#anyway its often obscured for a reason

[creaturefeaster]

From the new foxglove animatic

Idk if this has any significance to cq but this looked interesting to me 👀

New unrevealed character maybe?

(⬆️submitted by kylesplayhouse ⬆️)

---------------

Unrevealed, maybe by name, but I've shared art of it before. You've seen it. It's even, technically, earlier in that animation if you pay close enough attention. But here are a couple of other pieces eluding to it.

(Rede spray painting it)

(Atrox witnessing it)

[unexpectedbrickattack]

Peppino being a little magician makes me go :)

[tomezatos]

so like basically in the REIGEN manga tome tries so desperately to throw herself into the center of this literal Superhuman world she sees and play the role of the eager young protagonist and its so endearing but in the end reigen has to come clean and she can’t keep using the spiritual premise as a crutch. not because she was wrong to have her whimsical interests, but because the fantasy of specialness can often be an escape from the isolation a person feels due to being unable to live up to societal ideals of normalcy, and yet in the end the fantasy can itself end up feeding directly into the isolation by obscuring your view of the other people in your life. you cannot prioritize the idea of being unique or special alone and that is the reason that the power structures in the story (as represented by roshuuto in REIGEN) so frequently fail short; because actually EVERYONE is a Pathetic Freak Weirdo Nerd Loser, from the handsome, popular rich boy, to the pretentious Dark!Reigen foil who takes himself too seriously, to all of the mundane teenage girls who the audience is initially tricked into dismissing as shallow, but also by the same token EVERYONE deserves to be loved and feel supported. 

because actually bonds with other people are the most important thing, and centrally this is also why REIGEN relies so heavily on bonds with others as something to create horror. the evil spirit mimics the voices of the ones you love and lures you in and when you’re at your most lost and scared and in need, that’s when you turn around and the face of the person you trust betrays you. tome only contracts the fatal curse in the first place because she cared about reigen and went back to make amends with him. because that’s the most horrifying, most terrifying thing, the thing that renders you absolutely helpless, isn’t it? it’s letting yourself rely on others and trust them to the point that it leaves you vulnerable, isn’t it? but you have to do it, if you want to achieve true connection then you can’t continue keeping up a veneer of Specialness and posturing as someone you’re not no matter how afraid you are of being seen as your true self. that’s the idea that really connects tome and reigen above all else. you have to be who you really are and you have to trust that you’ll be loved for it. and that’s horrifying! that’s an unimaginable, Forbidden terror! but it’s necessary. 

and also I think it’s so clever how REIGEN conveys this by only bringing in shigeo kageyama, the protagonist and most recognizable character who the reader has so many preconceived notions of, in at the last moment as a terrifying ghost who is impersonating him. I mean also it’s partially because shigeo can easily be made to look scary lol, because let’s be real, he can be pretty goddamn scary /hj BUT MOSTLY it’s to have him in his uniform, in his most recognizable and iconic form that the reader will cling to, and then have it be blown away by the post-canon shigeo, the real shigeo, the shigeo who has grown and changed and is no longer stuck in the role he once was. because to be vulnerable with others you have to grow and change and do away with old pretenses and dynamics that you’ve become dependent on. it can be scary to stop playing roles after you’ve grown use to them for so long, but you don’t need them - your most honest self will be the most loved. and also I love how just like tome could tell that it was the real reigen bcause he immediately ran into a spiderweb and yelled, you can tell that it’s the real shigeo because he’s immediately rude as fuck and he and reigen literally instantly go into their mean pithy little affectionate banter lol ok sorry anyway.

and also because you cannot really be any more or less special than anyone else and you need bonds with others, it’s true both that you have to rely on other people, but also that you owe it to them to be kind. reigen is literally a normal person working in the spirit business, so he has to rely on other people with the necessary abilities, such as dimple the spirit and serizawa the psychic, yes, but he also does his part to take care of the people who matter to him. roshuuto is so focused on appearances and power - as shown by how he goes on and on about connections - but when it comes down to it, he was not willing to save others (leaving hoshido in Reliance), and so nobody bothered trying to save him in turn. he only abandoned, and was abandoned. this is shown most acutely in the end by how roshuuto “has no other option” but to pass his curse on to someone else to save himself, while reigen “has no other option” to take on a curse to save someone else. reigen and serizawa accepting their responsibility as adults to protect the children around them is an extension of the idea that you are equal to everyone and are obligated to be kind to your loved ones and recieve kindness in turn. anyway mutual trust and communication is all that matters and tome kurata is The protagonist of all time Sorry,

[nametakensff]

Lovely Mess (D/isco E/lysium, M/M)

I wrote this really quickly but then had a week full of interruptions before being able to edit it - but anyway, here's 2.3k of H/arry and J/ean being gross 🥰

Pre-Martinaise, Pre-amnesia H/arry gets J/ean to indulge him in the archive rooms of the station. Things gets messy (literally)

~~~~~

Content:

M/M, H/arry has a sneezing fetish, J/ean gets off on indulging him, manually induced sneezes, mentions of hay fever, rapid sneezes, dry humping, prelude to anal sex, anal fingering, spray, sneezing on someone, LOTS of mess, graphic descriptions of mess, verbal teasing, dirty talk, praise kink, embarrassment/humiliation, nose blowing, handkerchiefs

CW: Mess (I mean it), complicated/toxic relationship, abusive language, mentions of alcohol abuse, H/arry is extremely pushy, J/ean should love himself a little bit more, rough sex, degrading language directed towards the fetish, H/arry spits on J/ean's asshole, they're both idiots who enable each other's worst behaviour even if they do care deeply for each other

NSFW - Minors DNI!

“Hhd’Tishh!! ‘TTtsch’uu! Kt’tssch’iew!! Ttsschh’uu!!”

Jean rocked forward helplessly, shivering as each sneeze seemed only to aggravate the tickle rather than alleviate it. Of course, said tickle could only truly be assuaged if the source of its insistence was removed. Given that the reason he was sneezing himself stupid was because of Harry’s greedy and merciless inducing, he didn’t have much faith that he’d find relief any time soon.

“Fuck, Jean! Bless you!”

And there it was. Jean’s face heated at the blessing Harry all but moaned, already pinkened by the supreme effort of releasing an endless stream of tickly little sneezes. Every time he pondered these affairs with a clear head not clouded by impending or recently completed orgasm – when he analysed the situation objectively, the way in which Harry would pester him and he would indulge - he often wondered why he gave in at all. But without fail, the second Harry would approach him, all heated eyes and wandering hands, Jean would cave. Harry might be the deviant with the obscure fetish, but then what did that make him? What was his excuse for all the many times he would get so worked up over the attention he’d end up cumming harder and faster than Harry?

Harry smiled at him, drunk with arousal and power (and yes, okay, the Irish coffee Jean had watched him fix himself this morning). Jean shouldn’t let him treat him like a plaything, not really, but at the very least with Harry, he cared – which was more than could be said about some of the other men (and women) he had permitted to fuck him. He may have a shitty way of showing it half the time, the selfish maniac, but he at least had the decency to express remorse when he did happen to hurt Jean. And it wasn’t as if Jean was an angel. He dished out plenty of hurt himself. It was the nature of their partnership, and of their friendship. Go hard or go home, no in-betweens. Which was probably another reason why Jean was pressed up against the uncomfortable shelves of the archive room, his superior officer’s muscular thigh wedged securely between his own whilst he clutched at him for support, spraying Harry with each and every sneeze that was tortured out of him.

Harry jiggled the little wire he used for such occasions against the wall of Jean’s irritated nostril, and Jean heard the shuddering sigh of anticipation the older man couldn’t hold back as he watched his nostrils twitch and flare. It barely took any motion at all now to push him over the edge. He inhaled, a short, desperate little exclamation of breath before he was sneezing again, all over Harry’s hand, his wrist, and catching his face and shirt.

“Hupt’Tschu! Hhk’TsschUu! Hpt’tshh!-Tschh-Tschtt!! Hht-! Hh’AHtt’Tschhieww!! Putain…”

Harry groaned appreciatively, rocking his hips with each ticklish release. His cock was rock solid as he pressed against the younger man, and just the sensation of that huge erection prodding into him made Jean whine. He wanted Harry to bend him over and fuck him five minutes ago, already. He snuffled reflexively, and that was enough to send him over the edge for another violent triple.

“IhKk’TschHh!! Hh’itshiew!! Hgk’TISHh’ieww!!”

To his utter embarrassment, that final sneeze had been an incredibly messy affair alongside the regular dousing of spray. There now hung two small trails of clear mess, dripping down over his moustache.

“Fuck,” He murmured, blushing violently and reaching up to hide the display, even though Harry would have seen it, could not have missed it, watching him sneeze as he was through unblinking, starstruck eyes.

Jean bristled with indignation as Harry suddenly gripped his wrist and pinned it to his side, halting his attempt to clean himself up. He tried with his other hand, the one that had been gripping Harry’s bicep, but it was no use. That he worked out obsessively and had the body to show for it meant nothing in the face of the older man’s years of hardwired athleticism, even now that he used his arms to lift bottles of beer to his lips more than anything else. He could only stare daggers back at Harry, hoping to cow him into submission. Perhaps this would have worked at a time when Harry’s entire being wasn’t concentrated in the girthy length of his cock. But it was, and so it didn’t.

“Let go of me, you fucking maniac!” Jean spat, angry at Harry for merely smirking back at him and angrier at himself for finding that it made him even hotter.

“Nope. Nuh-uh. Not until you promise you’ll leave yourself alone.”

Jean blinked at him.

“I’ve got fucking snot running down my face, you moron, and it’s your fault. I’ll still fucking sneeze for you, just let me wipe it away.”

Harry didn’t budge. Jean felt his heart race when he realised that Harry’s eyes, pupils blown wide with arousal, were lingering over the sight of mess that was ever so gradually creeping down his face and threatening to slip over his closed lips. He sniffled thickly, nostrils flaring with effort, hoping to pull some of it away, but it barely made a difference. Harry exhaled, and Jean felt his cock twitching against his hip.

“You can clean up in a minute. Just. Keep going like that? I swear I’ll make it up to you.”

Jean knew he would, knew that Harry genuinely enjoyed making him cum, for all his flaws. He didn’t even care if it was a matter of machismo for the older man – he just wanted to have a fucking orgasm, and indulging Harry without resistance was the fastest way of getting one. He sniffled again, wincing just a little at the dense sound of it, before shaking Harry’s hands away and resting his own on the older man’s shoulders.

“Fine.” He grumbled, ignoring Harry’s toothy grin and tilting his head back slightly, nostrils already fluttering in anticipation. “Just don’t come crying to me when I make a mess of your fucking uniform.”

“I never do!” Harry eagerly replied, wasting no time in reinserting that devilish inducing tool.

Every little prod urged the tickle onwards with the most delicious building of pressure. Jean had never disliked the sensation of sneezing, but the sheer quantity of sneezes he was prone to, particularly with his hay fever, had somewhat desensitised him to how pleasurable of a reflex it truly was. He both hated and thrilled in the way Harry was brushing off on him, transforming a banal bodily function into something undeniably hedonistic.

One final prod of the tool, so devious and teasing that it brought fresh tears to his eyes, and Jean was buckling forward with the subsequent release.

“Hut’Tschuu!-Tish’iew!-Hh’tsSCHhuu!! Tishh’ieww-Tschtt!! Huh-! Kishh’uu! Dzsh’ieww!! Hhk’Tisshhiew!!”

There was no way he could open his eyes as the sneezes overwhelmed him, barely giving him a chance to breathe. He could feel himself approaching a desperate state of light-headedness, but damn it all, it felt so fucking good to purge the tickle, and the shameless moans Harry was making just elevated the eroticism to euphoric heights. He gave in to each sneeze, letting them do with him as they would. His cock throbbed and twitched in the painfully tight constraints of his trousers.

“IhGKk’Tschu!! Hgk’Tscch!!-Tshh-‘Tschieww!! Hupt’Tschh! Igk’Tshieww!! Tschh! Tsh! Hh-!”

Harry had at least removed that cruel little wire, and Jean could feel the sneezes winding down, perhaps due to lack of oxygen more than anything else. His breath scissored in and out of him, chest jumping with effort as he built up to one final, cleansing explosion.

“hhHAGk’TshHhieww!! Ah…”

Fuck. He was trembling, at last able to blink his bleary eyes open. His face felt hot with effort, tears streaming down his face as his breathing gradually evened out again.

“Ohh, Vic. Jean. Good boy.”

Harry murmured, leaning forward to press a kiss to his burning cheek. Those words, predictably, went straight to his solid cock and he blushed right up to the tips of his ears. He was so, so embarrassingly easy.

When Harry pulled back, Jean took the time to assess the damage. His fit had dislodged no small amount of clear mess, built up over hours of aggravating hay fever and Harry’s ruthless tickling. It had spattered over Harry’s chest, some glittering in the chest hair that peaked out through the unbuttoned upper section of his shirt, the rest leaving specks of damp discolouration as his sneezes saturated the fabric. He looked down to where their legs locked, and even as he did so another drop spilled from the pinkened rim of one nostril to join the damage there. As with Harry’s shirt, the material stretched across his thigh was darkened with slippery moisture. Jean noticed he had even managed to sneeze, or drip, onto the straining material across Harry’s crotch, which throbbed happily as he regarded it.

He didn’t need a mirror to visualise the mess he had made of himself; he could feel the result of his body-shaking fit dripping past his moustache and over his lips, down to his bearded chin. Judging by the damp sensation of his shirt clinging to his pectorals, he’d definitely drenched parts of his own chest as well.

The droplet that had recently escaped now gathered anew, hanging precariously in place. Harry had noticed, because how could he not, and he took the opportunity to tease Jean’s sensitive nostril, ever so delicately, tracing the flaring rim with one outstretched finger.

Jean gasped immediately, cringing at the intensity of the tickle, and sneezed all over Harry’s hand.

“AEgkK’TschIeww!! HHd’TtSChHhht!! Oh m’by god…”

He blinked and shivered, relishing in the trembling aftermath and unable to help the soft little whimper of pleasure that slipped through his lips, only partially open to allow himself to breathe. He snuffled, the sound of it crackling and obscenely congested.

Harry pulled his hand back, connected to Jean’s nostrils by one delicate, glistening strand before it stretched to its limit and fell away.

“Wow.” He smiled, sounding completely fucking enraptured, and held the hand up for Jean to see as he himself admired the prodigious results of that violent double. Jean blushed to see the skin glistening in the poorly lit room, slick and sticky. He was frightened for a second that Harry might actually lick himself clean, and even more frightened at the way his cock didn’t seem to wilt in the slightest, but thankfully Harry just wiped it off on the ruined material of his own shirt.

“Poor baby. So stuffy. You made such a lovely mess for me, Jean-Jean.”

He was saying the most ridiculous, unbelievable things in that gruff, rumbling voice of his, speaking more because he liked the sound of what he was saying over whether he thought Jean might actually enjoy it. Jean did enjoy it, though, and that fucking enraged him. He would always come back for more, no matter how strange or obscure the sex became, because he was a fucking fool and Harry could play him – just about anyone, really, but especially him – like a fucking fiddle.

“You’re a fucking pervert, Harry. A disgusting creep!”

He meant it, too, yet they both knew that this vitriol towards the particulars of Harry’s proclivities was a facade. In reality, Jean was angry because once again, Harry had pushed his boundaries and his buttons and he’d loved it anyway. His outburst only spurred Harry on, rubbing himself shamelessly on Jean’s hip.

“Yeahh, baby. I’m a downright tramp. But you fucking love it, Vic. I’m making you hard.”

Jean gasped as Harry’s baritone voice rumbled against him; he could feel it in his chest, the rasp of it echoing in his skull as Harry licked a line down the shell of his ear. The feeling of his facial hair rubbing against his cheek made him shudder. And he was right – he was so, so right. Jean was giddy with arousal, intoxicated with the utter filthiness of it all.

“Let me – let me clean myself up.” He managed, and Harry obeyed, giving Jean enough room to retrieve his handkerchief and indulge in a long, crackling blow. It was several such blows, in fact, and Jean squirmed as Harry refused to look away. He wondered if his body would soon become unable to distinguish between the twin burning flames of humiliation and intense arousal. He used the unsullied part of his handkerchief to clean his beard and moustache, hoping if he missed a spot Harry would let him know before the unavoidable walk of shame back to the bullpen.

“You okay?” Harry asked, voice far too fucking tender as he stroked at Jean’s cheek. He knew if he looked Harry in the eye his gaze would be equally as saccharine, and it made Jean want to scream, or melt. Maybe both.

“I’m fine. Fuck me, god dammit. Fuck me right now,” He snarled, bucking his hips against Harry and groaning as the older man immediately humped him back, pawing him all over.

“You gonna beg me for it?” Harry murmured against Jean’s lips, breathy with arousal.

“Fuck you.”

“That’s not very nice.”

“Neither the fuck are you, shitkid.”

“It’s okay,” Harry drawled, grinning at him before flipping Jean around and bending him over the small, nearby reading table. Jean moaned as Harry pulled his trousers and underwear down his thighs, shivering in anticipation. “I forgive you. I’ll fuck you anyway.”

Jean rested his forehead on his folded forearms and moaned again, heating at the sensation of Harry spreading his cheeks with his huge hands before spitting on his hole, happy in the knowledge that he had worked Harry up just enough to be railed as hard and as fast as he liked.  

“Feel free to sneeze again, if you need to.” He could hear the smirk in Harry’s voice, the popping cap of his portable lube bottle, and then the sensation of his coated fingers probing inside of him, stretching him open.

“Fuck you,” Jean gasped out, reaching between his legs as Harry lined up their hips, getting ready to enjoy the ride.

[ladybeug]

Speech bubbles

I put together some thoughts on how I fit speech bubbles into my comic panels after a conversation with @carpisuns! Sharing it here :)

Section 1: some general rules to consider, and then to break literally whenever, for any reason:

(1) Leave more room for the speech bubbles than you think you need. ANNOYING I know.

like look at how much of these panels are actual drawing, vs text. its like a quarter each:

(personally I think these have too much dialogue to be good panels. but theyre good examples of how dialogue can take up a lot of room)

THE REST IS UNDER A CUT BECAUSE IT GETS LONG

(2) Speech bubbles should be positioned in the order you want them to be read, left to right, top to bottom.

(3) Speech bubbles should line up to where the characters are standing, which helps show who is saying what.

I am actually really bad at following #3. its something I try to do, but a lot of the time I end up with confusing stuff like this:

I end up doing this in an attempt to follow rule 2, so you can easily read right to left up to down, but this is just a mess, i cant believe their speech bubbles cross over like that, its a big mess and its hard to tell who's saying what.

this is kinda what I'm going for. adrien's speech bubbles on the adrien side of the panel, alya's on the alya side:

(4) Speech bubbles should not obscure any drawings that are doing important communication work. This sounds obvious but we're putting it in the rules anyways.

TYPES OF DRAWINGS THAT DO COMMUNICATION WORK:

Faces, usually. Often the focal point of a panel. This can be really effectively broken if you want it to feel like someone is being interrupted or overridden by the words that are spoken.

If someone is nervous and wringing their hands, then their hands are now doing important communication work and shouldn't be blocked by the speech bubble

I have good and bad examples of this one.

BAD EXAMPLES:

look at this mess of a panel where I ran out of space and did a speech bubble over adrien's face. adrien's face could have been telling us how he feels in this moment, but instead he seems squished and unimportant:

And this panel, where I ran out of space and had to cover chat noir's tall ears, which should have been uncovered because they are communicating a VERY Important thing to the audience, which is: chat noir made his ears long. that's the point of the comic. and its only communicated in this panel. and i covered it with a speech bubble. not my best work:

GOOD EXAMPLES:

This panel where I purposefully made the speech bubble get in marinette's face, to show that the words are pressuring her:

this works bc you can still see how marinette feels (thats the communication work the drawing is doing).

here's one where a lot of the figures are blocked, but the important communication pieces are visible. you can see chat noir's face to see how he feels, and his hand taking the card from alya. alya doesnt even have to be in this one, you dont need to know anything about her, just that she's giving the card to chat noir:

(5) Speech bubbles go on the top of the panel or at the bottom. That way they read in longer rows, and stay out of the picture. Also faces are usually in the middle.

(6) Less is always better to read. This is a hard rule to follow and I rarely follow it, but it's worth saying.

like its so easy to digest a comic panel with a small amount of text:

and so much more work to do the opposite:

same example, I know, but its a good one. these are hard to read because theres so much text. a tired reader will just skip this so they can have a better day.

there's like a 75% chance you didn't even read the words in this example image, but I bet you read the one that says 'I was born to be a cat model".

(7) if the speaker is going to change how they feel when they say two separate speech bubbles, put those speech bubbles in two separate panels. having the same picture attached to both speech bubbles can be confusing.

here's a time I messed that up:

See?? looks like marinette is mad when she says 'oh good', when my intention was actually for her to not get mad until after nino says chat noir was playing video games. confusing.

Section 2: HELP I HAVE TOO MUCH TEXT AND CANT FIT EVERYTHING IN!!!!! WHERE DOES IT GO! HOW!

Something's gotta go. Can you stretch the content out over 2 panels? or can you say it in fewer words? do you need everything you're showing in the picture, is it all doing important communication work?

If m worried, I like to write in all of the words before I draw the speech bubbles around the words, or add pictures. This makes sure the words are all readable and I can overlap bubbles to take up less space in between paragraphs of text. sometimes I'll also end up putting the bubbles behind the pictures in the comic, to make more room.

I was thinking about this as I drew a comic earlier this week and captured some of my process. First thing I did was draw in the text:

and then once it was written I was like shoot thats the whole panel HOW am I supposed to fit the people in!!!! my original panel idea had been like:

theres no way both girls were going to fit comfortably in the picture. so I thought about what NEEDED to be in the picture in order for the panel to make sense. and that was marinettes face, marinettes hands holding the card, and alya's hand on marinette's shoulder.

so

I gave alya REALLY LONG ARMS so her face wouldn't be cut off by the speech bubble and you still got the idea that she's comforting marinette.

Section 3: That was a lot. What am I supposed to do. Synthesize this into concrete instructions please

(1) Be deliberate with your writing: know what the dialogue will be before you draw the panel. If you're not sure how you'll fit it all in, write it down in a brainstorm. like write down what the drawing will be and where the words will go.

(2) If you're worried you won't have space for the words, draw the words first. it's usually easier to make the drawing smaller than it is to cut down the text.

(3) Ask yourself, can you say this in fewer words? Fewer pictures? What does the reader need to see in the panel, or read in the panel, to get the point. (you can't always say it in fewer words, dont stress yourself out about this one.)

And last step, dont worry about it too much. if it really matters you can find a way to edit it, and otherwise who cares. Have fun!

[obscureother]

🌑 ˚x'˙ intro. . ??

Hello. . !! im new to tumblr, so sorry if wonky things happen while im setting this up. im still trying to figure things out guys-

i lurk on other accounts for general content but im closeted n shy so i made this one to yell about things instead so i don’t expose myself to people i know lolol

if you know or find other profiles i own, i request you not expose it for those reasons before im comfortable to.

so this is just an f/o blog/journaling. . thing. I'm not entirely sure what content will be here, but it will be centered around f/os, self-shipping, and its just to give me a place to yell about the people that live in my/your brain rent-free and know they don’t exist but we pretend they do anyway for comfort reasons and serotonin, dopamine, uhh what other things feel good and ok??

some of it will be for you if I happen to think of something, other times it is for me to explode over my fixation f/os!!

youre also welcome to come yell about your f/os if you just need someone to talk to them about!! dont think i know em?? COME OVER and INTRODUCE THEM. you can come in DMs, asks, or however you want to!! id be happy to know your f/o or listen to you talk about them if no one else will :00

This is a comfort blog to me, so there wont be any room for meanness or intended offenses here. Dont come to me with troublesome things or somehow twist/morph my content into something its not, we're just here to have a cool time with our fictional people, bro. . :((

ok who r you tho:

To be honest, I don’t have a name or something to go by as of posting this, I might get one later or just make a new comment all fancy for the pin. . For now you can just call me whatever you deem good or just go off my blog/username!! Don’t be mean tho. i may take one you guys think of or figure it out on my own.

they/them

im 21 yo. (if youre a minor, i dont mind you coming to say hello, but do look below the other stuff content for what you need to look out for. you should also know some of you goofy kiddos have energies i dont know how to respond to sometimes, so dont worry if i get awkward or something, its not your fault lolol.)

im in college, so forgive me if im slow, im also just not on tumblr very often :v i dont ghost people on purpose i swEaR-

i might post my f/os on a whole list, idk yet, but theyll prolly be mentioned sometimes to the very least. you can def ask of them tho!! (edited: i made an f/o list if you want to see them.)

i dont know if ill post content of my own f/os or me/my sona for them, but it could be there.

i dont mind sharing f/os!! id love to yell about them together. if you dont like that, then its ok!! i either wont talk about them with you so you can be their person when we talk of them, or you can just block/not interact. ill be sad i dont get to meet you, but its ok.

other stuff:

Nothing explicit/detailed will normally be posted. but: The worst there will be is just being hormonally silly from kind of "rrr ovaries go brr, chew on theM-" energy of my f/os. i will try to create a tag to mark it with so you can exclude honky content if you want or need to later, tho. from what i know, you can "block" tags. . so i think that will work if you like the other goofy stuff on the blog??

(edited: I DID IT, I DID THEM, LOOK: 🌑obscure tags list for the obscure blog )

NSFW talk can be in DMs, tho.

DO NOT come to me with those concepts if youre a minor tho, oh dear GOD. honky grown-up talk is not for you goofy child-folk.

LGBTQ+ friendly!! im nonbinary and love everybody. youre ok too. 💙

i do roleplay sometimes, but only in dms n please dont go exposing our roleplays to others. . i would be very not comfy :"0

if you want to roleplay, you can dm me to ask but i dont have to say yes or i might not be able to. im slow too dfsdf=

i may or may not make a side blog once i figure out how to do stuff, but know that until then, im going to just post whatever on this one til i know how to do things on tumblr lolol.

forgive me if some of my content gets deleted, edited, whatever as we go. like i said, this whole thing is very new to me and its not very organized for now. its just there. its gonna get wonky over here on my side for a bit.

• tiny bat gif •

[absolutebl]

Thai Names & BL

Why SO Weird (to Westerners)

You're looking for information on the Thai chue len.

We might say "nickname" but the actual translation is "play name." And it's what an anthropologist might call a "use name." So this is the name you go by IRL, not necessarily your legal name.

First I should say that this is a lot more common than westerns realize, even in our own past. Many Roman women, for example, we know operated under what amounts to a chue len. And it was probubly quite common among the lower classes in Ancient Egypt and Greece, too. But since the poor and females are chronically understudied there isn’t a ton of data (or written records, for that matter).

The chue len has to do in part with the history of names in Thailand, and the fact that until relatively recently most people only had a given name and a chue len, and then when government regulations went into effect mandating a last names it quickly became really complicated.

You can read a great article on Thai naming conventions here. It’s fun to learn about. I highly recommend it. And I am going to assume you did read it and now talk only about the bits left out and odd. 

The bit most BL watchers ask me about is answered in this statement: 

“Many Thai nicknames are derived from English words. They may be English sounding names (such as ‘Anna’) or more obscure words that are chosen for their meaning, e.g. Book (symbolising intelligence), Bank (symbolising wealth).”

However, like most English words used in Thai, they aren’t pronounced the way we would pronounce them. (Hell when have you ever heard an American pronounce something like a Brit, anyway?) 

One amusing example is “bur” which is Thai for “phone number.” It’s our word, but they made it... better. You can watch Dean ask for Pharm’s digits using just this one word (in the scene where he drops him off for the first time in UWMA). 

What the article doesn't say about chue len is that sometimes they are chosen for fun/silly as a baby name (like fatty) and then changed by the person themselves at any point in their life. 

You can opt to change your chue len whenever you want, since it's not a legal name. Also its not uncommon to have different ones with different groups (so one for friends, another for family, one for the public if you’re a celebrity, another for your lover). 

Daonuea (literally starnorth AKA Polaris or the Northstar) in Star in My Mind does this, he uses two: Nuea with friends, Dao with intimates.

I hope you can see how in a language where you use your OWN NAME for the I pronoun regularly, this is VERY easy to do?

Also, the article doesn’t say that a chue len can also be based on a popular band/idol/actor at the time of birth. I understand from my Thai bestie that Golf/Gulf was one of these for a while back in the 90s? I think.

Anyway, I also found Thai names odd to start, now I barely notice or register. Partly because what we read in English captions often doesn’t really sound like what’s being said.

For example, both Tine & Type sound the same to me, like Tyyyyee.

Also I amuse myself with wondering how they got that name. Like if a baby is named Bbomb - erm, did they blow out their diaper all the time? Probubly not because that’s very English culture specific, but I’m still amused. Was War a really violent child? Are all those Flukes happy accidents? Why is Gameplay called Gameplay? Was he a big gamer who chose it for himself? Or did his parents get together because of an in-game romance?

It’s fun to think about the reason, because there usually is one. 

There’s another naming convention the article doesn’t really talk about, which is all the chue lens amongst siblings often either rhyme (e.g. Win & Lin in Cupid’s Last Wish) or start with the same letter. Thai BL Kpop idol Bambam of GOT7 talks about this (he and his sibs all have B names). And also, hilariously, the fact that he actually doesn’t know his own brother’s given name because they have always just used the chue len with each other so he never had to learn it.

Some actors will take and go by (at least for a time) a more western sounding name (Phoom --> Pavel) but you’ll hear their Thai friends using their Thai name or a different chue len (much like some Korean idols). Others will go by a Thai name for in country work (Stewart --> Perth). 

There is an episode of 2022′s Safe House where GMMTV actors all talk about their use names and where they come from and their siblings names etc... but no one ever translated it and I’m a dumbass who didn’t save that ep to link, sorry.

Here on Tumblr we tend to tag actors by their chue len + given name, partly because many actors choose that as their social media handles on IG etc... 

Finally, you can watch Perth talk about some of this here on his YT channel.

from a question from @doorajar​ 

(source)

[to-the-stars8]

Mr. Todd and I

A/N; I finally gave in and wrote a second, and final, part to Mr. Todd and I. One day I would like to go back and write a full story on it, but with the others going on this will be it! Who knows, I could also say fuck it and just write a full story. But did I think of writing smut about this AU? ABSOLUTELY! Might tbh. Anyway, this chapter is really Jane Eyre-inspired if you can tell!

Edit to A/N; So I lied, there is a part three, so I'mma post a link here to all the chapters. All Parts

Pairings; Regency AU! Jason Todd x Reader Part I

Part II

A strong love was one of the most mysterious and simplistic things to observe among others, but, experiencing it for yourself, was evident that it was also the most complicated thing to build. Especially with someone who, on the surface, appeared almost as sarcastic and reserved as Mr. Todd. 

He had called on you nearly a dozen times since the party at Ms. Thompson’s home a few months ago, under the pretense of Damian wishing to play with Jon, and wrote you nearly every other day. His reason as to why he could not see you more was that he was frequently out of town on business for his father, Mr. Wayne. You did not mind as long as he continued to write to you with much earnestness and passion as his letters possessed. Still, you could do without the snarky remarks that you refuse to acknowledge the hilarity in. 

Lady Kent was not all impressed with the notion of you marrying Mr. Todd, as it would take you away from Jon, no matter how many times you assured her that marriage was never a guarantee. Not even you had thought of it in its entirety as the idea was beyond your scope. Marrying him would indeed be an impossible feat.

Mr. Todd, above all else, was far above your station. You had no money beyond the sum given to you in salary by the Kents, no family to speak of, and could only pride yourself on the natural gifts given to you by expression of some degree of intelligence and sense. Those little gifts themselves made you popular among most in town, but you heard the whispers of your obscure background among those above you. 

Be as that may, Lady Kent was sure that Mr. Todd would propose to you despite your inferiority by the time he had called upon you a second time. You dispelled the idea of him having you for a wife. You would not do him or his most gentle father the dishonor. 

Yet, Mr. Todd had sent you letters that made your knees weak in such need for him. The letters would never see the light of day, nor would they be handed off to a maid or footman. Nay, the letters went to you directly, one of the reasons he called on you so often. When the heads were turned he would slip you the letters, whispering some affection for you that had you leaving with a blush. 

You were sitting in the garden trying to dispel the thought of marriage as you watched Jon play about the bushes when a maid hurried to you, quickly saying that Mr. Todd was here. He approached behind, thanking the maid as she walked away. You had started to stand before Mr. Todd told you no formality was needed for him, then took a seat next to you on the bench. 

“Is your family in good health?” He asked as he watched Jon wave to him with enthusiasm only a child could have, and Mr. Todd smiled before returning the gesture. 

You laughed as you answered, “Sir, I must tell you for I cannot falsely answer the question any longer, that I have no family to speak of. Besides Jon who, in an impolitic manner, I consider a brother.”

“Forgive me,” said Mr. Todd hurriedly, a bit flustered.

“There is nothing to forgive, Mr. Todd! I am not upset by it anymore,” You said. “You ask too much of me, Sir. How is your family? Are they in good health as well?”

He hesitated in his answer as if he was pondering every family member in the household. “They are well, yes.” In a more hushed tone, he then asked, “Did you get my letter?”

The question sent a blush to your cheeks, you were sure of it. He had sent you a letter secretly in your shawl you had mistakenly left it at his home. It was wrapped between the fabrics when the maid presented it to you. 

You replied in the same quiet tone, “Yes, sir…Your letters will ruin me if they are found.”

Mr. Todd, pleased with the answer, smiled. “I would not wish for that.”

“Nor I, for I will be the one without a home with little money,” You stated, thinking of the horror of the situation if it were to happen. 

“Yes, but you will gain a husband,” Mr. Todd said cooly. “If you would consider me for one.”

Shocked, you gasped, which caught the attention of Jon who poked his head over a bush. Quelling the child’s curiosity, Mr. Todd pretended that you had been shocked by a riddle he told to which Jon laughed before running off to the other end of the garden repeating it. 

“Sir,” You said breathlessly, lowly. “You are wicked.”

Mr. Todd cocked an eyebrow. “I have been called many things by people, but I do not believe I had the honor to be called wicked by the most beautiful woman in all of Gotham.”

Standing suddenly, you rush away from him. It was cruel what he was doing. Saying to Mr. Todd before you sped off, “You are intended to insult me, Sir. I see that now.”

“Nay, Miss!” He said, rushing after you. You halted your movement to hear him, for that much you had to give him. “Never would I dare to insult you.”

“But you do, sir!” You cried. “You lead me to believe you would marry me if you could.”

Mr. Todd said your name, sounding desperate for you to understand his meaning. “To speak plainly I do wish to marry you. If you will have me.”

You burst into tears, so unwilling to believe it. “Nay, you jest, Mr. Todd. You cannot marry me, it is not allowed.”

“I cannot? And what law prevents me to marry whom I choose and who will seemingly choose me in a mutual connection?” Mr. Todd was astonished at the notion you were suggesting. 

You tried to recover yourself, turning away from him to wipe away the tears but he followed in eagerness to see every thought you had in your eyes. “Mr. Todd, you would disgrace your father by marrying someone below your station. I will speak plainly to you, as I have before, that we are not equals. That is what prevents my acceptance.”

To your surprise, Mr. Todd laughed, “Not equals? I have met hundreds of people none who reach equality with me, in wit or love, as you do.”

You sniffled, trying not to cry as Jon approached, still recalling the riddle Mr. Todd had told him. When he noticed the boy, Mr. Todd turned away so he would not have to see his utter devastation in your remark. 

“Is everything alright?” Jon asked, innocently, when he noticed your tears. 

You nodded, telling him to run inside for lunch and that the butler, Mr. Olsen, would be there for him. Jon hesitated before running off again, leaving you and Mr. Todd. 

“Mr. Todd, I will hear no more of this. I must return to my work--” You resumed once Jon was gone into the house. 

“Since you are so consumed by prestige,” Mr. Todd said, nearly angry. “Let me tell you this. I am a natural son of lowlife, and it was only by the love and kindness of my adoptive father that I am able to stand here to speak with you. Without Mr. Wayne, it is I who is below you. Does this fact disperse any rejection you on my proposal?”

You could only look at down at your gloves as you pondered the fact. He sounded so desperate and eager for you to say yes, and you met that eagerness with as much earnestness--For you did not think, at the end of the day, if he was a beggar you could say no when he put himself in the open for you to see. Then, when you met Mr. Todd’s eyes again, you nodded slowly. “Yes, Jason, it does.”

Jason stepped forward, cupping your face, running a thumb under your eyes. He laughed to himself by the disbelief of your beauty. “You will have me then?”

“Yes,” said you. 

“I am most happy and thankful for it,” Jason said, laughing a bit. “We may continue our letters if you wish. We will not have to sneak it about, now.”

In a moment between being flustered and newfound courage, you said, “I believe I rather practice what you had mentioned in the letters than write more, sir.”

“Of course, whatever Mrs. Todd wishes, I will give her,” Jason said, leaning in to place a daring kiss on your lips. Blushing, you kissed back. 

When the news of the proposal spread many were happy for the union, especially Mr. Kent who would have the honor of walking you down the aisle, while others were not entirely too congratulating. Lady Kent and Jon wept for your loss in their household, as opposed to Mr. Wayne who was more than welcoming to another marriage in his family after Dick’s wedding. For once, you were glad to be proved wrong. 

This much was fact, though, strong love is definitely the most mysterious and simplistic of things.

[jaytriesstuff]

The Birds Above the Masters Manor and the Ones Below Wayne Manor

Basically I was listening to Birds by Thomas Sanders on a long drive a while ago and my brain created this. Its a wip that I might never finish but would love if anyone wanted to add on or just enjoy it haha. anyway.

the idea is that Vlad and Danny move into what was Drake Manor after the explosion at Nasty Burger. Vlad keeps Danny confined to the Manor grounds and Danny takes up bird watching. He meets Alfred first but slowly meets the other bats and birds and they get concerned for him and suspicious of Vlad. Plot ensues.

here’s the 900ish word wip

After the explosion at Nasty Burger Danny is stuck living with Vlad. They move into what was once Drake Manor in Vlad's attempt to distance himself from the GIW and isolate Danny from other potential support. Vlad is adamant about mentoring Danny and in response to Danny’s defiance, he sets up a ghost shield around the property that’s keyed into Danny’s ecto-signature keeping him in the property at all times. Danny is also made to wear wrist cuffs that cut off his powers when he is not actively training with Vlad. Danny takes to watching birds on the edge of the property closest to Wayne Manor as that is the farthest he is capable of getting from the cold empty house that Vlad has trapped him in. 

---

A few months ago, Danny wouldn’t be able to tell you the difference between a duck and a goose and now Danny can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about a bird just by looking at it. To be fair, a few months ago Danny still had the stars. Now he was in Gotham, where smog and the perpetually cloudy sky obscured any chance of seeing the constellations. Sure on the rare clearer night he could point out a few stars but the light pollution was a tragic interference. 

Danny had never much cared for birds. They were just something that existed. Now that he could do nothing but sit and wait for whatever Vlad wanted him to do, he envied the birds. They were free and he was not. They got to play around and socialize and go where they wanted to. He’s pretty sure none of the birds that he sees have crazy Fruitloop godparents that have taken over their entire life. Danny misses the sky. The closest thing he can get to it now is watching the birds fly by. 

Despite his best effort, he was unable to save his parents and his friends and despite all of his attempts, Vlad gained full custody of him. It didn’t take long for Vlad to move them away from Amity Park. Granted, some of his reasons were valid like getting away from the GIW but Danny knew it was mostly about control. Ever since setting up in the new manner, Danny has had no freedom. Sure he’s allowed to go wherever he wants on the property, but Vlad installed an upgraded shield that kept Danny in. It didn’t affect Vlad and it didn’t affect anybody else, but Danny was effectively trapped. Not only that but Danny was made to wear a bracelet of sorts that prevented him from ever using his ghostly abilities. Vlad would deactivate it during his “training sessions” but aside from that Danny was incapable of using his powers. 

Vlad wouldn’t even let him leave the manner for school. He had enrolled Danny in online courses to finish high school and prevented Danny from ever going anywhere or meeting anyone. He didn’t take away his phone but who is Danny gonna talk to anyway? All of his friends and all his family were dead. So, in all his boredom and isolation Danny decided to watch the birds and it was the closest thing to freedom he was able to experience anymore. It didn’t take long for him to learn all there was to know about the birds native to New Jersey his favorite was the American Robin but he saw the Northern Cardinal most often. He had set up a little spot as far away from the manner as possible, without having to deal with a shield. 

---

Alfred had noticed a child spending a significant amount of time on the edge of the Wayne property line. He assumed this was one of the new residents of what was previously Drake Manor. Alfred was aware that Drake Manor had been purchased by a man by the name of Vladimir Masters but he hadn’t been aware that Masters had a child. Originally he was satisfied to leave him be but as time went on Alfred grew curious. The boy was always in the same spot set up with binoculars, a foldable canvas throw, and a collapsible chair that he rarely used. While the other residents of Wayne Manor would likely be suspicious of him, Alfred had no reason to suspect any malicious intent. Still, it concerned him that the boy was always there and always alone. He looked sad. Completely and utterly dejected and hopeless. He looked like he was carrying the weight of the world. The boy reminded Alfred of Bruce after his parents died. Though the boy was closer in age to Master Damian by the looks of it, perhaps Master Tim if he was small for his age.  

After a few weeks of observing from a distance, Alfred determined that he was likely bird-watching. Why a child would spend so much time staring at the sky when there were so many other activities to participate in was beyond Alfred. It was clear that the boy was lonely. 

Alfred decided to introduce himself one day on his morning walk around the grounds. The boy’s spot was not too out of the way of Alfred’s usual route yet he wondered if the boy had ever noticed him before or if he was too focused on staring at the sky. 

“Hello lad,” Alfred greeted.

The child flinched violently and stood at inhuman speeds positioning himself in a defensive stance. It was loose but well-practiced and Alfred wondered why someone so young would need to have a practiced defensive stance.  

After taking a moment to analyze Alfred, the child relaxed. “Hello,” the boy started, “may I help you?”

“I simply wanted to introduce myself,” Alfred smiled. “I am Alfred Pennyworth, the butler for the Wayne Family.” Alfred reached out his hand and the boy took it cautiously. 

“Danny Fenton.” Danny shook Alfred’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you Mr. Pennyworth.”

“Please, call me Alfred.”

[irithnova]

In your opinion, what is female Mongolia like?

If I'm being quite honest? If I were to envision a female Mongolia, I wouldn't make her personality that much different from her male counterpart!

I think I'd give her the name Sarangerel - meaning moonlight (sorry, my goth side is showing but it's also a very pretty name).

The reason why I say this is because often... What I've noticed anyways, is that when people make female Mongolia ocs they tend to hypermasculinise her or use her as a means to insert pretty generic "step on me" girlboss rhetoric onto her. Of course, a female Mongolia would be a strong woman (especially given the history which I explain later in this post) however there is a difference between making her a strong woman and straight up hypermasculinising her. Of course this isn't always the case, I've seen good female Mongolia ocs! However I've seen it too many times considering how obscure Mongolia is as a character anyways, let alone female Mongolia ocs.

When people do this, they usually think they're doing something groundbreaking, but really - they're not. Mongol women and Northern Asian women in general are hypermasculinised along with their male counterparts, lol. It's kind of comparable to how black women are hypermasculinised and the "strong black woman" trope, this time the "strong Mongol woman" trope.

Time to talk about women in Mongol culture!

Mongol women and men back in the day shared a lot of the same chores! Women did bear a greater responsibility with tasks such as cooking, cleaning and child rearing, however it was vital that both men and women were skilled in all aspects of nomadic life. This is because if one parent died, the other parent would then have to fulfil the role of the deceased one. It would be utterly useless if one died and only knew how to do half the chores which are needed for survival on the steppe!

Further, Mongol women had more rights and say in certain things compared to their foreign counterparts. Mongol women were able to become shamans and participate in religious ceremonies, they were able to own and inherit property. They were even allowed to divorce! Their opinions were also valued in court - the wives of higher ranking Mongol men were allowed to give their say. Further, if their husbands were away, sick, or deceased, they could speak on behalf of them.

This is impressive: Mongol women were also responsibile for packing up and setting up camps, making sure all the family's belongings were put safely on a cart, and actually driving the carts - several of them, actually!

They truly were masters of their craft, and their impressive speed at which they could do this was a huge reason as to why Mongol warfare was so light on its feet.

Further, the consumption of alcohol was a vital element in Mongol celebration. Both women and men were free to drink as much as they wished during feasts, and there was no stigma attached to a woman getting drunk.

Accounts from William of Rubruck:

"And all the women sit their horses astraddle like men."

"It is the duty of the women to drive the carts, get the dwellings on and off them, milk the cows, make butter and gruit, and to dress and sew skins, which they do with a thread made of tendons"

"Then they all drink in turn, men and women alike, and at times compete with one another in quaffing in a thoroughly distasteful and greedy fashion" (he wasn't exactly the biggest fan of the Mongols).

Mongol women played in active role in invigorating the Mongol morale. The Secret History of the Mongols details how the wives of rulers would deliver impressive speeches to warriors in order to encourage them to fight diligently.

There are many famous Mongol women, who were known for their intelligence, shrewdness, and strength:

Queen Manduhai:

Manduhai was born into an aristocratic family, and she married Manduul Khan at 18 and had a daughter (not named). After Manduul Khan's death, she adopted Batmunkh, the last descendant of Genghis Khan, and named him Dayan Khan. When Dayan Khan came of age, she married him and became Empress. Despite her experience, Manduhai supported Dayan Khan and played a crucial role in reuniting the Mongol retainers. Remarkably, she fought in battles even while pregnant, enduring injuries and achieving victory. By establishing Dayan Khan as the rightful descendant of Genghis Khan and defeating the Oirats. Manduhai became a legendary figure.

Hoelun (Chinggis Khan's mother):

After her husband, Yesugei, the tribal leader, was poisoned by a rival, Hoelun fled with her son into the wilderness. At the time, Chinggis Khan, who was known as Temujin, was a young child, somewhere between the ages of nine and twelve. Unable to maintain the allegiance of his father's followers, they were abandoned. Nevertheless, despite their ostracised status, the family managed to survive by scavenging and relying on the resources of the land. Hoelun, portrayed as a resilient and determined woman, gathered her children and established a new life for themselves. Her son would later go on to establish one of the most magnificent empires in history. It's even said that Chinggis Khan was only scared of two things, dogs - and his mother's temper!

Khutulun:

Khutulun was known in Mongolia to be an impressive athlete and fighter. She was born in 1260, and was the daughter of Qaidu, and a great granddaughter to Chinggis Khan. During this time, a civil war was brewing amongst the Mongols. Khublai, who later became the emperor of the famous yuan dynasty, was enthusiastic about pushing the empire forward when it came to governing, politics and the likes. Qaidu on the other hand was not impressed by this, and favoured more traditional Mongol values. Qaidu had 14 sons - however it was his one daughter, Khutulun, whom he relied on the most when it came to military expertise.

Marco Polo has this to say about her:

“Sometimes she would quit her father’s side, and make a dash at the host of the enemy, and seize some man thereout, as deftly as a hawk pounces on a bird, and carry him to her father; and this she did many a time.”

Khutulun was a formidable wrestler - and was adamant about not marrying a man unless he could beat her at wrestling. For every match she'd won - she'd be given 100 horses by the loser. It is said she ended up with 10,000 horses.

Did she actually end up with 10,000 horses? It could be somewhat of an exaggeration, as back then 10,000 was a number that was given to mean "a lot", kind of like how we use the word "a million" today. Nevertheless - she was unbeaten.

Her influence is so great in Mongol culture even now. When you look at male Mongolian wrestling outfits - it leaves the chest exposed. This is in reference to Khutulun - to show that the wrestler is indeed, not a woman.

So in conclusion, I personally wouldn't make a female Mongolia's personality that much different to what I envision my male Mongolia's personality to be like, I certainly wouldn't make her more demure by virtue of her being a woman. Mongol society was quite fair to Mongol women anyways, and has been quite consistently egalitarian (I'm definitely not saying things were/are perfect or that it was a feminist paradise, of course). She'd definitely know her worth, and yes, she would be strong - just like her male counterpart.

I also wouldn't want to risk hypermasculinising her because well, as I said before, both Mongol men and women are hypermasculinised (Northern Asian people are in general) and reducing a female Mongolia to a cheap girlboss type doesn't do justice to that character or Mongol history and culture anyways.

[mintydoll]

gonna try writing something, below the break bc pls don’t read my amateur junk if u don’t want to

what if there was an elf prince who got kidnapped by a dragon and locked away in her lair, deep within a cavern system in a deadly haunted swamp with no reasonable hope of rescue. all he has in his chambers is a very large bed, a gigantic mirror along with wardrobes full of beautiful, if not a bit too revealing, gowns and garments, all in black silk, velvet, and lace. and, maddeningly, a scrying orb affixed to the ceiling of the cell. anyone with the barest knowledge of arcane lore would know its purpose. at any time, she could be watching him. it makes him want to curl up and die. thankfully, at least the chamber pot and washbasin are obscured with a curtain.

he never sees the dragon, and his only contact with other beings is the meals he is brought thrice daily by her skeletal servants. he refuses to eat at first, or wear the clothes he's provided with - they're so shameful, after all - until he's lost the scant amount of fat he carried on his frame, ribs visible and eyes sunken in. then one morning, he wakes up nude. his only set of masculine clothing, by then in tatters anyway, nowhere to be found. once a proud prince, reduced to a naked, emaciated, starving prisoner, always under the oppressive stare of the scrying orb.

so he starts to eat. the food isn't terrible. once he puts aside his pride, he starts to speak to the skeletons, and is surprised when they speak back, in an eerie disembodied echo within his mind. they aren’t much for conversation, but after some prodding (and presumably, permission from their mistress), they do bring him writing implements and vellum, and books - anything to help pass the time and boredom.

months pass and he starts to wonder if he’ll ever speak to a living being again.

he looks in the mirror - one of the only amenities afforded to him - quite often. at first he thought it was his imagination, but his body is becoming more feminine. his skin is softer, and he definitely isn’t imagining the breast buds that are swelling underneath the tight gowns he’s begrudgingly taken a liking to. are they putting something into his food? some kind of magic? he never studied hard enough to have any idea.

and then, one morning, he wakes up in unbearable pain, his soft body covered in claw wounds and bruises, with a burning raw pain emanating from his butt, pulsing though his whole body. his sheets covered in blood and odd green stains - probably his captor’s venom, from what he knows about her particular type of dragon - and a single black scale, gleaming like an oil slick, on his pillow.

he tries to get up, to scream, to make any sort of protest for the scrying orb, but his body simply slumps face down into the filthy sheets. he becomes aware of a cooled liquid leaking from his hole and feels tears welling up in his eyes. the thoughts he’d been trying to block from his mind about what must have happened the previous night flood him all at once.

betraying his mind and his pride, his cock swells against the mattress as the tears begin falling from his eyes.

[transmutationisms]

hi. i am the person who asked you about crosswords a long long long time ago. anyway today i thought what if i do a crossword. since i do pay for the new york times for some reason. anyway it was so so so hard. well i did solve it it just took half an hour. which is too long to be doing a crossword. do you have getting better at crossword advice. i mean. everyone calls it blackthorn not sloe. i mean the obvious answer is to do more crosswords. what i am really asking is how do i find out the things that are relevant knowledge to specifically solving this newspaper's crossword, because it must be based in some kind of cultural locale thing. thank you!

first of all i implore you to stop paying for the new york times. if you just want the crossword, it's syndicated by the seattle times for free lol

anyway, in regards to your actual question: crossword solving is absolutely a skill you can hone, and one that depends partially but not exclusively on trivia knowledge. if you keep doing crosswords, you'll definitely notice some repeat facts/words that pop up (often due in part to orthographic factors, like having a lot of common letters or a spelling with alternating vowels and consonants), and paying vague attention to the major headlines in the nyt will also, unfortunately, sometimes be helpful in solving the nyt crossword specifically. but, a lot of crosswording also just depends on becoming more familiar with the medium and its mechanics. i'm not an expert solver, but here are some tips i've picked up through trial and error (& experimenting with puzzle construction myself):

i assume you know this? but just in case: the nyt puzzle changes in difficulty throughout the week. generally the 'fill' (the answers) stays at roughly the same level of linguistic/cultural obscurity regardless of what day of the week it is, but the clues will get harder throughout the week in the sense that fewer and fewer of them will be direct questions; they'll become increasingly reliant on wordplay, puns, heteronyms, &c. monday is the easiest, saturday is the hardest; sunday is always themed, is approximately the difficulty of a wednesday or thursday, and is a 21x21 rather than the usual 15x15.

on that note, you usually want to start a crossword with a first pass in which you only fill in answers you're positive about: usually that means clues that are 'straight' (not wordplay) or are just asking for, like, celebrity names you're sure you know. on later passes, you hopefully have a few of the crossing letters, which helps narrow down punny or obscure clues.

if you're uncertain about an answer, pay attention to where you're putting certain letters relative to the rest of the grid. for example, very few english words end in the letter u, so words with a u in them are rarely the rightmost or bottommost answers next to black squares.

clues have to match their answers in tense, number, part of speech, and language (eg, 'wanted' could clue DESIRED, but not DESIRE).

clues that end in a question mark are wordplay. clues in quotes could be a book/movie/song title, but could also be asking for a verbal synonym to the sentiment expressed in quotes (eg, "cut it out!" -> STOP). clues in brackets suggest nonverbal answers (eg, [ugh!] -> GROAN). the first word of a clue will always be capitalised because it is the first word, but sometimes this is also a way of hiding ('veiling') a proper noun. eg, 'French novel' could be a particularly obnoxious way of clueing a recent tana french release (here it would also behoove you to scroll by, eg, the nyt book reviews).

rebus squares (which usually only show up on thursdays or sundays in nyt) have multiple letters in one box. the letters in the box will spell out another word or acronym that ties into the puzzle's theme somehow. occasionally the rebus square will contain a symbol that represents a word, rather than letters. you'll figure out that a puzzle has rebuses if you find yourself repeatedly trying to jam answers you're confident are correct into grid spaces that are too short. look for common letter patterns within these answers to determine which letters are supposed to go into the rebus squares.

not all nyt puzzles are themed, but when there is a theme, cracking it will help you solve a few (usually centrally-located) clues. a theme could be a certain type of pun, a set of related trivia facts, &c. generally, 3–5 answers will be themed answers (usually arranged with vertical or horizontal symmetry within the grid), and an additional clue somewhere else in the grid will give you a hint as to what pun or topic ties the themed answers together. good theme answers will also match each other in certain grammatical or semantic patterns; you'll pick this up as you complete more puzzles.

[seviinoxiel]

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Theory (Spoilers)

I was watching a few playthroughs of the game just to see how people would react to the story and I spotted something that seems kind of odd. I'm sure we all know by now the Disk Pokémon described in the Scarlet and Violet Book, the creature that is said to reside at the depths of Area Zero and is the source of the Terastallization phenomenon. We all saw this image already.

I theorize that the illustration here does not depict the creature accurately and is more of an artistic depiction of it landing on Earth. The huge circle is the Earth. We can see waves and a ship on the right and a cloud and some mountains on the left (probably another artistic flare as we know the creature arrived a million years ago). The oval in the middle with the crown on the top is the shell and the head of the creature can be seen at its left, presumably with a mane and two hands. The transparent part of the Earth symbolizes the Great Crater of Paldea where it first crashed and where it has resided for one million years. I could be wrong and the Pokémon could literally be riding on a huge circle but that's besides the point.

Notice how the creature is surrounded by crystalline protrusions which resembles the pillars of crystal in Area Zero. This is similar to the thing I noticed while watching the playthroughs—the time machine.

More specifically, the time machine when it opens. Such is the case during the cutscene of the AI professors initiating battle and having just caught a paradox Pokémon.

Much more interestingly, however, was what shows up in there during the cutscene when the AI professors are bidding farewells and is about to be transported to their respective time periods.

There is clearly a dark ball, or circle, at the top. It is fairly undistinguishable and obscured by the light but I theorize that it may be the so-called Disk Pokémon, perhaps a simple manifestation or a smaller version of it. It is at the very heart of the time machine. I have a lot more to point out that may support this theory.

We know that the Pokémon was first discovered by Heath at the depths of Area Zero and it was during a time when he was separated from the rest of the expedition team. Interestingly enough, there is another instance of Heath being separated from the rest of his crew and that was when he wrote this.

What are the chances that Heath spoke with the Pokémon itself? He unknowingly recorded the knowledge imparted by the entity. That knowledge being, I theorize, is the time machine, or at least an early blueprint of it. Reason for this being that the time machine room is actually hexagonal in shape with the time machine proper, and the Pokémon if we were to stick to my theory, at the center. Alternatively, it could be for the Tera orb or rather just an instruction on how to utilize the power of the crystals.

We do know for a fact that Heath and Area Zero Expedition occured 200 years ago, a long time before the Terastallization phenomena was first observed which is 140 years ago. An even longer time before the professors cracked the way to use its powers.

This might be because Heath simply didn't know what Terastallization was because it hasn't manifested yet. His writings were shunned as well and so no one really paid much attention to his notes during the time the phenomena was first discovered. The professors held the book close to their heart so they probably were the first ones to put two and two together, for both cases whether it was the time machine or the Tera orb.

Because of this, I do have a sneaking suspicion that the Pokémon has also spoken with the professors and guided them in the creation of the time machine. I also feel like the Pokémon is not necessarily malicious. It is considered the treasure of the Great Crater of Paldea and treasures, more often than not, does not have any inherent evil properties. It's the greed of people that seek the treasure which corrupts.

Anyway, those are just some observations and theories I have regarding the suspected 3rd Legendary, the Disk Pokémon. I honestly don't expect any of these to be completely correct but I think they're still interesting to think about. I've still got a lot of theories and I'll share them when I manage to organize them properly in my head.

[bug-the-chicken-nug]

Thinking about how I would rework silver eyes and honestly I think itd be cool and fun to just lean further into the Sharingan comparison and give it actual stages of progression, instead of it being an all-or-nothing thing that in turn mandates that Ruby has to be completely incompetent at using it in 80-90% of situations, or else the conflict would be over.

So in my AU, it has ten stages. (Nine, in general practice. The last is more of a mythical/worldbuilding thing that probably isn't real.)

Each stage both unlocks a new thing it can do, and can improve what you've unlocked in previous stages. (In DnD terms, kind of like getting the choice to perform a basic spell at a powered-up higher level) Each stage is mastered with training, and you cannot unlock the next if your mind and Aura aren't strong enough. But each time, either intense emotion, or a sort of "epiphany" moment of self-actualization, is still needed as the "final trigger" to progress to a new stage.

All of its abilities are a form of "magic", and do not directly use Aura, but still tie into it. Instead, the eye abilities accumulate "Tarnish", a new cost for the ability. Its only remedy is time and rest. Tarnish is lasting strain upon the user's mind and soul, chaotic dissonance in their Aura that causes the user's maximum Aura capacity to progressively weaken the more they use these. Along with this, the user's emotions become increasingly dulled. High Tarnish also causes physical pain, tingling, numbness, and has additional, increasingly worse effects on consciousness, critical thinking, and motor function.

However, the Tarnish generated by lower stages of the eyes is minor, generally dissipating over time faster than it builds up. Still, Tarnish always dissipates much slower than Aura can recharge. Past a critical point, it no longer dissipates at all. If one stops just before this point, it can still take over a month to fully recover, and will leave you effectively unable to do anything Aura-based for several days.

After the critical point, the user becomes an emotionless and powerless husk. Forever.

This in turn is actually perfect for the creation of Salem's Hounds. A fully Tarnished being results in a more powerful Hound than any alternative. The reason why is not well understood. Anyway!

Stages: Part 1: Pre-Beacon Unlocks

Stage 1, Ward: Cannot do harm. Weak Grimm recoil from the light, but the range only extends a few meters from the user.

Awakening Trigger: Ruby learning of her mother's death as a small girl.

Stage 2, Stun: Immobilizes and overwhelms the senses of weaker Grimm for several seconds, and also causes mild burns. The light is also disorienting for normal, non-supernatural reasons against humans at close range.

Awakening Trigger: Bullying at Signal (Cliche, but I really want a better actual reason why Ruby starts out awkward and self-conscious, and of where she picked up the idea that she'd prefer to be "normal".)

Stage Three, Gaze: Any Grimm that should be hidden or obscured can be clearly seen through any obstacle, as if faintly glowing silver. Weak points can be picked out as particularly bright areas on a Grimm.

Awakening Trigger: Bullying Part 2, Electric Boogaloo

Stage Four, Petrify: Can encase one target up to mid-level, such as an Ursa Major, in stone, or fully petrify them. Requires several seconds or more of sustained focus. Ruby herself remarks that it's often impractical, unless she's restrained. This is also the first stage to be able to cause rapid Tarnish buildup.

Awakening Trigger: When she stands up to her bullies at Signal without Yang.

She is at Stage Four when she arrives at Beacon.

Stages Part 2: Beacon/Post-Fall Unlocks

Stage Five, Scour: Any Grimm-produced substance within a few yards is rapidly destroyed and nullified. This includes slime, ooze, toxins, acid, projectile attacks, and even their elemental attacks, but it only works for a few seconds at a time. It can also weaken Grimm defenses and erode their armor, but does not kill outright.

Awakening Trigger: Entrance Exam

Stage Six, Ray: The eyes produce a beam that causes Instant disintegration of one or two small to mid-size Grimm, and causes the skin of larger targets to "boil" like hot tar, doing great harm.

Awakening Trigger: Volume 2

Stage Seven, Luster: The Silver Eyes equivalent of the three-tomoe Sharingan, the furthest you'll normally get. Users briefly gain an altered silver Aura, essentially making all of their attacks and their very touch "super effective" against Grimm. Watch out for all the Tarnish, though...

Awakening Trigger: End of Volume 2

And Now We Get Spicy...

Stages Part Three: Refinement

After this point, the user must be both sufficiently powerful and directly witness a great loss (This need not be death, but often is), to unlock the "Refined" Silver Eyes (basically Mangekyou Sharingan). Unlocking Refinement is very strenuous upon the body and soul. Passing out or going comatose after it is first attained is common, as the user's first time inevitably generates high levels of Tarnish. It is also possible for someone to permanently "fail" their Refinement and get stuck at Stage Seven instead, if they face a great tragedy before they're physically and emotionally prepared for it.

But once Refinement is attained, "Ward" becomes passive, and works on Grimm up to mid-level, such as an Ursa Major or Manticore. However, the default radius is still only a few meters. This would potentially add some logic to why exactly Ruby just walks around with Relics, since she can now cancel out their attractant properties without any significant effort, and it would also help explain her moments of overconfidence and recklessness.

As for active abilities:

Stage Eight, Smite: What Ruby canonically does with her eyes. A powerful area-of-effect blast that can kill or petrify all Grimm in the area.

Awakening Trigger: RIP Pyrrha

Stage Nine, Sanctify: Objects, buildings, and places can become infused long-term with the ability to repel, or at greater levels of investment, actively harm Grimm. Effectiveness can build cumulatively, but scales down in inverse proportion to the total size of what is Sanctified. Handheld weapons, for instance, can become extremely damaging to Grimm for centuries, if sanctified by many at a time, or given many years to be imbued with power. An entire place/area is much harder. Ideally, it is meant to be used by entire groups of SEW. Ruby herself can only safely Sanctify something like a large house for a day or so, but maintains a permanent low-level effect on Crescent Rose. Can briefly "stack" with Luster for some Real Bonkers Finishing Move Shit.

Awakening Trigger: During V6

Stage Ten, Salvation: An ability detailed only in legend. Allegedly, the ability to "purify" a Grimm without killing it, turning it against all of its brethren. In some legends, this even bestows it Aura. What this process would truly entail, or how this stage is actually reached, is unknown. Sources tend to be somewhat contradictory of one another.

Awakening Trigger: N/A

[dorothydalmati1]

Obscure Animation Subject #74: Histeria!

Originally posted on May 25, 2023.

This would’ve been published yesterday, but I was lolly-gagging a lot, so yay two subjects today!

Anyways Histeria! Produced by Warner Bros. Animation and one of the many shows from that company created by Tom Ruegger.

Unlike other animated series produced by Warner Bros. in the 1990s, Histeria! was an explicitly educational program created to meet FCC requirements for educational/informational content for children. It’s ironically not accurate nor a preschool show, because this show is actually SATIRIZING and PARODYING history, including pop culture and edutainment itself. The show is presented as a SNL-style sketch comedy, with its cast often filling the roles of historical figures. It was to be WB's most ambitious project since Animaniacs.

The series ran from September 14, 1998 to March 31, 2000 with two seasons and 52 episodes. The first season had 46 episodes with the second having 6, season 2 was planned to longer as 65 episodes were originally ordered. However, due to being over-budget it was cut short.

Sure there was budget problems, but that doesn’t take it away from having full of fun adventures in history and still does have the main points right to appeal to true history fans. This show makes history actually funny and feel unique with it’s clever writing on their takes.

There's a lot of brilliant jokes in here, and the animation is just brilliant with how fluid it is thanks to its high budget.

If you want hilarious takes on history while it also being a love letter to history then you have no reason to NOT watch it. It's absolutely hilarious!

[dewdrop-writes]

hi! please don't take this the wrong way but this happens to be something i'm particularly passionate about so please hear me out.

regarding the criticisms of genshin's character designs, they are valid but i would like to say please be mindful when using the term "diversity" on its own. i know it's just semantics to most people but i feel it's particularly important when discussing topics as nuanced as these.

genshin is not lacking in cultural diversity. in fact, there are a lot of cultural references, some of which may be considered obscure in the western world, in its worldbuilding and a lot of people gloss over this fact when it comes to this particular discussion.

genshin is, however, severely lacking in skin tone diversity. while this does go hand in hand with cultural representation, it's still not correct to say that genshin is not "diverse", even when taking into consideration the bastardization and stereotyping of certain cultural aspects (sumeru is probably the most notable example of this, but this is a topic better suited for a different discussion). it's just too much of a generalization.

to clarify, i'm not disagreeing with you. it's just that more often than not, usage of such broad terminology can do more harm than good and can even minimize the problem itself by muddying where exactly the problem lies.

sorry for the long message. i sincerely don't mean to offend and i apologize if i did.

no, i agree! that is one of the main reasons i am so frustrated with the game, in fact. I sort of mentioned it in an off handed way, but yes - genshin IS diverse in culture, locations etc (even when they, as you said, are not always perfectly represented)

Again, I feel like the fact that they project this image of "we have diverse cultures and nations" very much falls flat when every nation is populated with the same type of characters, with same pale skin and no diversity in hair textures. I feel like the diversity they DO have in terms of culture kind of dissipated between the jarring unity of how everyone looks the same from nation to nation.

This is not even TOUCHING the fact that there is little variety in body types and even LESS in face shapes.

Anyway this was super rambly - thank you for providing your perspective! I feel like the game deserves to be critiqued in many ways - as it is not a BAD game, in fact I like it a lot, but it has so many flaws that the company does have the money and resources to change they just choose not to, despite fans asking for it for a long time now.