#thank you for the ask i love to ramble about my opinions lol

[angelhusbandry]

hi elliott if you’re willing, do you have any takes on AI-generated art?? i remember some tweets of yours about NFTs where u criticized how (paraphrasing) that community glorifies the privatization of art consumption & i heard someone predict that AI art would lead to a “democratization of art” where people don’t have to gain skill to produce art and it’s therefore accessible to more people, so i was especially wondering what u think about that. no pressure to reply👍

it’s definitely an interesting topic, i think i’m definitely more “moderate” on it than some people — i’ve seen people call it soulless which i don’t necessarily think is true, for me the biggest problem is theft, the fact that specific artist names are run through algorithms to copy their specific style without permission. if someone made a bank of their own art and ai generated another piece or if someone hypothetically had full permission to generate art from someone’s pieces i don’t think it’s really my business, because they agreed, however i do think it’s bad to steal art of course

the angle of “democratizing art” is certainly interesting but i don’t think i agree, obviously it’s a time saver but it’s still someone else’s art the algorithm has to be trained on so you need people who know art to provide examples. in my head to truly democratize art you would actually provide the resources to learn art to people. i don’t see art as some sort of intrinsic skill, it’s almost entirely practice, so the element of time is the least accessible part. but that’s one of those things you just need to figure out how to put aside time for (insert communist ramblings about how society should encourage and not discourage it)

anyways it’s tricky business. from what ive seen they make it easy to make fun of them (them being ai art bros) so maybe my mild sympathy is unwarranted but i Do understand art is hard and ai generation is cool! again the theft is the sticking point for me. i think there is a way to do ai art ethically but it’s also so far out of my wheelhouse who am i to say

[repurposedmeatlocker]

I'm the anon whose favorite movie is Napoleon Dynamite. What did you think of it?

Omg I LOVE it. Has to be up there with some of my favorite movies and I only watched it a few months ago.

It is really funny (definitely my kind of humor), has an impeccable stylistic vibe, and most of all, it just exudes a lot of heart. The characters feel like super believable high schoolers, and the way it meanders through each plot-line helps put that to the forefront. High school is, after all, a lot of awkward moments that generally hold small repercussions, but feel a lot more significant. I think the film really nailed balancing that aspect with its quirky humor.

To me it is up there as an example of a coming-of-age film done right.

[astervoidtheartist]

yapper and listener duo!!

I've been so obsessed with TWDG for months and months and months on end. It's rotting my brain more than the walker corpses. I've been doodling the characters a lot lately so here's a big collection of drawings! (I love Louis so much it's indescribable oml)

(Same goes for Kenny, he's my bae)

Click read more to hear my ramblings about the art and TWDG in general lol (SPOILERS)

I genuinely am so heartbroken that Telltale isn't making anymore of these wonderful games. TWDG series is the first to ever make me sob, anytime Lee appears I do in fact cry my eyes out and it's such a beautiful story they've created here.

This may be an unpopular opinion: I do not hate Lilly. She is awful, don't get me wrong. But I love her as a villain, and I do feel sympathy for her. (Will never forgive her for Carley though, can forgive her for James because I'd rather him be dead than hate me lmao)

I went with Louis' "route" (if that's what you'd call it) because I love him but I also love Vi so I'm gonna replay the whole game to do her's. The piece where I drew them was inspired by that one scene where Louis asks you why you saved him over her and then goes on about how he loved annoying Violet and making her do that one eye roll lol

Also I love Kenny :( At the end of season 2 I had Clem and AJ go without him so I wouldn't have to see him die but I think I might replay it where we go with him so I can get just a smidge more content of him lmao.

Anyways thank you for reading my rambles, I don't have anyone to talk about this game with please suggest me to draw more people from it and yap about it to me ;(

[thelargefrye]

🌷 SMALLS’ FIC RECOMMENDATION LIST.

i've seen a lot of fic rec lists circulating in the community recently and so i felt like i should also make one to support fellow writers who i think really deserve that extra love and attention.

so this is also an appreciation post because i have quite a few things to say. these are mainly writers that i enjoy reading and think need a lot more love and attention because let's be honest, they have amazing ideas and people are just sleeping on them.

so, i'll just jump right into it! make sure to send these writers love and reblog their works!!!

my best friend and person i share a braincell with : @sanjoongie

check out her master list.

like you want to talk about talent? topaz is the one who breathes talent and ideas that literally no one else is coming up with. like if i had to read only one person for the rest of my life, it would be topaz because her writing is just amazing. her moodboards that she makes for her works, perfect. everything topaz does when it comes to writing is amazing, and i'm so glad that she's my best friend and braincell.

and not only that, but topaz is just nice to be talk to! like she makes you want to repeatedly talk to her and she is so good at helping flesh out my own ideas. i wouldn't have written half the things i did last year if it wasn't for her.

anyways, i'm so grateful and proud to call topaz my braincell because she's so amazing, talented, and nice. it breaks my heart that more people don't talk about HER. like you want to read something different and so well written then you need to read literally ANY work topaz has written.

topaz, my lovely braincell, thank you for putting up with me and my shit 24/7. if it wasn't for you i probably wouldn't have gotten out of my writer's block. and just now that i love you and thank you for being an amazing friend and writer.

and if you've gotten this far, i'll just straight up tell you that this is topaz appreciation post. so now i'll link some of my favorite works by her and tell you why i love them:

twilight academy ( all parts ) ( rated : mature )

wizard professor!seonghwa x wizard professor!f!reader ft. ateez

this currently has four parts and is still ongoing and is literally SO good. like who else is writing about a professor au WHERE THEY ARE ALL WIZARDS. and not to mention the worldbuilding and history that is all mentioned and talked about. its so so so good and the smut in it is absolutely to die for. and the chemistry between seonghwa and mc is so good, i love when they go back and forth.

breed ( part one ) ( rated : mature )

ateez x f!reader ( most of the members are aliens with san and another member being human )

now THIS is an alien au done right and different and basically sum it up with one sentence its "alien!teez doing sexual experiments" (from @/morethingsfandom). like its just so good and the SMUT! THE SMUT IS WHY WE ARE HERE PEOPLE!! THIS IS WHAT SCI-FI SMUT IS ABOUT!!! like this is honestly pure pwp and a nice switch up if maybe twilight academy isn't your thing.

see? topaz does everything!

dragon oracle ( here ) ( rated : mature )

dragon!ateez x dragon!f!reader ( based off of my own dragon au )

THIS!! in my opinion is one of topaz's best works (i may be biased lol) and def my favorite from all time. topaz took my au and did her own spin on it and made it her own. she cared about the source material, asked questions, let me ramble, and then boom! a masterpiece was made. if you like my dragon au, then i highly, HIGHLY recommend you read this. and if you've already read... then read it again.

i wish it was me ( here ) ( rated : 18+ )

water bender!san x avatar!hongjoong x water bender!f!reader x water tribe warrior!yunho ( implied ot8 )

again another fic that is based off of mine but literally made it her own because topaz is just that talented. a "what-if" au for my alta series where mc is a water bender and with san and yunho. absolutely amazing and does so well with writing all the characters and their dynamics. a def read if you love atla!

sweet sorrow of evil ( master list ) ( rated : mature )

ateez x evil queen!f!reader ( members have different roles within the story )

this is a collab story between topaz and me and i couldn't make this post and NOT include this series that we are working on together. this really just shows what two authors can make when they come together. we co-wrote the prologue and are currently writing the first chapter. this world is our baby and i love and it has the both of us in a chokehold, i'm so proud of the world me and here built and i want everyone to see it.

and honestly, that's just the tip of the iceberg cause topaz has SO MANY more but these are just the ones that i always think about. like, i really suggest you all check out topaz's works. i have more of her fics on my fic rec blog (@comicsan) so if you want to see more of her and other fics that i have enjoyed then i would check that blog out.

please go show my bestie support, it would mean the world to me!

thank you 🩷

[genderqueerdykes]

Hello, I’ve got a long winded request for advise that I’d like to ask from you (if you’ll give me a year in advance to ramble lol).

Would just like to state first off that this was something I spent half an hour on cycling between the thoughts of “this is horribly offensive” and “who better to ask” due to some of your posts and because I commonly enjoy and trust your opinions to be at least honest. I know you aren’t obligated to answer this ask but I’d really appreciate it even if it’s simply just a “AITA?” “YTH” situation.

I’ve had an issue recently where I am being ridiculed for making choices for my body and its appearance. The choice is losing weight. I’ve lived my entire life so far as a fat person, for the last 13 or so years I was well above the “class 3 obesity” threshold, right now I’m sitting in the low end of the first class. I don’t really like it, but when I was in the overweight category (I haven’t been an average weight since I was 5, a little more on that later) I got told that by losing weight I was being inherently fatphobic and making other fat people uncomfortable.

I know dieting and the likes can be an uncomfortable topic in general but I never brought it up except for rare mentions of my weight loss, mostly because I was proud of my progress. I’m not wanting to be “thin, “skinny,” whatever etc etc, I would just like to be in the middle of the average category with some visible muscle mass. I was shamed so much that I put myself back up into the obese category, and I’m all for body positivity but it’s not working for me when I know what I want my body to look like. I’m neutral on my body and its functions in general but I’m uncomfortable with the gain I didn’t want and the knowledge that I was on my way to a point of comfort.

As I said before, I haven’t been an average weight since I was 5. That’s because I developed severe binge eating disorder due to trauma. My weight gain was uncontrollable and made me uncomfortable for over a decade. Now that I have some control and a sense of body neutrality, I would like to lose what I gained from my disorder. Not all of it ofc, I’m an adult now and I want a healthy adult body, but I want to be able to make the choices and changes to put my body back into the average weight that I feel was “stolen” from me.

I suppose those thoughts could be considered fatphobic from a certain viewpoint but to me my binge eating disorder and obesity are/were things that I feel the need to heal from. I don’t have these thoughts about anyone else. I don’t want anyone to lose weight if they don’t want to. I love fat bodies. I just want to have the choice to lose weight myself without being considered a bad person.

Do these thoughts and feelings make me a bad/fatphobic person? Does losing weight make me a bad/fatphobic person? I genuinely just want what I believe is best for my body.

Thank you for your time. Stay well.

i have a lot of feelings on this sort of topic, so i appreciate you sending an ask like this, because it's one of the most nuanced, complicated discussions i've tried to have with people recently and a lot of people do not understand the distinction. i'm going to try to break this down to have it make sense to as many people as possible

first of all, people have the right to choose what weight they want their body to be at, so long as it's not causing genuine harm, especially permanent harm. losing weight is not inherently evil, the thing is, a lot of people either need to lose weight or choose to do so for good reasons. i was very heavy at one point, 360 lbs, and i was starting to get new pain i hadn't experienced before. it was hard to stand for any period of time. i couldn't walk much.

after i started walking around the neighborhood and losing that extra weight, that pain went away. i feel a lot better having less of that weight on me. i gained weight in a very unhealthy manner during this time, mostly by not eating well for my dietary needs, sleeping excessively, no exercise, and so on. the thing is that we have to take care of our total health and not everyone who is fat is unhealthy, but some people can and do put on weight that impairs their functioning or health and it's not good to ignore that this is a thing that can and does happen

you're allowed to decide what you feel your body should look like especially if you are not taking this to extremes. i like to keep my weight below a certain range, myself. i keep a close eye on it. fortunately it's easy to stay around a certain healthy range for my body because i cook a lot of meals at home and i mostly eat vegetarian food and fish due to allergies and digestive issues. i'm still about 311 lbs but it's in a much healthier configuration for my body

weight is a complex conversation. both thin and fat bodies are stigmatized. we need to drop our obsession with body image and let people be the arbiters of their own weight, at least, letting people express what they want and helping them reduce harm and find ways to achieve that goal realistically in a healthy manner. shaming people doesn't work. we've proven this decade after decade. shaming skinny people doesn't work. shaming fat people doesn't work. shaming anyone doesn't work

dieting is a very specific thing. everyone's diet is 100% unique to their body. your digestive system works different than the person next to you's. you may not metabolize nutrients as well as someone else. you may process fats and proteins differently. you may need a lot of electrolytes. you may not be able to digest fiber. you may struggle with fructose, glucose and other sugars. you may not be able to eat any meats at all. you may need lots of fruits. it will depend greatly on who you are

it's best to work with your body than against it. you are allowed to decide what weight range you want to be within. best thing you can do is attempt an elimination diet to see if there are foods that just don't do your body any favors, these can and should be done very slowly with one food at a time. but i'm not a health professional, so that's just a suggestion.

either way good luck, i don't like when people try to boil this down to "this is good" or "This is bad". there are good and bad things to all of this. it's worth discussing both sides of that. i hope this helped you in any way

[ruushes]

Hello I just discovered your blog because I love Bg3 and your art is just *keysmash* 😍😱💚 You named your Tav Lux and your Durge Nox? That is beautiful! Normally I'm most obsessed with my own Durge (her name is Maev 😊) but you got me hooked and I would love to know more of them! Are they shape shifters/trans/androgynous? (Correct me if I'm wrong but I think I spied both male and female forms 🧐) I love your design and the concept that Nox is like a cat, innocently playing with half dead things while the others witness it with shock and disgust 😆

💕💕🩷💜🩵THANK YOU for asking about my creature i love them so much 😭😭😭😭💕💕 answers under the cut so i can ramble contentedly and here is a wip of their cult leader days vs their return to baldur's gate (i just got to act 3 and they are Going Through It)

they originally started as a tav w/ the name lux, short for the tiefling virtue name luxury, then i restarted w/ them as a durge and the name nox bc it was like the opposite of lux (night vs light). they've evolved pretty far from the original lux character in terms of backstory, motivations and priorities, though personality-wise they're still pretty similar. i'm still considering whether i want to preserve/develop lux as a separate tav 🤔

they like to change up their gender presentation but tragically (in their opinion) are unable to physically change shape (major point of sibling rivalry with orin). i guess the best term for them might be genderfluid, or polygender? they're fine w/ any pronouns and gendered words but tend to most enjoy androgyny and ambiguity

and yes you get it..! that's a good analogy, not exactly innocent but amoral in the literal meaning of the word, like outside of mortal morality. cause they're not mortal ultimately and even by the end of the game struggle to see anything wrong with their enjoyment of violence and killing

they think about things less in terms of right and wrong and more in terms of what they care about and how they're affected (though they do throughout the course of the game begin to redevelop their very beaten down and atrophied sense of sympathy). luckily for everyone involved they want to be Loved and can compromise by mostly only enjoying socially acceptable violence and killing lol

[whyoneartheven]

What head canons do you have for the LU boys? (Yes, this is a request for you to ramble about them)

aaaahhh hello! Thanks for asking, but wow, goodness me

this will take some thinking XD

umm

ok a lot of these are a lil generic or just other people’s ideas I kinda adopted but here goes!

also I didn’t expect it when I started but this got long…

for Legend, I really like the idea of him drinking tea and still having an apple orchard. And also having honey bees! (These aren’t mine originally lol) Also I feel like post LU (this ofc may change depending on the ending) he fell into depression a little bit before digging himself out with Ravio and Zelda’s help… he cut his hair during this time. idk I just feel like that would happen. I like the idea of him having a good singing voice. (merperson stuff but also even beforehand. He definitely sang lovely duets with Marin once she taught him how) Also I feel like he’s one of those people that’s always cold! So he secretly likes to cuddle :)

with Wild, I feel like… he definitely doesn’t use recipes! This is based off how I am in his game and irl, as I just throw things together and never go back to see how I made things before, but also I feel like it just fits his personality! I think it would be hilarious if he named his horses at first after anything that had an impact on him so like, one horse is named Zelda and another is Stir Fry. Or smth XDDD Also based on my experiences in game (to an extent), I feel like he doesn’t actually care about legitimately looking fashionable… it’s more that he likes wearing things that looks crazy XD

on to Hyrule! Ok this isn’t as much a headcanon as a ship but I really ship him and Aurora; I feel like they’d be absolutely adorable together but he’s really private about it! I like to think Hyrule can sew? And I think he’d love to run around barefoot on fresh grass! And just, be in love with nature in general! And maybe he doesn’t have an eye for color; he can’t tell if colors clash or actually match. Also is it just me or does he feel like out of the entire chain he could easily be a Studio Ghibli protagonist? Just me? Idk lol

Time! I like the idea of Time and Malon having a running joke that the other is color blind, and the chain eventually picks it up! And then Time keeps mistaking one color for another (on purpose or not? We’ll never know), and every time the others go wild XD (this may or may not be based on a joke my parents have irl hehe). When Time first met Malon he was very very lactose intolerant. And drank it anyway, of course! also I feel like Time really likes flowers? Idk why! And finally, if Time was in the modern world he’d be the guy who’d be eating food months to years past the expiration date…

Four, my beloved! Umm this is kinda a design idea more than anything but I like the idea of him growing his hair out and wearing it in a ponytail post LU! (provided he doesn’t die…) I don’t think of him as having voices in his head or being a system but I still like the idea of him talking to himself sometimes XD! Also this is just something canon I don’t see talked abt a lot but I love he and Twi’s relationship sm! Four totally has RBF and definitely stares at people accidentally when he’s thinking… also I saw a crack fic somewhere where Four was already married to Dot and had children and the chain were shocked; it was hilarious, and while I don’t think he would actually have kids yet, I think it’d be hilarious if he and his Zelda are already quite far along in their relationship (as I ship them lol)

the man, the myth, the legend, WIND, is next! This man has Opinions. I feel like he’s the kind of person so have opinions on things he’s only heard of two seconds before, like automatically deciding he will like a food or deciding the other way round. (And yeahhhh I’m basing him on my brother lol) I’m definitely not the one to come up with this but Wind is probably the one with the best (and most opinionated) fashion sense (most of the others are just hopeless in varying degrees so it isn’t hard)! Maybe older him bonded with young Wars in the War of Eras over this (bc I love the idea of older wind being there), Idk XD! Also he definitely braids Aryll’s hair and is generally very responsible (I mean he’s a big brother he’s gotta be XD); he starts off almost treating LU as a bit of a vacation! Nothing will go wrong, his family is safe, and he gets new friends :D

Warriors, the wonderful man, is next! I feel like he’s very nostalgic and a little sappy. Like, just in general. He likes to look back on his happy memories! Also (once again not my idea) but I like the idea of Warriors growing up either orphaned or really poor, and living in the less palatable portion of Castle Town. (Therefore he played pickup soccer as a kid; he just feels like he would lol) I definitely ship him and his Zelda (ok tbh I ship ALL the Links with their Zeldas lol). I feel like at the point of LU they’ve talked abt it but Warriors isn’t ready (thanks to Cia and maybe just all the barriers in his mind about being inferior to her or smth) Also, give this man the craziest accent you can find and I am here for it; whoever first came up with that is a genius. Ok yeah you can probably tell I love Warriors angst

XD Sky!!! My bestieeee!! If Sky was in modern times he’d be one of those people who gets sleepy when they drink coffee, fs! He is definitely the artistic one, and maybe during LU he discovers a bunch of mediums besides woodworking that he loves (and maybe he makes a bunch of art for Sun, who knows!) This next one is based off @margindoodles2407’s Forger from her loz AU but the idea that his parents died in a house fire and he lived with Gaepora and Zelda until he was older is so cool to me! And bc of this I feel like he’d really hate being around fire (to the point of panic attacks? Maybe, maybe not). Finally, hopeless bird lover Sky is a beautiful thing. As a bird watcher myself, I cannot blame him.

Last but not least is Twilight!! This guy totally holds conversations with animals all the time and it freaks people out (they can never tell if he actually understands them)! Twi definitely has a lot of respect for kids too and talks to them like they’re adults (by using the same vocabulary and tone, not by talking about things that aren’t good for kids to hear XD) and I feel like he would write painfully cheesy love poems? Twi definitely can’t cook but I feel l Ike he also cares the most about food? Idk? ALSO LET THIS MAN QUILT. IDK I THINK HE’D BE TERRIBLE AT IT BUT STILL TRY AND IT WOULD BE FUNNY

ok, and that’s it!!! Wow, that was a lot…

and I could definitely come up with more lol

[thisbarbiereallylikesbirds]

Aly do u prefer yoshi + splinter being the same character or separate? could u rank the yoshis/splinters from your least favorite to most favorite? thank u!

Good question!!

Personally, I prefer it when they're the same character, it's just more interesting in my opinion. Now, that's not to say that Splinters that start out as a rat can't have cool backstories (I actually really like 03 Splinter's), but I always find myself more intrigued if they used to be human. It really allows the writers to dig into what it would be like for someone to suddenly not be human anymore. Plus the idea of a guy getting turned into a rat and then turning around and being like "I guess the only course of action is to raise four turtles in the sewers" is really funny to me. It definitely takes a specific person for that to be their first course of action.

And, of course, if he was human first that means he probably had a close relationship with Tang Shen. I wrote an entire essay on why she's such an interesting character to me so I won't get into that here, but getting to hear about her from a primary (and often biased) source is really fun. I love characters that haunt the narrative.

Now I've only ever seen Rise, 03, and MM/Tales in full. I've seen a few episodes of 2012 but 87, the comics, and all other iterations aren't gonna be included since I don't know enough about them.

Rise Splinter. What can I say. I made the Nameless Trio just to put this idiot and his friends in situations and watch how they react. His past with the Hamato Clan, the whole Lou Jitsu era, and the Battle Nexus era are all super interesting to me, plus I love reading and writing little fics where this man who had no intention of ever even interacting with a child suddenly has to raise four of them. While he's not always the best father (or the best person if we're being so real) it's clear that he loves his kids.

03 Splinter. This guy is just...the sweetest I can't even. In my opinion he's the best dad out of all the Splinters (at least the ones I've seen). I mean he literally used to be a rat, and yet is a good father even by human standards (it's my personal head canon that he had a rat family before at some point so he does have practice raising kids, but still). I love how Yoshi would just bring him literally everywhere, I love how much he cares. He's just great.

2012 Splinter. Now I know some people really hate this guy, and like I said early I haven't seen the whole series. However. This man has a cheese phone and runs on a wheel. He committed to the bit and I have to respect that. Plus, his whole backstory with Karai and Shen is super interesting to me. And in my opinion Splinter and Shredder being brothers is an elite choice. The obvious favoritism of his children isn't great, but I can appreciate a complex character.

Mutant Mayhem/Tales Splinter. I'm gonna be so honest I don't know if we've really seen enough of this guy for me to have a super concrete opinion on him. In my review of TOTTMNT I did talk about how annoying it was to have him just speak vermin, and I do still stand by that. That being said, I don't hate him. It's obvious that he cares about his kids and wants the best for him. I've seen some theories that maybe he was lying about his past and used to be Hamato Yoshi. Personally I don't buy it, but due to my personal preferences I do kinda hope that's the case lol.

This ended up being a lot longer than i thought it would be!! I hope you enjoyed me rambling about the old rat man.

Thanks for the ask!!

[lovifie]

A little update for everybody for my current and future updates 🩷: (please read it ❤️)

Her Royal Highness: Hiatus. Trust me, I am the saddest about it. It is the first thing I wrote and what made me want to start the blog, but I have kind of lost the vision I had for it and I can't write anything without hating it. Don't worry too much about it because I am really dramatic and might just keep it going on a month 🩷.

Lift me off my feet: Around 4 chapters left. It would make it a 13 chapter series, taking in consideration I started because of a fanart I'm quite impressed with. Still, the little plot that it has is starting to run out and I feel like it is just unnecessarily stretching it, especially since there are other series I want to work on and I can't until this one is finished. I wanted to ask, would you rather have me finish this one “fast” or alternate it with other posts? Fast would be as in focusing on writing only this fic until I finished, and I believe I could have it done next week most likely.

Switch Bodies: Plot wise, around 2 chapters. After that, it would just be random scenarios that I would think of or that you could want me to write. Still, this one doesn't really have a schedule as it is mostly jokes so I can't tell when I'll update.

Spidey: This one will have a slower than usual post schedule since it is going to be interactive and I'll need to leave time between chapters to let everyone vote their favorites. So I'll be a bit more relaxed rhythm of updates.

Poll Fic: Whichever wins the poll (I can't see the results until Monday unless I vote and I'm edging myself like a moron), I won't probably write anything until I finish Lift Me Off My Feet, plus I want to organize a bit the plot so the thing that happens with Her Royal Highness doesn't happens again and I have something to support myself on to finish it. So I'll be a bit of time still.

Those are the series, I'm also working on oneshots and just silly stuff that genuinely I'll post randomly.

Aswell, I wanted to let people know that the on taglist form I removed the option to choose on which fic to me tagged because I was getting everyone mixed and it was becoming too chaotic so now there will be one single taglist. I hope you guys don't mind too much and thank you for understanding. If you would prefer me to remove you from it you can also tell me on the taglist form without a problem. 🩷🩷

There are going to be a couple of days without updates because I'm going to work on tidying everything up a bit so it is easier to navigate the blog. And I'm also going to slow down a bit as well, because I don't understand why I have pressured myself into uploading as soon as possible to the point I'm burning myself out instead of enjoying writing like I should.

That being said, I'm done rambling and complaining. I'd love any kind of feedback, as comments, asks or DM, I always love to read you guys opinion and ideas so feel free to do so ❤️❤️

Sorry for the disappointment of this not being an update let me know what you would rather have happening on the Lift me off my feet fic 🩷

Back to Masterlist - Taglist Form

TagList (1): @1-800-choke-that-ho @1234ilikecowsthanyoumore @anirok2 @arbesa-mind @avaleigh16 @blckbrrybasket @bunnysdaydreams @cassiecasluciluce @cheomain @cmbghost @cod-z @coldpaperwonderland @contractedcriteria @cringeycookies @crinoid90 @darkangel4121 @dilara-del @dontworryboutitokie @dukeofjjune @dumb12bvtch1212 @dumybitch @emotion-no-hot-yes-hotel-trivago @evolutionarry @fraserbraw @ghostlythots @ghosts-hoe @glocuseguardian3rd @grenkiesworld @h0n3y-l3m0n05 @hatterripper31 @herefor-tojis-tits @howlove @itsberrydreemurstuff @jaguarthecat @jupiternighties @justyourfriendlyneighbourhood1 @kayden666 @keiraslayz @keiva1000 @kristalhi @l0velifehatey0u @ladyxtiger @lilliumrorum @lolliepopsicle @lolly145 @lotionlamp @lunamoonbby @lunari0 @marymustdie @missmidnight-writes

[lovelynim]

Hey! Do you have any tickle hcs for the deep space boys? I’d love to hear your opinions considering seeing u post about it is what got me into the game! Thanks for that LOL ;)

Hi anon!!

I actually do have some hcs for them and I'm so glad you asked because I was dying for an excuse to ramble about them!

Starting off with my fav because I'm biased. Anyway, I think lighter tickles/strokes tend to get a better reaction from Xavier??

Like, he said himself his tummy isn't that bad and he gives me the vibes that he is pretty good at holding his reactions even if you tickle his feet or under his arms - still get going at some point tho.

OH, RIGHT: HIS NECK

Horribly ticklish, can't stand getting kisses or raspberries there, will ALWAYS scrunch up his shoulders if you poke him there and will giggle adorably all the time heheheh

Now I have to be honest and say that I didn't interact with Zayne as much as you people would like me to do. I didn't vibe along with him at first, so it took me a while to get going lol

But thanks to Mia (@/ticklygiggles), I started to see the charms our cold, stoic doctor has and OF COURSE HE IS THE TYPE TO SAY HE IS NOT TICKLISH ASJUDHISHA

And he will die pretending he is not. Also, I feel like teases don't really work on him??? Anyway, you'll get him jumping in no time if you slide your fingers down his back and he will give you that cold, angry look saying "stop >:C"

Last, but not least, our beautiful and delicate artistic brat. Rafayel is hands down the most ticklish one among the three of them and will be dramatic and LOUD about it.

"I'm going to die", "you're killing me", "that's too much!" and you literally just poked his side. just that. UHAUSHAU

ANd he is just this walking tickle spot and anything you do will get him rolling on the floor. he also will try to get revenge, but ends up getting wrecked more because he is too baby to put up a fight.

I love him tho, and I have to say he is also the one that gets got the most because thats what he gets after pulling the brat behavior for so long.

[sebille]

Hi, I was reading some of your posts on Zenos (it’s very early in the morning here sorry if it doesn’t make sense) but how do you think Zenos would react if we show him compassion and care ? True compassion and care? Those things he never received as a child? (I made myself cry while writing this because he is the monster Varis created but what If he was loved to begin with ..)

Hi lovely, thank you for the ask! This is a really difficult question to answer, because other than what we see at the very very very end of Endwalker between him and the warrior of light, we don't really see him around anyone he's built a positive relationship with at all in the game. So i'm just going to ramble on about what we see IN the game and build my conclusions on that: The wol is able to show him an act of compassion in Stormblood, where they're able to tell him that they accept him. However, as we all know he will brush it off and move along - because he doesn't trust the wol to mean what they're saying.

"You and I are one and the same. Together, we could while away the quiet hours, as friend and confidant...if you will accept me?" "-  I accept you." "Heh heh...are we to embrace and let bygones be bygones? Do our deeds weigh so little that you would cast all aside? Come. 'Twas plain for the first how this would end." Slowly but surely throughout the expansions he creates this image of who the wol is in his own head - not really understanding what he himself ACTUALLY wants, while also believing that the wol is his "mirror", that they're one and the same. We see the confusion and desperation in his actions in early Endwalker, when the wol doesn't act the way he believes that they would. And how lost he is after the wol gets genuinely upset with him on the moon. In a sense I'd say that Alisaie yelling at him in Endwalker is an act of care and compassion - and we see how he reacts to that: He takes her words to heart and tries to do and be better. And at the end of Endwalker he trusts the wol completely ( we all know about the legendary line " I take it this is your prey. But why does it still live? Surely it is no match for you?" ) and we all know that he gets really vulnerable at the very end and opens up to the wol in a way he really hasn't before. SO with all that being said... I think it's really difficult to say who he would have been had he been shown compassion and care from the start of his life - because other than what we see from him at the very end of Endwalker, he's in a very negative headspace throughout the whole game. And if we go by what we see at the very end, once he trusts that a person is his friend he's loyal, willing to risk it all for his friend, vulnerable, and perceptive. Had Zenos been allowed to live at the end of EW and therefore would have been able to build an actual relationship with the wol (platonic or otherwise) I feel like he'd be very ride or die for them, lol. Also I don't believe that Zenos is a monster. I know that he's called that at least twice in the game, by Varis and Krile - but I don't trust Varis opinions on Zenos AT ALL. And Krile says that he's got "the eyes of a monster." I believe, and I feel like that's more...him looking dead inside? And we know that AT THAT POINT in stormblood he basically is. ( I think his voice actor said that he's basically at his limits at the start of Stormblood. ) tldr I think calling him a monster is unfair - my man is just depressed. He's done some awful and unforgivable things, however. I feel like I did not answer your question but rather just went on a long ramble-session about Zenos - but I'm sure that my Zenos mutuals/followers could answer this question better than me, or build on what I've already said.

[dootznbootz]

Have you ever read a fic/headcanon post you liked so much that it influenced your characterization of Odypen?

I love this ask so much, Dear Anon, holy shit. Thank you so much! I'm so excited to talk about this!

Because...I...I purposely basically shut myself OUT of the fandom until I had MY own characterization down because I wanted to basically have a read of the texts, and then have my own ideas/opinions.

I actually had so much fun with it too!!! :D I wanna ramble about it lol

Ngl, I noticed a SHITTON of like, "hivemind fanon headcanons" in the fandom. Or at least a lot of people sharing the exact same one.

And while there is NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT, I also know that people sometimes will just be a "Yes Man" with ideas and that MAYBE that's a bit of fanon. And that my own reading could be completely different.

I REALLY love this story/myth and so I just really wanted to go into it "blind". I even just RESEARCHED on my own. I have not read a single translation introduction ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ THAT'S how much I wanted to really form my own beliefs before anything else.

And I just had so much fun reading and studying and ANALYSING the texts so then I could really pinpoint exactly WHERE I get a certain headcanon from (most of the time. lol some headcanons are simply for fun and don't have too much textual evidence)

I mean...How many Penelope's have you seen that are feral? 👀 Who is prideful, snarky, reckless, stubborn, ruthless, etc.? (I HAVE read some angry Penelope fics yes! And they're wonderful! ...But that's not necessarily MY Penelope. My Penelope curses and says "Bet" before rushing at something 10x her size. Mine has a temper and WILL lash out. She was just extra careful with the suitors.) Yes, she's intelligent and patient and thoughtful...but Odysseus ALSO has those traits somewhat as well.

THEY'RE LIKEMINDED. BOTH are a person of "many twists and turns". It's why they're fucked up lil soulmates 🥹

There's a few HEADCANONS that I really love that I plan to use and try to credit the OG person though! Just that they're small-ish and not really a big thing on characterization.

My fellow fuzzy worm, Char, (@fangirlofallthefanthings) has OdyPen call Telemachus their lil "droplet" which is super cute.

Someone on tumblr, (I think it was nerdygirl2023??? Idk for sure though, I'll have to recheck later lol) mentioned how Amphitrite kind of helps Odysseus about the Oar quest which I REALLY love. (please let this sad lil fuck rest ;~; I want him in Penelope's arms PLEASE. If I don't go with that idea, Penelope goes with him. Either way, I'm not separating them for at most a few days.)

Other than that and maybe some small things from other works that SUPPORT my headcanons. (Odysseus' behavior towards Circe in Epic kind of supporting my "Odysseus is asexual/demisexual" headcanons, etc.) but most of my stupid silly stuff is from my own silly head :P

It's not like I don't like anyone else's headcanons lol xD It's just that certain things would not fit well with my lil weirdos as it would be out of character for THEM, you know?

Ngl, I sometimes get a lil embarrassed by how DIFFERENT my ideas are from others :') Or even just how few I've seen that are like my own. I love my ideas but it's like I'm a lil bee outside the hive where everyone else is working 🙃 I don't like that I'm so "picky" about my ideas but I just am ;~; (Especially about Penelope's characterization.)

I've seen some posts and "incorrect quotes" that fit my sillies but that was still AFTER I've established my weirdos :P

...I almost wonder sometimes if folks are inspired by MY Sillies 👀 as I've seen some stuff that really makes me wonder lol

[maidstew]

maybe this is silly but — do you have any thoughts on lucy grays specifically appalachian identity? I often think abt how the films erased the cultural / geographical specificities of district 12 even though it’s literally so so important to the books (it’s mentioned on page 2 of the hunger games) and idk I think it’s very interesting/ kinda funny and iconic that in response to that erasure suzanne collins literally made a character whose cultural identity cannot be erased without significantly altering her narrative function. On a meta textual level it’s also an interesting echo to the Capitol erasing lucy gray and then her being restored by the author - kinda? Idk I’m a huge appalachian folk nerd (it’s why I read tbosas lol) so I. Think abt it a lot

omg no this is not silly at all and i am so excited that someone wants to talk about Appalachian culture in the hunger games!! usually i feel like i’m just yelling my appalachian nonsense into the void. ps i love that you’re an appalachian folk nerd- are you also appalachian??

also let me apologize in advance- i started a new anxiety medicine and have felt awful and have had a lot of brain fog so it’s very possible that none of this makes sense or is even what you’re asking.

i ended up rambling a lot so i will put my actual answer under the cut:

the erasure of all the really appalachian things- especially the accents- in the trilogy will always devastate me. which i why i will go to my death defending rachel zegler against anyone who criticizes her accent in tbosas.

i love lucy gray and the covey because you absolutely can see so much appalachian and bluegrass influence in them and their lives- but the book makes it clear that they aren’t really district 12, therefore, not really appalachian.

i think in a lot of ways lucy gray really embodies an appalachian girl. she’s fun and strong and willing to do whatever it takes to survive. she’s not afraid of the woods or the creatures in it- she makes friends with the snakes. she loves music (my girl needs a banjo i will die on that hill) and brings that to her people. their performances are one of the few times that people in 12 really get to be carefree and have fun and it brings everyone together. music is such an important thing in appalachian culture and is something that always brings people together.

she as a double name and it’s important to address her using both- which is also a fairly common thing in appalachian culture, it’s rude to only refer to them by one of the names. (which is why if someone only calls her lucy i do not take their opinion on her character seriously at all.)

you can also see it in the way the covey are a family without all being really related and the way the older members take care of the younger ones. in the way they spend time at the lake fishing and swimming and collecting food from around the area to eat. in the clothes they wear. in their music (nothing you can take from me boot stomping version my beloved).

but i think the distraction that they aren’t really from district 12 and not really appalachian is important. you can see that in the way lucy gray describes the covey as outsiders in district 12. i think this is another way that you really see the influence of appalachian culture in district 12. it doesn’t matter how many similar traits that they have or how long they have lived there- they’re still outsiders to the people who have lived there their whole lives. they still aren’t fully trusted by the wider community because they’re different and not from around here.

i’ll stop rambling now because i think my brain fog is causing this to not make any sense but anyway thank you so much for sending this!!! i love talking about this!!! i would love to hear your thoughts as well

[remusawoooo]

anon here, excited to read the essay! i asked you because i really like your takes and i see people in the more canon-adjacent parts of the marauders fanbase to complain about the extremes of the fanon one, though personally ive never really seen anything Too extreme, tho thats probably just tantamount to how well i curate my spaces i suppose (ive seen people say that fanon makes remus really “alpha” or makes sirius “bimbofied” and while ive seen hints of those extremes here and there, mostly it looks like it varies from person to person. ive just seen remus be more assertive than he probably is in canon, or sirius being more dramatic and “fem” than he probably is in canon). from what i know people like exaggerating events (the prank, etc.) or shifting some personality traits, but i dont really think thats a bad thing - i personally enjoy it. as long as they dont completely turn characters into stereotypes (though its a pitfall of every fandom, i fear), then whatever its just camp.

people are allowed to criticize stuff like that though, not taking that away from anyone, i personally just dont really care enough to be totally accurate esp since this hyperfix is kind of the bottom of the barrel for me LMAO. but i ask mostly bc im just curious to see what other peoples opinions are, and bc i think - especially in a fanbase like this - that its incredibly important to be at least a little critical with your media experience and reflect on it. saying “oh fuck canon we’re just having fun” is fine and all, i dont think anyone is stopping you, i think the personalities people have made up for characters that have zero screen time are super fun and the little ships are not everyones tea but like its fine. but even still, people should be way more aware of what characters theyre dealing with and from what franchise, and like reflect on any biases you may have. if youre making shit up for a random DE character, or retconning some sutff, okay, whatever, but be sure to not defend or like suddenly turn to really weird rhetoric. idk i think its the bare minimum in a fanbase like this

i definitely rambled way too much here, super sorry op! i hope this doesnt bother you, feel free to reply or feel free to not. i just really like hearing peoples thoughts on things, and i like your takes and your blog so i hope i didnt catch you by surprise. i really am just an outsider trying to look in LOL

hello anon, I'm sorry I lost your ask. I was writing on my laptop and saved the draft (but apparently had to press on alt, and didn't do it) so I basically lost your question and half of my initial response. Ty for sending in another ask!! Not a bother at all, i find this very lovely :D 

I was mortified to find that someone who isn't really a part of the fandom was perceiving me while I was complaining about fictional characters ahahaha. still, thank you for validating me and asking my thoughts on the mischaracterization of marauders!! I do talk about it daily, unfortunately, and without any prompt too. I'll try to gather all my thoughts here. I don't necessarily come across fanon as much as I did when I reentered the fandom and honestly, I can not be more with you about curating your space !! at the end of the day, I am just here to have fun, and really, pointing out these issues is not a good time at all! But I do post a lot about these, I can't be bothered to bottle up any thoughts lol.

I think the major issue I have with current interpretations is the underlying bigotry that comes along with it. There is a lot of unchecked problematic content that doesn't sit right with me.

Flanderizing characters in fandom interpretations is not limited to marauders fandom obviously. any popular media will face this because so many of us want to interact with one character so their traits are simplified for easier consumption and to find a common ground. this is also not limited to new marauders fandom. even in the older era, leather jacket-wearing, motorbike-driving quintessential bad boy siruis was a thing. so I won't nitpick on silly simplifications.

I just want to say that this isn't about me wanting everyone to have the same interpretations as I do about the canon. I follow so many lovely people and I don't agree with all of their posts. But, we all just simply share the love for these characters in the text and form an imaginary community. So, if we were to remove all the issues I will mention, it is still very well possible to have different personal takes.

Here are some of my issues:

Queerness, Gender roles, and misogyny:

My biggest problem is the representations of queer relationships. the fandom packages these couples in a strange and obvious heteronormative mold where the individuals fit into male and female gender roles. mlm and wlw are now an “f/m”* stereotype and characterization gets affected by the ships. Heterosexual relationships shouldn't have these limitations either, anyway. There is no one way to be a woman or a man. With queer relationships in particular, we have reclaimed the word queer now but it was used to describe the unconventional weirdness in the relationship. We didn't fit into the normal portrayal of a loving relationship. So, it really bothers me, even in fiction, that queer ships are popularly consumed in a way that represents a traditional template. (*this is not about gender itself but the gender roles! f/m can very well be queer!). 

Let's take the biggest victim in this fandom: sirius.

Sirius’ portrayal concerning his gender and sexuality has heavily changed his characterization in the fanon. We have a character who is popularly headcanonned as trans and is it a coincidence that all their traits have changed from the og material? Sirius is suddenly vain, whiny, and dumb. Canon doesn't suggest this interpretation, it has to have stemmed from somewhere. It's the implicit bias. Sirius becomes a caricature of what a woman “should be”. When we focus on sexuality, there is the suddenly short twink sirius who has the same new traits- proving the point of fulfilling gender roles. These characteristics are a stand-in for the “female” role of the traditional relationship and it becomes more clear in the example of new age wolfstar. Remus is now the big alpha stoic manly man- the obvious stand-in for the “male” role. I could go on, it is apparent in the way you can see remus becomes a caretaker and sirius is taken care of.

The point I am trying to make is not to discourage gender/sexuality hc. I love them, keep them coming. But, why is female sirius not tall suddenly? It is not inherently bad at all to have a feminine and masculine pairing! But why do we need to change the constitutions of these characters to consume their relationship?

I'll keep dropping disclaimers because I hate being misinterpreted: I don't obviously mean every single person is doing this or that doing one of the things means doing the other too. 

Race:

It is related to the point above. I was personally so excited to see the popular desi james hc. Even in fanon, I have never seen such a prevalent and encouraged brown rep, it was quite sweet to come back to that. But the problem is the change of characteristics that comes with race hc. Desi james is also a manly dude who is big and buff as opposed to the white petite and delicate regulus within jegulus ship. The melanin is directly proportional to the manliness here. 

This is a propagation of race stereotypes. Maybe jegulus was a bad example because usually there are seen as blank templates. I will raise the argument that this can't be all we can come up with for blank canvases then. Either way, my point about race still stands when you repeatedly design interracial queer relationships so they fall into heteronormative roles. Anyway, same issue with wolfstar when there is a brown remus.

Canon, JKR, and hypocrisy:

Refusing to engage with source material is funny when we are picking characters out of it. the interpretations of the characters will be from their book. otherwise, they are just original characters with the same name. you can add onto the traits and a lot of the time fandom comes to a consensus regarding a few things! This is common in every fandom but I don't think I have seen such reluctance to not only critically engage with media but also shame others who do. We are surely in special circumstances with this fandom but I really do think jkr and how we navigate the fanon should be two different things.

Most of us don't condone jkr or even remotely agree with any nonsense she spews on the daily. Most of us can see the problematic nature of even consuming this media and staying in this fandom. It is one of the reasons I even left the fandom. Most of us are simply doing our best to engage carefully while distancing ourselves from her. So, it is quite laughable when some love to take the moral high ground for rejecting canon while still engaging with the same characters. (the rejection of canon in question being sirius’ height, lol)

(Sirius' height is quite a polarising fact apparently. Unfortunately, the point about height is also discussed so disingenuously. When I talk about sirius’ height, it is not really about him being 6 or 7 feet. It will not really impact my life. It is about what it represents. He is bimbofied as he becomes short. It's an issue of "WHY" again.)

Of course, this isn't an accusation of intentional bigotry from everyone here. The problem with this fandom is that the people in it tell themselves that it is progressive and to run away from the problematic creator as much as possible. We are not progressive if all we do is co-opt queer and racially diverse identities on such a superficial level. The bias manifests in subtle forms. I just wish we check ourselves from time to time, that's all. 

There is a lot of hostility when we try to discuss issues in the fanon. Things are interpreted in the most misguided way to just win the argument. Like I said in the beginning, we all just want to have a good time. That also means creating a welcoming space for vulnerable groups (especially when the same identities are used to pat yourselves on the backs for inclusivity points). I didn't even cover everything btw, I just wrote about the issues that concern me. queer and poc also partake in biased representations, I also probably have some biases that I didn't identify yet. I just think it would be super neat if everyone tried to make an effort to unlearn and engage with media without hurting anyone. 

I have other issues but they are all just super subjective opinions and smth I can ignore when others do. ex: I really don't like giving tragic backstories to bigots in the story. Not every supremacist loser has a trauma that forced them into oppressing people! There is also "tropeyfication" of all major ships. Just an overall issue in the reading world I think, though.

Anon, I didn't mean to make it preachy in any way btw. You probably asked for a silly little rant and I went full lecture mode, so I apologize for the tone shift!! I mentioned these because every other issue can be brought down to these imo. Like you said, I also don't have any fixation on everything being canon-compliant. I only complain by asking about the thought process behind certain kinds of changes, if that makes sense! I hope this wasn't a drag really and you can see where I am coming from. If I misspoke anywhere, pls lmk. Thanks for sharing your opinions too!!

This is a long long rant, anyone who read everything, you are wonderful and patient. Thank you for taking the time. This huge post and the content can make you think, “who cares this much?” or “it's not that serious” and yaa it really isn't that serious. The characters aren't real but we all are. the identities projected are real. so, it does matter to talk about this.

Everything said this is a fun place to be once you find your own corner in the playground.

[whyawonderwhatudo]

Okay so I HAVE to talk about the newest ep of Helluva boss, Full Moon.

Spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

I really loved the episode but damn did that last scene hurt! Going into the ep I kinda had the idea that the whole episode would feature around stolas and blitzø, so you can imagine my surprise when we saw the Cherubs!

Ngl, they always seemed holier than thou (pun intended) but its so interesting to me to see how 2 of the cherubs would justify their 'sins' and want for revenge, when angels are all supposed to be about love and forgiveness. Kinda hope Colin has some kind of redemption, the other 2 cherubs treated him awfully.

Loved how badass Luna was this episode tho! Was so worried they'd actually attack Blitzø only for Luna and M&M's to beat them back to the human world.

Also we love Fizz and Blitz' friendship!!

Okay but that whole conversation between Blitzø and Stolas was heartbreaking. It was so clear how apprehensive Stolas was while waiting, twiddling his thumbs and sitting on the bed, and he's been prepping himself for this talk all day.

And so has Blitzø, but he's come with the expectation of their transaction, and added with the addition of what Luna had said about him getting bored and no longer wanting to continue, of course he's scared when Stolas asks for the book back.

Stolas was so determined to make sure Blitzø understood how he felt, no longer wanting to make Blitzø feel obligated to sleep with him to get something out of it when he said 'Please don't say it like that.' Stolas probably felt this was the right choice more than ever when Blitzø said he'd do anything. And then look how sweet stolas looked when he was giving him the crystal.

This made me so sad because Stolas was so clear, in his feelings and intentions. Even with the crystal, Blitzø asked whether he wasn't good enough anymore or not, showing he does care. He was looking forward to his night with stolas, having preparing for it and doing a whole shopping trip. They both care, but because Blitzø could never believe Stolas actually loved him, he thought Stolas was joking.

It was so hard to watch when Blitzø started to mess around, thinking it was some kind of role play saying 'I love you' and all that, you could see the hurt on Stolas' face.

To be fair to Blitzø, he did need a moment to comprehend it was an actual confession, to truly see Stolas' feelings because it was such a contradiction to what he thought, but Stolas was so clear, of course he would take the joking as rejection, as Blitzø couldn't understand what he was really saying, until it was too late.

We can understand why Blitzø may have lashed out, thinking the way he does, but his words, his name calling of Stolas was so heartbreaking, you could hear Stolas' Heart and hope shatter when he said 'I think so highly of you Blitzø. I had no idea you thought so low of me.'

The miscommunication....

It's only after he can hear Stolas crying does Blitzø really get the memmo, he sees how he's messed up, but of course Stolas was so hurt, he wouldn't want to see Blitzø after that.

This was just so in character for them, to me at least. Stolas said everything right, but Blitzø took too long to understand his emotions, he lashed out and only after he lashed out did he understand what he did. By that point it was too late and Stolas sent him away....

I knew this breakup was coming, but I did NOT think it would hurt this much. Poor stolas..

Thanks for reading my ramblings lol, feel free to add to this with your own thoughts and opinions!

[isnt-it-pretty]

please only read this if you finished cyno’s story quest!

I absolutely loved the story quest and cyno’s dynamic with everyone else but cyrus left me a bit disappointed… not in his character overall but in his actions. he had good intentions but took cyno away from his origins, denied him answers when cyno asked (cyno said he asked many times about hermanubis and the temple and cyrus always avoided answering him) and since cyno suffered under hermanubis it would’ve been his right to know where it stems from since he couldn’t recall… cyrus probably did it to protect him but he cut cyno off from his culture and people. Bamoun and cyrus owe cyno and sethos a lot in my honest opinion and cyrus still kept avoiding answering cyno at the end of his quest (cyno even calls this out) which just shows me he didn’t learn anything at all from the events.

he also had the option to try and reach out to cyno’s biological parents because they might’ve given him away to provide a better life for him (but I have to say as a middle easterner I’m tired of this poor parents give their children away etc etc narrative we had the same with collei)

cyrus also didn’t feel responsible enough for sethos after taking everything away from him or even leaving him behind back then even he knew it’s bad for him.

cyno and sethos both suffered under the actions of cyrus and bamoun and deserve so so much better cyno is a perfect example of ethnic children being taken in by white people and having their cultures and roots taken away from them. not to mention we know that cyno did maybe have a better life in the akademiya but he was still surveilled and treated like a lab rat and discriminated and isolated until he met tighnari

sorry for this little rant. I still appreciate everything cyrus did for cyno but I think this is also an important part of his very flawed character and ideals. in the end of the quest it even felt like he was manipulating cyno by showing him the photos which he “miraculously” found again showing him “look who raised and took you in”

Sorry I just saw this! First, please never apologize for sending me long asks, I love them! Also congratulations anon, I successfully had to log onto tumblr on my PC to type out this response lol. This is... very long, longer than your ask. I'm so sorry, this is the first post I've made with my thoughts on the quest, so it's going to be a bit of a ramble in return and probably not totally coherent.

Okay, so, full disclosure, I am super white. I mean I look like Barbie sort of white. That means that I don't think I can have any constructive input on the trope (arguably cliché) of middle eastern and BIPOC+Asian characters giving away (or selling, in Cyno's case) their children, so I will definitely defer to your discomfort with the concept. It's definitely a pervasive trope (see: Collei, Dehya, Cyno) and not just in Genshin Impact. It's something that is absolutely worth bringing up and thinking about, and I bet most people didn't even consider it, so thank you for voicing it as something you've noticed! Because of this, I don't feel comfortable talking about whether or not Cyrus should have looked for Cyno's parents, because it's very wrapped up in the narrative vs the damage of the trope, which has a lot to dissect and would be better done by somebody more educated.

As for the quest, I think I've gotta split this into two parts to have my thoughts make sense. God this is so long.

-

First, as a basis, the whole thing with Hermanubis is actually so fucked up from the start even before we can get to Cyrus and Cyno. I mean Hermanubis was an advisor to King Deshret, right? (Also that was two-thousand years ago, but he only died five-hundred years ago? Did I misunderstand that? Was he immortal? The timeline in this game could use an entirely different post because between Cyno and the Hearth kids it makes zero sense, but ANYWAYS-). Presumably, having witnessed this, Hermanubis knows the danger of Forbidden Knowledge and fucking with things that should not be fucked with.

After the fall of Tulaytullah, the Temple of Silence moved to the rain forest but left due to corruption, right? So you'd think they would have agreed on the basic Cardinal Sins of the Akademiya. But now, four hundred years later, the Temple of Silence's attempt to ressurect Hermanubis breaks at least one of those sins (tampering with life and death), and arguably two more (interfering with human evolution and/or attempting the forbidden and fearing none.) I really can't imagine Hermanubis would be happy with their actions. This is like the Akademiya trying to ressurect Rukkadevata (and boy do I have a fic I want to write that digs into those parallels of Cyno and Nahida.)

The very basis for the experiment they did on Sethos and Cyno is so unethical and corrupt. This killed adults so they thought, hey! It's not going to kill the children, right? Lets do it on them despite the negative effects (headaches and fevers). Bamoun's children even volunteered Sethos, which, again, is so fucked up.

Narratively, the quest didn't focus on this at all. It was never framed as something negative or messed up like you'd think it would be? I imagine it's because they didn't want to paint Bamoun and Cyrus as bad people or Sethos as indoctrinated. (What's interesting to me is how differently some situation are treated vs others in different quests. Arguably, Wriothesley, Arlecchino, and Cyno have parts in common that are condemned to totally different extents depending on the character, but that could be it's own post too).

We can talk about Cyrus taking Cyno and whether or not that was a good decision (removing children from their culture is never a good thing but we'll get to that) but we also can't really get into it without first talking about how the entire thing was absolutely horrid and wrong from the start. We're starting the conversation about Cyrus from a remarkably low place.

Okay, onto Cyrus and the quest. I actually think it's okay that Cyrus is a flawed character. We already knew he was super strict when he was teaching Lisa and Cyno, and we knew he was into some unethical shit since we already knew he was part of the experiments on Cyno, albeit not to this extent. (Also Naphis knows all about this so what does that say about him? All the Sages are so sus, but, I mean, isn't that just government?)

Here's the thick of it. Was Cyrus taking Cyno to the rain forest a good decision? I don't know. We just don't know enough about why he left and took Cyno. The quest didn't frame the action one way or the other, nor did it give the reasons he left or Bamoun didn't go after him.

There's generally three ways to frame this. 1. Cyrus was a saviour for taking Cyno from an abusive environment. 2. Cyrus was awful and stole Cyno's power for himself. I don't think either of these make sense, since in either case, I think Bamoun would have gone after them. I think most likely is 3. There were conflicting needs.

The one I'm leaning towards right now is that The Temple of Silence was desperate and willing to push harder than they should, even if it was going to harm the children, so as an outsider with a different perspective and more objectivity, Cyrus stopped the experiment. He knew Sethos wasn't at risk of being harmed nearly as much as Cyno because Sethos had a family there already looking out for him. Cyno didn't. People care less about a child who isn't part of their community vs one who is. So he took the child who was far more likely to be harmed, and left. Taking Sethos would have been even worse than just taking Cyno, imo, since it would be taking Sethos away from his family, whereas Cyno was already taken from his family. Bamoun realized the same thing in hindsight, which is why he let Cyrus and Cyno go. But again, that's just a headcanon about what happened.

As for the rest of the problem. While as previously mentioned, I'm very white, I'm also Canadian (I promise this is relevant). A bit of Canadian history here for those who might not know, Canada once had something called Residential Schools. These were boarding school for indigenous children who were forcibly taken from their parents to be "educated." There was a lot of abuses in them and I cannot over represent the amount of damage it has done to the indigenous peoples of Canada and the country as a whole, but the main reason I bring it up here is because of the way the government tried to kill indigenous culture through their children. While I don't think this was Cyrus' intent at all, it is a real world example very close to my heart of the damage it does to children to be cut off from their cultures. We see it in fostering and adopting children as well. Indigenous foster children are best kept with indigenous foster families when at all possible. Foster parents are told to try their best to keep their foster children connected to their cultures in the home but that isn't always achieved, nor is there always even an effort made. Mixed race families often practice both cultures with their children because know how important it is.

The fact that Cyno was completely cut off from the desert is wrong, and it would have been very difficult for him to face the discrimination for being a race that he has no cultural connection to. It's something Cyrus absolutely should have done more about. I mean The Corps of Thirty are eremites even if they aren't from the desert! Cyrus could have reached out to them on Cyno's behalf to introduce him to people who share cultural aspects (young!Dehya and Cyno friendship anyone?). He could have taken Cyno to Aaru Village (young Candace and Cyno friendship?) or at least spent time in Caravan Ribat. The only reasons I can think he didn't is because he was trying to keep Cyno away from the Temple of Silence out of fear they'd come after him (well intentioned but still harmful), he didn't think about it (obliviously harmful), he didn't have the time (willfully neglectful).

Cyrus also absolutely should have told Cyno about The Temple of Silence and Hermanubis, especially when he got a little older (although I'm for raising children with that sort of knowledge. Secrets only hurt later). Assume best intentions, he was pprobably trying to protect Cyno, maybe because he wanted Cyno to find his own path instead of the one the Temple of Silence laid out for him, but I still think that was a mistake to keep it a secret.

Cyrus is a very flawed person, but so are a lot of parents. That doesn't mean that his actions were right or justified, but it does make him an interesting character. It also makes his relationship with Cyno interesting. Canonically, Cyno isn't angry. He's already struggled and come to terms with who he is and what his power means, but I still think he and Cyrus need to sit down and have a long conversation. Cyno deserves answers about Cyrus' motives and decisions and they need to talk about Cyrus trying to protect Cyno vs Cyno not needing that protection, ways Cyrus should have acted differently, etc. I'd love to see somebody explore it; it would be interesting to see since it's definitely overdue, but I don't think I could do it justice.

I don't think it's wrong of Cyno to forgive Cyrus. We as the outside observer can say, "whoa, that's fucked up," but I don't think Cyno is necessarily wrong in how he feels. Like I said, he's already dealt with a lot of this already and is remarkably resilient. I think the hardest part of all this for Cyno would probably be Sethos, because that's definitely going to be a ton of messy emotions, but that doesn't have to reflect on Cyrus. It could, of course, and if somebody wanted to write Cyno as being angry and fracturing their relationship, that would be a valid way to go, but like, idk, I know a lot of people who made really bad decisions when raising their kids, and their kids still forgave them. Not always, and being a parent doesn't mean somebody deserves forgiveness for their mistakes, but I think it shows how resilient Cyno is that he bounces back from this so well. It shows his strength in his how convictions and beliefs, which is really interesting when compared to characters like Sethos and Kaeya (and man are there a lot of similarities between Cyno and Kaeya).

I also don't think finding those photos was intended to be Cyrus manipulating Cyno, but I can see how it feels that way. Since the quest was about Cyno, it felt like a nice narrative way to tie it together by reflecting on Cyno's childhood with Cyrus, but I think it really depends on how you view the entire situation and whether you think Cyrus should have taken Cyno. It's definitely a valid take and something that's okay to feel uncomfortable about.

This is where people might disagree with me, but Cyno grew up loved. He had a lot of challenges and Cyrus made a lot of mistakes, and love doesn't fix how fucked up it all is (lots of adopted kids are loved and still hurt by not having a connection to their culture), but Cyno has already accepted all of this and ultimately, he has forgiven Cyrus for his mistakes. I think that's what the photos were trying to depict.

To me, the entire quest does a very good job of using Cyno and Sethos as foils of each other. They're both paying for the decisions of the people who raised them, and neither are right or wrong, just different. It shows Cyno's growth as a person vs Sethos who hasn't yet found his way. It shows that neither Cyrus or Bamuon made the right decisions, nor were they evil people. They were doing the best they could at the time, and they both fucked up, and now it's up to Sethos and Cyno to figure it out, but they both still love their family despite whatever mistakes were made.

I hope this rambling essay length response is satisfying lol