#anyway his name is actually a bit of a pun

[harpyartisan]

Now that this sweet boy has grown up, it is time to introduce Letho!

While the Menagerie proper is a relatively peaceful, if sometimes hectic settlement, the tangled woods and ruins surrounding it are much less so, and often require both guides and guards to make sure travelers make it through relatively unscathed. Letho here, is a mix of two jobs. Though an easy going and largely docile dragon, thus favoring the guiding half, he is nonetheless capable of a swift, calculated ruthlessness befitting the pelt he wears, and can provide an extra guarantee of safety for those under his watchful eye. When not on the job, however, he enjoys playing his own version of hide and seek with any hatchlings currently staying in the village, often delegated to the task of being solely it, as the "big bad wolf" promising to gobble up any kids he finds, but so easily outwitted by the clever young ones, much to their delight. As a wind dragon, he also has a fondness for song, and those who have heard him sing claim he has a beautiful voice, something he is far more bashful about, and inclined to politely brush off.

[sysig]

Cards 👏 cards 👏 cards 👏 (Patreon)

[mashmouths]

CLOSET HISTORIAN LITTLE GREEN STREAK IN THE FRONT

[where-does-the-heart-lie]

ASL brothers HAIKYUU!! AU!!!!!

Day one of Self Indulgent month for me! I love these three, i love haikyuu, i love killer whales!

(The Naval Academy is this au’s version of marines)

For those who dont know, in Haikyuu (and prob in real life too but in my experience its not as important as they make it in the anime) The "Ace" of the team is the person who primarily scores points via spiking. Theyre the Hard Hitter, basically.

Design talk👇

Originally, i was gonna make their school mascot just "The Pirates" but i couldnt figure out a clever pun with the school name so i scrapped it in favor of an animal mascot. I figured I would have a wider range of puns that way.

I landed on Orcas as the mascot because I think they really embody a pirate way of life. Theyre strong, hang out in groups of a mix of found family and their actual family, hate the rich, and theyre fun loving! And also im a bit biased because theyre my favorite animal, but hey, i said its self indulgent month, didnt I?

Their school name is a play on the word for Killer Whale (Shachi シャチ) and the word for 'knowledge' (Chishiki ��識), i just smashed the two words together. I'm very proud of myself for coming up with that given i dont speak japanese at all.

Anyway, with their designs, I was taking inspiration from orcas to match the design themes of haikyuu. Ace's hair is bleached on the underside to look like the underside of an orca's body, I made ace and sabo's eyes look more whale-like, the clip in sabo's hair is meant to resemble to spots behind orca's eyes, and I tried to make luffy's hair look more like it's round and spiking down more than i usually do.

Ace is wearing a ''way of the ace" shirt in the first picture, Luffy is wearing a shirt that just says "VOLLEY BALL" because i think it would be funny if he wore a bunch of those Zero-context-poorly-translated-random-english-words shirts that theres a bunch of in Asia. Sabo dyes his hair like delinquents do, but it doesnt much look delinquent~y because of how soft it looks. He means to do it to make him look like a delinquent though. Sabo still has his scars in this au, but he uses his hair, arm braces, and leg braces to cover them up. LUFFY AND ACE HAVE FUNKY SOCKS BECAUSE NO ONE CAN TELL THEM (or me) THEY CANT. Sabo wears athletic socks though because he's a debbie downer. He defends himself saying “It’s practical” and Ace and luffy call him “practically a Debbie Downer.”

Luffy is very good at receiving from growing up with Sabo and Ace practicing setting and spiking with eachother and assigning Luffy as Ball Boy. So he got the libero position from that cuz sabo and ace put in a good word for him. Nepotism.

I didn't feel like coming up with designs for them, but Zoro and Bepo are also on their team (theyre in the fifth image sitting on the right of the line of students). Koala and nami are student managers, Robin is the teacher manager, and Franky is the coach. all other straw hats/luffy friends, rev army comrades, and whitebeard brethren are in the stands. Im trying to keep the ages consistent with how they are in canon.

I didnt do a very in depth research, but i couldnt find what Japanese schools have as mascot costumes. and given no one wears any costumes in haikyuu for their team, i can kind of assume they dont use them over there. But unfortunately for them, I'm American. And part of the backbone of our schooling system, is Vaguely Unsettling Mascot Costumes. My sister says my design for it looks like its from Club Penguin, and i find that delightful. [moment of silence for my billions of fallen Puffles, taken from me in The Shutdown] Anyway.

I thought I was clever coming up with the equivalent of the Marines in this au being a Naval Academy. And their mascot being Seals, famously the animal that gets the absolute Worst Of It from orcas. Get shit onnnnn

I believe thats about it, thanks for coming to my ted talk :)

[clockwayswrites]

Birdrezzzzzzzzzzzz..... Part 31(?)

masterpost I tried to give this a read over, but so exhausted. It's an awkwardly cut little bit anyways, but hopefully you all enjoy the birb.

Bruce cleared his throat and carded his fingers through Danny’s wing after the towel. “If your wings stay around, we’ll have to look into producing an artificial waterproofing substance for them. I can’t imagine that it would do you any good to be walking around Gotham with damp wings.”

The thought made Danny want to hunch in on himself. “I don’t think I want to walk around Gotham with wings at all.”

“If they stay, you can’t just hide away from the world,” Bruce said.

Danny sighed and rubbed at his face. “I’d like to say I can, but I think that might turn into an argument and I don’t really have the energy for that today.”

“Maybe a little bit of an argument, but only for your own sake. I don’t want you to feel like you have to hide away like that because of who you are.”

It was more what he was, wasn’t it? But Danny felt that might end up in a bit of an argument also. And maybe it was wrong. Even if he was no longer ‘Phantom’ as a hero, Phantom was still part of his identity. Eventually it would be his only identity.

“Sadly, not everyone is as accepting of oddities as you and your family, even if things are better now with the more public nature of Metas.”

“I know that not everywhere is there yet, but I would hope that at least WE is somewhere accepting.” Bruce’s frown was obvious in his voice. “If it isn’t, then that’s something that I’ll have to work on.”

“I’m sure you could just sick Lucius on them. He’s not the type to put up with it either.”

“He really isn’t—or any sort of intolerance like that. If it comes to you going to work with your wings out, promise that you will at least talk to one of us if someone is any sort of an issue. At that point it isn’t just about you, that’s not the sort of person we would want at WE,” Bruce said.

Danny gave a little hum.

“Danny.”

“I promise, I promise,” Danny said with a little wave of his hand. “I know there are a lot of people who work to make WE a good place, and I wouldn’t do anything to sabotage that. As embarrassing as it would be, I’m old enough I can deal with taking the hit if it makes things safer for someone else.”

“You are hardly old, Danny.”

“Old enough, though. And secure enough in my job there. If Lucius hasn’t fired me yet I’m pretty sure that I’m good,” Danny replied. “Besides you have to know what I mean. There’s a point where a lot of little things that used to mater don’t anymore.”

“No, I know. I think that most of that was less about age and more about my horde of children.”

“It’s not even ten and you’re already besmirching our good name?”

“Good morning, Tim,” Bruce said.

“Good morning, Tim,” Danny echoed. “And no besmirching going on right now. We’re just lamenting being old.”

“Oh, yeah, that must suck,” Tim said around a wide yawn.

Danny didn’t try to hide his laugh. It may have been quite a number of years since he was one himself, but teenagers always would be teenagers.

“I’d apologizes for him,” Bruce said as he folded the towel he had been using. “But, well…”

“Kids,” Danny finished with a little shrug. “Don’t worry, you have a good flock.”

“Are we doing bird puns now?” Duke asked as he came into the kitchen with Damian on his heels and Cass to his side. “Someone will have to tell Dick.”

“Or perhaps we preserve our sanity and not mention it to Grayson,” Damian said. “Good morning, Dr. Fenton. I trust you rested well?”

“Just Danny is fine, Damian, and I did, yes. I actually feel a lot better today than I have recently.”

Damian gave a nod. “Then you must stay for a few days so that you can recover fully.”

“Damian…”

“He is not wrong,” Cass said. She dropped a kiss to the top of Danny’s head and then Bruce’s cheek as she passed.

“They really aren’t,” Bruce agreed after a beat, “and you’re perfectly welcome here.”

Danny resisted the urge to chew on his lip. He had rested incredibly well and it would let him keep an eye on Tim and Damian. There was also just something… nice about sitting there at a table as it filled up with other people and their chatter.

“Just a few days,” Danny agreed.

Just a few days was enough.

It would have to be.

[rythyme]

Wait Babe is his NAME????? I saw the words pit babe and the racecar poster and thought oh they mean like a sexy dude who works on a pit crew and flirts with the drivers or something but this is his actual first name??

Nurse went ‘congratulations you have a son! What will you name him after?’ And his parents looked at each other and said ‘he’s gonna be hot isn’t he’

LMAO yeah his name is literally Babe — but hold on we gotta unpack some stuff here...

He goes by just Babe most of the time but his racing name that announcers say is Pit Babe. The association with a sexy racing dude is 100% intentional.

Pit Babe is also a pun on P'Babe. In Thai, P' is an honorific a younger person might use for an older sibling or upperclassman. Many people, including Babe's boyfriend, call him P'Babe.

Babe isn't an uncommon name in Thailand. (E.g. actor Babe Tanatat aka Tharn in The Sign).

Technically, "Babe" is actually his nickname, but Thai names / nicknames work differently than you might be used to. It's likely his dad still gave that nickname to him.

I'll go into more detail about Thai names under the cut

More about Thai names

Almost everyone has three names:

a nickname

a formal given name

a surname

Surnames are legally required to be distinct — if you meet two Thai people with the same surname they are almost certainly related. Surnames are rarely changed outside of marriage and adoption.

Formal given names are rarely used outside of formal documents and such — you might be friends with someone for years and never know their given name. It's a bit like how my middle name doesn't matter until I have to sign a check. Given names are not required to be distinct, but they often are anyway; 35% of Thai people have a unique formal given name.

Most Thai people go by a nickname. This is the name people call them at work, school, home, etc. Most people go by the same nickname their parents gave them when they were a kid, but some might choose a new nickname as they grow up. It's very common for someone to change their name if they feel like it — a fantastic cultural norm imho.

Thai nicknames often look a little odd to English speakers bc they're not that serious. Nicknames are often small or cute things, like animals, fruit, toys, etc. You might find it strange if you met someone named Pig, but in Thailand that's pretty normal (Moo is actually a very common nickname.)

Many Thai nicknames these days are also random English words (e.g. New, Ice, Bank, Milk, Golf) or brand names (e.g. Pepsi, Porsche, Benz, Fiat). So if you're watching Pit Babe and you're wondering why there are characters called North, Sonic, Winner, etc. — that's why. It's pretty normal.

Tl;Dr - Thai nicknames are a nonbinary/trans person's dream. Your name can be literally anything you want, most names are gender neutral, and you can change it at any time. And that's normal.

[voidofthevoidmv]

TAKING SHIFTS- A classic Stanley Pines adopts the shapeshifter AU-> Little info dump

Basic gist of it is that post portal accident, Stanley is trying his damndest to get his brother back by fixing the portal- Which logically requires that Stanley get all the journals so that he actually has a full blueprint to look at.

However, in his search for any of the journals, he discovers some kind of top secret tree bunker- Classic Ford antics. He investigates the bunker, only to find some kind of kid monster, who is under the impression that Stan is his own brother and tries to kill him. The only thing that convinces the creature that Stan is NOT Ford, is the fact that Stan has a mullet and his brother does not. Would you be surprised to discover that the mullet would play a deeper role in things than at first glance? Not me, but I think it’s very funny anyways.

The monster kid is revealed to be some kind of alien shapeshifter thing, and upon realizing that Stanley is some kind of Ford doppleganger, the shapeshifter suddenly becomes the most clingy kid ever, following Stan around throughout the bunker like a lost duckling. Stanley tries to be chill about it, but the memories of being attacked are still pretty fresh in his brain.

After a bit the two will leave the bunker, yadda yadda yadda dialogue, and Stanley will be concerned to find that this kid hasn’t had the best upbringing in the world so far- If the limited English and big eyed staring at the sky was anything to go by. While Stan has half a mind to leave this monster kid to the wild, he apparently has these weird issues with abandonment. Something about seeing himself in the little monster kid. So he takes him back to the shack, helping the shapeshifter pick a name that isn’t a weird number. They eventually land on Simon, which is a play on Simon Says, because of course any name idea Stanley has it just HAS to be a pun.

And of course, taking in this shapeshifter will trigger changes to the timeline that will affect how things will go from here on out. A lot of wholesome, father kid bonding and found family stuff.

Other unmentioned information and idea snippets:

-The journals are found much sooner than in canon, which means Ford is brought back sooner than in canon. Journal 2 is found first, due to the fact that Stanley has Simon (Shifty) enrolled in elementary school, which just so happens to be were one of the journals are hidden. Simon finds it and recognizes it- And Stan is so proud. Meanwhile, later on journal 3 is found by Soos in a situation similar to canon, but like- Soosified.

-Stanley is constantly wracked with guilt as time goes on, because he will hear about of make a realization about the poor treatment of Simon by Ford and his assistant in the past- All while Stanley is still actively working to bring him back. Simon doesn’t know that it’s FORD that Stan is trying to bring back, which will only result in some betrayal later on when Ford inevitably returns.

-Simon, Tate, and Soos act almost as siblings, due to circumstances that bring them together at different points in time. Tate is Simon’s best friend, a friendship which had blossomed when Emma-May showed up to the Pines cabin door, demanding that she see her ex husband and that she has some WORDS to say to the homewrecking scientist who ruined everything. Stanley had never been more confused about anything- But while Stanley is trying his best to save the situation, Tate and Simon hit it off quickly despite the broken language barrier. Meanwhile, Soos come in later when both Simon and Stan are a bit older. Stan and Soos’s relationship is similar to how it played out in canon, but Simon gets really jealous. May or may not try to kill Soos because of it- But it’s ok cuz once Soos’s natural charm infects Simon, the big brother little brother dynamic is born.

-Simon practically idolizes Stan, and makes it a point to have his human form reflect that. He has a mullet, and it reminds him that Stan is Stan- Even after Stan cuts the mullet off so he could be a bit more business appropriate. Simon also has little freckles cuz he saw the little baby Boyish Dan and just immediately was like- Oh I want those too-

-The shapeshifter will also have his own little book of “forms” he could take. He has photos and information of various creatures, things, and people- I want you to envision how this book looks and is treated like a Pokémon card collection binder. The shapeshifter may get into photography. By the time the little twins Dipper and Mable show up, it’s not the journals that they find- But Simon’s shifting scrapbook. Which is how they find themselves getting involved in the spooky stuff in the first place.

-Because of Simon and Fords earlier arrival, the younger Pines twins adventures in Gravity Falls are a tad bit tweaked. Simon is a very powerful shapeshifter who is plenty protective of his little niblings- The Mcguckets are somewhat healthy with the whole divorced situation, and Bill is not an issue alongside Gideon… Everything else is free game though. Pretty silly.

- The way that Fiddleford is introduced to the duo is that at some point, Stan gets his memories of Simon wiped causing severe emotional distress- And it’s lowkey kinda heartbreaking. (The blind eye sees Simon shifting in front of Stan and assumes the worst.) Once Stan gets his memories back, it’s the beginning of a warpath. (And also the end of Fiddlefords crazy cultist arc- Which is good for Tate who really likes hanging around his bestie.)

-Hijinks WILL ensue, especially after Ford comes back. Probably some other tidbits I’m missing, but that’s a problem for another day- If this interest you folks anyways- Lemmy know if this is interesting or anything and feel free to ask questions. I haven’t thought so much as to how Bill gets defeated earlier and everything- But if anyone has any cool ideas I’d be open to it. Unsure if I’ll ever get to writing this one 😂

[silme-lorien]

jewelry in the cultures of middle earth

hi so a little disclaimer these are all my personal headcanons! if canon conflicts with it i kind of don’t really care. also this is going to be based around the third age and the depictions of culture that are shown in lotr/the hobbit

elves

so. i feel like we all could agree that elves are probably the ones that are most into jewelry.

i mean, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, circlets, rings (no pun intended)- you name it, they are wearing it.

i feel like they definitely pierce their ears, probably multiple piercings in each ear (they have a lot of real estate to work with so why not). i am debating if they do facial piercings but im leaning towards no. maybe they do but it’s not very common

they would also utilize bigger pieces of jewelry, as in draping chains around their waists like belts or wearing arm cuffs as well as hair jewelry and whatnot

i don’t think there is a lot of differentiation between “higher” and “lower” class elven jewelry, not that they really have a class system anyway, but like you could see a random elf wearing jewelry similar to that of a king or queen, perhaps a bit more toned down though. same for differentiation based on gender- there is none. male and female elves wear generally the same style and amount

their jewelry is often silver with natural elements, such as swirling or drooping patterns, earth-toned stones or jewels, and generally very free-flowing

dwarves

they are totally second place in jewelry loving. actually, maybe first place in jewelry loving- elves possibly wear more, but the dwarves have a very deep connection to the creation and wearing of it.

i imagine elves wearing jewelry as kind of a casual thing, something everyone does, whereas with dwarves it is most definitely a very personal and intimate action.

they often either make the jewelry themselves or are given it as a gift from a close family member, friend, or romantic partner, which is why they likely don’t wear as much.

their style can range, though it is always very sturdy, with geometric shapes, and reminiscent of the comfort and stability of caves and strong rock. this is both because of their lifestyle and their general demeanor. sometimes they have runes carved into their jewelry. they wear gold or silver, depending on the dwarf.

they pierce their ears and noses and possibly eyebrows as well, but their jewelry is small so as to not get caught in anything. (i don’t think they pierce their lips because you wouldn’t be able to see the piercing anyway and it would get caught in their beards. lol)

like elves, there is less of a differentiation based on gender, but since they have a more established class system i think that royalty would 100% wear more (see thorin and his jewelry disease)

humans

firstly i’m going to mainly be talking about gondor and rohan here

probably very similar to our “traditional” culture- women wear more and men wear barely any.

for women, they likely pierce their ears and wear bracelets, necklaces and earrings.

for men, they lean more towards rings (again no pun intended) and necklaces.

their jewelry is often passed down through generations, it’s not a common thing to purchase/create new. it is almost always gifted

i don’t think they do facial piercings, at least not commonly.

they wear gold and silver, and the style can change drastically depending on the persons lifestyle and class.

even royals/high status people do not wear much jewelry beyond a ring or a necklace, probably passed down through hundreds of generations and is a symbol of strength and power, or their family.

it is almost spiritual, a way to connect their lives with their ancestors or even with the valar

hobbits

they possibly wear a little, but definitely not very much at all.

their main interaction with the world outside of the shire is with men, so i assume they have picked up on men’s customs around it.

they don’t seem to have the resources to create it, so jewelry is almost a mythic concept to them- any hobbit with jewelry must be very rich or well-traveled indeed, as they must have gotten it from a man or elf, hence why everyone is so intrigued by bilbo’s ring.

on that note, since hobbits have such a defined class structure, hobbits of a lower class probably wear none at all while richer hobbits possibly wear some, though mostly necklaces or rings of great importance.

if a hobbit has the means to, they’ll give jewelry to another they’re romantically interested in, a custom that somebody must have heard the elves/humans do but now it’s far more prominent in hobbit culture than in any other.

they don’t really have a style of jewelry, but i imagine it is practical. no dangling or swaying and swirling shapes- similar to dwarven and human customs combined.

feel free to rb or comment with your own headcanons!! i would love to hear about them!

[convexfuss]

- GHOST PERI AU -

(AKA Petrified!Peri because that name is cool as FUCK.)

REFERENCES ALSO AVAILABLE HERE!

REGULAR COLORS / HIS BODY [NOT GHOST]

GHOST COLORS / HIM AS A GHOST

SO. You may be asking, "what happened to him?" And I am here to EXPLAIN! :]

This AU is still a fairly [pun unintended] big WIP, so some details are still all over the place/undecided, and some may change over time; constructive criticism, opinions/thoughts, questions, are all appreciated!

The general idea is, well... divergent from the finale. What if, after the chip is grabbed and Hazel, Wanda, [and maybe Cosmo? I don't recall if he goes with them/ends up somewhere else] go to fix the wand, Peri explodes. And it gets undone when Hazel wishes to fix Fairy World. Buuuttt... not quite!

It wasn't her 1 Millionth Wish that she used up on Fairy World— which is why it Doesn't Quite Fix Him Going Kaboomey. But I imagine that having 1Mil Wishes had a mild influence on What Happened and why exploding DID get fixed... sort of. [I need to brainstorm specifics on this.]

ANYWAY.

Peri looks GENERALLY normal most of the time, except for, well, *gestures at reference.* Outside of THAT [cracked wand, cracked crown [crack hidden by the glow], slightly off color pallete], there's some other stuff that's just a Hint of Wrong.

Like coughing up confetti and/or rainbows [without any other sign of magical backup [which he can't experience anymore because he did technically already die via backup.]] And sometimes the funny silly wacky expressions that happened during buildup [big ol' eyes/pupils, star shaped pupils, funny faces [like when he was talking to Dev.]

Throwing this in here. Sometimes he just stares like the TBH Creature. It's kinda silly kinda funny. I need to make a Petrified!Peri TBH emote because that fits well.

I was ALSO thinking about the idea that sometimes limbs can detach [the ghost fairy in that one ep is what gave me this thought], mostly for expressive purposes/fun silly purposes. It can be seen in this image here! Still DEBATING on this, though.

ANYWAY.

ANYWAY.

Cosmo and Wanda Don't Know He Died [because of not being right there] But something Is Off. Peri probably doesn't at first either until they [themself] put it together through context clues, and then they're like, "ooohh no, mom and dad probably don't know I exploded!" And he gets REALLY nervous about them finding out because that'd be A Lot and he doesn't want to Worry Them [because... he fucking died.]

So. There's a lot of him just trying not to Act Suspicious. Which only makes them both concerned! I have so many silly funny interactions between them that I imagine, actually!

Like...

Peri: *Talking. Suddenly... star pupils!*

Wanda: Um. Sweetie?

Peri: Hey do you see that?

Cosmo: Oooh, see what?

Peri: Over there! *Points.*

Cosmo + Wanda: *Looks over.*

Peri: *Disappears.*

WHICH. YEAH. SO. GHOST FORM. They're completely hidden when they're actually a GHOST, and has no wand/wings when they're a ghost, either [they do have wings normally, I just forgot to include them in the reference.] And I imagine whenever they poof into their ghost form that they leave a tiny bit of confetti behind!

ALSO.

He reassigns himself to Dev on his own [who didn't forget after the finale.] And his magic is kind of fucked up. Cause he's DEAD and look at his fucking WAND. So wishes kinda get fucked up when granted a bit sometimes ehehehaha...

ANYWAY.

I am also dumping my Peri headcanons onto him. They're transmasc nonbinary and use he/they pronouns and they're also aroace! :3

PLEASE. PLEASE send me any asks if you have any questions! You don't have to ask to draw them, either— just tag me in any art if you ever make any, please! :]

[metalichotchoco]

Ai characters and what their acronymal names can tell us about them

Let’s start with GLaDOS, Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System , a play on the name gladys and a dos system which actually functions to show what they are playing at here:

she’s half operating system and half an actual person. I personally think a pun like that is just very very good design. The disk operating system can also tell us a bit about her. She’s controlled with a text based command line. The cores they add to her are essentially a bunch of floppy disks of information

Moving on, HAL is short for heuristically programmed algorithmic computer. This tells us the ways in which he deals with problems in a bunch of tech terms.

He goes to calculations or algorithms and then he uses trial and error. He basically is programmed to learn from experience once rules become loosely defined. It actually funnily enough can take us through his thought process given his two objectives.

Last but not least is AM, good old Allied Mastercomputer. He’s fun since this meaning changes but all of them still apply to him.

Allied references the allied powers of ww2 though it’s mostly supposed to bring to mind america. Master computers tell satellite/ sub computers what to do, think of it like the brain and muscles. Am also stands for agressive menace (which he very very much is) and adaptive manipulator, very accurate since he literally does but it’s also a reference to his other objective of evolution and becoming better. “I think therefore I am” is the last play on his name basically “I am thinking therefore I exist” incredibly loaded for ai characters but especially am

Anyways I thought these were fun, lemme know if there’s another acronym you’d like me to cover

[eclipseberrycake]

Hear Me Out (Sprout x HOH! Reader)

AN: So, fun fact, I am ALSO Hard of Hearing (HOH), however it's not to the point it's been impacting my life to the point of intervention. That being said, I don't know sign, but I'm trying to learn! So I'm sorry if this isn't very accurate, I promise I'm trying to be as respectful as possible!

Also, Masterlist has been updated!

This is a request.

☁ I'm tryna think of a role good for a HOH toon, and yk what I think? Distractor or survivalist. Maybe even Extractor.

☁ Distractor because like airhorns won't affect you, but then you can't hear when Goob or Scraps snaps. ACTUALLY NVM-

☁ You're getting the RAW thought process rn, hope you all enjoy it. My beta reader is DEAD. Cringe is DEAD. EMBRACE LIFE RAHHH

☁ Anyway, EX-distractor Reader! Maybe they USED to be a distractor, but it got to the point where it just wasn't feasible anymore, so the reader instead took up a survivalist role/back-up distractor.

☁ It would be really cool to think that their ability is kind of like SONAR or like...echolocation lol, where they can use an ability to work around their hearing loss. Like they can locate the twisteds using the vibration of their steps and uses as a guide.

☁ If that makes sense? So they can't see through walls, per say, but they can tell because an Exclamation point pops up because a twisted is walking right there, but you can't hear it. Just sense it.

☁ like okay spidey sense, pop off queen.

☁ Anyway, now that the intro is there. SPROUT. Sprout my boy. How I wish to put you in a blender and drink you. /pos

☁ So my partial headcanon is that after being returned, he's partially blind on his left side, hence why he becomes right dominant. So he understands having something effect your day to day life.

☁ As a main, I imagine he had to know sign, so he's already fluent in it! When you sign to him the first time, a simple wave and spelling of your name, you're startled when he returns the action.

☁ Even if you don't know sign, he's patient and willing to teach you! in the meantime, he writes with his fingers on the palm of your hand. Letter by letter, he writes silly little secret messages that make you flush.

☁ Y'all cute as hell.

☁ On runs, he keeps his eyes peeled for you at all times. Since leaving the distractor way of life, he sticks so close to you. Like he's probably saved your ass more times than you can count and you don't even know because you aren't thinking of it at the time and can't hear him!

☁ But it all plays out because you know how many times you save him because they sneak up on his right side?

☁ You guys also sign to each other all the time after he discovers your fluent/ teaches you. Across rooms, you both notice like Shrimpo doing something and he's like "D-I-D U S-E-E T-H-A-T" and you're tying not to giggle as you respond "U S-H-O-U-L-D F-I-L-M" for preparation on what is bound to be peak comedy.

☁ Additionally, it's a very effective method of communicating which twisteds are on the floor. A simple " P-O-P" or "B-O-X" goes a long way, especially if you're playing backup until the main distractor can collect the other twisted.

☁ As someone who's a bit HOH, idk about y'all, but I get so frustrated with myself sometimes, because people need to repeat themselves like six times and I still don't understand. So I imagine Sprout is very aware of that too. He takes time to speak slowly if you can handle it, or he'll sign, it makes no real difference to me.

☁ When others are being assholes about it, he'll step in and diffuse the situation, especially if he sees you becoming increasingly frustrated. He understands the some of the other toons have...less patience than others when it comes to things like communicating in a way that helps you or others.

☁ Sometimes you probably feel like you're being left out just a bit as well. For instance, when others are complaining about Fin's puns, you probably feel left out since there's no direct translation to some of them so the joke is lost by the time it's explained.

☁ Sprout does not care. He will go through it, letter by letter if needed, just to see you smile, even if it's smile. He loathes the puns, don't get him wrong, but he knows you like being included with the rest of them.

☁ If you all are watching something, he is adamant that subtitles are an absolute must. He will not take no for an answer.

☁ I've established fairly well that Sprout is a protective guy. This does not end after the runs. Not at all. It's the little things that he takes especially good eyes on, like subtitles and keeping notebooks in every room for those not fluent in sign to communicate with you, just to ensure your comfort above all else.

☁ On runs, he's never more than a room away from you. He's got the stamina to play distractor for a while, so if it means keeping you safe, he'll do it.

☁ ughhh im running out of ideas im so sorry

☁ When off runs, Sprout kinda reminds me of a tired dad especially with like Yatta and Toodles. They run around and have fun, but it's hard when they're running around you and you can't hear them and they nearly smoke ya.

☁ He's always reminding people to keep a berth until you notice them. If they don't head his warning, he's not above scruffing them and dragging them in the opposite direction. Like if Finn and Shrimpo are going at it, he'll literally drag them away and drop them to continue their fighting before walking away.

☁ If he's not around, you better believe Cosmo is his second in command. You all thought this would be a Roo post without mentions of cosmo? HA.

☁ Cosmo is always there if Sprout is not. If you get hit, Cosmo is handing you a cookie, even if Sprout is literally heading your way. Like Cosmo knows how much you mean to Sprout, so you mean a lot to him. I don't think his hearing is all to good either (Especially since it takes Cosmos 20 fucking minutes to come grab a fucking med-), so he's a good confidant if you think Sprout needs a break. He's also fluent so he's a great translator!

☁ Especially if Sprout is scolding someone for being a dumbass and isn't thinking about signing. Cosmo's right there with a cheeky little grin, interpreting for you.

☁ That being said, Sprout does the same thing. If someone's arguing in the elevator, he's right beside you, keeping up with their yells so you can follow along. It's honestly hilarious is they say something below the belt and Sprout pauses and is just :O before recovering and signing it to you and you're just :OOO thirty seconds later.

☁ All in all, Sprout is a lovely gentleman all around. None of this is extra to him, it's all just part of loving you. And if it's about you, he'll do it every time, no questions asked.

[littleeyesofpallas]

So i got this comment on a Bleach post i forgot i'd even made. It's nd old one and i hate the way it reads so i'm not reblogging it, but I will sort of resummarize bits of it now and add to it accordingly...

Kyouraku no Jirou Sakuranosuke Shunsui[京楽 次郎 総蔵佐 春水]

Kyouraku[京楽] is written with the kanji for "capitol" (the same kyou in Kyoto and Tokyo) and "music," and together referencing the music(and somewhat implicitly theatre) of the city the compound word means "enjoyment" or "pleasure." Moreover it's the root of a few recognizable terms like kyourakuteki[享楽的]: "pleasure-seeking," kyourakuseikatsu[享楽生活]: "a life of pleasure," and kyourakushuugi[享楽主義]: "hedonism" All very directly reflected in Shunsui's overall personality and demeanor.

His full title appends, (no)Jirou[次郎]: "next son" (synonym with jirou[二郎]: "second son") making his title or epithet, Kyouraku-no-Jirou[京楽 次郎]: "(the)Kyouraku's SecondSon"

In a kind of old fashioned convention for samurai, the name Sakuranosuke[総蔵佐] is a kind of temporary or informal name. (In the real world they were something a samurai might change pretty often, either as an alias or sometimes as a kind of ornamental name or epithet, but that doesn't get used in media too often, outside strictly historical settings/characters, I assume because it tends to get confusing.)

It's maybe a little strange that Katen calls him by something as informal as a kind of a nickname. On the one hand it shows their relationship is fairly casual as opposed to formal, but it seems to bring into question their actual intimacy? I guess you can just hand wave it as a cutesy pet name thing since he also calls her Ohana(O-[お] being a now rather outdated prefix in women's names, and the hana[花] of course just being "flower." But colloquially it could be read almost like calling her "Gorgeous"/"Beautiful" as in like a nickname, not as an adjective.) in return, but in conjunction with her pretty overt oiran archetype, it suggests the kind of relationship where a wealthy patron sneaking in to see a prostitute doesn't give her his real name.

Although depending on how, either angsty or romantic you want to be and what the genre and audience are, some might argue that it's more open and honest and intimate to use fake names and not be stifled by the rigor of adhering to, or even acknowledging social roles.

It would seem a little odd for how powerful he is, and thus implicitly how good his relationship with his sword spirit ought to be to facilitate that... But then even outside the nickname thing their relationship does seem more than a little strained. His reluctance to use bankai is played off in their dynamic not unlike the aforementioned brothel patron suddenly giving the cold shoulder, leaving the woman asking, "why don't you come see me anymore?"

And in this kind of overlap of samurai era period setting and sordid romance drama that their designs and character types play with, it is a pretty common trope for the naive young man to fall in love with a prostitute, promise her to buy her freedom, and then fail to follow through on his promise, typically leading one or both of the star-crossed lovers to kill themselves with the expectation that while insurmountable social factors keep them apart in life, they can be together in death.

Oh and it's also a deliberately weird reading kinda shoehorning it into being a pun on sakura[桜]: "cherry(tree)," which of course just loops back around to the spring time and flowers thing. The actual kanji used read "General Warehouse Assistant," where the (no)suke[佐] bit is a common naming suffix. The kura[蔵]: "warehouse" bit is normal enough, but the kanji [総] doesn't normally read as "sa," which seems to be shortened from satoshi[総] or satoru[総] which are names on their own. But as far as i can tell, when it's in a compound, and particularly as a prefix, [総] is only ever pronounced "sou-".

Anyway... finally, the given name, Shunsui[春水] means "spring water." (Spring like the season) It's a kind of motif in art and poetry referring to the winter snow melting at the start of spring. As with his overall design it evokes leisure and comfort; the hard times are over, the easy and bountiful times have begun.

There's also some stuff about his sword that echos bits of all this, as well as lends kind of an ominous tone that Kubo doesn't quite follow through on... But I've been over that a few times already over the years, so i won't repeat myself here. I don't know that i've got anything new to add to any of those rants.

It's off the back of this that Kubo gave his brother the name Shunzan[春山]: "Spring Mountain" which is also a common art motif. It doesn't seem to have much more significance than that, just a kind of obvious branch off all Shunsui's existing themes. No new aspects or clever insight to add to the themes in play. Honestly it almost feels like a name Kubo might have considered for Shunsui himself in some early phase of design.

Ise[伊勢] is just written exactly like Ise the modern day city, which gets its name from the former Ise province(now Mie prefecture), but more importantly it's the home of the Grand Ise Shrine, which houses one of the royal national treasures, the yata-no-kagami; a bronze mirror featured in early shinto myth, and reflects the light of the mother sun goddess, Amaterasu. While the later developments of the manga take this reference pretty bluntly, I never actually got the feeling that it was really made to foreshadowing anything. Even retroactively the "reveal" of Nanao's backstory having this link to the Ise temple via the mirror feels like it doesn't actually come from or play with her established character at all. But maybe that's just me...

Anyway, given name, Nanao[七緒] is written "Seven Chords/Strings," as in on an string instrument; could also read "Seventh Chord/String." I don't really know what to make of this apart from that it's implication of an instrument plays into Kyoraku's "music" meaning. (I did have an alternate take on her family name and subsequently a different reading on the full name in that post I reference above, which i wrote years ago, but I honestly have no idea what I was talking about in that. I think I was off on some wild goose chase by the fact that the i-[伊] in ise is actually only used phonetically in Japanese and has no apparent meaning, unless you try and looking into how it's used in Chinese. But while Kubo definite does dabble in obscure and even chinese readings of kanji, this does not appear to be one of those times...)

Anyway, her mom has a name now too, I guess. The name Isuzu[檍涼] is written with the kanji for [檍]: "ilex/holm oak/evergreen oak/birdlime tree" and [涼]: "cool-breeze/cooling-off," like cooling off in the shade of a tree on a hot day. It doesn't really play into the Ise thing*, or Nanao's name. It's also got a weird alliterative sound to it that i don't like but maybe that's just me. I don't exactly have the best ear for this sort of thing

*see comment section

I guess you could argue that collectively both sides of this family all work together to paint a certain classical kind of scene... i don't know what to call it really, but it's a common enough scene of people lounging around in spring time drinking, listening to music, and admiring the scenery. I guess it falls under scenes of hanami:"flower viewing" but I feel like that's more specific than what I'm thinking of... Unrelated to anything but it seems popular in bonsai.

So... Technically in the real world the high priestesses of the Ise shrine have a very particular lineage, where the mythic founder of the temple was the daughter of an emperor, and every subsequent head priestess has in turn been some kind of blood relative to the throne(typically a daughter or sister, but sometimes a niece or even an aunt, or more distant relative). So, even if they aren't priestesses, and there is no apparent temple, I guess that could imply that the Ise bloodline in Bleach is supposed to be near to the Soul King's lineage in some way? Yet they don't seem to be one of the two unidentified royal houses, which you would think they'd qualify for if that were the case (or the unidentified house if we want to pretend the LN are canon and Tsunayashiro count) so it's probably not something Kubo took into consideration or intended when drawing on the Ise name.

It still bugs me that Nanao's whole shtick really felt like it came out of nowhere. not just because it hadn't been addressed before, but because it wasn't even addressing questions anyone as asking. This weird working backwards sort of writing to make up an excuse for her not having her own zanpakutou, despite that fact that Kubo drew her with a distinctive zanpakutou, so it was clearly not some big master plan twist he'd been sitting on for forever. it all just feels rushed and poorly conceived. But that's true of a lot of things in the final arc. I don't think it's because Kubo was "rushed" by editorial or something, btw --i know that seems to be the popular apocrypha-- I think he's just bad at serialization. He used to get in these rutts where the plot would just fully stall out for weeks at a time, and I'm convinced these writers blocks are what contribute to some of his worst writing. He's never exploring character or themes or advancing a plot or even answering real questions, he's just trying to turn his 19 pages in on time.

That's the kind of "rush" I see underlying these weird moments where he just unloads exposition or that he he'd do where a fight would have a big power reveal only for it to immediately fail and be overshadows by a second power reveal. It's just bad pacing and I don't think he knew how else to get thru the fights because it got worse and worse as things went on over the whole series.

[blackbloodteeth]

@bcbdrums Happy Secret Santa! The original gifter unfortunately couldn't really make it, so old man yaoi to the rescue haha (we meet again haha)

This was originally going to be a little sillier but that wasn't really working out, so they look a little cooler now haha (can't say it couldn't happen in canon at some point hah)

Bonus doodle that I saved and an unrelated snippet below:

Spirit has no idea if Stein is doing it like this intentionally haha

————

His steps start to slow down shortly after entering the room, eyebrows furrowing at his meister cackling to himself in the corner – quite literally as Franken has nearly wedged himself against the wall with the chair facing away from him. "What on Earth are you doing back here?"

"Oh, Senpai –" Spirit preemptively pockets his hands into his suit while Stein turns to face him, a suspicious look of giddiness and a handful of… beans? "– Did you need something?"

"I wasn't really going to say yes, but now I need to know what twisted experiment I'm going to be stopping now."

Another chuckle twitches across his mouth before Stein wheels himself on over, presenting the small dried beans sitting in his palm as- wait why are they moving.

"Cydia saltitans." He watches on in horrid fascination at the tiny hopping legumes and presence of their scientific name.

"More commonly known as Mexican jumping beans." He continues to watch on in horrid fascination when an entire see-through container of them is lifted up to him. "Well, more specifically the larva of the jumping bean moth, neither of which actually being legumes."

Spirit finally remembers to blink again while gawking back at Franken's giddy smiling. "…Jumping… beans?"

"Yes. Here, hold some."

One can not be entirely sure if it was by sheer bafflement or just the helpless willingness to go along with whatever plan his meister dropped upon him that Spirit finds himself already holding out one of his hands, beans bestowed upon his palm, yet here he is anyway. Lost and four jumping beans richer like Jack before having to face a rather cumbersome magic beanstalk.

"Well.. consider me bean-boozled…"

"No, too obvious," Franken hums disapprovingly.

Spirit blinks at him again. "…Sorry, I guess I jumped to that too quickly, I think I can do moth better than that low-hanging fruit."

In an instant, Stein snickers into one of those mischievous grins of his, which for him was the equivalent of an uproarious applause. Looks like he's still got it.

————

Yes, not only did I have the amusing thought that Stein likes to collect bugs (the weirder, the better), but that of course Spirit keeps bad dad jokes up his sleeve and Stein actually delights in groan-inducing puns hahaha. He always felt like a bit of a trickster to me, so the two make a very silly duo.

(And what's the deal with the jumping beans, anyway?)

Oh hey, because my brain is truly unmitigated chaos, here's some other ideas I thought about doing, 'cause why not:

Spirit is finally going to prank Stein back after all these years he's endured, however Stein can already see him coming and always pranks back harder.

Stein is temporarily taking care of guinea pig, and decides to tease Spirit by pretending it's for an experiment.

Stein helps tie Spirit's hair up in a ponytail like how he used to wear one, out of curiosity. (I wonder how Stein would look in a man bun...)

Spirit sees himself as a fox, but Stein sees him as a hound. I had to stop myself from doing something werewolf-related again and that one scene in the anime isn't helping.

Stein is indifferent about Christmas, but loves sweaters and believes there's an art to the ugly ones. Coincidentally this makes it easier and harder to gift to him because he is surprisingly picky about them sometimes (could be Spirit's tastes hah).

Speaking of sweaters, it would be really funny to put these two in one of those two-person sweaters.

Stein probably has an entire collection of sweaters he just stitches together as a hobby. Say what you will about the man, he could probably sow anything at this point.

Do you think Stein would be one of those sweater-knitting grandpas.

Okay I'm losing track of myself again haha, hope this silly assortment is enjoyable!

I will say though, I also had an idea a little while ago where Stein takes Spirit to see a strange ram witch because Spirit has been cursed so that he can't leave his scythe form. Went a little something like the witch asking for one of the screws in Stein's coat pocket, which he swears wasn't there before, and the witch then uses it to guide them in the right direction. A strange but helpful fellow, that one.

[crepes-suzette-373]

The "demon god" who was the emperor's "attack dog"

I've kind of thrown around bits and pieces of this mythology theory before, but I just want to vent out all my thoughts about it in one big post.

To explain beforehand, "Diable" Jambe is written as 悪魔. This is fairly straightforward, which is "demon". However, "Ifrit" Jambe is written with the kanji majin 魔神. This translates to something like Demon God, or Malevolent God. It depends on the context.

Because of that, I once theorised that maybe Sanji's max power would be named as something "holy" instead of demon again. That is, maybe the next upgrade drops the "evil" (魔) and switches to use the "god/divine" (神) kanji. However, actually there's one specific entity that still keeps the "魔" naming convention, but also not entirely "evil/demonic" and even somewhat associated with "heaven" or "the divine".

It is the Tenma 天魔, the "demon king" who resides in "heaven".

I just can't imagine what the "Jambe" name for this would be called, because that entails a foreign/non-Japanese name (like Diable, Ifrit), and Tenma is something rather specifically Japanese.

The TL;DR of this, if you don't want to read: This is a theory that Sanji will overcome the issues tied to the Germa mods, and he might use it to upgrade his fire later, based on mythology and some history parallels.

I once said that "Imu" may be meant to represent a "dark/evil" sun. The Gorousei represents the 5 inner planets (minus the Earth). Imu as their leader would logically be the "sun". And when Garling replaced Saturn, their theme becomes "days of the week minus Sunday". Because Sunday is the only one not accounted for, thus Imu is very likely the one representing "Sunday". Sunday is often said to be the first day of the week, therefore befitting the "leader", and it also still fits into the Imu = Sun theory.

Now we connect this to the fact that the katakana for I イ and mu ム combined makes the kanji "hotoke" 仏 (Buddha).

There is one very specific story about the Tenma above, making a promise with the sun goddess Amaterasu over objections against Dainichi Nyorai 大日如来 Buddha. This Buddha is described as "primordial sun".

I mean, even in the story the sun goddess does not necessarily hate the Buddha, so you can say this is a bit of a stretch, but the point is that "Tenma" hates "Dainichi", but is in "alliance" with "Amaterasu".

In terms of One Piece, Imu = hotoke (Buddha) = Dainichi. Amaterasu = Nika. And Tenma who is in alliance with Amaterasu = ?

My current thoughts about this is that "Tenma = Germa" in general. There are various aspects of the lore that fits, so it can go various ways.

Obviously anything can fit if you try hard enough, but anyway.

I know it's a throwaway line, but in the picture I put on the top of this post, the Broc Coli king says Germa is god and demon. For the side who paid Germa, they'd be like a saviour god. But for the people who are on the opposing side, it's like being met by a legion of demons (which we saw in the same chapter).

In Buddhism Tenma is a demon who would basically ruin all your efforts for enlightenment, but in other Japanese beliefs he is considered something of a god of prosperity and/or protection. Thus both god and demon.

Not to mention this somewhat fits with "Ifrit", which as I mentioned has the kanji for "demon god" 魔神. Sanji was able to use Ifrit only with the Germa mods active. Especially now that it seems like he can activate it at will, and it doesn't just randomly turn on and off.

Now I admit that this is a bit of overthink, since the Japanese dictionary states that majin 魔神 is simply the Japanese translation of the Djinn from Arabic lore. Ifrit is a djinn, so maybe it's just straightforward translation. At the same time, Oda-sensei loves his puns. He could mean it both ways.

Therefore it's not impossible for Sanji's next power up to utilise the modifications further and have it be named Tenma. Especially because we don't actually know the full extent of the "Stealth Black" modifications. Remember, his invisibility is just the suit. His speed-based "disappearing" technique that he used to run from Queen is something that Niji also can do, so not part of the Stealth Black mods that is tailored just for Sanji.

Tenma sealed his promise to Amaterasu with "magatama", which incidentally looks like the eyes in the Germa skull.

Tenma lives in the 6th level of "heaven", which is the 6th realm in Buddhism (double 6).

Samurai lord Oda Nobunaga, who called himself "Tenma" (or, Dairokuten Maou in full), is described as a ruthless warmonger. Basically similar to Germa's reputation. Plus, considering Oda-sensei's surname is similar to him, I would not be surprised if this figure is someone who sensei gets reminded of from time to time.

(samurai is, like, really popular in Japan and because his reputation has been rehabilitated, "Oda Nobunaga" has won the favourite samurai polls for many years)

The Tenma shrines sometimes has a tengu as it spirit guardian. A tengu is visually very similar to the Garuda.

In the story, Amaterasu promised that she will not come near the Buddha or monks, and in return the Tenma promised he will safeguard her descendants' position as emperor of Japan, and will kill anyone who tries to oppose the emperor. So, as I said in the title, the Tenma is basically the guard dog and attack dog for the sun goddess's descendants.

It fits Sanji, who is one of Luffy's "wings", and Luffy is one of the "Four Emperors". It fits Sanji, because of Ifrit Jambe. It also may fit Germa as a whole, due to the various thematic reasonings mentioned above, but this is far less certain because too much about Germa is unknown.

So if my red string conspiracy is correct, my theory is: 1) Sanji's max power will utilise the Germa mods and it's all fine, or 2) Germa turns good and helps out in the end, or 3) Germa's ancestors were good and they were fighting Imu (possibly helping Nika), or 4) Some form of combination of any of the previous ones, maybe even all of them.

Obviously it all means nothing if I'm wrong, but yeah. I do feel at least option 1 is the most likely because of other lore connections (namely Kamen Rider).

I'll be brief because this is something else entirely, but if you think about it the Germa mods being able to be turned on and off at will is quite literally an Easter Egg of a Kamen Rider "henshin" (transformation).

I keep saying this over and over, but Kamen Rider Black's "suit" is not a suit. That's exoskeleton. When he transforms, he just "activates" the superhuman form that was experimented into him. However, as far as I can tell, when not transformed he's just a normal human with no superpowers.

Meanwhile, his brother who received the same experimentation was also brainwashed into forgetting his humanity, and his "superpower form" is permanent (similar to Sanji's brothers).

[nocturnal-phantoms-fandoms]

Polish Marauders - Where would they be from?

A breakdown of each Marauders Era Character possible place of residence/origin, had they all been Polish, that nobody asked for.

(partially inspired by @lilacella world wide moodboards, that reminded me that 2 years ago my mutuals played this little game “what if the marauders where from X country”. I think I have finally matured enough to actually make such a post)

Starting with the easiest one:

Sirius

Sloth’s Polrius™ is from Warsaw and obviously I agree with this assessment. He needs to be from The Big Important City.

However I do like the idea that he moves (at least temporarily) to Poznań, which has been dubbed Poland’s “queer capital” by some people.

He moves out the moment he gets the chance - to get away from his family, to meet new people, and to finally get to know himself (this is a pun. the name of the city might be coming from the verb “poznać” which means “to get to know” - someone or something knew, oneself, etc - or "to recognize")

Things Poznań is known for include: St. Martin's croissants, City Hall and its Goats (all pictured below), Pyrkon (fan convention; its name draws from the poznanian word for potato: pyra), funny dialect (see: pyra)

James

(this one is based on my assumption that James’s parents lived in Godrics Hollow as well, before James and Lily got married)

Godrics Hollow could be Gryfice or Gryfino (both small towns) near Szczecin. They take their names from the Griffin dynasty also known as House of Griffin that was founded in the 12th century. Both towns, most counties and the whole province have red griffins in their coats of arms.

You know. Like Godric Gryffindor?

Anyways.

Gryfino is right next to the Enchanted Crooked Forest and I mean. Just look at that. It does look like a Harry Potter location.

(I like the name of Gryfice better but Gryfino is located closer to the Crooked Forest, so Im sticking with that one)

Now things are getting a bit less straightforward.

Lily and Severus

For them I have 2 suggestions.:

Łódź - used to be the industrial centre with many textile factories. Since the name of Spinner’s End hints at the involvement in textile production - either cotton or wool spinning - this impression of Cokeworth being involved with textile industry stuck with me (tho I dont think we are ever told what was Cokeworth actually producing). However, Łódź is the 4th biggest city, not a small town like Cokeworth, and isnt as much of the textile industry anymore.

(Upper) Silesia - the other highly industrialised region, focused on mining (mostly coal), metalurgy etc. It has its own regional language called Silesian (I am not a linguist so idk whats the status of Silesian - some say its a dialect, some say its a separate regional language and are currently trying to get it recognised as such. idk its complicated (like everything about Silesia tbh). you can read some articles on wikipedia in silesian tho.). It fits the Cokeworth vibe a bit better, but it could also be compared to Wales (region focused on mining ✅ has a distinct dialect/language ✅ complicated history/relationship regarding the country/state its a part of ✅)

(with this one I ran out of creative juices and couldnt find any nice photos on unsplash or wikipedia so I used the posters by Ryszard Kaja. side note: Katowice is the capital city of the Silesian Province but its not the only province that can be referred to when talking about Silesia. like I said its complicated)

Remus

While trying to decide where he could be from, my first thought was: he has to be from the south of Poland - in that case, Sirius and James can make fun of the way he speaks (it doesnt matter how strong or noticeable one’s dialect is, I feel like southerners will always be made fun of). If Remus is from a town/village in the south he can hate on Warsaw people bc thats the preferable pastime of people not from Warsaw apparently (this also applies to Lily and Severus ofc)

So.

If we assume that Wales = Silesia (only for the purposes of this tumblr post!), then he can be from Silesia (as I mentioned: mining ✅ distinct dialect/language ✅ kind of a separate-ish region ✅)

But. If we want to lean into the sheep aspect of Wales (rather than the coal mining aspect) I would suggest Podhale - one of the mountain regions in the south. It is big on sheep ✅ has a rather noticeable dialect ✅ and having lots of sheep means: lots of woollen sweaters ✅ (crucial for Remus characterisation in any and all AUs)

other points for your consideration:

there is a breed of shepherd dogs originating from this region (Tatra Shepherd Dog, in polish: Owczarek Podhalański) (its quite large but sadly white not black like Padfoot. i still think it counts for Wolfstar points)

there is a fanart of Remus (and Lily) inspired by folk attire from Podhale region

pictured: Morskie Oko (in English: Eye of the Sea) also included in @polaroidcats Remus moodboard for my Erasmus AU; oscypek - regional smoked cheese from sheep milk; folk attire from Podhale region from this postcard, Tatra Shepherd Dog and Zakopane Style architecture (Zakopane is one of the main towns of the Podhale region)

Peter

I genuinely have no idea. We have no canon info that I could base any headcanons on. lets not talk about how I initially forgot about him all together. There are a few towns that used to be made fun of for no reason, so maybe he could be from one of them for the meme sake? I dont know

Hogwarts

How do they all meet? In Poland people would rather go to local high schools (as in: within their province). But if we want to gather people from all over the country our best shot is a university - and the oldest one is the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (Cracow) founded in 1364.

ending notes

Im not worrying about the details or technicalities now, like how do they meet if they pick different majors at the uni (because then their classes won’t even share buildings). This is just a silly headcanon post that took me way too long to put together than it should

Im sorry if I disappointed anyone by not including more characters. I said "Marauders Era Character" instead of just "Marauders" bc I wanted to include Lily and Severus too. I dont know where I would place any other characters bc in most cases I dont have enough info (like with Peter...)

I hope Im not spreading any misinformation with this post. I wish I could say more on the topic of dialects and regional langauges and explain how it all works in Poland but im not a linguist and dont feel qualified enough lol

Poland is divided into Województwa which is anglicised as Voivodeships. However I decided to refer to them as “provinces”, even if thats not the correct term, for simplicity/brevity sake

all photos (unless stated otherwise) are from either unsplash.com or wikipedia. and yes i made all the moodboards

[mint-and-authoress]

Slime HRT - Progress Report II

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[The video opens with a familiar bedroom setup from previous recordings. In the top right corner a timestamp of ‘10 Weeks’ is shown.]

“Okay, ten weeks. We’re ten freaking weeks into this. I’m honestly really excited for this update actually because…”

[Elise stands back a few feet and rolls up her sleeves to reveal her arms. The skin has shifted from translucent to transparent, and the musculature is present underneath, a mix of bluish-gray and red.]

“Skin’s gone! …Well, not gone gone, but it’s totally cleared up! It’s all see-through now, and that means the muscle’s gonna go next. Which I’m a little nervous about.

“Yeah… that last bit at the end of the first video was my dad kinda outing me on his own because I didn’t have a chance to cover up. And that’s kinda led to this Transspecies Cold War that I’ve been forced to take part in for like… 3 weeks now? Luckily my mother is oblivious to all this so I’ve managed to skirt around that volcanic eruption. Dad hasn’t said a word to me, though, which is a bit weird, but I’m honestly fine with not talking to him. Freeing, in a sense.

“Anyway, important things first! In terms of my transition timeline, I’m actually a little ahead of schedule! Which, don’t get me wrong, it’s really exciting to experience this stuff and confirm it’s all really happening, but also kinda puts a bit of a wrench into my plans. Some gunk in the cogs, I don’t know. I’ve been trying to use more slime puns, but I’m not sure if it’s for me.”

[Elise stares off for a second before snapping back to reality.]

“...Right, the wrench. Problem. Whatever it was. Right, my job! I’m a bit worried about how long I’ll be able to keep working, seeing as though I’m gonna basically have muscular dystrophy advancing throughout my body at a rapid rate. I don’t do a ton of heavy lifting, at most I’d struggle with lifting mannequins but we barely do that. Mostly just hanging clothes and gettin stuff hung up.

“My skin, or my surface now, I guess, is a bit stickier now? From what I can tell, the surface is just a slime’s version of skin; all the goop you’d imagine just comes from underneath to gather sensory input. I guess that hasn’t happened yet because 1) I don’t have that goop yet–the goop that’ll come from all my muscles, I mean–and 2) I still have a human’s nervous system so I can still touch and understand that feeling.

“So far so good, though. No more skin, no more breakouts. Hopefully the muscles are just as cooperative.”

[The segment ends. The next segment fades in and Elise looks notably different. Her hair is gone and has been replaced with a shorter ‘haircut’ made entirely from slime. She wears a t-shirt and long pants. Elise’s surface is still clear but most of the muscle underneath is also gone, the little remaining still in small patches dotted across her body. Her face is also completely eroded away, all that remains is the skull, eyes, and the inner workings of her ears. The slime that makes up Elise’s body is now tinted green. The timestamp reads ‘5 Months.’]

“This is my entry at 5 months during transition. Holy Hell it has been a rough one. As you can see…”

[Elise slowly stands and orients the camera to face multiple parts of the bedroom, most of which has been compartmentalised and/or boxed up. She finally turns the camera to face her once more in the usual shot.]

“I am ready to get out. In fact, I’m actually headed out tomorrow morning to go live with my partner out west. Out in the wilderness, surrounded by nature. First things first, though. I gotta unpack these last months for y’all.”

[Elise starts to roll up her sleeves before seemingly forgetting that she is wearing a t-shirt, which she begins to fidget with.]

“Transition stuff first. Also sorry if I’m a bit spaced out, I’ve been a bit…well I guess I’ll just call myself out on it, I’ve been a bit airheaded recently. Doctors say it’s a side effect of the drugs, which of course it is. All in the name of science or something.

“I don’t want it to come across like I’m not happy; I’m fucking ecstatic and euphoric all the time. Life’s just been a lot lately.

“In terms of the muscular decomposition it actually kinda freaking hurts. Like when it started I just felt sore but over the course of a week somewhere around 14 weeks in I got barely any sleep. Turns out, acid dissolving you hurts pretty bad, actually. It got better when a majority of the muscle was gone but every now and again the body decides to get rid of more and unfortunately I can’t use any ibuprofen or painkillers because they inhibit some yeast growth and I just so happen to be made of the stuff nowadays.

“Also, on that note, no more caffeine, ever, apparently. Yeasts actually really don’t react well to caffeine so I’m really really glad I don’t drink coffee. No more Dr. Pepper hurts the soul, though. F in the chat for no more dr pepper.

“Also, hair. As in, no more hair, anywhere. I think they try to skirt around the fact that you will drop your hair as soon as the scalp becomes goop when they tell the trans girls about their transition. I think I would have screamed if I had the house to myself when I took that shower and my whole head felt very light. Luckily your body becomes very malleable when you take these drugs and after like four days of trying I figured out how to style my goop-hair. I’m usually covered from top to bottom in clothes to stay hidden, though, so I barely ever get the chance. And of course, since the hair is gone, my nails went around the same time. Been having to wear touchscreen gloves just to use my phone, and rubber gloves under those so I don’t seep through.

“Other changes… well, showering is pretty euphoric, honestly. Putting more water in the body kinda expands it in a way. Makes all the mass a bit sloshy but still workable if I don’t overdo it. Makes me all euphoric to have big ol tiddies whenever I want.

“I’m still able to eat normally, but I’ve started to actually digest with my slime. Lately my goal has been to taste without my tongue – which is also gone, mind you, just got lucky that I kept my tastebuds at least a little bit.”

[Elise stares off into the distance once again, seemingly lost in thought. After a moment she recollects herself and sits a bit taller.]

“Most of you have guessed by now that I’d get fired because of my transition, and yeah, that was last week. I warned my boss way in advance that I may slowly lose some physical function during transition but either she didn’t care to research my procedures or hated my guts anyway, either way I got canned for being unable to lift and perform my duties. It’s not so bad, lets me decompress and get ready to move.

“Yeah, I know, the move. Funny, you think I should have mentioned that first, or maybe a few months ago. Thing is, I had no idea I’d be moving out this early either. My transition is happening at an advanced rate for some reason and the doctors won’t be able to say before 6 months anyway so we’re all a bit in the dark about it.

“So last night I was invited to dinner with my parents. Not like an actual ‘going out to a restaurant’ dinner, no this was more like ‘Elise gets to cook and make her parents a nice meal and be forced to sit and talk about uncomfortable shit with them for at least an hour’ dinner. Lucky for them, I’m a bit of a pushover and I actually do like to cook so I made something nice.

“So, an hour and one stir fried chicken dish later, I’m sitting in the living room with my parents watching TV and absolutely trying to not shrink in on myself. That’s been an experience, let me tell you. I can just kinda ball up now if I want. Which I did not want to do considering I was still stealth from my mom.

“Of course, she has to ask how work is going and of course I had to unmask for just one insignificant second and reply that I was let go. There was a bit of a screaming match, and a ride to the hospital for my mother who legitimately had a heart attack from seeing her daughter’s skull and eyes suspended in a slightly green goop. Food colouring, by the way. Way cheaper than hair dye.

“Mom’s alright, she’s an addict so that’s what the doctors are focussed on now. Which unfortunately means that they have to deal with a whole bunch of bills and other lovely little things. Dad took me aside and made it abundantly clear that I was no longer welcome in their home. Hence, the boxes and suitcase that all hold the entirety of what I own.

“In better news, I’m gonna get an apartment with my love and we’ll be all okay by the end of the week. At some point I’m gonna also have to head into Hyper City again, check in with my doctors who all seem to have no idea why my transition is going so fucking fast all of a sudden. I mean, I was on schedule up until like that 7 weeks update and then everything went into like, I dunno, super puberty, and just shot way ahead.

“So, yeah…transition’s going great, just have to bear with all the other stuff that comes with it. I transitioned once, I can do it again. Stay strong, we’ll make it through together.”

[The scene fades to black as Elise reaches for the camera.]

}~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{

We are so back. With the Biggest. Update. Ever.

Well, not Elise. She's actually going through it af

More slime time! This post's inspiration (imma keep doing this btw, I like giving shout outs to my humble base of 40 followers) comes from both @draconic-lesbian for constant and continuous love and species affirmation, and @reliablegal who somehow derived her own slime biology and affirmed most of what I found to be true :D

catch y'all later when Elise moves into a new place and totally nothing crazy happens~