#and are going to be /extremely/ important

[incognito-princess]

Good schools don't "teach you that". They teach you the skills you need to access, analyze, synthesize, and comprehend "THAT".

Let's take your taxes- correct the school did not 'teach you how to do your taxes'. However, they taught you how to decode the words that are on the tax forms. They taught you vocabulary/context clues to comprehend the sentences that are on the tax form. They taught you how to write/type into those forms. They taught you how to add and subtract (which is the only math you need for taxes). They taught you how to read and follow directions. They even taught you what taxes are, what they do, why they're important, and how taxes have influenced the history of the world. All of those things were taught in every American public school.

If YOU chose not to learn that- that's on YOU! If you never continued to practice those skills- that is also on YOU. The reason that you're not a professional basketball player is NOT because no one ever taught you how to shoot a basket. It's because YOU chose not to pursue the extreme amount of work that it takes to become a professional basketball player. Why on earth would someone think a teacher can show you how to do something one time in 5th grade and you'll be proficient at it without any further work and practice?

You have let being lazy make you look stupid and you're going have to square that with yourself.

We did teach it. YOU. WEREN'T. LISTENING.

“I don’t learn this in school :(“

Hey here’s a question what steps have you taken to increase your education and knowledge since graduating?

[yukioos]

shoto is nervous to ask to cuddle with you

shoto wasn’t showered with love when he was a child, only praised when he did exactly what his father wanted him to do. he didn’t have much interaction with his siblings or even his mother to give a simple hug or have a conversation with them. according to his father, hero work was more important, and he wasn’t even a teenager when he had to go to extreme measures to become the best.

he was always training and was never taught or shown real love, too busy to receive it from anyone. the first person he received true love from was you, and yet he was so scared to initiate any act of intimacy, whether it was kissing, hugging, or hand-holding. words of affirmation came easily from him, as he was shown praise for doing well as a child, but he gave you compliments frequently. that was one of the few romantic acts he was good at.

but when shoto began to date you, he never knew what a proper relationship should look like, so he asked the boys in your class for advice.

he walked up to eijiro and stood in front of him with a blank expression, causing the redhead to ask, “‘sup, todoroki? you need anything?”

shoto stated, as his eyes darted back and forth between the man in front of him and the ground, “y/n and i are dating, and i don’t know how to show… love to her.” he paused, staring at eijiro’s widened eyes and a sharp tooth poking out, “i see couples holding each other in movies, normally in a bed or on a couch, is that normal to do with your lover?”

eijiro nodded, “yeah, dude! that’s totally normal, almost all couples do that with each other!” shoto’s eyes widened, and eijiro sighed, “you aren’t worried about it, are you? you don’t have to show pda if you aren’t comfortable with it, just show her love in different ways!”

“no, i want to,” he shook his head, “i want to hold her like that, but i don’t know how to initiate the act.”

eijiro exclaimed, “normally couples cuddle in bed, and there’s a lot of different positions too! one of you can spoon the other, which is where you hold each other, or you can be face to face. there’s a ton of positions, just find out what you wanna do by experimenting. most people cuddle when they’re super comfortable with each other or are resting in bed together, you don’t even have to say anything while doing it, it’s just a really intimate act. don’t feel pressured to do it though, dude!”

shoto nodded and said goodbye to him before retreating to his room, where you lay on his bed, watching television. when you heard the creaking of the door, you smiled and turned your attention from the large screen to him.

you grinned up at him, “hey handsome,” and scooted closer to the wall, patting down the sheets under you.

he hesitatingly walked over and sat down, staring deep into your eyes when you casually kissed his cheek, then his lips, and then his neck all in the span of a second. the tips of his ears turned red and his eyes were widened, how did you do that without a thought? how were you so natural at it?

shoto wanted to feel you, feel the natural warmth radiating off of you, and your body weight comfortably lying on his. he couldn’t wait any longer, and wanted to feel as close to you as possible.

he mumbled, “can i hold you?” and averted his eyes from your intimidating, loving gaze.

you tilted your head and looked into his heterochromic eyes, which were looking down at his sweatpants. you moved your head to get into his sight of view, and smiled, holding his cheek in your hand. he subconsciously moved closer once he felt your touch, and let out a soft sigh.

you then responded, “yeah, sho, you don’t have to ask.” then paused, “you don’t have to be shy around me, you can just do whatever you want. if you want to hold me, you don’t need to ask, it’s okay.”

he nodded and panicked for a second. how was he supposed to initiate the cuddles again? was he supposed to lay out his arms so you could crawl into his grasp?

suddenly, all his worries were swept away once you placed yourself into his arms. you wrapped your arms around his torso, slinging a leg over his. he felt your head lying on his chest, feeling his heart rate pick up and race quicker and quicker. he didn’t know what to do with his arms but remembered a movie once. the boy placed his hand on the girl’s back and rubbed it up and down, so he did as he remembered.

shoto’s mind was clear and calm for the rest of the night, feeling secure as long as he could protect you. he felt so loved, and as if he could show love as well as you do.

yay i love shoto

[itzpookiepooh]

You Lose!

You’ve been playing video games all day

Xavier is a very patient man. He would wait for you for the rest of his life. Not in this situation though, you have been playing in a gaming tournament for over 8 hours. He came home, greeted you, and what did you do? You just nodded your head at him. He ordered dinner and guess what? You barely touched it because you were too focused on that game.

As patient as Xavier is, even he had his limits. He was tired of being ignored by you. He was sick of hearing the same constant gunfire on the tv screen. He wanted to rip his eyelids off he was so irritated. He tried not to get upset so he went into your shared bedroom to catch up on some much needed rest. Only to hear the noise from the game in there. He was done, he teleports into the living room to give you an earful.

“Turn it off.” He says bluntly making you glance at him. You couldn’t you were almost done with the tournament. He glared at you as you continued your focus on the game.

“I’m almost done then I’ll lay with you.” You mumbled as your fingers rapidly moved across the controller. Xavier huffed watching your team get beat up. He didn’t even understand the point. You weren’t winning anything and this company was known for a good scam. He had enough and lifted you up taking you to the bedroom.

“Hey! I’m not done!” You shout, “It’s 2am. You’re done besides someone gets pretty upset when they haven’t gotten enough sleep.” And that was the end of it because as soon as your body hit the bed you were down for the count. Xavier wasted no time cuddling up to you and immediately falling asleep.

He’s not the one you want to do this to. He doesn’t even want to let you finish the game. He actually doesn’t let you finish it at all because as soon as you ignore him for too long he’s putting matters into his own hands. The endless hours of the same map was making his eyes hurt and he wasnt even playing. He stood behind the tv watching you not pay him any mind. He snatched the plug out of the wall making your jaw drop.

“You should’ve paid me some attention.”

He tosses the cord before dragging you to bed. You snapped at Rafayel the whole way. You also try to plead your case on how this tournament was extremely important. He lets you talk his ear off of course but when you hit the bed your speaking slows down. Rafayel just stares at you waiting for you to go to sleep. What does you in? Him running his fingertips over your eyelids. You finally go to sleep causing him to huff.

“Finally.” He huffs dramatically before throwing the blanket over both of you and zones into the sounds of the ocean outside.

He tries to wait it out, truly he does but when the clock starts hitting 3am and you’re on your 15th round he knows it’s getting ridiculous. He has showered and gotten ready for bed and you STILL haven’t moved. He was becoming rather impatient.

When he walked into the room your eyes were glued onto the screen. He shook his head as he moved farther into the room. You didn’t hear him as you cheered for winning this event. You were going to run to the bathroom before the next match but when you turned he was standing there with his arms crossed. You screamed loudly as you hold your rapidly beating heart.

“When did—how? I can’t breathe.” You pant on your knees clutching your chest. He breathes out a laugh before walking over and turning your game off. You pout at him. How could he?

“It’s time for bed.” He lifts you up to which you don’t fight. You didn’t realize how tired you were as you rested your head on his.

“I was in a tournament y’know? It’s super important.” You explain to him as you nod. He hums softly as he walks through the home.

“So important that you’ve played for over 12 hours. Have you won anything?” He asks smirking as usual.

“It’s pre trials if we make it to 50 levels we get to the real thing.” You express with your hands. He chuckles shaking his head. He knew you’d collapse before then anyway. He enters the bedroom and lays you gently on the mattress. You sigh through your nose as your body relaxes into the luxurious mattress.

“Well I think a certain gaming master needs rest before jumping into such a meaningful task.” He kisses your forehead as you begin to daze.

“Rest…right.” You trail off. If anything puts you to sleep it’s the tone in Sylus’ voice and his nice comfy bed.

“Mm exactly. Sleep tight.” His deep voice flows through your ears. He waits until your breathing evens out before smirking and tucking you in. He holds you close as you both fall asleep.

Caleb was playing with you earlier in the day but as most people he got bored. He told you the fleet needed him for something and that he’d be right back. You mumbled a noise confirming you heard him. When he got back it was extremely late and he could still hear the noises from your game. You were so focused you didn’t hear him come home.

“Pipsqueak I think it’s time to get off.” He spoke softly trying to drag your attention away from the bright screen.

“One second…almost done.” You mumbled to him as your fingers rapidly move across the controller. He sighs before walking away, he was going to give you time by showering.

When he came back he had to make the executive decision or else you’d regret it in the morning. He used his evol to lift you up which didn’t faze you since you didn’t let go of the controller. He chuckled before walking closer and taking it from you. Your eyes red and irritated from staring at the screen for so long.

“You’ll regret it in the morning besides, your eyes are bloodshot.” He informed you causing you to gasp and close them.

When you arrived in the bedroom, he sat you down. You couldn’t lie your eyes did burn. Maybe sleep was the best option right now. Caleb always knew what was best even as you both got older. He cuddled you until you fell asleep, he stayed up a while longer to make sure you were comfortable.

He had no idea why you weren’t answering his texts all day. He forgot you had the day off and assumed you were at work. He couldn’t call to check on you since it was the busiest day ever today. When it came time for him to get off work, he texted you he was on his way home. To his surprise you were sitting close to the tv screen playing a shooter game.

The room was tidy as if you hadn’t moved an inch since you sat down. He put his keys up and took his shoes off before walking closer. You looked drained, he couldn’t even begin to guess how long you had been playing. He crouched beside you and tapped your shoulder. You give him a quick side glance before smiling softly.

“You’re home.” Your voice filled with joy. “Have you been sitting here all day?” He asked with genuine concern. You nod as he watches your eyes dart across the screen.

“This isn’t healthy, your eyes and brain need rest.” He informed you as he rubbed your back. You nodded sort of hearing him.

“I’m almost done…” You trail off as the clacking of the controller gets louder. He sighs turning to look at the screen seeing your character die.

“That ended quicker than I anticipated.” He mumbled before looking back at you. Your eyes were sore and looking at Zayne for this short period of time gave them relief.

“You should shower.” You tell him but he raises an eyebrow at you.

“You’re trying to trick me again. I know you’ll start another round if I leave.” He told you making you laugh.

“It was worth a shot.” You told him as he helped you stand up. He guided you to bed before going to wash off his day. He promised to tell you a story after his shower. By the time he was done you were fast asleep, curled into his pillow. That brought a smile to his face.

He kissed your forehead gently before whispering, “Goodnight, my love.” He proceeds to fall asleep next to you. This was the best night’s sleep either of you had gotten in a while.

[gay-dorito-dust]

I just saw ur little nero Fic about S/o and Dante Being his Parents, I wonder If It had been him But older, DMC5 Nero Finding out his Biological dad is actually Vergil and his mother is anonymous, I think his reaction would be distraught and Anger since all his life, he’s been Raised by S/o and Dante

Nero would be in such deep denial, you and Dante have raised him since he would speak, you and Dante were the family he’s ever known and ever cared to love as deeply as he did.

So to find that not only were you both not his actual parents but instead his uncle and aunt/uncle made him extremely confused and angry, though it wasn’t at you both -well maybe a little since you two did withheld this information from him- but mostly at Vergil and his unknown mother, this ‘lady in red’ for giving him away as quickly as possible.

He was honoured that you and Dante had brought him into your lives, give him the childhood that he now knew neither his uncle nor his biological father would ever have, treated him like your own flesh and blood because he was even if he wasn’t your son for Nero knew he’d always be your’s and Dante’s son; despite being presented with truth that said otherwise. There was nothing that anyone could deter him from thinking you as anything but the people who raised him to be who he is today, Vergil had no hand in it at all, having also learnt that he had a son the same time Nero found out that he was that son.

It’s hard for Nero to stop seeing you and Dante as his parents after raising him for so long, it fucks with his mind a little in all honesty becuase he’s wondering if everything you’ve ever told him was true, that you loved him like he was your own son.

‘Of course it’s true Nero.’ You tell him as you rest your hands on his shoulders. ‘You maybe my nephew but you’ll forever be my son, my baby that wouldn’t let go of my hand even when I tried putting you to sleep as a teenager.’ You smiled at him, knowing that this was something he himself will have to determine was truth or not, and how he wants to react to you after all is said and done.

‘Why didn’t either of you tell me.’ He asks, exhausted from his outburst.

‘We didn’t feel it right for you to know, especially since we didn’t think we’d ever see this one ever again.’ Dante intervenes this time as he gestures towards Vergil from afar. ‘Besides you were happy with us, why ruin it by telling you all that.’ He adds as he remembers how happy Nero was when training with him to become a demon hunter and how he’d help you with the house and cooking on occasions, the young lad was raised with love and respect within the forefronts of your minds as it’s the best you could do for a boy who knew nothing of his actual family.

‘But still don’t you think that it would’ve been important for me to know this?’ Nero asks as he looked between you and Dante, like a lost child and uncertain on what he should do, so he looks towards the two people who had given him everything to be the man he is now.

‘What would that change?’ You said. ‘Would it change how you see us? Would we stop being your parents even if you knew the truth?’

‘No.’ Nero replied.

‘Would it make you hate us for withholding this from you?’

‘A little mad but hate you? No never.’

‘Would it make you want to actively seek them out even if we didn’t tell you? Search for the very people who gave you up in hopes of asking them what happened, as if any of their choices is remotely your fault and yours to resolve alone?’ You continued, still very much pissed at Vergil and this forgotten lady for leaving the sweetest soul on his own in an orphanage, it’s a sin you wouldn’t ever forgive them for and never have the room in your heart for how they made your nephew- no- your son feel such a way.

Nero stopped to think about that and realised quickly that he wouldn’t, why would he want to track two people who clearly wanted nothing to do with him, when the people who had given everything to raise him and give him a better life then he would’ve had stood before him with guilt ridden faces, faces that only shown nothing but love and affection for him even when he was being a little shit. You and Dante loved him regardless and would never stop loving him even now, and that was all he needed to know that he would never go after loveless people, not when all the love he’s ever felt and given came from you and Dante.

All the fights, arguments, and the one time where he dreaded saying that neither of you were his parents, Nero knew he had found home and shouldn’t look elsewhere or in anyone for that home that no one could ever replicate.

‘No, why would I when I’ve been given what any child would want from you two: a loving family.’ He says as you brought him into your arms, kissing his forehead.

‘Our son you’ll forever be.’ You whispered to him which only had him hold you tighter as Dante joined you both in the group hug, holding the boy whom he saw as his own and the love of his life that stood by him even after finding out the true origins of Nero.

‘Our son indeed.’ Dante echoed your sentiment, wanting nothing more then to reassure Nero that while he might not like the family he’s from, he’s still got another family that will always love and support him no matter what, even if some arguments may arise but at the end of the day family will fight against each other as well as for each other; And the Sparda family was one family that did both in droves.

[aychama]

Oh my god!!!! It seems like the next update is going to be huge!

I am exciteeed!

Writing down what it says for those having trouble reading it in the pic below!

"So, basically, like I just wanted to let everybody know

-and I cannot stress this enough-

That we are currently, at this very moment in time, working on something. And not just, like, any random something you could brush off and ignore, no no no, this is something big.

Like, seriously big. Massive. Huge. Enormous. Like, picture the biggest thing you can think of, and then make it, like, even bigger than that in your mind. Then make that much smaller in your mind again.

Now, before anyone starts freaking out, making assumptions, jumping to conclusions, or, you know, getting wild ideas, let me make it super, super clear:

This is not -and I repeat, NOT- just some boring little update. This is not your avarage, everyday run-of-the-mill update that you can just scroll past without even blinking. No sir. No ma'm. No way.

I know- I know - Waiting is hard. Patience is, like, one of the hardest things in the universe to have, especially when you are excited and curious and your brain is going million miles an hour trying to guess what's going on. Trust me, I totally get it. Just hang in there. Be patient. Like, real patient. Like "waiting-for-water-to-boil-while-watching-it patient. Because, believe me when I tell you, it's going to be worth it. Probably even more worth it than you are imagining right now.

So. Yeah. In conclusion, to summerise all of this extremely important I have just generously bestowed upon you: we are working on something. It's big. It's not just an update. Be patient."

[god-offical]

I see a lot of people throw around the term fascist on this website, but I’ve never seen a definition for it, so I’m going to provide one.

The definition of fascism, if you look it up in a dictionary, should sound something like this:

a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and race above the individual, that is associated with an autocratic government

Source: Merriam-Webster

This definition of fascism notably includes both Nazism and Classical Fascism (Italian Fascism) but leaves out other Fascist movements, namely Brazilian Integralism and Falangism.

So to really understand Fascism, you must first understand the “arms” of what makes up a fascist government or movement.

The arms that I was taught are as follows:

1. Corporatism - the belief that class conflict is unnecessary and the various social classes must cooperate and do their job. Please note that it is used in other contexts, and Fascism usually adds on the caveat that the classes cooperate with the good of the state

2. Militarism - Fascist movement traditionally merge state & military, which goes with corporatism to militarize society into strict and rigid social hierarchies. This also has the added effect of making Fascist nations more belligerent but also more unstable, as a fascist military when overstepping its duties often contradicts official government policy (for an example, look up the Marco Polo bridge incident)

3. Hatred of intellectualism - fascist movements dislike intellectualism, as freedom of thought can contradict what they believe to be the one truth. This is an important time to tell you that Fascism is a reactionary movement. Fascists do not like change, and dream of an imagined past ideal society.

4. Violent rhetoric against communism - Fascist movements arose in Europe as a result of the ascendancy of the USSR. Many prominent fascists used the fear of communism to cement their power and initiate purges. Fascists dislike communism because communism advocates for abolition of class structure and social equality, neither of which fit with the nationalist & hierarchical view of Fascists.

5. Ultra-nationalism & supremacy of the state - these two go hand in hand, as Fascists believe their nation to be above all else, superior and unbeatable in every way to every other country in the world. The state is the supreme power in fascist nations, and compliance is not expected as much demanded from all citizens. This often ties into racist views of fascists, who believe their race, similar to their nation, to be superior to all else. It is important to note that some fascist movements were not as extreme in the race department, as Integralism advocated for people of all races co-existing, so long as they were subservient to the states will, and Falangism believed that all Hispanic peoples (Spaniards, non-Brazilian South Americans, Latinos, Mexicans, and Philipinos) were all part of the super race, and should interbreed to create superhumans.

6. One leader - fascist movements have one person who is viewed as supreme & infallible, who wields autocratic authority over every aspect of the state and is treated as though they are the nation in many cases.

7. Feeling of national humiliation - fascist movements often espouse that their country has been slighted or humiliated by their allies or rivals in the past, and that the only way to make up for this stain on national honor is to expel those who humiliated the country (often ethnic minorities) and create a homogeneous and pure society

8. Mass media & propaganda - Fascism uses false statements and misinformation as propaganda to cement their authority and make their influence complete.

So with all of that in mind here are some prominent fascist governments both in history and modern day:

1. Italian fascism, aka classical fascism was started by Benito Mussolini and was the offical ideology of Italy until the end of WWII. Corporatism was the biggest tenant of this branch, along with a strong feeling of national betrayal by the allies in WWI.

2. Nazism, a movement that existed after WWI was taken up by Austrian politician Adolf Hitler, who led Germany until his death in 1945. Nazism called for racial purity, and used anti-Semitic & slavophobic rhetoric, all of which eventually led to the invasion of Poland (a Slavic country with a large Jewish population) and the start of WWII

3. Francoism / Falangism were competing Spanish ultranationalist ideologies following the conclusion of the Spanish civil war. Dictators Franz Franco won out and his ideology would rule Spain until the 1970s. The linguistic discrimination used by Francoism laid the groundwork for the modern Catalan & Basque independence movements

4. The Japanese military ruled Japan in a military dictatorship during WWII, and used fascist rhetoric and tactics, coupled with Japanese society being already arranged in a way to facilitate this, and supreme loyalty to the Emperor. The movement died out after WWII and the US occupation of Japan, as the Japanese military was formally disbanded and downsized immensely

5. Yes by my definition, Trumpism is a fascist movement. Please note that Trump is not a Nazi, he is a fascist and more specifically a Trumpist.

6. There were many smaller and less significant fascist countries during WWII and after, but I don’t know enough about none of them to say definitively if they were / are

[yes-no-maybe-soo]

What Sylus can do with his Evol

(That we know of)

A few notes:

1. Sylus' Evol is Energy Manipulation. Which is a bit vague to interpret just what that encompasses, but if we take it to mean all form of energy then the implications of his powers become staggering and honestly pretty terrifying. Quite literally everything around us contain energy. As per Einstein's famous equation, E=mc², mass itself is a form of energy, ie simply having mass means an object has energy. Meaning that there might be no limit to what Sylus can control and manipulate, and this is supported by the original CN text of his anecdote, where his Evol is described as essentially all-encompassing and all-powerful.

2. This post is merely a list compiling all (or nearly all) that we have canonically seen Sylus do with his Evol. It is purely for enjoyment and to hype up our man. I will not go into details on the physics behind his power or anything like that – that I leave to more intelligent minds than mine. I'm just a gremlin who likes making lists and looking at details and (sometimes) connecting dots. Math and physics? Worst subjects in school ;-; would rather sit through 89 consecutive rounds of Find Tobias than one half hour of math.

3. If I missed anything on this list, don't hesitate to point it out to me!

4. I want to give huge thanks to @kookieluvs for kindly sending me the direct (fan) translation of Sylus' anecdote! It goes into more detail on Sylus' Evol than the localization (where things sadly seem to have gotten lost in translation) does, and really gives you a sense of how truly powerful (and frightening) it is. A link to the translation is included above, and I highly recommend you check it out!

Without further ado, here is the list of what Sylus canonically can do with his Evol

✧. Disintegrate fully grown men in a matter of seconds

Nothing is left behind of these men. No blood, no matter, no nothing. As though they never existed in the first place.

(He has also done the same to inanimate objects, like bullets)

✧. Create extremely powerful energy charges

The man actually punches a crater into the ground oml

✧. Create energy bursts

✧. Infuse his energy in weapons

✧. Create black holes(?!?!)

...do you see what I mean when I say that this power is lowkey frightening af?

✧. Transform his body into pure energy

Great for when he needs to dramatically leap off skyscrapers or old cathedrals. Taking the elevator or the stairs is for lesser men. Gotta make a memorable first impression, you know?

✧. Teleport (himself and others)

✧. Heal wounds in an instant

These wounds can range from minor cuts to bullet holes. Meaning that he can repair deep internal injuries and bleeding.

✧. Mend shirts

Yes. I'm deadass. Look at the images above.

✧. Evaporate blood

And presumably other liquids.

✧. Halt fatal internal diseases

We see him do this – rather brutally – to the twins in Mischief (World Underneath Story). The twins had 3 months left to live before that. They're alive and thriving over two years later.

✧. Summon people and objects to him/Levitate them

He will occasionally do this with plushies in the claw machine too, if you let him play and if he is feeling extra helpful. A (small but still important) portion of my affinity comes from Sylus summoning plushies in a color I hadn't gotten yet.

✧. Control and restrain others' movements

✧. Manipulate Objects

Another example of this is him shutting the doors in Philip's shop in the main story. Or unlocking the handcuffs in Midnight Stealth.

✧. Put out lights

He does this in chapter 3 of the anecdote

✧. Seal off entire areas

Does this as well in the same chapter as above

✧. Strangle

What he does to Sherman in the main story

✧.Change colours of flowers

And presumably of other things. I gotta be honest, this right here is to me one of the most insane things he can do because of what it implies about just how crazy powerful and encompassing his Evol truly is.

That's all I have for the strictly Evol driven powers (I have more than likely missed something, in which case I apologize 😔 I am only human. A very tired one at that. But like I said, there probably isn't a limit to what Sylus can manipulate anyway so... writing down every individual thing would be... a lot dhdjfj).

However.

I am not done.

I still want to quickly discuss a few more of his powers, because this man still isn't OP enough ig. But I put them in a sort of separate category since I am pretty sure they are not tied to his Evol but rather to his aether core and his demonic powers.

Anyway, to start off

Sylus can control/invade minds

This is only really touched upon in the anecdote as far as I can remember.

Those affected by this lose all awareness and consciousness of their surroundings for as long as Sylus wants them to. We learn that some of the victims were never quite the same again after. These details make it clear that this is not strictly mind control, but something deeper and more terrifying – a complete and total invasion of it.

Sylus can see people's innermost desires thanks to his aether core

He reveals this to MC in LAR.

Sylus can transform into a dragon

99.9% sure of this. Check out this post for more of my reasonings.

Sylus (or Stayrus) can resurrect the dead

"Even if your desire is to resurrect the people of the Ivory City, it's still within my capabilities" word for word what Sylus/Stayrus says in Beyond Cloudfall (Chapter 3). We don't know whether Sylus at present still has this ability or if it is affected by the tether/shackles that restrict his powers.

Which reminds me of one final thing...

All of the above that I have listed (excepting the final one), have been performed by Sylus in a nerfed state. He is unable to use his full powers due to above mentioned tethers/shackles. It's still a mystery when, how, and by who they were placed within him.

Sure would be nice to have some extra lore right about now don't you think, Paperfold?

Anyway, Sylus OP as fuck. His only true weakness is the love of his life. How that will play out only time will tell (actually I can tell you right now. They will marry and live happily ever after with their baby girls and with Mephie and the twins. The end. Trust.).

With this, I am finally done with this post. I hope you guys enjoyed it ♡

I myself will finally go to bed

_(´ω`_)⌒)_

[lurks-no-more]

The most frustrating thing about this is that perception checks were introduced for a very good reason!

In the days of older (A)D&D, you got most of your XP from treasure you took out of the dungeon, and one of the most important ways of gaining more power and options for your character was magic items.

So there was often a kind of a competition between the DM and the players, with the former hiding treasure in hard-to-find and sometimes extremely silly places, and the latter going through everything to find it. Which led to frustration as the game ground down to a halt, with players breaking table legs apart to see if the DM had hidden a magic wand inside, or having to come up with the exact search description to find a treasure - or worse yet, an important clue!

Perception checks were meant to bypass all this, so that the players won't spend half an hour of real time meticulously searching a room for nine gold pieces, an Y-shaped stick, and a turquoise gem; or that the DM can't leave out vitally important information because the players didn't think of asking for it in the exact manner the DM wanted.

The issue is that this is a rules-based solution to a people problem (ie. playing with people who don't get that passive-aggressive, time-wasting nitpicking and information hoarding is no fun and gets in the way of role-playing and adventuring), and those never work in the end. As we can see from people misusing the perception checks to engage in the exact same frustrating pixelbitching the checks were meant to get rid of!

If there was one thing I could retroactively erase from existence in the entire history of the tabletop RPG medium it would be the concept of using "perception checks" or "investigation rolls" or any similar mechanics in dungeon-crawling RPGs to determine if the PCs can see a detail in their environment.

"A DC 15 Perception roll is required to see..." "A DC 20 Investigation roll will reveal..." no. Shut up. If the thing is in plain sight or can be perceived with the senses by simply existing in this space and taking a look around then the PCs are perceiving it and describing it to the players is part of your role because you are their source of sensory information about the in-game world.

And if it's not in plain sight or deliberately concealed in some way then they simply DON'T perceive it but can reveal it by narratively interacting with their environment until one of their actions undoes whatever's concealing it, not rolling a die to see if they can Perceive Hard Enough to reveal it.

[veliseraptor]

a couple people expressed some interest in this so I'm going to try noodling on it in a more coherent fashion

The first thing is that - as other people have written about - when constructing a modern AU it is important to think about how characters in a historical or fantasy setting relate to violence in a proportional rather than literal way. MDZS has a setting where killing is more normalized than it generally is in modern society, both on a personal and a societal level.

(This is also why acting as though a fantasy villain blowing up a planet is equivalent to the concept of a real planet being blown up is silly on a level that's not just the equation of fictional and real; it's also a matter of scale in the setting or genre.)

So looking at Xue Yang's propensity for violence in canon as a way to consider how he might behave in a modern setting firstly needs to examine the ways in which that violence is calibrated to his canon setting.

It is definitely true that, even relative to other characters, Xue Yang's violence is marked as beyond the pale and extreme. So it would follow that the same would be true in a modern setting - but my argument is that it's not quite as straightforward as that, because there are certain contextual things about Xue Yang's violence that I think are important to take into consideration.

The first is to note that his most notorious act of extreme violence - the massacre of the Chang Clan - is one that occurs while he is under the protection of the Jin Sect, and he knows it. (In CQL, he gets permission from Wen Ruohan, though it's true that he never invokes that as a defense.) There is every indication that Xue Yang is thoroughly unconcerned about the prospect of getting in trouble for the massacre. Xue Yang isn't acting without being mindful of potential consequences; he's acting in the knowledge that he won't have to deal with them. The second is contextual: who Xue Yang chooses to target, and where. For instance: the people he tricks Xiao Xingchen into killing live in a remote area where he's a little risk of authority intervening. In both cases, Xue Yang is acting under conditions where he's unlikely to face consequences; where his violence is, if not considered acceptable, then something he can get away with.

Xue Yang can be reckless, but that recklessness is tempered by a very strong survival instinct and a recognition of what he needs to do in order to stay free and alive.

So then, to carry this into a modern context, particularly in a setting with a state-sponsored police and a defined legal system: I think that consciousness of the risks he'd be taking with acting violently would be even more acute, particularly because it's likely that he would be existing in a state where he'd come into contact with the legal system early for more minor crimes. Connected with that, there's the fact that the tolerance/acceptance of authority for violence outside of warfare or state acts is significantly lower, so any shielding he might have for acting violently illegally would be much thinner. Xue Yang is aware of the extent of what he can get away with, and "what he can get away with" is less, under a modern legal apparatus, than he could in the decentralized jianghu with its ad-hoc justice system.

When I say that I think Xue Yang's violent tendencies would be tempered by the existence of a modern legal system, I'm absolutely not saying that it's out of respect for that system. (I would hope that'd be obvious.) And I'm not saying that a modern Xue Yang wouldn't still possess violent tendencies (I think he probably would). I just think he's highly motivated to consider the context and targets for his violence in such a way that would keep it much less visible and extreme than it is in canon. There are still acceptable targets. But he's not going to kill a whole family. And I actually think he's likely to stop short of murder in general.

[oddballwriter]

Hey there, i love how you write Ena! If you’re still doing BBQ Ena requests, could you one of a reader thats kinda of doting on Ena when they’re together? Not in like a super clingy sense but it’d be super cute to see a fic where reader kinda reminds Ena that although work is important, burning herself out isnt good for her and that it’s okay to ask for help. Like maybe Ena’s been on edge bc of a particularly difficult job that has an extremely naggy and judgmental client and it’s kinda getting to Ena but shes trying to suppress it and the reader notices and comforts her. Some hugs and cuddles maybe while Ena tries to be more comfortable with being vulnerable as she’s most likely not used to it bc of how other entities tend to be hostile towards Ena(s). Fem or Nuetral reader is good!

Doting

BBQ ENA x doting!reader

Summary: ENA can work herself to the point of collapsing, literally, and sometimes you need to help her calm down and take a minute for herself so that she doesn’t make herself worse.

Warnings: ENA being a people pleaser and not being able to say no to people and exhausting herself. Gender and pronouns of reader is never specified or mentioned. Reader doting on ENA. But of angst that turns into some super sweet fluff.

Author’s Snip: This was actually so nice to write. I hope I did your request justice anon! 🤍♥️

I’ll shut up now. Enjoy! And don’t be afraid to request.

Word Count: 1.5k

You swear, people give ENA stupid and hard jobs on purpose. There was this southern-sounding lady made completely of knit yarn complaining about how her sheep got loose and she can’t catch them. That wasn’t too bad. If anything you felt for her a bit. But it was when ENA came up to her to ask questions about the new task she was given that the lady seems to completely turn around and be extremely rude.

“Oh, ENA? Ha! What are you doing ‘round here, huh? Causing no good, I bet. Why don’t you go botherin’ someone else? Can’t you sees I’m doin’ somethin’ important?” she spat.

“My apologies, Miss.” her salesperson side said, “But I fear me and my partner here are at a bit of a short end conundrum. We require assistance to get back in the right track-” she said before her meanie side butted in, “SO TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW SO I CAN GET OUT OF THIS DUMP!”.

“Ha! Yelling like a little child again, are we? Tuff tarts, spitfire. I have rampant sheep to attend to and I can’t waste it on a two-colored-hussy like you.” she said before a thought seemed to cross her mind. “On second thought… you look like you can run just fine. What do you say about being the one to catch all my sheep for me and I tell you what you wanna hear?” she suggests. You immediately try and demand that she just tell you and that her sheep will most likely come back on their own, but the worst happens.

“This seems like a great exchange if you truly mean your offer of currency.” you hear ENA say.

You cringe, knowing that she already has a million other tasks that she’s taken from millions of other people who wanted to take advantage of her salesperson’s need to please ‘customers’. You know for a fact that all the other things on her plate are stressing her out.

The paper crane who wants a good fortune.

The merchant who complains about how someone stole the fabric that covers his stand.

The geisha doll who stole the fabric from the stand to cover herself from the sun and refuses to give it back unless ENA finds her parasol that got blown away in the wind.

The lady hiding in the cave who’s just her upper torso, saying that someone put salt on her lower half while she was flying around last night, and wants ENA to find it walking around somewhere.

The sentient wad of chewed gum that’s covered in a bunch of trash and wants it all off.

The monochromatic mermaid swimming in the fountain with the shrill voice who demands something shiny or else she’ll keep splashing the people who pass by. You’re still a bit wet by the way.

Oh! And there’s even a little boy who just gave ENA the grocery list that his mom sent him out to do, which just says salt, because he didn’t want to do it.

And a ton more.

With that, the lady of yarn hands ENA an old lasso and tells her to get to work and that she’s got six sheep and a lamb to collect, “And they’re the running type.” she says. And the running type they were.

That’s why ENA is running around all over the place as she chases the first sheep, with you trying to help by attempting to flaunt them. But they knew how to avoid the both of you and your tricks.

You can tell that ENA is getting flustered and frustrated at this job. You could hear it in her meanie side yelling and shouting as she lost the sheep again, and again, and again.

You’ve tried asking the lady for some more advice or suggestions on how to catch them, but she’s still being snarky and rude. Saying that ENA was a sore and lousy cowgirl and couldn’t catch a snail even if it was heading towards her.

Apparently, she’s got a horse that she usually uses to catch the sheep when they get loose, but it’s “got a sniffle and needs rest”.

You seriously think she just finds ENA running around chasing the sheep funny.

As you head back from trying to beg for a crumb of advice, you see ENA in a pile on the ground. Her limbs are all disconnected from her body and you see her pale side is active while her red side is just gone and covered in black. She groans and mumbles things to herself, some of which you can only decipher as cuss words. She’s exhausted. But when she sees you standing over her she tries to hide her face by turning it.

“Don’t look at me like that.” she demands weakly, her detached arms slinking toward her head to shield her face from your gaze. “I just… need to...”, her pieces shake like she’s trying to pull herself back together, but she can’t do it even with all her might. She gives up and groans in defeat. “I’m so pathetic. I can’t even wrangle stupid sheep.” she grumbles.

You sigh and sit down on the ground just above where her head and upper torso lay. Gently leaning the torso against your chest and then picking up ENA’s head to place it on her torso.

“Put me down!” she barks. “I can do it myself!” she says. “I - just - need - to -”, she tries pulling herself back together again but she just ends up exhausting herself even more.

“Damnit!” she shouts. Her hands clenched into fists, grabbing and ripping out some of the grass as she slams her fists onto the ground in frustration.

You gently shush her, petting her hair and telling her it’s alright.

“We’ve been running around a lot today. I’m pretty tired. Aren’t you?” you ask her. She wants to say no, but she can’t argue this time since her current condition proves otherwise. “Why don’t we take a minute, hm?I’m sure the sheep are fine. I don’t see anything here that would eat them. They can run free a little longer.” you suggest as you continue to pet her hair. You look around and eventually find your gaze looking up towards the sky, which is just a generic sky blue color with drawn clouds images that drift by above you. “The weather is nice here. I wonder if it ever rains.” you comment.

You feel ENA’s head tilt up, following yours. She doesn’t speak, but you feel her let go a bit.

“Maybe, if we decide this job with the boss isn’t suiting us anymore, we can build a farm here somewhere and enjoy the easy life.” you say, semi-jokingly. “We could herd hourglass dogs and let them roam freely on a big plot.” you suggest. “Or walking trees and we can see what birds come and perch on them.” you add.

“Or am I thinking about a ranch? I always get the two mixed up.” you question before shrugging and saying “We can have both. Live off the land and be away from all these weirdos and no one can bother us. Just you, me, our little human board, and whatever we decide to have on our ranch.”.

You let a few beats pass by and feel like your jabbering about a nice calm life is helping ENA relax and take her mind off all these tasks she needs to complete. So you continue.

“Or maybe, if we save up enough chocolates on both our retirement funds, we can buy a big fancy house by the blood ocean and watch the legs swim around and migrate when it’s hatching season. Or a cottage. I don’t like big houses. Too much space and it’ll really only be us walking around it.” you ration out.

“Maybe we can travel.�� you suggest. “Why stay in one place when there’s a whole lot of digital space out there? Am I right?” you pitch.

“I hear the pop-up-ad meadows bloom so pretty this time of year.” you mention.

“You’d really like to do that?” you hear ENA ask. You look down and see her staring up at the sky longingly, seemingly envisioning everything you were saying. “Yeah!” you answer. “Though, we might have to plan to go next year instead. I hear pop-up-ads come all at once and wilt within a week or three.” you add.

“I’d like that.” she says, no more, not less. But you can tell that she’s fond of the idea of maybe getting one break to see something nice with you.

You both sit in a nice silence, with ENA’s lower torso, legs, and arm slowly making their way back together and joining her upper half, and her salesperson half regains its signature red color.

You both get up, but ENA stumbles a bit since she only seems to have her red arm when she tried using both to help her get back up. Confused, you look around only to find that the sheep had, at some point, come near and picked it in an attempt to eat the clump of grass that was still clutched in its hand.

“That’s all we had to do?!” you hear ENA shout, “Lure it with some stupid grass?!”.

It feels so nice to hear her back to her usual self.

[monstrifex-art]

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

The folks at Digital Villainy Summit invited me to their online convention as a guest of honor! DVS is a fucking awesome 3-day con streamed on Piczel, with loads of panels, artists, games, and more. The whole thing is themed around villainy, in the fun corny sense.

The whole con raises money for charity. This year they're raising money for the Transgender Law Center, which is a phenomenal organization that's more important now than ever. If like me, you're sick of the way the world is going right now, this is a good way to make a difference AND do something really fun.

I'm gonna do an AMA/art stream (with Jill as co-host <3) as well as chatting it up in their opening and closing ceremonies. I'll start a post for question submissions when we get closer to the event. I've never revealed my voice to the internet before, so be nice to me lol.

Also, I'm going to be selling some commission slots in their charity auction! This may be a big deal for some of you, I've gotten a lot of requests to do commissions over the years but I've never had the time to commit to doing them. So if you want to be the proud owner of an extremely rare Monstrifex commission (and give some money to charity while you're at it) be sure to join in!

The Con is this August 28-31, and it's completely free to attend online. It'd mean a lot to me if some of you folks joined in! 🎊🔥😈

See you there!!!

[the-silver-peahen-residence]

"Very good! It seems like you two have different ways of taming your shikigami and spirits. With demons, you have to tame them by subduing them first to get them on your side. Or form a contract and a bond with them. The first important thing is not to let your extreme fear and indecisiveness take over amid battle." Haru speaks. "If you do, the demons will sense weakness and will attack you." She tells them.

"But I already figured you two know this! That said, I will teach you how to power up your shikigami with attacks like you see in the fight between Miss Yotsuya and Miss Izumo." She smiles.

"Wait, you can?" Hana asked curious.

"And how can you show us that?" Megumi asked as well.

------ Dragoon Class -----

"Hmm? Me? Sure I can do that." Nobara said seeing Miwa, Kamo, Toge, and Yuria watching. Yukio waited too seeing her show two nails that was now infused with cursed energy. Yukio watches but saw her aiming before striking the nails to hit some targets dead in the middle. They even split the target in half.

---- Knight Class ----

Yuji saw Panda go first seeing him trying to attack Shura only to get deflected so quickly. He gasped seeing him get pushed back to crash on the ground. Right away, Yuji goes to strike Shura next but she was dodging and deflecting.

"How the-"

"Hey hey focus now! I said no holding back!" she said.

Even Maki and Miko was shocked. What speed! and power!

"So does anyone know how a barrier works?" He asked the class, that consist of Daichi, Akia, and Kamo.

"Isn't a barrier like what we do back at our school? Or is this different? If not, I know all of us can do that." Kamo said to answer Lightning's question.

~~~Dragoon Class~~~

"No, we don't. We usually use the normal weapons like staffs, swords, knives, etc." Miwa said to Yukio while seeing Kamo, Nobara, Toge, and Yuria nodding to agree. They don't use guns or such at the school.

"Hmm, I see. So it's mostly modern times weapons.." Yukio said.

~~~~~Knight Class~~~~~

Panda, Yuji, Maki, and Miko blinks to hear this but looks to one another. "How about me and Panda?" Yuji said holding a hand up to see Shura look.

"You two hmm? That works. Now, I wanna be sure you show me everything you got. Don't hold back or anything...." she said. "Now for Miko and Maki to watch." she sees the two back up a little to give some room for the three.

~~~~Tamer Class~~~~~

Hana and Megumi blinks to hear the question but looks to one another then at him. "Well, I use shadowgraphic hand signs to summon them. But at first, I had to beat that shingami first before I was able to summon them." he said.

"Hmm, and you?" Haru asked Hana. "Hmm? Oh I use plushies. I usually call who I need and they show up from their plush forms to help me out." she said.

[loathsome-little-creature]

EXTREMELY URGENT!

Kareman Dohan has been hit, she’s alive but severely injured, I don’t have any details right now. She needs money for medical treatment.

Please please help, anything you can do is critically important

Vetted here

PayPal is currently the fastest way to get the money to Kareman AFAIK so here’s the link to that:

@fleshdyk3 @chiacynta @genkishoujo @palhelp @femmefitz @ofieloafi @virovac

[elaineiswithyou-blog]

141 x Reader Soulmate AU

TW: Bad family relationships, Stalking 

I also try to write gender neutral, any feedback would be much appreciated. 

Having four red strings was never easy. No one else could see but when you told your parents you saw four, they made you swear that you would never tell anyone else. No one needed to know their child was a freak. So you hid it, hid it well, but your resentment towards your parents festered and grew until you were old enough to leave, eventually heading to London to study abroad, far away from your parents, ashamed of the truth and your friends, who never even knew the truth.

Your life was fairly uneventful given that you were basically constantly at school. It wasn’t until you were in a cafe, working on an essay that you noticed a small tug on your string. Looking up, you saw a behemoth of a man, wearing a black hoodie and sweatpants despite it being september. His size and striking blonde hair caught you off guard for a moment, you went to pack your things, wanting to go up to him, but when you look back up, he’s gone. You rush out onto the street but it’s like he disappeared. With extreme disappointment, you went back to your laptop, attempting to refocus, assuming it was a caffeinated hallucination, but your mind continued back to him. Little did you know, he saw you really well.

Despite being your soulmate, Simon was always cautious. After seeing you in that cafe that fateful day, he decided he’d scope you out. Going to a few bars you frequented and the cafe where you went when you had important assignments. After getting to know you (everything about you), Simon decided he had done a through enough surveillance to let the others in on you.

John was a little disappointed in Simon holding back some information but given Johnny and Gaz’s reaction of immediately wanting to meet you, he understood why Simon didn’t tell them right away. They watched you through a few cameras in the cafe and street while they were on leave, Simon loving how you looked at any tall blonde man with hope in your eyes. He’ll be there soon, love. 

Once they got back from deployment, they decided that they would wait for you to go out instead of tracking your string, much to Johnny’s disappointment. As soon as they notice you at a bar nearby however, they get dressed up semi nicely (AKA not in a hoodie and sweatpants), heading there immediately. They sat in a semi circular table in the back of the pub, watching you as you had your usual friday drink after a hard week of classes. John bought you another drink and as you looked around confused, the red strings and the striking blonde caught your attention immediately. You almost choked on your drink seeing the bastard in the cafe, not to mention his three other very hot friends and your soulmates at the table. I knew I didn’t imagine you, you thought, standing up and rushing over to the table, Johnny and Gaz beaming, and even a small smile from Simon and John. They knew you were going to be trouble and they loved it.

[tinycurlyfry]

What's the role of suo character? He is considered as main character with nirei or as deuteragonist but I see he has no importance outside protecting nirei!. I don't understand the hype around his mysterious aura

I think probably what you're looking for is a more flashy fight/action centric series then! You'd probably enjoy all this time you're putting into sending anonymous asks about a show you don't see the appeal of more if you spent it instead on media you can enjoy! However, I will absolutely take this opportunity to gush about Suo you are giving me on a silver plate happily! So let's talk about why Suo is so fascinating narratively!

Labeling him as a deuteragonist is actually pretty spot on, to be honest. He is a character that sticks by the protagonist's side pretty consistently throughout the story. Suo as a character gives advice to Sakura about what will help him grow and achieve what he wants as class captain as well as provides an interesting combination of parallels as well as differences in perspectives compared to Sakura. Additionally, Sakura's presence draws forth the aspects of Suo's character that are likely to be developed within the story. Let's start with how Suo provides a difference in perspective for Sakura!

There is more strength in drive and ideals than in physical strength

Suo says it pretty clearly to Sakura before his match in the Shishitoren arc-

When he first met Sakura, it is very likely his first impression was 'ah, here's yet another brute who thinks he can beat others up and claim himself to be the strongest'. The same kind of person Sakura calls weak or lame himself. However, even Sakura's goal that he says to everyone in the beginning... kind of reflects this idea that physical strength gives you value. He judges Nirei because he can immediately tell Nirei isn't a fighter yet is a student at Furin, he thinks the only thing that is important is winning fights and making sure everyone knows they can't bend him under their will. Sakura thinks the only thing valuable about himself is his fighting ability/strength. But what is shown through his actions? That he protects those who can't defend themselves. That he is pissed off when someone enjoys causing others pain or suffering. Outside of the manga, when asked about what Suo's dream is, he says 'emancipation of slaves'. Right from the get-go he is challenging Sakura to start to think about what his purpose is when he fights. Because it's not really about just proving he's the strongest guy around. Why does this bleed so much into what Suo says to Sakura? Well, for Suo-

2. Empathy is the most important thing to possess

Suo is extremely good at understanding where other people are at emotionally/mentally. A LOT of his dialogue is trying to explain how a person might be feeling or encouraging others (rather forcefully at times haha) to try to demonstrate empathy themselves.

Suo is the calm to Sakura's storm. Except. Suo isn't actually the calm. Not in truth. This is part of why he is so intriguing as a character. It is also where Suo starts to actually parallel Sakura. Because Suo is-

Very Emotional

Incredibly so. The difference is, Sakura wears his heart on his sleeve. He doesn't hide how he feels or his inner thoughts at all because Sakura wants to be true to himself no matter what. It's hard for him, it is agonizing for him at times because of his bad prior experiences, but it is still something he tries to do at all times. Suo, however? Keeps those emotions hidden behind a "friendly" smile most of the time (to talk towards him being appealing- a lot of people like characters who put up fronts. I am included in this 'lot of people' lmaoo. I am such a sucker for a character who puts up a front to guard themselves or keep others at an arm's length).

But Suo gets angry. Incredibly so. He also judges others all the time. He's VERY opinionated, but he doesn't often state any of these opinions so directly. It's important to Suo that he upholds appearances and comes across as disciplined, calm, and collected. Sometimes though, he is anything but. Which is what we're shown in the Keel arc. Keel takes advantage of kind people who are just strong enough to be useful, but weak enough that they can be beaten into submission and manipulated. And that? Already pisses off Suo I'm sure. But then, on top of everything else, Suo is kept from running to the aid of someone he cares about. Someone who has such good drive, who also has a strong core but has some ways to go in being able to act on that drive. Suo is kept back from saving his friend and Nirei is beaten into unconsciousness. So what happens? Attempted murder. Suo's anger and frustration boils over. He hates these people. He hates seeing those he cares about and seeing those who can't defend themselves, broken. So he's going to put an end to it. To them. "Nice Guy" façade be damned. "The level headed one" be damned. And we get this look at Suo in a chapter literally titled "Extreme Emotions"

Which like, if you wanna talk about why his character garners a lot of hype, I think a large part of it is because of his aura when he's genuinely mad. It's the duality of it all.

I don't have as smooth of a transition for this one but what else does Suo do that Sakura absolutely does as well?

2. He keeps people at an arm's length; he doesn't like letting people in

This is also where Suo has a lot of duality, but here it makes him something of a hypocrite. He tells Sakura it's important to delegate and rely on others alongside Nirei. He pokes and prods Sakura to try to get him to open up to them. To not assume how others feel. But Suo doesn't show that himself. The ONLY thing Suo has honestly given about himself is that he has a mentor who taught him the 'hodge-podge' martial arts he uses as his fighting style. Everything else? Jokes, lies, dismissive words. Suo is hardly ever injured or dirtied in a fight because it isn't a conversation to him. He's the one doing the talking. He's the one teaching a lesson to the other person. The other person doesn't need to say anything to Suo. He's already pretty damn sure what kind of person they are. He doesn't eat with the others because he claims he is on a diet. It keeps him from participating in what is probably the BIGGEST symbolism/metaphor for personal connections in the story. Because Suo doesn't try to connect with others. He actively avoids it.

So uh, yeah! That's why I think people find Suo interesting and get hyped about when he's on screen/in chapter panels! I am sure there are other things that could be said, but I hope I could offer some insight!

[elodieunderglass]

oh you're absolutely right to point this out, I think it's important to say because when you present the fact that "humans are a natural predator of horses" you HAVE to tackle the fact that, at least when I was being taught evolutionary biology etc, we were TOLD "and in fact, the first humans in America ate all the horses all up, more than any other animal, which is why despite sharing most of the other megafauna with Europe, there just aren't any native horses in America!" - and how that was, at the time, simply accepted. Humans ate all the horses (shrug emoji)

Of course, there's the spacetime element across all of this; humans and horses are both extremely old things, and we grew up together. In the very same post I mention the Horse Butchery Site which is about the most ancient the analysis of the ancient Horse Butchery Site does go a long way to explain how very early hominins probably didn't worry TOO much about the ecosystem and were butchering indiscriminately. Across the hundreds of thousands of years of humans and horses, our relationships and understanding would have changed constantly and been in flux.

I hope that this nuance comes across when I answer "humans are a natural predator of horses."

Horses are often referred to as prey animals, but what are their natural predators?

Any large grassland predator in the biome, including humans! This is an interesting question, though, because it takes in the axes of time and space. "Wild" horses, the ancestor of domestic horses, are currently extremely rare. The only existing ones in a wild state are Przewalski's horses, also called the Takhi or Mongolian Wild Horses, which live on the Mongolian steppe. Their "natural predators" in that environment would include wolves and snow leopards (which are themselves endangered). However, it isn't an entirely natural setup; they were reintroduced to their native habitat after becoming essentially extinct, through an incredibly complex and fascinating recovery project. In the spacetime pocket in which Earth has wild horses, that's the current state of play: wild horses live in Mongolia and are occasionally eaten by wolves, but are being preserved fiercely for the benefit of humanity.

Meanwhile, we do have things like Dartmoor ponies in England and mustangs in North America and Brumbies in Australia. Dartmoor ponies aren't eaten by anything and are considered feral in the sense that they're domestic animals that live wild, but more or less on purpose, with the moor being treated as a common for keeping ponies on, and the nominal owners can just grab one if they want one at any time. Mustangs are accidental colonists of the American West. They are preyed on by wolves, cougars, and other local large predators, but are not wild. they are feral because they're all descendants of European horses and honestly, if we aren't being sentimental about it, they're invasive.

North America has not had a native population of horses since humans arrived on the continent. The facts are often associated. It is commonly held that humans, upon arriving in America, ate the native horses all up. The typical line goes that "when the first humans populated North America, they were so greedy and invasive that they overhunted most of the local large mammals to extinction". but I personally - and in an unhinged I'm-allowed-to-randomly-hold-ONE-fringe-belief-that-I-Made-up-Myself way - don't like that narrative, and there might be evidence in oral myths indicating that First Nations people at least remembered contact with horses prior to European colonisation. At any rate, there aren't wild horses on that side of the planet any more. The mustang - the most classic "wild horse" in imagination - is not wild, but is currently preyed on by everything that WOULD have eaten the OG native horses of America, minus the large predators that have gone extinct since then (sabre-toothed tigers). Whether mustangs are a nice reintroduction that adds a missing element of Horf to the landscape, or agents of ecological devastation, is kind of up in the air. But they are regularly and routinely preyed upon by the same "natural predators" as the wild cousins would have been, albeit in lower numbers. Take-home message: to visualise how interactions of wild horses with predators and the environment would have looked, mustangs are a very good model.

Going back to the "time" element, human interaction has really decreased a lot of the "natural predators" of horses; they were once preyed on by a larger variety, diversity, and number of animals. In the pocket of spacetime when wild horses were common and had a large range, there also used to be a lot more things like hyenas in Europe and Asia. Here's a diagram showing the "prey animals" and "predators" of Pleistocene Europe. Horses are on the bottom shelf on the far right, at a lower opacity, to show they're "prey animals". You can see that there was a greater diversity of predator types, while today there are usually just Your Local Wolf and Your Local Big Cat.

But this diagram puts "people" as "prey animals" - and humans are traditionally The Natural Predators of horses. Looking at that diagram, you can see that the common, smallish-but-not-too-small herd animal, whose defenses are Having Friends and Being Fast, is a delicious-looking proposition. The spectacular depictions of cave horses in Lascaux are showing our kin, but they're also showing our food.

There is a very important Middle Pleistocene site at a lake in Germany called Schöningen 13II-4, with hominin remains dating back to 300,000 years ago (!!!!!) and it's called the Spear Horizon (for the incredibly well-preserved evidence of spears) but a common nickname is the Horse Butchery Site. One of the most ancient preservations of hominin behaviour, culture, skill, tool-making - their/our priorities, their/our methodology, their/our view of the world - is a narrative of eating horse meat. And the hominins at the Horse Butchery Site did it in a way that seems quite rapacious. Entire family groups of horses, coming to the lake to drink, would be butchered at once: Persistent predators: Zooarchaeological evidence for specialized horse hunting at Schöningen 13II-4 - ScienceDirect It seems like the hominins were killing a lot of horses and not using a lot of the meat, because they wanted fat, and horses don't have much of that.

At any rate, human-shaped people and horse-shaped horses have a very, VERY long history of us eating them. WE are their natural predators. And it makes sense. Humans and Equines are all social animals of relatively small sizes and have interacted with each other for an extremely long time. We have observed them, we know them, we grew up together. For quite a lot of that history, we had a simple relationship; we ate them. Now we much prefer to ride them.

Horses have not entirely forgotten this, but appear to have largely forgiven it.