#so i’d say this is incredibly plausible

[roanofarc]

starting a new conspiracy theory that august and jane from one last stop (the wlw romance by the author of red white and royal blue) are actually just usamericanized genderbent wolfstar

[boba-beom]

basketballers taehyun and yeonjun at a varsity / quick thoughts sfw

going to watch the varsity game for your bsf taehyun but little did you know the opposing team had an incredibly hot player, and he was team captain too.

while you’re watching the game you concentrate on taehyun, cheering for him and his team until the ball goes to captain of the opposing team and you’re there watching him with heart eyes. before he shoots a three pointer he quickly looks in your direction, smirking and almost looked like he scoffed to himself and he really shoot his shot. you find yourself applauding for that three pointer and taehyun’s looking at you with an incredulous expression wiped all over his face.

as each quarter passed, so does team captain of the opposing team. he huddles with his team before looking back. you were unsure if you were being delusional but it seemed plausible. as the game continues on you realise your bsf’s team’s score is way past the opposing, with a good 12 point difference. the buzzer indicates the end of the game and the crowd cheers for the home team.

taehyun’s teammates gather around each other, even their friends from the crowd join in the huddle as you make your way down the seats. you tip-toe, searching for your best friend, the one who you came to support. and you did. until you felt a light tap on your shoulder.

team captain from the opposing team standing in front of you with a boyish grin and beads of sweat falling off the tips of his hair and onto his forehead. you couldn’t help but blush from the way he’s slightly towering over you.

“hi, is this your first time watching?” he asks you, not thinking that’d be what he’d say. and all you do is nod in response, your doe eyes almost having him trip on his words. “I thought so, you’re really pretty and it’d be hard to miss.”

you feel like squealing, and internally you are.

“I’m yeonjun, by the way.” he puts his hand out as you shake his politely and give him your name in return. but he repeats it, whispering it to himself with a smirk on his lips, almost like he doesn’t want to forget your name. and it sounds good as it fell from his lips.

“you did really well tonight, yeonjun. I’m sorry you didn’t win.” your voice is so gentle, he’s feeling butterflies in his stomach for the first time that evening.

“it’s okay, I got to meet you though.” he chuckles, and you do too. “you think I can get your number? I’d love to get to know you more.”

you nod, biting back your smile a little. “yeah, I’d like that.”

“yeah?” he teases, giving you his phone and letting you put in your number in his contacts with your name and a heart emoji next to it.

once you pass his phone back to him you hear your name being called by no other than taehyun. you turn to see him walking past his friends and teammates to make his way to you, then turn back to look at yeonjun who’s walking backwards, getting dragged by his teammates for photos, all while he shakes his phone in his hand and mouthing ‘I’ll call you.’ with the cutest wink (blink) you’ve ever seen. you couldn’t help but shake your head with an amused scoff to yourself.

© BOBA-BEOM ; all rights reserved. do not repost, copy, alter or translate in any way or platform.

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #5 – The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

I read Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea last year and, despite thinking it was ultimately kind of a noble failure, liked it more than enough to give his new novella a try. It didn’t hurt that the premise as described in the marketing copy sounded incredible. I can’t quite say it was worth it, but that’s really only because this novella barely cost less than the 500-page doorstopper I picked up at the same time and I need to consider economies here – it absolutely lived up to the promise of its premise.

The book is set a century and change into the future, when a de-extinction initiative has gotten funding from the Russian government to resurrect the Siberian mammoth – or, at least, splice together a chimera that’s close-enough and birth it from african elephant surrogate mothers – to begin the process of restoring the prehistoric taiga as a carbon sink. The problem: there’s no one on earth left who knows how wild mammoth are supposed to, like, live- the only surviving elephants have been living in captivity for generations. Plop the ressurectees in the wilderness and they’ll just be very confused and anxious until they starve. The solution: the technology to capture a perfect image of a human mind is quite old, and due to winning some prestigious international award our protagonist – an obsessive partisan of elephant conservation – was basically forced to have her mind copied and put in storage a few months before she was killed by poachers.

So the solution of who will raise and socialize these newly created mammoths is ‘the 100-year-old ghost of an elephant expert, after having her consciousness reincarnated in a mammoth’s body to lead the first herd as the most mature matriarch’. It works better than you’d expect, really, but as it turns out she has some rather strong opinions about poachers, and isn’t necessarily very understanding when the solution found to keep the project funded involves letting some oligarch spend a small country’s GDP on the chance to shoot a bull and take some trophies.

So this is a novella, and a fairly short one – it’s densely packed with ideas but the length and the constraints of narrative mean that they’re more evoked or presented than carefully considered. This mostly jumps out at me with how the book approaches wildlife conservation – a theme that was also one of the overriding concerns of Mountain where it was considered at much greater length. I actually think the shorter length might have done Nayler a service here, if only because it let him focus things on one specific episode and finish things with a more equivocal and ambiguous ending than the saccharine deux ex machina he felt compelled to resort to in Mountain.

The protection of wildlife is pretty clearly something he’s deeply invested in – even if he didn’t outright say so in the acknowledgements, it just about sings out from the pages of both books. Specifically, he’s pretty despairing about it – both books to a great extent turn around how you convince the world at large to allow these animals to live undisturbed when all the economic incentives point the other way, a question he seems quite acutely aware he lacks a good answer to.

Like everyone else whose parents had Jurassic Park on VHS growing up, I’ve always found the science of de-extinction intensely fascinating – especially as it becomes more and more plausible every day. This book wouldn’t have drawn my eye to nearly the degree it did if I don’t remember the exact feature article I’d bet real money inspired it about a group of scientists trying to do, well, exactly the same thing as the de-extinctionists do in the book (digital resurrection aside). The book actually examines the project with an eye to practicalities and logistics – and moreover, portrays it as at base a fundamentally heroic, noble undertaking as opposed to yet another morality tale about scientific hubris. So even disregarding everything else it had pretty much already won me over just with that.

The book’s portrayal of the future and technology more generally is broader and less carefully considered, but it still rang truer than the vast majority of sci fi does – which is, I suppose, another way of saying that it’s a weathered and weather-beaten world with new and better toys, but one still very fundamentally recognizable as our own, without any great revolutions or apocalyptic ruptures in the interim. Mosquito's got CRISPR’d into nonexistence and elephants were poached into extinction outside of captivity, children play with cybernetically controlled drones and the president of the Russian Federation may or may not be a digital ghost incarnated into a series of purpose-grown clones, but for all that it’s still the same shitty old earth. It’s rather charming, really.

[fe-fictions]

I need my husband saizo. Can we pregnant corrin who isn’t able to sleep cause the baby is keeping her awake

(Starting 2024 with some sweet Saizo fluff!! Enjoy :'3 )

Saizo was always a light sleeper. You, the princess who bore the weight of two kingdoms and a supernatural plain of existence’s futures on your shoulders, were not. 

You could sleep through just about anything. 

Except, it seemed, your sixth month of pregnancy.

“Dammit…” You sounded incredibly upset, and rather agitated when he felt the bed shift next to him. “C’mon, why are you doing this to me now? It’s not a good time for this…”

Saizo rose slowly, quietly, checking to see what was going on. You weren’t talking to anybody else in the room…that you noticed.

“Please...I just want to sleep.”

“Corrin? Who are you talking to?” He spoke quietly so as not to frighten you. He was deeply slightly concerned.

“It’s the baby.” You replied hopelessly, tilting your head to acknowledge your awake husband. “I-I’m sorry, did I accidentally wake you up with my complaining? At least one of us should get a good night’s sleep.”

“If you do not sleep, I do not, either.” He stated simply, sitting up fully. “Is there anything I can do?”

“I don’t know…I’ve never had a living creature inside of me that won’t stop moving around. Should we summon a cleric? Sakura might be more knowledgeable, but I’d hate to wake her.”

“Hmm. Let me check the medical journals before we summon anyone. It should not be so difficult to resolve…unless you are feeling pain or discomfort.”

“No, just…can’t sleep.” You sighed, flopping back into your pillow with a groan as said baby kicked again for good measure. “It’s unnerving, feeling him move about so much.”

“Saizo. Be still.” His voice was gruff, but lacked the usual bite when pointed at others. He rose from the bed and found the journals, re-settling himself at your side with the candles lit to provide some visibility.

“Let us see…the second trimester…” He thummed through it, muttering to himself as he searched voraciously for a solution to his wife’s struggle. There were few things he hated more than being incapable of helping you, after all.

You smiled softly to yourself, watching as he was all but glaring at each word on the pages, hoping the next would hold the answer he sought. 

“Here we are.” He leaned back, gently pressing his hand to your baby bump as his reading came to a pause. “It states here that, if the patient restless or is incapable of sleep due to excessive movement…they should lie on their side.”

“All right,” You agreed, carefully shifting so that you were no longer on your back. His hand lingered, as if testing for more movement.

He clicked his tongue when he received a defiant kick. You just sighed looking up at him from the pillow. “What else does it say?”

“Hmph. It’s mostly preventative behaviors you are supposed to do before sleep; lie down an hour beforehand…drink warm tea…light stretching…”

“I already do most of that. And I did before tonight, too.” You frowned. “I suppose I’m out of options.”

Saizo looked displeased; was there truly nothing else he could do? Turning the page, there only seemed to be a few other solutions. “Perhaps it is time to take up the offer from Hayato, to sew a pregnancy pillow. This says holding one of those when sleeping helps reduce movement.”

“But you’re my pregnancy pillow.” You protested. He coughed to disguise a laugh; were you always so ridiculous?

“Don’t speak nonsense. I’ll ask him about it come morning. But I suppose for now, the only other immediate option would be to talk to him. It’s not as effective, but talking to the child apparently helps in soothing them.”

“You know…that does sound plausible. He doesn’t seem to react very much while you’re talking.”

“I doubt that's the case. He still kicks when I speak." Saizo reminded you, as if you didn’t have the little one inside yourself and couldn’t feel every single move. You shook your head, patting his hand.

"But it's only after you stop talking. We ought to test this theory...could it be that he’s just lonely?” You wondered aloud, resting your hand over Saizo’s. “Is that why you’re so restless, my dear? It’s been too quiet?”

“Preposterous.” He scoffed, but fell silent all the same. You both looked at each other, waiting to see what would happen. Hardly half a second passed after he spoke, and immediately there was a kick.

“See? Keep talking!” You ushered him to continue, smiling bright. Saizo rolled his eyes, but complied all the same.

“If you’re going to keep your mother awake just because you cannot hear me speak, we will have many problems in the future, little one.” He spoke with great warning, and he paused to test the theory once more.

A few moments passed, and sure enough, another little kick.

It was getting more difficult for Saizo to mask the joy that was filling him every time the baby reacted to his voice. To think he was not even in the world yet but he knew who his parents were.

He was a miracle. A wonder.

He just…wouldn’t stop kicking his mother.

Saizo sighed when a tiny fist pushed into his fingertips. He shifted in the bed so that his head was in your lap, a delightful change for you. Instinctively your fingers ran through his hair, stroking it softly as he tended to his son.

“You are the sixth in a prestigious, honorable legacy of royal ninja. It is unbecoming behavior, treating your mother like this. A proper ninja would never be so disrespectful of her needing rest.”

You could’ve sworn you heard him stifle a chuckle when another hand bumped his cheek. His hand gently ran over your belly, attempting to soothe him once again.

“It is all right if you do not hear our voices, sometimes. Just because you cannot hear us does not mean we aren’t here. Besides, when I am away on missions, I will not be able to tell you stories. I’m afraid you’ll have to be able to live without me every now and then.”

“But it’s never forever.” You quickly added, always nervous when he spoke in such a way. Even saying something like “living without him” in the context of a few weeks…it did bother you terribly.

Saizo glanced up at you, taking your hand in his with a soft squeeze.

“Right. I would be a fool to abandon either of you. I have no plans of leaving you behind. I promise.” He murmured, pressing a kiss to your fingertips. 

As if you weren’t already deeply in love.

“So rest, dear one. It is long past time for all of us to be asleep. But we will talk again come morning.” His promise led to one last pause, waiting to see if he would continue his protest.

You waited…and waited…and then…

“He’s asleep.” You breathed a sigh of relief, both of you relaxing. At last, you were rewarded with a restful sleep.

He ran his hand across your baby bump one last time, before carefully slipping away and coming back up to his side of the bed. You leaned into him, welcoming his arm coming around your shoulder and gently taking you into his side.

“At last.”

“Thank you, Saizo...you're a miracle worker.”

“Do not thank me for doing my duty as your husband, and as his father. I will always be glad to ease your burdens.”

“That is why I’m grateful.” Your hand settled on his chest, feeling the steady thrum of his heart. “And it is also why I love you.”

“I love you, too. Now hush. We may rouse him again if he hears we are still talking.” He kissed your forehead quickly, and you could feel the heat of his face against your skin. He was such fun to tease.

You were blessed with the next few nights of peace and quiet. Especially now that you had a secret weapon.

Saizo made sure to be with you come bedtime, so that he might tell the baby about his day and soothe him with his voice. 

You knew your husband took great pride and joy in the fact that he could do this for you, and that his son loved the sound of his voice.

So even on nights where he had to assist Ryoma with something late into the night, or had missions that would take him away, he made certain that he was there to help you both get a good night’s sleep.

The only thing that could have possibly made it sweeter, was when the little Saizo was born. He recognized his father’s voice and calmed without hesitation. 

Your husband already adored his newborn son…but you were certain they’d be inseparable, bonded by the love of father and son (and said father’s delightful voice).

Though to be fair, you weren’t counting on Saizo the Sixth to have an “Asugi the Rebellious Teen Ninja” phase.

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

have you ever made a similar ranking of evidence of john being attracted to men?

Well I made a big compilation post once (which is missing a significant amount of stuff) with all the evidence, but it wasn't organized by strength. Also this newer post by @gardenschedule is a great resource!

I think the case for John being bi is about as strong as it could possibly be (and by that I mean significantly stronger than the case that he was specifically attracted to Paul).

At the very top I would rank the anecdotes directly describing John getting in Situations with men.

So you've got Hunter Davies, Tony Bramwell, and Pete Shotton saying John admitted to them that something happened in Barcelona. There's also Peter Brown's version but I don't remember how he claims to have come about that information. I guess from Brian. I also think Brian's butler said he was told? – Regardless, while we don't have firsthand accounts (although, maybe once Hunter Davies' notes get fully digitized by the British Library, that will change!) we do have a lot of seconhand accounts. (and of course also some people that say nothing happened, like Cynthia, Alistair Taylor, or Yoko)

You've also got two accounts involving John kissing Jesse Ed Davis during the Lost Weekend (and then getting violent), both of which appear in Goldman's book and the sources are May Pang and Jesse Ed Davis himself. (I mean, and Goldman has a bunch more stuff about John and Brian, but those tend to be sourced like third or fourth hand. Shouldn't be entirely dismissed though)

EDIT: And also Icke Braun claiming John kissed him twice in Hamburg. And that Tony Manero story, although nobody seems to know who that guy is outside the fact John allegedly very openly came onto him.

I think it's also of note that these incidents all happened in relatively different periods.

Second tier of evidence would be the times John alluded to his sexuality, though it was usually in a jokey fashion which provided a lot of plausible deniability. That time he said he felt as a teen he'd have to marry a rich old lady or man. That time he said he was trying to put it round that he was gay.

Also, I'm not sure how to rank it, but this shit from Norman's John bio never fails to crack me up:

There was even some discussion, albeit not very serious, of whether he should stick to his own gender. “John said ‘It would hurt you like crazy if I made it with a girl. With a guy, maybe you wouldn’t be hurt, because that’s not competition. But I can’t make it with a guy because I love women too much, and I’d have to fall in love with the guy and I don’t think I can.’”

Third tier is the long history of Yoko talking about John's sexuality and her observations of it. She has publicly been making allusions to this since at least 1981 culminating in her 2015 "John was bi!" interview. (it's crazy how, in any other situation, a widow saying her husband was bi would be at the top of this list, but the timing of the interview and specific phrasing she used made it incredibly easy to mostly dismiss)

I think that's about it.

[mostlyvoid-partiallyflowers]

Okay I just speedran The Sunshine Court in like 12 hours. I will be rereading it soonly and giving more coherent thoughts but here’s my main takeaways:

- Thought #1: Holy fuck holy fuck holy fuck this book exists. I am on the floor I’m so fucking excited.

Spoilers below the cut

- I absolutely love that we get both Jean and Jeremy POVs. It’s great especially because Jean is an oblivious and traumatized and if we just see things through his eyes we would never get to see Jeremy PINING like an absolute icon. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s about the pining, the waiting, the yearning. I’m simple man, I like my books gay, angsty, and with tension you could cut with a knife. This delivers on all accounts.

- I love getting to see the end of tkm from Jean’s perspective. Getting to see him watch the Foxes v Ravens game was incredible. I’m a very big fan.

- Renee and Jean time! Renee giving Jean her cross necklace. I’m in tears, I’m dead, I’m on the floor. It’s not the right time for us 😭. Excuse me? I’m unwell.

- Kevin Day, queen of my heart! Getting to see how someone other than Neil canonically sees Kevin is an absolute treat for me. Jean’s weakness for beautiful men has become known. Me too Jean, me too.

- Jeremy, light of my life, I can’t believe you’re rich. At least your family sucks because I don’t think I could take it if your family was wealthy and nice.

- Jeremy + Jean meeting for the first time. Jeremy trying and failing to play with a yo-yo. I’d die for you. They are ADHD 🤝 Autism solidarity me thinks.

- Montana has a pro Exy team which is not at all plausible but I’ll let it slide because one Montana mention for the win and two the team is called the Rustics which is absolutely what we’d call a pro sports team if we had one. The only reason Montanan’s at large would commit to indoor lacrosse is that Kayleigh Day was Irish and so solidarity.

- Laila and Cat, my beloveds. The description of their apartment has me yearning for the same. They have a bay window with a window seat okay. That’s like in my top three desires for a home.

- Carboard cutout dog with a classic Nora pet name. I’ll love Mister B forever. I love how Jeremy keeps moving him around. I love how Jean hates it.

- Trans characters! Poly characters! Nonbinary characters! Nora, my birthday has come a little late but damn this was a gift!

- I am absolutely pronouncing Jean wrong in my head probably 70% of the time.

- I’m so fucking angry at the Ravens. My blood is boiling and I want to cry. Jean deserved better, Kevin deserved better, Riko deserved better. All the Ravens deserved better. I want to put Tetsugi Moriyama into a blender and feed him to the crows.

- Jean was 16. I’m absolutely incandescent with rage.

- Jeremy is so patient with Jean and I will forever love him for that.

- This book was a lot shorter time frame than I was expecting, mainly because I keep forgetting there’s going to be another one.

- The food control but is driving me crazy. It makes me so fucking mad. Let my boy eat. I want him to be happy.

- Jeremy has seen Jean looking 👀 ummmmmm hello? “More exclusively than you do, I think.” I’m on the floor.

- Laila buying Jean a sex toy?!? Oh my god. What would she even get him? I feel like he deserves a vibrating cock ring or something fun like that. That way service top™️ Jeremy Knox can use it on him when they finally get together.

- I love seeing Neil from Jean’s perspective. It’s funny how different he is from my perspective and Jean’s/everyone else’s. I’ve spent so much time thinking about him from Andrew’s pov that it’s weird seeing him through anyone else’s. Everyone is like this scrappy irritating son of bitch is gonna get what’s coming to him, and Andrew is like, well I can’t not fuck him.

- The second Jean mentions Drake to Neil. And then Neil immediately calls a hit out on Gr@yson. Neil, you will always be famous to me.

- Jean-Yves! I hope he starts using his full name again at some point.

- Elodie :(((((( I can imagine what Jean’s going through and I am so afraid for him. If he keeps pushing all these feelings down he’s going to break sooner or later, but probably sooner.

- Jeremy’s unconditional support of Jean has my whole heart. Jean has friends now. I’m crying.

[paingoes]

I loved completely Destroyer, and I like a lot Rubies, as I am just starting to read it. I was asking if you could give like a detailed explanation of Delta or psychic powers, and how they work in your world. Because you got to understand a lot through the chapters, but sometimes gets confusing for me. Thanks! And sorry if the question seems stupid. Love your work!🫶

hi! thanks so much for the message. yes, i can try to explain it to you!

so destroyer is very much a soft sci-fi. wikipedia describes soft sci-fi as:

“[S]cience fiction which prioritizes human emotions over scientific accuracy or plausibility. Soft science fiction of either type is often more concerned with depicting speculative societies and relationships between characters, rather than realistic portrayals of speculative science or engineering.”

this is mostly to say that all of the sci-fi and fantasy elements incorporated into destroyer are secondary to the major emotional and thematic beats of the story. so it isn’t critical to have a very solid grasp on them in order to understand the story. the rules i have for delta’s powers — and for psychic abilities — are not incredibly fleshed out or detailed. in fact i doubt you’re actually missing much.

but i can still tell you how they work! because you’re right, looking over this i realize that a lot of the rules i made aren’t actually that obvious. i hope this helps clarify things for you!

general worldbuilding: there are a lot of different intelligent species in the destroyer universe. all of them are more or less humanoid, but they often have some secondary characteristics that distinguish them from other species. (paris is a porcelain doll, kitty is a cat!, etc).

psychic abilites can occur naturally in any intelligent species. some of them are more common than others. delta is from a species with a kind of unprecedentedly high amount of psychics at 15%. most are below that. I’d say only about 5%-10% of the general population is psychic. 

psychic abilities: so…what are “psychic abilities”? it really varies. i consider it an umbrella category for a whole number of powers. some examples that have occurred so far in the text are telekinesis, rapid healing, and pyrokinesis. there are other kinds, though. this is not an exhaustive list. if you like, you can kind of just think of them as super powers! there is no real scientific basis for how they occur. even in the text, it’s not a very well understood phenomenon.

(if you go to one of dr.martino’s lectures, the general vibe you’ll get from him is “We don’t know why this works, but it does.”)

It’s important to note that from that 5%-10% figure, the vast majority of those have pretty middling abilities. they’re not bad, but they’re also not that impressive. others have powers that barely work and barely anyone notices. the rest of them are the ones you have to watch out for — those are the ones with the truly overpowered abilities. delta falls into that category :)

utility: but who cares if we don’t understand them, they’re really fucking valuable! Empire — the supreme authority throughout the galaxy — values the powerful ones very, very highly. there have been many attempts to make untamed psychic energy into something useful. these are successful to varying degrees. some psychics join the service willingly. others are enslaved. others go into hiding or manage to slip under the radar. some of them get sent to castle damon to become living batteries.

the institute: the institute that delta was sent to — beldam institute — was a program specifically engineered to set apart children who showed great psychic potential and to “help” them develop it. it was designed to push the psychic limits as far as they could go. it was a huge failure. a lot of children died from the experiment. others burned out, losing their abilities completely. others just transferred, clearly not built to withstand it. 

delta: delta was their star student. he was also their only student by the end. he was pretty much all they had to show for their efforts. they sold him off to the emperor and immediately closed their doors forever.

delta’s abilities are pretty much just a very powerful and destructive form of telekinesis. he can manipulate matter with his mind! a lot of matter! he crushes a battleship in the first chapter, levels a town in another, blows up the parliament building, etc. it’s why he gets called “the bomb” sometimes. its not cause hes cool, even though he is. its cause he can set off the same destructive energy as a nuclear bomb just by thinking about it really hard.

and delta is juiced. he was predisposed to have the abilities and he already showed very, very high psychic activity levels even as a baby. but he would never be half as powerful as he was without the institute experimenting on and training him. those power levels do not occur naturally. thank god.

also his powers are very destructive to him. he’s always passing out and bleeding everywhere because of how hard he pushes himself and gets pushed. he has a really incredible ability to rebound from it but yeah the levels he was working at were notttt sustainable. 

the collar: delta’s collar prevents him from accessing the full extent of his powers most of the time. he can still use them a little bit, for small shocks and for picking things up across the room, but that’s like 1% of his power. the collar is custom built for him and can snap on and off if his handlers enter the code. the “safety” button for the collar is actually wired into Simon and Martino’s skin and connected to their pulse. if either of them were to suddenly die, the collar would immediately snap back on. that’s the failsafe. the safety also has to be held down continuously for the duration of the exercise or the collar will automatically snap back on.

in spite of how varied the powers are, they can still be viewed as coming from the same essential source. as such, there is a sort of baseline for how they can be dealt with. they sell collars at the military surplus store which can effectively cut off any psychic from accessing their powers, no matter what they are. but they have to be built for different power calibers.

the new collar they give him in rubies is commercial grade, so it only reduces his power by like 40% because nothing on the market is built with his power level in mind. it’s so weak that he can snap it off any time.

okay i think that about covers everything! let me know if you have any other question, i’ll write another wall of text! 

um! anyway! this got long. i love you :D 

[mclangel]

I have thoughts about *that* storyline in Love Life

Friends, Romans, Candy-ladies, lend me your ears; I’m about to write a damn essay lol.

It’s been a hot minute, so I think we can all safely dissect [LARGE INHALE] the cheating storyline.

Off the bat, I want to make it clear that I do not vibe with having the option to cheat on your partner.  Not really sure why BeeMov and ChiNo decided to go that route, but they did. Some people enjoyed the choice or the change in pace, which is valid.  It definitely shook things up. Personally, not my cup of tea so I didn't follow that path.

But my favorite route in Love Life is Nath’s (shocker I know), and I have some thoughts, feelings and opinions.

[Here’s where I go off the rails.]

Alright, so the developers wanted a cheating storyline.  Fine, sure, it raises the stakes.  I can see that much.

But when it comes to who the infidelity was offered up with, I have some things to say.

The fact that the option we got for our baited infidelity was Nath's pseudo-father figure is so incredibly out of pocket I almost have to respect the ballsy move.  But it also made, in my opinion, the emotional impact of such a choice different depending on your chosen Love Interest - aka Nath’s circumstances vs everyone else’s.

Because let’s be real - in the other routes, Eric is just Some Guy™ who happens to be the investigative partner/aforementioned pseudo-father figure with your high school friend.  But your Love Interest doesn’t really know him beyond that.

On Nath’s route, he’s your boyfriend’s investigative partner/aforementioned pseudo-father figure.

No other route gets such a personal connection to the person participating in the infidelity.  

Had BeeMov done something like introducing a different person per route who was an option to stray from your partner with, who each had a personal connection to that love interest (See, Zach for Castiel or [omg I just thought of this] Ranata for Priya) - that would make the emotional impact of the infidelity itself even and/or equal throughout the love interests, not just so emotionally devastating for just Nath alone.

I also don’t really think we got enough time with Eric to really fall for him beyond surface level (again, just my opinion), but with Nath’s route it’s at least a tiny bit more plausible in the scope of that story.  This is a person that our Candy would’ve conceivably spent more time with than we saw in the Episodes because of Eric’s close relationship with Nath.  I can buy there being more behind the scenes feelings developing in that context, but with everyone else, it just feels rather surface level.

Which, to be fair, is plausible as well as people do cheat on their partners for petty, surface level reasons, but in a game like this where we’ve spent so much time with our respective LIs, personally I’d need a little more weight to make it plausible.

All this to say Nath continues to be the one to get the most devastating storylines (I have seen the screen shots of his reaction when he finds out the player cheats and is leaving him for Eric and its DEVASTATING).

Just some thoughts, I’d be interested to hear others on it.

[taekooktimeline]

September 3, 2023 (filmed), November 4, 2023 (released): Suchwita part 2 of 3

As Yoongi talks about the main title track, “Standing Next To You,” Tae initially was sitting facing forward, but abruptly shifts to stare at Jk as he shares he recorded it the day after “Seven” (when he was in LA).

Timestamp 21:00

Jk discloses SNTY wasn’t decided as the main title track at the time of recording. He hesitates to say anything further, but Tae encourages him, saying it’ll be edited out.

Jk asks why he should bother if it’ll be edited out -

Tae doesn’t respond, but mashes his lips together as he stares at Jk -

Yoongi laughs at their old married couple bickering, teasing for them to take it outside if they’re going to bicker -

Timestamp 21:16

After their married couple light bickering, Tae quietly listens in support as Jk talks about how SNTY became the main title track, that Producer Andrew Watt played it and Jk promised to practice it that evening to record it the following day, which leads Tae to audibly express his pride and impressment at how hardworking and talented Jk is.

Timestamp 21:33

The trio clink glasses, congratulating Jungkook -

Timestamp 22:16 https://x.com/_k91230v_/status/1720795550193455585?s=46&t=StSwHjW0_Domk_lHUFMaCg

Interestingly, Tae mentions it would be cool for Jk to perform the song with a band. Two months after recording Suchwita, on November 3, 2023, Jk does perform “Seven” “3D” and “Standing Next To You” with a live band for iHeart radio. This is speculative on my part, but perhaps Tae was hinting at it when they filmed Suchwita, since these two know everything about each other (Jungkook flew to America on September 5, 2023, so it’s plausible this was a hint). If you haven’t heard Jk’s live performance for iHeart, I’d encourage you to watch it. I’ve left the links below. I especially love how SNTY showcases his exceptional vocal range (those high notes, especially when he sings “sun and the moon!” + it’s such a dance heavy song, which helps to highlight what an incredible and powerful dancer he is.

Timestamp 22:37

Seven on iHeart: https://youtu.be/fkZjni4ieWs?si=vDaQiI1q2-nUWK_Q 

SNTY on iHeart: https://youtu.be/S9pq1HqJKSo?si=4jmpIjGMTe8wBQHW

(At the time of posting, 3D is not an available link)

And Jk says if he did perform a showcase or concert, he’d start it with a “bang” which makes Tae quietly go “oooh,” impressed.

Timestamp 22:44

Jk bops along to SNTY. Yoongi praises him as the only person in Korea who can pull off pop this well. Jk responds with a thumbs up as he continues to dance along to the main title track. Tae briefly dances along too.

Timestamp 23:05

Jk reveals before the song ends that the ending is “base and drums,” with a “whoo” from him. He imitates the “whoo” while looking at Tae.

Timestamp 23:20

As SNTY finishes, Tae praises Jk and says, “so cool” as Yoongi predicts it’ll be #1 on the BB 100 and 200 simultaneously. Jk says he’ll try his best again and Tae encourages him, saying, “let’s go,” which Jk repeats.

Timestamp 23:35

Yoongi mentions “Golden” was originally going to be a mini album (EP) with 5-6 tracks. Once again, Tae abruptly shifts to stare directly at Jk, exclaiming, “Hmm?” in surprise as he turns.

Timestamp 23:42

Exclaiming his surprise again as Jk confirms -

https://x.com/mybwits/status/1720797483138535537?s=46&t=StSwHjW0_Domk_lHUFMaCg

I want to emphasize again how Tae continuously supported and expressed admiration towards Jk throughout the show. He nods along as Jk explains how his mini album morphed into a full album -

Timestamp 24:08

More glasses clinking together by the trio -

Timestamp 24:22 

Jk discloses he worked hard, pretty much recording one song a day. As Yoongi asks how long he took recording each song, if it was eight to nine hours a day, Tae exclaims, “Wow,” in amazement.

Timestamp 24:37

Jk shares that it actually it took him about three hours to record each song, not eight to nine hours, which Yoongi praises as an indicator of “unprecedented growth,” to which Tae agrees.

Timestamp 24:38

Yoongi continues praising Jk, saying that’s insanely fast. Tae agrees by giving perspective, sharing with a straight face that it takes him three days to record one song. This makes Jk laugh loudly, while Yoongi makes sure to tell viewers, “It’s not a matter of ability but of a person’s character.”

Timestamp 24:49 or https://x.com/mybwits/status/1720798692872175824?s=46&t=StSwHjW0_Domk_lHUFMaCg

Yoongi asks Jk why he picked those specific tracks. Tae, being a precious assistant MC, asks the question in a different way. Jk shares it’s about love, with the start of the album being upbeat and about falling in love, and ending with a more sentimental vibe as the album transitions to a break up. He encourages listeners to listen to the songs in order for context.

Timestamp 25:25 

Side note - I found the meaning of SNTY interesting -

As Jk states there’s context to the songs, and the order they’re placed in his album (again, with the start of the album being about attraction and falling in love, which is reflected in the more upbeat tracks, and then track seven on are about heartbreak / falling out of love, with a more somber and melancholic tone) Tae listens with a proud expression on his features.

Timestamp 25:36

Jk has repeatedly expressed his hope and goal to perform a three hour solo concert. Tae mentions it in Suchwita, encouragingly asking Yoongi if “Jungkookie” has enough songs to put on a concert now, which Yoongi affirms.

Timestamp 26:54 

Sadly, we’ll have to wait a little longer for that world tour (and the bloodbath for tickets). For now, Jk will be performing a showcase in Seoul (November 20, 2023). Tae, again being an endearing, helpful assistant MC, asks Jk when his showcase will be. Tae sports a proud smile towards Jk as he responds that he’ll give ARMY the best time he possibly can.

Timestamp 27:08

Part 1 link - https://www.tumblr.com/taekooktimeline/733647292019687424/september-3-2023-filmed-november-4-2023?source=share

Part 3 link - https://www.tumblr.com/taekooktimeline/733647430454837248/yoongi-asks-jk-how-he-feels-about-releasing-his?source=share

[titleleaf]

[cw discussion of animal illness/medical crises; emotional manipulation; talking about scams and scammers]

Jsyk: I do not and will not boost or reblog fundraising posts on request or when they’re directly linked to me by people who I don’t know, often people who don’t even follow me. Mutual aid posts are a big part of the social media ecosystem especially on tumblr but there are also plenty of scams that exploit genuine sources of affinity within marginalized communities (disabled people, trans people, people with precarious housing situations, etc) in an incredibly cynical manner.

I just received a request like this from a blog that was

all of two days old

filled with an apparently random selection of fandom posts and memes, all reblogged without any kind of tags or commentary, even a fandom name

...with no other kind of original posts whatsoever, not even shitposts or personal posts, nothing

not following me or anyone else I know

using an icon meant to evoke all kinds of immediate emotional reactions of affinity and sympathy — sweet-looking blue-haired smol bean picrew in front of the trans flag

The request itself could have been perfectly genuine — request for financial help with vet bills for a sick cat, "please help, save his life, I need to raise money in 2 weeks for surgery" — but it's surrounded by a thicket of screaming red flags.

(Payments made using PayPal’s “friends & family” functionality aren't covered by purchase protection and cannot be reimbursed, even if the payment was made under false pretenses. Cool.)

This shit is incredibly shady and incredibly manipulative. Lots of stuff to evoke strong emotions and sympathy; repeated calls to action and a super short timetable to save a poor cat’s life — all of this stuff is plausible by itself but these elements of the request are not incidental. The request itself is calculated to provoke a sense of intense urgency -- worry for the poor cat, sympathy for the owner -- and a sense of shame if you catch yourself hesitating to donate or spread the word. (What kind of heartless person doesn't want to help a cat? Wants to let a cat die? Wants to kill a cat? What kind of bad leftist ignores a poor trans person's cry for help? I'm a trans person and a cat lover, and when my cat was in the hospital I was inconsolable.) By itself, urgency isn’t a red flag -- emergencies have a way of emerging suddenly, pets get sick, shit costs money -- but combined with everything else about this post it absolutely is one. In the comments on the post it only took one person saying “hey, watch out, this post has some red flags for a scam so I’d hesitate before reblogging it” for comments to be turned off entirely.

Do I know for a die-hard certainty that this post was fraudulent and the OP was running a scam? I absolutely do not, and I'm not interested in teaching anyone how to scam better either. But if you *do* have a genuine fundraising post for any cause, even an urgent one: don't do it from a nearly-blank blog and don’t message random strangers about it, even if you think it’ll get your post more traction. You have no way of knowing their financial situation or if they're in any kind of position to donate, or whether they themselves are in tough financial straits.

I'm not anti-fundraising or anti-mutual-aid -- people on this site helped me pay for top surgery without going into crazy medical debt, that would not have been possible without the goodwill and generosity of other marginalized people -- but I've also ignorantly passed on scam messaging and been tricked out of money I seriously needed, not just by strangers either. The vast majority of scams function through high-pressure tactics and emotional manipulation. This shit is 101-level social engineering and you're going to encounter it all over the place in life, not just on social media. Learn about social engineering, keep your eyes peeled for potential dishonesty, and don't fall for it or spread this kind of messaging around to victimize someone else.

[lumiereandcogsworth]

oooooooo wait that bit about the curse skewing time and how it was only 5 days 👀 I’d love to hear about that

OKAY. LET’S DO THIS.

so, my theory is that the curse does in fact skew time. in the movie, gaston says “maurice! i’ve spent the last five days trying to find you!” and this is the same night that the curse will be broken. implying that it’s been Only Five Days since gaston left maurice to the wolves in the forest. this, in turns, implies that it’s only been five days since adam and belle met. and while i am happy to play the Disney Soulmates card, and maybe it was five days, i have some ideas as to why it maybe felt longer than that.

firstly, and for some inexplicable reason this needs to be readdressed every now and then, let’s discuss how long the curse has been happening. in batb 1991, lumiere says it’s been ten years in his song be our guest. this, along with the ‘91 narration saying the last petal would fall on adam’s 21st birthday, has unfortunately led to far too many people thinking that adam was cursed as an 11 year old child. this just isn’t true! not only is it positively insane to think that an enchantress would punish a child that way, you really need not look further than our beloved boy chip.

regardless of how old you think he is, i would bet that majority of us agree he’s younger than 10. the batb 2017 script says that he’s 8, which sounds about right. but regardless, he’s very most likely younger than 10. now, if you truly think the curse is Ten Real Years Long, i want you to look me in the eye and try to convince me that a teapot gave birth to a teacup. CLEARLY, chip was not born a teacup. chip longs to be a real boy again. i don’t recall if he says anything specifically in batb 1991, but in batb 2017 he asks his mother if he’ll ever be a boy again! he knows what it is to be a real boy! implying he was cursed, and is trapped, as a child; completely destroying the idea that the curse is legitimately ten years long. much more plausibly, lumiere was singing hyperbolically, because he’s a very dramatic man!

now, i’m not going to make this a competitive thing, but batb 2017 DOES do a lot to fix this problem up. number one, the beginning narration gives no indication to adam’s age, or when the rose petals will finish falling. number two, the prologue actually shows chip sneaking into adam’s ball amidst the chaos, highlighting both that he WAS the same boy that you see at the end, and that he was in the room when the enchantress put her curse on everyone. and number three, lumiere’s line in be our guest changes from “ten years” to “too long” - further confirming my theory that he’s just lamenting the agony of their experience. he may not truly know the length of time it’s been, just that it has been too long for anyone’s comfort.

so now that we’ve gathered that time is already a bit funky, let’s look at this curse. the enchantress is one powerful lady. i personally think she’s some kind of trickster goddess of justice or something, who just goes around the world teaching awful, cruel people in power lessons. regardless of who or what agathe is, she is incredibly powerful. the beginning narration states:

“The prince begged for forgiveness, but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart. As punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast and placed a powerful spell on the castle, and all who lived there.”

she placed a powerful spell on the CASTLE ! as well as adam and the servants! i think that’s so significant. and it’s very clear that she DID curse the castle! it’s trapped in a perpetual winter, despite the fact that it’s june for the rest of the country. not only that, but you can see the way the curse affects the castle. every time a petal falls, the castle rumbles and parts of the structure crumble and break. the place is slowly deteriorating, the curse is eating it alive. given what we know about their perception of time, and that the castle was individually cursed, it doesn’t seem too much of a stretch to think that the castle is not only frozen in terms of weather, but frozen in time as well.

looking at this next part of the narration:

“As days bled into years, the prince and his servants were forgotten by the world, for the enchantress had erased all memory of them from the minds of the people they loved… …As the years passed, he fell into despair and lost all hope. For who could ever learn to love a beast?”

she’s so powerful she genuinely affected the entire world. or at least, all of europe. like, nobody is asking or wondering about the french prince?? no one is stopping by?? no one is sending letters?? nope! their minds have literally been erased. not a soul in france is wondering what their monarchy is up to. adam has been entirely forgotten. i also think it’s important to note the usage of the word “years” which she says twice. sure, you could argue that it is real years! because it says so! but honestly i think she’s speaking from the perspective of the cursed individuals, particularly adam. in both instances, adam’s experience is stated immediately after she says “years” — first, being forgotten, second, falling into despair. i would argue, then, that to adam (and the servants) it had simply FELT like years. not real years that the rest of the world would experience, but a terrible weight on their shoulders, a hopeless longing for rescue from this awful state, dragging on seemingly endlessly, too long, feeling like years.

my conclusion: i believe that the castle time and real time are not the same. based on everything i’ve laid out, it seems as though the castle is very especially cursed, and while it has felt like years (i honestly don’t think it’s felt like more than three or four. i feel like if you go any further you have to start accounting for mental age, particularly chip. but i may be getting too deep about it.) in reality, it may have only been a matter of months. what if that awful storm that led the enchantress to come “seek shelter” happened in january or february, and now it’s june. perhaps it’s been around six months in real time. but to the castle’s inhabitants? it’s felt like years. so then, if we can use this theory for a moment, perhaps belle’s “five days” at the castle felt a lot more like a handful of weeks, maybe even a month or two.

i also think this because the sort of rapport that adam and belle have just seems like they’ve known each other longer than five days. and don’t get me wrong, sometimes people have those instant connections. like i said, im happy to play the Disney Soulmates card. but humor me for a minute! they have their little inside jokes about romance novels and belle teases him in such a way that just exudes the comfortability between friends, not new acquaintances. not only this, but when they’re in paris, adam simply asks “what happened to your mother?” when belle explains where they are. this, to me, implies that he already knew her mother died when she was a baby. and, personally, i don’t think that’s something i’d mention to someone i’d only known less than a week. but it seems like she’s already had That conversation with him, and further, it seems he’s comfortable about the topic, and feels close enough with her to ask about it further! to me, the way their relationship is depicted, it seems as though they’ve really developed a friendship over more than a bit of time, and have definitely very naturally fallen in love within said friendship.

anything is possible, and this is all my own little speculations and ideas. whether it really was five days or perhaps more, it’s quite clear that their love is something quite spectacular.

[lillie98]

I was rewatching Stranger Things Season 2, Episode 4 (Will the Wise) and I noticed something. Will’s map looks an awful lot like something I’d seen before, not just because I’m rewatching it. 😝When I looked at the completed map, I couldn’t help but notice it looked like veins—long, branching, blue tunnels racing through the body to provide blood and oxygen. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed it before, but it makes so much sense.

I’ve had a theory for a while now that Will’s blood is the answer to destroying the Upside Down, and this discovery proves it. Will describes the Mindflayer’s attack as “growing, spreading, killing, [Will] felt it everywhere.” He says he feels [MF] in his house and inside himself. The vines Will draws are described as tunnels beneath Hawkins, spreading their deadly poison to unsuspecting people. What if all of Hawkins, Will’s house, the pumpkin patch, everything, is a metaphor for Will’s mind/body. Stay with me here.

If the house represents Will’s mind/body and the tunnels are his veins, what’s inside them? What’s doing the growing, spreading, and killing? HIV. Somehow, perhaps from Lonnie or Vecna (Season 1), or perhaps en utero, Will contracted HIV, he just doesn’t know it. He doesn’t have the words to communicate what he feels, so he describes it as something racing through his body, slowly killing him. While HIV is well-researched and manageable today, it was not so in the 1980s. HIV was new, potent, and extremely caustic. People (mostly young, gay men) died from AIDS (late-stage HIV) by the thousands. There was no effective treatment and medications like Prep didn’t come onto the market until 2012! HIV was a death sentence, seen as shameful and disgusting thanks in large part to its connection with the LGBTQ+ community.

According to the CDC, (https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/whatishiv.html ) HIV has three main stages

1) Acute HIV

The person is recently infected, highly contagious, and may experience flu-like symptoms. It’s important to get checked when this happens so you don’t inadvertently infect others!

2) Chronic HIV

The person has had HIV for a while and may show less symptoms. Their viral load (how much HIV in in their blood) changes based on whether they take their medication. Proper medication management significantly reduces the chances of spreading HIV to partners.

3) AIDS (Late-Stage HIV)

AIDS is terminal. Most people live about three years once they reach this stage. People with AIDS risk getting “opportunistic infections” Aka: germs they can’t fight off with their destroyed immune system.

Looking at this information, I estimate Will to be in Stage Two. I believe he was first infected before he was rescued in the Upside Down (see slug down his throat—remind you of anything?)

He throws up, seems awfully pale afterwards, and stays in the hospital for a while. The HIV (or Upside Down equivalent) was introduced to his system and it made him incredibly ill. Now, come Season 2, Will’s been home for a year and his body has adjusted to this illness. He doesn’t like talking about it, but it affects him everyday in the form of his visions. His viral load changes based on whether or not he’s having visions and comes to a head during the exorcism. Black veins cover his head and neck as he reaches out to attack his own mother.

There’s also a chance Will contracted HIV en utero and could link back to Hopper and his Agent Orange experience in Vietnam. We know many of Hopper’s friends who served with him had children born with various disabilities, so it could make sense Will was born with HIV (along with El since I prescribe to the Will and El are twins separated at birth theory). I also believe Hopper NOT Lonnie is Will/El’s biological father, making this theory much more plausible. Hopper said he knew the risks of trying to conceive with his Agent Orange exposure, but his wife wanted children so badly that he did it anyway. The scene with Will attempting to strangle Joyce could be the writers’ way of illustrating the pain that comes from getting an illness you did not control. He was punishing her, in a sense, for forcing him to live with this incurable condition.

Now, going back to the map, what does this mean for Season 5? Well, I believe Will’s blood will be the key to stopping the Upside Down. I’m not sure exactly what that will look like, but it will be incredibly dramatic and fulfilling. We know from Season 1 that Demogorgons are attracted to blood, so maybe they use Will’s blood to lure the Demogorgons somewhere and kill them? That would be cool! Either way, Will’s blood is important and he was drawing VEINS in the house—illustrating the Upside Down and HIV quickly taking over his life, threatening to kill him. Closing the Gate equals succumbing to the disease, and the exorcism is him fighting for his life.

Ps: Vines (how Hopper describes Will’s drawings) and Veins have the same letters. Just leaving that here

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

Would it make any sense that humanoid looking aliens to be herbivores but still be the dominant species?

Tex: What is your personal definition of humanoid? How much of it depends on physiology similar to humans? Why is it important for you, plotwise or otherwise, to have herbivores as dominant species? How would an herbivore be a dominant species, when trophic levels rely upon carnivores, omnivores, and detritivores? A lot of these questions are interconnected, as something like bipedalism isn’t the sole cornerstone of what makes a human human-shaped (nor is opposable thumbs, speech, or other aspects).

Wootzel: It’s probably a bit less likely than having omnivorous sophonts, but wouldn’t seem implausible.

When designing a plausible intelligent species, you’ll want to think about what evolutionary pressures made such a high degree of intelligence successful. Big, hard-working brains are REALLY expensive, energy-wise. The main reason why a species will need to develop high levels of intelligence is to take advantage of a variety of food sources in a complex environment. Think of parrots and corvids--they’re not sapient, but they are very intelligent, and both have varied diets. They both take advantage of food sources that are high in protein and energy.

So, if your sapient species are herbivorous, they’ll need to have a diet of mainly high-energy food that takes brains to acquire. This will probably mean whatever their planet’s equivalent of fruits and nuts is.

Most herbivores on Earth can digest animal proteins in some form, and often will take advantage of carrion and/or opportunities to eat small animals or insects, even if they don’t hunt. It’s possible that your aliens wouldn’t, but you might want to think of some reason for them to avoid it--maybe there’s something toxic to them in most animal species? Maybe they’re evolved to eat toxins in plants to the point of relying on them, and can’t function well without specific nutrients as a result?

An herbivorous diet tends to require a longer digestive tract, so your humanoid aliens are likely to look somewhat pot-bellied by human standards, or just be built thicker in the torso to make room for more guts! This is less dramatic with a fruit/seed sort of diet, but it’s still likely to be an attribute.

Addy: Intelligent herbivores do exist - just look at gorillas! They may eat insects or snails occasionally, but most of their diet is straight plant material. Chimpanzees also mostly eat plants - they might snack on other animals when they get the chance, but that’s a very, very small portion of their diet. An extinct human relative, paranthropus robustus, was also predominantly a plant eater (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/human-evolution/news/2022/may/palaeoanthropologists-discuss-diet-paranthropus), and had a brain roughly the size of a chimpanzee’s brain. Nothing specific there, mostly pointing out another calibration point from hominid history.

So if it’s a matter of straight intelligence, then it’s certainly possible. Some of our closest living relatives eat mostly plants, after all. Parrots, too, are intelligent and incredibly social creatures that… mostly eat fruit. As Wootzel said, large brains are very energy-intensive, but that doesn’t make them impossible. Human brains take up around 19-24% of our energy expenditure, while a chimpanzee brain takes up around 9-13% of their energy expenditure (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11019715/). So roughly double, by percentages. With a fruit-based diet, I’d say that it’s doable. We also have brains that are around 3x the size of a chimpanzee or gorilla brain (1400cc vs ~400-500cc)

The big thing, I think, would be the development of adductors and gluteal muscles. To put it frankly, the human butt is quite unusual amongst primates. It’s crucial in allowing us to walk upright, keeping our torso stable and steady while our hips rotate while walking. Watch a video of a chimp walking - they kind of waddle, no?

Humans are persistence predators. We are optimized for walking long distances with little rest (lack of fur, sweat, achilles tendon, etc). That’s the hunter part of hunter-gatherer. If you’ve got a group that’s mostly just gathering, then they likely won’t have that evolutionary pressure. You can have them walk upright anyways (nature has done stranger things), but a bit of a waddle could be an interesting touch.

[nobodysdaydreams]

okay I’ve been wanting to ask you stuff for ur…ask game things but I genuinely cannot find the post to know what to ask. does that make sense?

So uh *slams random emojis and numbers on the counter* whatever these will get me.

32??? 1? 12….52?

🐢🧍‍♂️❤️‍🩹💕🤲🤩

I have to at least get one of those right…hopefully.

((also side note I’ve been meaning to say I like ur new username! very nice 👍))

Ember, I tried my very best to find old ask games I reblogged with these emojis, sadly I could not. I found this one for the numbers. I already answered 1 and 32 here. I answer 12 and 52 below and have a few other fun treats for you.

12. How does receiving or not receiving feedback/support help you? Feedback helps me so much. It lets me know that my writing is good and that I’m doing something right. Originally, fanfic was just supposed to be me getting my brain bees™️ out of my head so I could focus. I didn’t expect people to actually enjoy them to such a degree. I mean, I figured someone else who liked TMBS might like them a little, but I did not expect such incredible feedback.

I got a tumblr in September of last year to release my thoughts on TMBS, including my SOS fan theory, but I never intended to write any fic about it, because it was a super specific head canon (and also I'd never even read fanfic before at that point, though I'd heard of the concept), I wasn't sure people would like it, I'd never done any serious creative writing before, and at the time, I had no idea how much season 2 canon would continue to support it's plausibility. But, for better or for worse, eventually I was inspired enough to write the fic. And if you told me in January of this year, before SOS was published, when it was just a little idea in my head that I’d have people drawing fan art based on my fics, doing elaborate analyses call out posts based on my fics (thank you @sophieswundergarten and @itsgoghtime🥰), making a whole personality quiz based on my fic (again thank you Sophie), getting a tumblr to compliment my on my fic and share headcanons, and, the latest of the fandom's beautiful compliments, someone doing a whole podcast episode based on one of my fics (thanks @heyitsthatonesmolgay), I would not have believed you.

This feedback means the world to me, and it's also taught me the importance of leaving feedback on other fics as well. Part of the rational in writing SOS was releasing the thoughts that are inside my head about my hyperfixation, since I'd be thinking about it constantly anyway. Writing it out is certainly more rewarded than daydreaming alone, but it's also more time consuming. Knowing that someone out there is not only listening to what I'm saying, but enjoying it to such a degree lets me know that this is a hobby that's worth the time and energy. Obviously, it's fine to do hobbies only for yourself, I did that for years, but being able to do something you enjoy in such a way that it makes someone else happier and brings joy to someone's life is incredibly rewarding. And if I didn't receive any feedback, I would assume no one was listening. I'd release my ideas into the void to get the brain bees out, and then when the hyperfixation died, I'd just delete them. But now I know that I'm not just talking to the void anymore, I'm talking to a group of people that are invested in the stories I have to share. Feedback on fics lets authors know that they're good at writing, because they might not know it. I certainly never thought so. Sure, I thought my ideas were cool, but has everyone else I've ranted to about mbs irl thought that? Not exactly. So leave feedback on your favorite fics, go crazy about them. Don't burn yourself out, obviously, but trust me, it will not go unappreciated, especially in a smaller fandom.

52. Do you respond to comments why or why not?

I always try to respond with something. They make me so happy; someone took the time out of their day to say they liked my fic, my ideas, and comment or ask questions about them! It’s a great honor, and thank you all for your lovely comments and feedback!

Finally, the emojis you sent didn't correspond to an ask game, however, I do have one little treat I think you'll like.

As you may be aware, I am writing a secret fan fic for Curio's secret fic gift exchange. I can't promise the fic is at the level of my usual work (as you may have suspected from my lack of SOS updates, I've been quite busy), but I shall try my best. However, what I can promise you is that A) more SOS is coming, and B) regardless of who my gift fic is for, it will include a brief reference or mention of the book "The Little Prince", which I know you are a big fan of. Unfortunately, I can't give any more context beyond that.

Oh, and thank you! I'm glad you like the new username!

[rainbow-flavoured-skittles]

You know I love you boy, in every single way

I finally got around to editing this after a month of letting it rot in my drafts. this was actually going to be a scene in Hey Mom, Dead Mom, but got cut out, so keep in mind that this takes place during the second chapter. the title is from the song 'I don't need your love' because for some reason my brain will only let me name things after songs in this series. bonus points if you know why this ends the way it does. cross posted to ao3

~

To: Jay

From: Cole

Hi, Jay. I know that you’re supposed to start a letter with ‘dear,’ but I think that you already know how much you matter to me. At least, I hope you do. I’m sorry if I didn’t show it enough. I’m writing this letter to tell you that I’m running away going away for a while. I know that I was a terrible friend to you, and my grief was no excuse for ignoring you, so I understand if you don’t want to read this. I also understand if you don’t ever want to think of me again and want to shred this paper into tiny pieces. That’s what I would do in your position.

Our last meeting was awkward, I think. I left without saying goodbye and I’m sorry for that. I don’t even know why I did that. I don’t know why I do a lot of things. It was nice, being able to hang out with you again. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. It was the happiest I’d felt in a while when we were together.

I don’t know exactly why I kept ignoring you for so long. You were my best friend and one of the only people who cared about me. You were also one of the only good things in my life. I think I kind of shut down after my mom’s death. Nothing seemed worth doing anymore, not when she was gone. She still is gone, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever be functional again. Does that make sense?

I’m rambling now. You were always the chatty one out of the two of us, and I liked it that way. You helped comfort me with a lot of things when my dad was being harsh or when the kids at my school were being jerks. I’m not sure if I was good at comforting you, though. I’m not good with emotions. Or being a good friend. You were my first friend, really. I should have done more to show how much I care.

I can’t fit all that I want to say in this letter. There’s just too much, but I think it boils down to a few things: one, I’m sorry for how I was after my mom died. You didn’t deserve that. Two, you were the best friend I ever had and I’m so incredibly grateful for you. I hope that you can find someone as amazing as you to be your friend. I never deserved you in the first place. Three, you are an incredible person and I love you so much, as sappy as it is.

I can’t tell you where I’m going away to, because even I don’t know. And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. It’s nothing personal, just plausible deniability and all that if I end up a missing persons case. Though I doubt I will. I’m not putting a date on this for the same reasons.

My letter writing skills are a bit lacking, so I’m not sure how to end this. Just know that you’re an amazing person, I care about you so so much, and I’m sorry for everything.

So this is goodbye. 

All my love,

Cole

[omni-scient-pan-da]

Hello!! I saw your tags on one of my posts, I figured I'd send you an ask with my reply since I realized I had quite a lot to say XD

I definitely agree with the idea that Atsushi is connected to The Book somehow. 

Actually, you suggesting that Atsushi was ‘made by The Book’ is something I find particularly interesting. I personally have a theory that Sigma is The Book transformed into a human form, and what you said about Atsushi fits so incredibly well with the Sigma theory in my little gremlin brain.

(I saw in one of your posts you aren’t caught up with the manga, so I’ll keep this vague to avoid spoilers)

So far, Atsushi and Sigma have been shown to have very similar personalities. With all of the mysteries surrounding Sigma in the series, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn he and Atsushi may be more connected to one another than we have been led to believe thus far. 

So considering their seemingly important connection to each other, plus my thoughts regarding Sigma, your idea that Atsushi was made by, or is in some way a figment of The Book, sounds very plausible to me and the implications of it are driving me wild!!!

The idea that Atsushi himself has used The Book in the past, and was actually the one who created abilities (I saw you talk about this in one of your posts) is also very interesting to me!

I’d say as far as probability goes, Atsushi being the one to create abilities is not unlikely. I know the manga has mentioned abilities have been around for quite a long time (at least a few hundred years), but I’ve been rather skeptical myself about whether or not I believe that. 

To me, abilities feel a lot more ‘new’ in the bsd universe than the provided history wants us to believe. 

I personally think that if The Book is powerful enough to conjure up a floating casino, and implant eight years worth of memories of that casino into every person's mind, then it is also entirely possible that abilities have only been around for 10 or so years, and all info negating that is the result of 'false memories'. 

Atsushi being the one to write abilities into existence would make the most narrative sense, as he is the main character and should be at the centre of all of this if possible. It would also explain why his ability is considered to be so powerful. 

As for my thoughts on how Atsushi creating abilities would tie into him being the one to find The Book, I’d say it’s hard to come up with any substantial theories at this point, considering how little we know about The Book.

But something that could be interesting would be a reveal that either Atsushi himself, or his tiger, is actually a human/tiger embodiment of one of The Book’s pages. This reveal would explain why Atsushi’s tiger has regenerative abilities, as one of the properties of The Book itself is that it is unable to be destroyed by abilities. 

If this is true, and Atsushi’s tiger is a page from The Book, and is thus connected to The Book himself, then his finding of The Book could result from a natural, unconscious, yearning to rejoin the page he unknowingly harbours to the rest of The Book.

And, this would tie in nicely to my theory on Sigma being The Book, as Atsushi and him shared that moment of connection during the Sky Casino arc when Atsushi saved Sigma from falling.

Also, interesting thing there- We learn that Sigma used his ability on Atsushi right before he fell to disclose the location of the page to Atsushi. But we never actually see Sigma use his ability. So, what is he never used his ability at all? What if the unconscious part of Sigma that is The Book, connected in a sense to the unconscious part of Atsushi that is a page from The Book, and the information was passed between them through the connection they share via The Book? And not Sigma’s ability?

Overall your ideas on Atsushi and his ties to the creation of abilities are super interesting to me! And thank you for the kind words you left on my post, I'm glad you enjoyed my theory on Ango!! :)

I hope my thoughts here read as coherent, though I proofread this multiple times I wrote this rather late so apologies if I don't make sense!! Also sorry for the length, I have a tendency to ramble.

No need to apologize!! This is all super well thought out and I loved hearing your take on it!! Also thank you for keeping it vauge, I have since almost caught up to the manga now? I've read all the way through Chapter 99, which is the last chapter published in Volume 22, since I prefer to read the physical manga copies rather than the version published online

I never thought about how the tiger regenerates and the book can't be destroyed... I always thought it was interesting that Atsushi was able to heal fast because of his tiger abilities? Because as far as I'm aware, there's no correlation between healing and tigers? (Unlike say... Healing and snakes, for example, with snake oil being marketed as a fake cure all, or there being two snakes around the caduceus which is somehow associated with health, healing and Apollo even though it's Hermes's staff, although both of these correlations tend to be more white/European based correlations with mythology, and so I had assumed that maybe tigers were related to health or healing in Japanese culture or mythology and my euro-centric education hadn't included it)

Atsushi and his ability being created by the book makes a lot more sense to me if the book is the reason he has regenerative abilities rather than the tiger then, and I hadn't even thought of that before you mentioned it

I also think it would be super interesting if Sigma was the book? I do think that it's interesting how Sigma could be created from nothing, with no memories of the past, like if the book is all powerful then someone must have purposefully created him with no memories? And if so for what purpose? Why would creating a fully grown adult man with no backstory be useful to someone? Him being an actual human representation of the book would explain a lot and I think you make really good points there

Additionally, the lack of explanation about where special abilities come from has been on my mind since the very beginning of the manga amxnxkskk and as I mentioned in one of my posts before, it could be because I'm used to My Hero Academia, where they explain where quirks come from at the beginning of every episode, but the lack of explanation about their origin, and also the way that Atsushi just... Never knew about the fact that he had an ability makes me suspicious about abilities' origins

Also something that just occurred to me to further back up the idea that abilities were created recently is the fact that Atsushi has never once asked the members of the ADA how they realized they had abilities? If it was a common occurrence for people to not know they have abilities until something happens, like how Atsushi didn't know he had the weretiger ability until Dazai pointed it out, I would think that Atsushi would have asked the other members of the ADA what sparked their realization that they had abilities, the same way he starts asking them what they did before they joined the ADA

Granted, this could be something brought up in the light novels, and I just haven't read them, or from a Doylist perspective maybe it wasn't brought up because it wasn't relevant to the plot (whereas asking about previous occupations is relevant to the plot because it gives a reason to reveal that Dazai used to be in the Mafia kinda thing) but taking a Watsonian approach to why it wasn't included in the main manga at least, I think Atsushi knows that it's uncommon to realize you have an ability 18 years after you've had it

Which then begs the question to the reader... How do they just know they have an ability?

If abilities were created recently and merely implanted false memories of people having had them for a while, it would make sense that the characters have just "always known" they've had an ability because the book would have implanted that knowledge in their heads and no one would have thought anything of it, and if Atsushi's ability was created separately in a way that makes him/his ability different than the others, it would explain how he's the only one who wasn't born with the knowledge that he had a special ability

Anyways I don't think I really had too much more too add to this post, I'm mostly just elaborating on ideas that have already been stated but these were just a few more things that occured to me to back up a few more of these points because it's something that's been scratching at the back of my head this entire time skxnakskwkw

Thank you so much for your ask! I really enjoyed it and I'm interested to see where the manga goes from here!!