#So just. Trying to stick to stuff that I know can actually directly help people

[vamptastic]

Hey so I doubt anybody cares about this given that my blog has like, 50 followers and half of them are inactive or old friends, but if anybody's been wondering why I have so few posts on here about Israel compared to other political issues it's because I'm not putting anything on here that isn't credibly sourced. I noticed quite a few posts containing misconceptions and some straight up hoaxes early on and I've just really not noticed anybody start to think more critically since then, so I'm just not posting anything unless I can take the time to verify it.

I think a large part of this is just that I'm on the English side of the internet and most people are not able to read Hebrew and Arabic so there's just going to be more misinformation than American current events. But ngl, there's been some stuff that I really can't understand why anybody would not immediately flag as a hoax unless motivated by anti-Arab racism or antisemitism of the conspiratorial variety.

Also I just have complicated feelings because I grew up very involved with Judaism and my first Rabbi was a hardcore Israeli Zionist, and I also spent a lot of time at Chabad which was also quite Zionist. So while from a logical & moral standpoint I am, as far as I can tell, quite anti-Zionist, there's just some personal feelings in the mix that are hard to let go of. So I'd rather not invite conversation unless it's with people I trust to be understanding because I grew up with an extremely biased view on this and there might be some ideas I still hold without realizing they're motivated by my upbringing and not the reality of the situation.

Again, I can say with 100% certainty that Israel's actions since October 7th have been reprehensible and that it is their actions in the years before that led things to this point, and that I wish Israel had at the very least not had such heavy British colonial influence in its' founding, if it was ever possible to found a morally good Jewish state in the first place.

[radiance1]

Okay guys.

Dragon Danny, this time not eastern.

BUT HEAR ME OUT, HEAR. ME. OUT.

He's made of....

GOO!

Not just any goo, obviously. But ectoplasmic goo :3

This au is gonna be disconnect from both the Ghost King and Ghost Prince headcanon I should say. Instead of being king of all ghosts, he's basically like...

A mega Blob ghost.

King of the Blob ghosts, even.

Like, basically the equivalent of those giant slime monsters or that King slime boss from Terraria but a dragon!

Whenever he's in dragon form, he can choose if he wants legs or not, if he doesn't, he basically just moves like, well, a snail. Obviously faster than a snail, but still. He doesn't leave a trail behind most of the time though, because he actually needs that stuff thank you very much and leaving a trail behind is pretty messy obviously.

Whenever he uses legs he just walks as any other two legged creature.

Because of his unique biology, he can basically shift between Eastern and Western dragon form at will. He can manipulate his body far more than that, but anyways.

So, Danny has outlived his friends and family, so there isn't much for him to really, well, do anymore. Like, at all.

The GIW was and still is persistent as ever though. Even if he's outlived the original members that were gunning for him.

Apparently, becoming a goo dragon and ascending to his status as King of the Blob ghosts bumped up both his valuableness and his threat simultainously.

Which he guesses is fair because if he saw a guy turn into a giant dragon and he doesn't have a positive relationship with he would see him as a threat too.

So, how did this lead to him being locked up inside of a heavily fortified base created explicitly for him to be contained within.

Well, funny story that (It's not).

He was just minding his business, having recently broken out of another containment facility by the GIW to try and contain him, and he went back to the forest near Amity Park to just chill as he always did.

A few... weeks? Months? He honestly couldn't remember, he was confronted by the GIW. Didn't take them seriously, got this gas/liquid thing shoved inside of him, knocked out, then woke up in contaiment.

Which is basically a giant hole in the ground.

Except that it's a high-tech hole in the ground.

Something, something, ectoplasmic suppressors or whatever that leave him less able to manipulate his own ectoplasm, which is a bummer. He can still manipulate it, of course, just to a far less degree than he could've before, along with that liquid that'll be pumped into him via some metal round in the ground directly below him whenever he gets too rowdy.

Well.

Consider him effectively contained.

So, time passes, how much he couldn't tell you since his concept of time is warped after living for so long plus, it's not like anyone there would really tell him if he asked now would they?

However, today seemed to be an exciting day, because something was happening.

He could see it in the way scientists scramble for an exit and how the guards run through his area. Of course, some still stay to 'guard' him, since he thinks he's some kind of priceless item.

A scientist's words, not his, but being referred to as priceless is nice.

And then wouldn't you know it?

That one scientist that said they would do their best to help him actually pulled through with their words! Thanks, Henry, he has decided that he will not kill you!

(He wasn't going to do it anyways, but it's fun to scare people.)

With both the guards gone, the ectoplasmic suppressors down, and no one to stick that liquid shit into his system.

Well.

You can say he finally gets to go apeshit.

And a dragon is a formidable foe any day. Add to that a rampaging, bored of his mind, petty, dragon that's able to manipulate himself however he wants?

Even better situation for him, how the facility is seemingly being raided right now!

Danny then, no warning, shoves Henry inside of himself. For protection, and then continues his rampage.

Meanwhile, the Justice League, the ones raiding said facility, is currently here because of the Anti-Ecto Acts.

A set of laws they do not, and will not, stand by.

[cripplecharacters]

Hi! I was actually wondering if you all could do a really in-depth post specifically on canes versus forearm crutches. I’ve noticed a couple of the recent asks pertain to it, and I think I myself still have one in the queue related to it, but in all of the posts y’all link us too in your answers to those asks, I have found the information is still very sparse and doesn’t directly compare the two in a lot of detail. I would really really love to see a specific dedicated post that breaks down the differences Between them directly, and goes into a lot more detail about what kind of person might prefer a cane and what kind of person might prefer forearm crutches. Differences in conditions, pain levels, fatigue levels, location of issue on their body, other symptoms, examples of disabilities that might more commonly default to one over the other, all that stuff. I’ve looked through basically all your posts on the subject I can find, and still feel like it’s really only scratching the surface, so if there’s a way y’all would be willing to do one big post on this topic specifically, I know at least I would really love it and I think others would as well! Most of the existing posts are a little too broad and surface level, and while I have found them super helpful as a starting point, I would love to see one that zooms in just on these two mobility aids rather than a broad overview of all types of mobility aids being compared like most of the existing resources y’all have. Seriously love what you all do and I would be extremely grateful for this!

Hi anon, just for you:

On Writing Characters Using Canes vs Crutches

[large text: On Writing Characters Using Canes vs Crutches]

This is a writing advice post that doesn't cover every single possibility because that's too impossible to try and do. It's simplified (!!!) to be coherent for writers who have little to no experience with these sorts of mobility aids, and I encourage anyone who wants to write a character using either of these to treat this post as a small part of a larger research process. This post will contain generalizations for the purpose of me wanting to actually finish it. This is writing advice, not medical information, nor something you should be applying to real life.

Please keep in mind that a lot of the disability examples will only be shown in a single category because otherwise this would be a comical block of text. So yeah, I know that a ton of conditions outside the "chronic pain" category also come with chronic pain, but I want this list to be actually easy to look through.

This will compare the cane (singular stick) to crutches (two sticks). Differences between a singular crutch and two canes will be at the end.

Canes

[large text: Canes]

The most primitive mobility aid that's out there. A wrist-height stick with a handle. You hold it in your hand (at a rather natural angle) and that's mostly it - it's meant to follow a standard (left leg forward, right arm forward) gait and be a support meant for generally milder mobility issues. A cane can take up to 25% of body weight, so like half of what a leg does.

As a TLDR, here's what they could be:

One leg unable to bear the entire weight (but not completely unable) - this could be a result of a problem anywhere from the bottom of the foot all the way to the hip.

Milder balance problems - largely neurological, so either a condition that affects the brain, the spinal cord, or the nerves in the leg. There are also some autoimmune, respiratory, and cardiovascular causes as well, plus a few more.

Back/trunk problems, most commonly pain.

To use a cane you need two legs, most people who use canes for leg reasons will have a “good leg” and a “bad leg”. If this is the case, you'd typically hold the cane on the good leg side, as that redistributes the weight - and pain - between the bad leg and the cane.

The good leg needs to be able to bear the whole weight comfortably, the bad leg needs to be able to bear, at the very least, half of the weight. If the disability affects legs to the point where either:

both have problems weight-bearing;

one can't bear weight at all (e.g., amputation, flaccid paralysis, pain too severe);

then two crutches (or other mobility aid, like a wheelchair) would be the move. The cane doesn't replace an entire leg and is meant to be a minor support.

Examples of what would cause someone to use a cane:

Monoplegia or hemiplegia that is spastic (rigid) in the leg. This could be a result of stroke, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, nerve damage, Brown-Séquard syndrome, polio, encephalitis, transverse myelitis, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, alternating hemiplegia of childhood, hemiplegic migraines, or being a hemispherectomy survivor. And many more things.

Chronic pain; arthritis, hypermobility spectrum disorders, chronic patellar instability, h-EDS, neuropathy, peripheral artery disease, past injuries (e.g., broken foot that healed incorrectly), systemic lupus erythematosus, joint replacement, chronic bursitis, and a lot more.

Relatively minor fatigue - most fatigue disorders will be on a wide spectrum, and people's symptoms often vary a lot. But a cane could help with fibromyalgia, Charcot Marie Tooth disease, POTS, scoliosis, severe kyphosis/lordosis, COPD (and other respiratory conditions), or milder forms of CFS/ME. Someone undergoing chemotherapy (or taking some other fatigue-causing medication) could also use one.

Muscle conditions, which are an even bigger spectrum. Spinal muscular atrophy type 3 and 4, early Limb-Girdle muscular dystrophy, tibial MD, Becker MD, or early myotonic dystrophy type 2 can all be reasons to use a cane. Keep in mind that these have drastically different presentations from person to person, and it's not entirely unusual for two people with the same kind of muscular dystrophy to use very different mobility aids (e.g., a tilt-in-space powerchair vs ...no aid at all). These are just the ones where I'm aware of a person who 1) has it, 2) uses a cane, even if it's not the most common aid.

Prosthetic leg on one side; usually below knee (high level amputees will more often go for crutches, even if they use a prosthetic).

The second biggest reason why people use a cane is balance. For this the cane can be held in either hand; some people have a preference, generally for the non-dominant hand for convenience - although many people with balance problems will also have a coordination disorder that might make using their non-dominant hand too difficult. Some people will switch the side they hold it on.

For a lot of people with balance problems, a cane might be the aid they use at home, and use a rollator or a wheelchair outside.

A good cane for balance purposes is a quad cane - it has four legs at the bottom and offer more stability than the single point equivalent. However, the larger base might also mean that for some people it can be easier to hit it with their foot, which ranges from annoying to dangerous.

Examples of disabilities that affect balance;

Many of the things included in the first section - primarily those that directly affect the brain or nerves.

Conditions that cause vertigo - again, many of the same things as before because a lot of them tend to originate in the brain. So other than aforementioned meningitis or stroke and the like: Ramsay Hunt syndrome, migraines, basically any sort of brain damage, POTS, Meniere's disease, labyrinthitis.

Respiratory problems, like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, severe asthma, or lupus.

Coordination disorders - again, a lot of overlap with aforementioned disabilities, so I'll skip to things I haven't mentioned yet. Ataxia could be caused by a lot of things; some include the Chiari malformation, ataxia-telangiectasia, Friedrich's ataxia, Parkinson's, brain tumors, or Niemann-Pick disease. Dystonia is usually a primary condition rather than being caused by other things (although it can be!). Dyspraxia is also a coordination disorder generally milder than ataxia, and canes can be potentially helpful for it as well.

As mentioned before, some coordination disorders will affect the upper limbs as well, and it might be too difficult to use a cane. For disabilities like Huntington’s disease, or ataxia that significantly affects the hands, rollators and wheelchairs tend to be more helpful.

Anything that causes the person to fall. Fall risk is the primary reason people use canes.

A cane can also be used for back/trunk issues. One can lift off some weight of the body from above the Problem by putting the weight on the arm instead. I have really severe kyphosis as well as (partial) trunk muscle atrophy/coordination problems and quite literally can't straighten my back for more than a few minutes at most - my cane allows me to do that more easily and without needing to think about it as much.

Examples of some conditions that cause that include;

sciatica;

degenerative disk disease;

past spine injury;

scoliosis or severe kyphosis/lordosis.

In my experience, you need fairly good arm strength to use a cane comfortably. For people with more significant weakness in upper limbs, rollators tend to work better.

Grip strength is also important; there are canes designed to mitigate this (the platform cane/crutch comes to mind) but they're not the most common because often (not always!) when someone has this issue they already require a larger mobility aid.

Canes are often a "starting" mobility aid, i.e., a person starts using it at first but later transitions to using something else as their disability progresses (or they realize that it wasn't adequate in the first place, it mostly happens with slowly progressive conditions - when they decide to get a cane, it's often just too late). A cane can be useful at the very start of an onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, but it's basically worthless beyond that.

Similarly (kind of), a cane can be the "smaller" mobility aid for someone who uses multiple of them at the same time. Someone dealing with fatigue could use a cane at home, but need a rollator for going out, or a wheelchair for longer trips. Another person could use a cane when going out with a prosthetic leg on, but use a wheelchair or crutches at home when not wearing the prosthetic.

Crutches

[large text: Crutches]

These are more complex and provide more help. Crutches directly affect your gait depending on the exact disability, and take away both hands. They can potentially take up to 100% of body weight for parts of the walking cycle if you have good upper body strength and balance, and 50% otherwise (so, one good or two half-good legs still required).

Crutches are used for a lot of things (realistically too many to cover here) so I'll just go with the main categories that encompass most of them.

A) Both legs can't fully bear weight;

The same things as in the cane section, but present on both sides rather than one.

Hypotonia; can be caused by thousands of things. Some include Down syndrome, Tay-Sachs syndrome, achondroplasia, being born prematurely, brain damage, and congenital hypothyroidism.

Paraplegia that's low-level and/or incomplete, or quadriplegia that's incomplete. Quadriplegia is a huge spectrum as well, and it will depend on the amount of strength and flexibility that the individual person has in their arms and hands.

Bilateral amputation with prosthetics. (Someone who can bear weight no problem but has a milder balance problem could use a cane instead.)

B) One leg can't bear any or a lot of weight;

The same things as in the cane section, they're basically all on a spectrum, so some people choose a cane and others choose crutches.

Unilateral amputation, or congenital limb difference.

Limb length discrepancy where it doesn't touch the ground or barely does so.

C) Significant balance issues;

Same things as for canes, but either more severe or just someone's personal preference.

D) Back/trunk pain;

Same as C).

Additional note based on things I have seen: you can't use crutches if you have no legs and no prosthetics. You can't walk literally just on crutches. You need at least a single leg or prosthetic.

(Yeah I'm aware that there's probably a guy somewhere who does tricks where he does exactly that for a short video. That's Crutches Georg and he should not be counted because 99.9% of crutches users won't be doing that ever.)

Crutches will provide much more stability and relieve more pressure than a cane, but there is a wide range of the amount of support depending on how they are utilized.

What the disability is can actually present itself in the person's gait - there are a few main ones that are associated with crutches;

Four-point. The two legs and two crutches work as four different points of support, and three of them are in contact with the ground at any time. A lot (not all!) of people who use it will use crutches full-time and/or not be able to stand without them. The most stable and the slowest out of all of these.

Three-point. Probably the one most people have in mind when thinking crutches? The crutches both move at the same time, along with the bad leg, then the good leg follows. This is the "broken leg in a cast" way of walking.

Two-point. The closest to how non-crutch users generally walk. It's like having a cane on each side; left crutch forward, right leg forward. Fairly fast.

Step-to. The crutches work as one point of contact, and the legs as the other - both of each will move forward at the same time. In the step-to, a person puts their feet at the crutches' height. Fairly fast as well.

and step-through. I'd say the most difficult, least stable, providing the least amount of support. The same as in step-to, both crutches go forward before both legs, however here the legs get swung through them while the person is only holding up on crutches. This is the fastest that it gets, and can definitely be faster than an abled person walking. You can run quickly like this.

If you have issues visualizing them, there are a lot of great demonstrations on YouTube that you can look up for clarification.

There are a lot of subtle differences in which one people end up using, but as a rule of thumb, the more balance they lack, the more points of support they need. To provide some examples;

a person with quadriplegic cerebral palsy might lack balance and coordination, so they might use a four-point gait.

A person with one-sided tarsal tunnel syndrome can walk with a three-point gait, as it can be used to mitigate weight-bearing fully or partially - if the pain gets worse, they can just... not touch the ground with that leg.

A person with incomplete thoracic spinal cord injury could also work with a three point gait, though they would put both legs on the ground. If someone has good strength in the arms and trunk, they can get both crutches in the front along with one leg, then try to get the second one to go forward as well. This is how a lot of crutch users with a disability affecting two legs, but with decent balance and upper body strength, walk.

A person who had a traumatic brain injury and now experiences balance problems but not as much leg issues could opt for a two-point gait. It does help with weight redistribution, but primarily provides a lot of balance.

Both step-to and step-through are primarily used by single-leg problem havers (like unilateral amputees) in my experience, but I've seen people with diplegia or incomplete low-level spastic paraplegia use it too. You need very good balance and good upper body strength. I've seen dudes do backflips and ride skateboards on crutches like this. You can run as well and be way faster than you think.

The same as canes, crutches require arm strength. The more you're looking to take away from the legs, the more will go to the shoulders. If someone doesn't have the needed arm strength, a rollator will be more helpful. Walkers not so much as they still require some strength to turn.

More Direct Comparisons

[large text: More Direct Comparisons]

The differences between pain and fatigue levels might be somewhat evident from comparing the sections above - to generalize the subject as much as possible: the bigger the pain or the fatigue, the higher possibility of using crutches over a cane is. They provide more relief for both, as well as providing more balance.

Now, there's always exceptions. Someone might not be able to use two sticks, because of a disability affecting one of the arms - hemiplegia is a common example. In this case, the person could prefer to use a single crutch rather than two. They could opt for platform crutches, which don't require as secure of a grip. They might need a rollator instead. They might have a powerchair that they operate with their good arm.

Another thing is that some people will use crutches even if a cane would work just as well. Some people like the grip more, or find them easier to use. They could also like that crutches are seen as more medical than a cane, which could be seen as a fashion accessory. Maybe they can be faster on crutches than with a cane (e.g., if their disability is limited to a single leg, getting it out of the walk cycle might be more convenient) and that matters to them.

And to go with this, some people just don't like crutches! I personally don't like the forearm cuff because I tend to swing my wrist around with my cane rather than hold it perfectly straight, so the cuff seems annoying. For someone else that could be more than a preference, e.g. if they have a limb difference that affects the length of their forearms to be much shorter - a person like this could prefer two canes.

As to what mobility aids are better for which disabilities, it's highly individualized, but to heavily generalize again: canes tend to be more helpful for relatively milder disabilities, and crutches for relatively more significant ones based on the amount of support they provide. But that's an oversimplification so simple that it's not really useful.

Someone with neuropathy in parts of their foot might find a cane completely sufficient, but it wouldn't be as useful for someone with nerve damage that caused flaccid paralysis from the hip down; they would probably prefer crutches. But then again, someone with mild vertigo could use crutches because they prefer them (even if a cane would work just fine) while someone else might have incomplete C6 quadriplegia and use a cane with leg braces over crutches because they enjoy having a free hand.

For more similarities between the two; overuse injuries can happen to both cane and crutch users, generally in the shoulder(s). They're not very common unless you're putting more weight on them than you're supposed to. They're very annoying because it drastically tanks your mobility until they get better (unless you can walk without them just as much that is), but they're treatable with physical therapy.

Now for the two canes and a singular crutch. Let's start with the fact that the latter is infinitely more popular than the former. It's basically the same as a single cane but more supportive; it's good for people who need more balance than a cane provides but can't use both hands. Two canes is very rare and I can't tell you what the actual pattern of choosing them over other options is outside personal preference because I have no idea.

The general conclusion of the post is that crutches and canes really aren't that different, and are more of a spectrum of usable sticks by the amount of support they provide to the user. That's why often you'll see canes and crutches listed as the same thing when it comes to "management of XYZ disability" type resources - for a lot of them they're rather similar in practice, especially when compared to rollators, walkers, scooters, or wheelchairs.

I hope this was more in depth and therefore more helpful, if this still leaves you with some unanswered question feel free to reach out again.

mod Sasza

[jellieland]

It's just like them, thinks Martyn, miserably, To want to make these things stick.

He's always been an "act first, weasel your way out of any potential consequences later," kind of guy, so immediate, painful and permanent consequences to his recklessness strike him as unfair, unwarranted, and quite possibly a personal attack.

But, well. Here he still is anyway. What's he going to do about it?

His ankle burns where the baby zombie clawed at it. His legs ache from the dripstone, and the dripstone, and, yes, the dripstone again, and also walking off Mumbo's house and perhaps slightly misjudging his landing.

His ear keeps ringing and most of his right side stings from the creeper that decided, quite rudely, to sneak up on him and then blow up directly in his face about half a second before he could raise his shield. And the gravel later on, that he'd seen falling but still not managed to avoid, hadn't helped with any of that either.

He can feel blood dripping down his back in no less then five separate places, along with his arm, his shoulder, and the side of his head—that last one bled a lot and got onto his bandanna which was pretty annoying, actually—all from his many encounters with what he thinks were probably, at a conservative estimate, about a billion skeletons.

He doesn't quite glare up at the Secret Keeper. The healing they'd given him had been too much of a relief for that; his vision had stopped swimming, that head wound had stopped bleeding so much, and it was significantly less painful to walk. But the look he gives them is certainly glare-adjacent.

"You do know injuries aren't supposed to stick around like this, don't you?" he mutters, bitterly. "I know you like twisting stuff, but this is ridiculous. It's unnatural, is what it is!"

Someone snorts behind him.

He turns, and he sees Cleo. Neat, meticulous stitches are visible across their skin. Martyn hasn't met many people with scars before, but she's one of them.

The only new one is what looks, ironically enough, like a zombie bite on their arm, entirely healed over.

"It's really not that hard to deal with if you're just patient," she says.

"Ah," he says. "Well. That's my problem right there, then, isn't it?"

"It certainly looks like it," they say, amused. They're laughing at him again. He can't even be mad, since all in all, he totally deserves it.

"Yeah, alright," he says, a bit indignant just for the sake of what remains of his pride. "No need to rub it in! I hope you realize that if healing just worked normally, I'd be doing really well, actually."

"Hmm. Right, you do tend to throw yourself off of cliffs, and then try and work out how you'll save yourself on the way down, don't you?" She gives him a knowing look. "But look on the bright side—when you do die, you'll get to be perfectly healthy again for... I give it ten seconds. After that, you'll start making decisions."

"Hey, I'll have you know I went to the Nether for ages, and got out without a scratch on me that I didn't have when I arrived!" he retorts.

"Oh, so you can be careful, you just choose not to be?" They raise a judgemental eyebrow.

"Well... I mean." He half-shrugs, then winces. "I mean. Yeah. Yes. You know this about me."

There is a brief pause. She gives him an unreadable look, eyes catching on the blood seeping through his shirt. "...Yeah. I guess I do."

He glances over at the Secret Keeper again, bold and unmoving against the unnaturally darkened sky.

When he looks back, Cleo is still watching him. "You didn't even bandage those, did you?" they ask, with a touch of what most people would think was disdain. "Let alone stitch them up."

"I mean, no? It's not like it'll do anything, is it?" he asks, taken aback. "The good old 'Powers That Be' want us to bleed, and they want us to keep bleeding! Who am I to argue?"

She narrows her eyes as though she doesn't quite understand his point. "I'm not saying that would fix it. I don't think any of us are going to live long enough for that method of healing to work." They shrug. "Would make it hurt less, though."

Now it's his turn to narrow his eyes. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," she says. "At least, so I've heard. For me, it's mostly about making sure I don't start physically falling apart, because it's really inconvenient when that does start happening."

He nods in acknowledgement. "Well, maybe I'll give it a go if I have the time." It all sounds a bit far-fetched to him. Much better to spend time working towards completing the next secret task he gets, or persuading people to give him the healing they have to spare, rather than losing hours on something that wouldn't actually help him in the long run.

(Maybe it's an echo, maybe it's just who he is, but Martyn's time is precious, and he is not giving it up for something so monotonous. Who would find that interesting?)

"Alright," they say. "If you're sure. But no one else is going to do it for you, you know."

He snorts. "Cleo," he says. "You're funny." She, of all people, should know he's already well aware of that.

"Right," they say, dryly. "Well, unless you want anything else I think I'm done here."

"Nah, not really." he says, then pauses. Frowns.

As unconvinced as he is, she really didn't have to say that to him. She deserves at least something in return.

"I will say," he says delicately, "if that advice really does help. You should probably keep it to yourself. You know. Death game, and all that."

All at once, their expression turns cold. "I think it's my business what I choose to give up, actually," she snaps.

Martyn's eyes briefly flick over to the Secret Keeper. "I mean..."

"No. I meant what I said." They cross their arms. "It's up to other people what they choose to do with it. But what I give them is up to me." She glances at the Secret Keeper, and then back to him. "No one's ever been able to tell me what I owe, or don't owe, to anyone." They smirk, and give him a piercing look. "You know this about me."

"...Yeah," he says. "I guess I do."

There is a short silence.

"Well!" He claps abruptly. "I won't keep you!"

"No, you won't," she says. "I'd best be off. This might come as a surprise, but I do actually have better things to do than hang out around Grian's creepy rock all day."

"Fair, fair." He chuckles, and raises a hand in farewell as they leave. "See you around."

Once she's out of sight, he goes back to staring at the Secret Keeper.

It's quiet.

"They're doing pretty well this time, huh?" he says. "If she keeps going like this, she probably won't get another happy ending, will she."

The air is very still, here. It's as though the place is trapped in night, even when he can see the sun in the sky.

The Secret Keeper does not answer him.

"I know you, though," he says. "You won't let it be all about being careful. That would be boring."

The thought nags at him that Cleo hasn't sounded as though they'd found any of this boring. Surely there had to be more to it than what she'd said? There had to be.

If there wasn't, then what was the point of all this pain?

He shifts, and his shoulder twinges, and he hisses quietly with frustration.

"Things already stuck," he says, unhappily. "They already stayed. I thought that was obvious."

The rock just stands there.

Judgemental. Impartial. It's impressive how it can manage to be both.

Martyn sighs heavily, and winces, and turns away. He looks towards his extremely small, entirely copied base, and a place where the sky is capable of letting in the light.

He pokes gingerly at his head wound. It's shallow, but painful.

"Maybe just this one," he mutters. "Could repurpose my bandanna. Although I guess I should probably wash it first. That would be smart." He wipes at his face. "If I don't then blood's going to start getting in my eyes. But not in a cool way, just in a way where I'll fall in a ravine by accident or something."

Nobody responds. That's ok. He hasn't exactly endeared himself to anyone, recently.

In a game that's even more about trust than usual, there's a part of him that doesn't mind being a lone wolf, as it were. At least for now. Harder to stab someone in the back if you don't let them get behind you, right?

He can make this work. He'll just have to adapt. He's good at that, usually! He just has to find the angle.

After all, he may not be patient, but he is persistent.

And he suspects being a liar will come in handy, for this one.

[cannedbeefaroni]

I just wanted to say you have the most correct and true and real and based brain ever.

also ..

what if we were one of eddie’s coworkers “helping him out” under his cubical desk? he’d be so embarrassed… or would he want them to see?

thank u!

(also nsfw under the cut. gender neutral reader. handjob under the table and stuff.)

also i think being edward's coworker would be interesting, considering no one else would want to be around him. seemingly, he doesn't want to talk to anyone, and when he has to, he has a stick up his ass about it. he's presumes the worst in everyone, effectively isolating himself before he has the chance to be ostracized by others. most people find him creepy. the quiet, short tempered type are always a case waiting to happen to those people.

all that is to say getting close to him would be difficult. he'd be rude and dismissive meeting you for the first time, being not much for conversation. he's shocked when the next day, you still try talking to him, offering kindness once again. after the first few days, he thinks you're just wasting your time, but after weeks of you trying to get along with him, he feels sick with anxiety. he doesn't understand what you want, and it's impossible for him to let himself think you actually like him. he looks forward to seeing you everyday, and on the rare occasion you don't show up to work, he feels lost and alone. only from simple acts of friendship, he's become obsessed with you.

since you and edward had become close, even more rumors spread. especially one that said you were too nice and felt bad for edward, like he was some sick pathetic animal. many people judged the way he'd act around you. he stares at you from across the office when you aren't looking. when he wants to talk to you, he'll stand behind you silently for longer than necessary, until either you notice him or he builds up the courage to say something. sometimes he'll even follow you around, but you don't mind it.

eventually one day you'd have issues with your pc and ask eddie for help. he sits at your desk as he works on it, and you'd stand behind him, over his shoulder watching. it's the perfect excuse to be physically closer to him, and he's extremely nervous as you lean over his shoulder. you pull up a chair and sit up close to him, barely paying attention as he explains what the problem is and how he's trying to fix it.

you already knew he often gets nervous around you, but now that you're up close, you can see the extent of that. he's pitching a tent, if you know what i mean. although his face is deadpan, he's trying to come across as innocuous as possible, hoping you don't notice whats in plain sight under the desk. he gasps when your hand slowly moves to his thigh, caressing the fabric of his pants. several agonizing minutes pass of edward trying to focus on his task as your hand moves agonizingly up and down his thigh, threatening to inch closer to the heat between his legs.

you're getting him too pent up, and he grabs your wrist. you fully expect him to push you away, but he brings your palm directly to his bulge. at first, he's silent, then he exhales heavily through his nose as you feel him up, shocked at how huge and rock hard his cock is. you grab his bulge and stroke it over his pants slowly. you look around, making sure no one can see, but edward is only focused on your touch. his hips buck slightly into your palm, begging you to go faster. he's trying so hard not to make a sound, but his breaths are heavy and shallow. you look him in the eyes, and for what feels like the first time, he looks back at you.

do you wanna go out sometime? you ask, still leaned over him, letting him hump your hand.

what? he stutters a whisper, taken aback.

i wanna go out with you, eddie, you clarify in a soft voice.

really? he gasps, a sudden rush of energy coursing through his body.

yeah, i like you a lot, you confess to him, and he suddenly gasps sharply, his legs going tense and shaking. he's panting as you feel a wet spot forming on his pants. he quickly gets up and leaves the office heading for the bathroom before you get the chance to apologize. you had no idea that asking him out would make him cum instantly.

[randomthefox]

I’ve been thinking a lot about how angry Tails gets in Sonic Lost World lately.

I think Tails is the type of person who loves to do everything he can to help people constantly, especially the people he’s closest to, because he desperately wants his feelings to be reciprocated. But Tails doesn’t want to directly ask for what he wants because he thinks that would be selfish. He always tries to present a kind and nurturing persona to the rest of the world so that people will feel like they can depend on him, and if they do, they’ll never leave him. This is also why he doesn’t know how to say no to people. The only way that he feels he can make sure he doesn’t accidentally drive away the people he cares about is by being as useful as possible. He clearly thinks that his worth is only measured by how useful he by how he asks Sonic in Frontiers whether he’s being a burden on Sonic for not doing enough to help him save the world.

I think that’s why Tails’ anger in Sonic Lost World seems to come out of nowhere. He’s felt like he’s been underappreciated for a while now, and Sonic wanting to team up with Eggman was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. If you pay attention, Tails’ rant is foreshadowed by him being more prideful than usual. As a way of him trying to communicate to Sonic that “you should be grateful for everything I do for you” before Tails has a full meltdown, because Tails doesn’t want to sound selfish by directly saying it.

Tails doesn’t get emotional very often because he’s always repressing his feelings to not be a bother. Tails still doesn’t say no. He never says that he refuses to work with Eggman, he just complains about it. He also still doesn’t properly convey what he wants. He just says that he’s angry about working with Eggman, but that’s clearly not the entire truth because he brings up how he thinks that Sonic doesn’t think he’s good enough. Another way of him indirectly saying “you should be grateful for everything I do for you”, except more aggressively. He still doesn’t want to come off as selfish so that people won’t abandon him. So instead he expresses his repressed anger by complaining about everything all of the time while never addressing the source of exactly what’s making him so volatile because he still doesn’t want to seem like a bother by sounding selfish, even though he’s being a bother anyways by being a passive aggressive jerk because he won’t just say what’s wrong. Tails is so fixated on not being a bother by not being selfish that he doesn’t consider how he could be being a bother in other ways. Such is the contradictory nature of an unhealthy coping mechanism. It fits with Tails’ habit of fixating so hard on the complicated stuff that he misses the simple things. Like how he built the Tornado 2 to do something as amazing as transform but forgot to add in something as simple as landing gear in the second form. 

Tails’ arc in Frontiers seems to be the beginning of him learning how to properly advocate for himself and how to become a more self sufficient person.

What do you think of this analysis of Tails’ psyche? Do you think this sounds about right? Or have I completely gone off the fucking deep end? Also, thank you for reading my 700 word essay on Miles ‘Tails’ Prower lol.

I think you're spot on. Like, no notes.

Tails might have self actualized in SA 1 and 2 but the problems of his self esteem issues didn't just go away. That shit is sticking around forever. It's like being an addict. You don't ever stop being an addict. Even after twenty years of being sober, you'll still be an addict. Deep rooted psychological dependence doesn't ever go away, you just get better at managing it. Pain doesn't go away, you just make room for it

Tails primary character flaw has always been his self esteem. His theme song was called "Believe in Myself" because that's what he needed to learn how to do. And the lyrics of the song include "Many friends help me out In return I help them Certain things I can do, and there's things that only I can do No one's alone."

Which, yeah, speaks to me of a pretty cut and dry case of "Tails doesn't think he's good unless he's useful." So Sonic thinking they "needed" Eggman instead of deferring to Tails would absolutely trigger that sensitive reaction from him. And like I mentioned when I was playing through the game - Sonic accepts Eggmans suggestion for them to team up unilaterally. He doesn't even ask Tails if he'd be okay with it, let alone consider that Tails could reprogram the machine himself. Sonic did cede to Eggman's suggestion so easily because of the baggage he was dealing with himself in that game, but it absolutely just resulted in Tails feeling slighted and developing some resentment which quickly boiled over into their argument. Which I've already analyzed myself.

Tails definitely strikes me as the kind of person who wouldn't understand that It Isn't About The Nail

Or the Parks and Rec way portraying it

aka as you described "so fixated on not being a bother by not being selfish that he doesn’t consider how he could be being a bother in other ways." The story he had in Frontiers definitely seemed oriented around confronting that element of his character and trying to take corrective steps towards it.

I agree 100% with all of it.

[moodymisty]

Wondering if you’re in the mood to write a tooth aching Crosshair fluff? Female tall reader if you’d like specifics? I think your writing of the boys is spot on, and all your Tech fluff fics are so cute!

Author's note: Am I in the mood for- of course I am! It's been a hot minute actually since i've done something for snipeyboy, so lets rip. It's as fluffy as I feel Crosshair would get, without treading into what I'd feel was too out of character (for me! everyone has their own vibe). (Also thankies for such kind compliments, I'm glad you enjoy my interpretation of the boys)

Warnings: One or two silly little lewd jokes, shooting a rifle, references to canon typical violence

"So, what's it like?" "Like shooting. What did you expect?"

"Have you always had that same rifle?" "Maybe."

"Can I see?" "No."

Crosshair was, complicated. Is, complicated; For as long as you've known him.

He fights almost every single one of your attempts to get close, and only when the lighting is perfect and the wind sings, does he leave a tiny opening for you to squeeze in.

It wouldn't be worth it, if you didn't love him and those perfect little moments in time so damn much. How his touch lingers for ages and his lips taste like fire, you can never get enough of him because for awhile, he didn't let you have enough.

But your incessant hammering on that wall of his has left cracks, enough so that he lets you close more often now; Enjoying a part of him that no one else has seen. You just needed to prove you were sticking around. And overtime, you've learned that Crosshair enjoys the type of interactions where you can both relax and just enjoy each other's presence, when he feels like no one but you is watching.

Now is one of those moments, as you lean against the wall next to where Crosshair is standing, looking down the scope of his rifle and preparing to take another shot.

You don't really know why he even entertains a range like this; It's so far underneath his skill level that it's almost laughable. Though you've learned it's more of a relaxing thing for him to keep him busy than anything. Much like some people tap their feet or chew their nails, Crosshair shoots. You'd call it a mindless gesture, but when is Crosshair ever really mindless?

You don't mind if he does this anyhow , as it's just as entertaining for you to relax here and just watch him. It's quiet and almost peaceful, the quiet noises other than the occasional shot. He's never directly asked you to leave, and while at first you might've thought it was to show off, he also seems to just like someone being around.

You run at a different pace than Crosshair, and he's become quite attached to it over time. You doubt the words will ever leave his lips, but his body and his eyes show it enough.

He fires another shot, hitting a small rock balancing off the hillock on the far end of the range.

He always makes this sort of stuff look so easy; And though you quite well know it isn't, you can't help but be curious about it all. You're always watching him intently when he shoots, and he's probably caught on, if you're being honest. But he's never let you anywhere near his beloved rifle; The closest is when you sit next to him while he cleans it.

Maybe today he just feels different; Or perhaps your curious stare has finally wore him down enough to share his passion more intimately, as he leans back and jerks his head in the opposite direction of you.

"Come here." He's staring at you, the barrel of his rifle pointed at the ground and the butt at about his hip. It takes you a second to realize what he's trying to do.

He's actually going to let you!

You almost have to contain your excitement, after so many times of just watching him. Scurrying closer he stands just behind your right side, speaking as he does something with the scope. His fingers deftly slide over a million different unknown pieces as you watch, the barrel pointed down to the dusty ground. The all move against each other in different ways, speaking a language only he knows.

"Ever shot a rifle before?"

You’ve shot normal blasters before, but not this. The toothpick between his lips flicks from one corner of his mouth to the other, looking down as his fingers brush over the dials of the scope. The base you're at is mostly dirt and dust; Hot and dry. It makes you miss Coruscant, even Kamino.

"Nope, not like this." He hums in acknowlegment. Crosshair finishes whatever he'd been doing it to ready the rifle for you and sets it in your hands, pushing the butt into your shoulder and adjusting your hands, and then your shoulders and back.

"Handling something a bit big for your first time."

He hears the way you snicker, and sighs.

"Dirty mind."

Once you're firmly holding the rifle he doesn't back away, instead just jerking his head quickly in the direction of the far end of the range and giving you a blunt:

"Shoot."

You can feel his eyes on you; They've always been so sharp that it's as if he's cutting right into you, as they glance over your body. They don't stop when you glance in his direction of a moment, before looking down the scope. You know snipers have to take into account things like gravity and the wind, and at some points even the curvature of the planet, but this is a shitty target range on some dusty no-name planet, so you just decide to wing it and see what happens.

Finger curling over the trigger you slowly tense, feeling the way the rifle kicks back into your body as you fire it. His hand against your back presses harder, as if trying to counteract it. You then instantly pull your face away from the scope, looking down the range.

It's not a perfect shot by any means, but it's a chest shot on the target. For a novice still at such long range weaponry you'll consider it a victory.

"Not bad." Crosshair says it with no undertone, lacking the snideness or venom he usually coats his words with for others. He tells you to do it again, and so you line up as best you can, adjusting before taking another shot at the same vaguely bipedal shaped target.

Better, right in the middle of the upper chest. On a person, it would've been quite close to their heart.

"Hmm. Good job." Crosshair's hand is still laying on the small of your back, and even drifts up and down once or twice, ghosting against your skin through your clothes.

You've seen glimpses of this Crosshair before; You know he's there under all of that prickliness. It's just apparently taken some quality time alone to bring it out.

"I think I still have some practicing to do, though." He looks down towards the end of the range.

"More than some." You can see he's baiting a response from you by the way his eyes are raised and his mouth is tight, trying not to smirk. It's one you know quite well, as it's the main way Crosshair gets you to do the things he might not want to say outright.

“What, are you gonna teach me?” Crosshair let’s a out a small hum. “Depends; Are you going to listen?” He watches the way your mouth curls into a sneaky little grin, with his much more reserved amused expression.

“I’ll listen at least sixty percent of the time.” Gently taking his rifle from your hands, he switches spots with you but doesn't assume a shooting position quite yet.

"That's wishful thinking. I know you don't have any patience." You roll your eyes.

"Can you just come here so I can give you a kiss? jerk." At first he doesn't, looking at you with a shit eating grin; Before he finally relents only in the slightest. You move the rest of the way, hands cupping his jaw as the tips of your fingers brushing against his hair.

His lips are warm against your own, before he pulls away and your lips part with the smallest 'pop'.

"Awfully rude to demand things from someone before insulting them." You see the rest of the Batch walking this way, so you just shrug and smile. "It works, doesn't it?" He can't disagree with it, since it's one of his main go to's.

Especially when he's being particularly bratty.

But with the rest of the group having located you both it's probably time to head out, leaving your brief little moment to end here.

"Ready to head out, you two? We have the coordinates and the ship's engines are hot." Hunter looks between the two of you, while Crosshair puts the Firepuncher in it's case. Hopefully this isn't the last time he shares it with you.

"Lets go!" You nod, before following him with Crosshair right beside.

[kethsi]

So I'm sure that you know how jagex turned Burthorpe into the starter area of rs3 Where the tutorial is and all the new player skill guides are. And has graphically reworked everything including the buildings and the people. And you know how since jagex released Necromancy as a skill they allow you to see the ghosts of canonically dead npcs in Um. And technically allows some interaction with them. And you know how mod Raven said that one time around the release of Nomad's elegy, that the rs3 team actually regrets killing Cyrisus during WGS? And you know how in Path of Glouphrie Hazelmere told you of the 8 npc's sent to rescue you, 2 will survive, one representing the path of the warrior and one representing the path of the slayer?

And you know how one of these 2 NPCs, specifically the one representing the path of the warrior, is Harrallak Menarous, the most irrelevant npc in Burthorpe, so irrelevant in fact that in 2 graphical updates they haven't fixed his coif ass hair clipping through his hat? And haven't even added any dialogue to him since the Necromancy release, not even some generic "hey since u talk to the spirits of the dead, can you pls buy Ghommal and Sloane a pint?" With a "thanks" and some cosmetic rapier as a reward or whatever? So are the OSRS team gonna stick beat for beat to the original WGS script and let irrelevant nobody Harrallak live while killing Cyrisus for the shock value (which will shock no one bc we all knew it was coming) or are they actually gonna do what the rs3 team couldn't by letting Cyrisus live and continue his character arc by either: 1. Going to work @ the warrior's guild, even if only temporarily now that they have so many vacancies, possibly rising in the ranks until he becomes guildmaster or at least in charge of one of the rooms like Sloane is now (Because even if he doesn't rise to become guildmaster, I'd much rather buy the strength cape for example from Cyrisus who demonstrated strength by his willingness to carry on despite reaching rock bottom before we met him in Dream Mentor than from some quaternary NPC like Yadech Strongarm who didn't even EXIST prior to wgs), thus paying the player's kindness forward by being a guide to others the way the player was a guide to him? or 2. Making him a Slayer Master / Slayer Master in training, since his npc contact dialogue about hunting the Kalphite Queen suggests he already is on frequent bossing trip terms with the other Slayer Masters and could possibly be training with them. He is so good at combat and slayer at this point that maybe he's learning slayer master minutia from his slayer master buddies during those current trips as we speak, and is reasonably close to graduating to slayer master himself, and he's as good a candidate to replace one of the fallen slayer masters soon anyway, which will also complete his character arc by making him a guide to learners the way the player was to him, just in an aspect he seems to be happy with on his own without being introduced to it by others.

Or, maybe, they can just let him live and do something else thing that will not involve combat directly bc he seems to be meeting with world leaders on his off time and discussing weird secret stuff so he can be involved in trying to help us somehow through that. Or even write their own ideas. I mean, osrs has a writing team of people who, from what I've seen, can actually continue a story and don't need to directly copy paste every last thing rs3 does into their game. Why not develop an existing character instead of killing him for the sake of avoiding killing some other overhyped loser (Lucien) that will die in the wgs sequel anyway??? I mean surely they can spare some character development for Cyrisus this time around instead of letting him die simply to shock the 5 people who don't skip quest dialogue and very slightly like him bc he was in a quest once?

[dumbass-tumbler-cryptid]

Love your stuff what will be updating Visited on the son? Maybe?🤔🤞

Thank you 😊. I had hoped to finish it sooner but then I got side tracked with an au someone sent me. I’m close to finishing the last part of that but I’ve also been on a trip all weekend so I haven’t really been writing much (but I have been think up a complete new fic that I really want to start writing but probably shouldn’t until I finish other stuff) . I’ll get back to writing Visited when I get home tomorrow. I plan on just chilling for the next two days so I’m hoping to get a lot done. In the meantime, here’s a snippet!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

“Alright now what sound does B make,” Miles asked his son. Spider’s reading lessons were displayed on their living room t.v, Miles standing off to the side of it with a pointing stick in hand, playing teacher. His son sat on the couch, looking hilariously small on the oversized furniture. Spider was wrapped up in a blanket, clutching it close as if to shield from the schooling, the pout on his face a permanent fixture since the lesson began.

“Bah,” Spider spat out.

Miles sighed. “You know for a kid that’s right y’a look mighty miserable.”

“This is stupid!”

Miles pinched the bridge of his nose, “well son if y’a had passed this portion on your aptitude test then we wouldn’t be doin’ this. But y’a didn’t because y’a couldn’t even read the questions. So it’s not stupid. Knowin’ what sounds all the letters make will help y’a sound out words when we get to readin’. Y’a listen to the sounds, y’a figure out the words and just like that y’a can read.”

Spider defensively crossed his arms, glaring at the floor, still obviously unimpressed. “It doesn’t matter,” the boy mumbled, the words barely decipherable by his father, “I’m a moron anyway…”

“What did you just say,” Miles' anger was rising, hoping that he’d actually misheard his son.

Spider cast off his blanket, leaning forward on the couch, “I said I’m a moron!”

“Don’t you dare say that about yourself,” Miles shouted, wagging a finger at the boy. Spider shrank inward at the yelling but Miles' fury was too high for him to stop, “who told you that! That damn McCosker!”

Spider curled into a little ball, “yeah.”

Miles took a deep breath, trying to quell his rage. You can’t yell at him, he reminded himself, you're scaring him. He crossed the room, kneeling to his son’s level, laying his hands on the boy’s shoulders. In a much more gentle tone he said, “I’m sorry for yelling. I was just mad on your behalf. You are not a moron. Don’t you ever say something like that about yourself ever again y’a hear me.” Spider nodded. “Now tell me what happened when McCosker insulted you.”

Spider was quiet until he found the words, “we tried school a while ago. I couldn’t sit still and that made him angry and when I didn’t get the lessons he got more angry and started yelling and calling me a moron and an idiot and stupid….”

Miles had to stop himself from completely flying off the handle and going straight to McCosker’s apartment to beat the shit out of him. “How old were you?” Spider answered by holding up a hand all five of his fingers splayed. It felt like a knife to the heart for Miles. His poor boy had already been through so much and Miles could have prevented all of it if he had just made better choices. He took his son’s little hand in his own, looking him directly in the eye with a soft encouraging gaze. “Now you listen up. Sometimes when people are mean, like that mean ol’ Nash McCosker, it’s really because they’re unhappy with themselves. They gotta tear everyone else down just to feel good inside. Once you know that, those people can never hurt y’a again. They are sad and pathetic. You are kind and resourceful and strong. And you are most definitely a smart boy. Y’a couldn’t win at hide and seek, or safely make your way through the jungle all by yourself or speak two languages or take care of yourself for as long as y’a did if y’a weren’t incredibly smart.” Spider’s cheeks turned pink, a bashful smile on his face. Miles cupped his face in his hand. “Do y’a believe me now?” Spider nodded. “Good. Now can we try your lessons again?”

[yakuzacanons]

Hi, sorry for my bad English, I'm still learning to write in English. So I was playing The Sims 4 and I automatically remembered posts about what it would be like if the boys played Minecraft and Roblox, so I asked myself: How would each of them feel and react playing The Sims 4? I'm a new follower and I love your posts!

YES this is so cute omg, also to anyone else sending asks I SEE THEM I will get to them, I got like 35 of y'all in my inbox and I LOVE YOU ALL just be patient, thank you mwah. Anyways, the headcanons below da cut, here we go.

Kazuma Kiryu

Fascinated by The Sims. Mostly watches the kids play it, but they end up roping him into playing eventually. Needs some help at first, it takes time to learn the ropes, but he's pretty good at picking up on it. Says things like "Ah... I see." a lot. Out of all the games the kids have shown him, The Sims seems to stick the quickest.

Majima Goro

Takes a million years in character creation alone. Like decorating things or dressing the people up. Total chaos lord, if something catches on fire in game he just gets confused. A lot of saying "What do I do, c'mon, tell me!" really quickly and loudly. Talks to his Sims, says things like "Darn it, I told ya to go HERE."

Akiyama Shun

Makes his Sims hit on everyone. Actually a bit of a chaos gremlin but only in games like The Sims specifically. Once he realizes that game is basically him making a bunch of tiny people do funny stuff, he will proceed to do exactly that. Will always pick THE most styling outfits for his Sims.

Saejima Taiga

Squints a LOT, especially when trying to read options in the charater creation menu or when a Sim has choice bubble pop up. When he sees a Sim isn't happy, he says things like "Huh? Didn't I just feed ya?". His first playthrough is super messy and the house he builds is totally not functional so it'll take him a few attempts to actually get going in the game.

Tanimura Masayoshi

Honestly the most basic of all the boys at Sims. Plays it straight, pours in exactly a reasonable amount of hours, struggles an average amount. It's not his most favorite type of game to play and he prefers to watch others play it as he finds their choices more interesting than his own.

Ryuji Goda

He's all about that house building, babey. Probably ends up building himself some monstrosity of a tower and is like "Look what I made!". He actually kind of likes The Sims a lot once he realizes it's supposed to be a little chaotic. This makes him actually relax more, whereas with other games he can get a little frustrated when something unusual happens.

Nishikiyama Akira

Probably the most likely to make his Sims look like himself and/or people he knows. If not people he knows directly, then something like a celebrity or famous character. Pretty good at matching his Sims to people's appearances, although he mostly cares about the character creation than anything else. Might not even play the game beyond making characters honestly.

Daigo Dojima

Very precise gamer. House has to be spick and span, all the Sims have to be happy before he turns the game off. Fond of the decorating or dress up aspects and likes to see his Sims make friends or start relationships. Treats it more like a dating sim than anything.

Mine Yoshitaka

Sort of like Daigo but he treats it like a business management Sim. His Sim is going to be the very best like no one ever was. Won't really tell anyone he plays the Sims as it's kind of his guilty pleasure game. Prefers having as few Sims as possible in one game so it's easier to manage them all.

Tatsuo Shinada

Best Sims player to watch in a livestream of all the boys. Total goofball, tons of "What's this option do?" and general fucking around and finding out with his gameplay style. Makes the most random looking Sims. Naturally comedic when he plays it. Tries super hard to romance other Sims though.

[notemily]

actual guide for new tumblr users, from Twitter or otherwise

yeah so I decided to do one of these. I'm just someone who has been here since 2007 and wants to help people who are new to the site and have no idea what's happening. Twitter seems to be in its death throes as I write this, and while the posts about driving down the property values are funny, I'd like to actually try and help out.

many people have made posts that are like "get an icon and post something or else people will think you're a bot" so I'll just assume you've seen one of those already. I want to focus more on the things you need to know to acclimate to tumblr culture. so:

general tips:

like things if you want to like things. people will tell you liking doesn't do anything, that only reblogs do stuff, but that's not quite true. only reblogs will get the people who follow you to see it on their dashboard (circulating the post further through the tumblr ecosystem), but likes will let the OP know you liked it, let the person who reblogged it onto your dash know you liked it, and probably do something complicated involving the "based on your likes" algorithm but I really don't know how that works. also, the like will stick around, so if you see the post reblogged from someone else much later, your little heart will still be highlighted in red.

you can control a lot about what you see on your dashboard from the settings page! on desktop, go into settings - account and settings - dashboard to change things. most people turn off "best stuff first" and just use the chronological feed, but you do you, new user. I personally hate endless scroll, so I turned that off, but I love timestamps, so I turned those on. for bonus fun, go into settings - labs and there are extra tabs you can add to your dash.

but what about turning off anonymous asks? on desktop, this setting, weirdly, is in the "Edit appearance" page for your blog. you can also turn replies off there, allow only people you follow to message you, and hide your blog from search results. there are a lot of random settings in there, so make sure to take a look. (app results may vary.)

you might notice that one of the settings is for filtered tags and filtered post content. this is why it's important not to censor things here that might be triggering for some folks - because someone out there has "rape" filtered, and if you go around saying "r*pe," that's not going to be caught in their filter. also, at this time there are no word police who will come after you for saying "kill" or "die," so you don't need to use euphemisms like "unalive" on tumblr. you can also swear as much as you want.

blaze: tumblr blaze is a relatively new feature where you can pay actual money to have your post forced onto random people's dashboards. beware, if you use this for something people don't want to see, you will get mocked. if you use it to show everyone your cat, you're probably fine.

there are two basic uses for #tags: organizational (putting your post into a category, like tagging it with the name of the fandom it's relevant to) and editorial (adding extra commentary that you don't want to add in the post itself). a lot of people will use both, a lot of people will use neither. when people like your editorial tags enough, they'll copy or screenshot them and add them to the body of the post. this is known as "passing peer review" and is a compliment.

memes and inside jokes You Should Know:

do you love the colour of the sky? is an extremely long image post (showing all the colors a sky could possibly be) that takes a long time to scroll past, and back in the olden days (2012) it was ubiquitous on tumblr. these days you can shorten long posts automatically using your dashboard settings (see above), or use the "j" keyboard shortcut to go directly to the next post if you're on desktop, but we still remember it fondly and refer to it constantly because nothing dies here, especially not memes.

the color theory children's hospital post is another one of those things you'll see a million references to if you're on here for any length of time.

you cannot kill me in a way that matters is a post that you might have seen in screenshots elsewhere online, but it started here! other memes that originated on tumblr: spiders georg, me an intellectual, graphic design is my passion, etc.

blorbo from my shows is a phrase used to refer to your latest favorite character. it started as a joke, but tumblr has a way of taking jokes and making them a thing, so now it's a thing. see also poor little meow meow.

tumblr holidays: anything people on tumblr can make into a holiday or anniversary, we will. most of them you'll see as they happen, and they're often self-explanatory, but you should probably read up on November 5 2020 if you don't know about it already.

horse plinko: tumblr loves this one for some reason.

I like your shoelaces / thanks, I stole them from the president: this was supposedly the "secret code" to identify a tumblr user in real life. (you can buy shoelaces directly from tumblr now, but that's a recent development.)

then perish: speaking of the president, if you see Obama's eyes with a very orange tint, this is the meme it's referencing.

ball-shaving ads: ads from the personal grooming company Manscaped were/are(?) ubiquitous on tumblr, to the point that some have theorized that tumblr was deliberately saturating people's dash with the ads so that they'd be more likely to pay for ad-free browsing. and one of the ads for ad-free reads "shave off ads from your dashboard," so like, they might be onto something.

world heritage posts: there are various tumblrs that compile the best of tumblr, anything that's particularly iconic or has become a meme. there are even heritage post blogs for specific fandoms.

tumblr history:

there are three basic eras of tumblr history:

classic tumblr era 2007-2013: David Karp started tumblr in 2007, and it grew in popularity and weirdness for many years. porn was allowed: the original tumblr adult content policy read "sure, go nuts, show nuts, whatever."

Yahoo/Verizon era 2013-2019: Yahoo famously bought tumblr in 2013 for $1 billion. ads started showing up on tumblr in 2012, so this is also around when tumblr started to monetize. Yahoo was eventually bought by Verizon, and in December 2018, they announced they were banning porn, which sucked. everyone predicted the death of tumblr, but it limped on, with about a 30% decrease in traffic. (source for that statistic)

Automattic era 2019-present: in 2019, Automattic bought tumblr from Yahoo for like $3 million or something. Automattic owns WordPress, and they seem to understand tumblr's userbase better than the Yahoo folks did. they've recently instituted a more nuanced adult content policy, but because of Apple's strict policy for what gets included in the App Store, credit card processors refusing to process payments for porn, and other restrictions, tumblr can't go back to being the porn-allowed free-for-all it once was. see this post for a full explanation of why.

various April Fool's jokes have included Coppy (2015), Mishapocalypse (2013), and most recently, the button that makes crabs. expect April 1st to be extra chaotic on tumblr.

Tumbeasts - the tumblr version of the Twitter Fail Whale, designed by Matthew Inman of the Oatmeal. not sure if they're extinct now, or if the site just doesn't go down like it used to.

Dashcon - tumblr tried to have a convention once. it didn't go well. the photo with the sad ball pit is used as shorthand to reference the disaster that was Dashcon.

SuperWhoLock is a name for the fandom crossover between Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock, which were all juggernauts on tumblr at one time. the fandom supposedly "died off" after 2014, but see above re: nothing dies here.

female presenting nipples - when tumblr introduced the Porn Ban in 2018, they used this phrase in the community guidelines. they've since updated their nudity policy, but the phrase will live forever, because come on, tumblr is a website full of queer and/or trans folks. if you think you're getting away with a weasel phrase like "female presenting nipples" without being mocked all over the website, you're extremely wrong.

John Green: an author who used to be on tumblr, back when you could edit someone else's tumblr post when you reblogged it. his text posts were regularly edited to make it look like he had said things he didn't. someone edited one of his posts to be about how much he loves a certain sex act, which was probably not THE reason they removed the ability to edit others' posts, but like, it didn't help. John Green was eventually harassed so much he left tumblr. opinions are divided on whether this was hilarious or sad. (something I discovered while researching for this post: the author of the Your Fave Is Problematic tumblr [which was part of the wave of anti-John Green content] wrote a confessional New York Times article in 2021. pull quote: "I just wanted to see someone face consequences; no one who'd hurt me ever had.")

XKit: used to be THE browser extension for tumblr. it was made by "the xkit guy," who seems to have been harassed off the site in 2015. the extension was replaced by New XKit, which worked for a while. these days a lot of XKit's features have been either rendered obsolete by tumblr adding them to its settings, or broken by tumblr interface updates, and the new hotness is XKit Rewritten. want to block a specific post from ever appearing on your dash, see who your mutuals are, stop seeing notifications on one specific post (great feature for if you accidentally go viral)? install it and play around with the settings. there are accessibility features too!

...and now I've made it look like people regularly get harassed off tumblr. WELCOME, NEW USER, TO THE HELLSITE! but for real, part of why I put this post together was so if someone starts in on tumblr Discourse and mentions people who have been harassed off the site, you can nod wisely and go "ah, yes, I have heard tell of this." just to give you some kind of context for things.

anyway, I'm always happy to Explain The Joke, provided it's a joke that I get, so if you see something that looks like a tumblr in-joke and want context, my ask box is open. just don't ask me about Homestuck. I know nothing about Homestuck and at this point I'm not sure I want to.

in conclusion, new user: go forth, be weird, become a part of the culture. I hope this guide has helped!

[cosmic-ships]

𝐿𝓊𝒸𝓀𝓎 𝒯𝑜 𝐻𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓂

Ship: Stronger Together (Wrench x Delsin x Kaden) Words: 815 Warnings: Just Kaden is sad for no reason lol Summary: Kaden has the deep blue, their two loves help them out of their own head.

So, I couldn't write anything so I channeled my feelings and frustrations to make a comfort fic~ Actually tagging people this time! :D Divider by @/benkeibear

Low. That was the word to describe how Kaden was feeling. They couldn't really pinpoint where it was coming from and that alone was causing Kaden to feel frustrated with themselves but it felt like an endless tiring cycle. Be frustrated and then feel really sad for no apparent reason. Thankfully, they had some people to snap them out of their funk.

Kaden trailed out into the living room to see Delsin resting on the couch, his legs sprawled out and hung over the arm of the chair, his eyes were closed and Kaden couldn't tell if he was sleeping or not, either way, they trailed over to him and gently crawled up on him and rested their head on his chest.

"Oh.." Delsin's voice filled the room, it was groggy, yeah.. he was asleep. His arm moved to wrap around Kaden. "What a nice surprise."

Kaden didn't say anything and nuzzled their face into his chest.

"you okay?" he asked as he started to gently rub their back to which Kaden only responded by shaking their head no.

"How can I help?" Delsin frowned, his voice holding concern.

Kaden shrugged their shoulders.

At that moment Wrench walked into the room his mask flashing to exclamation marks followed by slashes in the opposite direction of one another to signify sadness "How come he gets cuddles and I don't!" he hummed, a playful tone in his voice.

"I didn't ask for them, they came to me…Kaden's not feeling well"

Kaden shifted up and off Delsin as he moved as well until they were both sitting on the couch together, Wrench soon followed and sat down on the other side of Kaden. Instantly he reached over, gently rubbing Kaden's back.

"What's up? What has you looking so down?" Wrench asked gently.

Delsin and Wrench could see the tears welling in Kaden's eyes as they stared off into the ground, Their voice breaking when they spoke out "I don't know" the last part coming out as a choked sob and the tears finally fell.

It took both Delsin and Wrench a fraction of a second before they were both hugging Kaden on either side of them. They knew that sometimes Kaden's emotions would run high and could be rather negative for no apparent reason.

"It's okay, don't need a reason to feel down." Delsin hummed softly

"and before you say it, you're not a bother~" Wrench followed.

"I feel like it though.." Kaden sniffed.

"Well, you aren't, if you were do you think we'd stick around? You're never a bother. We understand you have high emotions that even you can't understand at times. We'd never belittle or judge you for them." Wrench sighed softly.

Delsin pulled away enough to look at Kaden "A gentle reminder that it's okay to not be okay.." he reached up and wiped some of Kaden's tears.

"Is there anything at all we can do for you right now?" Wrench asked softly.

"I just..I just need a distraction from myself for a little while..I don't really know how to do that though" Kaden inhaled deeply, trying their best to not start crying again.

"Done," Delsin said as he stood up. "Let's order some food and watch some movies. How does that sound?"

Kaden looked up at Delsin and nodded silently.

"Ouh! Then maybe we can play that racing game you like so much, you know with the missiles and stuff" Wrench said enthusiastically.

"We can IF SOMEONE doesn't launch their controller across the room because they exploded!" Delsin stares directly at Wrench while Wrench's mask flashes to two backslashes.

"JUST BEFORE THE FINISH LINE! My anger was justified! You blew my ass up just before I crossed!!"

"Well, should have saved your defensive weapon~" Delsin cooed with a dumb grin on his face.

"Yeah well you should use your….your…shut up!" Wrench growled

"uh huh~" Delsin teased.

"You're a menace" Wrench shook his head.

Kaden couldn't help but let out a small snort of laughter as they recalled the memory and it was like music to Kaden's husband's ears. They were both happy that their silly bickering over a video game could get them laughing.

The rest of the night was full of food, fun, and laughter. Wrench and Delsin had succeeded in cheering Kaden up, they were having such a good time they forgot that they were feeling horrible just hours before.

It was in these moments that Kaden felt like the luckiest person in the world, to have not one but two people in their life who actually cared about them and instead of judging them or invalidating their feelings they supported them and would do anything in their power to make sure Kaden could start to feel more like themselves when times were hard. They cared deeply but more important than that, they understood and Kaden would always be grateful for that.

Tags: @heatobrienswife || @ama-ships || @dragonsmooch || @roboraindrop || @mahitoslittlebird || @kylars-princess

[eowynstwin]

stargazer and cool dice! also if you’re inclined to answer and if it isn’t too invasive/personal, I relate a little to well to reader in your fic and it’s insinuated that finishing can feel better like hello???(!) it’s not supposed to feel like that or is that not actually finishing??? what do I need to research to get on the next level - not even asking for a friend, I’m asking for myself (again feel free to just delete this - I don’t want to be disrespectful or cross any boundaries. I’d been praying one day you’d turn anon back on so I can ask)

Hmm, that's a tough one, because I feel like I can't give you any advice that you haven't heard--you just need to experiment more and try different things.

I know, I KNOW, that's such a vague answer lol. So here's some more concrete advice, on the assumption that you have a vagina and all its accessories (EXPLICIT SEX ED UNDER THE CUT FOLKS):

Find a dildo or other penetrative instrument with a clitoral attachment, make sure they both vibrate, and use it in different positions for longer than you would normally go. Try on your back, your stomach, your side, or even sitting up. What you're looking for is twofold: a too-much feeling on your clit, like, when you feel it positioned just right you'll want to JUMP out of your skin, and a tightening feeling around the penetrating part of the toy.

You're probably used to that really fast, intense wave that happens somewhere near the start--I don't honestly know if that's a climax or not, but I do know there's way more beyond it. You've just got to stick it out and dedicate some time to this, and don't be shy about moving the toy around. Try different angles on your clit, try different depths with the dildo (if you get one that's wide in the middle but tapers at the end you might have some great success with that). There's a sweet spot--you just have to find it.

You'll know you're there when it feels like you're about to shoot the damn thing out of your pussy by pressure alone. You might stop breathing (I do), because asphyxiation just helps to prolong it for some reason. I'm no expert lol I just know it helps.

Oh, and it's important to note, orgasm is way harder to achieve, I think, when you don't start out physically aroused. Yeah, you might feel it mentally, but when you feel it in your body it will feel like you're tightening up around nothing, like you're honestly a little bit sore. So spend some time on some sexy fanfiction, erotica, audio porn, or even real porn (although I tend not to find real porn arousing, because I'm usually uncomfortable witnessing other people being intimate--ymmv).

Overall don't be too hard on yourself and try to enjoy the experience. Accept also that it might not happen, and there's nothing wrong with you if it doesn't. It's really hard, when life is the way it is right now, when maybe you've been raised to believe that pleasure is a terrible thing for you to pursue, when you've been taught that your sexual experience is destined to be disappointing. Be patient and be the lover to yourself that you wish you had.

I just realized you asked for research advice and I just straight up told you directly what to do. I'm not sure where to send you for any other advice, because I truly never found any that helped. I figured this stuff out by experimenting, and that's really the best advice I can give you too. Try this out, and spend some quality time with yourself and learn about your own body. Hope that helps!

EDIT: @captainjamster reminded me of the book Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski and I CANNOT recommend it enough. If you’re AFAB it is a great place to start. Nagoski goes into minute detail explaining the architecture of the vulva and the myriad issues that need addressing in order to achieve female pleasure.

[essayofthoughts]

Any angst HCs for crunchy moments as the quarter elves grow up? Close calls, or bad illness, or being lost, or assailants in Whitestone, or a parent scaring the kids, anything that'd give Vex and Percy nightmares? >:3c

Some of these are crunchy, some are just tasty, all are some flavour of angsty. Some definitely give Percy and Vex nightmares, some are just awful moments that stick with a person in a different way, a lasting underlying worry that persists afterwards while never being so much as to fully form a nightmare.

I hope you enjoy.

Vesper

So, you know I don't think that Vesper is actually an aasimar. I think she's planetouched, I just don't think she's a full aasimar. And... I think that gets to her as she's growing up? Because look. She has the white hair, she learned Celestial practically at her father's knee, she knows so much stuff about Pelor thanks to her mum but-

She's not angelborn. She's just a person. And I think there's a lot of people who try to put her on a pedestal because they want to believe that she's an aasimar, especially Whitestone natives. What better shows the healing of Whitestone from the depredations of necromancy and undeath and demons than an aasimar?

So I think she feels a lot of pressure growing up from this, from being put on a pedestal of expectations and belief and I think she struggles with that a lot! Who wouldn't! And she's her parents' firstborn and after so much loss as well just- that's a lot on this little girl's shoulders!

I think there's probably a total screaming, crying, sobbing meltdown at some point when she's about six or seven after some kid at a big diplomatic gathering says something to her about angels and she just finally breaks over it which I think is the point Percy and Vex intervene. I don't know that they'd necessarily noticed it before, especially because a lot of it would be small, or only directed directly at Vesper as she grows, or would be things easily passed off as, well, Vesper is the firstborn of the newly renewed de Rolo family.

I think this may also be why she ends up supporting Cass more as she grows, because Cass too knows what it's like to be faced with a huge amount of expectations and, moreover, to have to shoulder it, and so I think she understands Vesper's struggles better than most, and in turn, helps Vesper see what she can be regardless of others' beliefs and expectations. But yeah, I do think she gets treated quite gently for a bit after the melt because... well. I think she's very well behaved for the most part - partly due to her own nature and partly due to the expectations, kind of a hint of Gifted Kid Syndrome.

This said, I think this also means she understands Gwen and the difficulties Gwen is likely to face a great deal better than most except for like. Zahra and other actual tieflings, and I think Vesper is probably Gwen's favourite sibling for that exact reason.

Leona

Look. She didn't like glasses. She didn't. Yes they mean she can see but they're right there, dad! right at the end of her nose! All the time! I think she takes some time to get used to them and is never particularly pleased with the fact she needs them. I think she's also more than a bit jealous that clearly Vex's perceptiveness evened out to perfect eyesight for all her other siblings, hey mum, no fair!

I don't think she ever did something terribly reckless about it, like looking up spells supposed to help eyesight and trying to cast them... but I think she definitely looked them up. I think she also looked up an awful lot of hare-brained schemes and constantly gave her parents heart attacks over what new deranged idea she'd come up with.

But I think the worst is when she ran off into the woods after some kind of argument, likely with Wolfe, confident in what ranging she'd learned from Vex to keep her safe...

Only it was dark and she was upset and she got lost.

And then. It started to rain.

It was a very rough night out in the woods in those circumstances. Leona knew enough to climb into a tree, out of reach of most of the predators, and in hope of being able to perhaps spot a landmark in day, but it's hard to stay balanced while you're sleeping so she dozed but didn't really get much rest.

When she woke there was a Wolf at the bottom of the tree.

Not a Wolfe, to be clear. At that point, Wolfe would be welcome. But a Wolf, very much deserving of the capital letter because it was big, and it was watching up at her with very clever, aware eyes.

Oh no, Leona thinks. I'm going to get eaten.

But the Wolf doesn't try to jump up. There's no scuff marks on the trunk suggesting it might have. Indeed, there's a whole puddle of wolf footprints of various sizes around the foot of the tree, but only this one Wolf waiting.

Softly, the Wolf barks, and turns to point it's nose towards a slight gap between two bushes. When Leona looks in that direction, pushing branches out of her way-

She can see her father's clocktower.

Oh. Hadn't her mother said there was a giant wolf in the woods? Galdric, companion of the last Champion of the Raven Queen?

Well, she's always been down for a harebrained scheme. She clambers down the tree carefully, bit by bit, never entirely sure the Wolf wouldn't attack - she's harebrained at times but not stupid - but it never jumps, just occasionally whines a little until she plants both feet on the ground. Then it sniffs around her once, twice, and starts walking in the direction it had looked earlier. When it gets to the bushes it pauses, glancing back.

It's different in a wolf's face than a bear's, but Leona recognises Trinket's "aren't you following?" look.

In a few hours, she's at the treeline. A few minutes after she's at the town wall, her hand buried in Galdric's fur - it has to be Galdric - as he walks her the last few steps to the gate. As soon as one of the Hunters runs up to her, he turns and heads back off to the woods.

(Leona cries when Vex runs up to her and wraps her in a hug. It's okay - Vex is crying too.)

Wolfe

I think he at one point had quite a nasty fall.

There's a lot of ravens in Whitestone, especially after Vax's passing, and some of these ravens I imagine end up getting very bold. Whether they're RQ ravens or regular ones, corvids are smart and I wouldn't be surprised if over the years they get bold enough to pull a seagull - stealing food, landing on people's heads, etc.. And... I imagine all of the children know about their mother's brother and the gaping hole it left in their family and they know the ravens are linked to that. I strongly believe that being visited by the ravens becomes something the children impute meaning into, whether or not there's any divine influence in play - see the next entry on this in a second - and that they see it as meaning they're on the right path, what fate intends, that they're being watched over by their uncle.

I also think that children are little shits and probably like to play stupid games with each other and even with animals. So... I can see them chasing around some of the bolder ravens, encouraging them close and playing something like tag with them. Ravens do play, and there's magic in whitestone which is in the mountains around the city and would seep into the plants and thus the wildlife - I would be unsurprised if there was a little magical hint in the local area making animals a little smarter or more magical.

So... Wolfe chasing one of the ravens for tag. Running around the gardens, climbing trees and up to a tower window and on to the ramparts...

Except. Ravens can fly.

Little boys can't.

Between Vex and Keyleth and Pike, I think Wolfe is fine, physically. I think he is very afraid of heights for a good long while after, if not his whole life, and I think there's times when, despite all that magical healing, he remembers how it hurt to impact the ground like that, and want to curl small, to protect all those raw edges.

I think that's why he tries to stand so tall otherwise. Not unlike his father with all his shielding layers, I think Wolfe tries to find ways to hide or obscure the hurts he wants to forget ever happened.

Vax'ildeux

Well, for a very simple one: I think Danny saw his brother fall. I think he was the one to get their parents, and I think the visual of his brother crumpled on the ground stuck with him for a good long while.

But I promised ravens and their imputed meanings for this one so: as some of you may know, I have a very firm headcanon that Vax2 is trans.

Now, him being trans isn't too much of an issue. Exandria is by and large all for gender rights, and his family is more than wealthy enough to enable him to transition to whatever degree he wants. I think it was a bit tricky for him figuring it out but once he had I think telling his family wasn't too much trouble.

I think the trouble came for him in picking a new name.

Looking at the various de Rolo siblings several are named after lost family members (Vesper Elaina, Wolfe, Gwen (Melanie)) and while we don't know for certain that Leona or Wolfe's middle "Kristoff" are lost family members for Percy I also wouldn't be surprised. I think, therefore, it is not unlikely that Vax2's deadname also referred to lost family members! And shedding it feels a bit disrespectful, and that's even before picking a name which feels right and appropriate - I think it took him a long time to settle.

I think he absolutely considered his dad's brothers for names - Julius, Oliver, Ludwig - but given none of the children are named for them, I'm almost inclined to say that Cass called dibs on getting to use their siblings' other names if she ever had children. And I imagine the kids love and respect their Auntie Cass, so those names were out unless he wanted to go begging to Auntie Cass - which he absolutely could do but I think he probably felt was a bit intimidating.

So... his dad's brothers' names were out... but what about his mother's brother's?

But he knows that name is a raw thing not just for his mum but for his dad and for his Auntie Keyleth, so could he, really? Could he take that name on? It's a heavy name too, one with meaning to a lot of people, and him taking it on would mean something, and of course he couldn't be Vax2, but-

It's a long name. "Danny" rolls easily enough off the tongue.

And the more he thinks about it, the more he likes it.

The more he thinks about it, the more he notices the ravens sitting at his window as he mulls it over, tries to think what name to go with it - not one of his father's brothers' names, obviously, but what about his grandfather? His father bears a piece of his father's name, so that's a name Percy has dibs on, not Cass, so.. Vax'ildan Frederick. That sounds right.

And the raven watching caws.

Well. That settles it.

The really really daunting thing is talking to his parents and to his Aunt Keyleth, to find out if they'd be okay with his new name. If it wouldn't be too much. If it wouldn't hurt them if he claimed it - it would help him to have a name that fit, yes, but he doesn't want that at the cost of hurting his loved ones.

Isn't it lucky, after all, that they think it fits as well?

Gwendolyn

I think the thing that prompted the family moving from the manor and into the castle, out of Vex's own personal home and to Percy's family home which holds so many bad memories for him, is that someone made an attempt on Gwen's life.

After all, she's a tiefling, how can that be right or true! Her mother is a divine champion, her father freed Whitestone (and made a demon deal AND a devil contract, but how many people know about that? None likely to share them, except for Scanlan, and Scanlan is capable of tact on a rare day) - obviously this is some awful joke that needs to be Fixed.

"Fixed" just happens to mean at the end of a bloodied knife to some.

So someone got into the manor and someone attacked Gwen and between Trinket and the other children and the Grey Hunt members in the manor at the time, the person does not make it out well or even possibly alive. Gwen is unscathed.

But Percy and Vex have the very difficult discussion of what to do. Stay at the manor and try to increase security? And the manor is ideal for Vex, for diplomatic jobs to Emon (tree teleport with Keyleth), generally leaving out the main road) or jobs in the Parchwood (just outside city limits) or dealing with Hunt business (it is Grey Hunt headquarters) and it's hers, it was given to her by Percy, it means, so much - but their children mean more. And after the Briarwoods, Cass (who knows all the castle's secret passages) has made it frighteningly secure. They cannot make the manor the same kind of secure.

(The other children, the older children, are having nightmares, terrified that they'll wake up and find Gwen gone, or wake up and find someone standing over them with a knife, terrified in their own home-)

So they move up to the castle.

Gwen is so young she barely remembers - she learns later through some comment made by one of her siblings - but the rest of them remember. The rest of them cannot forget.

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Week 2024-01-22

Snowing again

Listening: Went looking for some very funky guitar and came across the album Parallels by Evan Marien and Dana Hawkins. Here's "Forever"

Reading: Not The End of the World by Hannah Ritchie, a book focussed on taking a realistic eye to sustainability.

This book largely rehashes stuff you'll already have seen if you read Ritchie, albeit in a nice compact form factor and with a lot of your generic pop-sci book flourishes. Better than median pop-sci because it has sources cited.

I do think that knowing these kinds of things is important. It helps you recognize what is worth worrying about and where you really don't need to obsess so much. Much of this book is about agriculture and food, since food is the easiest part of most peoples' lifestyles to change and this is squarely focussed on individuals, but it does also cover other pollution, general habitat loss, disease, disasters, and plastic pollution. A lot of this still ends up linking back to food, because agriculture is a huge user of land, and land use drives a lot of those things.

There's also a lot of debunking of bad stats that get quoted, which is useful. You see a lot of these On Line and even if you avoid propagating sensationalist headlines, you still read them and they can be sticky. In general this book doesn't as much assuage anxieties as try to shift them to more productive terrain.

Even if you disagree with the philosophy of the solutions proposed here, the data are mostly pretty good and well covered, it's solidly grounded more often than its not. Having relative comparative values for things like land use from meat vs plant foods, relative proportions of plastic landfilled vs recycled vs dumped in different parts of the world.

Watching: Porco Rosso, because like three years ago someone told me to watch it and I finally did it. Perhaps the lowest time to fantastical flying machine possible in a Miyazaki movie, although I haven't watched Nausicaa.

It is so funny that he's just some guy who got cursed! The human hands and pig head form a perfect comedic item. Killer one liners. It's tricky to make a movie simultaneously about fascism in Mussolini's Italy and also about a big cartoon pig who outsmarts a bunch of goofy pirates.

Playing: Still on Dark Souls, made it into The Depths, video on that just went up.

Making: Did some microscopy over the weekend, on a random snow sample. Not as interesting as algal samples or pond scum, but the pond is frozen over at the moment. I'll go back once it's melted with a stick.

Tools and Equipment: If you keep on dealing with shit-ass audio from your computer, a dedicated audio handling device is probably going to solve your issues.

I've spent years dealing with crap audio from devices plugged directly into my motherboard but I recently got a Zoom H1n portable recorder and I'm using it as a basic USB mic interface plugged into my old Video Mic for the Video Games Recordings seen above and my audio is SO clean. I can finally actually do proper audio stuff like recording with headroom and gaining in post without destroying my noisefloor, I did not know just how much goddamn noise my motherboard was dumping into audio signals.

I like doing video and audio to complement my photography but unlike with photography, I've never really used good quality tools to do that, so I'm in the process of changing that.

[itsyrgirl]

i have a very sparse knowledge of the back half of baldur's gate 3 but i do think one of the funnier things about bhaal is that him being a god of like, murder specifically actually gets in the way of his stupid plan to murder everyone in the universe ever.

like, because he's not a god of killing, right? you kill people all the time, dark urge or vanilla tav, because that's just how dnd works, and it doesn't satisfy the urge. bhaal is obsessed with like, the social context of murder. he wants you to kill people in ways that are socially disapproved of unless you're inside one of his murder cults (i mean maybe you can kill people in the cult too but they'd probably try and kill you first.) but your urge compels you to murder people all the time who themselves are enabling your own violence. and if he wanted everyone dead directly you'd think he'd take up a more efficient cause like rot or illness or natural disasters. if you want to kill a lot of people you should just drop an earthquake on baldur's gate, and then people won't even know who to be mad at.

but he really specifically built the dark urge to like, murder people they already knows, regardless if those people are also the urge's allies, and it's like, are you sure about that dude? is that the most efficient agent you could make to help you kill everybody? so you can spend eternity in a largely-empty universe occupied only by like, gods and other immortals? (bhaal himself is also probably trying to murder the gods but i'm not up on his lore)

and the out-of-character answer is obviously this has just been bhaal's thing for most of these games probably & larian's sticking with stuff established by previous games etc etc. but it's funny to think about. bhaal's not actually very good at this is he. i wonder if the first time he started a murder cult they all murdered each other and not anybody else and he was like "oh fuck i forgot that even violent and evil long-term goals require teamwork"