#it legitimately feels isolating sometimes

[plant-cell-park]

if any of the friends i play valorant with hear my unfiltered opinions on online multiplayer games and especially valorant

[brittlebutch]

finally found a place to read With the Light online and i'm thrilled; if you haven't read this manga i do Legitimately recommend it

[beelzzzebub]

it feels stupid how consistently distracting loneliness is

[imaginarianisms]

1 day i will make a meta of sansa's dynamic with her metaphorical champions/suitors & how that correlates to the ashford theory (i.e sansa being betrothed to joffrey baratheon, then promised to willas tyrell, then being married to tyrion lannister, then being married to harry hardying then married to aegon vi targaryen & aurane velaryon but it is not this day. lmao. when i make that meta it'll be so over for y'all.

[blueish-bird]

love and peace to you, today I’m practicing the tumblr ritual of saving everything to drafts to reblog later because I’m currently lacking in self to express

[the-fog-system]

i really genuinely don’t how my existence got so lonely

[fantastic-nonsense]

I might be wrong but I figured you'd be the person to ask: Someone in a Discord server I'm in was talking about the "popular fanon idea of Cass learning ASL and sometimes preferring it to speech." And I... don't think this is fanon? Doesn't she canonically know ASL? I know she learned English and (I believe) Mandarin but I'm almost positive there are also lots of canon instances of her signing.

Okay so I'm going to split this ask into two questions:

Does Cass know American Sign Language (ASL), canonically?

Could Cass learn ASL?

The answer to #1 is no, Cass doesn't canonically know ASL to my knowledge (caveat: this does not, apparently, apply to the Young Justice cartoon universe; Cassandra Wu-San does appear to know some form of legitimate sign language). Canon!Cass, on the other hand, knows some basic signs and does use them, but it's more charades, 'loud gesturing,' and basic hand signals than it is ASL. The reasons Cass knowing ASL is such a popular fanon misperception are rather complex, but it largely comes down to two things: misunderstanding how ASL works and misunderstanding what Cass's disability actually is.

ASL isn't just some fancy hand gestures that translate one-to-one into spoken English; that would be "baby sign" or spell signing at best. ASL is a language, with all of the complex grammar, vocabulary, syntax, and sentence structure that implies. It takes years of learning and immersion to understand, learn, and utilize properly, just like any other language. Treating it as anything else is a form of ableism.

Someone like Cass who has difficulty processing language is going to have just as much trouble learning ASL as she would English, Mandarin, or any other language, because her problem isn't that she just "doesn't know English." Cass's disability is not that she can't read or communicate verbally: it's that her brain is literally built different because of how Cain raised her, and that affects how she processes language (and thus how she communicates with other people):

"David Cain…had some unusal ideas about combat. He experimented with infants. Trained them in isolation and deprived them of human speech. The goal was to adapt the language center of the brain to interpret physical movement as a language. She can…read you. Your body. That's why she understands what you're saying when she doesn't know the words. It's why in combat, she knows what you're going to do before you do it." -Batgirl (2000) #1

"The language centers of your brain are all over both hemispheres. Not centralized like with most people. When you try to read or write, your brain doesn't know how to keep it cohesive. But the good news is--you can learn. It's just a matter of figuring out how." -Batgirl #67

It's actually specified somewhere (I don't have the panel on hand, unfortunately) that she doesn't know sign language; Cain wanted her to read natural body language and nuance, not artificial hand gestures. Cass's primary "language" (and thus form of communication) until her brain was semi-rewired was body language.

But body language isn't actually a language; it's a form of non-verbal communication that functions through the (largely subconscious) 'reading' of both conscious and unconscious physical movement. Cass's childhood and training simply elevated that ability to ridiculous heights:

"A special ability to predict my opponent's moves. That doesn't begin to describe it. Time...ran together. The future...blending...into the moment. A blink of an eye...the knife thrust that follows...both one. It was like...like I could predict my opponent's moves. Okay, that does describe it. But it doesn't do it justice. All this knowledge. No substitute for knowing." -Batgirl (2000) #7

We see explicitly how this ability plays out on several occasions throughout her Batgirl run and the Detective Comics Rebirth run, and it's pretty clear she's reading subconscious feelings, thoughts, and movement, not language:

Cass absolutely communicates via hand gestures before and after Batgirl #4, but it's not any form of cohesive language, much less ASL. It's effectively advanced charades mixed with some universal non-verbal gestures:

"You don't speak any language, do you? Except violence." -Detective Comics (1937) #734

"Is he giving you any trouble?" *Cass flaps her hand to indicate the guy is a blabbermouth* "Got you. He talks too much." -Batman: Family (2002) #7

*Cass gestures to Jason's heart, Tim's mind, and Dick's voice to indicate she understands how they work as a team*-Batman and Robin Eternal (2015) #3

People learning a English as a second language already have an understanding of how language works, but Cass doesn’t have that foundation. Her primary language isn't sign language, it's body reading. Thus, she struggles to speak, read, and write in English not because it's a different language than she's used to communicating with but because it's the first actual language she's ever learned. Fanon largely projects ASL fluency onto Cass because they fundamentally don't understand how her abilities work (and thus don't understand how her disability works either).

Does Cass have the ability to learn ASL? Absolutely! Would ASL be a really cool way of depicting Cass communicating with other people and an interesting way to showcase language learning difficulties and communication disabilities in the visual medium that is comics? Absolutely! I would actually be genuinely thrilled if canon and the fandom actually worked with what a physical, visual-based language like ASL might mean for Cass's ability to communicate given her childhood training. But as it stands, "Cass knowing ASL" is a well-meaning but misguided fanon attempt to showcase inclusivity while being...well, frankly kind of offensive.

(As for why she would theoretically "know" Mandarin, it's a product of the incredibly racist and ableist writing that defined the "Evil Cass Era." This culminated in DC putting her on a bus and shipping her off to Hong Kong because "Asian girl knows Asian languages, right? Brilliant! Send her off!" while ignoring literally everything about Cass ever. She's never actually shown speaking Mandarin, Cantonese, or any other dialect of Chinese on-panel, but we can reasonably infer she probably picked up SOME level of comprehension while living there.)

[topersevereassentiment]

What are the salient features of Asriel, post-canon, that keep us from "saving" him from life alone in the Underground?

He's soulless (a practical problem),

he'll soon return to being a flower (a practical problem) and would prefer that you think of him like this rather than Flowey (a personal and interpersonal problem), and

he's decided to stay and tend the grave of the fallen child (and this is not really a problem at all; rather, a decision, which the boundary conditions of Undertale require us to respect).

There is a lot of UT post-canon fic out there which treats all these as practical problems. Frisk can just get a soul from somewhere, throw Alphys technobabble or soul arcanobabble at the body issue; get Flowey in therapy; and... also get Flowey in therapy for that last one, because his decision isn't really legitimate, in save-the-goat stories. It's self-harm. Which, personally, is both understandable and missing the point of one of the game's core themes: no matter how many times you restart the story, there are things you can't do; you are not getting a 100% Complete Perfect Pacifist where even Asriel is saved, and it's okay to be wistful about it, but you still need to put down the controller eventually. Getting him to the surface happens a lot in fic, because we all want the goldenest ending, but it could never happen in canon and we just have to live with it. It's thematically potent and I'd lose a lot of respect for Undertale's commitment to its story if you could circumvent it.

(Incidentally, this feels to me like it stems from the same ideas as making "* I have places to be" the wrong answer, a giving-in to Frisk's self-sacrificing, self-disregarding nature which must be corrected. Sometimes, you have to let people live and make their own decisions, outside the boundaries of the story's frame. Your perspective only goes so far.)

...now, fluffier, more sympathetically-traumatized Asriel, on the other hand...!

Ralsei's woes in Deltarune are very visibly the same kind of isolation as what Asriel's dealing with at the end of Undertale, but a) it's worse (a whole lifetime of waiting in a very deliberately empty, lifeless, three-screen-long kingdom) and b) he's stuck there for purely practical reasons. Darkners can't enter the Light World without becoming objects. He never made a decision to be here.

It's not something we can technobabble our way out of right now, but we're only in Chapter 2, right? We can save him, in a way we can't save Asriel: the deadlock we can't resolve has been removed; we don't really have to think about his preferences any more, because the preferences that kept us from helping him and left him stuck in the Underground I mean Dark World are just gone.

His issues are also much more obvious from the get-go, and seem designed to be something we talk him out of – not Asriel's decision to stay by his lost friend's grave, with a weight of meaning and feeling behind it, but hero worship, subservience, religious dedication to the Prophecy and self-image issues, all clear and visible dysfunctions. Giving Asriel therapy has left the realm of fanfiction and wish fulfillment and become part of canon... and the real disagreements we had with UT!Asriel over what he was and meant and deserved have become simple roadblocks for DR!Asriel whoops I mean Ralsei, things we have to help him through. Practical problems where the solution is friendship speech + therapy.

To make a slightly heavy-handed comparison, Ralsei saying we exist to serve Lightners and gratefully referring to himself as Kris's lackey is Anthy saying I'm the Rose Bride because I like it. It's the kind of reason we're inclined to reflexively overrule without working to deal with it at its root. Ralsei is Asriel, minus the irreconcilable and bittersweet parts, someone whose objections to being helped have either been removed or simplified down until we can feel good about disabusing him of them. He's our wish fulfillment in the way that candy on trees might be Susie's and a city of shining lights might be Noelle's and Giant Arcade Consoles might be Berdly's: an Asriel you can help, who you can make go to therapy and deal with the problems that keep him from caring for himself; who'll shut up, comply and let himself be saved.

...so the fact that Kris – whose personal issues are opaque, complex, and frustrating; who appears to be actively hiding parts of their life and motives from us; who clearly doesn't want our help or an improved social life at the expense of their agency – finds him so distasteful might not just be because he's a parody of their brother or Secretly Evil or whatever. If Ralsei is "the kid they're supposed to be" it's not just his fluff and horns!

[emeryleewho]

I am legitimately *scared* by how common the "never tell someone who is psychotic that what they're experiencing isn't real" advice has become because psychosis is a very broad scale of experiences, and insisting that it be approached exactly the same for everyone is a surefire way to get people killed.

I'm not saying that advice is *bad*. There is a time and a place for it. If someone is deep in a belief, do not argue with them about whether or not that belief is real. You will not convince them, and you will make them feel isolated and alone. HOWEVER if someone has previously told you that it helps them to be grounded when they are slipping into psychosis, or if someone is teetering on the edge and is struggling to discern what is real, telling them what is or isn't real can help guide them back to baseline or finding help whereas validating their delusions could be downright dangerous.

I'm sorry that this is not simple and easy to follow advice, but that's because psychosis is not simple and easy to deal with. Another way to look at this is that it's okay to validate someone's feelings, but do not validate the false reality. If someone says, "I'm terrified my best friend is trying to kill me", you can validate their feeling unsafe but do not validate that their friend is trying to kill them. On the other hand, if this is someone who is well aware of their psychotic tendencies but simply isn't aware that this particular thought is a delusion, sometimes just talking them through it works. "Why do you think your friend is trying to kill you? Oh, I see. If I'm honest, they seem like a really good friend so I don't think they'd want to hurt you. Is it possible that fear is coming from another place?" I've had conversations like these with loved ones that have made them realize they were slipping into a delusion, which allowed them to adjust their meds, speak to their psych, or even just avoid reckless decision making until it passed. Had I just said, "Oh, I'm so sorry. Yeah, it's hard to not trust your friends." They may have ended the friendship on false beliefs or put themselves in danger trying to avoid something that wasn't a real threat. A big part of it is understanding where that person is and how deep they are in the psychosis, what their level of awareness of their own psychosis is, and what sort of help/treatment they are on and they prefer in managing their own condition.

Please don't try to mass enforce health advice you find on Tumblr. Please understand how nuanced these things are and approach them with care. And for the love of god, if somebody tells you what they need, *believe* them.

TL;DR: The way you approach a stranger experiencing psychosis is different than the way you approach someone you know well. The way you approach someone in a full-blown psychotic episode is different than the way you approach someone dealing with some psychotic thoughts or features. The way you approach someone who is well aware of their psychosis and actively working through it is different than the way you approach someone who has no knowledge of their condition. And as nice as quick tidbits of advice can be, the information you get from medical professionals, the individual, and anyone else in the know on that individual's care should supersede anything you read online.

[destiny-in-the-universe]

RC9GN Commentary + Thoughts

my current and ridiculous hyperfixation on RC9GN is dominating my entire life, oops- but basically, this is mostly me once again testing the waters of not only a potential fanfic with a reimagined/continued-fanon season three and beyond but before i start

Here’s my general commentary of the show!

For starters- Randy is so neurodivergent-coded? He has ADHD, and I feel if his actions in the canon are viewed from a more ND angle, a lot of his behavior makes so much more sense to be honest; he stims, he doesn’t exactly think before he acts sometimes (and it’s only later - once he’s truly thought about his own actions - that he finally realizes he could’ve messed up), he gets overstimulated, and on another thing- he definitely has displayed signs of not only rejection sensitivity dysphoria but he also looks for others’ approval - not in the people pleasing way, he wants to be noticed and he can’t exactly get that

The show can be mature- and it shows in certain moments. Howard‘s beef with the Nomicon is genuinely legitimate, and we see he hates and despises being alone - he’s not socially anxious, but he does seem to only have Randy as his friend; though could it also be tied with Howard just being so used to having him as company that not having him around just gets a little distressing? They were friends from literally three years old- maybe it’s the knowledge that Randy’s now faced with this life-threatening role?

Another thing! The whole thing with the First Ninja (part of the commentary and thoughts of this post) having lost his entire family at the hands of the Sorcerer? That has got to have developed some serious ptsd and survivor’s guilt- it could explain why he’s so strict and rational and attempts to be this mediating figure but also suddenly gives up and loses his temper (like- if his soul is in the nomicon, then has he had proper contact with people? He’d have been completely isolated-)

Going off on “Finja” (though i seriously need to give him a name-), his official introductory episode could’ve gone so much better? Like. I get it, why he seemingly gave up so quickly but also- I think he sees his younger self in Randy and that’s why he could be harder on him, but going back on the last point; “Finja” has gone through so much - even if it isn’t inherently canon - and goodness me, I wish we could’ve seen more of his character- and the idea he’s Randy’s ancestor? Hello?

Massive Commentary incoming!

The Norisu 9 is such an interesting concept- I want to know more, but for that I need to write it; who were they? They were a clan- could they possibly be brought back as other ninjas that fight alongside the Ninja? (AKA Randy) If that’s the case though, wouldn’t it have been mentioned beforehand? Then again- this is entirely fanon. Maybe it’s only in specific moments; like we all know there are eight other realms - apart from the Land of Shadows - that Randy would’ve had to face. Imagine just-

The Norisu 9 are carefully chosen, and that’s likely why they weren’t seen before? Maybe it was thought the bloodline vanished- or only show up when fighting against specific threats like, say, the Sorceress- but now I have to figure out who would be the rest of the Norisu 9? Off the top of my head, genuinely- Debbie should be one of them (a theme of dark purple? But seriously- I feel they all have a select set of powers) - i can’t fully explain my thoughts right now, but also Theresa? Like, they definitely have certain qualities to be ninjas- though that still leaves six more people-

Also like, I really want more on the tengu and the ninja? I have a lot more dedicated to the fanon season three and this is only one part of my thoughts but- i keep thinking about the one episode where tengu! Howard (in the time travel/season one finale episode) was hurt and it affected Randy; like this has so much potential? Like just imagine the angst that could create- or even if Howard was permanently linked to the tengu, and he developed powers and things went a little… south - there is going to be so much I’m going to explore with this tbh

I need to dedicate an entire nine post thesis purely dedicated to my attempts at interpreting the different realms that Randy would have had to face if the show wasn't suddenly cancelled, oh my god

Another thing- the Sorcerer had so much potential as a villain; it's basically what he could have been if the show wasn't posed so much as a lighthearted action-comedy, but this is also a topic for another day. The amount of brainrot I've been dealing with is so ridiculous, someone help

[fourraccoonsinacoat]

FourRaccoonsInACoat Masterlist

Thanks for stopping by my masterlist, I am thrilled there are people who are interested in my writing! You may be asking, did I really create a logo for a nonexistent book series that only exists in the BG3 universe and features Malta the crime-fighting cat, all for the sake of a gag?

Yes. Yes I did. I will speak no more on the matter.

My fanfiction is centered around Baldur's Gate 3 and explores the romance between Astarion and the Dark Urge. The Durge MC in my works is based on my first BG3 Durge, a female half-drow warlock named Eli. I currently have one ongoing chapter fic, as well as a few one shots that all take place in the same universe.

I write fanfiction for myself as a way to decompress from life and because I enjoy sharing my stories with others. It legitimately makes my day when someone is entertained by my writing, so thank you for every comment, like, message and kudo. Much love and appreciation to you all!

Also, if you're here for BG3 Incorrect Quotes, follow that link for the masterlist.

____________________

AO3 Account - All of my works are crossposted to AO3.

Ongoing Work

Head Full of Ghosts:

Current Rating: M

Chapters: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4

Eli has spent a lot of time combing through her fractured psyche, trying to piece together any semblance of facts about who she was before she awoke on a mind flayer nautiloid. In all that self-reflection, she has concluded there are two things she is very good at. Killing people and drinking.

Neither of which is proving very useful as she tries to navigate interpersonal pitfalls after being appointed leader of a ragtag group of maladjusted misfits who are trying to source a cure for the illithid tadpoles in their heads. As if that isn't problematic enough, she's also having to contend with the growing affections between herself and the group's resident vampire spawn, Astarion.

Between fanatic cultists, goblin raids, murderous urges and cryptic memory loss, Eli figures a relationship is the last thing she ought to get herself wrapped up in. And from what she's seen of Astarion, the cavalier rogue seems to have his own breeds of specters haunting his steps.

Neither one of them has any business mucking about with romance. But, neither one of them is particularly good at staying away from things that entice.

____________________

One Shots

In chronological order:

Fall for Me ---> Faint of Heart ---> Midnight Prayer

Fall for Me

Rating: E NSFW18+

Astarion wakes from a nightmare and goes to Eli, seeking reassurance as he struggles with the denial of his feelings. The last thing he wants to do is give someone else control over him, not after he’s so recently regained a taste of freedom. Over the past 200 years, every relationship Astarion was involved in had been nothing more than a means to an end, with Astarion either playing the role of manipulator or the one being manipulated. Attachments were leverage, giving someone a hook they were able to dig their claws into in order to gain ground. Isolating himself from connecting with others was how he had survived.

This, however…this was different. 

Rating: M

Faint of Heart

Somewhere along the way, more and more truth has begun to slip into the words Astarion has been using to charm Eli into his bed. He's not sure when it started, but sometime between their passionate nights and hard fought days, genuine feelings began to stir.

It all comes to a head after the crew stages a prison break out of Moonrise Towers. Now, during a rare evening of respite, Astarion is determined to make a confession, regardless of his fears over the fallout.

Rating: M

Midnight Prayer

Neither Eli nor Astarion knows what they're doing when it comes to romance. Their combined histories with healthy relationships adds up to an unsurprising total of zero. Astarion once admitted to Eli that he couldn’t remember ever bedding the same person twice. And Eli…well, she can't remember anything, frankly. Her memories of past lovers are nonexistent…at least…

At least until today. Today, when they’d finally met the infamous Enver Gortash.

[innerchorus]

Sometimes I find myself wondering why Shapur's mother waited two years before she attempted murder on Isfan and his mother. Or perhaps she tried/wanted to try earlier but was unsuccessful due to Shapur's presence and interference? I'd love to hear your thoughts about it.

Okay, I have a confession to make. This ask unlocked a memory in me and I went to look in my drafts and sitting there was an unfinished post about this very matter, in which I tagged you because I think we had been talking about this in comments somewhere, and I checked the date and it said July 2022 🫠

Anyway, this is going to involve a lot of theorising and definitely veers into headcanon/possible fic backstory stuff, but it's a question I've thought about a lot and there are a handful of possibilities, in my opinion.

My first thought was that to begin with, she didn't know for certain who Isfan's father was. I'm sure there were also male slaves employed by their household, or it could have been any number of soldiers of other visitors that was the culprit. But perhaps in time the resemblance between Isfan and his father became impossible to ignore, or perhaps gossip reached her ears and her suspicions grew to the point at which she could not put them aside.

Perhaps she suspected right from the start, though. Maybe her husband's behaviour gave her cause to; maybe it wasn't an isolated incident. In that case, for someone willing to do what she did it feels like suspicion alone would have been enough, so why wait? One thing that comes to mind is infant mortality rates. Maybe she was hoping that the babe wouldn't survive past the first year or so, in which case there would be no need to dirty her hands.

Or perhaps at first it didn't seem to matter — her own son, both legitimate and older, would be heir.

I don't think Shapur's father would have involved himself with Isfan at all (after all, in not wanting to cause trouble with his wife he was content to ignore her actions in consigning a mother and baby to freeze to death) but I know we've both speculated before that Shapur might well have taken an interest in his baby brother even before he rode out to save him.

So was Shapur's behaviour a factor somehow? Was it his acknowledgement of his younger half-brother that changed things? Did his mother, for some reason, start to fret that one day, Isfan might be the one to inherit everything from Shapur rather than a son of his own, a grandchild that would carry her blood? How would she have felt at seeing Isfan accepted by the one other person she had assumed would also see him as a threat?

(Going down this line of reasoning definitely veers into some potential headcanon territory that I can't recall whether I've talked about before, but essentially something I toyed with was that his mother's fears not only stemmed from Shapur's clear affection and bond with the child but also the fact that she had begun to have her suspicions about her son's preference for men, and worried that given his closeness with Isfan he would be content to pass things to him rather than marry and have children of his own.

At this point, Shapur is 16, a year over the age of majority. I wouldn't be surprised if discussions of marriage had come up at this point in terms of potential matches, especially if he is the only legitimate son. Certainly I headcanon that later on, the main reason Shapur doesn't marry is to protect Isfan's status as his named heir and ensure it can't be contested, but before his rescue of Isfan I doubt he was thinking that far ahead; he was simply fond of his younger brother and did his best to look out for him and his mother. He could have easily brushed off talk of marriage without realising why his mother pushed for it.

Still, overall I think the biggest factor was simply that Shapur's mother hoped that if she ignored what she thought of as a problem for long enough, it would go away. And when it didn't, she opted to take matters into her own hands. The cold simplicity of Isfan's mere existence being enough for her to want him and his mother dead speaks to both her own callousness and the problems with Parsian society in the importance it places on bloodlines, so I've always been a bit wary of diluting that.)

[beelzzzebub]

hello i just wrote a poem and for some reason it feels important

[emmedoesntdomath]

the thing about the pjo series that just like. bugs me a little is the way that percy seems to realize everything 10x faster, especially related to greek myth.

“percy isn’t stupid, why are you pretending that he is-“ I’m not. I’m saying that in the books, he isn’t as tuned into greek mythology. in the books, he goes through a step-by-step process of thinking (that we can SEE) as he grasps concepts at a normal, non-athenian rate. of course he’s not stupid. that’s not what I’m saying at all.

my issue is that because it’s a tv show and not a book- we can’t follow his thoughts. we have no idea what’s going on in his head. we don’t get the mental breakdown that subtly explains what’s going on to us, as readers, as viewers. obviously, we can’t have that, not really. and as experienced members of the fandom, that’s completely fine. we don’t need an explanation. we know what’s happening. we know who that monster is. we know their story.

but to new viewers?

this is all batshit.

i was watching the most recent episode with someone who hadn’t read the books. totally chill, right? and then percy walks into crusty’s and goes, “I know who you are. you’re procrustes.” with zero build up. and my friend goes, “who?”

he didn’t know who procrustes was. he still didn’t, by the end of the scene. he just knew that he was now trapped in a bed sheet. none of it made any sense at all to him. because guess what? we didn’t get percy’s explanation. and again, we couldn’t really get that. but the writers COULD HAVE made percy and annabeth have a conversation about who procrustes was like they did in the book. they COULD have provided some more background knowledge.maybe little details were thrown in here and there, but there was too little to grasp everything, even if you did know what was going on.

it’s not about “making a character smarter” or “making them less dumb”. it’s about turning a form of media that is known for being so incredibly welcoming and inclusive and well-thought out that ANYONE could pick up a book with no prior knowledge and still follow along and understand into something that feels like it’s only for the kids who took the time to legitimately study greek mythology. it’s about turning a character- who isn’t stupid- who is supposed to be inexperienced and learning with the viewers into someone who knows everything already. the show isn’t meant just for the seasoned fans. it’s supposed to be for everyone. instead, it’s isolating and difficult to follow in the name of getting it all on the screen.

“they could just read the books-“ but they don’t have to???? that’s literally the point of an adaptation. you should be able to follow the plot whether you watched or read it. reading the books doesn’t make you superior, just like watching the show doesn’t make you inferior. don’t be pretentious.

it’s not about percy being stupid, because he’s not. it’s about understanding that sometimes, you have to miss parts of the original story to make it understandable for new viewers.

[lucky-clover-gazette]

Vio's Arms are for Grabbing Shadow's Snatched Waist, Shadow's Arms are for Holding Vio in 500-word Fluff Fics, Apparently

a short but sweet vidow cottage au fluff fic, belated birthday gift to @james-p-sullivan!

He can feel Vio’s heartbeat, watch as his breathing displaces chunks of blonde hair. He is fine, just a little roughed up from an unfortunate run-in with a Like Like (or, as Shadow now calls the creature, a Dislike Dislike).

Honestly, when he wakes up, Vio is going to be more pissed about the monster stealing his favorite scrunchie than trying to eat him whole.

read the whole thing on ao3 or under the cut:

Sometimes, things still go wrong.

Vio and Shadow’s life in the cottage is generally cozy, far removed from the drama and danger of their past adventures. While Castle Town is only an hour’s walk through the woods away, something about their little home feels deliciously isolated, much like the room they’d shared back in the Fire Temple. Back then, Vio and Shadow had awkwardly maneuvered around each other, both too preoccupied with their own anxieties to truly enjoy each other’s company. More often than not, their developing mutual fondness had been the main source of anxiety for them both.

Things are different now. Even when everything else is wrong, they know that they have each other. Even when they fight, they still have each other. Vio and Shadow share a profoundly tender kind of devotion, an unspoken agreement that the life they share together will always be enough. As long as they can fall into each other’s arms, the rest is ultimately just set dressing.

And what a beautiful set they’ve dressed together—an idyllic little home in the woods, full of books and artifacts and barrels of evil root beer, safe and comfortable in a way neither had ever felt before. Their rescued cat/roommate Pinecone is a treasured member of the household, along with Tingle whenever he needs a place to crash because the knights are after him for undisclosed crimes against the crown. They don’t let him stay inside the house, but they do turn a blind eye to the occasional tent in the backyard.

They have other friends in Castle Town, only some of whom are shared. Shadow and Zelda are incredibly close, and at this point Vio has a pretty solid connection with his former-present allies Red, Blue, and Green. It would have been difficult for Vio not to bridge the distance between them, given the missions that they all still occasionally do as a team.

The missions aren’t usually too difficult, mostly boiling down to simple combat and negotiation. But occasionally they find themselves fending off a legitimate threat to ensure that Hyrule remains saved. And every once in a long while, one of them manages to get hurt in the process.

Shadow reminds himself of all this as he holds Vio’s sleeping body—their peaceful life together, the devotion they share, and the inevitability of occasional bumps in the road. He can feel Vio’s heartbeat, watch as his breathing displaces chunks of blonde hair. He is fine, just a little roughed up from an unfortunate run-in with a Like Like (or, as Shadow now calls the creature, a Dislike Dislike).

Honestly, when he wakes up, Vio is going to be more pissed about the monster stealing his favorite scrunchie than trying to eat him whole.

Vio’s eyelashes flutter, his eyes opening just a crack. Shadow holds his breath.

“Ow,” Vio says, profoundly. His eyes land on Shadow’s arms, wrapped tightly around his body. His grimace fades to something much softer. “Aw.”

“A man of few words,” Shadow teases, nuzzling into the space between Vio’s shoulder and neck. It smells like home.

“Shadow,” Vio says sharply, scoldingly—but his body only relaxes further.

“Yes, my love?”

“… Shut up.”

[wishing-stones]

Hii,,, hope I'm not bothering you too much. I've been a really big fan of your writing for a couple of months now. You don't have to respond to my ask if it makes you uncomfortable, I understand.

I'm someone who easily falls into paranoia spirals, and constantly second guesses whether my behaviour is socially appropriate since I have such a hard time reading a room. I have a habit of unknowingly stepping over the line when I get excited and thus making people uncomfortable, and only being aware of it if I'm directly confronted about it? Though because I absolutely hate conflict I often distance/isolate myself from the people I'm close to and find myself forming deeper emotional attachments to stuffed animals than people.

Would the guys find this to be a problem? Would they particularly care about someone being more open to an inanimate object than them, or if they need to regularly switch between reminding the person of boundaries and assurance that they aren't a selfish or awful person?

(Again, feel free to ignore this if you don't want to respond, I won't get upset if this ask gets deleted for being too much)

- 🖍 crayanon

Okay first of all Crayanon is adorable

Secondly, sending me asks is in no way bothering me! If I don't have the time or energy to respond to them, I often sit on them until I do (or until I come up with a sufficient answer for some of them). The only ones I wind up deleting are the ones I legitimately don't have an answer to LOL.

Thirdly, I'm seeing some self-deprecation here, and I'd like to remind you that you aren't a selfish or awful person for your neurodivergence. I prefer the company of animals, stuffed or not, to people most of the time as well. It's no shortcoming of yours that you have issues reading social queues-- especially when excited. You're far from alone in that aspect, and honestly? You can't blame yourself for crossing a boundary that you didn't know existed. All you can do is keep that boundary in mind going forward. You're not psychic, so you can't have known, and anyone who gets mad at you for crossing a line you weren't aware of... might be someone you may wish to rethink being around. This is a very annoying thing that happens with Neutotypical people, I feel. They expect you to know the exact social standards of every single setting everywhere you go when they... don't communicate that whatsoever. It isn't your fault, and this is all a very long winded way for me to say: Don't beat yourself up over stupid unspoken societal standards. It doesn't make you a bad person, and neither does wanting to avoid these situations. You aren't selfish, and you aren't awful.

With that out of the way...

Generally speaking, the guys are really good with mental health and neurodivergence in general. It's kind of a monster society thing-- since monsters are all so vastly different from one another, they don't tend to balk at anything that has to do with appearance or mentality. It's just the way you are, and if it happens to cause problems for you or them, they're still very supportive. They might nudge you towards professional help if it becomes a serious problem, but on the whole, these guys are very hard to offend by behavior.

Killer also has issues with boundaries sometimes, and needs to be corrected. With the guys, this usually comes in the form of playful violence, but you can shove him off or tell him to back up or steep off just as easily. His are hard to cross, but if you manage it, he's pretty gracious with letting you know, and if he sees you edging up on that line again, he'll playfully remind you of it. He won't get mad. The most you'll get for your troubles is a noogie.

Dust may snap if his boundaries are crossed in any serious way, but he's kind of a withdrawn person. He doesn't mean to be mean, but he'll be firm. He might get a little short and brisk to get you to back off... but he'll explain why once he's wound down from it. He might get a little rattled, but he won't hold it against you. Learning to be around new people can sometimes have a steep learning curve that can go on for years after you've met and grown close to them.

Axe only snaps if you get near his skull injury. Otherwise, he's pretty chill. If it's a social boundary, he isn't bothered too much, and will remind you that it's there calmly. He'll also warn you off of it if he feels you're creeping toward his or anyone else's boundaries, and praise you with reassurances if you remember these on your own. It'd do you well to remember that one of his biggest boundaries is to not startle him awake, since... that's less one for him and more one for you, so you don't get hurt on accident.

Cross will gently bodily move you if it's a physical boundary and just... say your name correctively if it's a social one. He'll explain his boundaries, but prefers reminding you rather than telling you. He thinks that you'll remember these on your own soon enough if he just... nudges you away from them. He's pretty understanding, even if he looks stern. Baggs takes note of these behaviors and works with you on them. Little memory exercises to remind you of where general boundaries might be, offers different methods of mindfulness, and takes everything in stride. Even if you cross his, he's patient and explains gently. He also likes the subtle sort of nudging you in the right direction-- making your own associations and your own corrections are far preferable than straight directions. It allows you to build your own habits and reminders that are custom-tailored to you.

Nightmare has arguably the hardest time with this because he is not pleasant when a boundary of his has been crossed. He'll get a little sour, but still remind you carefully of what that was and why he didn't like that. It's really not you, it's him. He gets cranky and bitter when bothered, but... he also has to remind himself that no one here is psychic and can't possibly know what he's thinking. He likes to lead you into conclusions yourself ("Do you remember what happened last time?") rather than actively correcting it, and does so as gently as he can. This bothers you deeply, and he can tell. He doesn't want you agonizing over a simple mishap that, in the grand scheme of things, matters very little.

As for being closer to stuffies than to them...

...They might get a little jealous, but the most that nets you is them sitting with the plush so that you have no excuse but to spend time with them. Oh no. Fortunately, they can be pretty still and quiet if you don't feel like people at the moment. Just hanging around quietly is enough.