#I CANNOT STOP DRAWING THEM it’s LIKE A DISEASE

[vynaura]

[scribefindegil]

Losing my mind over how well Ann Leckie does material culture. So much of her worldbuilding is deeply grounded in the realities of material and labor needs and how those shape the setting. It's so prominent in the Radch books: the evil space empire is obsessed with tea, so they annex planets with the right conditions to grow it and replace all the native agriculture with tea plantations and staff them with transportees from their other conquered worlds. And in a sense that seems so obvious that it's almost silly to write it out; like, yeah, that's how imperialism works. But the difference here is how much focus the books afford it: it's not just worldbuilding for worldbuilding's sake; there's a multi-book plotline about the field workers striking for better conditions! But most Radchaai characters would never think about this: tea is just something you buy, the work of its production several levels of abstraction away from you, so you don't have to consider where it came from and whose labor went into making it.

And I just read The Raven Tower and I cannot stop thinking about how it views divine magic as just another kind of abstracted labor. This is one of my favorite sentences, from near the beginning:

"A man sat on the bench between them, wearing all white--white shirt, white leggings, white cloak, the sort and amount of perfect unstained white that can be achieved only by a god's intervention, or else the labor of dozens of servants with no other work than bleaching and laundering."

You read it, and at first it seems like a clear distinction: you can do this with endless, laborious human work, or you can do it with magic. But as the book goes on you realize that magic in this setting doesn't actually make things less laborious. Gods can do things that humans can't, but they're still required to draw on equivalent power. If you can't grow food, a god can provide, but they need to exert the energy that would otherwise have gone into germination and photosynthesis and threshing. If your divine protection against disease expires, you can accomplish the equivalent by continuously straining and boiling your water. If you want your clothes to remain perfectly white, you can get the labor from servants or you can get it from a god, but it's labor either way and the cost will have to be paid.

[ollie-monster]

In Gaza, a child is not really a child. Our eight-year-old son, Yazzan, has been talking about fetching his toys from the ruins of our house. He should be learning how to draw, how to play soccer, how to take a family photo. Instead, he is learning how to hide when bombs fall.

I don’t want to hug anyone, because I don’t want to believe that I am leaving them. I kiss my parents and shake hands with my siblings, as though I am only going on a short trip. What I am feeling is not guilt but a sense of unfairness. Why can I leave and they cannot? We are lucky that Mostafa was born in the U.S. Does it make them less human, less worthy of protection, that their children were not? I think about how, when we go, I may not be able to call them, or even find out whether they are alive or dead. Every step we take will take us away from them.

We are about to pass the checkpoint when a soldier starts to call out, seemingly at random. “The young man with the blue plastic bag and the yellow jacket, put everything down and come here.” ... They’re not going to pull me out of the line, I think. I am holding Mostafa and flashing his American passport. Then the soldier says, “The young man with the black backpack who is carrying a red-haired boy. Put the boy down and come my way.” He is talking to me.

The soldiers blindfold me and attach a numbered bracelet to one wrist. I wonder how Israelis would feel if they were known by a number. Then someone grabs the back of my neck and shoves me forward, as though we are sheep on our way to be slaughtered. I keep asking for someone to talk to, but no one responds. The earth is muddy and cold and strewn with rubble. I am pushed onto my knees, and then made to stand, and then ordered to kneel again. Soldiers keep asking in Arabic, “What’s your name? What’s your I.D. number?”

One by one, we are forced into a truck. Someone who is not moving lands on my lap. I fear that a soldier has thrown a corpse onto me, as a form of torture, but I am scared to speak. I whisper, “Are you alive?” “Yes, man,” the person says, and I sigh with relief. When the truck stops, we hear what sound like gunshots. I no longer feel my body. The soldiers give off a smell that reminds me of coffins. I find myself wishing that a heart attack would kill me.

Another man, maybe talking to himself, says quietly, “I need to be with my daughter and pregnant wife. Please.” My eyes fill with tears. I imagine Maram and our kids on the other side of the checkpoint. They don’t have blankets or even enough clothes. I can hear female soldiers, chatting and laughing. Suddenly, someone kicks me in the stomach. I fly back and hit the ground, breathless. I cry out in Arabic for my mother. I am forced back onto my knees. There is no time to feel scared. A boot kicks me in the nose and mouth. I feel that I am almost finished, but the nightmare is not over.

When we exit the truck and my name is called, I am temporarily given my I.D. card. I feel a prick of hope. Maybe they are going to release us. Inside a building, my blindfold is pulled off. A soldier is aiming an M-16 at my head. Another soldier, behind a computer, asks questions and takes a photo of me. Another numbered badge is fastened to my left arm. Then I see the doctor, who asks whether I suffer from chronic diseases or feel sick. He does not seem interested in my pain. Back at the detention center, blindfolded again, we kneel painfully for hours. I try to sleep. A man moans nearby; another is hopeful that he will get to go back to the doctor. Late in the evening, a soldier calls my name. The shawish leads me to the gate, and a jeep comes to take me away.

When I wake, a soldier says something in English that I cannot believe. “We are sorry about the mistake. You are going home.” “Are you serious?” Silence. “I will go back to Gaza and be with my family?” “Why wouldn’t I be serious?” Another voice chimes in: “Isn’t this the writer?” Back at the detention center, as I fall asleep, I think about the words “We are sorry about the mistake.” I wonder how many mistakes the Israeli Army has made, and whether they will say sorry to anyone else.

On Tuesday, about two days after I left the school, the man with the megaphone teaches us how to say good morning in Hebrew. “Boker Tov, Captain,” we say in unison. Some new detainees have arrived in an enclosure nearby, and the soldiers overseeing them seem to be having fun. They sing part of an Arabic children’s song, “Oh, my sheep!,” and order the detainees to say “Baa” in response.

After an hour, some soldiers approach. One has my I.D., and another drops a pair of slippers for me and tells me to walk. Then one of them says, “Release!” I am so overjoyed that I thank him. I think about my wife and children. I hope that my parents and siblings are alive. I spend about two hours at the place where I was interrogated, with the Hebrew music. I am given some food and water, but the soldiers never find my family’s passports. I climb into a jeep, surrounded by soldiers. After two hours, I can see around my blindfold that we are getting close to Gaza.

The soldiers get out, smoke, and return fully armed, wearing their vests and helmets. I am thinking about the man I recognized in line, and what he said about human shields. I am starting to wish that I could go back to the detention center when they give me my I.D. card. Standing against a wall, I tell the closest soldier that I am scared. “Do not feel scared. You will leave soon.” My handcuffs are cut, and the blindfold is removed. I see the place where I had to take my clothes off. When I see new detainees waiting there, sadness overwhelms me.

I take off my slippers and start to run. Passersby are staring, but I don’t care. Suddenly, I spot an old friend, Mahdi, who once was the goalkeeper on my soccer team. “Mahdi! I’m lost—help me.” “Mosab!” We hug each other. “Your wife and kids are at the school next to the college,” he says. “Just turn left and walk for about two hundred metres.” I cry as I run. Just when I start to worry that I have lost my way, I hear Yaffa’s voice. “Daddy!” She is the first piece of my puzzle. She seems healthy, and is eating an orange. When I ask where the rest of the family is, she takes my hand and pulls me as if I were a child.

I learn from Maram how lucky I was. She used my phone to inform friends around the world, who demanded my safe release. I think about the hundreds or thousands of Palestinians, many of them likely more talented than me, who were taken from the checkpoint. Their friends could not help them.

[jabberwockprince]

this entire post about the hanahaki disease and eve made me black out for one hour to draw this

EVERYONE SAY THANK YOU TO @smittenroses AND THEIR LOVELY ADDITIONS FOR FUELING THE BRAINROT

some design notes and ideas i had while drawing this in a feverish, dionysian frenzy, i didnt even stop to think i just HAD TO GET THIS OUT OF MY SYSTEM <33

read the linked post for further context bc im working on an EMPTY STOMACH AND A BRAIN FULL OF EVE

i wanted her to be our beloved eve, but a little to the left. yknow. eve but something is off her usual characteristic bright colors ( the blues and yellows and greens she wears ) muted down to a dangerous degree. missing various iconic details like her earrings or hand-holding necklace, etc

something something, she's losing her sense of self while trying to figure out more about this new, hidden side she's just discovered. the side that's causing all the flowers to clog up her throat and all

also also. a subtle feeling of restraint in the way her hair is now a braid that wraps around her throat, also held together by black and white beads. and the hands, a very prominent theme in her art, now holding her chest - but in a "keeping her body together" kinda way, not in a sexy kind of way sadly

OH FUCK. I FORGOT TO ADD IT BUT HER HENNA DESIGNS BEING FLORAL PATTERN.....

read rosie's latest addition to the linked post RIGHT FUCKING NOW because the daffodils and the themes of eve wanting to embody art but not being ready for people to inspect the piece of art she's made out of herself is. is so. YEAH.

also i imagine her jacket is replaced by this daffodil inspired coat that is the MOST eye catching thing. as a way to represent how this obsession with finding out what feelings shes repressing is taking over her entire sense of self

i wanted to add more eye motifs, since eve's art is a lot about her complex relationship with being perceived and also using that same fear as a weapon herself when feeling cornered (yknow. that one moment with zuke where she starts insulting him and saying he's "one of them". yknow. YOU KNOW) but maybe later in a proper design

bUT!!!! you know how in her cover art, the eyes are also different palettes? but once you beat her, they're HER actual eyes crying and closing. i wanted that but. in a much more aggressive way, like she's actively searching for the parts within herself she cannot understand

god i love her i love her so much guys shes so

[kallamars-spouse]

In defense of my wife…

Disclaimer: I use she/her pronouns for Kallamar. Why? That’s a transfemme lesbian squid and she told me that while I killed her with a warhammer. 

I am also viewing this following essay through the lenses of the Bishops and their family and how they treat each other. This isn’t a defense of how they treat mortals, and isn’t about anything beyond Gods at all.

I understand why Kallamar would tell the Lamb to kill Shamura instead of her. I also think there’s more nuance to it than “omg she would sell out Shammy!” when Shamura is absolutely not blameless. None of the Bishops are. I’m the Bishops’ BIGGEST fan, but I’m not going to act like their family isn’t dysfunctional as all Hell. Now, let’s start from the top. 

The age order from eldest to youngest is Shamura, Kallamar, Narinder, Heket, and Leshy. We can tell in the game that Shamura’s favorite was Narinder simply due to the fact they still love him, refused to kill him when we know it’s possible, and kickstarted an entire extinction of a species to ensure he would never be free- but that he would be alive. 

x

From Narinder’s dialogue, we can deduce that he hates Kallamar the most. 

“Kallamar was always a coward. This land is a better place now her pathetic, sniveling carcass is nothing more than a mound of rotting flesh.“

This isn’t elaborated upon, but his words after her death are downright the most vicious. Narinder says that his older sister was ALWAYS a coward.

Shamura also says this about Kallamar, and as the eldest they would’ve known her longer than Narinder has.

“Kallamar was always frightened of the Red Crown. Yes, fear made a coward of her.”

This implies that not only was Kallamar not always what we see her as, but that Shamura believes her to be afraid of the Red Crown itself. Yet, this is what Kallamar says.

“It seems you cannot be stopped by disease or hunger. And he sends you back from death stronger each time. Please know, it was not my idea to cast out the Red Crown! The other Bishops, my siblings, the blame lies with them. Please, I beg you, spare me. Kill Shamura, but do not send me to my death. Do not send me to him!”

Kallamar acknowledges that neither she nor Heket could stop the Lamb, and that she doesn’t believe she could win against them. That’s why she begs for mercy. 

She states that locking Narinder up wasn’t her idea.

At this point in the story if you kill them in the canon order, Leshy and Heket are already dead. Kallamar throwing them under the bus does not matter, as she knows they are dead. 

Lastly, Kallamar expresses fear over Narinder. The Red Crown isn’t what scares her. Death isn’t what scares her. It is Narinder himself.

x

Shamura is the one who made the call to lock Narinder up, as they directly state themself.

“Though no longer wise, I am no fool. I know the end draws near. I can take some comfort in confession. The blame hangs heavy 'round my neck. I introduced him to ideas of change; for my domain is knowledge, and it is ever evolving. An organic state of being for myself, but for him… most unnatural. Death cannot flow backward. It was I who had him chained. Forced into subjugation by the four of us.”

It was not a group decision. It was Shamura’s word, and their siblings obeyed them without question. They blame themself, as they’re the one who was letting him “explore” his domain. Since it’s implied that reversing death (for example, resurrection) is heresy, only then did they step in. I assume after this, perhaps Shamura plotted to chain him, Narinder discovered, and that’s why he struck first. Or he directly attacked due to Shamura and the others “turning against him”, and that’s why he was imprisoned. We aren’t told exactly. 

All we know is the Bishops have injuries, but Narinder does not. There’s no way in Hell that he could take them on all at the same time, nor that he could beat Shamura or Kallamar. Both of them are more powerful than he is. You could argue that Kallamar wouldn’t fight back, but that would ignore her violence towards the Lamb (who she was terrified of). Shamura is the Bishop of War, and they wouldn’t have willingly let Narinder attack them. Heket sure as Hell wouldn’t have let Narinder get away unscathed if he attacked her head on. Leshy is the only one who wouldn’t have stood a chance.

This makes it seem like he stalked and attacked them while they weren’t aware. 

x

So, we know why Narinder did what he did. He said he was betrayed. But we also know that it was Shamura’s idea to imprison him, so why did he target his entire family? 

This I believe was out of spite for Shamura themself, as they were obviously devoted to their siblings. 

They’re willing to fight the Lamb, knowing they’d be slaughtered, simply in the honor of the other three Bishops. 

They kept Narinder alive because they couldn’t bear to kill him. They even brought two innocent children to him so that he wouldn’t be “lonely”.

They already know what’s to come, but they still show up to Anchordeep to send enemies the Lamb’s way just to buy Kallamar more time to live.

They always appear by their siblings’ sides when they confront the Lamb, save for Kallamar. They still are there though, just in the background.

x

Back to Kallamar. This squid could’ve hopped into the ocean and left. She chose not to, even though she was terrified. She doesn’t attempt to fortify the door to her temple. She flat out tells the Lamb where she’ll be. She has her weapons already on her by the time they arrive.

I just feel like if you don’t give a fuck, you wouldn’t do all that. Why is it just assumed that she is selfish and didn’t love her siblings? Because she was terrified and saying anything to avoid being sent to Narinder? 

Would you want to be sent to your abusive relative who despises you? 

Would you not feel a bit angry that your eldest sibling would choose to keep this absolute lunatic alive, even against common sense and the safety of yourself and your younger siblings.

Would you feel a sense of blind loyalty to someone who values your ABUSER over you? 

Kallamar was afraid of Narinder before he ripped her ears off. Why is that? You aren’t just terrified of somebody for no reason. 

The Lamb kills her younger siblings. 

Kallamar knows she will be sent straight to him, condemned to eternal suffering.

Like what are we expecting from her? “Ah yeah, this is fine. I’m fine. I’m not upset at all that my enabler of a sibling chose an abuser over me, refused to put him down after he revealed himself to be unhinged, and forced me and the others into a wild goose chase concerning sheep. I’m not at all bothered that my baby siblings have been slaughtered and that I’m next. Me personally? I’m chilling!”

🙄 Y’all always on this “Narinder redemption”, WHAT ABOUT KALLAMAR? Why isn’t she allowed grace? The Bishops aren’t good creatures, but neither is their brother. We should acknowledge that and acknowledge the nuance. 

This post was brought to you by my homoerotic devotion for Kallamar and my long history of living in an abusive, dysfunctional household. 

[lemonstars8583]

HELLO FIVE NIGHTERS i am back again and you can’t stop me from appearing spontaneously. Hello.

hardly any representation of Sarah here i know i know i’m sorry.. but um 👍👍 at least she’s here

ANYWAY i have. NO idea what to say about this. if you have any question ask (PLKEASE 🥹🥹 PLEEK… PLEEK…?) idk what to ramble about unprompted, normally i can talk on end for hours at a time but rn my brains drawing a blank.

uhm fun fact: Millie has memorized the name and location of every main artery thanks to the plague on society that is funtime freddy

I AM EDITING THIS POST TO SAY THAT UHm millie and sarah were in the same grade at the same highschool. no they were not friends at all. millie thought sarah was annoying for constantly wanting to be like other people and be “popular” (she HAAATES the popular kids after her “bff” ditched her or whatever the fuck happened in the book and she CANNOT understand anyone who wants to be like them), and uhhh sarah thought millie was WEIIRD she thought she was super super weird and carried diseases like rabies or some shit yk. like she’d camp out in the woods and kill frogs or some shit yk. she’d follow flocks of crows to a corpse to examine it yk. rumors like that LMFAO

[teatitty]

My biggest question about medical ninjutsu is actually how it works with a person's chakra system. The lore for your chakra system in Naruto is that it's "enmeshed within the body, transporting chakra through the body and each organ as the circulatory system does blood. The system is involved in the creation of chakra itself as well, as every cell and protein in the body are connected to this pathway system by a capillary which draws out the cell's physical energy and is refined into chakra by several organs, notably the heart"

We're even shown what this system looks like around the organs, and stopping the flow of chakra in one part of the body will stop that areas functions

So if your chakra pathway operates the same way as your veins, muscles, blood vessels etc and everyone is born with a different chakra nature, which operates like a blood type, what happens when you need a blood transfusion? Do you have to get blood from somebody with the same nature as you, so if you're a Wind type you can only accept transfusion from other Wind types? If you have an organ transplant how does the new organ get integrated into your chakra system? Is there a higher chance of rejection because of the added chakra system complications? Are organ transplants even possible in this universe outside of whatever the fuck Kakuzu was doing with those hearts? Does medical ninjutsu have to mould itself to match your individual pathways when you're getting healed up?

In real life we have doctors that specialise in certain medical fields, so does the shinobi world have something similar, where one doctor could specialise in emergency medicine and another in family medicine? Do we have neurologists in this universe? Anesthesiology? Are there doctors and surgeons that specialise in the chakra pathways?

What sort of illnesses and diseases exist in this universe? Any chronic or terminal sickness? Are there genetic illnesses, or illnesses that only attack certain chakra types?

These are the questions I have and I know fuckall about the real life medical field so I cannot give answers to any of them but I sure do think about it a lot

[msbutterfly5294]

< I Don’t Think It’s Talked About Enough. . . - Creative Edition >

I don’t think it’s talked about enough when a Creative has the itch to create but cannot put anything down . For example , writing . The Creative may know the exact sequence of events to occur in a scene but once the document or paper is ready , nothing comes out .

I don’t think it’s talked about enough that a Creative listening to music is important when creating art or a story . The beat , the lyrics , the vocals , it all connects with the stories . We are most likely daydreaming which characters are doing what based on a song and it guides us to exactly where we need to go .

I don’t think it’s talked about enough that when a Creative presents you their art or story , they trust you with a piece of themself . Some Creatives ( like myself ) have been working on one or more stories for over ten years . We have continued to develop , create , and destroy our stories over and over and over and over and over and over and over again because they aren’t exactly our children. . .

But a part of us . We change thus our stories did .

I don’t think it’s talked about enough when a Creative shows you their work and once a slight uninterested appearance or words are exchanged , we either close the story(ies) , put our sketch books away , and try to conceal it . I think of it as the same feelings of being rejected or even abandoned by those you present it to . These creative endeavors are a literal part of our dedication , our spirit , and when we are told “ we’re being too much ” , “ It’s weird / We’re weird . ” , “ It’s dumb . It’s too complicated . It’s too. . . ”

I think in some cases , it’s suppose to be that way . Humans are complicated , and it’s represented in our creativity .

I don’t think it’s talked about enough that sometimes Creatives grow apathetic of their own work(s) . We stay up late nights writing , drawing , crafting . Our brains don’t stop thinking about how the characters need this or that , how they get to it , why didn’t it work , what happens next , how does this character work or fight with this character ? The plot needs this for the theme , shoot what’s the theme mean in literature , this happens in the world and how does that affect the world , creatures , and characters ? Shoot what was that word again. . . ?

Stopped .

I’m staring at the screen .

Were these stories worth it ?

Was my years of dedication all for nothing ?

Am I even worth it ?

I mean , come on , msbutterfly5294 , you have drawn some awesome pieces for the these stories ! I mean , look at these papers filled with words that blend and make sense , the stories can capture mystery and emotion , descriptions are great ! Why don’t you continue ?

Because. . . It’s a beautiful disease much like love . It infects the entirety of us . I remember the many nights my big brother ( who is my cousin ) came over to show us Legend Of Zelda games and he would tell me all about his stories , lore , world building and characters . That was years ago as a very young teenager to late teens . I don’t fully know when he started his journey , but I know he loves those characters and stories with all his heart .

And by stars , it is beautiful to know someone with that much passion . He inspired me to follow my dreams along with my big sister ( also my cousin ) . She taught me art and resilience , he taught me storytelling and dedication .

I wouldn’t be here today without them .

. . . I don’t think it’s talked about enough. . . That a Creative wouldn’t be here today without those beautiful people who do care and encourage them to keep creating . Keep being passionate . Keep writing . Keep drawing .

Keep being you .

And be proud of it .

[mythtiide]

i literally cannot stop drawing them its like a disease

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

I'm building species for my world and I want to know the difference between human races and variations vs animal breeds and variations biologically. Also, why is selective breeding humans called eugenics and gets a nasty rep, but selective breeding animals is a good thing? Is that just 'humanity' talking? Like killing animals is just nature although nasty stuff moves into cruelty, but killing humans is just straight up murder?

Wootzel: This isn’t really a worldbuilding question the way you’re asking it, it’s an ethics question. However, since it has come up a few times on this blog, we’re going to try to break it down as we’re able to and address the implications of thinking about humans using the terms in the ask. It should go without saying, if you’re thinking of a made-up species with human-level intelligence, everything said here should apply to them as well.

Discussions of eugenics, humanitarian atrocities, and racism under the cut.

People cannot be forced to reproduce or kept from reproducing by other people without ethically horrible results. Full stop. The only exceptions to this are people who do not have the cognitive ability to understand child-rearing, either because they are children themselves or because they have cognitive impairments that result in them being in another person’s custody in adulthood.

This DOES mean that people who are not fit to be parents raise children. This DOES mean that people can have children who are physically or mentally incapable of taking care of them. This DOES mean that sometimes debilitating genetic problems are passed on. There is no ideal solution to any of these problems, and there never will be.

If people can be kept from having children based on any criteria other than individual cases, there will always be opportunities for abuse, and there will always be abuse. Humanity is too complex for us to ever draw lines between those who “should” be allowed to reproduce and those who “shouldn’t,” because a line that would be beneficial in one case will be a violation in another case.

To make this clearer, I’m going to include some examples. These are not based on any individual case or person, but do reflect real-life scenarios. Reader, if you’re a member of a group that is often threatened with eugenics and might find these discussions distressing, proceed with caution or skip the next two paragraphs.

Genetic Cognitive Impairments, such as severe learning disabilities and autism, are often mentioned in conversations about eugenics. Some of these conversations can even seem well-meaning, because there are absolutely people in these diagnostic groups who would be entirely unable to parent a child. They’re still wildly unethical because these people exist on a spectrum, and there are people with every mental condition known to man who make wonderful parents. If one person’s autism diagnosis could be used as a reason that they aren’t a fit parent, then what’s to stop that precedent from threatening every other person with that diagnosis? Where does one draw the line? ADHD has some similar symptoms to autism, and in some cases it can make parenting difficult, too. So can depression or anxiety, which in most cases are not genetic. NONE of these conditions can ever be used as an indication that a person is not fit to parent. I have ADHD and know several autistic people, and most of us would not choose to trade in our weird brains for a neurotypical one, even though they can cause us difficulties. There is joy to be had in life at every difference and level of functionality, so no argument against letting children be born with these conditions holds validity, either.

There are lots of heritable conditions with primarily/only physical symptoms that might be the target of eugenics discussions as well. I don’t know enough to touch on all of these, but I can still break apart some arguments here as well. Some conditions, like Sickle Cell Disease and Cystic Fibrosis, can be debilitating and no parent could ever want their child to inherit them, but most conditions that are this severe are recessive (must be inherited from both parents) and without genetic testing (which is not even possible for all conditions due to the complexity of genetics), it’s difficult or impossible to know if a child might inherit a condition. Many other conditions, for example Diabetes and Migraines are associated with multiple genes, and most of them aren’t well-understood yet, so even the presence of a group of genes isn’t a guarantee. A possibility of passing on a genetic condition is not a good enough reason to restrict someone from having children.

End of real-world-condition examples.

The argument of “no genetic condition is bad enough to justify eugenics” is only part of the picture. Another issue is: How would this ever be enforced?

There is no form of preventing someone from reproducing that is ethical to do to a human due to our highly developed sense of self, sense of agency, and comprehension of our circumstances. 

Preventing access to reproductive partners is way too much restriction of freedom and would probably result in social needs not being met.

There is no form of temporary birth control that’s effective and safe for everyone, and there are probably some people who can’t use any form without suffering. Many of these can easily fail or be sabotaged. Forced medication is a violation of bodily autonomy, which comes with trauma, and there’s no way to force someone to use birth control without restricting basic freedom as well.

Permanent sterilization involves surgery no matter what gonads you have, and surgery is inherently risky. Forced surgery is also a massive violation of bodily autonomy, which is deeply traumatizing, and might have long-term unintended consequences on bodily health.

Legal consequences to reproducing would not change the outcome: A child was born. They would also result in children being separated from fit parents. This would probably also result in people--children and parents alike--having a lower quality of life because of legal or social consequences of existing.

If someone has a condition they don’t want to pass on, but they could have a healthy child with the help of something like IVF, they should be free to make that choice just as much as someone without any known genetic problems.

The third side to this problem is that if there’s precedent for restricting someone’s reproductive rights against their will, people in power with shitty intentions will use it against groups they don’t like and fall back on a medical excuse, even if one doesn’t exist or is invalid. This is not a hypothetical: women of minority groups have been sterilized against their will while in surgery for a condition that didn’t require them to be sterilized to survive.

The only thing that can ethically be done to prevent the passive of heritable genetic conditions is education and access to medical care. LOTS of people with genetic conditions will go to great lengths to avoid passing them to their children, and these choices should be available to everyone.

To wrap it up: Humans have a greater capacity for understanding than other animals, and we can make our own choices. Removing those choices and removing the potential for parenthood is enormously damaging to individuals, and can even result in genocide on a larger scale. There is no way to adequately draw defensible lines around the people who “shouldn’t” be allowed to reproduce, or to prevent those lines from being crossed if there were to be drawn.

Tex: This is historically a hotly-debated topic, so I’ll be adding a lot of reference links for your perusal that I recommend reading, in order to add an appropriate level of context to my answer. Very broadly speaking, eugenics involves a group of people deciding that a selection of characteristics - usually phenotypes but now the argument has begun to include genetic code - that are allowed to reproduce. This is usually enforced by killing, sterilizing, and/or maiming anyone (via bad medical practices) that does not get approval from this group of people. Who these people are matter very little, as it changes according to era and geographical region - they share the common characteristic of violent enforcement of their ideals, which often leads into things like war and the accompanying war crimes.

Animal husbandry typically does not include humans, though only by the slightest framing of definitions - we still have plenty of similar actions taken against other humans, such as human trafficking, forced births, and arranged marriages. The domestication and rearing of animals is generally used for agricultural purposes, such as meat, dairy, and egg consumption, when it does not also include textile, leather, and sundry product production.

“Killing” animals implies that an animal died for purposes other than the above listed purposes. This would include social habits such as trophy hunting, which is frequently frowned upon as the people participating in such hunting do it for obtaining social status among their peers rather than subsistence.

Predation - which often includes but does not only include animals - is when one species preys upon another species (I use “preys upon” in the literal sense, here, not the metaphorical or euphemistic). When this happens, for various reasons such as energy conservation in the predator, impatience due to hunger, and need to prevent injuries from the prey fighting back  - the prey is usually killed rather quickly. Predation establishes trophic levels, and the differentiation of species from autotrophs to detritivores.

Humans are omnivores of varying degrees, obtaining their nutrients from a variety of food sources. I bring this up because it impacts both reproductive habits within human societies and the development of food resources by community. As the following links will inform you, there is a gradual, shifting line between the definitions of “who” and “what”.

Across many, many different cultures and across many, many different eras there has been debate upon what is human, and therefore, who is human.

Is a human merely that which is part of the community? If so, is a pet dog human? If not, why so? What lines are being drawn? A pet dog would, in some parts of the world, not be considered a source of food - some places have both considerations in hand, where the animal we know of as a dog can be both a pet residing in a household as well as a component in a dish. The same goes for cats, birds, horses, and any other animal - or non-animal - one could conceive of rearing and caring for within the boundaries of one’s home. Is a human who is not a member of your household - and thus, your community - a person? There are varying degrees in nearly every part of the world that changes whether one answers “yes” or “no”. In which case, if you define a human not part of your community as a “who” rather than a “what”, even if another community holds this same human as a “what” rather than a “who” - who is correct? Who is more correct? On what grounds can these opinions be enforced?

By that same metric, if another community considers you a “what”, does that mean you cannot be referred to as a “who”? On what basis is this defined, and “who” gets to enforce these definitions?

If someone is a “who”, can their reproductive habits be dictated by another? If something is a “what”, can their reproductive habits be likewise dictated? Can a human be treated like an animal? Can an animal be treated like a human? To further articulate, which of these is a person? Can a person only be a human? Can an animal - or other species - be considered a person? What is the definition of personhood? What is the definition of humanity? Who gets to decide that? What gets to decide that?

Further Reading

OpenStax Introduction to Philosophy

OpenStax Introduction to Anthropology

OpenStax Introduction to Sociology

OpenStax Concepts of Biology

Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection

Wikipedia Deductive reasoning

Wikipedia Abductive reasoning

Wikipedia Inductive reasoning

Wikipedia Existentialism

Wikipedia Philosophy

Wikipedia Infinite regress

Wikipedia Value theory

Wikipedia Outline of philosophy

Wikipedia Problem of universals

Wikipedia Subject and object (philosophy)

Wikipedia Selective breeding

Wikipedia Animal husbandry

Wikipedia Culling

Wikipedia Eugenics

Animal Cognition (tw: contains images of spiders on home page)

 Addy: Tex and Wootzel put in some absolutely fantastic stuff, so I'm just going to share a bit on why I think we generally differentiate between humans and animals when it comes to genetic lines… and animals as working animals (plowing, herding, meat, livestock guardians, etc) vs animals for aesthetics (pugs, Scottish fold, pets).

Golden retrievers were bred for a strong retrieving instinct and for soft mouths, that they'd cause less damage to waterfowl carcasses. Collies have generally been bred for intelligence and herding instincts, for obvious reasons. Draft horses are bred to pull loads. In a working animal, you don't get the severe health issues you get in aesthetic animals. They're bred to do a job, and if they're sick or ill, they can't do that job very well.

I think there's something about being responsible and something about being careless with genetic lineages in animals. We have a degree of control over these things (re: domesticated animals that are born for the purpose of human use), like it or not. It's what we do with it that matters.

Many animals will happily commit incest. Dogs from the same litter, for example, will happily mate with each other. Do you stop it (either by separating the animals or by neutering/spaying), or do you stand by and let it happen? Animals, just like humans, carry recessive genes that can cause health issues. Responsible breeders keep all sorts of records to keep genetic issues out of their lines. Irresponsible breeders don't care.

Think about the practice of fixing (neutering/spaying) animals in general - it's common practice to get an animal fixed once they're old enough, to keep them from reproducing. These animals don't live in a wild environment, where their populations are kept in check by other factors. We domesticated them, and they live in our spaces. If we let them breed willy-nilly, their populations will grow out of control and ruin/imbalance local ecosystems. They live in a human environment, and they're our responsibility.

On a tangent, mules used to be a whole industry

When it comes to making decisions re: the reproductive habits of other humans, the power imbalance of domestication isn't present. Other humans (and their reproductive habits) are not my responsibility. It's their business. 

You do get some laws in some places about letting first cousins marry, but – on the whole – if someone with a genetic issue thinks about having children, I am not part of that discussion. That person is allowed to make their own decisions about what to do with their genetics. Since their genetic code is theirs, having an outsider mess with that (eugenics) is seen as a human rights issue. It takes the autonomy of that choice away from them.

Also…. The other side of selective breeding isn't just culling, it's breeding. With animals, that generally isn't an issue. If it is, there are all sorts of strategies to make animals more likely to be willing to do to the do with each other. But humans? If you have a human that doesn't want to have children, who doesn't want to reproduce, eugenics would say that that doesn't matter. That you want to push forward certain genetic lineages, even if the members of the population with those desired traits don't want to comply.

And that, for obvious reasons, causes issues.

[butchdykeorpheus]

writing a meta post about taissa turner and taissa/van and taissa/simone that other people have probably talked about more intelligently than i have but i have Yellowjackets Disease (mental illness) (incurable) and i need to exorcise this from my brain. i just spent 15m pacing the room writing this out in my head. i'm obsessed with her. anyway

taissa turner THE lesbian icon i love her SO much and i can't stop thinking about her fractured selves. we already see from s2 previews and the shots of taissa and her out-of-sync reflection that this is only going to become more extreme as s2 goes on but right from early season 1 taissa is constantly at war with herself in a very extreme way and reconciling these two sides of herself is going to be a major part of her arc

s1 flashbacks to taissa's childhood in the 80s show us that she was traumatised from a pretty young age by witnessing her deeply religious grandmother being tormented by horrific visions of the "eyeless man", and i think you can draw a direct line between that and taissa's personality and attitudes in 1996: teenage taissa is a relentless type A personality, unyieldingly ambitious and Always In Control. not only that, but it's notable that she is the most vocally sceptical of all the yellowjackets when it comes to the superstitions and beliefs the other girls (spearheaded by lottie, who quickly seems to be becoming tai's biggest rival at the cabin) are developing about the wilderness. for taissa, there's always a logical explanation. there HAS to be. and she HAS to take the lead and guide the others by example through the entire harrowing experience, to be The Strong One (i'm sure there's also connection there between that and the stereotype of the Strong Black Woman but i'm not in a position to make that point in any eloquent way)

of course, taissa is terrified. and on some level, she too can't help but wonder if there's Something Else Out There With Them. but acknowledging any of that isn't an option for her, except in extreme circumstances (when van is in mortal danger). she especially cannot acknowledge any shred of doubt, of belief, around whatever might be out there in the woods. around what lottie and her burgeoning cult believe in

i think taissa is painfully aware - and deathly afraid - of what her grandmother saw, and that it might be hereditary. taissa knows that her family has a history of mental illness and that on some level she's also vulnerable to that. so: she can't ever acknowledge that something may be happening in the wilderness that she cannot comprehend or understand. taissa needs to believe in facts, logic, what she can see and feel. taissa cannot believe in "bad feelings", spirits, or ghosts. to open herself up to that for even a second would risk inviting in that thing that tormented her grandmother

so she quashes that part of herself aggressively, crushes it down and shoves it into a corner in the back of her brain. her stress, her fear, her doubt. but of course it doesn't work like that. you can't just lock your emotional and mental issues in a box in your mind and expect that to work. in her desperation to stay In Control, she's fractured herself, and that repressed terror and stress has no choice but to manifest in her sleep: sleepwalking, pica, hallucinations

it's so significant that in 2x02 this week we explicitly saw taissa, whilst sleepwalking, following the same eyeless man seen by her grandmother, almost to her death. regardless of whether or not he's an actual supernatural entity (and so far i really like the way yellowjackets maintains that ambiguity, and i hope they keep it that way), he represents taissa's terror of that hereditary "frailty", that it is inevitable, that it will destroy her

we already know that adult taissa also sees the eyeless man, among other hallucinations. adult tai is very much like her teenage self, only worse after years and years of repressing her teenage trauma, to the point where on some level she seems to believe in the same ritualistic practices she actively scoffed at when she was younger (at least enough to commit ritualistic animal sacrifice in her fucking sleep) - again, the fracturing of her self growing increasingly severe. the fact that during her press conference in s1 she sees the eyeless man lurking at the edge of the crowd and barely even skips a beat, that she continues to smile and deliver her political speech as if he isn't there - as if she's used to ignoring his lurking - shows how tenuous her grip on total control is becoming the harder she clings. but this is how taissa has always coped, right from her youth: You Get On With It. we clearly see her dismissive attitude towards mental health support and psychologists when discussing sammy; when simone is (rightfully so!) concerned about sammy's loneliness and stress, taissa doesn't see an issue, or at least doesn't want to acknowledge one. she's been lonely and high strung for a very long time - this is normal for her! and look at taissa. she's doing just fine!!! 🙃

only in her vulnerable moment with shauna, one of the few people in the world who can understand, does she admit that she feels like she's going through the motions of normality: that despite doing everything she'd planned (going to college, dating a lot of beautiful women, becoming a lawyer) as if her stint in the wilderness were only a minor speedbump in the road of her life, sometimes it "still doesn't feel real"

this is also where tai and shauna's conversation about feeling "it" happens, and where van and simone come in. despite how i think some people have interpreted that conversation, taissa clearly really loves simone. "it" is young reckless love, that wild, whirlwind, all-consuming teenage attraction (not even necessarily love - i really do not think shauna felt any deep love for adam - but this isn't a shauna post lol). "it" is the love tai shared with van. what she has with simone is a different, more mature and settled kind of love you feel after years and years of building a comfortable life with someone. it doesn't make her feel "it", the butterflies-in-your-stomach, the excitement. but it provides stability, comfort, and that's not inherently lesser. for taissa, it's definitely "safer". the issue here, and what i think is going to become a key theme of the relationship between adult taissa and adult van, is that taissa's relationships with simone and van speak to different sides of her fractured self

tai's relationship with simone is normalcy and stability - she's the Very Deeply Normal Life that adult taissa is living in the start of season 1, the flourishing career in law and politics, the wife and kid and dog and the picket fence. simone is a well-adjusted, grounding, dependable presence in taissa's life. even now - with their relationship on the rocks and simone needing to prioritise the safety of their young son (which! understandable!! taissa put a severed dog head in their basement!!!) - simone wants taissa to get help so she can be a part of sammy's life, and she's been trying to get through to taissa and convince her to seek help since season 1. it can be easy to see simone's current attitude towards taissa as harsh, and i've seen people compare simone's fear of taissa's issues unfavourably with van's acceptance of taissa's strange sleepwalking behaviour, but a) the stakes are different (again, they have a young son to think of), b) simone presented her ultimatum (seek help and quit politics or i cannot let you near our son) specifically after seeing taissa's mental health deteriorate from the stress of her political ambitions and multiple times encouraging taissa to please i am begging you see a therapist, and c) as far as we know teenage taissa has yet to, like, commit any ritualistic animal murders in her sleep lmao. that said, there's a part of taissa that simone simply Cannot Truly Understand, and taissa clearly doesn't want her to

tai's relationship with van on the other hand represents not only that intense teenage love, but the wilder, more unpredictable side of taissa that's inextricably tied to her teenage trauma. taissa and van have a very real love in spite of the horrific circumstances they've landed in and van can understand that wild, traumatised side of taissa's self in a way that a well-adjusted person like simone never can, because van survived the wilderness too. but that also makes her dangerous for taissa's very delicate psychological balancing act. around van, taissa can't maintain the veneer of normalcy and stability she managed to maintain - van sees right through that bullshit, she was there, taissa can't lie to her. we haven't seen adult van yet so it's not clear exactly what their adult dynamic will be or how exactly van has been impacted by the wilderness in the long term, but teen van, at least, has one foot in lottie's camp: she believes in the "bullshit" taissa refuses to consciously consider and is trying to convince taissa to believe in lottie too, and we already know how that is going to turn out for them. van is providing all the emotional support she can and trying so hard to protect taissa in the wilderness, even willing to tie herself to taissa while they sleep at the risk of injury to keep her safe, but she's also tempting taissa towards the other, unthinkable extreme: accepting that there are things out there in the wilderness that tai can't understand and therefore can't control; submitting herself to lottie's brand of spiritualism. if i have to guess, i think the biggest reason that adult taissa is no longer with adult van is that they'll always have the wilderness, and the actions one or both of them committed as part of lottie's cult, between them, and taissa couldn't cope with that. and i'm assuming adult van is likely still dealing with mental health issues of her own, so taissa can't necessarily lean on van for stability the way she wants to

ultimately neither of these extremes are entirely healthy for taissa. she can't pretend that nothing is happening and expect to have a totally normal, controlled life, anymore than she can allow herself to fully lose control and embrace lottie's style of cultic practice or be tormented like her grandmother. tl;dr Get This Bich A Therapist but also she'll need to reconcile both sides of herself and accept that there are some things she cannot control if she ever hopes to have the stable life she wants. and based on the trajectory of this show i think taissa's general mental state is going to get far, far worse before it gets better

i know some people are apprehensive about a van/tai/simone love triangle or drama but honestly as long as no one here is vilified i think it could be REALLY interesting. the issue isn't even specifically van or simone - simone truly wants to reach out to taissa and get her help and make their family work, and most likely tai and van could have a stable relationship if both are willing to seek help and talk about their history and what they're struggling with - but rather the way taissa interacts with them and her inability to accept in a healthy way the parts of herself that aren't fully in control

anyway i spent way too long writing this and probably still misspoke or missed something. my point is that if taissa turner has a million fans i am one of them. if taissa turner has ten fans i am one of them. if taissa turner has one fan then i am that one. if -

[dreamnants-mis]

unnamed

A story about a nameless man who cannot die and a name that became his own. Spoilers for up to Chapter 124! Word Count: 2,252

This was the fic that originally sparked the analysis I did on Andy's name, but it wasn't completed and published until this year, as part of trying to distract myself until the 21st. Decided to post this fic on here too for the heck of it. You can find it on here too.

"What's your name?"

"Don't remember. Undead's good enough, right?" "Not at all! Guess I'll have to name you then!" ... He didn't have a name for the longest time.

Granted, he didn't have anything when he emerged from the shallow grave, aside from the clothes on his back and the lingering taste of dry dirt in his mouth.

He probably could have thought of one for himself to stick with, but for some reason, it never occurred to him that he could. Whenever he tried, something about whatever he came up with just didn't seem right. As if the lingering traces of the past were telling him that it wasn't his name, but nothing could quite feel like his name either.

Instead, he'd let the people around him refer to him by whatever they wanted. Josh, Sanders, and Red had called him Captain, as did Camus and Ash. Even as time went on, Camus and Ash never stopped calling him that and he never bothered to indicate anything to stop them otherwise. It'd simply felt too natural after knowing them for too long to change. He was still nameless otherwise though.

After both of them passed away, he went back to being a drifter with no attachments and no clear name or even a nickname to go by. Maybe another reason he didn't go by any definite name was because as he realized a decade or so afterwards, he would probably had to change it at some point to avoid drawing attention to himself as being undead.

At some point around the 1950s, he'd given up on trying to find his identity as perhaps anyone that knew him from the past was long gone. Hence why he was fine with being called Undead, even if it came with the stark reminder of what he was and the curse that came with it. Being named created attachments. Attachments, for someone who couldn't die, were simply painful. 

When he was captured by the Union in 1970 and spent the next decade in confinement and countless tests with death, Gina gave him the name "Deady Dearest". He didn't care too much for the name personally, but the gesture behind it was from a kinder place and made him not say anything when she did. It definitely felt less like a name more as a cheesy nickname, but it was a step more personal than being called Undead.

When it came clear to him that he truly couldn't die, he'd escaped and spent the next 50 years as he had in the years before wandering with the Union still trailing him without a clear purpose as a ghost.

He happened to remember how Josh had wanted to learn swordplay from Japan long ago after he'd taught her Japanese, leading to him becoming Yusai's student for a year to learn iajitsu.  Yusai had tried to propose to him after he'd mastered the last technique in late August, but he'd simply told him he'd only accept if she could outlive him and left knowing what he said was an impossible task.

A part of him couldn't bring himself to return to Japan for decades after that. He only returned over thirty years later to see Tokyo on a whim out of curiosity. Since Tokyo wasn't anywhere near where Yusai lived, he figured there were slim chances of running into her.

He hadn't thought visiting Japan would be any different than his usual country wanderings. He'd finally taken the plunge to try that boba thing that was apparently becoming popular in Asian countries, finding it far too sweet and the texture strange to wonder why people liked it so much. 

At least until he passed by Shinjuku Station and overheard some brat saying it was time to end herself and claiming anyone who touched her would contract a deadly disease and die. Certainly the most interesting suicide he'd seen in a while. And he'd seen many of them, more than one would ever want to count.

It was indeed the case since just seconds after touching her face, he'd fallen right onto an incoming train and left just a head. The rush knowing it was because of him touching her made him rush to confront her about her so called "Unluck".

She'd called him Zombie at first, something that he didn't care for anymore than Undead since zombies had to die first for the term to be accurate. Which he couldn't do in the first place. Still, that incident with the train only made him more curious about her and seeing if her Unluck could end his life.

The meteorite from her kiss on the cheek had sold him on the idea she was his key to permanent death.

In the aftermath, when she asked for his name, he'd just said she could call him Undead. Unlike the other times he'd been asked that however, she didn't accept that and decided to insist on giving him a name instead.

Andy, from "ahn-dead".

A bit on the nose. He frankly hated it just as much as being called Undead. But he'd just scoffed and accepted it as a price for the brat allowing him to be around her until she could bring him a fatal stroke of Unluck by falling in love with him.

It sounded simple enough, seeing as said brat was a pushover in love with shoujo manga.

Of course, in hindsight, it wasn't as simple as it seemed at the time.

Weirdly, in the span of a month, the name started to stick. Maybe it was how she'd often said in a way that felt natural, like it was his name, without a doubt. Maybe it was how others also started to refer to him as "Andy" instead of "Undead". At least he'd thought the name was better than his initial impressions.

The mess with him removing the card and letting Victor go had brought forth those questions about his identity he hadn't thought about in over a century and then uprooted them with a truth he wasn't mentally prepared for. 

Victor was probably the original him, but he also wasn't him. The name Victor felt wrong to him.

It wasn't a pleasant reality in the slightest on top of the fact he couldn't die. Weirdly, the only thing that kept him from completely receding into the depths of the mind as Victor resumed full control of the body was hearing Victor in his mind was planning to kill the brat for giving him false hope of death.

To his surprise, he started to resist, only barely delaying Victor from using a Parts Bullet to her head.

But what shocked him more was the brat kept calling for him to come back despite having Victor about to shoot her dead point blank that she still wanted to experience more of the world with him.

She knew better than anyone why he protected her in the first place was for his own reasons. He made that especially clear to her the day they met. Really, she should have just tried to run even if it were futile.

Yet she continued to catch him off guard with what she did next. She clung to Victor with the intent to bring him back to the surface. She even blew a hole in Victor's head with a high-caliber gun, stuck her own fingers in the bullet hole to bring him back to the surface, and allow him to kiss her to summon a meteorite shower that left Victor a charred husk.  Then she rushed into the crater to stab the card back in his head despite the water of Lake Honeycomb about to swallow everything up.

Fuuko that day proved to be far more than the brat he'd made her out to be initially. 

But perhaps what made it evident to him Andy was becoming his name the first time was when he needed to sign a name for the delivery service to the hotel in Brazil and without hesitation, he'd put the name "Andy" down. It was a small thing that he hadn't thought much about in the moment.

Yet later than evening when they were getting ready for the auction, the gesture of the action suddenly hit him, on top of Fuuko telling him she'd use her Unluck to save him from Victor as many times as needed earlier. He had acknowledged the name beyond something Fuuko called him and others just happened to use. 

Over the next three months leading up to December, more and more people called him Andy aside from Fuuko. But for some reason, he found how Fuuko called him Andy to be the most natural to him. He wasn't sure if it was something about how she pronounced Andy or something else he couldn't name.

To be honest, he'd been feeling more alive in the span of a few months than he had in his nearly two centuries worth of living ever since that August day he decided to intervene on a suicide attempt on a whim. Yet it wasn't until Fuuko made herself a hostage to Under how often he was around her and just how much her presence made him feel at ease. Hell, how reliant was he on her for his own mental well-being despite having called her a pushover so often?

His anxiety over not hearing from her didn't go unnoticed by the others. Said anxiety had quickly melted the moment he heard her call his name through Clothy being a Union emblem to the point it surprised even himself.

But somehow in the middle of that conversation, something just made him uneasy enough to grab at anything to divert attention away from Fuuko noticing how much her lack of presence around him threw him off. That something just so happened to be the mention of Yusai.

It really was a joke, seeing as it was more him rejecting her proposal. Of course, the communication cut off before he could clarify that being the case.

(He did deserve getting trampled by Tatiana and Mico for that ex-girlfriend comment and maybe also that callous rejection he gave Yusai decades ago.)

Hearing her voice was a relief, but only a temporary one when it became clear he wouldn't have a chance to retrieve her until December 24th.

He'd managed to put his efforts into training the Union, especially Top and Chikara, to battle Under to distract himself, but when the others were sleeping and he couldn't focus on redirecting that energy to mounting a group effort, he'd found himself still fretting. Fuuko would be fine physically since Unluck was so valuable and key to defeating Spring, but that did little to soothe the anxiety that formed the moment the portal Fuuko stepped through vanished.

When he'd said he'd loved her preparing a Parts Bullet to rescue her, it'd been something he'd expected Fuuko to not have noticed him saying, considering the thick glass between them. Maybe it was more trying to articulate what exactly she brought him. But Fuuko turning out to be more observant than he expected made him try to play it off as her getting prettier, which she knew he was lying about.

The Spring battle took up his energy and focus afterwards, but the aftermath was enough for him to accept Fuuko's inability to kill him wasn't from her lack of love but rather him not being able to fully return her feelings because he was scared of accepting them.

Especially when the splatter of her blood on his face as that bastard ran her through her heart brought the day he "died" for the first time in a flurry of bullets that killed Josh, Sanders, and Red back in full force on why he'd been afraid to care in the first place.

Because to love also meant the potential pain of loss as well.

Yet unlike back then, he wasn't alone. The Union and even Billy jumped into action to keep Fuuko in limbo, even if that rotten bastard had convinced Ghost to hold Fuuko's soul hostage. As long as Fuuko's soul was alive, he could still save her.

Though at the same time, it was also the Union that allowed for him to hope for the better against the coming apocalypse, sealed with Juiz skewering him with Kurikara through the chest as he drove away on DB yelling that they would wait for him to come back with Fuuko's soul with two open seats.

Odd how it was like the day he met Fuuko and he was chasing after her in hopes of tasting her biggest stroke of Unluck. He was chasing after Fuuko again, but this time, it wasn't about her Unluck more as it was also to reach and hold her again, the person that had become the beacon of his hope and Fuuko was waiting for him to catch her.

And damn, he planned to catch her.

...

"Who are you?" The little girl he rescued from a Junior asked him as he pried its jaw open to prepare for a Dead Road.

"You asked who I am? Right, let's see...I'm Undead," he'd answered at first on reflex. But unlike how it was when he'd told Fuuko to call him that since it was good enough, now it was Undead that felt odd and foreign to his ears. 

So after a moment to properly face the kid, Andy corrected himself.

"Nah, nix that. I'm Andy."

[vonlipvig]

I’ve been trying to play trauma centre like a big girl who has basic motor skills. Things started off ominously with my getting a C rank in the tutorial, and every operation since then…. until Mario came swinging through the door and handed my ass to me with his multiple haemorrhages. I worked out that if I just sedated and cut the damn things first they’d stop swelling and wouldn’t explode, but my god it’s still not enough, and THE HECK YOU MEAN I MISSED CONNECTING THEM!? I DRAGGED IT WITH MY STYLUS JUST LIKE YOU SAID?! WHY IS IT JUST ME AND ANGIE IN HERE? WHY DON’T I HAVE A TEAM? I’M A C RANK DOCTOR EVEN WITH THIS HEALING TOUCH! SAVE ME GREG! NONE OF THESE PENTAGRAMS I’M DRAWING LOOK LIKE STARS! THERE’S BLOOD EVERYWHERE!!!

Anyway, as the expert in these games, is the Wii version easier and does it follow the same storyline? Having not even seen the disease that’s the whole plot of the game, I feel like I might be insurmountably bad at this and should try an easier version…

oh, so you're--and i mean this in the friendliest, mist kindly way possible--doing badly? just like me, friend, welcome to the gang! this game will kick your ASS, guaranteed lmao. and yeah, this is nothing, wait until you get to the fantasy bioterrorism, that shit gets MEAN (i cannot wait for you to meet my number one enemy, the shitty triangles....oh, those triangles...).

but jokes aside, YAY I LOVE TC, i hope you have a great time. it really is a challenging game (truth be told, i've never properly beaten utk1, the end is sooo fucking hard), don't be discouraged by it! (and i'd say if you have the possibility to cheat, do so if you need it. who cares lmao.). i loveeee the characters, say hi to derek and angie for me!

hmm, you're playing utk1 on the ds, i take it, then? the wii version, utk second opinion, is kinda the same story, except...not lmao. it does follow the same story but adds new characters that appear in a later game, so it's a fun different experience. never played that one on the wii, but i did play a bit of trauma team and i find the gameplay a lotttt harder on the wii lmao.

[blujayonthewing]

7, 9, 11, 14 for Felix! [Shaking him like a magic 8 ball]

[cowbell rattling sfx]

7. favorite animal? why?

you know, thinking about it, I feel like this is one of the things we have in common lol-- how are you supposed to pick A definitive favorite animal?? there are so many good animals and they all have completely different merits!

he definitely has a soft spot for squirrels, having grown up with a lot of them around all the time. he really likes crows and pigeons; they're clever and friendly, tremendous gossips, and crows especially tend to have a great sense of humor. he also has a soft spot for rats, for a lot of personal reasons but also just because they're surprisingly intelligent and sweet. and all memeing aside, he really is a pretty major cat guy

9. favorite food? least favorite? are they a picky eater? do they have any dietary restrictions?

to say he 'hates' fish is sort of an understatement; for one thing, he hates fish the same way most westerners hate spiders? which is to say it doesn't even parse as food at all, and the idea of eating it is gross on principle. but also seafood stinks and also (alive) fish are so slimy just-- WHY would you--!! he CANNOT with seafood on so many levels, lmao. he is generally sort of a picky eater-- not because he's particularly fussy, actually, he just has a couple of really strong textural aversions :\ he can't do cooked mushrooms at all (frustrating, there's a lot of mushroom in gnomish cuisine), he has trouble with marbled red meat and would rather just avoid it than fuss with it, he's very particular about eggs, etc

he likes apples, especially if they're really crisp. he likes a good grill cheese, which is maybe more of a comfort food than a 'favorite' food per se. There are definitely very traditional forest gnomish foods like spider or rabbit that he doesn't get to have much anymore, and misses whenever he's in the city for a long stretch of time; he does probably have a distinct favorite food, but I'm not sure exactly what it is yet, haha

11. what do they have in common with you? how are they different? would you get along with them?

LET'S SEE. he loves animals and being outdoors; he draws, and carries a sketchbook (I do this rather less than I used to lol I need to get back into the habit). he's really curious about everything and loves learning and figuring things out. he really likes people and being around people, but doesn't feel like he knows how to interact with others-- he's much worse at people than I am, but we very much share a love of hanging around with other people without being expected or required to be the center of attention or 'participate' in something per se. he's very tactile, although he doesn't act on it as much as I do. he's got a non-zero number of Issues that were not intentional projection but coincidentally ended up aligning with some of my issues, which I'm not going to detail too much, partly to not tell on myself and partly because I'm trying to leave some things for justin to find out organically at the table as a fellow player, lol

he's DEFINITELY more proactive and adventurous than I am. a crucial difference is that he's not ruled by fear of embarrassment-- he's absolutely not immune to embarrassment by any means, he just doesn't let it stop him. on a couple superficial notes, I love seafood the most lmao, and felix does not like dogs. he would love big complex board games and hate ttrpgs (roleplaying would make him too nervous) :') for all my awkwardness, I very often have Can't Shut Up Disease, but he's pretty reserved, thinks a lot of thoughts but generally tries to keep them to himself, and even gets completely silent if he's stressed out enough

we would get along so well it's ridiculous lmao. I can forgive him about the dogs if he can forgive me about the sushi

14. are they any good with numbers?

yeah, I think so! he's got a good memory and a good mind for logic and problem-solving; he doesn't know any advanced mathematics or anything but he's generally Good With Numbers

ask about my OCs :3

[cherryblossomventi]

Sparklecare-Iified two of my OCs, Achilles and Xavier, it helped to practice for Xavier since I’m not at all used to drawing chubby characters and I recently decided he was going to be chubby from now on.

@sparklecarehospital go read the webcomic once it’s back is good

So I don’t know if bug Anthries exist canonly in Sparklecare, but Xavier is one since he’s a moth/firefly person in my canon. Achilles is a snow leopard on his way to becoming a robotanthry snow leopard, so far only two limbs and an eye have been converted. In his canon he has so much power that his body degrades and that’s why he’s slowly becoming a cyborg, but if he were a Sparklecare character I think he’d probably just either A) want to become a roboanthry when he realizes he’s not actually a he and chooses to make her own body due to her interest in robotics and the fact that her eye and two limbs were already made robotic due to a serious accident as a child. Or B) He has some sort of disease that’s slowly killing his body (like his canon degrading issue) and thus needs to have everything replaced.

I don’t know what their allotpun names would be and if Achilles would have a new one after transitioning. Post Transition her name would probably be some sort of tiger pun because she ends up choosing the name Tora bc Snow Leopards are actually closer to tigers than leopards, but idk for her original name.

Xavier’s allotpun name would be I think either light related or attention related, maybe something that involves Limelight or spotlight? His clothes are kinda meh bc unlike Achilles I still don’t know what his outfit is like. I was gonna draw his BF Rhea too, but I haven’t redesigned him and don’t know what birds in Sparklecare look like yet.

I think Achilles could’ve been a Sparklecare patient if I moved things around and chose senario B so that his disease started to really kick in after he became an adult, since canonly he transitions before he reaches adulthood and thus cannot go to Sparklecare before getting a fully robotic body. But also he’s a ward of the state so idk if they’d take him since he has no family to take money from.

Honestly he and Xavier, along with most of my other OCs, would fit better in the Cometcare era, maybe Achilles/Tora would be friends with Qwerty? Maybe if she was Tora by then she’d help them get started on their transition or encourage them? Or if he was Achilles still then I could see Qwerty inspiring him to fully become a Roboanthry, anyways imma stop rambling. Sparklecare and all of Kittycorn’s other stuff is fantastic and you should def check it out. Kittycorn is a HUGE inspo for me

[violets-and-books]

I've got it. My fantasy fic. It's here:

The Crows Species(?):

Kaz = Dhamphir

Strengths: Enhanced senses and strength, ability to turn into a crow (there are four respective Dhamphir clans. One can turn into wolves, one can turn into crows (the one Kaz is descended from), one can turn into Snakes, and the others can turn into Ravens), cannot get sick through normal spread of disease (so how did Jordie die, I wonder 🙃).

Weaknesses: Unlike his distant kin he CAN go out in the day, but he will get extremely sick and can die if he is out for more than 48 hours in sunlight without a long resting period in the dark (one night cycle isn't enough).

Jesper = Mistborn

Strengths: Alomancey, essentially.

Weaknesses: Mistborn vs. Mistborn fights can and will get ugly, can be rendered powerless with Aluminum, and is blind in mist or fog.

Wylan = Baros

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Nina = Seer

Strengths: Can sense a person's general morality (kind of like "sense evil" in DND), can draw disease out of someone's blood, can speak to the dead but cannot raise them like necromancers. (Aditi was a seer).

Weaknesses: Too much drawn disease without any disposal of it will lead to sickness or death, Seer's become easily addicted to drugs that would soothe you/make you spacey because in order to read people their emotions become heightened and it gets very hard for them to function with too much use of their power, but most of them make their income through using their powers for people; Then it's just a vicious cycle.

Matthias = Thug/Pewterarm

Strengths: Ability to burn Pewter in him and enhance his physical abilities.

Weaknesses: Your typical human weakness.

Inej = Wraith

Strengths: Can go through walls and doors and windows etc., can *poof* into a shadow, doesn't make noise at night, telepathy communication.

Weaknesses: Can be killed if the body is disturbed at night in ANY WAY, can only access most of her powers at night, can't speak at night due to the "not making any sound" thing.

I'll send you a different ask for plot so you don't have a post that's a million lines long 😂

WYLAN'S ONE IS CRACKING ME UP, I-

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Okay, um, I'm looking at the rest now

Kaz as a dhampir (I can definitely spell that)! That's why his voice is so raspy! He's just fucking sick all the time because he's literally allergic to sunlight

"Kaz, do you want to maybe go back inside-"

Kaz, who's just seen Inej laughing, silhouetted by the sun, in a voice that sounds like it should be coming from a dead body: No, fuck off

Dhamphirs aren't made, are they? They're born, right? Like, from a human and a vampire? That's where they come from

Maybe Jordie was his stepbrother? Like, Jordie was fully human but then his mum hooked up with a vampire (cos you truly do only live once) and had Kaz and then both their parents DIED and then the firepox came and yeah

Idk exactly how mistborns work BUT I'm just imagining Jesper in an all-out fight with another mistborn and having, like, iron or copper or something dripping from his nose like blood. Idk if that can happen but it looks cool!

Again, also imagining Wylan chasing Jesper with a fucking broom or a lute or something like "stop stealing my experiments" while Jesper's running for his goddamn life, a beaker of one of Wylan's alloys clutched to his chest. It's so fucking funny to me. I might just be really tired

With Nina you really have thought of everything. I've got nothing else to say to that apart from OW

"Weaknesses: Your typical human weaknesses" - GET RECKT, MATTHIAS-

Inej's is perfect! I didn't consider the not being able to speak, that's really cool!

This is fucking phenomenal bestie