#thinking about this gave me a headache

[gay-artificer]

Perhaps my most controversial take is that Saint might not be a slugcat.

If we consider Survivor (and to a lesser extent Monk and even Hunter) as the quintessential example of a slugcat, we have the basis for what actually counts as one. From there we have to look at the deviants from basic form and determine how severe they deviate- which I think all others but Saint don't go to far. Spearmaster- Modified organism using a slugcat base. Stretching the definition of a normal slugcat here maybe, but more or less still resembles the rest of the group minus the obvious. Definitely not considered a member of the same species though. Artificer- Minus the weird explosion bacteria, it is a normal slugcat in terms of form Gourmand- Literally just fat and strong. Perfectly normal fella. Rivulet- Okay this is where we get interesting. Rivulet is both the first to deviate notably from the basic slugcat in terms of readable physical traits, and is also set further in the timeline. An evolutionary split from what a 'slugcat' is fully possible. However, their actual traits are rather minute. Rivulets main trait is the presence of external gills, suggesting an aquatic adaption. However in real world examples of external gills they are mostly a development of species that already had gills in some form in either their lifecycle or biology. The most obvious inspiration for rivulet's design is likely the axolotl, which is a salamander that has neotenic (juvenile) traits due to never metamorphosing. If you force metamorphosis, an axolotl looks like a normal salamander

Gills or gill-like structures can also be internal or land-modified- Spiders for example have book lungs, which are likely evolved from book gills (whereas in human evolution our gills did not evolve into lungs, and gills instead 'turned into' parts of our skull and ears) you can also have lungs and gills, as seen with certain species of lungfish. It seems perfectly reasonable to guess that the slugcat- either currently or historically- made use of a gill or gill-like system- which would set rivulet up for either a reemergence of the trait or as an alternative evolutionary path. I could easily see the rivulet 'type' of slugcat existing alongside the normal species, just isolated to coastal and other floodzones- or as one of several independent cases of the external gill trait emerging. Complicating things further- Sea slugs make use of gills in several forms, while (most) land slugs have lost their gills and created a simple lung out a hollow cavity. There is also at least one slug that completely lacks both lungs and gills and breathes entirely through their skin. Lots of variety there within a group. What we can confirm though is that at minimum- slugcats do have a nose. However the presence of the nostrils alone doesn't tell us the fine details; Frogs also have nostrils and make heavy use of them for the vast majority of their breathing, but also have permeable skin that also allows for oxygen exchange (particularly while under water). So its complicated. All this is a very complicated way of say that there's no real indication that rivulet is all that particularly unique compared to the basic slugcat, minus the gills- which are something that could be a perfectly normal trait to develop without getting too far from the traits that make a slugcat a slugcat. It would be, at minimum, its own species though. Genus you could argue about. And then we get to Saint. Saint is ages forward in the timeline for our 'basic' slugcat, to the point where even lizards have heavily shifted their evolutionary patterns and there have been notable extinctions within the window the game provides. Saint itself has a very notable deviation: Very obvious long fur (or at least, something convincingly playing the role of fur). While furry slugcats (whether that be more cat-like or fine fur like a seal) is popular in fanon works, official art has an obvious smoothness to it more indicative of bare skin (Although the quality of this skin, such as if its more mammalian or amphibian, etc- is unknown)

While the type of skin could heavily change how big of a deal this is (it would be a lot easier to develop and lose fur with the structure of mammalian skin than amphibian skin; and if we are being technical mammals are the only thing that can truly develop fur/hair) It does at least mark the development of a trait that seemingly took several generations to acquire, at least on par with the development of a fur or fur-like trait in all surviving species of 'lizards' It does seem to intend to mirror, to a degree, the evolution of mammals. Which begs the question... can you really call Saint a slugcat? When you think about what survivor is, and how removed Saint is from them in both physical features and time period... would the term be appropriate? And to be specific, its technically incorrect to say things evolve "into" other things- they split and grow into distinct things (and sometimes all but one dies off in the process). Evolutionary history is difficult to chart for a number or reasons, and its extremely complicated- but when we say something like "snakes evolved from lizards" what it really means is that at some point there was a group of something we agreed were lizards, and then something within that group began to change into something with its own distinct features and traits until we gave it a new name. In the lizard and snakes example, snakes are technically lizards. Just lizards with very specific traits we don't consider lizard traits. But you also have examples like mantodea (Mantises) and Blattodea (Roaches and Termites).

A some point there was something that was neither mantis nor roach (the roachoids, which despite being more roach-like than mantis-like we don't consider them proper roaches), that split into things that would go on to form the basis of those groups (and then termites would split from there, making termites technically a type of roach). And for the rest of history humans would argue constantly about what to do with this mess So really the question is what do we consider a slugcat, and is Saint part of an evolutionary lineage that 'slugcat' applies fully across, or does Saint mark a split into something else, that would technically go alongside "true" slugcats under a wider net. Slugcat definitely isn't a singular species and I lean towards genus but could see an argument for family or order. Lets do DNA analysis on pixels and find out they are actually a type of lantern mouse

[like-the-rest-of-la]

[Poker Date]

[robinfollies]

me and the guy i pulled by accidentally implying i like jazz music

[goldenspringmornings]

thinking of cassian this morning unfortunately and it’s something I’ve mentioned in tags on other people post but I just gotta yap about it again real quick.

I’ve never understood how or why cassian is so insistent is the best word I can think of rn on his ‘bastardy’ and how hard his life is cause iirc wasn’t he practically adopted into the high lords family at like, 10??? when he and rhys were in the windhaven training pits practically torturing azriel??? cassian almost definitely doesn’t know any other life aside from one of privilege just by virtue of calling rhys ‘brother’ and later being Illyria’s General which leads me into my next point:

yeah no shit the illyrians don’t respect you cassian you’re a race traitor stupid. all he ever does is complain about how backwards and savage illyrian’s are all while lamenting how he can’t do anything to change them but he ‘still has hope for his people’. cassian is just as trapped in the cycle of abuse as any other male illyrian he just can’t see it cause he’s sulking about his own personal trauma 500+ years later and hung up on all of rhysand’s platitudes and conformist rhetoric. and even if he did see it he wouldn’t do anything about it imo cause that would mean having to confront the fact he’s been complicit in the very cultural things he’s always been so derisive of. which leads into my next, and hopefully last, point:

ik a lot of people were/are of the opinion that acosf should have been about cassian and nesta and reforming illyria over….whatever that was….and while I don’t disagree with the sentiment (sf is my mortal enemy) I personally feel that illyria is so deeply tied to azriel and his specific internalized racism that inserting cassian into that ticking time-bomb would be detrimental to all of illyria in the end (not that I expect sjm to even touch on such a nuanced and heavy topic unless she gets to play white savior). I simply refuse to believe that illyrian culture is war and abuse and misogyny, there has to be more to it than that and I don’t think cassian is the one that could explore the true underlying culture of illyria because he doesn’t care- he doesn’t want illyria to change for the better, he just wants it to not be so embarrassing imo. cassian to me reads as a character incredibly ashamed of where he came from and found validation in people telling him he’s ‘not like the other illyrians, you’re special, you’re better than them’ because, referencing my first point, cassian was raised in the household of the high lord, he’s been both purposefully and unintentionally othered from his own people and so can’t see how and why they’re truly suffering and how to best help them

[aychama]

Hammer.

Timelapse:

[westealtoys]

"He's spoiled." "You mean you've spoiled him." <3

[branches-of-time]

looks at images of Mondstadt and tears well up in my eyes

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

my mom owed me like $20 so I just asked her if she'd buy me this nice lounge bra I'd been eyeing so she did and GIRLS. THIS IS SO COMFY

[heartual]

if i have to have another healthy food and mindful eating conversation with my mom it’s over for me

[rose-tinted-vision]

For @plumblossomsreveries, whose interpretation of my link click G4G prompt made me dig this out of my drafts

Fandom: Link Click (时光代理人)

Relationships: Cheng Xiaoshi/Lu Guang, Li Tianxi & Li Tianchen

Summary:

Cheng Xiaoshi studied what he could of the situation. His arms did indeed bear the three scars– three requirements in exchange for keeping this new body– the robes he wore were ragged, and the soles of his feet were so blistered that it hurt to stand, much less walk. There it was, a message left behind for him, messily scrawled with blood: save my good brother.

[badlydrawnsbahj]

his ass does not know how to use a drawer!!!! plus some other random thign

[rewrite-canon]

me when sad media piece about romantic relationship: light work no reaction

me when sad media piece about sibling dynamic: oh. okay. its got a little kick.

me when sad media piece about child-parental figure dynamic: LET ME GET UP LET ME GET UP LET ME GET UP ELT MEGET UP ELT ME GET UP ELTMR FJETY UP LEGBR LE FEOT UP

[kyniathewhovian]

something that bothers me about ghost whisperer...

so we know that following the jim/sam incident, melinda sees jim and not sam right

and we know aiden has a gift too, a little more enhanced but he's got it

so when aiden looks at his dad does he see jim or does he see sam?? like if melinda were to show him a wedding photo of her and jim and say "look there's your dad!" would aiden be like oh yeah or WHO THE FUCK IS THAT

[warpolomewdarkmatter]

QUICK FYI.? in my blosc:the adventure begins remake there would be a whole new storyline where everyone is convinced that buzz is zurg’s son because like 20+ years ago zurg created an offspring in a capsule but got bored very quickly and sent that child into space. and buzz was found in space debris and adopted, so it all makes total sense. but in the end of the movie zurg learns about this and laughs because that offspring 1. was tooootally evil 2. was a genetic mutant alien with horns 3. was a girl. ok? and in blosc:the movie:the remake:the sequel this daughter, roza, is a major villain who instead of conquiring the universe wants to destroy it completely and zurg has to show her that universe is actually a great place when it’s not in shambles and also that she doesnt have to be mad bc people could care about her (like her dad for example!!!) <3

[mirkwoodsprinceofdoingtoomuch]

I need every romantic thing Alex said to Henry tattooed across my body. I somehow need the softness and the intimacy of "Baby." translated into a tattoo ON MY CHEST GODDAMN IT

[spicyicymeloncat]

I saw in your notes that you had to cancel your birthday so happy (possibly late) birthday!!

Haha thanks it was last year in September lol!!

And actually I did get to do birthday plans it was just kinda miserably bc the reason I was going to cancel was due to conflicts with my mum (and her making me feel like an awful person about it), but my other mum didn’t care and we went anyways and it was actually fine (the concerns my mum didn’t happen)

Also I was going through basically a platonic break up as well so crazy month lol

But thank you, and everyone who sent me flags, it was nice to get some positive interaction during all that!