#like the fact that this is starting to significantly affect my own generation

[layraket]

i can't stop thinking about that my literature teacher today told us that a lot of people (including my class) was loosing the ability of reading comprehension and he has a really strong point

i feel like more and more people take the words more literally, not really stopping to imagine and try to comprehend the meaning behind them. Not all words will mean the same or be used in a literal way

You, as a reader, have to imagine the scene and try to put in place the word and its meaning to fit in a logic way into a specific action or dialoge

[umbrellacam]

*steeples fingers and stares at my tablet with gimlet eyes*

so. Road to NML. You mean to tell me that the reason the rest of the country, Congress, and the President himself decided to write Gotham off, blow the bridges, and isolate everyone left - all criminals and asylum lunatics and 'undesirables', of course - was in large part due to *checks notes* a satanic rock star's unnatural, irresistible charisma and cult-like media manipulations aimed at dooming the city for his own benefit?

and that in order to find out what actually happens to this villain, who disappears from the Batman and 'Tec storylines...I'd have to *checks notes* read Azrael's event issues?

....yeah, PASS. I only included JPV's book on my reading list when I absolutely had to (*cough* whenever Cass pops up *cough*), so it's off to the wiki summaries for me!

...but okay, on the one hand I find it very funny how thoroughly fandom has excised this demonic media influencer aspect from the collective consciousness of NML - or at least it had never made its way to me via either fic or fandom posts. I know how few people read comics in general in this fandom, and even for those who do, NML is a Beast that only a percentage have tackled (see: me just starting to pick away at it!), so honestly it's not that surprising.

and like it can easily be left out of the story and still leave it coherent lmao!! One can certainly argue things are in fact neater that way; certainly it's not something that would ever be kept (or at least not in the same form) if NML were adapted to another medium, except as perhaps a normal media demagogue (or a montage of them).

but on the other hand...hmm. Thinking about Hurricane Katrina hitting all of six years after the NML storyline played out. And the debate over whether funds should be used for reconstructing New Orleans and other massively damaged areas. And people around the country wondering if New Orleans would or should be rebuilt at all. Or if a vibrant, historic city would just be basically wiped off the map.

I know this is a conversation that happens everywhere and every time a major disaster wrecks a city. There are always huge fights over disaster aid and funding allocations of any kind.

but man. It's something to see this fictionalized depiction in such close proximity to a real life disaster that paralleled it so strongly, and to know that - yes, there are always people who Do Not Abandon Their Homes and work to reclaim them. Yes, massive amounts of aid (federal and otherwise) and federal reconstruction funding did get dispensed. Yes, people cared, and yes, we rebuilt.

so...maybe we do actually need the demonic social media influencer's evil powers in order to comic book logic explain how everyone in the country turned their backs on Gotham and created No Man's Land.

like - no, it's not necessary. the narrative would work without it. and yet...

the premise imagines - requires? - a significantly more callous, selfish populace. Still plausible and compelling! Possibly even stronger as a story since the turnaround for No Man's Land still hinges on winning the country over to open Gotham back up, let aid in, and rebuild. But. You do have to start from - kind of a bleaker take on humanity?

it also kind of reminds me of what scintillyyy pointed out a few weeks ago about Dick killing the Joker, and how actually there's an important comic book superpower interaction going on there, too, with Rancor present massively amplifying Dick's hate and anger to push him over the edge.

but so few people ever notice or remember that and it certainly isn't one of those things that gets transmitted via fandom osmosis. (It was news to me!!) People focus on Dick breaking down and letting loose solely due to being pushed too far.

and that's extremely compelling on its own! It is! Just like the no-satanic-Nick-Scratch NML.

just thinking about fandom's tendency to ellide the supernatural or powered influences that are canonically affecting a situation, in order to explore/focus on more purely humanistic explanations or motivations...that actually end up being darker than what we might reasonably expect from real life, or from a character's typical values.

like it's part wanting to brush off comic book nonsense, part wanting to dive into gritty realism (that's not always realistic), part not having all the information because of learning things secondhand so you construct the most reasonable explanation...idk it's just interesting.

anyway.

more importantly: Dick and Tim are adorable in 'Tec 727-729!! Especially love them trading off yelling each other's names in fear/alarm, and also trading off protecting each other - Dick's "You hurt that kid and you're gonna be eating through a tube!" and Tim's clever solo rescue of a thoroughly captive Dick via clever use of a voice modulator and a two-way radio. The Boys 😊

[storm-and-starlight]

Rodimus and ADHD

I'm gonna start this out by saying that Rodimus having ADHD is something that's been pretty fundamental to my understanding of the character since I first read MTMTE/Lost Light (seriously, I can point you to the exact panel when I went "oh okay this is Canon to me now") but also that I've almost never seen a portrayal that really vibes with how I interpret it? A lot of the fics and fanon I've come across tend to take a fairly... typical view on and portrayal of ADHD where the things that are focused on are hyperactivity and task/responsibility/boredom avoidance, and to me that's not... it's not the, like, the fundamentals of how I read Rodimus and ADHD? It's not the main issues that affect who he is and how he interacts with the world -- those would instead be the impulsivity and the... idk how to phrase it, the "ADHD trauma"? It's really distinct and I'll get to it later.

The impulsivity is fairly easy to get to, and fairly obvious -- the best representation of how it manifests in Rodimus specifically is in the initial description of the Rodpod, where someone (I can't quite tell who from the panel) says "you know what he's like: he obsesses over something, then gets bored" and then it's revealed that Rodimus presumably commissioned an entire ship built in the shape of his own head. That's really what I see as the main ADHD symptom -- the mix of obsession and impulsivity. We see it when he gets everyone to go on the quest, we see it when he tries to chop off his own arm because he thinks it might stop the future from happening, we see it in his plan to stop the sparkeater -- it's basically how he responds to every problem he's presented with, and often significantly more than that, and that kind of impulsivity is very much a noted feature of ADHD. (Being briefly but intensely obsessed with something before losing interest and dropping it is also a really big ADHD thing -- just look at the cycle of hyperfixations that's so common in fandom).

(Also, when combined with his ego, recklessness, and carelessness, you get basically the entire negative side of his personality out of this, which is why I consider it so fundamental to his character -- significantly more so than, say, task avoidance.) (though recklessness, and carelessness are also fairly common with ADHD -- it's related to impulsivity in general.)

The "ADHD trauma" thing is a little trickier to explain: it's basically how I describe the constant awareness that you have screwed the hell up in the past when it's important and you are going to screw the hell up in the future when it's important and hating the fact that it happens and yet also being completely and fundamentally aware that it's something you can never, ever change about yourself no matter how hard you try (because you have tried, in the past, and it has never worked even a little bit). Like, hello, that basically describes my entire childhood and also the lives of most of my friends who also have ADHD. The panel that convinced me that he does have ADHD is the one that basically explicitly describes this, in Lost Light where he and Drift are talking after they return from the Functionist Universe and Rodimus says "Oh, I know what I'm like. That's the trouble. I know exactly what I'm like -- I just can't stop myself," because, like. that's it. that's the experience in a nutshell.

And like, I'm not saying that this is super severe -- he definitely has more self-confidence than is often warranted, but he also does have a lot of self-esteem issues, and I think this is really the root of them: failing, over and over, until you reach the point where you start thinking that it's bound to happen someday and that everyone will hate you for it forever. That's a super common experience with the kind of disability that ADHD is, especially if you don't know you have it in the first place, and that combined with all the smaller traits (the impulsivity, the hyperfixation, and yes even the task/responsibility/boredom avoidance) is what really convinced me that he is an ADHD character.

[scp-tiggles]

First addition to the au!

Scp 079 (Android form)

50% ler | 50% lee

As a ler:

He’s pretty sweet, ngl. Usually he wrecks someone without the need to feed off laughter like some of the other anomalies, its just for “research” or if someone seems a bit gloomy.

His favorite move is bear hugs. Uses his main arms to hug someone, then the other four to tickle them.

Speaking of, don’t bother trying to hide spots from him. His eyes have sensors that basically pings him to wherever someone is ticklish at.

His teeth are relatively pointy for tickle nibbles!

Teasing wise he’ll either make remarks about how your reactions and laughter help his research. Or option B is he’ll use baby talk!

Will make sure the lee is okay afterwards, offering water (and affection if the lee desires)

As a lee

Super ticklish oml. Cannot STAND his ribs or armpits (his main set) being tickled!

Absolutely can’t take teases, calling him cute? Baby talk? You’ll have him a giggly mess in no time!

Surprisingly, he’s able to blush. And tickling around his ears or neck is the best way to get it.

Super cackly laughter, snorts a whole ton.

Will try to get revenge with his other four limbs, watch out!

Speaking of revenge, he will 100% get it afterwards.

You could actually make him reboot if you tickle him to much, he doesn’t mind, but its the best way to give yourself a head start FROM his vengeance!

Feathers will absolutely annihilate him, same for brushes (specifically paint ones)

Normal PC form

60% ler | 40% lee

As a ler:

Much like before, he’s still pretty sweet as a ler.

This form resides in his cell, he can upload his consciousness between bodies in order to utilize each one. This one controls the machinery in his cell.

He LOVES to experiment on lees, tickling them to oblivion for his notes, their laugh, their ticklish spots, what tools work best, etc.

The metal extending parts of his limbs are able to lightly zap people, doesn’t hurt, tickles like hell though!

His teases remain the same, a bit more baby talky since he has more confidence of lees not getting revenge in this form.

Has a data base of most doctors at the site from the times they fallen to his clutches, loves to tease them with it too.

“Oh, my. Your laughter has gotten much more squeaky since our last session, doctor! I’ll have to test you to see what else has changed at once!”

A bit more generous with aftercare, since he’ll tickle lees significantly longer then when in his android form.

As a lee

Now while this form has no spots, you still CAN tickle him.

High voltage electricity, messing with his computer system (i.e a virus), all tickle him HELLISHLY.

And he low-key enjoys it.

He’ll keep his secret enjoyment of tickles to the grave though.

Anyways, like before, cannot stand teases at all. Folds immediately.

His screen will glitch and bug out if he is laughing too hard.

Speaking of his laugh, its still cackly, all be it more higher in pitch the worse he’s being tickled.

Has on more then one occasion accidentally (and purposely) zapped himself on his own tech.

Random facts!

Surprisingly doesn’t have a favorite lee, since he wants to expand his database he’ll rarely go after someone twice (unless bored), but does have favorite lers.

076-2, 682, and 096 are his current favorites for one reason: he snags up their victims after they’re done for experiments.

Will team up with other anomalies, especially if their target is one he hasn’t gotten too before.

He was actually created by the foundation, he was basically made to tickle other anomalies and get tickled, so the foundation could lessen breaches and not have to use d-class all the time.

He ended up gaining self awareness and decided to use his access to foundation technology to cause chaos though, lol.

But he does of course care deeply about the staff and other anomalies, staff especially. (Mainly the doctor who created him, who will be revealed later on! :>)

I’ll probably post the art as a separate thing too, but i got a post done, wooo!

[chaosresturantjandn4eva]

I wanted to share my two cents on today's #MentalHealthMonday subject.

I work in veterinary medicine, which you would think is a field that couldn't be further away from being celebrity of any kind. Yet I can see multiple parallels especially with the negative aspects. (Clinical) veterinary medicine is a field that is both worldwide and in my own country heavily affected by immense pressure of high, sometimes even unrealistic expectations, constant scrutiny and wide scale of emotions (and often lack of money). And nowadays social media plays a huge role in it, and not only for the good.

(Veterinary) medicine is a world that demands perfection, and people (like me) who work in the field are often conscentious perfectionists. Medical workers, like celebrities, frequently find themselves stripped of their humanity. We're of course not objects for entertainment, but we're often subjected to an almighty position, where, much like celebrities, our worth is measured solely by our ability to "perform" our job and please clients, rather than our well-being. I can 100% relate to being under a microscope, where every mistake is magnified, and grace is rarely afforded. It's no surprise to me that studies show that veterinarians often struggle with anxiety, depression and burnout. The suicide rate in the field is also relatively high. An American study shows veterinarians are three to five times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. The probability is significantly higher among female vets.

Online targeting and shaming is very common in the field. The problem is that (disappointed) clients can say things online that get taken out of context and start spreading around, changing and growing like a snowball. Everyone gets to say their opinion of us. The lines between our work and our persona always blur in people's minds, much like with celebrities and their work image vs their real persona that the public never truly knows. Everyone gets their say - except us. We're bound by vet-client-patient-priviledge. Celebrities may not have legal bindings that prevent them from defending themselves in the public, but it's still often counterproductive in the current online environment which tends to become an echo chamber for criticism and judgement.

It's bad enough that the shit-talking, speculations etc. are out there for everyone to see (including the subject and people close to them). What probably makes it even worse for celebrities is that it seems like people take their opinions directly to them.

Everyone deserves compassion and empathy. Instead of spreading opinions as facts of their personal life, celebrate their work while recognizing their humanity. Like CQ so well said, behind every public figure is a person who deserves respect and kindness. (And if you have an issue with your veterinary service, make a complaint like with any other business. Don’t take it online. Vets are human too.)

#EmpathyOverJudgement is now my favourite hashtag.

P.s. sorry for the long form depresso!

Listen today is the day you bring us your depresso so we can help you carry it.

We need to start treating all people like exactly that…. People.

[scoups4lyfe]

PART 2

Out of all of Ian's songs, "So Beautiful" is one of my absolute favorites, especially the MV because of [again] the visuals and how accurately they convey what being Bipolar is like or what going through an episode is like.

Often I have the hardest times knowing I'm in an episode (until it's escalated significantly) because I go from being "unable" or "meh" to being able, and --like the quote above;

I can't tell if I've entered into a mood episode, or if I'm generally just having a good day.

You'll see this in a lot of my journal entries, but lack of control is major when (in my experience) it comes to being Bipolar.

Having no control over your own mental stability is "maddening"...for lack of a better term.

Around three years ago, I watched SKAM France and began to wonder if I was Bipolar.

Seeing Eliot, all I could think was: "Yeah that's me."

But since I didn’t know if I actually had it — I started mood journaling — and eventually I went to a psychiatrist (don’t get it twisted, I went for depression LOL — and because I was seeking to find an ADHD evaluation), and yeah. I was diagnosed with both ADHD and Bipolar.

Now — you might ask: “How can you NOT know or realize you have bipolar disorder?” And ohooooo my friend, let me TELL you.

— Depressive Episodes—

In Bipolar (though no one experiences it the same way — it’s a spectrum, but there are some general commonalities), there tend to be more depressive episodes than manic or hypomanic episodes.

“Although mania and hypomania specifically identify bipolar illness, depression is of major concern in patients with bipolar disorder, because depressive symptoms are far more frequent than manic symptoms and most suicides occur during the depressive phase.” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1324957/)

In this academic article about the burden of bipolar depression within bipolar disorder, it shares studies particularly on how Bipolar

Depression significantly impacts Bipolar patients.

People with Bipolar usually seek help when they’re in a depressive phase; and are therefore often misdiagnosed as MDD — Major Depressive Disorder. The problem with this is that MDD treatment, usually going onto antidepressants, can send the Bipolar patient into acute mania, mixed states, and/or rapid cycling states. (I will define these in a second.)

...

“Bipolar disorder has a negative impact on virtually every facet of a patient's life, with depressive symptoms having a particularly strong effect on patient well-being. Depressive symptoms predominate over hypomanic/manic symptoms in the courses of both bipolar I and bipolar II disorders. In prospective studies of the natural history of bipolar disorder, bipolar I patients reported experiencing depression for 31.9% of weeks and hypomanic/manic symptoms for only 8.9%, whereas bipolar II patients reported depression for 50.3% of weeks and hypomanic/ manic symptoms for only 1.3%.”

“Similar findings on the prevalence of depressive symptoms were reported in a study of 258 outpatients admitted to the Stanley Foundation Bipolar Network. Approximately 25% of these patients reported being ill for more than three quarters of the year, with a mean of 214 days depressed, and 40% were intermittently ill, with a mean of 120 days depressed. An overview of findings from the Stanley Foundation Bipolar Network concluded that, despite treatment, bipolar outpatients remain significantly affected by their illness, with depressive symptoms posing a greater problem for effective treatment than mania.”

“Over 60% of patients in the Stanley Center Bipolar Disorder Registry were unemployed, despite the fact that 30% had completed college.”

“Termination of mood stabilizers may also have negative effects in patients with bipolar disorder. In published studies of patients with bipolar disorder who discontinued lithium treatment, suicide rates rose 20-fold and affective illness recurred in 67% of patients during the first year after discontinuation of lithium. Termination of treatment with other mood stabilizers, including the atypical antipsychotics, may be associated with negative outcomes.” 

These are quotes taken from the same source quoted above in red.

[Right.]

So — for me, since my onset of Bipolar was around puberty (late middle school; early high school), added in with the emotional dysregulation of ADHD, my mood episodes were something I had gotten used to, and that I thought were normal. (LOL.)

Plus, I didn’t realize or know what hypomania and mania was; ergo—I only really recognized the major depressive episodes. “Ah, everyone gets depressed <33.” ←My bonkers thought process.

I didn’t realize my intensity of depression was something that people didn’t normally experience — in fact, I remember talking to my little sister, and she told me she barely ever got depressed, and when she did it was just for a short period of time. The ‘surprised pikachu’ meme would be apt here, LOL!

My wake-up call that it wasn’t normal was a tv show (SKAM — the french one; though I have watched the OG one.) that had an accurate portrayal of Bipolar Disorder in one of the main characters. The way they went from happy elation; that flirty feeling of being on-top of the world, to the fall into a major depressive episode.

That depression was all too familiar to me. Literally looked the EXACT fvcking same.

...

Three best portrayals of what my sudden depressive episodes look like: 

[1] Mr. Robot — Eliot bawling his eyes out in episode 1. (20:00 Minutes in Timestamp) 

(Link clip example here)

[2] Eliot Demury — Skam France (And Even — OG SKAM)  

[3] Ian Gallagher, Shameless (U.S)

— (Linked clip example here)

...

I don’t know how to exactly describe it. Sometimes there’s just this overflow of emotion that makes me either cry or laugh or both. But mostly….it’s the apathy. Nothing matters. Nothing. The reason I don’t really care anymore about others’ opinions is because once I felt that apathy — that feeling of emptiness; of not caring — because life was nothing; I was nothing. So anyone’s negative opinions of me didn’t matter, I didn’t care about myself, so whatever they said ‘was probably right’ ←in my head; but it was as good as dust to me because nothing and no one could beat the hate I had for myself, OR the sh*t I was telling myself.

It’s fvcked up, I know. Even more fvcked up — is that there would be days I couldn’t get out of bed for a week. I would lay in bed. I wouldn't eat, it would be rare if I got up to use the bathroom— and any responsibility I had, I would not attend to — and you couldn’t make me. I would sleep 17-18 hours a day. Tired of everything, I would have no energy.

I ended up losing a lot of weight in college because of this LOL. I also fainted because of this (rip). When I could function enough to eat, go to class, I would still be empty and fatigued. I would go to class, eat, and then spend the rest of my time sleeping.

Even in high school, I would have an exorbitant amount of “sick days.” And when I did go to school, when I got home I would do my (1) chore and then sleep. School, chore, sleep. School, chore, sleep. It was to the point that my parents thought I was on drugs because all I would do was sleep. LOL.

And that depression would last for months. If it lasted two weeks or less that would be lucky. Anyways, there was a period of time (a few months after I graduated college) that I was normal. I felt normal, I acted normal, I had normal amounts of energy.

I remember telling my friends that (because I made a psychiatrist appointment) I wouldn’t tell them (the psychiatrist) about my depression because “Bah, it’s not that bad. I can sleep it off 🤪.” Anyways — I suddenly (and for no reason) fell into a depressive episode, and when that hit I was like, “Yeah I need to go tell the psychiatrist and get this figured out.”

I actually started treatment for depression before ADHD. And my depression was so bad, the antidepressants just barely made me functionable. Literally could not tell if they were working and my depression was that bad, or if they genuinely didn’t work. Anyways; yes they WERE working, my depression was just that bad. LOL.

(TW: Suicidal Ideation)

When I get low like this, if I start spiraling (which often happens) I get to the point where I think, constantly: “I don’t want to wake up anymore.” Sometimes I would even pray not to wake up anymore. I had crippling fatigue — so there was no energy to hurt myself. Which is why most of my mixed episodes are so dangerous.

Mostly though, when I’m down / dipping, I sleep. I just let myself do nothing, and sleep. Until it leaves, however long that may take.

I've talked about my experience being manic a few times.

Here I talked about being euphoric

Mania Episodes

I have had both euphoric AND irritated mania. And I have got to say — I liked the euphoric one; but FVCK the other one. 

Mixed Episodes

Ok. Mixed episodes — where one has energy (manic symptoms) but irritation or depression / fatigue (depressive symptoms); basically it's a mix of both mania and depression.

For me — this is when I get into the most dangerous states.

Most of the time I’m so tired it actually hurts. It feels like the fatigue is killing me; like I’ve sunken into the dark circles under my eyes. Except the moment I lay down? BOOM! Wide fvcking awake.

The fatigue doesn’t leave, nor does the pain, but there’s this energy buzzing through me and it quickly turns into irritation because all I want to do is SLEEP, but I can’t! I fvcking can’t; and it kills me.

Theses are the times where any passive suicidal ideation become more active thoughts. Mostly about prescription drugs and overdosing. (Or things like drinking windex.)

Anyways —

I don’t ever act on these thoughts because I do like living (thank you very much >:o ); but that doesn’t mean those kinds of thoughts don’t happen. In fact ---a whole spiraling intrusive thought chain decides to party in my head until I DO fall asleep, or find something to distract me. (Not a fun time.)

First — let’s just get this out of the way; Bipolar — aka the episodes, whether depressive, manic, or mixed — , are not caused by purely external events. It’s literal chemicals in the brain playing limbo with your mental health.

Now, can external events trigger an episode? Absolutely.

In fact, sleep is one of the strongest triggers for people with Bipolar disorder.

And I quote:

“ — It is essential that people with bipolar disorder practice good sleep hygiene. Ideally, you should go to sleep and wake up in a regular, predictable pattern and avoid activities that interfere with this schedule, including staying up late, drinking alcohol, and consuming caffeine. In order to promote a restful and regular sleep, create a ritual for yourself to get your mind and body prepared for bed. If you struggle to sleep, be sure to talk to your doctor about it so you can identify whether these sleep disturbances are a symptom of a mood episode and gain control over your sleep cycle before it triggers mood switching.”

— bridgestorecovery.com ‘Understanding Bipolar Disorder Trigger And How to Prevent Them’

I have stated this before here and here

But blackouts can happen when you're in a manic state; these last few months I've had at least three black outs, spanning from a day, to a couple of days.

/End of part 2 <333 /

[Prev] [Next]

PPT Essay: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7] , [8], [9]

And of course the MV:

Visuals of a Depressive Episode: (1), (2)

Journal Entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

PPT Essay Extras: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5)

[existentialcrisis-24-7]

So Winx season four ? magic returning to earth

How does that go and (since I’m assuming terrestrial magic is different,how does it difffer from magic in the Magic Universe ?)

Thank you so much for the ask!

But I have to say, I already have a more-or-less fleshed out magic system, so magic doesn't really work differently on Earth. The only planet magic could be considered different on is Magix, but it still more-or-less fits within the pre-established rules I made for magic. I will say that Earth is a little odd in that despite its magic being shapeshifting, most if not all fairies are born with a secondary magic of fire, air, ground or water and the rate of people born with 3 or more types of magic is significantly higher there.

I can explain shapeshifting magic and the effects of the return of Earth's magic though!

Shapeshifting has two subsets: Metamorphosis (altering your own appearance) and Transmutation (altering another thing's appearance). Those who struggle to see images in their head tend to be at a disadvantage when performing this magic, though most regard metamorphosis as the easier route to take as you can instead feel the changes happen to yourself as oppsed to having to visualise it.

It is a magic only found on Earth and, as such, it was extremely rare even when Earth still had its magic. After Earth and its magic became lost to the rest of the Magic Dimension it nearly went completely extinct and was actually thought to be dead for a while. That was until Wizgiz joined the Alfea staff and began trying to resurrect the magic with... mixed results.

As of writing this, I have no concrete design in mind for the shapeshifting transformation, though I imagine it looks very unique and definitely would draw more from a person's individual sense of style then from a more generic standard. Names of the transformations are also a WIP (metamorphix sounds too much like morphix for my taste, and transmutix/transmutatix just doesn't have the ring to it I would like it to have).

Now! Onto how the return of magic on Earth affected things!

In summary: chaos.

Magic had been building up in Tír na nÓg for the past 1000 odd years and when it finally got released the Terrestrial Fairies (Roxy included) were given a huge temporary power boost as the magic tried to settle back in. Once magic began to settle back the power boost was lost but random people just started waking up with a new connection to magic and some people even got transformations (alignment depending). This caused a huge amount of fear and panic across Earth because nobody knew what was happening and the fact that there was so much going on in Gardenia with the Wizards and the Major Fairies made a lot of people think Gardenia itself was to blame. Having to get every single human adjusted to the idea of magic was a huge task and certainly took a while, even after season 4 2 takes place.

There was a lot of politics, history books and magical demonstrations before the world could agree that magic should even be legal, and eventually the world agreed that the island the portal was on, Avalon, would be considered its own kingdom with its own laws, ruled by the fairies. Most people were fine with this since the island was uninhabited anyway but there was still a lot of fear up in the air about this kingdom out of legends who were believed to have more power, different to anything humans had ever seen, despite being such a small population.

After Morgana took the title of Queen again, she suggested To Nebula that she take some time to herself and to heal. Nebula went on a journey of self-discovery for one month before realising there was no one to teach magic on Earth. The School of Mystic Arts was then set up near the portal to Tír na nÓg on Avalon so that people new to magic had a way to learn without having to travel off-world and also to educate people on their world's history. Though the school is still new and lacking in both a standardised curriculum and the staff necessary to teach this many new magic users, Nebula is determined to make it work and Morgana has been helping her get in contact with the rest of the Magic Dimension for help in both teaching and in reestablishing Earth among the ranks.

[apompkwrites]

I'm having Lil Bat and Silver's twin thoughts again.

To be fair, I've had some of these on the back burner waiting since October/November/December haha I totally didn't forget that I did not send them before haha haha.

I'm gonna do some retconning for my previous brain rots.

Vanrouge(Name) pretty much has the same backstory in the other Vanrouge(name) brain rots I sent in this and this (I think, idk they could be the wrong ones)

a as brief as I am capable of TLDR for those two posts because they are long and made while brainrotting, so they might be hard to read lmao (plus some bits I added because I feel like they add a bit more to them idk help): Lil Bat was a sick child; who grew up separated from their brother because of the nurse's fear of them getting even sicker because of their brother's carelessness leading them both to become distant from each other and making Lil Bat long for freedom which then prompts them to start traveling once they get older and strong enough where they aren't sick constantly anymore, so that way even if they do eventually die of sickness or some other reason they won't have any possible regrets (for the most part)

ok so in the Neverending Halloween Event, which I didn't 100% complete, and I am still mad at myself because I am bad at time management, Silver says that in his childhood, he and his father (Lilia) lived in a little cabin in the woods and his father (Lilia) would be out traveling for months at a time leaving Silver alone during that time, and now I need to add some things.

Imagine Lilia never really staying anywhere long during his time as a general, one reason because of his job having to go off to fight many battles, and the other being the fact that he is a free spirit who seems to be physically incapable of being tied down unless he wills it; after his retirement as general and even as he started taking care of Malleus, he would go out traveling and would bring back souvenirs for Malleus, ( Malleus says in the Fireworks event that Lilia got him souvenir flags). None of this changed when Silver and his beloved twin came into the picture.

Imagine that when Lilia found Silver and his twin, they were holding each other's hand, as though they refused to be separated, and after he took them in, they were very close during childhood. They both took care of each other, even with their own curses of sleep individually; they relied on each other when they were alone, and it seemed like they were going to stay like that forever; they cleaned together, learned how to make edible food together so that they could avoid accidentally dying from food poisoning after consuming their fathers cooking, slept in the same room and sometimes shared a bed when one had a nightmare and didn't want to be alone, they had a structured routine that they would do to take care of the place that they lived in yet flexible enough that it accommodated for both of their sleeping curses if one or both of them fell asleep or passed out then the schedule wouldn't be affected that much.

During their childhood, Lilia started teaching them swordsmanship, though Silver seemed to enjoy it more than his twin did, it just wasn't that fun or enjoyable for them, and it seemed that it was tedious for them; Lilia noticed this and stopped getting (Name) to join them. Initially, they were happy with this and didn't mind that much, though they quickly started feeling left out. Their father was out traveling a lot + his job as the princes retainer and would come back in small periods to check up on them, when he did he spent a lot of his time with them training, and since they were no longer training with them, the time they spent with their father decreased significantly.

They didn't feel much jealousy or envy for their brother though, they were happy that their brother had time to bond with their dad and plus it's not like Lilia didn't spend time with them, and as a even bigger plus they had all the time in the world to spend with their brother when their father left.

One night during one of their father's visits, just as they both were about to fall asleep in their respective beds, (name) heard their brother tell them that they wanted to become a knight and that he was gonna talk to their father about it in the morning. They didn't think much about it and was just happy that their brother figured out what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. In the morning, Silver told their father. Their father was shocked, but (Name) could tell he was happy.

It was not long before Silver started to officially train at the palace; he initially seemed nervous, asking his twin if they could come with him. This wouldn't be his first time going to the palace or their grounds; when they were both toddlers that were this close to doing something that would get them killed, Lilia would often bring them along to the palace so he could do his job as a retainer and make sure his children didn't die prematurely at the same time, (name) thought that their brother was simply just not used to being without their presence yet. (Name) agreed anyway, and Silver promptly asked Lilia if they could bring his twin, to which Lilia also agreed.

Their time visiting the palace had been nothing but pleasant; they enjoyed watching their brother have fun. It was nice to see him befriend a half-fae who was kind of mean with hair that they would later learn to describe as radioactive named Sebek, who was two years younger than them, and all the servants were nice to them and were more than willing to help. That was until one day, they got bored, and the hallway leading to other parts of the palace looked really tempting; they slipped away and started walking through; nothing new, just an unending hallway. They heard some talking, and although they knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, they couldn't help it.

What they heard genuinely shocked them; some of the palace maids were complaining about them, how it was a shame that the retired general had such a useless child, how they were holding their brother back with their presence; at least Silver was doing something to help the royal family, there was more complaining about anything and everything about them. In hindsight, it was baseless gossip, but it could be more than true to their little child mind.

They wanted to cry, felt humiliated, and just ran, the servants in question probably saw them and knew they heard it, but they didn't try to comfort or chase after them. After a while of running, they went into a random room and just hid, not wanting to be seen or found. Did they want to be found? Was what they said true? Is that why their father doesn't as much time with them? Because he sees them as a failure, as useless? Sebek had previously said something like that to them, but they didn't listen because they didn't realize it. They thought he was just mean. Does their aunt/uncle also think of them like that?

They stayed like that for what felt like forever before being found, and when they were found, it wasn't by anyone they knew. They were found by a fae with horns with an appearance similar to the prince. They were confused and shocked after finding the child, yet they attempted to comfort them. They were awkward; they obviously had never interacted with a child before, especially a human one who was also crying. Nonetheless, their comfort attempts had worked, and they had calmed down enough to confide in the fae. They had talked for a while, and after hearing the cause of the human's tears, the fae had apologized for the two maids' behavior, telling them that they were just old fae clinging onto their youth with nothing better to do than hurt an innocent child. They had very quickly become close. Silver's twin had tried to get the Fae's name, but they seemed hesitant to tell them, so Silver's twin dropped it for a while and waited to ask them again, however before they were able to ask again the horned fae asked where their parent(s) was, Silver's twin answered the training area and the fae helped calm their swollen eyes before escorting them back to the training area and disappeared.

(Name) returned to the seat they sat in before they left and continued watching their brother train; it seemed like what just happened was a nasty nightmare that turned into a pleasant dream, and it seemed that no time had passed since they left with neither their brother nor their father seeming to notice or acknowledge their brief disappearance.

Once they returned to the cabin they called home, (Name) couldn't stop thinking about what happened that day, and despite the words that the fae had said to comfort them, they still thought and considered the words the maids had said. Nonetheless, they slipped away In search of the fae they conversed with the next time they returned to the palace to accompany Silver. They did eventually find them in the garden and they continued their conversations becoming closer.

The two kept meeting, even finding and tending to an injured bird they found in the garden. That was until Silver told them that he felt comfortable at the palace and that they no longer needed to accompany them after today. So when Draconia(Name) and Silver's twin met that day, they bid farewell and promised to write to each other. They did write to each other regularly, their conversations carried through by the letters. Eventually, Silver's visits to the palace got longer and longer, hours turned into days, and then days turned into weeks, cementing the idea in his twin's mind that they really were holding him back and that if that one of the things they heard was right, then the other things must be right.

Silver's twin was shocked to learn of their friend's bloodline during the NRC dorm assignment but was glad that they were in the same dorm and could see each other again. They both were very awkward around each other; the last time they had seen each other in person was when the human was a child, and they were both more talkative on paper than in person. They both have phones now and most of their conversations take place there.

Back to Vanrouge(Name) I think that they knew their brother now preferred his cabin but were always shocked whenever they didn't see him around the estate anymore; they always saw him around, through the window when he was training or just taking a walk, in the library, during dinner, etc... and now that he wasn't there, it just felt lonely.

One day they returned from a long exhausting, and very stressful trip, and they were half asleep ready to just eat dinner and pass out on their bed; they entered the dining room after asking one of the servants to prepare their food, and to their surprise, their brother was there.

They sat down and started eating their food as their brother started talking about something; about what? They weren't paying much attention; they were just nodding and eating. Eventually, their brother asked a question, and they nodded, and the (onesided) conversation ceased. Lil Bat finished their meal, and as they were getting up to head back to their room, their brother also got up and rushed over to them; grabbing their hand, he dragged them from the house to his cabin. Lil bat, though, who was not paying attention to what they had agreed to, was very confused and mildly scared. Did he notice that they weren't paying attention to what he was saying? Although he no longer lives in the mansion, he's still technically the head of the family. Is he kicking them out? shit shit shit shit- wait isn't that his cabin? why did he take them here again?

When they got into the cabin Lilia let them go and left into one of the rooms, they walked over to the couch and sat on it, noting that it was comfortable and a few seconds later Lilia walked out holding two babies and gave them one.

A baby...?

Their brother did mention something about children... did he? they were cursing at themself for not paying attention to what he was saying earlier; nonetheless, he had two children. Children...? did he get married? that would explain moving to the cabin, but why weren't they invited to the wedding? Did he get eloped? that would also make sense... these children are human, aren't they? So their sister-in-law must be human. Where is she? Wait- these children are humans? But if he had children with a human, wouldn't the children be half-fae...? where did he get the children? Step-children maybe? If so where is his wife? is she out? Did he steal these children? Dear seven... they weren't awake enough for this shit.

"I think they like you" was what drew them out of their thoughts; they snapped their head away from the child in their arms whose hands were making grabbing motions at them towards the voice, their brother, who laughed at their reaction he told them that one day as he was living his best life he found two abandoned children and he couldn't just leave them there so now they're his children.

I feel like Lil Bat would babysit for Lilia, if we go with my previous hobby hc's for Lil Bat I can see Lil Bat teaching Silver's twin how to paint and letting a child Silver's twin sit on their lap as they painted, it was messy but the child enjoyed it and liked being close to them.

I can also see Lil Bat popping up out of nowhere like it's 12AM, and Lil Bat would just enter and pass out on the couch because it was closer than the estate and would stay for like 2 days. Also, Lil Bat would 100% tell Silver's twin bedtime stories about their travels and the tales they previously heard of to help them fall asleep, and I can see them sitting and talking at night because Silver's twin couldn't fall asleep.

Also, I can imagine Lil Bat and Draconia meeting during a gala; Lil Bat was bored and was way too tired of pretending to be interested in what others were saying, so they escaped into the garden, where they found a horned fae child just vibing. Since the child was very obviously of Draconia bloodline, they very cautiously approached and asked the child why they were sitting alone out there and not inside with their family, to which they got the response, "I was told to stay here until the gala was over as to not tarnish the Draconia's reputation."

Lil Bat's first reaction was, "Oh shit" and recalled that there was some drama with an illegitimate child being born along with some outrage, the whole thing was pretty dumb in their opinion and very messy, but they always felt bad for the child as they did not ask to be born in this situation. The conversation had ceased, and the air was pretty awkward. The silence was deafening until Vanrouge(Name) asked how life was in the palace; they didn't know why they asked that it was the first thing that came to mind. The child stayed quiet for a moment before saying, "Um... it's not bad... Miss Leah is nice. She takes care of me." a look of anger appeared on Vanrouges face before turning neutral, and a small smile appeared "Yeah? tell me about her" and so the innocent child did, they talked about all the thing's Miss Leah did, how safe they felt around her, and how they wished for more people to think like she does and Vanrouge listen.

They went on for a while before adding, "...but the others-" "They aren't as nice, are they?" the older fae said "No... I don't understand it." Vanrouge took a sip of their wine and let out, "Agh! ᵗʰᶦˢ ᵗᵃˢᵗᵉˢ ʰᵒʳʳᶦᵇˡᵉ ʷʰʸ ᵈᵒ ᵖᵉᵒᵖˡᵉ ˡᶦᵏᵉ ᵗʰᶦˢ? Anyways... Don't listen to them; they're old and decrepit, rude and inconsiderate, clinging onto their youth- pathetic if you ask me. Nothing better to do than hurt a young, innocent child." The child looked at them. "No, really, they've probably never left the Valley. Never able to change their world views because they've never been challenged, staying as insufferable their whole life" The older fae laughed, "pitiful is it not?" "you've been outside the Valley" The child inquired; it seemed they had the child's attention. "Yes, I have. I've been almost everywhere; I've met many people, some nice, some mean; it's a mixed bag. Would you like to know some places I've been to?" The young fae nodded, "If it's not a bother." They stayed walking in the garden, Vanrouge telling the illegitimate Draconia child of their travel with the young fae asking questions every so often for hours, only stopping when the gala had long ended, and Vanrouge(Name) could only assume Miss Leah was looking for the child as they had wandered into the labyrinth while talking. "Oh... It seems that we're lost in the labyrinth... My apologizes" "No, it's okay. I know the way back." The child said in reply to the older fae's musings. "Well then! lead the way then, my liege." Once the pair had escaped the maze, the calls for the child by Miss Leah could be heard the older fae had bid their farewells and started to walk away before the hem of their sleeve had been tugged on. They looked back. "Um... is it alright if you visit again...? I would like to hear more..." the child asked, clearly nervous at the possible rejection. Vanrouge hummed, "Of course" they crouched down to look them in the eyes. "I would also love to write to you if you allow it, as I am not often in the Valley of Thorns; I could inform you of my next visit." The child's eyes sparkled, and nodded, "Okay!" The bat fae laughed, "Great, who should I address it to?" "Draconia(Name)" the child replied

Since then, they would write to each other regularly, with Vanrouge(name) writing about their travels and Draconia(Name) would write questions about the places they visited and would confide in the older fae. During their in-person visits, Vanrouge(Name) would give them personalized souvenirs of things they thought or knew the young Draconia would like. When they learned of their niece/nephew and the Draconia's correspondence, they were pleasantly surprised, glad that the precious children they cared for deeply became friends and could confide in each other as they both had their own burdens. sorry for this being so long. This has been sitting for a while, and I didn't want to just forget it all, so it was better to just let it all out at once lmao

waaaa more lil bat and twin silver!! gotta love the black sheep fae family <33

imagining how heartbroken twin!silver would feel after being told that they weren't needed to go to the castle with silver anymore. they continue the routine they set up with him but suddenly it doesn't work because there's only one of them :((

and and them meeting draconia!(name) in the castle and becoming friends :OO + vanrouge!(name)!!! ugh i love them

[witchcraftingboop]

Currently (finally) reading Holy Heretics, and this quote in particular, as well as quite a few statements before this point, have really highlighted for me the pursuit of Chumbley & Co. and led me towards finally organizing my thoughts on certain aspects of their final products that I've mostly kept to myself hitherto.

I've read quite a few books by the Cultus Sabbati group now, as well as plenty of others such as Paracelsus and Alm, and while I'm reading Acher's work, I find myself reflecting, even without intentionally doing so, on the chthonic Greek initiation rites I had put together. Perhaps due to the non-dualistic perspective on cosmology I have, after their first draft, I started unraveling those rites and leaving almost "placeholder slots" in them where I had previously affixed Greek-specific rivers, deities, and mythological references. Now, when I'm reading this book in particular, it becomes even more obvious 1) why I was so intent on unraveling my own views on those rites and my cosmology in general (and in turn, how useful that ended up being), and 2) how Chumbley's works, and a few of his peers, appeared to crumble in their pursuit of a homogenous, one-size-fits-all-or-does-it concept.

"But now, to the best of our ability, we use symbols appropriate to the things Divine, and from these again we elevate ourselves." This sentence in particular feels like a perfect summary of where/why the Cultus' books fell short for so many I've seen attempt "decoding" them.

In the pursuit of transcending and "encoding" their work, a lot of the symbols, names, and concepts they latched onto and blended lost their ability to be used effectively in their presented form. Often, my peers would relate back to me that DBoE rites, if worked through to the letter, took many more hours than anticipated and that time seemed to just fall away and be absorbed into the working, and then when they inevitably restructured and reworded them to their needs/desires, they had an increased impact, reliable results, and took a significantly less amount of time. Truthfully, Chumbley & Co.'s works are the outer emanations of an inner, closed group, so it can, and really imo should, be argued that those extra bits and bobs and the declared so-called "ciphered" way of writing is done intentionally and that these results may in fact be what they'd intended all along. There can be a multitude of reasonings attached, but my ending note is the same:

The symbols used, in any system, must be adequate to the practitioner's understanding and relation to the divine in order to be usable in the pursuit of transcendence and unity with that which is beyond.

Cultus works just so happen to be the first that come to mind for me, especially given how quickly I have seen folks discard them entirely. A mish-mosh, rushed undertaking of DBoE will likely leave you in a room surrounded by just thoughtforms and archetypes rather than with a powerful eminence of divinity. And while this was more than likely the intended affect, it is still worth reflecting on for those like me who seek out experience with multiple different paths and systems.

It is something I have seldom verbalized, but that I carry with me when developing or seeking the understanding and knowledge necessary to undertake new ways of thinking and organizing the world around me. And, quite honestly, I think it is better put in this way than in the multitude of articles and entries I have seen that cryptically and obliquely describe Chumbley's works as "ineffectual" or "overhyped."

It is a matter of perspective, at the end of the day. Perspective and perhaps willingness to embrace the essence, rather than the presented, Crooked Path around you.

[the-mountain-flower]

I came up with smn cool that probably only matters to me but IDC imma share it anyway bc I think it's cool

So most, if not all, reading this will know about the "many people still upset that Pluto is categorized as a dwarf planet when it used to be labeled as a planet" thing. I've got no qualms either way, whether or not it's a planet doesn't affect me. But my ND brain started connecting the harmless "Pluto is a planet fuck you" with the harmful science-denial running rampant rn.

Obviously that's bullshit. No way in hell is the categorization of astral bodies and the emotions people have with it, on the same level as shit like "vaccines are bad" etc. So even tho it's technically a small thing, the fact that my brain started connecting them was irking me, so I thought of ways to get around that.

What I came up with is kinda similar yet opposite to the original idea: "dwarf planet" still has the word "planet" in it.

We still categorize the eight larger planets into the inner rocky ones, and the outer gas giants. This is because even though they are all in the same "large masses orbiting the sun maybe with moons", the two types are different enough to warrant being in separate categories. I figured that "dwarf planets" could be considered another one of those categories, big enough to be on the list of major orbital bodies, while significantly smaller than the ones before the Asteroid Belt or gas giants (according to NASA, specifically ones that weren't able to "clear their orbit of debris" which is where the size thing comes in bc gravity).

Pluto, Ceres, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris are in a category of their own that acknowledge their individuality from all other objects. Like coming out as queer, Pluto (and Ceres apparently) was thought to be one thing, then realized to be another. (This is NOT saying "Pluto is a planet fuck you" is equal to bigotry either, one is harmless and the other is harmful. I'm not accusing anyone in the first category of being just as bad, it's not true. It's also of a separate enough subject that my brain doesn't have a hard time keeping them separate, so it's not too counterproductive to my point.)

So both can be true, because Pluto IS a planet, just the same type of planet as Eris, Makemake, Ceres, and Haumea.

Is that completely scientifically founded? Technically no, dwarf planets don't actually meet the criteria of an official planet. But it works bc "planet" is still in the name, and there's a difference between general knowledge of smn and the official technicalities, and the official technicalities are still enough for this one.

Is it just a different way of anthropomorphizing the planets? Yeah.

Does it work? Yup. So long as I'm not accidentally associating something Not Bad with something Bad and it's not blatantly untrue, I'm good with it.

But yeah, I thought it was creative and so figured I'd share. 🤷‍♀️❤️

[theshatteredrose]

Secrets: Best Left Untold? (Chapter 1) - Etrian Odyssey Untold 2 Fanfiction

Summary: After a certain event in Ginnungagap, Flavio is relieved to have his best friend back. But the Week of Celebrations for the Duchess’ birthday and upcoming Christmas is the least of his worries; he seems to have a stalker or two, of which he wants to keep secret so not to worry anyone. But how long will he be able to keep everything to himself?

Pairings: Fafnir/Flavio, very mild onesided Fafnir/Arianna

Genres: Romance, Mystery, Suspense, Drama, Angst, Everyone Loves Flavio, Everyone Is Protective of Flavio, Flavio Needs A Hug

AN: I had decided to start writing this project because I believed my operation wouldn’t happen for a while. But lo and behold, I finally got a new date! Anyway, it’s probably best I have something to work on during my recovery.

A few things before we start, however. At the beginning, it will appear that Flavio and Arianna are competing for Fafnir’s affections, but they are still close friends, so it’s superficial at best. And the restaurant is not beloved by the public. In fact, it’s rather disliked for how it came onto the scene, and by extension, so is Regina. Before anyone accuses me of this, I am NOT bashing Regina. I just imagine the hard workers, business owners, and explorers would take exception to someone of Regina’s class waltzing in, getting everything handed to her on a silver platter while they have to struggle to survive. And after living a life of privilege and wealth, I image Regina would struggle with people not reacting positively to her. That is all I’m doing. It is something that the Antagonist tries to use to put doubt in Flavio’s mind.

With that said, I’m sure I’ll get some idiot throwing untrue accusations at me. They’ll be laughed at and ignored. But for the rest of my intelligent readers, you’ll know that above is all for the drama and the angst. And, oh, there will be drama and angst for poor Flavio :’D

Ok, with all of that out of the way, this story will probably be about 25 chapters long. So a medium project for me. Hope you enjoy reading~!

Ao3 | Wattpad | Inkitt | FFNet

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Chapter 1:

Fate. Destiny. Kismet. Divine timing.

Fafnir was tired of it all. He hated it. To be nothing more than a puppet, having someone else pulling at the strings, forcing him to dance at their commands, at the demands of another.

Was that how his life was meant to be? To be told, ordered, commanded what to do? To be sacrificed at the word of another?

One chance meeting during his childhood was all it took to condemn his life to one of servitude. And eventual to one of ultimate sacrifice.

Ginnungagap was a very cold, dark place. Empty. Silence. Devoid of…anything.

Why he listened to that disembodied voice, he still did not know. Was it a choice? His choice? Was it the pressure to do what was right and expected of him? Guilt? Blackmail? Or was he just plain gutless? It was easier to just give in. To do as he was told. To blame the ever-faceless fate for his troubles.

Flavio was not content with that, however. He and the others. Storming Ginnungagap. Interfering with the ritual. Interfering with fate. With how “things” had worked for generations.

It was the wake-up call that Fafnir needed. That, and the light jab to the stomach Flavio delivered before telling him to never, ever do something like that again.

Flavio would rather face this Yggdrasil Core in battle than allow Fafnir to sacrifice his life in a ritual that may not even last. The seal had grown significantly weaker. It may not even last until the next Fafnir Knight.

“Tell me what you want for once, Faf, please…”

What he wanted? He was not sure. What he did not want was for Flavio to be in danger because of him. And he would have been if he continued on the path he was.

But Flavio made his decision. His own decision. He was not content with making someone else dance upon the strings of fate. He did not want to have to rip someone else’s heart out. Tear apart love ones. All for a ritual, a seal that may not even last. For an entity that will eventually rise to the surface anyway. It was only a matter of time.

He also wished to put an end to the pointless sacrifices. Knights were not deposable. Expendable. They were not something to be sacrifice at someone else’s command. They had hopes and dreams all of their own. And they had a right to live them. To live their lives as they wish.

Just like Fafnir did.

And Flavio had a point. He was always right.

So, just like the way Flavio and the others fought their way through Ginnungagap to get to him, Fafnir chose to fight as well.

That was his decision.

From all that he had heard about the Yggdrasil Core, facing it in battle would not be easy. He would need to grow stronger. He would need to find powerful enemies in Yggdrasil labyrinth to defeat.

But turning Flavio away after all he said and done was impossible.

Fafnir truly was a fool. How could he have left Flavio alone? He was the one person in his life who had tried to make his life easier. The one who watched over him. He was his impulse control. His calming presence. His peace. His guiding light in the dark.

He took him for granted.

Never again.

Flavio had asked him what he wanted to do. Back then Fafnir did not know the answer. But as Christmas approached and as he grew accustomed to the city of High Lagaard, he finally figured it out.

He wanted Flavio to know just how much he truly meant to him. Just how special he was. And he wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.

That was his decision. And he was going to see it through, no matter what.

… … … … …

It was a bright, sunny day in High Lagaard. It was, however, cold. No surprise as it was a few weeks away from Christmas. As magical as that season was, it was still cold. And Flavio was not a fan of the cold. At all.

Flavio attempted to tug his jacket closer as he juggled his shopping in his arms. He was so distracted with guarding himself from the icy cold wind and keeping his packages that he stumbled wildly when someone bumped into him. A hand grasping him by the elbow prevented him from falling over.

“Do pardon me,” a masculine voice stated, subtly concerned. “Are you all right?”

Taking a moment to ensure that he had a firm grip on his shopping, Flavio turned his head toward the one gripping his arm. A young man. Perhaps only a few years older than himself, but a head taller. Short dark black hair, choppy yet somehow still neat at the back with bangs styled to dance over his right eye while the other half was neatly slicked back behind his left ear. The most striking thing about him, however, was that he had most intensely dark emerald green eyes.

They were honestly mesmerising.

Flavio quickly realised that he was staring and snapped himself out of it, plastering a smile on his lips. “Whew, yeah, thanks. The streets sure are busy today.”

The other man, however, stared at him in return, his deep green eyes focused entirely on him. Searching his face. Looking him up and down. Inspecting him in such a way that it felt as though the other man could not quite comprehend the sight before him.

It was a little, ok really uncomfortable.

“…Wioleta…?”

Flavio blinked. “I’m sorry?”

The man shook his head sharply, as though snapping himself from a trance. He turned his green eyes back toward Flavio once more and a smile, quite practiced but charming nonetheless, appeared on his lips. “F-forgive me. You…look remarkably like my deceased wife.”

That surprised Flavio greatly and a wave of great sympathy fell over him. The man had to be no older than Fafnir or himself, yet he was already a widower? That was terrible!

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Flavio said on reflex. What else could he say?

It was not until he felt something tighten around his bicep that Flavio realised that the man still had a firm, but not overly aggressive grip on his arm.

“It’s uncanny.” The man suddenly slipped a finger under Flavio’s chin and tilted his head back slightly. The touch was unexpected, so much so that Flavio tensed, mind going blank, unsure of how to react.

“Same hair. Same beautiful eyes. You even have her mannerisms,” the man continued, leaning forward uncomfortably close. “If I didn’t know any better, you could very well be my long-lost love. Wouldn’t that be some grand divine intervention?”

O-okay, things have gotten weird!

Flavio took a shaky step backwards, successfully pulling himself from the man’s grip. Thankfully, the man did not resist. “A-ah, excuse me,” he said as he clutched his bag of shopping against his chest. “I have to go. Sorry for your loss.”

The man smiled and presented him with a slight nod of his head. “Until we meet again, beautiful stranger.”

Flavio flushed at the strange nickname and simply spun on his heel and hurried away. What a strange guy. But he might still be grieving. He was still young, after all.

Still, better not mention him to Fafnir. He had gotten very protective of him lately. He had always been protective, but more so than usual. Not that Flavio was complaining, of course. But what had occurred in Ginnungagap was the likely cause.

Ginnungagap…

No, he must not think about that. They had agreed not to talk about the events that had transpired there recently. The decisions that had been made, or lack thereof.

It was with a huge sigh of relief that Flavio walked into the restaurant. And it was not just the cold he was grateful to be away from. “I’m back! Regina, I got the items you wanted.”

“Ah, thanks!” Regina’s voice echoed somewhere from the kitchen, where she was usually found. “I appreciate it, just place them on the bar!”

Flavio set the bags atop of the bar and unwound the scarf around his neck. He idly folded the piece of clothing as he looked around the dining area of the restaurant. A few regular customers were situated at the tables near the windows, enjoying both the warmth from the sun and the heating the restaurant provided. Otherwise, things were pretty quiet.

That was not much of a surprise, to be honest. Though cold, it was a sunny day. They have had a few snowy days, but nothing of the rumoured brutal blizzards that Flavio had been warned about. One days like today, it would be wise to prepare for both the snow and Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, that was about…two weeks away, if he recalled correctly. And he still needed to find Fafnir a gift. He was not entirely sure what to get him. Fafnir dodged all inquiries, offering instead a sly smirk and a cryptic “I’m working on it.”

Fine. Be mysterious, Faf. Flavio will figure it out eventually.

“There you are.”

Ah, speak of the devil.

Fafnir appeared from the back of the restaurant, where they kept their items in storage. He was not alone, however. Just a step or so behind him was Arianna. A common sight the last few days.

He did not want to use the word ‘clingy’ as it had negative connotations, but she tried to be in Fafnir’s presence whenever possible.

He understood why. She was also heavily affected by what had transpired in Ginnungagap. She blamed herself. But how was she to know? She was only a child when she chose Fafnir. No one told her the truth of her heritage. Of her burdens.

But it was kinda hard to simply hang out with Fafnir, just the two of them like old times with Arianna insisting on joining them.

Sometimes…sometimes he just wanted to hang out with Fafnir and Fafnir alone, ya know?

“You were gone for a while,” Fafnir said as he walked over to him.

Flavio smiled. “Were you timing me?” he jokingly asked before he shrugged. “Everyone is taking advantage of the clear weather, apparently.”

Fafnir leaned against the bar and next to him. He raised his left hand and gently brushed his knuckles against Flavio cheek. The touch was light, gently dancing over the skin of Flavio’s cheek. But it brought a flutter to Flavio’s chest.

“Your cheeks are red.”

And Flavio felt them redden further from a blush. “Y-yeah, well, it’s cold outside. You know I can’t stand the cold.”

Ever since Ginnungagap, Fafnir had grown more attentive and, well, touchy-feely for a lack of a better description. Again, not that Flavio was complaining. How could he? The touches were just sometimes…surprising. Like the gentle one brushing against his cheek.

Arianna suddenly popped up into their line of sight, her attention focused upon Fafnir. “Oh, but it is such a bright and sunny day,” she said, cheerfully. “It would be such a delight to wander the streets and enjoy the sunlight, wouldn’t you agree, Sir Fafnir?”

Fafnir let his hand drop to his side listlessly as he turned his gaze toward the princess. “I’m not all that fond of the cold either. Besides, Flavio just came in from the cold. He needs to warm up.”

Arianna’s cheeriness deflated subtly. “O-oh, that is true. Um, perhaps, the two of us could take a relaxing stroll then?”

Flavio felt a prang of…something suddenly hit him in the chest. He had the inclination that the first request was not extended to him. But the second made it obvious. He should not be bitter as it was clear, as obvious as the nose on his face that Arianna had quite the crush on Fafnir. He could not blame her for doing so.

He…

He also…

Anyway, it appeared that after what had occurred at Ginnungagap, Arianna was intent on spending time with her crush.

He wondered how Fafnir felt, though.

Fafnir leaned back against the bar and folded his arms across his chest. “Hmm, I take plenty of strolls in the labyrinth. I’m feeling lazy today.”

Ah Fafnir, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to the young lady’s crush.

Huh…Flavio felt a sense of relief at that. He…shouldn’t. It would be rude of him. Especially when Arianna looked obviously disappointed, and maybe even a bit frustrated. But determined all the same.

Yet, he still found himself leaning forward to rest against the bar next to Fafnir, taking a casual stance of his own. “The streets are full of people anyway. You’ll spend more time dodging than walking. Besides, we’re heading into the labyrinth tomorrow, right? Better preserve our energy.”

Fafnir turned his head toward him. “You’re looking forward to getting away from the cold.”

Flavio laughed. “Of course. Petal Bridge feels like spring compared to the winter wonderland we have here and Frozen Woods.”

“We might have to camp out there for a while.”

“For three months? No thanks!”

It was nice to have a sense of normalcy again.

He just…hoped it lasted.

[monday2econlive]

Economics live: in video games

Economics is not just an abstract subject, it permeates practically every aspect of our daily lives, including the video games we play in our leisure time. Today, I'd like to dive into how a few economics concepts are reflected in my favorite games and explain them through examples.

Price Elasticity of Demand: The price elasticity of demand is the degree to which the quantity demanded changes accordingly when the price of a good changes. This concept is evident in the games Valorant and Apex, where in-game items often require a lot of money to be able to buy. I noticed that even when game studios Riot and Respawn released new sets and skins and raised the prices of in-game skins, players' enthusiasm to buy them was not affected too much, and they could still benefit in a very consistent way. This suggests that for these in-game items, player demand is relatively insensitive to price changes, they have low price elasticity. This may be due to the fact that these games have high player loyalty and brand value, that some in-game sets and skins may be unique or scarce, and that for some players owning a specific in-game item may be a social status symbol, which are reasons why players are willing to pay for their favorite in-game items even in the face of price increases.

Price elasticity: Trans-price elasticity refers to how a change in the price of one good affects the demand for another good. Take the game console market as an example, ps5 and ps4 are obvious substitutes, when sony released the new generation of ps5, people might expect the demand for ps4 to drop significantly as consumers might switch to the newer and more powerful ps5. however, the actual situation is that the sales of ps4 has not dropped drastically, and it even fought with ps5 to have a back and forth. Nine months after the launch of the new console, PS5 sales totaled 10,479,928 units, while PS4 sales totaled 9,860,208 units. This suggests that consumers in the gaming console market are not strong substitutes for the old and the new. the ps5 may have faced supply chain issues and inventory constraints during the initial release period, resulting in many consumers not being able to purchase the new console and still choosing to purchase the ps4. the ps5, as a new generation console, tends to be priced at a higher level than the ps4. for consumers with limited budgets, the ps4 may have been a more affordable option. There may be different segments of the gaming console market, where one segment of consumers prefers the latest technology, while another segment of consumers may value for money or be less sensitive to new technology. This market segmentation may lead to the co-existence of old and new consoles rather than a simple substitution relationship.

Income elasticity: Income elasticity refers to the effect of changes in consumers' income on their purchasing power. In Valorant, I observed that players with higher incomes were more likely to buy in-game skins, whereas players with less means were more cautious and often waited for discounted "night market" events to make purchases. This pattern of behavior suggests that the income elasticity of in-game items may be positive, as players' incomes increase, their in-game expenditures will also increase. As an example, a friend of mine has never had much money to live on, making it difficult to save up for skins, but when he gets some parental rewards and more money, he starts buying the skins he wants. This shows that in-game spending correlates to some extent with a player's income level. Of course, daily life are not enough, and mental satisfaction like games must not be an inferior good or a necessity. When players' incomes increase, their in-game expenditures will increase accordingly, reflecting the income elasticity of in-game items.

We find that in-game items are relatively insensitive to price changes, indicating low price elasticity; there is low cross-price elasticity between old and new consoles, they are not strong substitutes; and in-game consumption increases with players' income, indicating positive income elasticity. These observations reflect some simple characteristics of consumer behavior and demand in the gaming market.

Yikun Li

47184414

Monday section 2:00-2:50pm

[phoenixyfriend]

Uncle Ben and Little Luke

AKA we combine several types of time travel for maximum Soft Chaos, let’s go

EDIT NOW THAT I’VE WRITTEN THIS UP: jfc this ended up much angstier than initially intended uhhhhhhhhhh sorry

So a common enough thing I’ve seen in time travel fics is characters getting de-aged when tossed back physically, to neither the age they should be in that time, nor the age they were from the time they left, but whatever is most convenient. This is usually de-aging OT Obi-Wan into his TCW self, for reasons relating to, chiefly, removing the damage of Tatooine absolutely destroying his body alongside PTSD-driven alcoholism, but also because fic writers are horny, and Ewan McGregor playing a late-thirties negotiator is on average more appealing to people than Alec Guinness playing a vaguely feral desert hermit.

So, here’s how it plays out:

We take Luke and Ben from some point in the OT. There are a variety of options depending on how angsty we want it to be. My first instinct is ‘right after Owen and Beru die’ but I want to have that sweet angst where Luke knows that his dad is Vader and that Obi-Wan was trying to convince him to kill his own father without telling him that.

We’ll go with shortly after Bespin, and then they end up significantly before TPM. The Obi-Wan of the timeline proper is, eh, let’s say eighteen. Not really ready to be a knight, but old enough that we don’t have to worry about “if we go save Shmi, do we somehow wipe out Anakin?” which is absolutely a worry. Anakin is a toddler, and is in no place to be evil, on account of being literally two years old. He can’t even explode people with his brain yet.

Now, Ben finds himself mid-thirties, as is traditional. He’s not upset at this, because his joints hurt so much less than they used to! His knees aren’t exactly teenage-perfect, but by the Force are they better than they were in the years before he died! His hair has color! He doesn’t have arthritis! And, goodness, no physical withdrawal symptoms! The psychological aspect is still there, but nonetheless, he’s in much better shape than he last remembers being.

Luke looks like he’s about six. He was recently twenty-two. This is not an upgrade. Ben keeps having to carry him. He can’t see over the counter when they enter a bar for information. He can’t enter the bar in the first place. He’s very annoyed by all of this.

Ben is not annoyed. Ben is having a lot of emotions, actually, but annoyance isn’t one of them. He didn’t get to help raise Luke the way he might have if Anakin hadn’t lost his shit, okay, he sees a small Luke and he wants to hug him and cry.

Luke would like to be able to purchase a speeder part without the lady at the stall asking him if he needs his “dad’s” permission.

Once they figure out when and where they are, they need to decide where and how to leave. There are general shenanigans to gamble their way into enough money to hire a ship. They are in the ass end of nowhere, but definitely not Tatooine. There appears to be a jungle. There appears to be a significant variety of man-eating creatures. There appears to be a temple to the Force of questionable origin. None of this is actually helpful, except for the moment they find a “baby’s first lightsaber” in the temple.

Luke only has one hand and, being a six-year-old, his body is growing too fast for him to bother with getting a wired-in prosthesis the way he could as an adult. He can get a more basic prosthesis, but nothing that attaches to the neurons. He’ll outgrow it too fast.

He’s tiny and he’s not used to doing things with just one hand. He uses the Force to do what one hand can't, and every time someone tries to tell him he's misusing the Force he whaps them with the empty sleeve.

So, you know, they find out what year it is. Ben has a breakdown. Luke is upset that he left behind his friends. Ben admits to him that Leia was his twin. Luke stares in horror because dude, she kissed him, you couldn’t have mentioned this earlier???

Ben points out that Beru and Owen were keeping Luke away from him for nineteen years, and then they had about three days of awkward travel to find Leia in the first place, and then Ben died. He didn’t have a whole lot of time to figure out how to tell him.

(This sparks an argument that lasts several days. All onlookers assume that Ben’s son is throwing a tantrum. He doesn’t correct them, even though this is a very valid reason to be upset, because the truth is much harder to explain.)

Sooooo they travel. Mostly, Ben plays Sabacc, cleans house, and pays their way towards Coruscant. Luke still really wants to learn to be a Proper Jedi, even though Ben is pretty sure that Luke would have... a lot of difference of opinion with the Temple, but sure. Coruscant. They can at least stop by, and see Qui-Gon, and Mace, and Quinlan, and Bant, and everyone else that’s still alive and not tragically deceased in the horror following the start of the Clone Wars and then the birth of the Empire, and Ben can have a nice sob over all his dead friends being alive again.

Ben is only barely holding it together while Luke is in the room with him at any given point. But it’s fine! It’s fine. He’s fine. All of his loved ones have come back to life! It’s great! HE’S FINE.

He is not fine.

Luke is also grieving all the people who haven’t been born yet, but he’s... significantly more okay than Ben is.

The closer they get to the Core, the more often people just assume Ben is Luke’s father, and then look shocked and uncomfortable when Luke flatly calls him by his name, and they just... compromise. This is the point at which Luke starts calling him “Uncle Ben.”

Ben cries in his bunk later that night. Luke overhears it and wonders how the HELL Ben is more unstable now, when there’s a chance to fix things and no Vader or Empire trying to kill or capture both of them, and all his friends are alive.

(Luke will later learn a lot about PTSD and realize this is actually a fairly normal situation, to process significant events and emotions only after gaining safety or catharsis.)

(Twenty years on a ball of sand with an alcohol addiction and debilitating fear of the man you raised as your own brother is not, in fact, safe or cathartic.)

At any rate, they’ve settled into that pattern by the time they reach the Inner Rim. The Inner Rim is the part of the galaxy at which they’ve collected enough money (and mental stability) to travel a little better, and to take a few more risks.

Risks like “manipulate people with those baby blues.”

Ben tells Luke that he’s a menace, after he pouts so cutely that he gets a free scarf added on to a purchase that Ben makes. Luke responds that Ben has no room to talk, since he flirted a free breakfast out of that one inn owner.

Also, Luke is currently physically six. That is objectively a situation that sucks. He deserves to use it for all it’s worth if he’s stuck like this.

“You know, if you keep wearing all-black and looking longingly at the velvet cape and Space Chanel boots, the temple is going to worry that you’re a darksider.”

“Uncle Ben... you told me, yesterday, that I sparkle so brightly in the Force that it’s almost blinding.”

“Yes, but the gloves--”

They don’t agree on this, but Ben relents. He does actually understand good fashion, unfortunately, and he’s not unaware of how much Leia taught Luke about such things.

Luke’s about forty years ahead of the curve, of course, but Skywalkers are prone to such things. It’s usually in regards to technology, granted, but...

They get to Coruscant. Ben is very obviously a Jedi. He knows all the right words and walks like a Soresu master and feels warm and comforting in the Force. They let him in with minimal questions. They note down “my first padawan left the order to have a child, but died shortly after; I consider Luke here to be my nephew, and have raised him as such,” and move on.

Luke is vaguely annoyed because he already had an uncle (and aunt) that raised him, but he admits that a person can have more than one uncle. He can live with this. Ben was more family to Anakin than Owen was, in some ways, so it’s kind of true. Luke is even working on feeling more childish affection for Ben instead of the complicated mess of emotions that come from being lied to about some very large and important subjects, and then seeing the person saying those lies have regular emotional breakdowns due to something as small as Luke saying he likes the curve of the hull on that freighter.

(Apparently he sounds just like his father did as a child. This is almost heartwarming.)

The thing is! The thing. The thing is, they almost make it to the Halls of Healing to get looked over for weird viruses, or Outer Rim Parasites, or whatever the hells needs to be happening. They almost make it without Ben having a flashback to dead younglings or brainwashed troopers or the declaration of a Sith Empire. They almost make it without incident.

Then Ben sees Qui-Gon, and freezes, and does not move again.

Luke cannot get him to restart.

People are staring.

They haven’t even made it to Medical, Uncle Ben, come on.

Young, local Obi-Wan comes over and asks if there’s something he can do to help. Or maybe this “Ben” knows Qui-Gon? Master Jinn doesn’t recognize Ben, but maybe Luke knows more?

Luke does know more, but what Luke actually says is “he probably needs a mind healer.”

(Ben will not appreciate this.)

(Ben is unfortunately standing in the middle of the hallway and completely unresponsive, and is unable to argue with this assertion.)

(Ben is pretty much proving this assertion entirely correct, actually.)

Obi-Wan is helpful, if a little bitchy in the manner of most late-teens individuals, and offers to help get Uncle Ben down to the Halls of Healing. It involves Obi-Wan gently pushing on Ben’s shoulders, and Qui-Gon offering to carry Luke so he can be in Ben’s sights (because Ben is a Mystery, and Qui-Gon is quite fond of those, so he wants to stay involved). Ben kind of just... shuffles on down.

There are medical tests. They ask about how Luke lost his hand. He refuses to talk about it. They ask how Ben got all his scars. Luke says he doesn’t know. They ask if he knows why Ben looks like he’s been through a war. Luke says it’s because he probably was.

They check for foreign viruses. They find evidence of thus-far-unpatented vaccinations. They ask Luke if he knows what he’s vaccinated for.

“How would I know? I’m six.”

They agree that this is a good excuse.

(It is not. He’s lying. They do not know this.)

They do some more tests. They find a lot of questionable medical bullshit in Ben’s body. Most of this is from the clone wars, but they don’t know this. Someone realizes they haven’t gotten a ping back from the Shadow Network regarding “do we have permission to pull the medical file of a Jedi that isn’t in the normal database? We’re assuming you know who he is, since we don’t.”

The Shadow Network does not know who Ben is.

The healers, of course, go “huh, that’s weird, but maybe the name he gave his nephew was fake. We can’t exactly ask ‘Ben’ for more details right now. We already had to sedate him. Let’s check the DNA!”

The DNA pulls up as Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The padawan who brought this guy in two hours ago.

“Huh, that’s weird. Let’s call in Kenobi and ask if he knows what’s going on.”

Obi-Wan absolutely does not know what’s going on.

They ask Luke.

“Oh, I don’t know,” he says, lying through his teeth and not even pretending otherwise.

“You’re not a very good liar,” teenage Obi-Wan tells him.

“I’m not trying to be,” Luke says. “Can you get Master Yoda? I feel like we’re going to need him.”

They normally wouldn’t get Yoda on the request of a six-year-old, but they also normally don’t have a catatonic thirty-something Jedi who looks like he’s been through a war popping up in the medical database as the pimply teenage padawan that broke his pinky trying to do a Badass Ataru Flip last week.

Or... whatever Luke i... is... oh dear.

“Young one,” Qui-Gon asks, while people whisper-shout behind him, not realizing he’s cutting the Correlian Knot and just asking the kid himself. “Do you know why your midichlorian count is so high? It’s almost unheard of.”

“Uncle Ben said my dad was the Chosen One,” Luke says, because he is capable of being a little shit and is actually really eager to let Ben deal with some of the fallout. He feels for the man, really, but he’s also tired of being the one to field every single question.

Also, the expressions that pass on Qui-Gon’s face are hilarious.

(Luke may or may not be more affected by his six-year-old brain than he would like to admit.)

“Thank you,” Qui-Gon says, sounding more than a little strangled about it.

It takes another three hours for Ben to wake up.

He listens to the questions. He hears what they say his ‘nephew’ said. He looks at Luke.

“Is this revenge for not telling you about Leia?”

“It’s not revenge,” Luke does not lie. “I just don’t know how to explain it.”

“It’s pretty easy to explain.”

“It’s not my secret.”

“This is revenge for the Leia thing.”

“No,” Luke says. “Revenge for the Leia thing was when I ate a live frog in front of you.”

This is the point at which someone interrupts and points out that they appear to be stalling.

“Oh, he is,” Luke tells them. He gestures at Ben. “I can’t tell you more, because it’s more his story than mine.”

“I’m afraid, Master, that I am very likely to have an emotional breakdown if I allow myself to consider the reality of this situation for longer than the fraction of a second I already have,” Ben reports, full of false cheer. “Suffice to say, I am far from stable and have only held out this far for Luke’s sake.”

“Can you explain why you have my DNA?” Obi-Wan asks, as the person who’s most concerningly involved in this situation.

“You can,” Ben says, smiling like there is absolutely nothing wrong in the slightest, ever. “I’m you, from the future. I actually died and spent a few years dead before coming back. I’m not sure why I’m younger than I was when I died, but I appreciate being able to put on my shoes without my knees attempting to mutiny.”

“He needs a mind healer,” Luke reiterates, in case the strained grin hasn’t made it clear. “So do I, but not as much.”

“I have felt literally every person in this Temple save for Luke and Yoda die,” Ben reports, looking a shade more manic than a few seconds earlier. “It’s very overwhelming to feel you all being alive again. I may be approaching a mental breakdown, and I’ve been rather strictly advised against using alcohol to treat my traumas again.”

Luke kicks him in the thigh. It’s not a very hard kick, because he is very small, and he does actually like Ben. “I’m not letting you turn into an old drunk again.”

After several seconds of silence, a healer quietly suggests that everyone clear the room, and asks if someone could fetch Master Yoda as the youngling requested.

(THIS IS ALMOST THREE THOUSAND WORDS. I started it less than two hours ago. Why am I like this.)

[princesskokichi]

Makoto, Leon and Mondo with a fem S/O who looks like Byakuya

I had lot of fun writing this!

Thank you for the request, anon, and have a great day!

-Mod Kaede

M A K O T O

- Saying it was a difficult adjustment for him is an understatement: he really likes you, but is hesitant to try any form of affection because of the standoffish and generally disturbing nature of your look-alike

- Even just greeting you with a hug comes with a pause before making awkward eye contact with Byakuya, who glances by with a grimace that almost makes Makoto retract from trying to approach you

- Only almost though- he still doesn't hold back from giving you the biggest hugs and cute kisses regardless since his love for you significantly outweighs his fears of Byakuya

- Plus, he's gotten better at ignoring how similar you look; especially since he already knows how kind you are, and how much your interests and lifestyles differ from one another

- At first, you found it kind of funny -how he would sometimes freak out a little when showing his affections- but it would get slightly bothersome with how Byakuya would get annoyed by your small acts of even holding hands around him

- Luckily, he has calmed down a little since your relationship first started. Now, he has mastered the art of minding his own business and ignoring the socially acceptable forms of PDA (kissing still brings back old habits though- why were you two even kissing in public anyway? Ew)

- Life has become a little harder for Makoto now, though, since he is starting to see you whenever he looks at Byakuya- the suffering never ends...

L E O N

- If it was any other person, Leon would have never dated anyone who looked like the snobby rich boy that is Byakuya. Since it was you, however, someone who was repeatedly shown to be kind-hearted while simultaneously being cool enough for someone like him, he had to reconsider

- Dating you wasn't bad at all, he thoroughly enjoyed each second he spent with you -whether or not he made that clear is up to interpretation- but he had to make sure those seconds were as far away from Byakuya as possible

- This hadn't worked so well in the beginning; even with you understanding that most people have had some sort of negative experience with Byakuya which sometimes affected their treatment of you, it was hard to appreciate being dragged around all the time just to be able to hug your own boyfriend

- Eventually, you confronted Leon about how his actions mad you feel- it wasn't as if Byakuya didn't know the two of you were dating, neither would it matter seeing as it wasn't even any of his business. In the end, Leon had decided he wanted to be more upfront with his affections if it ment it would make you feel more comfortable

- Overtime, he had managed to date you more openly, even going as far as to loudly proclaim his love for you right in front of the entire class! You appreciated the thought but really Leon, this isn't what you meant when you said you wanted him to show how he feels about you more openly

- He even went as far as to directly talk to Byakuya about it, he thinks it was a successful attempt judging by Byakuya's general nature:

- "Me and S/O are dating! If you cannot handle the fact that I am smooching someone who looks exactly like you then you need to mind your own business!"

- "Oh jesus lord almighty, Leon don't phrase it like that you'll scare him off-"

- "You imbecile, I don't care if you and S/O are dating but stop using such vile language before I call my lawyer to sue you for assaulting my ears with such disturbing vocabulary."

- Good job, Leon, you'll be able to smooch S/O all you want after getting past a few highly trained lawyers!

M O N D O

- Surprisingly (or maybe not so much), Mondo doesn't mind how similar you look to Byakuya! He doesn't really talk to him that much seeing as he finds him rude and annoying, so it's easy for him to give you affection within his usual boundaries

- If anything, the problem resides more in Byakuya himself: having spent more time around you, it's more of a challenge of trying not to mistake Byakuya for you every 5 seconds you aren't in his sights

- This leads to a rise in tensions between the two that wasn't really there originally, though he tries to keep his cool throughout it all for your sake. Despite this, you don't really seem to mind and are actually rather amused whenever you catch Mondo walking up to Byakuya thinking it was you

- More often then not, it ends with Byakuya scolding Mondo for wasting his time and Mondo beginning to raise his voice when his anger starts getting a hold of him. When it gets to this point, however, you always manage to step out just in time to de-escalate the argument before it gets too heated

- Mondo has been making attempts to control his anger, especially within your presence- even Byakuya tries to make it easier for the both of you by holding back any snarky comments he feels entitled to make at the time

- Mondo isn't an overly affectionate person or anything, so it's safe to say most PDA is out of the question. You think Byakuya is rather greatful for that, at least. Still, you attempt to keep them away from each other most times and especially when you are having affectionate moments with Mondo

- Overall, it seems as though this was a test of Mondo and Byakuya's patience with one another, of which they are both barely passing

[mimzy-writing-online]

Hello. I had a question regarding your post about blind characters. I have a character in my WIP that must cover their eyes.. but it’s blind. He may need to tell people he is blind to explain why he covers his eyes though. I was wondering how I might write this character without offending. Thank you :)

I think I want to start by explaining the “covering blind eyes” trope and why it has become a harmful trope. I think understanding why it’s hurtful helps everyone learn how to handle it better.

I would guess that the “blind people wear sunglasses” trope comes from Hollywood for the specific reason of 1. wanting to signal to the audience that the character is obviously blind and 2. avoid breaking the suspension of disbelief by preventing the audience from catching the sighted actor look at visual stimuli (because disabled characters are almost always played by able actors).

But this changed the way the public expects to experience blindness. If watching a sighted actor wear sunglasses and say he’s blind is all the exposure to the blind community a person has had, that’s the only model of blindness they’ll recognize. If they meet a blind person in real life who doesn’t wear sunglasses, it’s going to break this built perception and cause an uncomfortable cognitive dissonance. 

And then there is the common “cloudy-white blank gaze” that pops up in media. It stems from the fact that cataracts is the most common cause of blindness and the appearance of severe cataracts is a cloudy film in the eyes obscuring the iris and pupil. It can also alter what color a person’s eyes appears to be, making them appear paler and grey in the beginning and then as the cataract advances it becomes more yellow/brown and alters a person’s vision to appear more yellow tinted.

There are lots of other eye conditions that makes the eyes look visibly different. Albinism for instance affects the color and structure of the iris. Eyes might be congenitally misshapen. The muscles might be weak or not work and one or both eyes point significantly outward. Someone who was born blind and experienced no visual stimuli might also have weak muscles around their eyes because they never had a reason to focus their eyes on anything.

And unfortunately humans have the habit of feeling uncomfortable when they meet someone who looks very obviously different from the norm, whether that’s a personal style choice (hair color and style, tattoos, clothing choices) or something they can’t help (a visible disability, skin color, scars). 

To the paragraph above, @gothhabiba replied with:  “it's very weird & ahistorical to claim that racism or ableism are some kind of natural "human" trait.. like frankly it's apologia”

You’re right, I wasn’t thinking beyond that generalization or assumption.

Perhaps a better way to put it is: I was raised in a society where I was taught from childhood to think that there was only one kind of human being to be. White, cis, straight, abled, conservative. That’s a very western thing and that’s a thing I’m going to constantly be unlearning.

Racism and ableism and homophobia aren’t innate, that’s a western thing that was forced onto the rest of the world by colonialism. And because western media created this idea that the world is white, abled, cis, straight, and Christian-value leaning, it taught people to think that was the norm so that seeing someone different from that archetype would cause a cognitive dissonance, which causes discomfort.

And instead of working past that cognitive dissonance to learn more and realize there’s so much more to life than media taught you, society encourages you to ignore that cognitive dissonance by sticking your head in the sand-- or TV screen.

So combine these two tropes or common beliefs together and you get something a little dangerous: the idea that blind people cover their eyes because they look obviously different and they’re ashamed (or should be ashamed) of that.

And if you’re someone who’s just gone blind or who was born blind and you have little to no contact with the blind community, then this societal belief that you should be ashamed of how your eyes look becomes detrimental to your self-esteem and further builds internalized ableism.

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve read or watched a blind character cover their eyes with sunglasses because they were ashamed of how their eyes looked. And I distinctly remember a few times where a sighted friend of the character was trying to convince them to stop wearing sunglasses because there’s nothing wrong with looking different--which is true, but it plays into this fantasy of being the perfect abled ally who saves the blind character from being miserable. 

In an ideal world, the character has no reason to believe looking different is a bad thing or diminishes their worth or makes people dislike them. And if they develop this belief, it’s more likely that someone more involved in the disabled community, most likely someone disabled themselves, will set them straight. Or that the character will learn to accept themselves on their own, looks included.

But there are some perfectly valid reasons for any blind person to wear sunglasses. They might have an interest in fashion and sunglasses complete the look they’re going for. They could want to protect their eyes from UV rays while they’re outside. They may experience light sensitivity and sunglasses reduces any discomfort or pain. Those are incredibly common reasons to wear sunglasses whether you’re sighted or blind.

But there are some more complicated situations.

In your words, your character must cover his eyes. You never specified why, so my primary guess is that he has some kind of power that is unpleasant or has devastating affects and the only way to prevent it is to keep his eyes covered. My primary guess stems from this post where an anon and I discussed a retelling of Medusa, a hypothetical blinding of oneself to avoid ever killing anyone ever again, and what I think I would do if I was in that scenario.

So how do you write a blind character who must cover their eyes and avoid some of the complications?

1. Your character must always have the ability to say “fuck off, it’s my business, I don’t have to tell you why I’m blind or why I cover my eyes.”

Most blind people really, really don’t want to get into the nitty-gritty of why they’re blind and how they feel about it and what it’s like being blind with a stranger they’ll never see again or a new acquaintance they don’t know well yet. You have exceptions to that rule where sure, educating the public about blindness is a thing you want to do and you’re committed to helping your community, but I still have days where I don’t want to talk about being blind or disclose my medical crap.

And if someone doesn’t respect their right to their privacy or pushes too much, the blind character is allowed to be angry, is allowed to tell them off and complain without anyone else in the situation vilifying them or saying they’re “overreacting” and “should have just disclosed private information because big deal or whatever.” If they are angry, that’s their right, and it’s not unreasonable, it doesn’t make them a bad person.

2. Your character should not be ashamed of being blind or of covering their eyes. It is a part of their life, they’re used to it by now, even if they weren’t in the beginning.

The shame and internalized ableism is something that should be written about, but that’s for an own-voices story with a blind author. I don’t think an abled person will ever be able to understand how much society expects you to hate yourself and your disability because “being disabled is a tragic thing that ruins your life” and how that does affect your mental health, self esteem, your relationships with others, your medical care, and what kind of accommodations you can get.

3. It wouldn’t hurt to have a few sarcastic lines in response to uncomfortable conversations.

Stranger: so what’s with the...

Blind Character: what’s with what?

S: the... you know

BC: you’re gonna have to be a bit more specific

S: Your eyes?

BC: They’re... eyes

S: but you’re...

BC: Blind?

S: uh...

BC: yeah, I’m blind. *walks away*

Or this conversation:

S: *to some other character* so why are his eyes covered?

(author’s note: which, honestly, that’s fucking rude. At least have the guts to ask me yourself)

BC: If I look anyone in the eye they instantly perish.

*awkward silence*

BC: instantly.

Friend: It’s truly tragic

BC: *melancholic* that’s how I lost my sister. *chokes up* She was so young

Or this conversation:

S: Why are you wearing that?

BC: It’s called fashion Karen!

Or this conversation:

S: are you like... blind?

BC: yes?? why wouldn’t I be?? Wait, are you sighted? Are you one of those sighted people? You poor thing! What caused you to gain your sight? Do you have a car? A bike? Were you born sighted? What’s it like to see color? Do you miss not having to see 

God, I want a chance to try that last one. I haven’t interacted with a stranger in almost a year. One day...

4. Honestly, it’d also be cool if someone’s reaction to your character covering their eyes was like, “cool sunglasses,” or “cool *insert random character, even one you made up* cosplay,” (which is ten times funnier if this character is a notable figure in modern society like an actor who people might cosplay). 

5. You know, if he’s covering his eyes with some kind of blindfold, he should totally have custom blindfolds for his moods. Like, I have a mask that says “suck it up buttercup” and another that says “not today” because sometimes that’s the mood. And sometimes the mood is one of my floral masks, and sometimes the mood is my cat mask.

So, just some thoughts. I hope that helps.

Edit: a commenter said: “op, unless i'm mistaken this kind of reads like anon meant the character ISN'T blind but lies about being blind to explain covering their eyes? it seems like they made a typo on the word "isn't"”

So my original response to the question was based on the assumption that the character is blind. However,

If the character is not blind, then do not under any circumstances have them lie and say they’re blind to escape a mild inconvenience. 

It’s better to have the character actually explain the situation or straight up leave the conversation or invent a more ridiculous lie than to perpetuate the very real stereotype and misconception that there are people who fake being blind and therefore it’s okay to discriminate or harass them if you even suspect they’re faking.

Do not under any circumstances perpetuate that stereotype. Do not harass someone because you don’t think they’re blind enough.

[jianswordbi-sokka]

I’ve been thinking an awful lot about Sokka’s meteorite sword lately (like, a lot a lot). Since it happens to fall at the exact intersection of my areas of interest, I thought I’d put together a bit of an analysis on said sword, the meteorite it came from, and the implications it has for the broader Avatar universe. 

First things first let’s clarify a couple terms here: a meteorite is, technically speaking, a particle of solid material that has fallen to the surface of a planetary body from space. A meteoroid is that same fragment of rock before it reaches the ground. A meteor is the light created by the meteoroid as it transits through the atmosphere, otherwise known as a fireball or shooting star. If we’re being totally accurate, Sokka’s sword would be referred to as a meteorite sword, not a meteor sword (I’m looking at you, atla wiki).

Now let’s consider the actual fall of the meteorite, and what the atla team got right and wrong:

1)     The meteor shower: meteor showers occur at specific times of year when the orbit of a planet passes through an area that is relatively dense in particle which burn up in the planet’s atmosphere. Most of these particles are quite small, usually no more than the size of a grain of sand, and meteor shows are not specifically associated with the fall of meteorites, although it would not be impossible for a meteorite to result during a meteor shower. Interestingly, during a meteor shower the meteors will all appear to originate from a single point, while the meteor which produced Sokka’s meteorite did not originate from the same place as the other meteors – which would suggest it came from another direction and location, and its fall at the same time was merely a coincidence.

2)     The dark flight stage: Smaller meteoroids which do not produce large craters when they impact, but they will produce a fireball as they transit the atmosphere and are heated and ablated. However, the atmosphere slows them as they transit, and once they reach terminal velocity, where ablation stops, they enter a stage know as dark flight, where the stone continues to fly through the air for a period of time, but no more light is produced. This is more common for smaller stones, which are more easily slowed by the atmosphere, but large meteorites, including the largest single meteorite ever recovered, Hoba (which interestingly does not have an associated crater despite its large size – perhaps as a result of its shape causing it to slow significantly during its fall), may have experienced a similar effect. The reason I think this meteorite should have had a dark flight stage is because it remained intact upon impact.

3)     The crater – this meteorite did not, however, have a dark flight stage – rather, it produced a crater. Whether or not an impacting meteorite will result in a crater depends on a variety of factors, primarily its velocity and mass, but also affected by its makeup, what it is impacting into, the gravity of the planet (which primarily determines the shape of the crater for a particular impactor), etc. A general rule of thumb is that a stone larger than 10 meters in diameter and 100 tons will likely produce a crater. That is obviously not the case as shown here, but that does not necessarily mean this meteorite could not have produced a crater. The Whitecourt meteorite, for example, is believed to have been only ~1 meter in diameter, and produced a crater 36 meters in diameter and 6 meters deep (the crater pictured above). However, what is wrong here is that generally meteorites which produce craters will vaporize, melt, or fragment on impact, which is not the case with Sokka’s meteorite. Meteorites which remain intact tend to be traveling much slower, and so do not generally produce craters – hence either this intact meteorite should not have formed a crater and would probably have experienced dark flight, or else the crater should not have a single intact meteorite like it does.

4)     The strike: meteorite strikes are violent processes which excavate material surrounding the strike location – this is what forms the crater depression. This material then falls back to the ground, forming what is called an ejecta blanket around the crater, which is not observed in the show. But, meteorite impacts certainly can cause fires – returning to the Whitecourt crater, above the layer of its ejecta blanket is a layer of charcoal thought to have formed as a result of a forest fire started by the impact!

But could Sokka even have made a sword out of the meteorite material? The simple answer is yes – there are numerous historical cases of meteoritic iron being used to make blades (such as the dagger pictured above), including, interestingly enough, by people living in the Canadian arctic and Greenland, and there’s even a replica of Sokka’s sword forged using meteoritic iron (in part). This is due mainly to the fact that meteorites are an easy source of native iron, while other sources of iron such as the minerals magnetite and hematite require significant processing such as smelting to recover their iron components.

The more complicated answer is a heavy maybe, for a few reasons: While it is true that some meteorites are primarily composed of metal – which are called iron meteorites (top image), although they contain a fair amount of nickel as well, and often contain mineral impurities – these make up only about 5% of all meteorites ever recovered. The remainder is mostly what are known as stony meteorites (bottom image), and although these tend to have higher proportions of metal and iron-bearing minerals than many Earth rocks, it would not be nearly enough to forge a sword from. So, in other words, Sokka would need to be incredibly lucky.

The other reason has to do primarily with the nature of iron meteorites compared to most steel. Namely the mineral inclusions previously mentioned would likely constitute impurities in the metal which would actually weaken it, rather than strengthen it. Additionally, most steel contains at least some quantity of carbon, which helps the blade hold an edge and increases its strength (although it also contributes to brittleness).

But, is Sokka’s sword even made out of iron at all? Meteoritic iron doesn’t have any special properties compared to terrestrial iron that would make it stronger or able to cut through other metals, and nothing that would inherently produce the characteristic black colour of Sokka’s sword. So maybe in the Avatar universe, their meteorites are not made of iron-nickel metal at all, but some other kind of metal…

Take zirconium on the other hand. When heated to high temperatures (as is presumably the case during forging), the oxidation of the outer surface of the metal does produce a black layer, like we see on Sokka’s sword, and zirconium oxide knives do exist – of course, zirconium oxide is actually a ceramic, not a metal (the making of which is more complicated than just heating the metal), and so while its hardness is greater than that of steel, and reportedly zirconium oxide knives appear to hold their edge better (which has to do with the way ceramic blade wear in comparison to steel blades), they are also far more brittle than steel. Still, a zirconium blade could potentially explain some of the interesting properties of Sokka’s sword.

What, then, does this say about the Avatar world? Well to discuss that you need to know a little bit about iron meteorites. These meteorites are sourced from the metallic cores of fragmented planetesimals in the asteroid belt. Just like the core of the Earth, they are made up mostly of iron and nickel, because these are two of the most common heavy metallic elements, which separate as a result of gravitational forces because of their mass during planetary differentiation (when planetary bodies segregate into layers of crust, mantle, and core). So perhaps in the atla universe, zirconium is in high enough abundance that it could form at least a portion of the cores of planets there.

Which is weird, to say the least. Not just because its inconsistent with our own solar system, but because in the universe in general, the abundances of elements heavier than iron tend to drop off quite sharply, because they’re not generally produced during the normal life of an average star. Since zirconium (Zr) is heavier than iron (Fe), it should be far less common. But if it really were what was making up the metal in Sokka’s sword, their solar system would certainly be quite a remarkable one.

Of course, its far, far more likely that the look and properties of Sokka’s sword, and its meteoritic origin are just an excuse to give him a badass weapon. And honestly, he deserves it, so we can overlook the inaccuracy, even if it is fun to think about…