#general fucking compassion for other creatures

[myghostmonument]

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[taxideermied]

What is "prey rage"?

Thanks for the question! And sorry that my answer is so long. I like to yap and this has been on my mind for a while. This is coming from anglophone USAmerican observations, for the record, I don’t and can’t speak in absolutes on this issue as it applies to other countries and cultures.

But in therian and non-therian spaces both, there is a general tendency to characterize prey animals as passive (innocent, helpless, harmless) and predators as active (hunters, killers). And this notion is harmful and unhelpful across the board, but especially, in my opinion, when it comes to large ungulate species.

Most of us (USAmericans) are extremely alienated from the beef, dairy and pork industries, and are unlikely to interact closely with cows or pigs. Given the general cost and land requirements of equestrian hobbies, the same goes for horses. Deer are somewhat present in the collective consciousness but usually as pests or a road hazard or a hunting season. The fact that these animals are capable of violent self defense is obscured, almost on purpose, in a land of friendly milk advertisements and Disney cartoons. You don’t want to think about Bambi goring someone, do you? That might make you buy less merch.

And to be fair, I do think it goes deeper than that. Humans anthropomorphize reflexively. Predator species are often more charismatic and their relative rarity and ecological importance makes the study and documentation of individuals much easier. Predators are usually independent, and when they’re not, they often exist in family groups, lifestyles that are not only approachable but downright appealing to the USAmerican mindset. These animals are framed as intelligent (as it relates to a human way of thinking) and active ecological forces that keep prey animals (necessarily passive in comparison) in check.

So the prey species become largely secondary. Since humans are at the top of the food chain, it’s difficult to properly conceptualize life for animals that are predated upon. They eat (mindlessly), they reproduce (mindlessly), and they are killed (mindlessly). If humans have deigned them worthy of conservation, they become not just mindless, but sin-less creatures uniquely devastated by climate change or habitat loss (a characterization that also hurts predatory species). Their passivity is a virtue in need of protection and, if it’s not obvious, the idea that these animals are as equally capable of killing as they are of dying sort of throws a wrench in the whole well-meaning paradigm.

Elk and bison injure people annually at Yellowstone, and still humans wander up to them as if that outcome is a complete impossibility. And yes, the public is largely uneducated on animal behaviors, but I hear a lot less about tourists toddling off towards bears and wolves, don’t you? It’s like that gif of that biker guy holding his arm out to a horse clearly displaying every “fuck off” warning sign in the book, and the guy gets bit. It’s not just that he doesn’t know horse body language, it’s as if he can’t conceptualize the idea that a horse might feel threatened and lash out and hurt him. Because horses don’t do that. They’re literally nice.

Obviously, prey species will defend themselves, violently, explosively and “no holds barred” if necessary, because the other option is usually death. And this defense, by design, will fuck up humans or any other predatory species.

Granted, prey “rage” is an unhelpful anthropomorphization of this behavior as well, but in my defense I was talking about myself.

I’ve talked before on this blog about how I value kindness and compassion, and partly why I value it so highly because it is often against my nature entirely and is something I have to actively work at. If I feel I have been wronged or hurt my first instinct is the kind of kick-your-lights-out, kill-or-be-killed reaction an elk has when a wolf is latched onto its hock. I have to get them back, and it has to hurt.

Now I can recognize that that is a self destructive and unhelpful impulse (there is no wolf latched onto my hock), but I do believe it is informed by my “prey brain” (among other aspects of my nonhumanity). It is unhelpful to characterize me as innocent or incapable of harm on account of my deer-ness, and I will always reject that sentiment. Further, is damaging to discuss deer and other prey species as wholly sweet and innocent even and especially in therian spaces, and that was largely what I was getting at with my original post. Hope that has answered your question lol :>

[karniss-bg3]

The Tragedy of Faith

So between tumblr and twitter I've read various takes on Kar'niss and what draws people to him. For some it's the monster fucking appeal, for others it's the desire to fix a clearly broken individual. There are in-betweens and of course this is subjective and depends on the person. Act 2 spoilers ahead. Where my personal interest comes from is how good Larian communicated the tragedy of faith and what a cult can do to a person. Kar'niss is a creature that has been broken by not one God, but two. Lolth broke him physically, the Absolute broke him mentally. His entire identity has been lost to a deity to the point he raises her in his speech. Referring to her as "Majesty" and "Queen", two terms you don't really hear anyone else address her as, he has elevated her to his final savior and leader. He also often refers to himself as "we" and "us", cementing him as part of the hive mind rather than holding any individuality of his own. When he does refer to himself as "I", it's mostly to show further loyalty to the Absolute, to maintain a position of importance in his fractured mind. Cults are notorious for targeting the most vulnerable in society as they are the easiest to mold and manipulate to their doctrine. The fact that goblins are one of the main races that fall to the Absolute's influence is telling in that regard, as they are often dismissed by the other races. Kar'niss was ripe for the picking, an easy target to lure into her arms. No doubt he was found shortly after Lolth twisted him into a drider and banished him, he didn't stand a chance.

Not even taking those elements into account, Kar'niss came from a society that is infamous for cruelty and violence, especially toward males of their species. Drow greatest hits include, but are not limited to: -Killing their young if they are not aesthetically pleasing enough. In other words, ugly. -Sacrificing every third born son to Lolth.

-If a male finds the favor of two competing females, it often doesn't end well for the male. The rival woman will kill the male and chuck his dead body into his opponents bedchambers, just for the sake of being petty.

-Love and emotions of any sort are in short supply, if not outright unseen as a general rule. The nature of drow to backstab and seek to rise in the ranks makes it near impossible to be anything other than fierce and domineering.

With these things in mind, it's easy to assume that Kar'niss had a turbulent upbringing and likely suffered untold abuse from many around him. It's not to say that good or reasonable drow don't exist, it's just not commonplace in a Lolthite society. Unfortunately, the game doesn't give us a great deal to go on as far as his past. What little he reveals only happens after he's dead, and even then its really a cliffs notes version. What we do know is that his devotion is intense and unwavering. He's willing to die for the Absolute because in his mind the Absolute are the only ones who care about him. We even see fellow followers talk down to him, dismiss him, and verbally eye-roll the guy. To them, his fanaticism is over the top and they follow the same God he does.

All told, this leads me to the conclusion that Kar'niss has never, or rarely, known true compassion in his entire life. He's been used as a puppet for one deity or another, and likely mocked or cast aside even when he did everything right. It doesn't surprise me that there are folks who desire a romance option, or barring that a side venture to break him free of the Absolute's hold. We don't know if Kar'niss did terrible things in his past, or where his moral compass sits as his entire personality revolves around God. But I'd love to know, and I crave more background on him in one form or another.

I've spent too much time thinking about different paths that could happen in-game. I also understand it's incredibly unlikely he'll ever become a companion. The sheer amount of time and resources needed to give a character a satisfying arc is likely more than Larian can do with other constraints, but maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised. So Kar'niss lovers, platonic, romantic, or everything in-between...I gotchu fam. We stan the spooder bby. Someone get that man a blanket and a nice mug of hot cocoa. And a cult de-programming kit, one of those would be good.

[lovelyladyabsinthewrites]

Homelander being obsessed with his sister HC V

Warnings: siblingxsibling implications, Homelander being such a narcissist that he falls in "love" with his own sibling, dubcon, manipulation, stalking, basically all the horrible parts of HL come out to play, MC has blonde hair and blue eyes like HL, different plot than 'All I Ever Wanted, All I Ever Needed', stockholm syndrome, dealing with aftermath, mental trauma

I II III IV

Oh you poor fool, did you really think Homelander would keep to his word? No, this only meant that he had to act under your radar. Stealth was required now to feed his desire to be close to you always.

He let you think that he was taking a step back. Grudgingly let you resume your previous life though you found little comfort in the family you once lived with. Time with HL changed you. Everything you'd known about your life was an utter lie manufactured by Vought. The hero you'd adored was. . . a complicated creature that wasn't like the golden man on the tv.

HL will draft thousands of texts to you but hesitate on sending them to you. He'll break and send you at least a text every other day. Tolerable, you think. You didn't know that he'd be using his enhanced vision to watch you read them and gauge your reaction.

Now is the time that stalker HL comes out to play since he can't be caught or you really would never forgive him. He didn't want another fight. He hated fighting you. It fought against his natural instinct to protect you. Plus you packed a punch that actually bruised his ribcage making it difficult for him to breathe for the next two days.

Often on his patrol breaks (and when he knows you aren't home) he'll fly by your apartment just to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary. You know, checking your drawers just to reassure himself that you were taking care of yourself and doing your own laundry. Particularly your undergarments.

Careful not to leave a trace when he does these inspections. Never staying too long.

You're non the wiser when you return to your apartment although you do notice how you have to buy more underwear lately.

He likes to keep the clothes he's taken from you under his pillow. When he goes to bed he pulls them out from their hiding place and places it next to his face.

your absence in his own apartments is suffocatingly pronounce

he hates how quiet it is, hates how his room is so empty without you there

and grudgingly you miss his familiar presence too

Your bed is suddenly too large without Homelander laying next to you. You hated when he'd pull you close to his chest in the middle of the night, refusing to relinquish you even if you had to pee.

You find yourself actually missing him and fuck does that make you resent him more. He completely uprooted your life. Him and Vought.

When exactly did you starting hating him less to actual start contact with him? You hate that you cracked after three days of being away from Homelander. Three days and you missed him like you hadn't seen him in a week. Hell, you'd been stuck with him for close to two months before enough was enough. That time spent together, all that trauma bonding, was bound to leave it's mark on you.

Loathing the idea that you may have developed a degree of Stockholm Syndrome. You'd read about it in books and seen it played out hundreds of times on tv.

You're annoyed when you close your laptop after spending hours of research. Especially after encountering this little passage: "An alternative explanation suggests that being in a captive or abusive situation generates intense emotional dynamics. Over time, individuals may adapt their emotions and develop feelings of compassion towards their abuser, particularly when subjected to kindness."

For the most part, Homelander had been kind to you (except, ya'know the whole fucking kidnapping thing). There were definitely moments where he made you uncomfortable but overall his intentions weren't necessarily malicious.

You recall a few times when Homelander leaned in too close to you and you thought. . . well you thought he was going to kiss you. But wouldn't that be messed up? Why would he do that? You didn't quite understand those odd moments where it sounded- it sounded like he was in love with you. There was nothing familial about the way he'd eye you.

In a short amount of time Homelander had done so much damage to your mental health. You found yourself unable to be without him. Perhaps that was the cruelest thing he's done to you.

[hiskillingjar]

Voyeurism (Lawrence)

if i’ve gotten anything from this round of kinktober, it’s a real appreciation for lawrence. they might have gone up to my second favourite (sorry ren). also read the piano teacher.

day 27: voyeurism first person, from law’s pov.

I usually saw teenagers come into the forest.

The impulse was understandable. It was an easy place to hide from the prying eyes of society, after all, an easy place to get lost in. Covered by the canopy of branches and leaves, where any rustling can be mistaken for the skittish nature of woodland creatures, people could get away with an awful lot.

I usually saw teenagers. Rarely did I ever see adults.

But that's what I see tonight. 

I was just leaving my alcove, my sanctuary of rot, when I saw a couple, a man and a woman (it was rarely anything else, in spite of what popular culture attempted to suggest), stomping through the brush, hand in hand.

Well, hand in wrist was a more approriate descriptor.

I kept still on my own, beaten path, pressing myself against a tree to hide even more, watching as the man dragged the woman deeper.

I don't believe that I witnessed a rape, despite the force of his grip. 

I knew what those tended to look like, thanks to all of the edgy websites I visited as a teenager. I knew what so often preceeded the deaths that I was actually looking for, especially when the victim (nameless on some of the seedier sites, the ‘reputable’ ones tended to list who the person was) was a pretty, young woman surrounded by men. 

Some people say those kinds of videos make you lose your sense of disgust and compassion for other people. And while I'm sure that was the case for many others, I don't think it was the case for me.

If anything, my outright disgust made me recognise those things more clearly when I saw them in real life.

And this wasn't disgusting.

The woman tried to pull from the man's tight grip, her legs trembling from the cold of the evening, but the coy murmurs of "no, come on, not here, let's go back to the care" indicated that she had opposition to fucking out in the open, and not to fucking in general.

"Not in the car," He said, pulling her deeper (close to where I kept my cages, it would be so inconvenient if they stumbled across them). "Your husband could find something there."

"So, I'll clean it," She replied, pulling back entirely. "I don't want to fuck in the forest. It’s not romantic. What if we do it in animal shit, or something?"

I barely held back a scoff, rolling my eyes with a barely audible huff instead.

It was probably quite naive of her to be concerned about dirt and filth (the natural things of this world, more natural than human beings, certainly), as opposed to any dangerous people who might be listening in on their conversation (like me, for example), but that's just what people were like, I found.

So many people prefered to think that they would be smart enough to avoid outright violence, that they would make the right decisions as opposed to anyone else who would be foolish enough to make the wrong ones, than understand the reality of pure, random acts of violence happening to anyone.

They were selfish, in that way.

"Why can't we go to a hotel?" She asked, holding herself tight. It was a cold night, she's right to. 

"I can't afford a hotel this short notice," He murmured with a roll of his eyes, taking a step closer towards her. "And...I don't want to wait to get there, anyway. I want to fuck you now."

"Richard," She looked away, but I could tell that she appreciated his dirty talk, that she didn’t get it at home from her husband anymore, that ‘Richard’ made her feel special, sexy, wanted.

He sank down to his knees in front of her and pushed up her pencil skirt, the material bunching up around her thighs, as he kissed the front of her pantyhose.

If she didn't want to be on the ground, he would be, just for her.

She curled both hands into his hair and he pulled down her tights and panties, revealing a thick bush of pubic hair that he nestled his face against, like he was returning home.

I'm not aroused by any of this, even if my cock is reacting, twitching in my dirty sweatpants.

That was just the nature of being human. Bodily reactions that I couldn't control and didn't care for.

But just because I wasn't aroused, didn't mean that I wasn't interested in what was happening.

Sex was interesting, occasionally even very interesting, though I had next to no interest in doing it myself.

Thinking about sex made me feel hollow, like something had been carved out of me, like someone took a shovel and dug out all my insides. I know there's nothing in there, but I'm still too nervous to open myself up and check. 

But watching it was something else entirely. 

It was almost like watching those old videos, like watching death, gore, car accidents, or surgical procedures. 

Red tongues grazing over wet, pink flesh, sopping holes being penetrated by fingers, tongues, hard cocks, over and over again. Kissing, touching, making love, fucking. 

All so visceral and unclean, and yet, people craved it so much that it could drive them crazy.

Maybe they craved connection, more than anything.

People who didn’t connect tended to go crazy, after all.

She was moaning and gasping, loud enough for anyone else to hear her (if someone else but me was peeping on them), bucking her hips against his face and his probing tongue roughly, like a marionette without any strings to keep her stable. His hand was climbing up her inner thighs, carressing soft flesh, feeling her touch, feeling her.

I idly licked my lips, another pulse of involuntary arousal rushing to my cock, moving a little closer against the tree concealing me from the pair of lovers.

"Richard," She said sharply, looking in my direction (but not seeing me, nobody ever sees me and that's the way I like it.)  "S-Stop it, I can hear something."

"Huh?" He breathed, pulling away from her wet cunt, his face glistening in the low light of the mood above him, and looking my way too. "Come on, it’s nothing. It was probably just a bunny rabbit or something."

It might have been, if I hadn't killed another one tonight.

"This place is creepy," She complained, but didn't stop him from returning to his task, nuzzling against her pubic hair again. "Feels like I'm being watched...mh."

"Don’t be so paranoid. Nobody’s watching you, but me.," He offered with a titter, before pressing his fingers inside of her and smoothing his tongue over her folds. "Mmmhh...but hey, maybe you like being watched. You’re wet enough that it feels that way."

I hoped they liked being watched.

For my sake, and for theirs.

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

thoughts on bangelus?

Love it!! Iconic!! Showstopping!!

The Angelus arc is literally the thing that made me actually like BTVS! I was watching it with a fair amount of disinterest as just a thing to half pay attention to in the background. The emotional fraughtness and tragedy goes so hard!

I used to honestly not give a shit about Bangel beyond incidentally how it matters to Buffy. but also idk something has been Happening to me in the last six months and I have been like… clicking through the Bangel tag every once in awhile to look at gifsets lol

I do think Bangel only works with Bangelus on the other side of it though. My general BTVS soapbox is that, first of all, the way they handle souls and vampires is fucking stupid and wildly inconsistent. They just keep breaking their own worldbuilding. But beyond that, that the Angelus arc should’ve frankly culminated in the acknowledgment that like Angel was the blip, the anomaly, and Angelus was the real person. That’s who he’s been for fucking centuries but also on top of that, it more closely aligns with who we see him to be as a human. He has always been a piece of shit awful person and he needs to fucking confront it! Just because he got briefly cursed into developing the pretenses of a moral compass and a shred of empathy it doesn’t mean that actually changed who he is

If we ever wanted to redeem him legit, I think he needed to work his way up from the Angelus persona, even if the culmination of that is simply for him to eventually choose to stay Angel

Anyway the one episode where the ghosts of a teacher and student couple, who died by murder suicide, possess them is honestly one of my favorites. I like Bangel in general more where there’s more acknowledgement of its unsavory elements. But then there’s the bit right afterwards that I really love where, it’s mostly played as a joke, but Angelus, having come back to himself, is like rinsing his mouth out and visibly really bothered by the whole thing. It’s a good microcosm of his reaction to his history with Buffy while-being-Angel. I really like the dynamic where he hates Buffy specifically because she had the audacity to infect him with feelings. That his vindictiveness towards her is a reflection of his disgust for that softer, weaker version of himself. But then he also looks back at it sometimes with a sort of revolted longing because… it was kind of nice to be loved

I like the idea of Angelus as someone who was terrible to begin with! Who then used the excuse of vampirism to become an incredibly prolific serial killer. It isn’t the lack of a soul that made him horrific, or that his demon (stupid worldbuilding!!!) was somehow just exponentially worse than the demons other vampires get. It’s a product of who he was as a human, the values Darla instilled in him as his maker, and then the power and the ability to act with a complete lack of inhibition or consequences that becoming a supernatural creature allowed him. And being forced to think outside of that perspective and to remember that seems to be incredibly disruptive for him

The Judge was one of the weakest Big Bads, but conceptually, I think it’s really interesting that Angelus is literally just self destructing the minute he’s back to his evil self. It’s played off a little as like “he’s evil! of course he wants to end the world” but that hasn’t... ever been his modus operandi? He’s centuries old. If killing himself or ending the world was a high priority I do not think he would’ve made it that long!

Anyway, as for Buffy’s side, I find her turmoil SO SAD but also really compelling. SMG’s acting is so fucking gutting. And the hardening she goes through by the end of the arc is really fun. I would love a hypothetical scenario where Angelus recedes to minor antagonist status or flees for whatever reason. And she just has to like… sit with that emotionally. (That being said I think the sending Angel to hell arc and getting him back from hell arc are really fun so idk how I’d reconcile that but the question was about Bangelus specifically so we don’t have to figure that out rn)

The obvious metaphor the show was going for of like the teen experience of finding out that the person you slept with is terrible, after having been so vulnerable with them, is one that works for me! But I also like how the dynamic literalizes the compartmentalization of loving someone who’s cruel and hurtful. Of not being able to reconcile that they can be capable of such different behavior, but also the undercurrent that it’s maybe not so different after all. Like the Bangel situation is creepy, has always been creepy, though it’s not entirely framed that way. And I really like that Drusilla’s introduction, and the backstory of how Angelus stalked and tormented her, and then the entire Angelus arc where he stalks and torments Buffy, do have the undertones of Angel’s behavior when he’s first introduced and how his relationship with Buffy develops. He was still a fucking stalker! Even if he was a somewhat nicer one lol. He was still playing mind games even if it wasn’t full on psychological warfare. And then there’s obviously how young Buffy was. Like even at his fucking best that man is still a predator lol and lmao

[hannahwatcheshorror]

THE LURE (2015)

💁‍♀️Strong Female Lead

A weird little Polish musical horror film that very loosely follows the original plot of the little mermaid but more gruesome and much more tragic. As horror movies go it wasn’t very scary, but gory and moody (and incredibly artistic). You feel more compassion for the murderous creatures than the human victims (it was just in their nature for the sirens to hunt, but what were the humans doing?).

⭐⭐⭐.5

THE LURE is a Polish musical horror about two mermaids that get scooped up by some crazy rockers who think they can handle two actual sirens (they cannot). We follow Silver and Golden as they traverse the land and deal with these selfish humans (who can all be controlled by the girls' shimmery voices). There appears to be a general knowledge of mermaids/sirens in this universe because their existence is not kept a secret, in fact, it is a gimmick at the club in their stripping act when they first arrive (it’s only after they establish themselves more that they can keep their legs and clothes on). It should be pointed out too that the girls are sort of like an eel-type of siren, their tails have no big fin at the end, but are still a sight to behold when they are transformed.

Now, in the first few minutes our girls try to lure the two men in the band to a watery death but are caught by the female singer, so it is already well established from the get go that these two are (would-be) man eaters. Why anyone would think they could control these wildcards from the deep is beyond me, they can literally control you with a song for goodness sake! The humans look at these mystical girls with money in their eyes (or any other excuse to use the poor things) and are ready to take advantage of these seemingly innocent creatures. Except for Golden, Golden has a lot on her mind and it is mostly blood and murder. This is her nature though, we cannot really fault her for being a creature of nature. There is a part where the band finds out one of the girls killed someone so they just dump both of them in the water and leave them for dead… But they are able to get back out and get over that (mostly, 👍 ( wait)).

Silver has fallen head over tail for the shaggy haired boy who will fuck anything that, well, doesn’t have a tail, and he promptly informs her that he only sees her as a fish. She uses her siren song on him to change his mind for the moment (let’s see how long this lasts) before making the choice to get her tail surgically removed and swapped for regular legs. This is apparently a surgery that the doctors are more than prepared to do (??), keeping both girls alive while sawed completely in half (neat magic trick). Silver loses her voice because of this trade but is excited to show her shaggy headed slut. Surprise! He wants something a little less complicated (like a regular human female and not a mute half-fish lady). This breaks Silver's heart and as we all know, when you break a mermaid's heart they turn to seafoam if they don’t eat you, so Golden encourages Silver to eat him… But Silver is too sweet. She turns to seafoam in his arms…

And Golden, in her sadness and rage, goes for his throat. The reception is shocked, two people are gone (though most will only ever miss the groom) and Golden returns to the water, alone. Where she will be, alone, for ages and rages because she is a mystical being and her only friend is gone. A tragedy on all sides really. If anyone understood the other person's nature in this film maybe things would have turned out differently, but they all chose to ignore what they wanted to ignore.

-----------------------HANNAH WATCHES HORROR--------------------

[lemmeurs]

okay. here is my 1600+ words essay on raphael. if anyone would like to adress anything from it, please do but keep it civil! i am so damn invested in this topic, i wanna hear everyone's thoughts

raphael rant

(DISCLAIMER: this essay was not written in order to justify Raphael as a character or any of his actions or intentions. i am completely skipping any point of morality, whether my own or just in general, i simply wanted to somehow try and write my feelings and thoughts down while looking at the whole thing from an objective point of view, analyzing the design of the game, the plotline and his whole persona and just.. idk i wanted to see whether anyone else felt the way i do because i have been going INSANE over this for the past few days)

hi. i have come here today to express my thoughts and feelings on Raphael the cambion and "his final act". this is being randomly and spontaneously written in my notes app so please excuse the absolute chaos that this essay will be (no i won't be rereading it, fuck it we ball) (CONTAINS BG3 ACT III SPOILERS!!)

first of all — i am so beyond devastated that he gets killed. and not just by anyone, he gets killed BY US. THE PLAYER. WE AS THE PLAYER DELIVER THE FINAL BLOW THAT ENDS HIS EXISTENCE. not only is that very upsetting (because come on, hot devil man, obviously i don't wanna kill him??) but it also makes me feel so.. awful. like, everything about this is wrong and i hate the fact that there is no other option.

because let's review the course of the story in the house of hope:

- we barge into his house unannounced, uninvited, while he is absent

- we invade his privacy by entering what's his own personal space (yes, i know he stole it from Hope in the first place but that is not the point here — whatever his devil business is, it's still HIS, you know?? like he is a devil, this is the kinda stuff they do and honestly? i didn't want to stick my nose into it. but obviously i did because tHe sToRy etc etc. but still, it was his own thing that basically doesn't affect the player in any way so TECHNICALLY you dont have to free Hope. you can, if your character's moral compass advises so, but it doesn't affect the main plot.)

- we then proceed to walk around his house freely, lie to his archivist in order to look at the stuff we're already planning to steal

- we meet his personal incubus whom then we have the chance to either use or kill (i fought Haarlep so that's the point of view i'm looking from at this here, in which case i also robbed their corpse) and we rob his safe. and his whole bedroom actually. we read his journals. we use his bath.

- then obviously we go and rob his entire archive which includes all of his most precious possessions

- upon stealing, we slaughter every single creature in his house, fighting our way through to get to Hope's prison

- we then kill the two spectators he has guarding her (they were probably super hard to obtain??) and we just. free his prisoner. because yeah, that is the right thing to do, IM NOT SAYING THAT'S WRONG, but let's say we skip morality for a second, let's just focus on the fact that we have no ulterior motives in freeing Hope. we just wanna mess with HIS business because why not since we're already ruining all of his plans.

- and then we have the audacity to try to leave before he comes back and act like we were never there while his entire house is turned to shit.

now let's look at this list again but this time keep in mind the fact that at that point, he hasn't done A SINGLE THING to us. like, he has never harmed us, he treated us with (let's call it) "respect" and politeness, he was fine with our hesitation towards his deal and was willing to give us time. he was never aggressive towards us, he was never "the enemy".

and now you can say - okay wtf is wrong with you, that man literally admitted his intention of conquering the worlds, enslaving all mortals and basically becoming the tyrant of all while also most likely stealing everyone's souls for his own pleasure.

yes, he did, and yes, that's bad. but just because those were his intentions does not give us the right to do all that shit to him AND THEN KILL HIM. AS IF WE HAD THE RIGHT TO SERVE JUSTICE HERE?? YEAH HIS PLANS ARE EVIL BUT IT IS NOT UP TO US TO DICTATE HIS CONSEQUENCES. HIS PLANS WOULD ONLY SUCCEED IF WE GAVE HIM THE CROWN IN THE END, SO JUST- DON'T?? LIKE DO YOU GET WHAT I MEAN. IM NOT TRYING TO JUSTIFY HIS ACTIONS OR INTENTIONS, BY ALL MEANS. i'm just trying to express how weird this all made me feel because not everyone decides to play as the selfless, lawfully good hero of all, protecting the world from all evil, ever! this is roleplay, afterall!

and them obviously he comes home. he is furious, as he should be. but mostly he's betrayed because, as weird as it may be, he trusted us. he admitted to growing "quite fond of us, in his own way". he thought we were some weird sort of.. acquaintances? friends maybe? (again, i know most of our relationship with him is mostly just him manipulating us but still, it's quite clear he wasn't expecting this betrayal) and we just barged in there and disrespected him in the worst way possible. so obviously he wants to kill us now and obviously we can kill him since he's just a boss in a game. and that's what we do. and then.. that's it. we're the good guys. we ruined a man's whole career because we needed one of his toys, murdered him in his own house and just left. and we're supposed to be the good guys.

i think the source of my problem is that Raphael is never introduced as evil. we don't meet him as the big bad villain that we know we'll have to kill at some point. i swear to god, at the beginning of act 3 i trusted that man way more than i trusted the Emperor and i was so close to agreeing to his deal just because i felt like i could trust him and he would keep me safe (for some reason, let's blame it on those wonderful eyes of his).

we meet him so early on in the game and he follows through all 3 acts, making it feel like he's gonna be some key character that will matter in the end - turns out, no! we were just supposed to rob and kill him. and that's literally it. talk about wasted potential.

when i first met him i got the "unofficial narrator" vibes from him, as if he was only supposed to seem intimidating and "evil" but you could sense there was so much more to him and i was dying to see how his story would unwrap. i was so ready for a redemption act, a plot twist, anything. man was i disappointed. because how cool would it be if he turned out to be a part of the "gather your allies" quest?? imagine having him as an ally and an ACTUAL friend in the end??

and don't even GET ME STARTED on what the orb in Helsik's shop shows you after you kill him. the fact that he's not even dead yet but ABOUT TO BE DEVOURED BY MEPHISTOPHELES. ABOUT TO BE DEVOURED. BY HIS FATHER. HE. WHAT. THATS THE ENDING HE GETS. and we are the ones that served it to him when he got RIGHTFULLY pissed at us for doing all that shit to him. and im supposed to just be fine with it?? i'm supposed to feel like this was the ending he deserved and i did the right thing??

god what i would give for a different way. idk. striking a new deal with him. saving him from Mephistopheles afterwards. REDEMPTION ARC?? ANYTHING?? NO? THATS IT THEN?

now i know that you dont HAVE to kill him, you can either agree to his deal or just ignore him and the house of hope altogether. but that just defeats the whole purpose of this character?? agreeing to his deal and giving him the crown at the end results in a pretty bad ending and ignoring him means that yeah, you don't have to kill him but you also don't get anything else from him anymore. like he has no other endings, just either death or his big evil plans. and for a game with so many choices and so much branching, it just feels almost weird that that's all he is there for. then why do we meet him in act 1? why does he follow through to act 2? (yeah, astarion, i know, but i cant help but feel like they could have put a completely different way to read his runes there if they didnt want Raphael specifically to help us) WHY ARE WE ALREADY SO USED TO HIM BY THE TIME HE PRESENTS HIS DEAL? if the whole hammer business is the only thing he's in the game for, then we may have as well been introduced to him only in act 3 during the whole Voss quest. but we knew him already and he felt like some sort of a.. friend lets call it? idk. this just does not make sense to me and makes me genuinely so sad.

as i'm writing this, it's the third day after ive completed the house of hope and i literally can not think about anything else. like my mind is just going on and on about this and i cant get over it!! im actually GRIEVING a fictional devil and i dont know what to do with all these.. thoughts.

so now i actually genuinely MISS THAT MF. I MISS HIM. GIVE HIM BACK. I WASN'T DONE AND NEITHER WAS HE. PLEASE PLEASE LARIAN I CAN FIX HIM—

okay i think thats it for now. idk i wrote this so chaotically i already forgot what i said and didnt say. im just. im feeling so many things. im so fucking sad and mad that this is how it ends. rest in peace hot devil man i will never forget you.

[theoozeboy]

Rate Your OC (tag game <3)

I was tagged by @amellderiva (sorry it took me 84 years to do this) but it was fun!!!

so let's talk about Leila Thorne

– Compassion: 9.5/10 Leila really, genuinely, tries to think of what she would do if she was in another person's shoes. Her own life dragged her through the wringer, and she's done things she isn't proud of. So when faced with other people's problems or mistakes, she intrinsically wants to see their side.

– Bitterness: 6/10 - however, her good opinion once lost, is lost forever - a character flaw to be sure. She does think the world is an unfair and unhappy place, and life with the Wardens has really supported that belief and dug it in deeper. She thinks people should continue to work together to make the world better! She just also is realistic about change.

– Happiness: 2/10 - she's miserable and has been for a long time. Her general attitude about it though is to bury it way wayyy down so even she doesn't completely notice it. Smiling for no reason works on everyone else, sometimes it even tricks her too.

– Politeness: 8/10 - the Trade Tongue isn't her first language, so a lot of her words come off as a little overly formal. That's also deliberate on her part though too, she was raised to have a certain amount of good manners.

– Chivalry: 8/10 - she's exceptionally well-mannered. . . when she gives a fuck. Which to be fair is most of the time. Sometimes though, in the right circumstances, she'll throw it out the window if it has an advantage.

– Pride: 7/10 - she's still got a lot of pride, even after losing everything when she joined the Wardens.

– Honesty: 3/10 - Leila lies like a dog and worst of all is really good at it. It's an impulse to protect herself from everyone or everything.

– Bravery: 4/10 - despite the next score being so high. there's a REAL difference to me between bravery and recklessness. Bravery comes with a sense of courage and heroism. Recklessness comes from rapid problem solving and lack of self preservation. She sits far more in column 'B' than 'A'

– Recklessness: 9/10 - even she would admit that she's reckless to the point of true endangerment. it drives the people around her a little crazy.

– Ambition: pre Wardens 8/10 - Leila was extremely ambitious in her teen years and into her 20s, but in the last few years with the Wardens, it drops to a 2/10. All her grand plans were crushed with her conscription.

– Loyalty: 9/10 - Leila is one of my oc's which means she is a creature of devotion. But devotion does not mean blindness, it means commitment. She'll both be loyal to someone and also stop them wink wink nudge nudge on that one

– Love: 3/10 - she does not fall in love easily. Leila is extremely guarded when it comes to romantic love, and while she has bad taste she does go about actually 'falling' slowly.

– Sense of Family: 10/10 - this goes hand in hand with her sense of devotion and loyalty. Once earned, you get her forever. However that doesn't mean she's blind to fuck ups, or that she'll let you get away with them.

– Attractiveness: I'd give her a 10/10 because I think she's perfect and beautiful. She'd probably give herself an 8, she's well aware that she's pretty, and uses it to her advantage.

– Agility: 9/10 - she relies a lot on being able to dodge and weave more than overwhelming force in a fight. Her usual goal is not to win, but just to not lose - which means she's usually pretty fast and tricky

– Sex Drive: 7/10 - soooome of the time?? This is a tricky question because she is a demisexual person - she needs to both know and somewhat like someone to be attracted to them. But also the Joining is a hell of a thing for your hormones in my hc so technically she lands a bit above 'average'

This was so so fun!! Thank you for tagging me!! Idk if they've done it already, but i'd love to see this from @fangharel and @impuls1veworm if they haven't <3

[monsterblogging]

So this post I reblogged has got me thinking about humanity loss as a trope and the way it's treated. And just to clear things up for anyone who might be confused, I'm talking about stories that involve some amount of physical transformation (with possibly some amount of mental transformation), not just "losing your humanity" in the moral sense. (Though the idea that compassion = human is itself incredibly flawed, but we're not getting into that right now.)

So like, there is media where portraying loss of humanity as a bad thing actually makes sense - specifically, where it's a metaphor for something that's actually bad. The first example that comes to mind is where turning people into robots or cyborgs is used as a metaphor for the dehumanization of laborers. Rich fucks in real life want to treat workers like machines, so it's kind of a natural step to write fiction where it's presented a bit more literally. Or there's stories like Resident Evil 4, where transformation is an allegory for religious radicalization, because the bummer truth is that people who've been radicalized are more often than not impossible to reason with and either want to make you one of them or kill you. When the major bad guys turn into giant monsters, it's an allegory for wielding corrupt power.

(And for those of you out there going, "but people can be deradicalized???", I am with you! And this is why I think a lot of these narratives need to lighten up on the "oh no once you hit Certain Stage of Change there's no going back!!!" stuff.)

But then there's like... the people who miss the metaphor or have very chauvinist views, and oop - there is no allegory now (or at least, not much of one), and we get stories that effectively inform us that becoming too Other means we're no longer deserving of compassion, respect, autonomy, or even life. Like, you can tell that you're dealing with the kind of person who just doesn't really believe in universal human rights, or in people exercising too much autonomy. And I think it's very natural to have an "oh, fuck you" kind of response to this kind of thing.

And then sometimes there is an allegory, and the author is targeting queer people, communists, foreigners, or anybody the establishment isn't really a fan of. Once you realize that the author is just bullshitting, I think it's only natural to think that there could be another side to this story.

And I think it's also fair to ask ourselves if transformation into Something Else could be an allegory for something that isn't actually bad. Maybe getting in tune with some aspect of nature triggers changes; like you grow gills and fins after hanging out in the water for so long. Maybe this upsets the sensibilities of the people back home, but quite frankly it's none of their business where you choose to spend your time and what you allow to happen to your body. Or maybe the cult leader turned you into their perfect weapon, and maybe that process was traumatic, but what happens when you regain your autonomy? Are the abilities you gained inherently bad, or does it come down to what you choose to do with them? Do you really deserve to die just because your body has a different shape now and there's no way to undo it?

And sometimes transformations brings on various forms of disability, or the experiences the characters go through are very similar to the experience of being disabled in some way, which can make them very relatable to some people. When you see something about yourself in these characters, it's only natural to want them treated as a person who deserves compassion and accommodation, rather than nothing more than a dangerous monster.

Add into this that nonhuman characters in general are constantly given characteristics associated with autism, ADHD, and even trauma. Factor in that the temptation of turning into a creature who isn't expected to act "human" (read: neurotypical) so you can be released from burdening expectations. Factor in the desire to be free from anything considered "human," period. And don't forget the whole otherkin/alterhuman thing. Then of course there's the thrill of the idea of experiencing a novel form, of seeing how it feels to move in a differently-shaped body and exploring what you can do with it. And the temptation of stimming with a tail. And also the fact that people's bodies and minds will change throughout their lives and that's fine, actually. Nobody owes it to you or anyone to be the same forever.

So yeah, works of fiction that depict "losing your humanity," as in changing your physical body and rewiring your brain in a way that people find strange as inherently bad and morally wrong are crap. Change is nature, and if somebody wants try out life as a dragon that should be none of anybody else's fucking business.

[dnangelic]

@effigist : can you mansplain to me what krad’s problem is ive been wondering for like two years

dark vc i hate that fucker <- literally only thing ever dark legitimately 500% hates

aka do you want the short version or the long version because i never have any confidence in putting together character analysis. whatever. i can only try as the dungeon master of dna lore ig.

< boring basic plot exposition details first. krad and dark were originally supposed to be just one artwork (the kokuyoku) and the hikari [artist]'s penultimate masterpiece that the og hikari ancestor basically spent his entire life and metaphorical dr frankensteinian soul on.

< og niwa fucks everything up on accident by trying to steal the kokuyoku right as the ritual-that-gives-art-life was going on. the kokuyoku's ripped into two 'parts' and the magic ends up flowing into the og hikari and niwa's bodies instead. dark is born and absorbs the niwa's love, krad's born from the hikari's overwhelming sorrow. you can imagine the overwhelming sorrow bit doesn't exactly make for a friendly character

< the process also apparently sucks mega ass forever because dark's described as miserable and having 'felt as if one of his wings were ripped off' for the loooooongest time before daisuke came around and started getting to know him. i've meta'd over this in regards to dark because for him it's having to confront his own existence as some fucked up Gotdamn Creature pretty much doomed to be trapped in its own circumstantial loneliness forever, but this is opposite krad who doesn't care at ALL about the whole friendship or host-merging thing and SOLELY wants to re-merge with dark so he can return to being the 'kokuyoku' and thereby complete, as a 'perfected' work of art. both of them end up hella pushy when it comes to their hosts- dark to menacingly merge with his tamers so he can have his own body (only at first before again he and daisuke warmed up to one another, but it was still a thing,) and krad to hurry up and capture dark so he can go back to being a perfect work of art.

< goes almost without saying by now that in general krad and dark are a dichotomy (in case the black cunty vkei fits vs white homophobic homosexual catholic looks didn't make any of that obvious enough.) krad's overall generally played as a manifestation of the hikari's hatred and grief and absurdly destructive perfectionist/possessive tendencies to dark's pandora-box hope and despair. both of them are involved and manifest only with the feeling of love, but for krad that subsequently equates to strictly controlling and imprisoning others (and again, the hikari are the artists, the creators and the cops) whereas dark (the phantom thief) never ever wants to do any of that.

< dark literally says to satoshi at one point that krad is a 'simple monster' while he (dark, himself,) is a 'complicated' one. he is in fact complicated with complicated feelings over the hikari artworks in general because since none of them are properly 'loved' they're all going ballistic from the untreated zero-therapy-without-niwa-daisuke shoujo emotional issues

< back to the perfectionism for a minute too. if dark's paradise lost's lucifer, the fallen angel 'tainted' by human compassion and love, then krad's the divine cruelty of a rigid and absolute heaven. to krad, callous cruelty and solitude are both beautiful and noble, and he praises satoshi (hell, even dark) for the times he's never cared about or rejected others while nonstop abusing dark (both physically and verbally; all of the injuries/death attempts daisuke's ever gotten have 98% been from krad) for his sentimentality and hidden vulnerable wishes for intimacy. krad vc friends?? you want friends? like some kind of idiot? moron. stupid. you're a broken artwork. nobody thinks this way

< krad's girlboss game is literally insaaaaane. it's insane it's insane it's insane. dark might talk like a guy who chugs monster for breakfast lunch and dinner but in some ways he's very earnest. in the light novels and drama cds for example, he toys around and plays very clever with his words, but he never, ever, on technicality and against daisuke's (hell if not everybody's) own accusations, lies. contrast krad. even in the drama CDs krad is always, ALWAYS preying on the vulnerability of individual bonds OR forcing inaccurate perceptions (such as saying dark wants to destroy the world or whatever which obviously [to us as the audience] dark is not doing that-) to have his way. he literally says at one point that he loves to watch people have their most precious things taken away, so yeah. sicko. freak.

< whenever the angels manifest it's supposed to take a huge, massive toll on their host's bodies, but dark's curse blunts agony into just strong discomfort by relying on the niwa's love whereas krad being krad never has any problems pretty much ripping his tamers open from the inside out. then krad starts throwing fireballs and shitting lightning which ALSO absolutely ruins his host's bodies since magic within the context of DN is not Meant to be Real. dark for all his beef with krad personally actually genuinely feels pain for and empathizes with the hikari (or at least satoshi,) so there's that too.

< i might be missing some more but honestly this is the gist. if dark is rough but actually deeply sensitive and trustworthy then krad is an extremely well spoken and horrific bastard. insert every single blonde man meme here. that's krad

[flowersandbirdsflyingfree]

Fuck it. Seeing all these people dive into your inbox for postal matchups makes me wanna join in.

Fuck it. Let's do it- also sorry if wrote so much- this is my first time even doing this.

I am a 22 year old nonbinary, pansexual as hell. I am 5'4ft in terms of height. My hair is short with an undercut style and bleached at the end cause the dyed faded overtime. I don't care what I wear as long I am comfy even with that I am self-conscious if I have to wear something out of my comfort zone and I wear glasses occasionally especially if am I going out. I am always seen with a bag that has keychains and enamel pins of my favorite things (mostly Pokémon lmao) because I tend to bring stuff to draw if we are sitting down somewhere.

I draw for fun and whatever I like to do draw, I tend to experiment in art styles but never dabbling in stuff that is really challenging like realism. I like to just draw what is in my mind and can be loose with it. From silly skrunkly doodles to rather horrifying looking creatures. I am usually awkwardly silent but I can talk to others if given a chance. I have a bad temper from time to time though am not easily irritable, it is just being talked down to like as I am an idiot does not help the person telling me things I did wrong though that doesn't mean I am not open to constructive criticism. Mentioning the self-conscious/insecurities will lead me to kind of say self-degrading things about myself whether it be my work or general although people tell me otherwise, I never gain the confidence in myself. I don't even prioritize my own health or well-being in favor of helping those around me that can lead me to exhausting myself. I am a bit physically touched starve but I don't force it on others cause I respect their space even if it's someone I know and close with, I have a fear of making them uncomfortable. I tend to overthink a lot of things and can be indecisive as hell. Being gifted stuff is going to make me obligated to return someone back because it is a big gesture in my eyes although the person gifted to me because they wanted to or think I deserve it. I am easily amused at things so show me like something stupid looking? I will be distracted for hours. Hyper-fixations are hard to control cause I move one thing I like to another.

Relationship? Usually I don't notice romantic interest until I am told, I am kinda shit of picking up signals yet I know how if I don't feel the same way towards the person who has a crush on me. Though if I feel the same way, I am easily flustered but nervous cause I don't know what to do and overthink on what to do in the situation. Not picky on physical, Someone with compassion and a sense of humor is something I find nice. I have to admit this, I have an internal fear of being broken up with especially my previous relationship and potentially being cheated on as it doesn't help my insecurities. - I don't have a specific favorite of music, I just go with whatever flows with my vibe. (Though if I must? Atlas: A letter to my freshmen self) - Tend to go back to nostalgic stuff from time to time. - I play whatever games even horror despite that I am easily scared LMAO - Attachment to plushies that I even bring one with me (I HAVE DUDE PLUSH AND I BRING HIM WITH ME) - I love all aesthetics and nobody can stop me, They are all beautiful in my eyes. - Axolotls are my favorite creatures that I even have one as a squishmallow I bought and my fixation is a stupid looking axolotl character named Kinito /silly Weeee that's all amma just yeet myself into the void- GOODLUCK ON THESE BOOM SHOOTER AND POSTAL MATCHUP, I'VE BEEN SEING YOUR WRITING AND YOU DID AN AMAZING JOB

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I’m really glad I can keep the tone of Postal well enough to do you all good service for these!!😭😭💖💖💖 You’re truly an angel, my friend

Now, without further ado, I match you with:

Postal 4 Dude

He’s a little confused about Pokémon, but he thinks they’re really cool. His top favorite types are ghost, fire and dragon types. Cubone is his favorite though because it reminds him of Champ.

He will go all out to buy and steal all sorts of trinkets for you. He also gifted you guys matching pins for your bag and his bathrobe. And an Axolotl plushie- NO WAIT! A plushie and a glass figure of one.

Play horror games with him it’s so funny

HE CANNOT HANDLE ANY OF IT. No jumpscares. No looming dread. None of it. Get him the fuck out of there! You guys can get scared together and then try to cool off with Rollercoaster Tycoon destruction mods to lighten the mood after (you had to tell Dude that no he can’t destroy Kunny Island like in the game)

I feel like your pining is both throwing signs to each other but it floats over each other’s head until one big moment where you confess at the same time in the middle of some disaster situation. Like Edensin could be on literal fire and you guys are ignoring it because omg the crush is mutual all along!!!

He is the second nicest Postal Dude. You can count on him for being compassionate towards you. Now that he’s mellowed out, he can show you how to be loved by someone who truly cares for you. If he trusts you, which he does, then he has endless loyalty for you. Never will he hurt you like the past has. He will fuck up your ex if he sees ‘em

Dude lounges about when he has no odd jobs to do. He’s gonna fill that touch starvation of yours. Always hanging his arm around your shoulder, being the big spoon, kissing (better than he used to be). Rub his temples for him after a long day, it’s like a cheat code to get him all mush-mush

I can see Dude liking music similar to that Atlas song. Other than older rock music (think Rainbow, Iron Maiden, etc.), he has grown to adapt to lo-fi, metal and rap/ hip hop. Huge Sublime fan btw

Overall, he’s really down to earth when you get to know him. Just a simple guy wanting to survive the American nightmare. The only thing keeping it a dream is you. Trust him. He’ll be the one to give you the love and effort you deserve

[poppyknitt]

i think I should make some video essays. I don't expect them to skyrocket in popularity or anything but I am passionate about the topics at the root of them all and I wanna talk about em.

They will be about animal welfare and how humans should treat them... primarily basing it in factual information I (and possibly whoever I hire/volunteers to help, though I doubt these will get me enough to warrant that) manage to get from reputable sources and also in generally having compassion for the other living things we share this planet with.

The first will be about dogs, their historical jobs, and why the breed(s) of your dog should inform what dog you get based on more than just temperament.

The second will be about cats and their stigmas, poor treatment, and abuse by the world - effectively debunking a lot of the reasons people dislike cats and explaining why they are such particular creatures who clash with as many as they do.

The third will be about livestock animals and how a lot of portrayals of them and their care get things so wrong - I will possibly divide it into parts if there's enough details to go into on individual or groups of animals beyond just the broad issues.

The fourth will be about unethical breeds in all species with breeds - pet animals AND livestock, because they get fucked over too.

the fifth, which may not happen, would be about tamed animals like small rodents (hamsters and the like) and lizards, as well as fully wild animals that people have had to tame for ethical purposes. (ie: raccoons raised by humans bc the other option was them dying in the wild, and wild cats brought up in captivity. basically otherwise wild animals who wouldn't be safe to release)

the sixth, which also may not happen, would cover strictly wild animals - and go into why we need to start leaving them the hell alone aside from keeping the ones that can stay wild in the wild. forever. because they deserve homes and respect like we do.

in video five I may go over why it feels wrong to leave an animal too disabled for the wild to die - particularly as a disabled person myself, but also as a person with the capability to see that disabilities shouldn't have to cause the death of anything (if they're not necessarily terminal by nature, but even creatures with terminal illnesses/disabilities deserve respect, love, safety, and comfort). it will primarily be about why sometimes an animal cannot be safely put back in the wild, though - cover situations like a wild cat who was mistaken for a domestic cat at a very young age, leading to it being unfit for the wild, or, more importantly, situations where the animal has too many disadvantages in general and would die in the wild. it will also talk about how we cant and shouldn't save every animal, but if there's one or two a wildlife expert/handler can help, why not let them. talk about what good having tamed animals around does for education about wild animals, etc etc. but I may save the non pet tame animals for video six altogether, or make it 7 parts, as tamed pets like lizards and hamsters etc may wind up being a big enough topic for a solo video.

reblog or interact in general with any ideas, I wanna hear what people think about this!

[ambyandony]

Monster AU - Colloquialisms [P1 A]

[P1 side note A: why can't I just call a vampire a vampire]

Why not just call a vampire a vampire?

I mean, you can, but that can contribute to a prevalent (if seemingly innocuous) issue that puts you, dear (or not dear) reader, at risk - the unfortunate consequences of generalisation, miscategorisation, and the ever-prominent implications of... colloquialisms.

Now, I already touched upon this in the main post and pretty much explained why it matters, but I want to go a little more in-depth as to how there are potential downsides to the lack of taxonomical classification.

A colloquialism is, as defined by Oxford Languages, "a word or phrase that is not formal or literary, typically one used in ordinary or familiar conversation." In other words, a word is a colloquialism when it is an informal variation of a word that would be used in more formal contexts.

For example, the way that humans refer to all creatures in the genus Vulpes as 'foxes', which are a separate genus from dogs, but the term 'canine' is used for both the subfamily Caninae and as a word simply referring to dogs - which can lead to the confusion that dogs and foxes are, loosely, 'the same thing'.

There's also, similarly, the way humans call Ailurus fulgens 'red panda' and Ailuropoda melanoleuca the 'giant panda' although the two are not evolutionarily close as the giant panda is considered a bear and the red panda is not a bear. Referring to both the giant and red panda as 'panda' is likely to confuse people into thinking that they're both panda bears (as the bear is a bit more familiar on a broader scale) when they're not.

There are issues here that mirror the problems that only using colloquialisms brings (which is why I'm adamant about at least trying to classify and distinguish as pretty much the only cryptotaxonomist I happen to be aware of).

What I'm saying is that when colloquialisms are used to generalise (and then, conversely, generalised terms are applied and associated with one individual of the category), important nuance can be lost. This is especially true and important to acknowledge when it comes to dealing with cryptians (monster is a colloquialism, too, and a pretty derogatory one at that merely because of how it’s negatively used, but it’s the most common way to refer to them), especially because it then concerns a category of powerful creatures not comprehensively understood (as cryptoscience is considered pseudoscience).

If you don't quite understand, allow me to illustrate with an example:

"Vampire" is a colloquialism for a group encompassing sanguisuges, a plethora of distinctly different blood-drinking creatures.

Pop culture has done a real bang-up job of conjuring up an image of what a “vampire” is to people, particularly in the West. Pop culture would have you believe that a cryptian with fangs that drinks blood is a vampire, weak to garlic, sunlight, and crosses.

Now go ahead and try that with Risotto Nero, an Italian, and see how well that works out for you. (Hint: IT WILL NOT WORK OUT WELL!!! (I'D ADVISE USING A COMPASS!! OR BETTER YET MAYBE JUST DONT GET IN A FIGHT WITH THE MAN!! NOT GETTING IN FIGHTS WITH ASSASSINS IS ALSO AN OPTION!!!!!!) Do NOT rely on pop culture to elucidate to you the weaknesses of a species!!!! EVER!!!!)

Vampires are called different things in different places because, by and large, there are so many different kinds of vampires and the different names generally refer to different kinds. They have different abilities, different weaknesses, different existences.

Pop cultural depictions will probably have you colloquialising lycanthropes as 'werewolves', thus making the assumption that all lycanthropes come out in the full moon and revert in the morning, and that the big wolf werewolves are just the same as the humanoid ones. THEY'RE NOT. FOR THE LOVE OF FUCK NOT ALL LYCANTHROPES ARE WEREWOLVES! I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH! "WEREWOLF" AND "LYCAN" ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE! They're so fucking different!!!!

It is SO important to make the distinction so that YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DEALING WITH! THAT'S why you don't just call a sanguisuge a vampire!

Just to elaborate on one example of many; because of the generalisation issue, while there are werewolves (and lycans!) who ONLY change by the full moon and revert by daybreak, people (believers, usually ones who are not monster-friendly) apply this logic to all lycanthropes and go out on nights that aren't the full moon like 'i'm not gonna run into a werewolf it's not the full moon' WRONG, SUCKER!!! Some werewolves turn EVERY NIGHT! And a lot of lycans DON'T HAVE EXCLUSIVELY MOON-BASED TRANSFORMATION!!! The Full Moon is just the only night that ALL ZOOANTHROPES, including both lycans and werewolves, WILL ALWAYS TRANSFORM! And it's ALSO when they're more active and aggressive which is why the public perception assumes werewolves turn on the full moon and always become aggressive in lycanthropic form! Because the Full Moon is when most lycanthrope attacks HAPPEN! Because it's the only GUARANTEED SHIFT TRIGGER! AND THE MOST LIKELY CONDITIONS TO INDUCE LUNACY! (more on lunacy and moonsickness later when I divert from the taxonomy and document other stuff too.)

(And please don't EVER think that wolfsbane will keep you safe from lycanthropes!!!! Wolfsbane is fucking poisonous, btw, and you can absorb it through the skin and fucking die, so I would recommend just staying away from it! IT DOESN'T EVEN REPEL LYCANTHROPES. IT'S MORE LIKELY TO SEND THEM INTO A FRENZY. It is SO fucking dangerous!!!!)

Monster Taxonomy Page 1:

Monster Taxonomy Page 2:

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[peace-coast-island]

Diary of a Junebug

Rustic pumpkins, poppy honey tea leaves, and wild talismans in the Baozhou Forest

The Baoshou Forest is said to be home to many lost and wandering spirits who need a place to stay while they figure things out before finally crossing over into the afterlife. Since her family has been performing rituals for the deceased for generations, Tao pretty much knows the forest like the back of her hand. She always keeps some items in hand to help a wandering spirit out, either by helping them sort out affairs, perform a ceremony to give them closure, or just be there for them when they need to get a lot off their chest.

Like her predecessors, she too is a regular visitor in the forest, someone a wayward spirit can turn to when they need guidance. Although she doesn’t always have an answer, Tao does her best to help out. Sure, she may seem quirky in a morbid and creepy lighthearted way that often rubs people the wrong way, but I think you kinda have to be like that when your family’s line of work is dealing with death. It’s not like she’s desensitized or is like “tee-hee, death and coffins, lol we’re all gonna die someday,” - more like her “normal” is clearly different, so her openly talking and even joking about death isn’t unusual, but to others, they see it as weird, and maybe even insensitive.

She’s used to it though, so it’s not a big deal since it’s usually coming from those who don’t know her well. However, she does try to be tactful, and she takes her duties seriously when it comes to burying the dead and sending them off to the afterlife. Some find her a walking contradiction, she says she doesn’t get it because people are complex and fascinating creatures. I agree, some people just don’t get it - or maybe they just prefer thinking in terms of black and white.

Before coming up here, we actually stopped by Meishui Village to meet up with some of Sophea’s clients. Shuyi and Lifeng live up there, which is considered unusual since it’s the countryside, and Lifeng’s family are in Yuexing Harbor - so that’s a bit of a commute. Somehow, Lifeng’s sister is able to go back and forth a couple times a week, though now that the engagement’s official, she’s making arrangements to move closer by.

We didn’t get to meet her unfortunately, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about her, like how she’s taken Shuyi under her wing and giving her the love and support her own family never gave her. She was the one who recommended Sophea when Shuyi found out that her father forged her mother’s will, taking away what little she had left behind that was supposed to be rightfully hers and keeping that for himself. Her father had resented his first wife and eldest daughter, and because Shuyi also happens to be disabled, he used that to justify his abuse towards her, which is really fucked up. His second wife and daughter treated her the same way, with absolutely no compassion or kindness towards her.

So her parents made a fool of themselves in court, failing to convince the public why people like Shuyi should be hidden away from the world for not being useful enough for society and a bunch of other bullshit. By then, Shuyi had been living with Lifeng for several months and was learning how to stand up for herself, so she surprised everyone by telling her father off when he threw a temper tantrum over the final verdict. That turned out to be the last time she ever saw her parents as they committed suicide that night, refusing to take responsibility and cursing Shuyi until the very end.

As for Shuyi’s younger sister from her father’s second marriage, she had disappeared when her parents were found dead. Months earlier, she attempted to sabotage Shuyi and Lifeng in some last ditch attempt to elevate her family’s failing status. It failed, and the consequences were dire as the Yulin clan fell even further. Those events actually led to Shuyi meeting her mother’s family and discovering the will as she was finally able to freely contact them. Around that time, Yan had been exiled somewhere in the mountains for a community service type of thing such as cleaning up litter and tending to the plants. She remained there until a few days before the final verdict, presumably taken away by her parents.

When her parents were found, a search was conducted, though it was believed that Shuyi’s sister was likely dead too. But with no body, it was all circumstantial, and the authorities kinda left it at that because it seemed kinda straightforward. Not to mention that by then, Shuyi just wanted to sever her ties with her family completely, which is totally understandable.

Then a few weeks ago, her sister suddenly showed up out of nowhere when Shuyi and Lifeng’s sister went to the forest to pick poppy honey leaves. Shuyi wandered off near the river to pick some lotuses when her sister confronted her. She almost didn’t recognize her, describing her as a once beautiful girl with an extravagant fashion sense - so basically, a superficial rich girl who likes to show off by flaunting her looks - to looking disheveled and wearing old, worn clothes while having a look of pure anger in her eyes that gave her chills.

Next thing she knew, her sister grabbed her by the shoulders to the point that she woke up the next day with her left side bruised and sore. Shuyi wasn’t sure if she was trying to push her in the river or if her sister’s hands were gonna move to her throat. Part of the reason why Shuyi wears a somewhat elaborate necklace is to cover the scars from when her sister strangled her - that same incident that got her banished to the mountains.

Like her parents, Shuyi’s sister also screamed curses at her, blaming her for her current predicament and the sorry state of their family’s name. Shuyi somehow managed to break away from her sister’s grip and told her to leave. She didn’t listen and started pulling at Shuyi, who fought back for the first time, which probably threw her sister off guard. So she got angrier and even more violent, forcing Shuyi to act in self defense by pushing her into the water where they both went down just as Lifeng’s sister was about to intervene.

Shuyi wound up with a mild concussion from hitting her head when she fell. Her sister wasn’t as lucky and died from her injuries when she landed on a bunch of sharp rocks. The whole thing wound up being anticlimactic, which is probably for the best. Shuyi can’t help but wonder if her sister was trying to get a rise out of her on purpose because she felt it was different from all the other times she taunted and bullied her. After all, when you have nothing left to lose, some people just flip out and say or do whatever because they know they’re going down and refuse to accept that. Basically like throwing a tantrum, except it’s a grown ass person who can’t take no for an answer and makes that everyone’s problem.

Well, what’s done is done and Shuyi can finally leave her past behind for good. She’s a lot happier now that she’s no longer in their shadows and instead surrounded by people who genuinely love and accept her, shortcomings and all. And not only that, they also treat her like an actual, living human being with feelings and thoughts rather than some object to be ridiculed or talked down at. I’d say good riddance - the world doesn’t need anymore people like them.

Through Sophea, Shuyi and Cerise became good friends as they have a lot in common, especially in terms of growing up with a shitty family who saw them as nothing but a burden because of their disabilities. They’ve both taken a couple pages from each other’s books in terms of gathering up the courage how to stand up for themselves and live life on their own terms. They can’t help being who they are and if some people can’t accept that, seeing them as a burden on society and whatnot - well, like it or not, disabled people exist and they are a part of society, just like any other human being.

Along with Cerise, Saff and Nikolai stopped by to meet up with Shuyi, Sophea, and Lifeng too. Sophea was a great help to the three of them when people from their past started digging up skeletons in order to discredit their accomplishments. Although the three of them came from different walks of life, they wound up being an adventurer team thanks to a chance meeting at a bar on a crowded night that somehow turned into a drunken therapy session - the one common thread bringing them together was the fact that they were tired of being constantly fucked over by close ones who they thought they could trust.

Tao has also become well acquainted with the adventuring trio during her excursions to the Baozhou Forest. In fact, the four of them made a trip up there last week to hang up some talismans after hearing complaints from locals about a spike in unusual supernatural activity in a certain area. Stuff like that happens once in a while, so if it starts to become a concern, the adventurer’s guild usually finds someone to take care of it.

At first, Tao picked that commission out of boredom, only to find out that it wasn’t just talismans, but some restless spirits who needed guidance as well - and monsters lurking in the darkness acting strange for unknown reasons. A quick visit to check out the situation told her to bring some extra hands because there’s no way she’d be able to fight a bunch of agitated monsters, set up talismans, and perform rites all by herself. Yeah, there’s no way anyone can get all that done in a day - even someone as energetic as her.

Then on the way home, she stopped by Meishui, where she ran into Nikolai, Saff, and Cerise. They talked, she told them about the situation in the forest, and they offered to accompany her. The three of them happen to be well versed with the supernatural - Nikolai and Saff being seasoned adventurers while most of Cerise’s knowledge comes from a mentor when she was in school, someone who hailed from a family of exorcists and taught her the basics on that. So Nikolai and Saff did most of the monster fighting while Tao and Cerise dealt with the restless spirits. Together, they were able to find the source that was causing the unrest and put a stop to that. Finally, once all of that was done, Tao performed a ceremony, and they put talismans around the area. All in a good day’s work.

About a week has gone by, and so they went back up there to check and make sure that there were no further disturbances or anything else that would be concerning. So far, so good - nothing out of the ordinary has happened and the talismans are still in good condition. Since they made the trip up here, why not take it easy and hang around for a bit? Along with poppy honey flowers, rustic pumpkins are in season too, so aside from visiting some friends, we also wanted to visit the forest for that.

Rustic pumpkins are kinda like a hybrid between kabocha and butternut squash. They’re known as rustic pumpkins because they’re popular outside of Yuexing. It’s mostly the elders that call them their actual name, which is hard to pronounce, and with English being the common language, it just somehow became known as rustic pumpkins.

I’m no linguist but I do find languages in general to be fascinating. Somehow that doesn’t translate well into motivating me to actually get down and really learn a language (Khmer, ahem). And in the Celestine Onyx, which is a sort of jurisdiction of seven different countries with their own languages, cultures, and customs, it’s interesting getting to know the people there and how they’re all kinda interconnected with each other.

In terms of languages, English is the common language because that’s how they’re able to communicate with each other. Then there’s also their second language, which to simply things I’ll just call it their native tongue, and that’s widely spoken, usually among locals, and that too has its own regional differences. So in Yuexing, it’s Mandarin, Sango -Japanese, Marippe - French, Adrikha - Arabic, Sazona - Spanish, Melovka - Russian. Then in Bonsai, it’s kinda a mix of everything. And usually, in the bigger cities or places where you’d generally find more travelers, they mainly speak English. Then in places like Meishui, it’s kinda like 50/50, so you’d hear conversations in English - usually among the younger folk - and Mandarin - usually between family or the elders.

Anyway, so rustic pumpkins have many uses, though they’re more for dishes outside of Yuexing culture. Rustic pumpkin and salmon pie is well known in Marippe, which is to the northeast, and that takes elements from the cuisine of both cultures. They’re both known for seafood, though they obviously prepare and serve it in different ways. A while ago, I heard a funny story about Ruby getting caught off guard by the amount of chilis in a shrimp dish she tried in Yuexing while on a mission with Connie and her brothers. Thanks to her experience, Aurelie was careful to avoid a similar incident as she too can’t take spice too well either - Yuexing cuisine really goes hard on the heat! Also, Xiang making mods to her own spin on various dishes she grew up eating or else most of us - myself included - wouldn’t be able to enjoy her country’s food.

Then there’s poppy honey flowers, which are mainly used for tea. And like with Marippe, tea’s big here in Yuexing, which they also have their own spin on. Me being Asian, I kinda have a bias for Asian teas, like the kinds that don’t need milk or sugar added in. Not that I’m a purist or anything, I just grew up drinking tea like that and I prefer drinking it that way - with exceptions being like boba tea, or if maybe the tea has no flavor or is way too strong, aka not good. Marippe has good teas too, and it’s made me appreciate tea with milk, cream, sugar, and other sweet add ons that can elevate a tea, but overall, I think I tend to gravitate towards teas that don’t need anything added to it.

Poppy honey tea is a black tea with a natural sweetness to it, so no need to add anything to that. Soy milk may be added if the black tea flavor’s a bit too strong - again, down to personal preferences. For me, I don’t think it’s necessary. I’m a black tea girlie, so I’m a bit biased towards Yuexing, Sango, and Adrikha. Green tea’s good too, but I think I’m more into matcha. White, I think it depends, I just kinda find the flavor lacking in general. And fruity or floral teas, I’m kinda picky about them as they can be a hit or miss. Strong floral flavors aren’t my jam while fruit teas I find taste better iced and with some sweetener.

We kinda had a debate on whether we’re team black tea or green tea, and we ended up in the middle. I’d say why pit these two bad bitches against each other? (Ignore my black tea bias earlier). Poppy honey is used mainly for black tea, though it’s popular with green tea too, though that’s mainly outside of Yuexing. Both are good, though, and I like having options because sometimes your preferences depend on what you’re in the mood for.

Right now, I’m in the mood for black tea because, I don’t know, something about being out here in the countryside makes it feel suitable for the occasion.

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[sacredpit]

HEADCANON GENERATOR   (   KAKYOIN’S VERSION   )

it would not take much for kakyoin to turn evil .

WELL   . . .   technically it took a fleshbud .   but leading up to that ,   there’s a lot of speculation about why   /   how kakyoin didn’t escape from dio like avdol did ,   &   i think the logical explanation for that is just that avdol was very lucky that he encountered dio in the place he was born   &   knew how to navigate the backstreets to get away from him .   but even if kakyoin had that same advantage ,   i don’t think he would have gotten away .   he was drawn to dio ,   &   even when he realized that he was in trouble ,   he was already paralyzed with fear   &   unfortunately became a victim .

    also ,   it depends on where in the timeline we’re talking about .   kakyoin is definitely   ‘   good   ’   in the sense that he has a righteous heart   &   is motivated by things like compassion   &   empathy for others ,   but he is not opposed to doing some fucked up shit if he thinks it’s for the greater good .   he has   &   will   kill people without hesitation if he thinks they deserve it .   he’s different from jotaro in that sense that he isn’t as merciful   &   can be pretty vindictive when he wants to be lol .

    but i don’t think he’d go   evil   at all .   dio is the most disgusting   &   vile creature ever born in kakyoin’s eyes   &   the idea of being anything like him would make him physically ill .

kakyoin gets road rage .

    accurate lmfao if you cut him off prepare to die .

kakyoin is a theatre kid .

    literally ,   no .   but at heart ??   absolutely .   kakyoin puts on entire musicals in the shower .   &   he’s got quite a voice ,   too !!   he could have made it on broadway in another life .

kakyoin knows fnaf lore .

contrary to what some people in this fandom think ,   he actually doesn’t know anything about fnaf .   but his son does   &   since jotaro often makes the excuse of having some paper or something to work on ,   kakyoin is often the one on the other end of jouta’s fnaf infodumps   ━━━━   but in all honesty ,   he really doesn’t mind .   he’s not gonna remember half of what jouta is telling him because he kind of doesn’t care but he knows how important it is for a kid to feel like they’re being listened to by their parents ,   especially when it comes to something they’re passionate about ,   so he does genuinely give him his attention   &   listens intently even though he will flush the information out of his brain later to make room for useless trivia to annoy jotaro with .

kakyoin is oblivous to any and all romantic interest someone may show them .

this is true for him as a teen ,   but not so much when he’s an adult .   as he gets older ,   kakyoin becomes very aware that he is attractive   &   that he gets attention from people of all genders ,   especially men .   &   though the only man he wants is his jojo ,   he is not opposed to using his attractiveness to get what he wants when the opportunity presents itself ,   lol .

    the only exception is with an oc of mine ,   yong ,   who he trained with at spw   &   had sort of a friends - with - benefits arrangement while kakyoin was trying to   ‘   get over   ’   jotaro during their breakup / not together for whatever reason era ,   but well .   we all know how that ends .   &   kak thought the fwb   ‘   relationship   ’   was purely physical   &   separate from their friendship ,   but that couldn’t have been further from the truth .   &   by the time they reunite in morioh   &   kakyoin   &   jotaro are together   . . .   things get weird   &   awkward real quick lmfao because while kakyoin has no idea that yong is interested in him as more than a friend ,   jotaro notices   immediately .

kakyoin wears hello kitty socks .

he is partial to keroppi but hello kitty socks are not off the table .

kakyoin is the gay cousin .

a few of his cousins on the himura side in morioh are also gay but yes ,   he is   thee   gay cousin .

kakyoin bullies kids on roblox .

if he ever played roblox he would absolutely be arguing with twelve - year - olds   &   would probably get banned from playing by jotaro .

kakyoin has a diary that they write in with a glittery gel pen .

he does keep a diary !!   but kakyoin is very serious about all things stationery   /   office supplies   &   would hate glitter gel pens because they’re not neat   &   look tacky .   he definitely does use colored ink though   &   color codes his diary by everything from day to emotion to people mentioned lmfao .   &   he loves highlighter pens   &   stamps   &   makes use of those a lot ,   too .   you best believe their family calendar in the kitchen is immaculately organized   &   color coded to the gods .

    on that note ,   once he’s living in florida with jotaro he is like constantly shipping in this stuff from japan because american stationery stores simply do not go as hard .   jotaro doesn’t even blink when he sees like forty dollar shipping on their credit card statement .

kakyoin has an incredible spice tolerance .

he does !!   kakyoin has always has a diverse palate thanks to his parents being well - traveled   &   relatively open - minded ,   but he really built his spice tolerance when he was living in korea during his spw training years .   he went from barely being able to finish the super spicy dishes there to adding gochujang   &   gochugaru to everything he cooks ,   lol .