#I'm sorry I just love this concept so much I HAD to rant

[hide-in-imagination]

Just wanted to say i'd love an omegaverse story of Simbar of you 🥹💜

😏 Thank you so much, anon, I see you're a person of culture as well😌

It would be sooo fun to write skdjnfls. I could make them be fated pairs and wreck havoc because when he arrives Ámbar is dating Matteo, but the moment she catches his scent, she starts going into heat, and Simón can't breathe anything that isn't her scent, and WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON? 😂

Or I could, you know, have them find out they're made for each other more slowly. Simón and Matteo would always be butting heads because their alphas want to outdo each other. Ámbar would be so resentful of Luna because she used to be the only Omega before she arrived and now she has managed to charm everybody, especially her Alpha boyfriend. Sure, she never let Matteo bite her and never shared a heat with him either in their 2 years of relationship because she never felt close enough to him or trusted him enough to let him do that-- BUT HE WAS STILL HER BOYFRIEND, DAMN IT.

(Guess which Alfa she immediately starts trusting more and it confuses the hell out of her because she hasn't known him for that long but there's something about his disposition and his comforting scent that just makes her feel safe, she can't explain it)

And meanwhile, Simón is all confused because, ever since Luna presented as Omega three years ago, he had been thinking maybe they could be more, you know? They had a great bond already and now they were also compatible in that sense-- All the adults around them were already assuming they'd be mates someday. But then she left the country, so he followed her, but now he can't stop fucking thinking about Ámbar's vanilla scent, and it's so weird because she doesn't seem nice?? She seems to have a vendetta against Luna, so Simón shouldn't like her, he should be wary, but he's. just. not. Whenever he's near her, the last thing he feels is danger. Hell, if he didn't know any better, he'd say the girl was an angel from how nice she smells. And she always seems to mellow out around him too, so maybe she's not actually bad? His Alpha sure as hell thinks she's great.

Anyway, they kinda fight against it at the beginning but eventually give in because- if they find comfort in each other's presence, why not make use of that, right? That's not to say that they just start sucking face, they become friends, nothing more, she just happens to be Omega and he just happens to be Alpha and they just happen to love each other's scents.

But then, after a scheme of Ámbar's goes horribly wrong and her bottle of suppressants gets switched with someone else's, Ámbar suddenly goes into heat, and Oh Fuck, Simón has never smelt anything so tempting in his fucking life, and Ámbar is begging for it, but NOPE, he won't do it, he's a decent guy! She doesn't know what she's doing! So Simón drives her to the nearest hospital (he has a car in this one okay? Work with me here) using up to the last shred of his self-control and willpower, even has to use his Alpha Voice to keep her still because he can't drive if she's trying to climb onto his lap, and then the nurses take her and that's it. They ask him if he wants them to take a look at his arm too (because he bit his forearm to stop himself from biting Ámbar and to clear his head) but he declines and just drives to his house where he attempts to take a cold shower but eventually has to rub one off because his Alpha will not calm down.

Anyway, after that, Ámbar is beside herself with gratitude because "jesus christ, anyone could've taken advantage of me, you could've taken advantage of me, but you didn't and you kept me safe, thank you", and Simón can't keep ignoring the attraction he feels after an event like that, so now they're closer, not without its hiccups, of course, because all of this happens because of one of Ámbar's evil plans, and Simón is like "God damn it, Ámbar, you could've gotten hurt, anyone could've gotten hurt, you need to stop doing things like these" and Ámbar, after such a rattling wake up call, agrees, and starts changing her ways, and okay, now they're sucking face, because they really like each other, and hell, it might even be love.

(It is love. They scent each other, share heats and ruts together, move in together, and eventually, Simón bites her and they become a pair. Oh, and they get married too, but by that point, that's just a formality)

Btw, I hid these details in the tags of my previous post so I'll leave them here now:

#Simón would smell like sea breeze and Ámbar at first would think it's weird for an alpha to have such a comforting scent

#shouldn't only omegas have such comforting scents?

#but then she realizes GURLL HE HAS THE POWER OF THE SEAAA, DO YOU KNOW HOW POWERFUL IS THE OCEAN?? HAVE YOU SEEN HOW THEY WRECK BOATS AND CITIES? HE'S THE ALPHA OF ALL ALPHAS HE JUST CHOOSES TO BE GENTLE

#he's like the calming shore of a crystalline beach-- unless you cross him or his friends & family

#btw Ámbar smells like vanilla and flowers

#which coincidentally is the exact smell Simón remembers from his youth when he used to watch his mother make cookies in the kitchen

#FATED PAIR SIMBAR? GIVE IT TO ME

#and Simón of course smells like Ámbar's afternoons spent at the Cancún coastline when she visited her summer house

#HE WAS RIGHT THERE BUT THEY DIDN'T MEET SOONER

[specialagentartemis]

ykw i am having so much fan watching you be a hater, that i’ve decided to ask for more. PLEASE give us a rant about a book you hated.

Haha aw I'm honored. And uh I hope you don't have any particular attachment to Becky Chambers. Sorry in advance.

But A Psalm for the Wild-Built won a Hugo and I do not get the love. Book 1 was nice enough, yeah. Book 2 had me tearing my hair out.

Sibling Dex is a restless Tea Monk who serves the God of Small comforts on the science-fantasy planet of Panga. I genuinely love the idea of a tea monk - part therapist, part confessor, travels around to the different towns, mixes tea blends for people, lets them talk about their worries and fears and stresses, and gives them, if not advice, then sympathy and a listening ear and some calming tea. This is meaningful work but they're unhappy. After doing this for a while they're still unsatisfied with their life, so they go into the woods searching for self-actualization, and meet a robot named Mosscap, a wild robot that lives in the woods. See, hundreds of years ago, all the robots "woke up" and became sentient one day, then they staged a quiet rebellion against humanity's greed and industrialization by walking into the woods and never coming back. Now, the continent is split in half: humans stay on the Human Side, and robots stay on the Robot Side. The Robot Side is kept wild and humans are discouraged from going in there because humans can't be trusted not to ruin Nature. The rpbots are welcome to come to the Human Side, they just never have. Dex is the first person in a While to venture into the woods of the Robot Side, and the first human since the great walkout to see a robot. Mosscap gives Dex a lot of philosophical pep talks about not pushing themself so hard, about allowing themself to just rest and appreciate the world without feeling like they need to be Providing A Service to justify their existence. It's a nice theme. Underbaked, imo, but nice. Relateable.

Book 2 was a goddamn mess.

Book 1 mostly takes place in the wilderness of the woods, so it's okay if the nice utopian human community Dex comes from was sketchily-built. It Just Works, and everyone Is Just Nice, this is a science-fantasy parable. There were some issues I had with it - like the strict ideological and physical divide between Nature and Humans, and the fact that Dex's religion seems to be the Only Religion In The World, and it's vaguely secular-humanist with the gods being not "really" gods but names given to primordial forces and philosophical concepts, and the religion not really making any demands of its adherents in any way except to become their best selves and devote themselves to what they like... it's potentially interesting, but overall kinda lazy. It felt like Becky Chambers was aware of the idea that having an enlightened-atheist sci-fi utopia is Problematic, so she made there be a central religion, but she also didn't want it to have any of the ~icky~ things religions have, like belief in anything supernatural, or dietary restrictions, or creeds, or codes of behavior, or expectations to make any kind of sacrifice in any way. All the gods "ask" is that humans observe and appreciate the world. But whatever.

In book 2, Dex and Mosscap return to Dex's society, and the book seems to want to explain how the world works, and oh my GOD is Chambers not prepared to do this.

"Observe and appreciate" is all anyone is asked to do. Book 2, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, is an ode to ultimate virtue of Doing Nothing. There's this attitude I see in a LOT of utopian fiction, where the author is bluntly just not a good enough author to imagine a utopian society where people act like people, so in the world of Panga, utopian society is achieved through 1) homogeneity 2) no one giving a crap about anything.

As far as I can tell, there is the one religion. Most people are Fine with this. Most people are Fine with anything. There are no characters with distinct personalities. There's no money, except there is, except it's not real money and no one will deny you anything if your balance is in the red, even though your balance is available to be seen by anyone - this does not cause any kind of shame or pride or competition in any way, and Dex doesn't understand why it might. There are no hierarchies or governing bodies, people just volunteer to step up when things need doing (this is portrayed as great and not deeply concerning). There are different communities, but in them, everyone is uniformly nice, friendly, and helpful at all times. There are some parts of nature, like the seashore, where people are not allowed to go because they'll ruin the environment, and this is accepted as correct and necessary. Most people live in hippie, pro-recycling, high-tech, end-of-history green communities; there's one group they visit, however, that doesn't trust technology, and lives in a vaguely sci-fi-Amish way. You might think, Dex travelling around with a robot, this might cause conflict! It does not. The people from this community calmly explain their anti-technology position, Dex calmly explains their pro-technology position, and they politely respect each other. "Not bothered either way" is a phrase that turns up in various permutations a lot and is held up as the good, mature, responsible way to be.

There's a scene where they catch a fish for dinner, and instead of killing it, the scifi-Amish guy says "We let the air do that for us, and they let the fish slowly suffocate to death in the air while they all look on solemnly and sadly. This is portrayed as a deep, beautiful moment of them witnessing and honoring the final moments of a living being's life. And not. y'know. them torturing a living being to death so they can keep their own hands clean.

This is what I mean about the valorization of passivity: observing is all you are ever obligated to do. Letting a fish die in the air is better than killing it quickly and humanely, because doing things gets your hands dirty, while letting things simply happen is the Correct way to do it.

At the end, Mosscap and Dex blow off all their promises and appointments and just hang out at the beach chilling out instead, because do what you want forever, you don't have to do shit. This is the happy affirming ending. Mosscap you fucking said you'd meet with the city leaders as the robot ambassador to the humans, did you tell them you were blowing off this commitment because you didn't feel like doing that anymore??? Did you even let them know??????

It is SUCH a baffling book. The theme wants to be "you are more than your job, you deserve to just Be" and ends up feeling like "you don't have to do anything ever, and no one can make you do anything you don't want to do if you don't feel like it, and you don't owe anyone anything and searching for a purpose in your life is just making you stressed out so chill at the beach instead."

The thing that drives me crazy is like. Mosscap cheerfully tells Dex about robots that spend twenty years in a cave watching stalactites form because they think it's beautiful, and those robots are just as much a valued part of society as anyone else. Appreciating beauty and wonder is good enough, you don't need to be productive. And I'm just. fuckin. like. Humans are not robots! Robots don't need to eat or sleep! Humans need food, and clothes, and shelter, and medical care, and if we don't have SOMEONE working to provide that, we Die! Nice as it would be, we CAN'T just all do nothing forever until we feel like it! We can't do that!

And at the same time, the book bizarrely treats wanting a purpose in life as like... almost disordered. If you are seeking a purpose in life it's because you just haven't let go of your guilt and relaxed enough. It's bizarre. Valorization of passivity. Humans aren't meant to be in nature so we just Shouldn't. Doing nothing and having no strong opinions is the most self-affirmed you can possibly be. Letting a fish suffocate is more moral than quickly breaking its neck or spiking its brain. Someone else will do it. Who, if we're all supposed to be resting and only doing what we feel like? Don't worry about it.

"The heart of this book is comfort [...] There is nothing in it that can hurt you." YOU LIAR BECKY CHAMBERS THE FISH SCENE STILL DISTURBS AND UPSETS ME TO THIS DAY

[meanbossart]

so uh stop reading aaaabout here if you care about spoilers for the original baldur's gate games (no idea if you have/planned on playing em just wanna be safe) but ANYWAY in 2 you can choose to split your soul with Sarevok to bring him back to life and, if you choose to play it that way, give him a second chance. i'm not going to subject you to my Sarevok rants because lord knows you did not ask but i find that concept really really interesting especially in relation to Durge and Orin so after way too much rambling here's my question. what would DU Drow do in that kinda situation? i know post-tadpole he doesn't really hold any warm feelings towards Orin (if you could count whatever he had going on before as "warm" lol) but would any part of him want to give her a shot at living her own life without Bhaal's influence?

oh my god this got way too long i am. so sorry

I've been thinking about this one for a while. Honestly it's a really sweet concept for them.

I think if DU drow were to somehow find out about what he did to Orin over the years (the pressuring, the low-key harassment, how utterly obsessed he was with her, how, unbeknownst to himself, he played a part in making her worse and actively helped her erase more and more parts of herself) he would be a little horrified with himself. Not immediately, perhaps not outwardly, but he'd get a little grossed out feeling in his gut and a churning that is at it's worst whenever he looks at Astarion.

It's only really because of Astarion that he learned what the hell love with boundaries is. He started off by trying to cross them, only to be humbled when his urges wouldn't let him fulfill any carnal desires in the first place and forcing him to appreciate the comfort in Astarion's company alone, without the sexual factor, and in turn coming to understand that that's not even what he wanted in the first place. Then, through learning about his past experiences, he'd grow to abhor the very concept and take slow incremental steps to fix that within himself. He realizes that if he had done the same with Orin, their situation could have been very different - or it could have not. Either way, he never had the self-awareness to try.

You know the scene in Cazador's dungeon? Where you meet up with the caged spawn and you have the option to confront Astarion about it when he lacks the empathy towards them? About how, in another life, that could have been you? Perhaps there would be something similar here. Where DU drow tries to justify his past-self's actions and Astarion holds a very ugly mirror of himself up to his face - if I say no, if I ever change my mind, is this what you're going to do to me?

That hypothetical would make him sick.

So yes. I think in that situation where he has a slightly fuller picture, he would find it nothing but fair to share a little bit of his soul with Orin so she has a second shot at life - It's basically what she did for him, after all.

[sweetandspicy]

Sorry this is a long post, I had to rant a bit.

The thing that bothers me the most about the ACOTAR series is the fae. I love fae, I love stories with fae in them, there are so many interesting things you can do with them. So many ways you can make them unique and yet still retain the basis of what fae are. And yet Sarah J Maas just... doesn't.

SJM really just took everything interesting about the fae and threw it in the bin. The fae to me have always been fantastical, "other", they just don't feel human, they feel different, they feel strange. But ACOTAR's fae are just so bland and boring. They don't feel different to the humans. In fact they feel like humans but with magic and pointy ears. It genuinely pains me how SJM threw everything interesting about the fae away.

I personally love the concept of the fae not being able to lie. There is so much fun and interest in that concept. It is something that is challenging to navigate. Every fae character cannot directly tell a lie therefore you have to get creative with what they say, you have to twist words around so that they can lie without actually lying.

That idea is initially presented to us but Feyre learns pretty early on that that isn't true. That the fae in ACOTAR can lie. Even if SJM wanted to take away the concept that fae can't lie, she didn't even play around with Feyre's misconception about them. Feyre could've gone through part of the first book believing everything that the fae said to her to be true. To me, that sounds like an interesting concept and i would've loved to read about it. I can't remember exactly how quickly Feyre is told the fae can lie but it's not even slightly an issue.

Another thing about the fae is that they're mischievous. They love playing tricks, whether it's something mild or completely cruel. But ACOTAR's characters lack that mischievousness, the cunning. They aren't tricksters like fae usually are. Correct me if I'm wrong but I can't seem to remember a time when someone attempted to trick Feyre. Amarantha made a deal with Feyre, but it was straightforward, there was no trick to it. Rhysand didn't trick her into the bargain either. It would've been interesting to see the fae attempting to trick Feyre, to get her to enter into a bargain that seems good but they worded it in a way that it is actually bad.

Instead the ACOTAR characters, specifically the males, are all presented as your typical "alpha male". Rhysand is presented to us as cunning but to me he doesn't feel like that of a cunning fae but a cunning human. Tamlin can literally shapeshift and yet SJM doesn't do anything of interest with that. Luicen was slightly mischievous in Book 1 but even then it is how you expect any normal character to be, he does not play tricks like that of the fae. I might be nitpicking with these but i truly wish we had gotten more trickster like characters.

As much as everyone likes to hate on Book 1, there were interesting fae in that book. The Bogge, the Naga, the Puca (I suppose this one did trick Feyre), the Suriel. Alis was interesting, she was described as having bark like skin. I want more diversity in the characters looks. Our main cast and most of the major side characters all look normal, human but with pointy ears or wings.

Their appearance isn't necessarily the issue. It's the fact that the fae are meant to be seen as difderent to the humans and yet they barely are.

So many interesting things about the Fae, from their behaviour to their culture and magic and rituals, all the funky little things humans do to ward off or stop the fae, down the drain. And if I'm being completely honest, I believe SJM isn't a competent enough writer to pull off the complexities that make the fae, fae. It feels almost disrespectful to call these characters fae.

(I am no expert in fae mythology. But from all that I've seen and read, these characters just aren't it.)

[evenmoreofadisaster]

Hello!! I'm the creator of Not a Run of the Mill Family and the first sep au going against you. I am really excited since I have liked your au for a while now and it is mind fucking blowing that I am against you right you rn. And I'm just here to wish you luck for the polls later today :))

-

Leo: Hi!! I heard we are going against each other during the first round of the competition. (Begins to rant at incomprehensible speeds in spanglish)

Hueso: Ah, to translate he wishes to say good luck to you all, and that we got a present for you.

Leo: Apparantley alot of turtles get more motivated when we mention pizza so . . . WE DECIDED TO MAKE PIZZA! You guys get first pick of course, we got any kind you may want. Except for the Super Disgusting Supreme Pizza . . . we don't have enough stuff for that. Sadly.

Hueso: I don't think most of them would like it, Pepino. I mean besides the one that are born in the Hidden City.

Leo; Who wouldn't like it? It's pizza! Anywayyyy, I am your amazing waiter, Leo, and I'm here to take your order!

One spaced out a little at "pizza"

SORRY FOR THE WAIT Idk what took over me but suddenly I had a whole Onesagi lore thing and I REALLY wanted to draw our AUs together. I love the concept of your AU so much, little Leo is adorable and I already loved Hueso and Leo's dynamic in the show but the father son relationship in your AU... chef's kiss

I really hope I captured your Hueso alright, he is such a good dad and the twins deserve a little bit of support. Plus I couldn't NOT draw the Leos together >:) (also I saw some fanart where Hueso's threatening Draxum to get Leo and I thought it was so good so I tried to nod to that concept here as well lol)

Anyway I hope they can all be friends :) We're also super excited for the poll! I have seen some stuff for your AU around tumblr and it is amazing.

Good luck and thank you for the ask!!

(translation below because I forgot to include it in the image I'm so sorry)

@tmntseparatedaucompetition

"I'm going to kill that sheep"

"I promise you"

[creatingblackcharacters]

This is going to be a long one so sorry in advance.

My question for is in your opinion how do you feel about Fantasy Racism/Racism Allegories?

Back when I was in booktok some of the POC/Black creators I followed express their opinion regarding fantasy racism/racism allegories.

They explained how fantasy racism/allegories is a way for white authors to profit off of Black/POC struggles while other explained that fantasy racism and allegories tend to miss the mark off of real life racism.

I'll uses these two pieces of media as an example.

One example is the mutant racism/discrimination in Marvel comics. While it is suppose to be an allegory for Black and POC racism some of the criticism that I have heard is the fact that mutants are being hated because they HAVE powers NOT because of the way they look or how humans have seen mutants inferior. Being discriminated because a person with powers/abilities falls short when compared with real life racism where Black/POC people aren't being discriminated and targeted because they have powers.

Another example of this is Faunus Racism in RWBY. Faunus who look human but have animal feautures. Their reasoning for discimination is because Faunus look and act like animals some even have "vicious" animal features that humans saw as frightening. One of the main characters is a faunus however her teammates treat her make jokes that can be seen as microaggressions because she is a cat Faunus. The show even shows her feline attributes such as being afraid of dogs and loves eating fish. Many have expressed they don't like this racism because you can't have a POC coded race who is faced with racism that is suppose to be taken seriously and wants to be treated equally but then you reinforce the whole cute animal behaviors. Just like the mutant discrimination falls short on real life racism. (It also doesn't help the fact the faunus racism was solved in 5 volumes)

These pieces of media also take inspiration of the MLK vs Malcom X debates. Which imo completely saturate and whitewashes both ideologies. As these two shows protrays the MLK inspiration (Charles and Blake) be seen as good because they want harmony and peace among the two races while the radical and "violent" Malcom X inspiration (Magneto and Adam) is protrayed as bad.

(It's also doesn't help the fact that Adam from RWBY was revealed to be a child slave who was branded by one of the main protagonist family but was ultimately reduce to obsessed ex boyfriend).

Sorry for the long ass rant.

Well I'm glad you got what you wanted to say out lol. You don't have to say "POC/people of color people", POC is fine.

I can't find my poll on it, I thought I had it saved. But yeah, pretty much. Getting into the nitty gritty of racism means acknowledging both how it is ubiquitous, on purpose, and mundane. Your average racist isn't a raging violent klansman worried about The Prophecy™ outright; they're someone that you'd probably think was "really nice" until you got into deeper discussion and realized where they stood politically and it was quietly just as cruel. And because many people don't quite understand that, they don't know how to write the actual experience of racism.

There's never "one big bad" or "some huge misunderstanding" that is everything wrong, it's many, many things and people contributing to a system- unconsciously and consciously. Well, that's not as entertaining or heroic in a book where you want your hero to take down the Bad Guys! Or that "No One is Wrong, We Can All Get Along!" Due to this, fantasy racism usually captures what looks like a reverse racism concept- what people THINK racism is.

[maxiskindahere]

Hello! i just finish reading the Lute x Reader you just recently made and im Inlove I'm wondering that if you can make a part 2 of it? if it's not too much to ask, like Lute goes to reader after the trial or if the reader was with lute that's also fine and the aftermath of the extermination where reader was worried of Lute then she goes full shock when she saw Lute's State. This is just an Idea of mine of how the part 2 goes but you can always do it ur way :)) Thank you! <3

abso-fucking-lutely i can!!

it doesn’t follow the exact bit but i wanted to see if i could fit in everything you asked for 🫶 apologises if it’s not what you were expecting x

part one here

Extermination is entertainment | Lute x F!reader part 2

cw: swearing, talk of murder

Y/N sat quietly scrolling through ‘Blessed’, which according to the Winner who made it.. is the Holy version of an app called ‘Twitter’. She didn’t really understand the whole concept of Twitter, but she quite enjoyed Blessed.

Though, her quiet time was quickly disrupted as she notices a text pop up from Adam

DickMaster

good luck bitch

But before the girl can ask anything, an angry Lute bursts through the door “Those fucking hellspawns!” She shrieks, slamming the door behind her causing Y/N to jump in surprise “Holy shit! Give a girl some warning” Y/N exclaims, holding a hand to her heart

“All this talk of redemption after they killed one of us, they all deserve to die.” Lute rants, anger coursing through her veins “Wait, did they win?” Y/N asks in shock, putting down her phone “Of course they didn’t! Sinners can’t be redeemed!” Lute exclaims, taking a deep breath

“Sorry, I just..” Lute sighs, running a hand through her hair “Everyone on the council knows now, Adam exposed it.” She explains to the h/c angel who nods slowly, still not sure what the issue was “So you won! That’s all that matters right?” Y/N asks, a silly smile on her face

“I guess” Lute digresses, taking a seat beside Y/N who swiftly wraps her wings around her “You know, if you’re stressed.. I know a great stress reliever” Y/N teases, wiggling her eyebrows

“Please, you sound like Adam.” The lieutenant deadpans, playfully glaring at the other “Ouch!” Y/N says, holding a hand to her chest “You’re so rude”

“Maybe, but you love it.”

—

Realistically, you knew you had nothing to worry about. Those demons didn’t stand a chance against the extermination army but you were still extremely nervous.

If one figured out how to kill an Angel, the others could catch on.. and that scared her more than anything.

“Are you okay?” Emily asks softly, sitting down beside Y/N on the park bench “Yeah.. Just nervous.” Y/N says simply, picking at her fingers “Lute seemed off before she left, I’m worried it will affect her performance.” The girl explains, leaning against the back of the bench

“Maybe Charlie got through to her” Emily comments, a playful smile on her face as Y/N lets out a small laugh “I doubt it, she was really annoyed after the meeting” Y/N says with a soft smile on her face

“Well, I’m sure she’s fine!” Emily reassures the girl who looks down at her lap with uncertainty before noticing the familiar shine near Sera’s office “I think that’s them, I’ll be back” Y/N tells the Seraphim before swiftly flying over to the “meet up” point

She was excited, Lute had promised to help her with some basic self defense skills when she returned.

But what Y/N saw was the opposite of exciting. She saw a bloodied Lute, one of her arms was pulled apart and she was staring down at the halo in her hands.

“Holy shit” Y/N gasps as she notices it’s Adam’s halo “Lute? What the fuck?” She exclaims, frantically flying over to her partner, resisting the urge to hug her

“Adam is dead.” Is all Lute says, her gaze strong as she stares into the skyline “Are- Are you okay?” Y/N asks quietly, looking at the missing arm

She didn’t know what to say, how do you talk about that? For the first time in her life, Y/N was speechless.

Adam was dead, and God knows what happened to cause that.

And then there’s Lute, showing no emotion per usual but Y/N knew that look in her eyes.

“It’ll regenerate, now move. I have someone to talk to.”

—

it’s so hard to write abt what Lutes reaction was when she got to heaven bc we only see her with Lilith, but i personally would be in too much shock to care about anything else if i was her x

requests are open🫶 i’m trynna get back into writing and this is a lot of fun :)

[luffyvace]

Hi I just wanted to say I love ur sm and I'm so glad to have found ur blog <333

It so hard to find a someone to write form tdlosk<3 (the author reader)

I had a cute though if it the came in my mind when reading the P2(?) Of it, Reader friend to show his approval of reader and saiki when he released his newest chapter in some of panel in the background there is this couple who is closely looks like reader and saiki or if there scene where there is desserts the most will stand out is a coffee jelly w Reader fav dessert and along with words of "coffee jelly and f/d are the finest together" (f/d = favorite dessert)

Sorry if I talked ur ear off I just wanted to rent this thought of mine ^^

Have a good day!

AWW YOUR SO SWEEEEEET!! TYSM DARLING <33 I agree I don’t see very many!!

AHHH THATS SUCH A GOOD IDEA!! That’s absolutely adorable I starting smiling so hard while typing this‼️💖

…………………..♡♡♡……………….

When you were reading your friend’s latest chapter you saw he drew a couple in that background resembled your appearance and had two thingys sticking out a guy’s head and glasses

you instantly knew it was you two!! (Especially with saiki’s limiters LOL)

freaking out, you and immediately ran to Saiki to show him 😭💓💓

he probably already noticed if he read the book before you

”KUSUO LOOK!! Looklooklook!- my author friend put us in the latest chapter!!!”

”yeah, I know I saw, he put us in the manga :)”

”that’s so ADORABLE 💞💞”

”I’m so happy! I’ve gotta thank him!”

you called your friend and barely gave him a chance to speak as you bursted with appreciation over the phone

he tells you he thought you and Saiki were a cute couple from when you introduced them to each other

so he got the spontaneous idea to put you two in his book!!

he explained that although it looked like you were just standing there with hearts over your heads (<3) you two were coming back from a dessert date!!

In a flash there was a smile on your face as you ran over to Kusuo once again to relay the message

he was rather fond of it considering that means he was eating coffee jelly 😎

”dang now he wants some..”

there was another scene where the main character passed a bakery and the items on sale in the window were coffee jelly and f/d!!!

the poster even read “coffee jelly and f/d are the finest together!~”

AWWWW SO CUTE!!

your shaking Kusuo and jumping up and down as you tell him about it!

he just sits there and lest it all happen with a faint smile 💖

he’s happy too of course

but your (literally) jumping with joy

often times after your friend finishes a chapter

you know how authors do that thing where they would put little doodles or facts at the end?

yeah he puts little chibi sketches of you and Kusuo doing cute couple stuff

one chapter will be chibi’s of you two holding hands

The next is you two on a date eating coffee jelly and f/d

it absolutely warms your heart 😭💝💝

you rant to Kusuo, your friends, your family, your author friend- EVERYBODY each time he does it

its so sweet of him!!

one time you put a detailed sketch of your author friend at the end of your chapter and he appreciated it so much!!

now it’s sorta just a back and forth thing between you two :3

This was such an adorable concept 😊💖

°

🏌️‍♀️

:3 (LOL)

[bellacatt-art]

Okay so, a little Red Dwarf rant up ahead because I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I need you guys to be sad about it with me:

We all know that despite Red Dwarf being a comedy show the premise is super depressing, especially with all the characters experiencing loneliness in a different way. Lister is the last human alive, Rimmer is a hologram who is dead and cannot fully interact with his surroundings, Cat has been separated from the rest of his species and Kryten has spent ages on the Nova 5 assisting crewmates he didn't know were dead.

But what about Holly? Because I have a LOT to say! :")

I can say with confidence that Holly is one of my favourite RD characters, and that is because I adore the concept so much - the idea of a sarcastic computer who's tasked with keeping the entire ship together is just so funny to me, especially since one thing I've noticed is that over the course of S1-5, Holly has slowly felt like more of a member of the crew rather than just the ship's computer, yk? It might have something to do with Hattie Hayridge's portrayal of her because she subtly gives her a bit more expression which I really love, but she feels like she has more emotions later on, and throughout the course of the series, she's always cared for the others despite being, yk - a robot.

And the events of S5 Ep6 "Back To Reality" really prove that. Idk guys, I just love that *she* was the one who saved everybody from the despair squid, like yesss!!! She is a valuable member of the team, and I love her for that! ^-^

But what I've been thinking about lately is what happened between S5 and S6. We're told that the others lose contact with the Red Dwarf ship - and Holly as a result. Now, imagine how that must be for her - maybe the others went on some kind of adventure before this huge disaster occurred, and she was waiting for them to return, and they never did.

Imagine the original Red Dwarf, floating around in the depths of space, completely empty except for the old computer who slowly realises that she will never see the others again. :(

Idk maybe I've messed up the continuity somewhere bc I need to rewatch S6 again, but I've just been picturing a lonely computer waiting for her crewmates that are never coming back, and it's just so sad, like it really proves that the Red Dwarf characters are all so deeply tragic! 😭💜

I need everybody's thoughts on this because I may or may not have made an illustration based on that concept and I need more people to be sad about Holly with me! ♡♡

(Also S7-8 don't count, they find the Red Dwarf again but it isn't the original. That version of the ship has been revived as essentially a duplicate of the ship before the radiation leak in S1. The Holly aboard is also a duplicate, which must mean the original is still stuck in the vastness of space, I thought it was important to add that for continuity purposes hehe! 😅)

Also I'm sorry this was longer than it had to be, but oh my god, I'm so sad now!!

[hello0780]

solitaire Ranttttt

I love this book and I've read it at least 30 times. i just want to say before I start that these are my personal opinions about the book.

I know i said I've read it a lot but i still don't know everything so please don't get mad if i get any facts incorrect.

Solitaire starts as Victoria (tori) Spring is starting school after x-mas or winter break. Tori lives with her mom, dad, and two brothers, Charlie and Oliver. Charlie, who is also in the heartstopper comics, struggles with an ED. I truly think that this effects Tori's life a lot. I know its not Charlies fault but I'm sure tori is almost constantly worrying about him. Tori and her mother don't get along very well. I'm not entirely sure why they don't but i think they touch more on that fact in This Winter. I've read it but it was a long time ago and i really need a reread.

on a different note. I've been needed to talk about this but none of my friends care enough. This is a controversial opinion but i hate Becky. she is such a bitch to tori and i just can't stand her. i know most of the time when tori and her would fight it would be when Becky is drunk but that doesn't make anything she has done right. she dated Ben Hope, one of the worst people in the universe of solitaire. i guess i don't really have a true reason to hate her accept for the fact that i have had friends like Becky. its all fine and its a beautiful friendship, then out of nowhere they go behind you and become friends or start dating someone that isn't a good person. they don't know they are a bad person and you do. and if you try to tell them that they are a bad person they either don't care or they don't believe you. I truly don't get why people like Becky. this is way too much but I'm going to do it any way. I'm going to analyze one of their fights.

pages 226-228 Solitaire

Becky was kissing Ben Hope after 100% knowing how awful of a person he was and still is to her best friends little brother. Tori sees this happening at the Solitaire party and is furious. which is completely reasonable because of how actually nasty he is.

after ben walks off Becky asks tori what she's looking at. in the next bit tori just goes off on her saying stuff like "you are a nasty bitch," and "you just don't care, do you?"

"that's it isn't it? I'm you naive little friend whose sad little life makes you feel better about yourself. well, you're absolutely spot-on there. I haven't got a single clue about anything. But you know what i do know? I know when someone is being a nasty bitch. Go ahead and cry your little crocodile tears if you want to. You don't fucking care at all do you?" this is a rant Tori goes on while arguing. This leaves Becky absolutely speechless.

"well- you- you're the one being a nasty bitch! Jesus Christ just calm down." After Becky says this Tori tells the reader that, i quote, "this is bad. I need to stop. I can't" Tori is now aware that she can't help was she says anymore. She no longer trust Becky. She no longer has a "BFF". Becky has betrayed her.

Tori continues to yell at Becky. "I'm sorry - do you have any comprehension of the level of betrayal you have just reached? Do you have any concept of friendship? I didn't think it was possible for someone to be that selfish, but clearly i've been wrong all this time" Tori is very very upset now and then says " You've killed me. You've literally killed me."

Becky has single handedly DESTORYED Tori. Becky is awful, and of course she just tells her to calm down. she literally was just making out with a boy that SA'd HER BEST FRIENDS BROTHER! and she knew he did it. which is ACTUALLY INSANE!!!!!

just the amount of betrayal and shit she caused makes be fucking sick to my stomach. yeah i do know that its a fake story and they aren't real people. it's just the fact that people like Becky do really do shit like this. I can't believe people are actually capable of stuff like this.

i really need to shut up but i have two more quotes from Tori then I'll stop.

"You have solidly proven that everyone and everything is shit. well done. Gold star. please delete yourself from my life."

" i am gone. I am gone. I guess everyone is like this. Smiles, hugs, years together, holidays, late night confessions, tears, phone calls, one million words - they don't mean anything. Becky doesn't care. No one really cares."

thank you for listening/reading

[autistic-beshelar]

Hey! I'm very interested in what you've told me about antisocial personality disorder, neurodivergence, and empathy vs. compassion so far. I would love to hear more!

hi, sorry this has taken me a bit to get to, i've had a hectic few days, and i knew i'd end up writing a lot!

ASPD:

i'll start by saying that i don't have ASPD, so i'm just going to give the basics and hand you off to people who DO have it. it's important to bear in mind that ASPD is primarily considered traumagenic, and that, like any other disorder, it can manifest in a bunch of different ways, and people with it can behave very differently from one another.

ASPD is a cluster b personality disorder characterised by low empathy, limited range and depth of emotions, disregard for other people's feelings, disregard for societal conventions and morality, chronic anger, and chronic boredom. the common view of pwASPD is that they are violent criminals, but that is primarily because research is only ever done on the worst kinds of people, and i'm sure many of them are misdiagnosed. i'm sure i don't need to explain to you why basing a disorder solely off of people in prison is fucked as a concept, given how both the prison system and psychiatry are both incredibly flawed. (it's also for this reason that i have no scientific studies to give you, because the only ones i've come across are grossly ableist)

having ASPD comes with a lot of challenges, but having a disorder - any disorder - doesn't make you a bad person. from what i have seen, a lot of pwASPD don't so much 'not have morals' as have a deep distrust of authority and base their morality on logic or serving their own interests. in fact i've seen an awful lot of pwASPD who are very left leaning or are anarchists. of course there's also plenty who are right wing assholes, but that kind of goes to show that a disorder doesn't dictate your morality, it just might lead you to approach your sense of morality differently.

ASPD resources, from actual pwASPD:

https://shitborderlinesdo.tumblr.com/post/115096247519/the-anti-social-personality-disorder-checklist

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/your-stories/life-with-antisocial-personality-disorder-aspd/ (cw for mention of csa)

https://inanawesomewave.tumblr.com/post/177638772232/the-bones-of-it

EMPATHY:

my favourite thing to rant about. empathy is wildly misunderstood by most people, so let's start off with a proper description. there are two main types of empathy: cognitive and affective. you will also see some people say that there's a third type, 'compassionate empathy', but i have never seen a definition of it that isn't based on the idea that empathy is necessary for compassion, so i'm ignoring it, and i'll get to compassion later.

cognitive empathy: basically, thinking about feeling. cognitive empathy is the ability to recognise and understand emotions. it is involved with reading people's expressions, or understanding why a certain situation might cause a certain emotional response.

affective empathy: this is typically what people mean when they talk about empathy - the ability to feel what someone else is feeling.

it's extremely important to note that this is fucking impossible. 'feeling what someone else is feeling' is some sci-fi nonsense. it isn't real. the belief that it is causes a lot of harm.

affective empathy, properly defined, is the a person's emotional response to an emotion that they perceive someone else having. it isn't always as simple as 'i'm happy because they're happy'. affective empathy can also be involved in more complicated situations, like feeling afraid because of perceived anger (which leads to a whole conversation about hyperempathy and hypervigilance and the relationship between them, but that's a whole other post that someone who actually has feelings would be more qualified to write)

so that's empathy. it's really just a bunch of feelings that we have about or in relation to other people's feelings. there's no moral component to feelings whatsoever. morality only comes into play when action is involved. which leads me to...

compassion: being kind, not as an inherent state of being, but as a choice.

i'll talk about my own experience here, but i've heard similar from other people with low/no empathy, and i've heard similar from some pwASPD as well.

i choose to be kind because i believe it's the right thing to do. i see a lot of injustice in the world, and it makes me furious - in fact, for me, it's primarily my anger that fuels my compassion. my morals have been based partly on feeling, but also on logic, and on a lot of research. to me, being kind is logical and sensible. it's logical to want people to be happy and safe and free. it benefits me too, for starters.

i don't need to feel sad about people's suffering to want it to stop. and though i don't really feel much empathy, i do still get emotional about things - i can still be sad or angry or happy about certain things happening, it's just... less than other people.

i look at the world around me and i try to find things that i can do to make it better because i think that's my job as a human. sometimes i'm bad at it, and sometimes i'm too tired to, but at the very least i can refuse to cause harm, and when i do, inevitably, cause harm, i can make amends.

(there's also a long discussion to be had about how basing your morality on your ability to empathise with people makes it extremely easy to no longer care about people who have been dehumanised, but that's a post i don't feel qualified to make)

a book i am desperate to read on this subject is Against Empathy by Paul Bloom, but here's an article about it, which is of course not perfect, but makes a lot of interesting points: https://www.vox.com/conversations/2017/1/19/14266230/empathy-morality-ethics-psychology-compassion-paul-bloom

i hope that helps explain some things. if you have - or anyone else has - more questions, feel free to ask, and i'll do my best to answer.

[magnetothemagnificent]

What’s your take on Jews who are OTD? I didn’t grow up orthodox but if I did I’d probably be OTD by now. I just couldn’t imagine living under such restrictions. I don’t care if that makes me assimilated I like hearing women sing! I like doing stuff on Saturdays. Sorry if this sounds harsh but I would have been miserable had I grown up orthodox.

Sounds like you made up your mind already regarding Orthodox Judaism.....I don't know why you're asking me what my "take" is, everyone's journey with Judaism is valid, and as someone who the Orthodox community considers "OTD" (Off The Derekh: Literally: "Off the Path (of Orthodoxy)), why would I have any "take" on the matter? It's not a concept that is debateable or requires a "take".

Do you want me to say "I hate Jews who left Orthodoxy" (hypocritical, I myself left Orthodoxy)? Do you want me to say "I think all Jews should leave Orthodoxy"? Because I'm not going to say that either. Orthodox Judaism is incredibly meaningful to many Jews and is a perfectly valid way of practicing Judaism.

And observing Shabbat isn't a uniquely Orthodox thing, even observing Shabbat "strictly" isn't uniquely Orthodox. I don't consider myself Orthodox. I don't use electronics, drive, draw, write, cook, etc on Shabbat, and I love it, but if you don't love it, that's fine.

I grew up Orthodox and I was miserable, but not because of the "restrictions" you mention, but because of homophobia and transphobia. I still keep a kosher kitchen and eat exclusively kosher, still observe Shabbat, still abide by all the "restrictions" of Orthodoxy (except of course I'm queer).

Forgive me if you actually sent this ask in good faith, but your tone does not sound like it's in good faith. Your tone makes me think you're not actually interested in my opinion of Orthodoxy or non-Orthodoxy or ex-Orthodoxy, but just want to rant about how much you yourself would hate being Orthodox. And honestly I don't care for that. I'm perfectly happy in my Jewish observance and I don't think I'd be happy in any other branch of Judaism, but I'm not going to go say "ugh I'd be so miserable if I were [insert different way practicing Judaism]".

[koolades-world]

Hello! Congrats on 2k followers!!! I’ll be honest, with the way you write so beautifully I really assumed you might have had 5k if not more :0! But, I’m sure it’ll happen quickly without any of us noticing! Anyway! I was thinking of Satan x shy fem! MC who actually confesses to him!! I’m thinking that in one of Asmo’s Friday night games Asmo dares MC to kiss someone who she would date. So she bashfully gives Satan a soft cheek kiss and runs off to the planetarium. When she realises Satan’s presence near her, she spills her heart out using prompts 6 and 36! Prompt 6 to explain her initial attraction to him, and prompt 36 after listing out and explaining the things she loves about him (seeking knowledge, gentle nature, observant, considerate, you know it all!! :))! Sorry if it’s too long, you can cut out any details you don’t like or think are too tedious or completely change it to any other plot you like!

Have a lovely day/night!

thank you!! great to see you again :)) been working on your other request but i'm not sure when i'll have it ready haha

no worries about being too specific and whatnot, it helps me since I don’t actually need to come up with the idea on my own haha. the concept is very cute! you know me, I could rant about all the things I love about satan so actually that part might just be me speaking haha

asmo have friday game nights is SO real I think I may need to expand on that concept later. monopoly is 100% banned in that household, but we can save that fun stuff for later

enjoy <3

prompts 6 and 36 w/ Satan

Despite how busy the household might get during the week, Friday evenings were typically reserved for game nights, hosted and organized by Asmo. It started off as something small with just himself and you because they actually wanted to play games, Mammon because he was simply following you, and Levi because he saw an opportunity to show off. After that, it began to develop and take on a life of its own.

As more people joined, things needed to be more coordinated. Food had to be ordered or turns needed to be taken on who was making what, a schedule of what was going to be played had to be made, and even a seating schedule so nobody would argue over who got to sit next to you.

Tonight, the group would be playing something a little different. In all honesty, it seemed like the perfect game. It didn't require anything but the players themselves, and didn't have a limit to how many could play. Unfortunately, that game was the bane of your existence: truth or dare. You didn't have the heart to tell Asmo of all the horrors that games had brought you when you were younger. But, you'd never missed a game night and it wasn't about to start now. Who know, you might even enjoy it.

So, you took your seat in the circle against your better judgment. Today, you were seated between Satan and Diavolo. Diavolo was always very into the games, but sitting next to Satan made you nervous. Not because of his rage, but because of the effect of being near him had on you. After coming to the realization that you had a crush on him, being around him got so much harder, but you didn't want to disrupt the schedule. It was only one night, you thought you could power through it.

The night was a blur, and the only thing you could focus on was how close you were to Satan. You were squished next to him on the couch, and every time you touched, you felt almost stunned. You could only hoped nobody else noticed your suffering. Unfortunately for you, Asmo never missed that kind of thing and decided he was ready to be your matchmaker, if you'd take the chance.

"Mc! You haven't said anything yet. I'm honestly surprised nobody else has called on you yet. So, truth or dare?" Asmo's words shook you out of your stupor. You sat and thought for a moment about his question. He'd for sure use truth against you in some way, like asking who your favorite brother was. That would start a war. So, instead you opted for dare, hoping he'd just ask to use you as a living mannequin.

"Dare, I guess?" You nervously glanced around. You would have thought at this point you would've grown used to the stares of many eyes at once, but it still never failed to make you nervous.

"I dare you to give a kiss to somebody you would date. Preferably me." He puckered up. Of course you knew your answer, but did you have the courage? The easy way out would be giving Asmo the kiss, but that wouldn't be true to your heart. You could feel the gazes of the others trained on your every move, silently hoping you'll pick them.

"Uhm. Can I back out? Or at least can everybody close their eyes?" You couldn't meet anyone's eyes.

"You heard her. Close your eyes. The quicker you do, the quicker I get my kiss." Reluctantly, everyone in the room shut their eyes, the last being Satan himself. The two of you held inexplicable eye contact, as if he knew about the choice you were about to make before you did. After everyones' eyes were finally shut, you could feel yourself relax a little. But not enough to make it less stressful.

Finally ready to make your move, you got up from your spot and stood in the center of the circle. You stood in front of Satan, studying his features. You could spend hours looking at him. His long eyelashes, his bright blond hair, his full lips. But, you couldn't keep everyone waiting. With all the courage you could muster, you stepped forward, and planted a gentle kiss on his cheek. His eyes shot open and for a long moment, you stared at each other.

Suddenly, all the confidence you'd managed to gather vanished. Panicking, you ran out of the circle through a small gap between Levi and Mammon. You fled to the only place that brought you comfort: the planetarium. Once you were there, you sat down on the ground and looked up at the stars. Finding the constellations brought you comfort. Behind you, you heard the door to the planetarium open. You turned to the sound of the approaching footsteps and was greeted by the man you'd kissed under an hour ago.

"Mc. I thought I'd find you here." Satan sat beside you, following your gaze up to the sky. "I never thought you'd date me of all people." You looked at him from your peripheral vision.

"What make you say that?" You questioned him. To you, he was perfect.

"Well, I always just assumed you'd prefer my brothers' personalities. They all have something going for them, and I'm just me. I'm not as special." His expression didn't change.

"You don't sell yourself enough. You're smart, you're thoughtful, and you're a joy to be around, not to mention how handsome you are. You give me butterflies." You absolutely wouldn't stand for him putting himself down like that, even if it meant confessing in the process. You'd already kind of kicked that off to begin with, so the least you could do was follow though. "But, that's not all. You care about the people close to me. You followed me here, didn't you? That's one of the many things I love about you. You always know exactly what I need when I'm feeling down. You're sensible, you're always honest with me, you're witty, and you have a more mischievous side. You pay attention to detail and you're gentle. I have a hard time thinking about what I don't love about you. To me, you're perfect." At the point, Satan was was looking right at you. This time, you weren't afraid to make eye contact and you met his emerald eyes.

"I could list all the things I love about you, but we'd be here all night. If you give me time, I'll make a book for you. If that was a confession, I accept." He softly smiled at you. He was positively glowing with the compliments you gave him, yet he still seemed to doubt the reality of it all. His cheeks were a light pink, and he held his hand out to you. You took it with a newfound conviction.

"I think it was." You found yourself growing a little bashful again, but didn't let go or look away. You enjoyed the feeling of his hand in yours.

"We could go back to game night, or we could go out? I have this 24 hour cafe in mind I've been meaning to try. It could be our first date." He ran his thumb over your knuckles, pressing a tender kiss to the back of your hand that echoed the one you'd given him not too long ago.

"I'd like that." With a smile, you let him pull you to your feet. The way he smiled at you made you realize you wouldn't regret your decision to step out of your comfort zone.

[isnt-it-pretty]

please only read this if you finished cyno’s story quest!

I absolutely loved the story quest and cyno’s dynamic with everyone else but cyrus left me a bit disappointed… not in his character overall but in his actions. he had good intentions but took cyno away from his origins, denied him answers when cyno asked (cyno said he asked many times about hermanubis and the temple and cyrus always avoided answering him) and since cyno suffered under hermanubis it would’ve been his right to know where it stems from since he couldn’t recall… cyrus probably did it to protect him but he cut cyno off from his culture and people. Bamoun and cyrus owe cyno and sethos a lot in my honest opinion and cyrus still kept avoiding answering cyno at the end of his quest (cyno even calls this out) which just shows me he didn’t learn anything at all from the events.

he also had the option to try and reach out to cyno’s biological parents because they might’ve given him away to provide a better life for him (but I have to say as a middle easterner I’m tired of this poor parents give their children away etc etc narrative we had the same with collei)

cyrus also didn’t feel responsible enough for sethos after taking everything away from him or even leaving him behind back then even he knew it’s bad for him.

cyno and sethos both suffered under the actions of cyrus and bamoun and deserve so so much better cyno is a perfect example of ethnic children being taken in by white people and having their cultures and roots taken away from them. not to mention we know that cyno did maybe have a better life in the akademiya but he was still surveilled and treated like a lab rat and discriminated and isolated until he met tighnari

sorry for this little rant. I still appreciate everything cyrus did for cyno but I think this is also an important part of his very flawed character and ideals. in the end of the quest it even felt like he was manipulating cyno by showing him the photos which he “miraculously” found again showing him “look who raised and took you in”

Sorry I just saw this! First, please never apologize for sending me long asks, I love them! Also congratulations anon, I successfully had to log onto tumblr on my PC to type out this response lol. This is... very long, longer than your ask. I'm so sorry, this is the first post I've made with my thoughts on the quest, so it's going to be a bit of a ramble in return and probably not totally coherent.

Okay, so, full disclosure, I am super white. I mean I look like Barbie sort of white. That means that I don't think I can have any constructive input on the trope (arguably cliché) of middle eastern and BIPOC+Asian characters giving away (or selling, in Cyno's case) their children, so I will definitely defer to your discomfort with the concept. It's definitely a pervasive trope (see: Collei, Dehya, Cyno) and not just in Genshin Impact. It's something that is absolutely worth bringing up and thinking about, and I bet most people didn't even consider it, so thank you for voicing it as something you've noticed! Because of this, I don't feel comfortable talking about whether or not Cyrus should have looked for Cyno's parents, because it's very wrapped up in the narrative vs the damage of the trope, which has a lot to dissect and would be better done by somebody more educated.

As for the quest, I think I've gotta split this into two parts to have my thoughts make sense. God this is so long.

-

First, as a basis, the whole thing with Hermanubis is actually so fucked up from the start even before we can get to Cyrus and Cyno. I mean Hermanubis was an advisor to King Deshret, right? (Also that was two-thousand years ago, but he only died five-hundred years ago? Did I misunderstand that? Was he immortal? The timeline in this game could use an entirely different post because between Cyno and the Hearth kids it makes zero sense, but ANYWAYS-). Presumably, having witnessed this, Hermanubis knows the danger of Forbidden Knowledge and fucking with things that should not be fucked with.

After the fall of Tulaytullah, the Temple of Silence moved to the rain forest but left due to corruption, right? So you'd think they would have agreed on the basic Cardinal Sins of the Akademiya. But now, four hundred years later, the Temple of Silence's attempt to ressurect Hermanubis breaks at least one of those sins (tampering with life and death), and arguably two more (interfering with human evolution and/or attempting the forbidden and fearing none.) I really can't imagine Hermanubis would be happy with their actions. This is like the Akademiya trying to ressurect Rukkadevata (and boy do I have a fic I want to write that digs into those parallels of Cyno and Nahida.)

The very basis for the experiment they did on Sethos and Cyno is so unethical and corrupt. This killed adults so they thought, hey! It's not going to kill the children, right? Lets do it on them despite the negative effects (headaches and fevers). Bamoun's children even volunteered Sethos, which, again, is so fucked up.

Narratively, the quest didn't focus on this at all. It was never framed as something negative or messed up like you'd think it would be? I imagine it's because they didn't want to paint Bamoun and Cyrus as bad people or Sethos as indoctrinated. (What's interesting to me is how differently some situation are treated vs others in different quests. Arguably, Wriothesley, Arlecchino, and Cyno have parts in common that are condemned to totally different extents depending on the character, but that could be it's own post too).

We can talk about Cyrus taking Cyno and whether or not that was a good decision (removing children from their culture is never a good thing but we'll get to that) but we also can't really get into it without first talking about how the entire thing was absolutely horrid and wrong from the start. We're starting the conversation about Cyrus from a remarkably low place.

Okay, onto Cyrus and the quest. I actually think it's okay that Cyrus is a flawed character. We already knew he was super strict when he was teaching Lisa and Cyno, and we knew he was into some unethical shit since we already knew he was part of the experiments on Cyno, albeit not to this extent. (Also Naphis knows all about this so what does that say about him? All the Sages are so sus, but, I mean, isn't that just government?)

Here's the thick of it. Was Cyrus taking Cyno to the rain forest a good decision? I don't know. We just don't know enough about why he left and took Cyno. The quest didn't frame the action one way or the other, nor did it give the reasons he left or Bamoun didn't go after him.

There's generally three ways to frame this. 1. Cyrus was a saviour for taking Cyno from an abusive environment. 2. Cyrus was awful and stole Cyno's power for himself. I don't think either of these make sense, since in either case, I think Bamoun would have gone after them. I think most likely is 3. There were conflicting needs.

The one I'm leaning towards right now is that The Temple of Silence was desperate and willing to push harder than they should, even if it was going to harm the children, so as an outsider with a different perspective and more objectivity, Cyrus stopped the experiment. He knew Sethos wasn't at risk of being harmed nearly as much as Cyno because Sethos had a family there already looking out for him. Cyno didn't. People care less about a child who isn't part of their community vs one who is. So he took the child who was far more likely to be harmed, and left. Taking Sethos would have been even worse than just taking Cyno, imo, since it would be taking Sethos away from his family, whereas Cyno was already taken from his family. Bamoun realized the same thing in hindsight, which is why he let Cyrus and Cyno go. But again, that's just a headcanon about what happened.

As for the rest of the problem. While as previously mentioned, I'm very white, I'm also Canadian (I promise this is relevant). A bit of Canadian history here for those who might not know, Canada once had something called Residential Schools. These were boarding school for indigenous children who were forcibly taken from their parents to be "educated." There was a lot of abuses in them and I cannot over represent the amount of damage it has done to the indigenous peoples of Canada and the country as a whole, but the main reason I bring it up here is because of the way the government tried to kill indigenous culture through their children. While I don't think this was Cyrus' intent at all, it is a real world example very close to my heart of the damage it does to children to be cut off from their cultures. We see it in fostering and adopting children as well. Indigenous foster children are best kept with indigenous foster families when at all possible. Foster parents are told to try their best to keep their foster children connected to their cultures in the home but that isn't always achieved, nor is there always even an effort made. Mixed race families often practice both cultures with their children because know how important it is.

The fact that Cyno was completely cut off from the desert is wrong, and it would have been very difficult for him to face the discrimination for being a race that he has no cultural connection to. It's something Cyrus absolutely should have done more about. I mean The Corps of Thirty are eremites even if they aren't from the desert! Cyrus could have reached out to them on Cyno's behalf to introduce him to people who share cultural aspects (young!Dehya and Cyno friendship anyone?). He could have taken Cyno to Aaru Village (young Candace and Cyno friendship?) or at least spent time in Caravan Ribat. The only reasons I can think he didn't is because he was trying to keep Cyno away from the Temple of Silence out of fear they'd come after him (well intentioned but still harmful), he didn't think about it (obliviously harmful), he didn't have the time (willfully neglectful).

Cyrus also absolutely should have told Cyno about The Temple of Silence and Hermanubis, especially when he got a little older (although I'm for raising children with that sort of knowledge. Secrets only hurt later). Assume best intentions, he was pprobably trying to protect Cyno, maybe because he wanted Cyno to find his own path instead of the one the Temple of Silence laid out for him, but I still think that was a mistake to keep it a secret.

Cyrus is a very flawed person, but so are a lot of parents. That doesn't mean that his actions were right or justified, but it does make him an interesting character. It also makes his relationship with Cyno interesting. Canonically, Cyno isn't angry. He's already struggled and come to terms with who he is and what his power means, but I still think he and Cyrus need to sit down and have a long conversation. Cyno deserves answers about Cyrus' motives and decisions and they need to talk about Cyrus trying to protect Cyno vs Cyno not needing that protection, ways Cyrus should have acted differently, etc. I'd love to see somebody explore it; it would be interesting to see since it's definitely overdue, but I don't think I could do it justice.

I don't think it's wrong of Cyno to forgive Cyrus. We as the outside observer can say, "whoa, that's fucked up," but I don't think Cyno is necessarily wrong in how he feels. Like I said, he's already dealt with a lot of this already and is remarkably resilient. I think the hardest part of all this for Cyno would probably be Sethos, because that's definitely going to be a ton of messy emotions, but that doesn't have to reflect on Cyrus. It could, of course, and if somebody wanted to write Cyno as being angry and fracturing their relationship, that would be a valid way to go, but like, idk, I know a lot of people who made really bad decisions when raising their kids, and their kids still forgave them. Not always, and being a parent doesn't mean somebody deserves forgiveness for their mistakes, but I think it shows how resilient Cyno is that he bounces back from this so well. It shows his strength in his how convictions and beliefs, which is really interesting when compared to characters like Sethos and Kaeya (and man are there a lot of similarities between Cyno and Kaeya).

I also don't think finding those photos was intended to be Cyrus manipulating Cyno, but I can see how it feels that way. Since the quest was about Cyno, it felt like a nice narrative way to tie it together by reflecting on Cyno's childhood with Cyrus, but I think it really depends on how you view the entire situation and whether you think Cyrus should have taken Cyno. It's definitely a valid take and something that's okay to feel uncomfortable about.

This is where people might disagree with me, but Cyno grew up loved. He had a lot of challenges and Cyrus made a lot of mistakes, and love doesn't fix how fucked up it all is (lots of adopted kids are loved and still hurt by not having a connection to their culture), but Cyno has already accepted all of this and ultimately, he has forgiven Cyrus for his mistakes. I think that's what the photos were trying to depict.

To me, the entire quest does a very good job of using Cyno and Sethos as foils of each other. They're both paying for the decisions of the people who raised them, and neither are right or wrong, just different. It shows Cyno's growth as a person vs Sethos who hasn't yet found his way. It shows that neither Cyrus or Bamuon made the right decisions, nor were they evil people. They were doing the best they could at the time, and they both fucked up, and now it's up to Sethos and Cyno to figure it out, but they both still love their family despite whatever mistakes were made.

I hope this rambling essay length response is satisfying lol

[zzcrypticcoyotezz]

Read your Ian Malcom Nonbinary/genderfluid and now I can't get it out of my head. IT'S SUCH A COOL HEADCANNON THAT I SEE HAPPENING. Can you rant more about it, please? give more scenarios of what your take is LITERALLY ANYTHING GO FERAL. That is all thank you. Also Trans Alan?! yoooooooooo. Love the concept of Ian helping him come out more too. Just GRAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

aaaaaa thank you so much!!! AND YES i would be happy to! you're the first person to ever send me a question, i'm so excited my posts are starting to pick up and people like the dumb things i write haha. i've had this rotating in my brain like a microwave for a while so enjoy! doesn't make much sense with my headcanon being that malcolm messes with his gender after the events of JP, but i've been really wanting to reimagine the first scene of them together in the plane and make it extra fruity.

- - - -

"So... Are you a man, or a woman, then?" Alan asks, his eyes studying the mathematician carefully. He'd heard of Dr. Ian Malcolm and his work on chaos theory, sure. But he had no idea who the man himself (person?) was. He had absolutely no idea what to expect when he and Ellie boarded the plane, and he still doesn't know.

Ellie, gentle but still firmly elbowed Grant, giving him a glare. "Alan, you can't ask somebody you just met that question!" She whispered, sounding like a mother upset with her unruly son interrupting Sunday school.

Ian laughed, his sharp features curling into a smirk. He loved toying with the paleontologists, supposed men and women of science yet they couldn't wrap their head around someone defying societal gender norms. He leaned forward, his voice smooth, his long fingers gently pushing down the rim of his dark sunglasses revealing his big brown eyes, the windows to the soul some might say, and the makeup he had done that morning. Just something simple and easy to miss, just like his nails painted black or shoes secretly bought from the women's section, but undeniably himself, his style, his expression. He responded, his voice smooth with a hint of flirtation.

"I'm whatever you want me to be."

Alan sputtered. "I- uh, wh... What? What do you mean? That doesn't make any sense!" And Ellie couldn't help but laugh at his confusion. His voice grew quieter. "Pardon me if my wording isn't right, this isn't my expertise, but are you gay? One of those... Uh... Queers? I have no problem with any of it, I'm just looking for clarification."

Dr. Malcolm laughed. "Uhh... I, Well, uh, you could- you could say that, I suppose." The two still looked bewildered. "Here, uh, how about we look at it this way. Gender is.... Hmm... Something, uh, humans made up. A social construct. It doesn't truly matter what clothes we wear or what we put on our skin or how we style our hair. Life's too short to worry about that kind of thing. I'm just me. I'm not a man, or-or a woman, I'm a human being. And we're living things, we can't be put in- organized into a box. Life will always find a way to defy expectations."

Ellie's brows rose. "I actually think I understand. I've never really thought about any of this before, but it makes sense to me." She looked over at Alan. His face wrinkled in deep concentration, grappling with some kind of debate going on inside his head. After a moment, he finally responded.

"I'm sorry- but I'm still confused. How can you not be a man or a woman? The clothes thing, sure, okay, I get it." Before Dr. Malcolm had a chance to answer, Ellie spoke up.

"Just look at nature, Alan. There are definitely more than two genders or sexes. For fungi, there can be tens of thousands! And many animals can even change their gender or sex by themselves. Humans, we aren't separate from nature, we're a part of it. If Dr. Malcolm doesn't fit with either box then I don't see why they can't go past the binary."

Alan was starting to understand, but was still wrestling with a lot of concepts in his head. Things in his life he'd never told anyone before, things Ellie has no idea of. Alan Grant was not born as Alan Grant. Alan Grant wasn't born a man. He knew from the beginning that he wasn't a woman and he could never feel comfortable as one, and he was now dead to his family as they couldn't accept that. They'd rather have a "normal daughter" over a "transsexual for a son". He would lose his career if this came to light. He hasn't spoken to his parents since the day he left home at 18. They returned every letter he wrote.

Yet here now, in front of him, was someone who completely defied expectations. Someone who didn't care what others think. Someone who actively broke the rules. And this wasn't just anyone, but a world renowned mathematician! If a man, no, person of science can feel so comfortable with this part of themself... Then maybe he wasn't some freak of nature or mentally ill. That this is actually a normal human experience, that he wasn't alone or some kind of outlier. His expression softened.

"You're right, Ellie. I... I think I understand now. I apologize, Dr. Malcolm." His voice had a slight shake. Memories were flooding to his mind, memories he didn't want to remember, memories of his youth, and after he was kicked out of his parents' life. How much he'd fought to become the man he is today. How alone he felt, throughout so much of his life. He took in a deep breath, rubbed his temples and wiped his eyes, then cleared his throat, he held out his hand in a greeting. "I'd like to start over."

Ian smiled warmly, reciprocating the handshake. He felt like they have more in common than Grant would like to admit, and things were going to be alright.

-

[alexandraisyes]

joining in on ranting in you're ask box part- uh- idk 3?? 4??? I dont even know anymore

Anyway, *cough* i think still have some of these left (edit: I just finished typing this all out and think is defiently an understatement-)

SolarNexus: Solar just goes off on Moon for how much he hates Nexus. Thats all I have for that. I'm sorry im this close to forcing myself to start writing fanfiction again just to write this. Also for my true loves kiss saves Nexus idea- and just to write about Nexus finding who he is instead of who he's supposed to be. .... can you tell i think about these two a lot? (Edit: I prove later that I think about them even more, and Eclipse)

BloodySun: I'm like feral for these two- just, like- Bloodmoon giving dead birds and stuff to Sun and he's absolutley digusted but trying not to hurt their feelings- i- ansusnhas

Servant Sun x Servant Eclipse: I've seen like 1 ship fic with these two but I dont care. I'm obsessed. They need to hold hands and heal and go to therapy together. Obviously Eclipse would defiently be able to help Sun more (cause lord Eclipse), but Sun could defiently help Eclipse too. (Is Eclipse faking losing his memories/being reset or some shit canon? I've read too much fanfiction- im going to assume it is for this) he can also help Eclipse learn that he doesn't have to be fake all the time and thatd be cute

Nexus x Dark Sun: I dont even have thoughts about this. Like I have feelings but I dont have thoughts. I cant even reason why I like this, I just like the toxic yaoi. I just like the concept of Dark Sun not even liking Nexus but manipulating him- like- Moon turned bad x biggest moon hater. I also just like hurting Nexus so other characters can help him heal. Only thing turning me off from this ship is that its an alternate universe of his ex-brother who would most likely be his brother again if he had a redemption arc. Like- I love seeing the ship and I like the concept just it gives me the ick, but thats okay cause I dong have to rot over every ship. Actually, I'm glad I'm not obsessed with this ship I dont need more angst living in my brain. ... I am obsessed with it in a platonic sense tho so I guess the angst is in my brain anyway

Nexus x Eclipse but its when they were looking for who made Eclipse: Nexus abolutley collared him. Im sorry. .. no im not, im right. Like, what is with Nexus and treating others like dogs??? Like first v4 Eclipse, and now Ruin??? Nexus is there anything you want to tell us??? Okay pet play- also doing that to the masochist is crazy, like if you're going to treat anyone like a dog why would it be Ruin that feels like setting yourself up for disaster. Even if he isn't actually a masochist he sure is known for pretending to be one

Nexus x any Eclipse ever: listen, im just saying I think he has a thing for Eclipse's (which is funny cause Moon fucking hates them) Treating Eclipse and Ruin like his dogs. Solar being his best friend. Even Dark Sun, who's a really smart Evil Sun who absorbed the knowledge of his Moon, so im counting him. Like I think Nexus would like being thrown around by Lord Eclipse, or helping to fix up Servant Eclipse. I'm just saying-

Eclipse ² x Nexus (gets its own section i rot about these three): them just reassuring the other's that they're loved and cared for- im sorry you can't tell me that these three don't all have some form of attachment issues- Eclipse being so used to people hating him that he kind of just instinctively pushes people away. Similar with Solar, but he does it more so emotionally while also feeling like he has to earn his place and do things for people. And Nexus also feels like he has to prove himself, and that he isn't good enough.

And they just reassure each other and then the others use their words against him (/pos) and they realize how stupid it sounds and anisnsusnsns <3<3 like- nexus being like "you don't have to prove yourself for anyone, Solar. We love you, you don't need to overwork yourself for us." And, like- solar saying it to him back- and Nexus is just like ".. okay listen-" and similar things happening with the other two and ensunsjss-

also they're the three worst at interaction (other than old Moon he takes the cake for worst at it, but its okay i love it)- like they're all pretty bad at it. Eclipse is Eclipse(aka memories as a villain, and is a sarcastic little shit), Nexus is just kind of awkward, and cmon Solar didn't really ever have any interaction after his split than his Moon and probaly kids, we know he can't talk to people easily. Honestly tho Solar is the best at it (he was able to start up a conversation with Moon easier than Moon could with him) and I imagine he's the one who orders at restaurants

And Moon hates both of Solar's boyfriends and Moon and Solar are friends and I think that's just kind of funny. Like Moon likes Solar so he doesn't stop being friends with him even though he's dating the two, but he's bitter about it (though honestly if Nexus had a redemption arc and it was proved he had a virus, I feel like Moon would hate him a little less. But he'd probaly still be insecure about Nexus probaly taking his place and everyone not really liking Moon again so he'd probaly still be an ass to him.)

Anyway they cuddle. Doesn't even have to be romantic, those three deserve to be in love (also the potential from forbidden love Eclipse² is Nausnsusnsn)

... I- shipping dynamics are neat

I apologize for making this so long, I expected it to be short and then I remembered I started to like new ships 😔

ALSO were being brave and doing this off anon (also id like you to know I genuinely just stared at my phone for a moment when I saw youd followed me lmao. I was so suprised [and delighted, you're neat]- plus it was like 4 am and I hadn't slept yet. I thought it was a dream the next day because I was that tired- I had to check cause i get very vivid dreams-)

All of these are so canon bro.

Solar saves Nexus with true loves kiss real? Real. I saw it with my own two eyes. It happened chat.

BLOODYSUN!!! They love their sunny and try to show that in the best way they know how, dead birds included. Sun is so grossed out by the blood and feathers and ough that's a dead bird ewww but he just forces a smile and nods and feeds it to his cats when Bloodmoon isn't looking. Then drowns his hands with soap and shampoos the carpet.

I feel like I've seen that fic too but my poor brain- Also yes, the pretending to be reset is canon. And that's so cute I'm-

Platonic ships are just as valid as romantic ones! And I really like the angst potential too heheheheh

Ayo 👀 Mmm I have thoughts about that but I must refrain.

Objectively correct. Nexus is an eclipsephile. He loves himself some eclipse.

POLY POLY POLY 🎉🎉🎉

THANK YOU FOR SHARING ALL OF YOUR THOUGHTS THESE ARE SO TASTY OH MY GOD ROLLING THESE AROUND IN MY BRAIN

Also awww ur so sweet. I love ur art! It's very cute! Of course I followed!

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