#ive been converting people for years now now that i think about it

[prism-forgone]

this is a public announcement

play we know the devil its so good you guys i promise

[suffarustuffaru]

What's your thoughts on emijulisuba

a bunch of my mutuals and pals now are emijulisuba fans who’ve literally converted me and some of my other pals to the Light Side (the beauty of emijulisuba) so id say im a fan !! ive been Slowly Rereading Arc 6 After It’s Been Years And My Poor Memory Has Eroded The Memory (Ironically) Of Arc 6 and lets just say the top things im looking forward to are emijulisuba and shaula 👍

my big stance on shipping is that i Really love looking at every possibility ever—so long as a ship has some neat canon details to work off of (like the possibility narrative foiling!!) then i can like it a lot!! emijulisuba are all characters im super fond of and characters that share common ground with each other and are fond of each other so—id be interested in seeing all the possibilities there 👍 plus i think emilia shipping is a bit underrated. im super curious to see on a deep and serious level how she’d fit with people like julius or reinhard or rem—that sort of thing!

and i think emijulisuba as a dynamic are very sweet. though im sure its not an ot3 for everyone bc similar to smth like reinjulisuba or whatever youd need buildup for it or youd just skip right to established relationship in fancontent but i love their canon dynamic a lot and boy am i a fan of intense pining and Buildup. i love emisuba and julisuba and im intensely curious about how emijuli would work (jock elevator music gf eager to learn new things vs jock nerd bf eagerly infodumping every bit of lore he knows) so!!!! lets just say im a fan 👍👍👍

[followingtheladyofthesacredflame]

No hate just wanted to know your opinion on 1 Corithians 10:20 because ive been wanting to Pray to other Gods as well but im scared that its a sin. Tysm in advance 💙

Hey friend, no problem, I'm chill with discussing opinions. Long post in-bound with textual and contextual analysis of 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

So, the verse in question is this one:

"No, it does not; simply that when pagans sacrifice, what is sacrificed by them is sacrificed to demons who are not God. I do not want you to share with demons."

Corinthians is a book of the Bible attributed to St. Paul, who was absolutely famous for writing a LOT of early Church literature (like, 12 books worth of Biblical writings, depending on who you ask) and proselytizing to a wide range of people, even when jailed by the Romans for doing so. St Paul's goal was conversion for these people; he so sincerely believed in the mission and message of Jesus Christ that his ultimate goal was to bring as many people as possible to Heaven through his writing.

With this bias in mind, let's look at the context of 1 Corinthians 10:20. In Chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians, Paul is talking about previous instances of cultures who turned their backs on God to worship false gods and idols, and who were then punished for doing so as God "scattered [their corpses] over the desert." So, his advice to the Corinthians, who at the time would likely have worshipped the Greek and/or Roman pantheons, was to stop worshipping these gods and turn to the Almighty for redemption. He classified these pantheons as "demons."

In the original Greek text, Paul uses the phrase,

δαιμων  δαιμονιον

which, to the best translations I can find, means something akin to "inspiring force" (as in, an independent force with autonomous actions) and is used here by Paul to refer to the pagan gods in a relatively neutral sense. This word in Greek doesn't necessarily have any malevolent intention behind it, and in the text, the line about not cavorting with demons doesn't necessarily call them evil and is followed quickly by "Do we really want to arouse the Lord's jealousy; are we stronger than he is?" (1 Corinthians 10:22).

So, to my reading, Paul isn't necessarily condemning the pagan gods, but the practice of honoring them for things he believes that the Abrahamic God is responsible for, which (understandably) pisses God off. This, he tells the Corinthians, is the sin, and is what they need to stop to convert and be saved.

Now I need to note again that Paul is trying to convert the Corinthians in this letter - he has an inherent bias against their faith because he believes it's the "wrong" one. While Christians generally believe that the Bible is divinely inspired by God, I personally believe that it shouldn't be taken in a literal sense, and should instead be seen as an inspirational mythology to work with. The letters especially I take with a big grain of salt; conversion was a major focus of early Church writing - they were desperate to establish the Church long-term, after all - and so condemnation of other religions is bound to happen sometimes. I take this as human bias and error in the interpretation of the divine inspiration.

Do I personally think it's a sin to work with God and other deities? No, I don't think so. I operate on the idea that as long as you're honoring God for his role in the universe as its creator and overseer, there's nothing wrong with also honoring other deities with specific domains within that universe. It's just probably best not to give them credit for the things He does (you might use the idea of syncretism to avoid doing this - seeing certain gods as aspects of capital-G God and so on).

Sources:

I am a Catholic who went to 10 years of Catholic school.

[wind-up-thancred]

Hey I saw ur Thancred face mod and wanted to say…thank you so much!!!! And I miss his old face 🥺 do you think it’s possible to ever get it back? I’m tempted to learn modding just to fix up my boy bc they really massacred him 💀

hi anon! im glad you like the mod. yeah i dont blame you for missing the old face lol, i took one look at it in textools when the patch dropped and went "wtf did they do to my boy... 😢" i think it depends on what you mean by "getting his old face back":

-if you want to start with the 7.0 base face, you could probably open it up in blender next to his old face and use the sculpt tool to physically sculpt his mesh to be closer to what it used to be, but i think past the lips there isn't too much else on the actual geometry to change— maybe his nose and jawline? but to me it feels like a lot of the change also happened to his normal maps, which are the textures that add extra shading detail and volume to the face. the old textures cant be ported over because the new mesh isn't laid out for them, buuuut im aware of a tool being developed currently in the ffxiv loose texture compiler for automatically transforming the old textures to match the new mesh layout. will that work for thancred's unique face? i'm not sure, but it could be worth a try— im fairly certain his unique sculpt is an edited version of one of the male midlander faces, so once that specific face is supported in the tool, it might work. if not, you can always manually adjust the new normal map while referencing the other one. -if you want to start with the OLD 6.58 base face, i believe there is a blender script going around (i saw it in the textools discord last iirc?) for converting old face sculpts to new ones. this is necessary because the new faces have QUITE a few new bones in them that need to be rigged, or else the face will not animate. from there, you MIGHT have to convert some of the old textures as well, but i'm not 100% sure, i think it depends on how well they work at baseline for 7.0. i know there's still a legacy skin shader in the game for older faces since not all of them have been updated yet, so you might be able to switch it to that so that the old textures still work. if that sounds like A Lot, uh... i dont blame you 😅ive been learning xiv modding for about two years ish now so ive got a lil bit of know-how under my belt, but if you want somewhere good to start, i would recommend joining the textools discord, there are multiple channels there for people to ask questions about how modding works, how to mod specific things, lots of tutorials, etc, and im sure therell be something in there to help you along. buuuuut in the meantime, i HAVE seen two other existing mods so far on XMA that do both of the things i mentioned before: https://www.xivmodarchive.com/modid/109670 this one seems to be a very good version of the first fix, where they went in and sculpted his new 7.0 face to be closer to the old one to a higher extent than i did, with his lips, jaw, and nose tweaked. it doesnt have heterochromia or scruff like mine does but i think you should theoretically be able to do that easily— feel free to send another ask if you want me to explain how i did it on my mod. https://www.xivmodarchive.com/modid/109665 this one, meanwhile, is the second fix— they ported the old face model over the new one. it has stubble and no heterochromia but again, if you want to change either of those, id be happy to explain how i did it. i have not tested either of these myself so i have no clue how well these work in-game but im sure they work fine!! i hope either of those help you out and if not i wish you good luck on your modding journey.... esp learning blender ^^" its a pain in the ass at first but trust me it feels really really good once youve figured stuff out!

[coyote-kiddo]

i was re-tagging some of my old posts and found this, so i figured i'd re-do it!!! (all at once because i do NOT have the memory to do it over 30 days)

i found petdre first via the aesthetic "babycore", and then slowly got more and more into agedre!! i also found out a while later that i had been involuntarily age regressing for years and hadnt noticed

my age when im small is kinda hard to pinpoint, but i would say somewhere between 3-5 most of the time!!

i dont have one, and i dont plan on getting one until im an adult (for safety purposes), but i have a few fictional cgs!! (stolas, toriel, and alastor are my biggest ones :3)

hm, i would say a day with one of my fictional cgs!! getting to play with the toys ive been wanting, color and draw, wear clothes that feel comfortable on my body, use teethers, bottles, diaps and pacis and watch my favorite shows without being judged or being embarrassed abt it :3 plus a nice warm bubble bath, baba of warm almond milk and a lullaby before bed!!

i have loads of sippies, a few bottles, a few teethers, a paci and one disposable diap as of right now, but i really really want a babyyourdoll classic round paci!! and also pull ups, mostly js for comfort :33 i would also like more silicon teethers bc they feel nicer than gel/water teethers heheh

i pet dream occasionally, not as often as i used to but still occasionally!! i petdre to an afghan hound, a kitty, a fox, and im considering trying wolf pup, fruit/vampire bat and deer :3

when i age dream, im not too much different from when im big bc my headspace doesnt change as much- im just a bit more childish and less embarrassed about stuff!! regressed me is wayy different though bc my regression is almost always negative- im typically more emotional, childish, clingy, and annoying.

i prefer drawing!!! i like to color also but drawing just feels so freeing to me :3

my moots!!! too shy to tag but i love them sm /p /gen

regression is almost always invol for me because of anxiety and trauma, its also usually negative which is kinda sucky

yepp!!

not that i can remember, ive used regression gear in dreams before but never regressed

this one is kinda tricky- im gonna say probably either apple slice or salteens!! i also really love juice, chocolate, graham crackers and cheese and crackers :3

yes!! i never really grew out of them, even before i started to age dream ive collected them :3

just my stepmom and my dad, i dont really think they remember though

bubs, kiddo, buddy, and little guy are my favs!! masc nicknames are sooo gender affirming to me as a fem-presenting trans man :,3

my regression is usually negative and involuntary, but nothing usually makes me "instantly regress"- its kinda a coin flip- but something that makes me feel smaller when i age dream is fuzzy socks!!

nope 😭 even if im able to buckle down and have small time after ive been involuntarily regressed it just kinda fades away

its okay, i cant really speak on it much bc i have most people i dont feel comfortable with blocked and i dont have any other socials. though i do hate when people stereotype and gatekeep it, or water it down to "fem, pastel, cute way of coping for skinny white girls only"

not a lot, but if i stumble upon one in the tags i might read it :3c

yeah, but i dont really feel comfortable being tickled

stolas goetia from helluva boss!!!! he is literally my dada guys /silly

my preference changes constantly, but it would definitely have a crib that can be converted into a toddler/big kid bed w a canopy and mobile, a sensory tent, a bouncer, a play area and a deer rocker!!!

not really, it makes it harder for me to stay small sometimes

i regress because of trauma and anxiety, i age dream as a coping mechanism for stress, gender dysphoria and missing out on my childhood :3

i almost always have to be listening to music when small, regressed or age dreaming, and my music taste jus kinda stays the same

just boundaries i set for myself- dont intentionally seek out my triggers, dont stay up too late, eat when im hungry, etc

when i regress, i get very very clingy and sad and scared, so i come off as very needy and kinda annoying (+ blunt because i kinda forget how social rules work), when i age dream im basically the same as when im big, just gigglier and more childish

maybe!! i havent tried out caregiving before but i would like to!!

im in the process of learning italian, so i sometimes watch kids' shows in italian to help practice and to make myself feel smaller!!

[clownsalot]

yea ok i know im not the only one voicing concerns over amane getting forgiven this trial but. i am actually so worried for what'll happen if she is so im going to talk about it anyway

longish post?? i think?? so uh. read more

- on the one hand, the one everyone talks about: shidou's physical safety. this one's obvious

you can argue that amane is 12 and shidou is a grown ass man more than twice her age but also;;;; a lot of theories ive seen of amane also include her victim being an adult. 12 years old or not, there's a lot you can do with a weapon when you catch someone off guard, and shidou isn't exactly fit to fight someone off, even a 12 year old on adrenaline. also given how he's working himself to the bone keeping mahiru alive and taking care of fuuta he's probably not going to be all that alert to his surroundings either. though with kazui once again innocent leaning, hopefully this concern can be set aside for a while.

- on the other hand, what worries me more (ie making me shit my fucking pants in fear) is that there's another real threat amane poses that can't be solved by kazui being forgiven: amane is trying to convert fuuta.

(from fuuta's 2023 birthday timeline on the wiki)

shidou's safety can be accounted for, but whay about fuuta? fuuta, whose mental health is going to shit and at an all time low; fuuta, desperate for anything that'll give him a sense of safety and security? right now fuuta is a textbook example of someone vulnerable to cult indoctrination, which amane will happily provide. there was also @vampuppyy 's post (that i agree with and also makes other good points) that mentioned this could be compounded if amane is forgiven as well. hell, fuuta's second trial voice drama is even named BAPTISM OF FIRE.

if amane is forgiven this trial, someone is definitely getting hurt.

- the threat amane poses aside however, i do have my own reasons for voting her guilty this round beyond her potential to hurt someone. and it's that i don't think forgiving her is actually going to do her much good??

(amane's second trial voiceline, also from the wiki)

she says she'll forgive us for trial 1 and to think about our verdict again carefully with the implication that she expects to be forgiven this round. i think forgiving her this round will do nothing but just tell her 'we were wrong to not forgive you the first time, your cult beliefs are right actually. thank you for your generosity, please take this as an apology for our mistake' which does nothing but reinforce her belief that she's righteous in her cult mentality, especially if we're right about her murder being partially motivated by her believing her victim also broke one of the cult's tenets. she's going to turn out like muu singing about how 'it's not my fault' won't she?

i get why people are forgiving her this round and im not saying it's wrong (honestly good for amane for killing her abuser!! you go girl slay), but imo it's not the best decision to make right now given the circumstances. of course milgram's strict innocent/guilty system doesn't allow for any kind of nuance, and i do realize a guilty won't be good for her either, but i think doubling down on the guilty and not forgiving her this round might be the better decision in the long run. if we still want to forgive her, we always have trial 3 to do it anyway

(honestly i think if we wanted to forgive her it should've been in trial 1—but there's nothing we can do about that anymore, all we can do now is play damage reduction trying to fix what went wrong after the trial 1 results)

so uh. yeah that's all the reasons im guilty voting amane this trial 👍 i hope this was coherent

[brostateexam]

"I'm definitely not thinking about death any more!"

I.

I was heading in to BART when I noticed that there was a moth in our car. For reasons I can't quite explain, I was consumed with the feeling that I had to get it out of the car to somewhere safe. My stop was going to put me (and maybe the moth, if I managed it) just three stories underground, though, which is not markedly better than being on a subway car. At least on the subway, there was a shot that it could get out in one of the open air stations and get to like some trees or something. I did nothing. I feel guilty about it.

II.

When I was making plum butter, I noticed there was a parakeet outside on my back steps. He was little and green, and he did not look thrilled to be out and about. I didn't have anything I could use to catch him, and even if I had, bringing a bird into a house with my cat who thinks killing birds ins her life's purpose (note: she has never actually done it, she just obviously really wants to) did not seem like a good option. I was trying to get him some bird seed and water when a loud noise caused him to fly off.

III.

I got a failed delivery notification for a package when I wasn't expecting anything to arrive and the pickup spot wasn't that far from my house, so I thought I'd just walk. It was in Eastmont, only 1.5 miles away. It was not, shall we say, the most pleasant walk, but it made me think about what it means when people say they hope neighborhoods "improve," because I found myself thinking that at times. What would it look like if the neighborhood improved for the people who live there now, instead of the neighborhood itself "improving" by accruing in value? I didn't have an answer for that, and I still don't, other than to say that I think sometimes people focus on neighborhood beautification projects because it's a lot easier to plant flowers in the medians than it is to solve systemic poverty.

IV.

I keep thinking about how my grandmother could have died of dehydration if the parking lot outside of her condo complex hadn't been due for repaving. I keep thinking about how if it won't be that, it will be something else, and it will be soon.

V.

Every time I see my mom these days, I am starting to see how she has aged. She is in her seventies, and it's not like she is experiencing severe cognitive decline or anything. She's just not quite as energetic or as strong or as sharp as she was ten years ago. This is scary to me. I'm not really ready for a world where I take care of my mom, but I know it's coming. My sister has two kids and she and her husband are like inches away from divorcing (have been for the last 3-4 years), so she's kind of got enough going on. I just have to convert my garage into a place my mom could live if she needed a little help, and be ready.

VI.

That stupid quiz said that what I needed was to break a leg, and I completely understood it. What I need, it says, is to lose control and find out that things will be okay if I don't have it. That isn't how this is going to work, though. No one else is going to do all the shit for me that I have to do just to tread water. I can feel bad about that, I guess, but I don't see how that helps anything, and the thing about treading water is if you stop, you drown.

VII.

When I'm doing innocuous, banal stuff, I can't stop thinking about how everything is going to end. Age, decay, entropy, heat and smoke are consuming my thoughts.

[joyfulapostate]

hi!!

for context, i was raised baptist, im queer, my mother converted in her late 20s i believe? and my father was raised strictly baptist as well. my mom has been listening to sermons on youtube obsessively, and my father will lose his mind if you (collective) say ANYTHING that has even the slightest chance of questioning the bible in any way. i’m closer with my mom than my dad, we both have adhd and im autistic, my dad is emotionally and verbally abusive.

i started questioning pretty much everything since mid 2020 ish??, and i just started accepting the idea that my parents would probably disown me, or at the very least ground me until they’re dead, if they knew anything about me that’s not an ✨image i’ve made specifically for them✨. (my main spotify acc has seen so many mental breakdowns it’s not even funny at this point😐)

anyways i just was wondering if there’s a Specific Reason i’ve been really really drawn to catholicism, catholic guilt, and really anything regarding that? it’s just been like A Thing for me especially really recently and i’m just always sitting there like “why tf do i feel like i have catholic guilt i’ve only stepped foot in a catholic church one single time and it was for a craft show????”

if there’s no specific answer that’s totally cool i just thought i’d try to ask someone who seems to know what they’re talking about bc ive been thinking about it a LOT recently

(i also feel like im letting down my grandma, she was the sweetest lady and she absolutely made my childhood so much better and im so grateful for her. she was pretty much the backbone of her church, she died seven years ago and i just feel like if she saw me now she wouldn’t recognize me even if she had every form of proof in the world it was me. i don’t know if she would even accept i was her grandkid at this point.)

It’s so great that you are giving yourself room to become more than what others expect you to be. We all deserve that. And it takes courage to create space for yourself, especially in a worldview that tends to reduce our self image.

I am so sorry that you are dealing with an abusive situation. Your safety is important and you deserve to have a healthy support system.

I think that the idea of “Catholic guilt” is a more popular trope than guilt from Protestant traditions. I see it mentioned more in personal conversations and in books, TV, and movies. It absolutely makes sense that this idea would resonate with you.

It can be helpful to study other traditions to give you context for your own experience, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to claim something from another religious tradition as your own. It doesn’t sound like that’s what you’re doing, I just try to be careful about stuff like that.

I was also raised in a Protestant faith, but I had Catholic friends and attended Mass at several points in my life. When I was still a believer, it seemed like there was a great chasm between these belief systems. But now that I have some distance from my former faith, I see that they have more similarities than differences. Shame and guilt run through them both. There’s guilt about familial obligations, Jesus’ death, and “sinful” actions. (I personally think that sin is just one god’s opinion and it matters more that we try to treat each other well than follow a non-negotiable rulebook.)

It may not be possible to be totally open now now, but I believe it will be in the future. I didn’t share my doubts when I was still dependent on my parents and it felt awful at the time to keep anything private. Because it felt like privacy implied guilt. But now I am grateful to my past self for waiting until I felt secure enough to share my doubts. I found people who felt safe and confided in them. I built relationships based on mutual respect and informed choices, which hadn't felt possible before.

I still have distance with some of my religious family members. But some of my more progressive family members and I have made a lot of progress in understanding each other. Love can overcome doctrine in many relationships, but not others. It’s a difficult reality to face, especially when you don’t have the opportunity to communicate with them. I know that I had to grieve the people I’d lost and the idea that I would see them in heaven. But there are people in this world who will understand you, support you, and hope for you to have a wonderful and fulfilling life that allows you to grow beyond their expectations. And it sounds like you already are that kind of person for yourself, and that is an impressive accomplishment in its own right.

[bethanythebogwitch]

I’m now over halfway done with my series explaining the origins of all non-fish aquatic Pokémon. Today will be covering my first generation of games: gen V. To see previous parts of this series see gen I part 1, gen I part 2, gen II, gen III, and gen IV. To see my previous series where I covered all the fish Pokémon see here. You can find the fish of gen V in that series, I had a surprising amount to say about Basculin. As before, starters and mythicals/legendaries will be in their own series.

I’ll start off by saying that Panpour or Simipour aren’t aquatic. For this series I define “aquatic” as meaning the Pokémon has been depicted as living in water in its Pokedex entries or location in the main series games. Neither are true for the monkeys, they’re forest dwellers that use water in their attacks. The actual first aquatic line in the dex (besides Oshawott) is the Tympole line. This line is based on developing frogs, with Tympole being a tadpole, Palpitoad being a tadpole undergoing metamorphosis into an adult, and Seismitoad being an adult.

(image: multiple stages of frog development. source)

Frogs are born as fully aquatic larvae that undergo metamorphosis into adults, with the tail being reabsorbed and limbs growing as the body takes its adult shape. Palpitoad is an intermediate stage, still having the tail of a tadpole and having begun to grow hind legs while the forelegs have not yet begun to grow. Seismitoad has lost its juvenile traits and is now an adult toad. Thanks to an interview with Ken Sugimori, we known specifically that Seismitoad is based on the Japanese common toad. The lumps on the line that produce sound and hold poison are based on the lumpy parotoid glands of toads which can release a number of milky secretions collectively called bufotoxins.

(image: the parotoid gland of a toad highlighted. source)

The lumps on the Tympole line are additionally based on the electrodynamic speaker drivers used in loudspeakers, which convert electrical signals to sound waves by means of vibration. There are always two lumps on the head in this line, possibly a reference to the tympanum, the ear-like organ just behind a frog’s eye that transmits sound to the inner ear.

The Tirtouga line is probably the least interesting of the fossil lines. I think the fossils should look distinct from modern pokemon species but Tirtouga and Carracosta could be modern sea turtles and noting would have to change about their design. Anyway, this line is based on extinct sea turtles, fossils of which can be found at least as far back as the cretaceous period and a proto-sea turtle may have been found that’s 220 million years old. There are a lot of unanswered questions about the evolution of sea turtles. It appears that turtles have evolved to be aquatic multiple independent times and it’s not clear which lineage is the ancestor of modern sea turtles. There have also been several examples of non-turtle reptiles evolving a sea-turtle like body plan. Tirtouga and Carracosta are based on Archelon iscyros, the largest turtle ever discovered, with the largest specimen measuring 4.6 m (15 ft) from head to tail.

(image: fossil reconstruction of an Archelon with a human for scale)

Ducklett and Swanna are based on the story of the ugly duckling. As such, Ducklett is based on both a duckling and a cygnet (juvenile swan) and is nothing special to look at. It looks a lot more like duckling than a swan to me.

(image: wild ducklings)

(image: a cygnet)

The Pokedex says that Ducklett’s favorite food is peat moss. I tried to look up if ducks can eat peat moss but all I could find were people discussing using it as bedding for pet ducks. Ducks are omnivores and aquatic algae is an important part of their diet. The fluffy feathers in Ducklett’s bottom looks like a swim ring and is based on a duck mid-molt. Swanna is based on the mute swan, which has been introduced to North America (where Unova is) which is home to the largest populations outside of the species’ native range.

(image: a mute swan)

Swans and ducks are closely related so a duck turning into a swan is not nearly as bizarre as a clam turning into eels (still not over that). Swanna’s plumage makes it look like a ballet outfit and they dance at dusk, a reference to the ballet Swan Lake. The Pokedex mentions that Swanna has powerful wings, which is true to real life as swan wing muscles are strong enough to break human bones.

We finish this entry off with the surprisingly disturbing Frillish line. These regal jellyfish have some very unsettling behavior including sinking ships to feed on the crew and building lards of sunken ships. Also, female Jellicent’s design is extremely creepy to me. It legit gives me uncanny valley vibes. I think it’s the lips, take those away and I wouldn’t get so uncomfortable looking at it. Anyway, they’re jellyfish. Based on their size, hadopelagic habitat, and wide, fabric-like tentacles, they are likely based on Stygiomedusa gigantea, a gigantic (up to 10 meters long with a 1 meter diameter bell) deep sea jellyfish with very distinctive tentacles.

(image a giant phantom jellyfish, one of only a few ever filmed)

Its dark red coloration is similar to the female Frillish line’s pink. They are also inspired by two yokai: the nurarihyon and kurage no hinotama. The former is depicted as either a monstrous jellyfish that looks like a human head or a jellyfish-like slimy old man in regal clothing. The latter is a type of will-o-wisp that looks like a glowing jellyfish and appears over the sea to lead sailors astray. The line also looks like princes and princesses or kings and queens, combining the regal attire of the nurarihyon with Victorian-era fashion. Their behavior of attacking ships and feeding on sailors draws from various sea monster legends from around the world.

That ends gen V. Tune in next time for gen VI as we enter the finishing stretch for this series.

[oohbuggypie]

bulldon ramble? **sad violin music**

WHO SENT THIS . SHOW URSELF . BULLDON MENTION THE WORLD STARTED SPINNING I GOT DIZZY AND DOUBLED OVER IN STOMACH PAIN INDUCED BY PURE JOY . BullDon augghh yuughhhh ugh ough ouhh ... taking poison damage because i love them so much . where do i start .

have u seen my ridiculously long post about BullDon already ? bcuz if u haven't it's linked and i think u might love that 🩷 HOWEVER BullDon runs in my veins and i think i can contribute even more to this so ramble NOW!! adding a below cut because i wanna explain the story behind the central headcanon so it may get a leeeetle long + i know some people don't care for ship talk 🩷

okay one of my headcanons mentioned in a previous post is that Don absolutely loves vintage cars . he doesn't exactly care for working on/the restoration of vehicles bcuz he isn't a big fan of spending all that money he cant spare on the correct parts, as well as the hyperspecific research that goes into it .. but that man is head over heels for an old Chevy Bel Air Convertible, particularly one with a glossy red exterior and a cream interior. like that's his dream car above all else, and it's something he's wanted since he was 20

anooother headcanon of mine i believe ive mentioned is that Bull has MONEY! considering that he's a world circuit professional boxer, he gets around in a limousine in his comic strip, and is canonically a celebrity ,, why wouldn't he be at least a LITTLE rich ?? however, despite those riches, he doesn't seem to flaunt it , let alone be the type to rub it in others' faces

so between these two headcanons and incorporating my own culture into my fav things .... i think that throughout their "relationship" (lts unlabeled, they just kiss on each other and r quietly in love), as they got closer and got to know each other more, Bull observed the fact that Don would become ecstatic over any old cars that passed them he on the streets . when Don would see them, he'd make remarks about their beauty and how admirous he was of anybody who owned such treasures. Bull had always cared and been fascinated by Don's love for the cars, but he had never taken into account that he may have a desired one of his own. so one day, amidst Don's ramblings, Bull asked him what HIS favorite kind of vintage car was and why. he knew Don would be happy to share, and Bull was genuinely just interested and wanted to know more- but not only did he simply want to know of his interests and passions - he def had a lil smthn in mind ..

upon learning of the Bel Air Convertible, Bull began spending copious amounts of any spare time he got researching this car; all of its parts, all the models and the years they were released, the special features and their availability in the current times .. any and everything anybody knew about that car, he made sure he knew more. he was determined to buy this car for Don as means to express his love and care for not only him, but his hobbies and happiness .

seeing that Bull spent a majority of his time in New York due to his regarded position in the World Circuit and Don's lesser (but still significant) position in the Major Circuit, having time to freely search around uninterrupted, let alone secretively, was next to impossible . it stressed him out for sure .. until about two months after he learned about Don's dream car; Don informed the WVBA and Bull personally that he would be returning home to Madrid for a month's time to reconcile with his family after being separated for the sake of his career for such large bouts of time. it broke Bull's heart to be separated from someone he loved for such a long period, but at the same time this was his desperately needed opportunity to begin searching for anybody in possession of the car, and figure out how long it would take him to both get work done on it and have it be functional

GETTING TO THE MAIN POINT IM SPEEDING THIS SHIT UP CUZ IM SOO TIRED + HAVE TO BE OUT OF HERE IN LESS THAN 20 MINUTES + I DONT WANNA BORE U 😭

as afore mentioned, the cost of this car (absolute minimum now is about 36k , so i believe 25k? in 2009) wasn't a deathly problem for Bull; he took every step he had to no matter the cost to get the Bel Air properly repaired. when it came time for the paint job, he had to consider just what KIND of red Don really wanted and how it may make or break not only the beauty, but the sentiment of this car. it was the most nerve-racking factor of the entire process; but after some thought he settled for a Cola red. and sure enough, when the time came that Don returned to New York, there aren't words true enough to describe how hard Don cried and how joyous he was for such thought in his name. He couldn't hug or kiss Bull enough, but he could do ONEE thing that would solidify their love

Don taught Bull about cruising and the "culture" of lowriders !!!!!! this is exactly the reason he wanted this car; to cruise with somebody he loves down any and every street they could, in daylight and at night. he made playlists of music he inserted into a drive so that he could have his favorite music play on the radio while they drove about. he taught Bull all about the love that goes into these cars, the love that goes into cruising, and even the love they'd receive from people on the streets when they saw them. Don got to drive the car first, no doubt about that; but his intention never was to hog it! he wanted Bull to learn how to cruise and when the best times were, and eventually he perfected the position in which he drove so that it was no longer just "driving" to him; it was about the love, the smoothness, and the memories it would make

they adore the day drives in summertime an indescribable amount, but their favorite cruises are the ones at night through the downtown roads. that's when the lack of seat belts in old vehicles let Don slide close to Bull and lean on his shoulder, and when they pulled into and parked wherever they resided for the night he could put his hand to Bull's chest and kiss his cheek 🩷

OMG I AM SO LATE TO THIS ONE ANON I AM SO SORRY ! I SAW IT THE SECOND ÌT GOT SUBMITTED BUT IVE BEEN BUSY AS HELL !! BUT FINALLY HEREEE i hope this wasn't too long or too short or tewww boring BUT ITS ONE OF MY DEAREST BULLDON HEADCANONS 🩷 I HOPE U LOVE IT AND THANK U SO MUCH FOR THE ASK 🥹

[afaramir]

LOLL i was gonna start like ‘hey there im denethor anon’ but u beat me to it. SIMILAR MINDS. Haha i read one of ur fics, was immediately smitten & was like i MUST follow them. (I’m glad i did, love the vibe of ur blog and the Flavour of ur opinions.. TASTY) so im a more recent follower but i’m gathering younger you weren’t a fan of denethor, huh? Can’t say i blame you. PJ certainly made some Decisions. he was like how do i convert a complex character into The most loathsome creature ever. He really did our fav gondorians sooo dirty. I literally watch through those scenes SEETHING in rage.

So I’ve been Thinking about denethor and faramir and nothing else for two days. like i am a denethor girlie. in my mind. spiritually. haven’t posted much abt him on tumblr. but nowww. you’re exactly right, ‘denethor Is a good leader…[insert ur paragraph here]’ yes yes yes you get it. listen denethor was a prideful, angry, resentful man but he was also valiant, resilient and noble. He guarded his city, alone (which takes GUTS, again, he was a badass!!), so well, for literal YEARS that Sauron was fearful/wary of him. i wish people were more understanding of him. he’s such an interesting character there’s so much to explore there. as you said the duty-vs-love, the weapon-first-person-next of it all. the layers. denethor as a weapon. denethor as a symbol of both sword/shield. AAHHH

BUT i think some people dismiss him hate him bc he is the mirror (the ugly side? if that makes sense) of humanity, of us. we ought to show him some compassion tho ‘cause havent u ever been taken under the darkness of life? felt the world slipping away & struggle to keep up w it? dont u ever feel hopeless? that things will never change, no matter what u do? DO YOU HAVE FEARS HAVE YOU FACED THE MONSTERS? WERE YOU ALONE, SCARED AND HOPELESS? AND HAVENT YOU MADE MISTAKES IN YOUR GRIEF AND PUSHED PEOPLE AWAY?? THAT’S what denethor experienced. He was described as a leader & a learned one at that for christ sake. He knew that evil was awaiting him and his kin and his people! he saw his future. yet. yet he soldiered on until. war declared. his sons killed (or so he believed). that’s when hope abandoned him. what was the point of staying alive now anyway? Evil was upon them, they would surely be tortured w a fate worse than death, so why should he not end the pain and kill himself? he fought the war against Time, Evil and The Dark Enemy himself and WON. he was a brave man indeed, to have fought these dark forces so much stronger than him. but he finally lost the war against Despair (and Grief), the cruelest of them all. imma cry 😭😭😭 no no no u don’t understand he didnt give up hope, hope abandoned him he- [GUNSHOT] (i don’t know how much of this even made sense lmao) anyway,

Faramir <333. do i even have to say anything about faramir? he’s the specialest little guy i love himm 🥰. On god i am one step away from rereading lotr just for him (plsss dont tempt me finals are in less than a fortnight) his and denethor’s relationship like u described my godddd XDD. fucked up familial relationships MY BELOVED. i am feral about this trope. the resentment… the jealousy… the mirror image of each other… the you’re-the-same-like-me-and-i-hate-that… mmmhm. hey do u ever think about 12 year old faramir admiring his father much the same way he did boromir and wishing he would grow up to be just like him? and do you ever think about 28 year old faramir knowing that he’s more like his father than anyone else and hating that? hating him? i do.

I’ll stop now lol im afraid my coherency has diminished by now. also sorry sorry for replying so late i am preparing for my exams. but rest assured i WILL be Rotating faramir around in my brain :3

hiiii denethor anon LOL this is the greatest ask ive ever received. every day i endeavour to provide only THE juiciest of opinions. aka this is my diary and you all are subjected to it. anyway im so glad you liked my fic i would love to know which one you read! i got into lotr via the films when i was super young so my past opinions were def coloured by The Choices. i have learned and grown since then<3 i was watching the book-to-film analysis vids on the extended edition dvds a couple weeks back and it made me so mad that i had to get up and turn off the tv. did you know there are other character options besides 'paragon of virtue' and 'one dimensional villain'...truly kind of a "nice dichotomy idiot! now what lies outside of it" situation. A Waste Of Your John Noble, To Be Honest. idk i still hold the films very close to my heart but the choices...i will simply respectfully disagree. and dont even get me started on faramir we WILL be here all night. another time. i have denethor thorongil situationship-fic to write. (i am serious about that) (i was simultaneously playing it 100% straight serious AND kind of joking about them. i shouldve known better. well.........we are so in it.)

you are so real for this. i have ALSO been Thinking about denethor and faramir and nothing else for days. weeks, even. sorry to everyone coming to the faramir goes to rivendell au for faramir and the fellowship the first 10k is literally just Keeping Up With The Stewards. we'll get there. i Will blame you for the impetus for my recent denethorposting on main but also encourage you to also do this. do whatever you want forever<3 nooo but straight up...guy who has so much strength and will that The Lord Of All Evil wouldnt contend directly against him and had to bring out the big palantir guns to bring him down. and if he'd not lost both of his sons i mean...who knows what would've happened. sometimes your sons ARE the only thing keeping you from killing yourself Do It For Them-style and lets be real that is a valid coping method. (i don't have an answer for that one and boy oh boy do i wish i did. it is going to become a massive thorn in my side in, oh, 70k or so when i hit rotk. well...i will blow up that bridge when i get to it.)

im actually putting a read more in this time bc this post broke a thousand words. continue at your own risk. there IS also faramirposting at the end here i promise.

just imagining denethor leading the siege of minas tirith. um. now stay with me here...riding out with imrahil's sortie. STAY WITH ME HERE. what do you think the livery of a steward going to war looks like. jesus christ i need to go lay down. yes i purposefully placed the read more before i decided to go momentarily horny on main. its also lowkey very vague au spoilers. sorry everyone but denethor IS canonically hot and we need to acknowledge it. Anyway.

denethor as a weapon denethor as both a sword and a shield...i am chewing glass for real. you GET IT. god i love person-as-weapon metaphor soooo much. When The Iconography Is Getting A Little Too Real. denethor as gondor, as her vanguard and standard-bearer and. i am straight up frothing at the mouth. all he ever wanted was to be a gentle lord in a time of peace.....and death was his reward...Sorry For Stealing The Fingon Death Quotation But I'm Right. so much of his behaviour and the strain on his relationships with his sons and all that is sooo...informed by the fact that to cope with having to be lord of a country at war he had to be so so unbending. he couldn't allow himself to waver, ever, not even for love, not even to save his sons.

did you know he was 21 when sauron returned. pov you are 21 years young and you have been alone all your life you are the steward's only son you are his strange numenorean heir and no one else has the LITERAL PSYCHIC POWERS AND VISIONS that you do and you have had to contend with that, alone. master your own mind, alone. learn how the shape of politics and lordship and life bends around you. and the dark lord the enemy who brought down your forebears has now set his eye on your lands again. Jesus Christ. How Would You Fucking Deal. sorry i would have a nervous breakdown and go and live in the desert. Man. TWENTY ONE? LIKE ME? most days i feel like a teletubby with a job and a credit card. if you scale it to account for numenorean lifespan inflation i mean i don't know how the math works but like. i bet it comes out to being like. 17. HELLO? basically everyone i know was barely a person at 17. the dark lord of all evil and he's MY problem to deal with?

i mean exactly. haven't we all been prideful and angry and resentful. haven't we all been there. once again [pippin voice] let's all understand poor denethor a little better. havent you ever been taken under the darkness of life [your paragraph here] yeah exactly what you said. the idea that he fucking won the war against the darkness and only lost to despair is..........so much! goodbye i have to go cry!

faramir, me AND fate's most special precious little guy....oh captain my captain....exactly. Exactly. i cant morally endorse a reread right this second but like. After. make it through finals and then it is Faramir Time. (and good luck! you got this!) tactical smartass little bitch master of both man and beast wizard's pupil (complimentary) star and hope and jewel of minas tirith knight in shining armour...my beloved. the idea that like faramir as presented, as the diplomat, as the scholar, as the numenorean, was supposed to be the one to go to rivendell...it haunts me. where is denethor sends the right son to do the right job.txt. he is gondor's no. 1 horse girl he is better suited to the wild than the battlefield he has read every sindarin text in the library he KNOWS the story of elrond and elros. he is literally telepathic and psychic and prophetic. thinking about him interacting with elrond and galadriel (and every other elf. but them in particular) makes me feel deranged. its very...self taught dnd wizard meets guy who went to wizard school energy. he's insane.

YEAH ITS CRAZY THAT THEYRE THE SAME GUY. it's. boromir gets to be boromir but faramir has to be denethor.txt. gracious and lordly as a king of old...now who is consistently referred to as noble and kingly...that a younger faramir would've looked up to...yeah. the perpetuation of denethor's second-best complex. i have a whole nother post in the drafts about that i CANT get into it here but jesus christ men who are NOT breaking the cycle. they even look the same. i mean 37 year old faramir as steward is 100% the spitting image of his father and that makes me....genuinely fucking insane actually. i mean like older councillors are doing double takes every time he walks by. i mean like sometimes people call him by the wrong fucking name. WOW where did that come from. the complex that that would give him...hello? turning this over inside my brain at WARP speed.

you are not late at all lol we are leaving little letters in each other's mailboxes to read when we have the time. i hope your exams go well!!! there will be more Faramir And Denethor Hours soon<33

[floridensis]

the naturalist at Favorite Park was talking about the park’s wetland - i didnt know before tonight that it was an INTENSE restoration project, and that like twenty years ago that entire part was all invasive australian pine and they had to kill them all and then pretty much build the whole thing. she talked about how in record rains, the water would come all the way up past the sand strip (a remnant of the plot’s past popularity with ATVs) and under the pavilion we were standing in. ive never seen it get nearly so high, ive never seen the sand strip go under. she also talked about the record breaking heat and dryness from recent summers, and how recently you were able to see the lake bottom, mud cracked like you might expect a desert to look. but she said that everything seems to rebound fine when the rains come back.

“but theres one thing that i have yet to see come back,” she said, and i wiggled a bit forward on the bench in anticipation - “and i really want to see it again, because it is listed as endangered,” and im now literally on the edge of my seat because i KNOW shes going to talk about the nodding clubmoss - “it’s called nodding clubmoss, and it looks kind of like a norwegian pine tree. i haven’t seen it since”

and i got a bit overcome with excitement and have no idea what kind of full body gesture i made, but it was dark out so it didnt really matter. i was like “oh!!!! yeah i havent seen them for a long time either and i would look every time, but i saw them again! i was here on a native plant society trip, and my friend was hoping to see them. i took him to where that big dense population used to be, but we still couldnt find any. i was sitting in the dirt, telling him i was really worried that they had all died off and were all gone. i know this is like the only place they still exist in the county, so i thought they might be GONE gone. and the he said, ‘you mean like this?’ and pointed to one tiny clubmoss!!” she was glad to hear it and i told her where we found it, and then used what i said as a jumping off point for a bit of a speech, because she wanted to talk about my fear for the existence of the clubmoss. she has been doing restoration work in various natural areas in the county for about 20 years, and in that time she has seen so many things that seemed to be on the brink, or gone, but then when the circumstances are right, they will come right back. sometimes on their own, sometimes with help, often with a bit of both. and whenever she hears people talking about inevitable doom, she just wants to share with them all the wonderful little comebacks shes seen, just in her very small scope, and how many little comebacks there must be all over the world considering her experience is certainly not exceptional. i followed up with mentioning how amazed i was that the wetland - currently the last known home in the county for both the clubmoss and sundews - was initially covered in australian pines, which are known to grow in huge stands choking out the MASSIVE majority of other plants below. if youve ever been in one of those, its incredibly barren. other plants do manage, but for the most part the ground is just covered in swaths of pseudo-pine duff. that they survived the australian pine invasion, all the upheaval that went into converting it from the australian pine stand to the wetland it is now, and then in the case of the clubmosses, having dried out to the point that i do believe like every living individual at the time did die off like two years ago.... its amazing. she said she has no idea what the populations of either were like during the australian pine days even though she was there working on it. so i dont think she saw any. she supposes they were just waiting for the right conditions. the sundews (and until recently the clubmosses) have such a big healthy population it’s hard to imagine the population was ever not doing well. it’s not like either species is one that expands its range easily, especially with no other local populations. this got a little more long winded and meandering than i intended but thats what i do. anyway i just think the resiliency is awesome

[poems-of-a-lover]

This is in regards to that post you made today, about anon messages. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place and I don't really know where to turn.

Basically, I was born into a very controlling religion, probably borderline cult known as Jehovah's Witnesses. They believe they have the "truth", and that they need to remain separate from the "world" as Jesus supposedly commanded because the end/apocalypse could come at any time and they need to stay away from Satan.

I'm 17 now, about to start my last year of high school this fall and I'm a gay trans man (very much not to the knowledge of my family). My best friend since sixth grade is also trans, and I'm surrounded by lots of queer people (I live in a more accepting area/state). Thankfully, my parents were not in the position to homeschool my siblings and I, even though they had been considering it.

However, all these details lead me to a fork in the road.

A principle of this religion's foundation is preaching the "good news", from the youngest age a person is at any sort able to participate, spending their Saturday mornings every week going around neighborhoods and attempting to convert any and everyone they can.

I've been struggling along for the last 5-7 years or so since I mentally fell out of the religion's traps. However, once I turn 18 I have to commit myself to the religion, which I am in no favor of doing so.

Counting down the months, I find myself stuck in what direction to go, come out to my family (not in the queer sense yet, but rather just saying I don't believe in it anymore) and risk losing them entirely, or stay stuck in a place that is making every attempt to subdue and oppress me into a pretty, feminine, docile girl. I'll lose my mind if I have to stay in here any longer than I absolutely have to, but I don't know how to leave.

I'll turn 18 before I graduate, and I don't know what will happen past then. How do I take care of legal documents, doctors, college, those sorts of things (that part is largely rhetorical). My best friend has offered to take me in if/when I need it, and I think he said his parents/living-in family was alright with it (he's told them about me and my living situation), but I don't want to burden him cause he has his own issues--that's the same reason I'm writing this to you rather than asking him for help/advice again.

I hope you can find it in you read all of that, I'm sorry its so long but I felt it was necessary to fully explain it all. Also I wanted to thank you for your blog, I know there's not really any point to that but it's nice to read and see when I'm feeling down, it helps me feel validated in my identity. Have a good day/night/whatever's going on.

first off, im so, sorry that ur stuck in a position like this. u shouldn't have to be stuck in that type of position with those outcomes and those losses, and i really hope ur able to get out of there safely soon. i know it seems like it might be a burden on ur friend to take up his offer, like ur imposing or taking advantage or whatever reason, but if that's the safest option, i definitely recommend it. at least until ur able to come up with a more permanent/long term plan, it's good to have a safe place with people who respect u. ofc i don't know what it's like to be in a religious family like that, so my advice is from the perspective of someone who doesn't know it firsthand, but i feel like forcing urself to ignore ur identity for the sake of someone else's beliefs and comfortability will just cause more harm than good. i do hope ur able to live ur life the way u want, without having to water down or oppress ur identity for the sake of others. it will get better, maybe not now or soon, but eventually. if u ever need to talk about anything else, my inbox is always available for things like this!! and im so glad u find comfort in my blog, ive gotten that from a few ppl actually, that seeing queerness and loving men in a positive and safe light is helpful. again, if u ever need anything, my inbox is open <3

[pitynostars]

rewatching PotD properly let's gooo

"is there anyone out there" "yes." This was hot

"what am I doing, I've got a date to get to" is Dan talking ABT Diane ???

The idea of doing an EP about just the cyber TLs would be so interesting imo ajdkkfdjks... Like they're not converted humans but that's their whole deal usually so like....

"don't get shot" *Dan gets shot* prime comedy

"don't lose my sonic" patronising 13 i hate u

Did anyone else expect Dan to turn evil here the way he hesitated over the controls? XD

The alien shows them what they want right ???? Why does the doctor see a random kid?

"I'm the doctor I'm going to protect you" "the doctor lies" lmao

Ive seen people say like. The train CGI the painting CGI is rlly bad but honestly I can never notice but I don't rlly have eyes for that sort of thing

Ace and Tegan Skype friends <3 the ending should have been like this w all the companions where they're all just swapping adventure stories rather than the support group thing

"should we pick u up again in 24hrs" so Dan is on and off the TARDIS at this point ??? Having dates ??? Assuming w Diane but the only person we see him w in the rest of te EP is Graham so I mean....

"Yaz u and I can see where the cyber masters took that child" so... Yaz saw it as a kid too? Did I mishear the line ABT it looking how u want

"it's not my life" hmm I buy that BC we saw his life before of pretending to b the museum guide and helping out at the food bank and stuff he's a community guyTM sure hate that this is so weirdly rushed less i guess "I can attack it now because I've been with you" I buy less lmao... He's had no growth at all??? Also the way it's framed like he's talking to the doc is so odd when he spent more time w Yaz (unless they've been travelling for more than 3 years ???)

The doctor saying "homes important" just makes me HOWL tho ngl

"I'll b kipping on mum and dads sofa tonight" .... Where have u been sleeping all the other 24 hr breaks youve appaz been dropped off for ???

"not one for goodbyes" idk I buy that w 13 we saw the whole "one happy one sad" the hug goodbye for Ryan and graham

...so why can't 13 tell yaz about this traitor dalek??

also the concept of a dalek realising theyve strayed from their og mission does actually kind of slap but we did just see daleks v daleks in revolution so i'm glad this wasnt the main plot again

sacha dhawans acting<3<3

the scene where he looks in the tsarina (?)'s eyes and he's like "are my eyes not full of certainty" and u see him reflected in her eyes.... SICK. have they mentioned the master is kind of hypnotic yet in this era before this?

where are the dhawan telling the tsar to take a holiday vs donna telling caecilius and family to take a holiday in pompeii parallels.

are they saying dhawan master replaced rasputin nd made an alt universe with this cyberplanet in the sky? or is there some historical note about there being something in the sky at that time (?)

i love that the doctor and yaz both barely react to the hahahahahhaha tardis there's no like. wtf. moment they just head straight in.

i think it would have been sweet for 13 to stroke one of its panels and be like "oh shes not mine." nodding to that theyre telepathic!! but we seem to have forgotten that this era 😔.... i feel this generally in this era the relationship between the doctor and the tardis has been lacking actually like apart from ghost monument and spyfall we barely see them interact... i know its not always a Thing but man i loved 11 & the tardis' relationship so much i'd love to see a writer feature it more again 🥺

ive seen some people claiming yaz reads gallifreyan off the screen in the tardis. that would be cool but 100% you can recognise readings u can tell what data/readings are without labels necessarily like i can go into a car and look at a speedo and i dont need numbers on it to know what the readings mean yk?? either way it does speak a lot to teh familiarity she's got with the tardis and i <3<3 ... yaz and the tardis' growth is fun to think about. do you think she was grumpy that yaz was hanging out with the other tardis on earth in revolution ? XD

DOCTOR: Ah, there's a rudimentary cloaking shield in operation. Soon fix that. The Cybermen have tethered that child into this planet. It was registering as an energy source.

YASMIN: How is that child an energy source?

DOCTOR: Wait, there's more layers to the shield. Oh, not just cloaking. It's a consciousness shield! A creature trying to evade capture, hiding behind a visual projection shield, and this one shows us what we instinctively want to protect, as a defence.

Help me out here. Are they saying that the Qurunx also set up the cloaking ??? or that the cybermen cloaked it and it also put up the consciousness shield? ? or was it all the cybermen?? why would it need both?

also the idea of it showing what you want to protect -- do yaz and the doctor and dan ALL just happen to see a child in this situation then ??

"is this planet your doing?" doctor you literally saw the cybermen kidnap the qurunx to bring here 😭😭😭... YOU FOLLOWED THEM HERE

just once i'd like the "your master awaits" to be subverted/mirrored with "your doctor awaits" ...... the "this country needs a doctor" line is hot but its not the SAME.

"have you got any idea whats going on in outspace in 1916 rn" "strangely enuf. no" this line always gets me aklsjflk i love kate

"I'm Yaz. The only one here who doesn't really know what's going on" sorry babe that's your whole character

MANDIP INVENTING ACTING

i am once again asking ok these paintings got "defaced" so its not an alt timeline??????????? they never fixed this in the end right ??????? sweats. so rasputin was teh master alll along historically (?)... and he jst put himself in paintings in modern day ?? but then the dr says "some people think you're rasputin" ?????

"this is the day youre erased from existence forever" .... how does turning into her erase her from existence 😭

dhawan inventing acting

i still dont understand why this "give her a gun" moment is in there.

wait what happens to vinder in the end??? his ships broken

"you'll feel safer with me in the building" LMAO

"she really doens't want us back in there" and then yaz just drops her home w no goodbye to the doctor coolcoolcoolcoool

ok but why did the master clone ashad specifically what difference does he make over like. any cyberman/cyberleader??

love the russian doll cyberman lmaoooo... reminds me of that arc thing from doomsday/aog... TIME LORD TECH

if i had a penny for every time the doctor is forced into one of their enemies only for it to be purely for transport i'd have 2 pennies which isn't a lot but its a bit funny it happens twice

i love the rasputin moment but i dont rlly get the lead in ngl 😭 hes just like k time for my dance number mid speech. which i suppose like. in character XD

sacha dhawan in thirteens outfit.... i'm bisexual<3 i need to get my ears pierced

"Don't… don't… don't worry. You'll get used to me. Everyone will. I still need a companion to ask and… bask in my brilliance. Come on, Yaz. Let's go on an adventure! Don't make me ask twice. I'd hate to have to bring you down to size." /

"Come on, Yaz! Let's save a civilisation! Let's correct history! Rescue a sick animal! These yours? Oh, bless. Ow! What was that? Some sort of dirty protest? Unless you want to be consigned down a black hole for eternity, you'd better behave! I am the Doctor, and you will obey me." snapping in yaz's face "I AM THE DOCTOR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

-> this would have hit soo different if this actually was the doctor i would HAVE LOVEDDDD it. first time watching i honetsly thought this was still the doctor and the tardis was reacting like that bc the regeneration was so unnatural (like the way she reacted to jack in utopia) but no 😔

mandip inventing acting<3

"very 80s" "thanks!" LMAO

"gold star and a sticker" u r sick

the random news drone on top of a random 2 planets is so.... ??? i feel like a lot of this was cut somehow aslkfjklgds..

also where's the awkward cut scene of yaz standing around while the master's in the wardrobe picking his outfit aksfjgdlkf

[plays the recorder on a burning mushroom planet] king shit

"quite the strength of character this incarnation" "DOCTOR 6: Our predicament! This is supposed to be handed over. You can't ruin it for the next one. / DOCTOR 5: And you were doing so well." i hateee these bits so much its SO patronising

"i dont do robes" lmao

why is whittaker in the reversed robe/the robe they used for time here hm

the hologram i do like as an idea tbf especially as we've seen the basic version w 9 and 11 and whatnot so her developing it to be more ai is rlly fun ... especially after she saw how handy having three of her in diff places was in flux lmaoooo

"it should only activate under the gravest circumstances. Like if I'm no longer around. Now, that would be disastrous. But I will have very subtly inserted a sonically triggered nano-implant under your skin and passed it off as static electricity. f I remember to do that. I must remember to do that." -- so either 13 has only just finished the hologram ai before this ep OR she KNOWS shes about to walk into some Real ShitTM and takes precautions akjfgldf.....

"HOLO-DOCTOR: Whoa! The emotional receptors on the AI are a bit oversensitive. Apparently, you're annoyed with me? Apparently, I should apologise for something?" this is so fucking funny because it comes across literally just like thirteen was she is always this fucking mean and patronising and borderline manipulative lmao its so askjdfglkdf......... blame it on the emotional receptors being oversensitive sure 🙄

i reiterate my point that most of the things/wins we get are done by the hologram dr, yaz is STILL asking the doc for validation even when shes a hologram 😔

"can't hurt the feelings of a hologram" SHE JUST TOLD U SHE WAS AI. watching this after measure of a man is like. HELLO.

"yeah well i didnt" [tosses bag] I LOVE TEGAN

they cld have mentioned nyssa in this rant tho fr

"i'll distract the cybermen" "how are you gonna do that" [cuts to screaming] hELP ASKFJDGLF... THE COMEDY IN THIS EP IS SO

the shot of ace falling into the console room is so fun actually <3

dhawan hood up<3<3

vinder no idea who the doctor is or their history w the doctor or yaz in this ep is. q funny to me.

"YASMIN: I'm sorry. / MASTER: Are you? Truly?/ YASMIN: Came back, didn't I? / MASTER: We could have fun, you know? I am fun. Different type of fun, but fun. We could travel. You'll see. "

i am once again saying i wish we got dhawan!doctor fr with this vibe

the touch of the ai mirroring the companions emotions is cute but i do still kinda wish we'd got whittaker to do these scenes fully

god i want ace and bill to meet actually

"the joy is to watch them fly" 😭😭😭

"former bus driver" is such a funny thing for graham to think when introducing himself

"wanna see how i dealt with them in 1963?" i'm kissing you on the lips

kate sacrificing herself is so<3<3 redgraves acting here is sooooo

jasfkdj tegan slipping on the ladder... is this a ryan reference or is that purely for plot convenienceTM

if the daleks plan is to destroy the planet through volcanoes then who do the cybermen have left to convert .....😭

wait the tardis in this shot LOOKS SO BAD i never notice cgi and whatnot idc but like LITERALLY THATS OBVIOUSLY A BOX WITH THE BACKGROUND PAINTED IN 😭

jo martin my beloved<3 god i wish she got more to do

vinder shooting the master is sooo<3 king

yazs speech about friendship and love got me actually.

i reiterate its the hologram telling yaz what to do this isnt her win wholly and that frustrates me so much 😭...

also how do the daleks and cybermen and master and vinder SEE ruths hologram when the doctor didnt plant the ai in them ?????? the whole static thing was the flag hello ??

"dont let me go back to being me" pleaseeee

"where there's hope..." YOU DIDNT FINISH THAT. THERES WHAT.

[pandrewlin]

New writing in this old ancient thing-

Been a while since ive writen something here. About 2 years i believe. Alot of new things since then and I'll try to write them all best to my memory.

We got a powerline up, then took it down, then put it up again. Made some batteries then some more then destoryed them all. We couldnt figure out a way to stop the rain from breaking them and i was tired of remaking them over time. We switched from basic generators to industrial ones. Now we have an excess of power rather than none.

Speaking of power and making stuff, the old workshop is still around but not used a lot anymore. Before it was fitted with only 2 stonecutters. Now we made a new workshop that is bigger and has actual tool cabinets to speed work up. It fits 4-6 stonecutters.

Next to the stone worshop is a boarding house. I remember i said something about making one a while ago wellllll, that one didnt work out and now just like most things theres a new one. It fits 15 to 18 beds and everyone has a end table. A but of an overkill and maybe fitting that many people into a room is bad but they have 2 sculptures which apparently makes them happy enough to keep working for us.

The old workshop has a tailor bench, art bench, and biofuel refinery.

The biofuel renfinery takes us to the plant fields where we have 3 big fields of peanuts, corn, and strawberries. Which makes a very big overflow of raw food and fruits that we then sell, cook, or turn into fuel for the generators. Even with all that we still regularly have over 3000+ raw food st all times nowadays so if anything happens we'll survive starvation at least.

The raw plants get taken into the freezer which the cooks work all day to turn them into meals for everyone to eat. Which is definitely overdone too since we have 273 simple meals and 26 veg fine meals. Only wade knows how to make the lavish ones but the others will get there surely with all the meals they make. The freezer is regularly overrun and we are currently implementing some shelves in there to help control the large amounts of food.

The fields are getting a pathway of cobblestone done to inprove walk speeds through them. Glad that my husband no longer has to walk through the tall grass to reach them.

We have an actual properish research lab up. It has 4 research benchs in there and each has a comfy soft sheep armchair to relax on as people study how to make our lives better here.

Speaking of sheep and wool, that brings us to the animal pen. Just one and its bigger than anything else we have currently probably. It holds the muffalos, sheep, and alpacas. Only the sheep are capable of breeding and um thats no longer an option i guess. The other animals are all female and the sheep were 3 ladies and a ram that we got as a gift i think. The ram is dead because Lifan killed it.......

We have a church/gallery. The richest and prettiest building we have made so far. Its to be used for festivals and the like and converting people.

Right next to it/in it is the throne room holding me and Gregoria's thrones. It also holds the statue of truth which stands in the middle of the room and holds a beauty like no other. I wish i had the words to describe it all but i wanted this to be more of a collection of what we have and not me rambling on and on about paintings and statues.

Up there near the church we have a warehouse that holds EVERYTHING for the colony. Wood, stone blocks, weapons, wool and cloth, clothing, money, and even the chemfuel. (Probably a bad idea but i personally couldnt care if most of the stuff burns in there. Its got like 50 shelves in

there and its mostly unorganized but ive tooken the liberty of at least arranging the weapons and stone blocks away from everything else.

The old house is still up.....kinda. I will make up a blueprint to demolish it and build it back up to actually house guests and companions someday but not anytime soon at least. Its got a few guest rooms near it and the guests are free to eat and buy whatever meals or supplies they want and can find. Havent gotten any problems with it before so why fix something that isnt broken.

Well actually there was this one time we had several guests keep buying up all the baby food instead of the meals we had which lead to a slight feeding problem.

Theres the kitchens near the fields and that fits 4 stoves and it needs to be slightly expanded to fit some more sinks in there.

We have plans to take down the two trap defenses we have and make proper openings to the colony. We'll have one at the south western wall near the animal pen and then another on the northeastern wall. Put some barricades and sandbags for our shooters and then some traps to keep the animals out.

I think thats about everything we have building and room wise.

That now brings us to people and stuff. This will be fun.

First off we have Kurthos and me. Been married about 3-4 years now and hopefully a long long time in the future. We have 2 kids and honestly....might be expecting another in a while. Been real peaceful and defenses will be doubled in a while so why not.

Our first kid, Michelangelo or Angel as we call him, is 8 i think now. He's got a passion for speaking and mining(he's just like me) but he's more of a follower of the goddess then any of us i think. He tries to convert all the other kids and that leads him to fights and tussles with them. He's a decent fighter though, a little bit of training and a weapon and i might let him out the walls to fight against the squirrels and rats around here.

Our second kid, Anyisha, is a darling. She's a pure daddy's girl though thats primarily my fault as i was never quite there after her birth. Thats what traveling the world searching for a relic and only coming back for a quick kiss and hug from your husband and more supplies will do to ya i guess. She's got an intrest in planting i think, and she loves watching the researchers in the lab. She'll do well in the future im sure.

Then there's Gregoria, my sister who we met and hosted when i found her in the empires databases. She stayed with us which im happy for because we need all the hands we can. And we can feed more so why not house more🤷🏽‍♀️.

Wade and MJ are happily married with their two kids. MJ insisted on having her second almost nearly as soon as she came back from her first birth. Both still newborns though Lenny, the first born, is almost a toddler. Hanno is the second born, both boys. MJ wants to try for a third and a girl but Wade knows she already has her hands full with 2. She's been going so crazy trying to care for them that most of the time she's just breastfeeding them or moving them in and out the nursery because she swears even one degree too hot is too much for the kids.

Theres Dolores/Glasses. She is Wade's greataunt making her my.......great great great aunt or sum like that. Shes our main researcher and does a pretty mean job with her gun. Also a decent cook whenever she has time for it.

Thats all the family though. The servants are another whole thing-

Sanna- The main spreader of our goddess belief. She has a more of a knack for convincing people than me. She's a cook and an awesome fighter. Though she's old as bones so she stays in the kitchen more times than not.

Katyusha- main gardener and creates art statues for the buildings. Shes got a natural talent for melee fighting but if only she had more experience.

Homann/Hailey- Second gardener and our second nurse. She's a night owl so shes good for making sure no one dies overnight because when MJ goes to sleep not even a raid can wake her up.

Sarai-A kid that decided to stay from a refugee group. Shes a little sweetheart and shes got a heart and the hands for making things so she might be our main builder in the future.

Lifan- a poor sad boy. He got changed into a mushroom fungoid after a fight and its had his upsides and downsides for him. He lost his wife in that fight and got the sad news that he is now stertile too. Him and his wife were trying for a child and he's always wanted to be a father. His aunt has come and i hope she can brighten his mood again. The upside to his transformation is that now he's basically a walking super soldier. He was already really strong before but now that he's also a psycaster(maining fire and warlord) and he has sick natural armour and healing abilities, he's overpowered as ever. Plus he can only die if you cut off his head or neck. Used to think those fungi things were disgusting but Lifan is a pretty uhhhhh strong dude so hes fine in my book.

[magnoliamyrrh]

this is a stupid question but i've been wanting to get one of those traditional croatian tattoos on one of my arms for years even if i'm not croatian nor a christian. on my other arm i want a traditional romanian embroidery pattern (bc i'm actually romanian). what's holding me back is that i don't wanna offend anyone since i'm not from one of the east euro countries that practiced that tradition (afaik we've never had that here). anyways do you think it'd be a bad idea or not lmao

good question bc ive been contemplating the same thing for years fjdjdj. so

tattooing is something we had in the region; the dacians used to tattoo, including their faces, and so did the thracians, who the dacians may or may not come from. so its not a foreign practice to us by any means - i think you can definitely get tatoos of romanian motifs without it being any sort of problem, its something ive wanted to do too for a long time. as far as those croatian tattoos go, from what ive been able to find online, they werent practiced exclusively among catholic and croatian women, rather they were more widespread around the people of croatia/bosnia/yugoslavia etc. its unclear from what i can find if the origin is celtic or slavic, but either way, both of those cultures have certainly had an impact on ours as well historically.

among christian balkan, in this case particularly croatian, women these tattoos, and their survival in practice, was directly related to trying to keep the ottomans from kidnapping women and girls and forcibly converting them to islam - something which was a struggle in romania as well; this is why some of the tattoos have christian symbols, to remind the girls and women of their faith. and i do think its important to read up on this history and part of it, even though this wasnt their only and sole use and presence, and to take it into consideration. from what i gather, for many croatian women there tattoos are a point of pride, but also come from a painful history.

now. ive said before lol that i dont think cultural appropriation exists in the balkans and i think its kind of stupid for it to. in this particular context too, there is no power dynamic, as far as i know from history romania and croatia havent had a history of conflicts, in fact we have a history of pacts.;;; in the balkans we have all throughout history migrated, mixed, intermarriage, adopted each others cultures, traditions, religions, practices, etc. weve been doing this for thousands of years. personally, i think this is one of the beautiful things about the balkans; and im a pan-balkanist so im all about trying to get everyone in the balkans together and getting rid of the idea that were all separate neat little distinct ppl; we have a lot more in common than we have in difference. the idea of pure cultures or clear cut cultures around here is just unrealistic, its not based in history, and also, talking abt cultural appropriation in the balkans just sounds like woke nationalism

im not croatian neither catholic so, u know, my opinion only goes so far but. i reckon if it comes from a place of respect and understanding its not that big of an issue - hell you can probably go to croatia and get them done. if you live in romania i severly doubt anyone will give a shit, if you live in the west i severly doubt anyone will give a shit bc the westerners tend to know next to nothing about our cultures and they rarely can tell us apart anyway. i dont think its a particularly bad idea 🤷‍♀️