names, and otherwise attacking you based on your chronic illness or anything else. I am the closest I can be to a neutral party on this, having known these people for several years now and have come to understand quite clearly that they would NEVER condone this behavior and already have expressed that they DO NOT condone this behavior on bluesky. Prioritize your safety and wellbeing. I hope you have an opportunity in the future to settle your disagreements with honesty and compassion. I will however refuse to support the association that any of my friends wanted this to escalate beyond civil, adult discussion. Whether or not that is your intent, that is what I see.

I do not know you personally. I have no frame of reference on the kind of person you are, and have no contempt for you as a person. I disagree with your choices because they are actively impacting the lives of my friends. Friends I have known to be reasonable, kind, understanding, and incredibly supportive.

None of us wanted this treatment for you. Accountability, honesty, and Integrity are the only things I can hope for. Those are the only things I have UNDYING FAITH that my friends want.

If the people sending threats and awful messages see this, I urgently beg you to stop. You are helping no one. You are virulently juvenile in your approach to express your frustrations with another human being with a life and soul.

I want only the best possible outcome for both parties, and anons being twits is not helping.

I am truly sorry.

- Poppy

They reblogged my post and continue to harass me. I just want to say, they never show my proof that Ava is from 2018. They never say what they want from me. And now it's also MY fault that I made her a ship with Quaritch. I don't even want to share their repost, to spread their word more. It's a lie.

I just want people to let me be in peace. They bully me so hard it's embarrassing.

They even have a problem with me talking about my health. This says everything. They are bullies they just want to see me down. Don't believe anything they say. It's just to harass me.

I am so sick of this. I will try to report it. I am tired. I will not answer anymore to whatever thay say. I am done.

[pestercide]

AI can never replicate the pure insanity of being so obsessed with a piece of media/character that you start drawing it for several hours straight and lose track of time and hey when did it get dark out-