#what i hope their expressions communicate:

[killxz]

Was on tiktok and I found the funniest thing! The audio is called -4things a man does when he starts to lose feelings- but with jason x reader?

i didn't know if you wanted it to be angtsy or fluffy so I kind of just went with the flow

Detached

Pairing: Jason Todd x Fem!Reader

trigger warning(s): hurt no comfort

a/n: this was left in my inbox for a little too long... but I'm back and ready to start writing again!!

You and Jason have been drifting apart lately.

You don't know if you were just imagining it, but there definitely was a bridge between you two. An uncrossable gap. An empty feeling.

"Baby, I'm home." You closed the door of your shared apartment. Unlike the times that seemed so long ago, no eager boyfriend was waiting for you at the front door. No sweet, soft, kisses on your temple, his chocolate voice insisting on taking your bags for you.

Now, he was just sitting on the couch, reading his book. He didn't even look up when you walked past him, just giving a muttered 'hello'. Your heart sank as you observed Jason's distant demeanor. It wasn't just today; it had been building up for weeks. The warmth that once enveloped your relationship seemed to have dissipated into the cool, icy air of indifference. What was going on?

After a shower, you made your way to the living room, taking a seat at the furthest side of the couch from Jason, nervously fidgeting with your hands. The tension in the air was so thick you could hardly breathe in it. "Um, Jay?" You mumbled nervously.

"Yeah?" Came an indifferent reply.

"Are we...still on for tomorrow? We are supposed to go for a picnic at the park tomorrow." There was a spark of hope in your voice. Maybe this was what you and Jason needed to fix things. Perhaps you were just imagining things. Maybe-

"I can't, I got that case to work on with Bruce."

You froze. "But Jason, you said-"

"I know, and I'm sorry, baby," There's no feeling now when he says the word. That word used to come with affection and tender love, now, his voice was just robotic. "You know I can't hold this case up any longer."

Your heart sank further as Jason's response echoed in your mind. It was yet another missed opportunity to spend quality time together, another sign of the growing distance between you. You struggled to find the right words, the ones that could somehow bridge the gap that seemed to widen with each passing day.

"I understand," you replied, trying to keep the disappointment from seeping into your voice. "Work is important. More important than me, I guess." You muttered the last part under your breath.

But deep down, you couldn't shake the feeling of hurt and disappointment. It wasn't just about missing the picnic; it was about the underlying issue that had been festering between you two. The lack of communication, and the growing sense of disconnect — they were all symptoms of a much deeper problem.

Jason glanced at you briefly before returning his attention to his book, the distance between you feeling more pronounced than ever. You wanted to reach out, to break through the walls that had been set up between you, but you didn't know where to begin.

After a moment of silence, you gathered your courage and spoke again. "Jason, can we talk?" you asked, your voice trembling slightly.

He looked up, his expression guarded. "About what?"

"About us," you said softly, your heart pounding in your chest. "I-I feel like we've been drifting apart lately, and I don't want to lose what we have."

For a moment, Jason's facade wavered, a flicker of vulnerability shining through his stoic exterior. But just as quickly, it was gone, replaced by a mask of indifference.

"There's nothing to talk about," he said curtly, his tone final.

You felt a lump form in your throat, the weight of his words crushing any hope you had left. You realized then that the bridge between you two wasn't just uncrossable — it had crumbled beneath the weight of unspoken words and unresolved issues.

"Oh, okay." That was all that you said.

As the silence stretched between you, you couldn't help but wonder if this was the beginning of the end, if the distance that had grown between you was now too vast to overcome. "I-I'm heading to bed," You announced, not waiting for a reply as you practically ran to your shared bedroom and closed the door, feeling Jason's eyes on you as you retreated.

What had gone wrong? Where had the love and affection that once filled your days disappeared to? The questions swirled in your mind, taunting you with their lack of answers.

As the hours passed, sleep eluded you, your thoughts consumed by the uncertainty of the future. Could you salvage what was left of your relationship, or was it too late to mend the broken pieces?

The sound of footsteps outside the bedroom door snapped you out of your reverie, and you tensed, unsure of what to expect. Was Jason coming to talk, to offer reassurance and comfort? Or was he retreating further into his own world, leaving you to navigate the storm alone?

The door creaked open, and you held your breath, waiting for his presence to fill the room. But instead of Jason, there was only silence, punctuated by the hollow echo of your own heartbeat.

"Jay?"

"It's me," came his reply. He pushed through the door, sliding underneath the covers in his place on the bed.

Silence ensued.

"Do you...want to talk about it?" You quietly asked.

"Not right now, please," Jason sighed, turning away from you. As he stayed awake beside you, you can't help but think that you have really lost him.

[elementroar]

Question about Paracelsus, does he actually like aba? I’m guessing in the older game, he mostly tolerated her because she can fight (except for the fact he deliberately chooses not to control her) but in the new one, I’m pretty much confused. When he ends his transformation, He says “That’s my answer, ABA, As your partner.” Problem is that I have no idea which meaning of “partner” he meant. It could be just fighting partners but him having a whole emotional speech and transformation for a “business partner.” If I try to look at the view of actually going for ABA’s dreams for marriage, it feels incomplete and odd because she is slowly transforming him into what she sees fit. Please I really want to know what he meant!

Side note: ABA’s feelings of jealousy and abandonment are completely valid as Paracelsus has done that! To her face! WITH A RANDOM STRANGER TO HER!!! In night of knives volume 2.

Life partner, since Paracelsus no longer really wants to fight on principle, so 'fighting partner' like he used to regard A.B.A as and originally hoped she would regard him as, that's out of the window. So if he's still resolving to stay with her, it's as a life partner. The extent of what that means to him is prolly different from A.B.A, but that can evolve over time.

Because Paracelsus, as he has stated, is an axe. He understands relationships in axe terms, which is he acknowledges his wielder (which he did acknowledge A.B.A as at the end of Night of Knives) and he kills other people that threaten them. His whole situation-ship with A.B.A has forced him to be involved in roles he was never equipped to deal with and was forced to adapt to - being an emotional support, being an actual object of attraction, having to constantly protect his wielder from herself, having to be a counsel on social norms that he shouldn't know all that well to begin with as an axe but he's expected to, having to communicate on behalf of his wielder to navigate social situations and dispel conflict - quite literally none of these are on the checklist of 'being an axe that kills people real good.

Yeah he wanted to leave A.B.A in NoK, and honestly who wouldn't? From his perspective, she was hellbent on not treating him as the weapon he wanted her to treat him as. She was figuratively and literally emotion dumping on him constantly, what with the empathetic bond prolly not helping matters. And he kept trying to dispel every delusion and assumption she had about their relationship constantly. As he was being sexually harassed despite his protests and mid-battle, constantly.

But even back then, Slayer implied that Paracelsus never hated A.B.A personally, but her constant advances, the situations they got into, it was all frustrating to him when he really wanted to be 'just a weapon' back then.

We kinda skipped Paracelsus character development up till STRIVE but IMO, I think he figured out he had to be proactive with A.B.A, cause sticking with his "I'm a weapon, and only a weapon" principles wasn't helping. He accepted that he needed to be the responsible one of the two, that he had to kick his blood habit because it made him lose control and also got them into fights etc. He accepted that he had to change for the sake of A.B.A.

Thinking about marriage for them is kinda falling into the trap that A.B.A fell into IMO. Her theme hints that being bound by specific definitions of words or expectations may have prevented her and them from organically growing their relationship, whatever it can or would be.

Part of her major development is that she acknowledges she's been obsessed with the idea of love, but not actually truly understanding what it is. Her obsession with Paracelsus is more of her playing the part rather than understanding the feeling. Part of her growth was choosing to let go of Paracelsus for his own good, and in fact it was an expression of true love, even though she didn't realize it. Paracelsus is also learning about love and Elphelt suggested that looking out for someone is in fact a form of love, and that surprised him. He didn't seem to realize that the steps he's taken to take care of A.B.A are expressions of love themselves either.

As Paracelsus explained to A.B.A, he's not sure where their relationship will go or what the future holds for them. How their feelings will develop is still up in the air, but he tries to show A.B.A that if he could change so much, then she can too. The idea is that they're finally free to be whatever they're going to be, and they're choosing to stick together to that end, and that's the most important thing.

[ethanreedbooks]

Fresh Variant Covers Unveiled for 'Uncanny X-Men' #1!

New variant covers for "Uncanny X-Men" #1 offer fresh looks at Wolverine, Gambit, and more! Marvel Comics has unveiled a slew of variant covers for Gail Simone and David Marquez’s upcoming "Uncanny X-Men" #1, hitting shelves this August. Following yesterday's reveal of the main cover by David Marquez, today brings a glimpse at a variety of variant covers, adding to the anticipation for this highly anticipated release.

Marquez expressed his excitement, stating, “'Uncanny X-Men' is the book that made me fall in love with comics. It’s been a dream come true getting to work with Gail, Matt [Wilson], and the whole Marvel editorial crew under Tom to put together this story: a badass, heartfelt, action-packed, character-driven X-Men mystery. I hope readers have at least half as much fun reading it as we have had making it.”

So, what's "Uncanny X-Men" all about? In this series, a core group of essential X-Men rise From the Ashes to face a world without a home and without Professor X. Bonds among the mutant community seem to be slipping away, leaving Rogue reluctantly designated as the hero tasked with bringing them back together. But a fearless, malignant power is out there hunting mutants, harboring a terrible secret that threatens the very existence of the X-Men.

With its launch scheduled for August, "Uncanny X-Men" will be the second of three flagship X-titles set in the upcoming From the Ashes era. Fans can now feast their eyes on all-new variant covers for the debut issue, including group shots by series artist Marquez and celebrated X-Men artist Leinil Francis Yu, a Hidden Gem piece by superstar artist Adam Kubert, and the first in a series of character pinups spotlighting the new team by Luciano Vecchio.

After the devastating loss of Krakoa, mutants need the X-Men more than ever. With Professor X missing, Rogue reluctantly finds herself tasked with keeping the team together. Alongside Wolverine, Gambit, Nightcrawler, and Jubilee, they forge a new home in New Orleans, becoming a haven for mutants seeking refuge from a hostile world. Together, they protect mutants from persecution and ensure a future worth fighting for. They are the Uncanny X-Men!

Preorder "Uncanny X-Men" #1 at your local comic shop and get ready to dive into action with Rogue's squad when it hits shelves on August 7th! For more information, visit Marvel.com.

[2129888]

my @oofurixmas secret santa gift for @abezer !

you wanted something w/ the guys hanging out outside of school~ i always thought it'd be hilarious for them to all gather up, maybe on a cold rainy weekend, and watch a scary movie together. it's not superrr winter themed, but i hope i delivered something fun for you anyways! ❤️

[bardinthezone]

Night Vale and the Power of Stories

So I’ve been losing my mind about this latest arc. Full hyperfixation. Studying for finals? Calling my parents? Enjoying other hobbies? Eating?? Who’s she, never heard of her. There is only the “#wtnv spoilers” tag.

Anyways, inspired primarily by this post, this post, and this post, I have been thinking about Night Vale as a place of stories.

Night Vale is a deeply weird place. It is a place where all the crazy conspiracies and contradictions and creepy crawlies can coexist (try saying that 5 times fast), and it is built on stories.

We know from “109: A Story About Huntokar” that Huntokar singlehandedly saved the town from nuclear destruction in 1983. This in and of itself is beautiful, tragic, terrifying and wonderful (I could write a whole essay on the lasting effects of the Cold War on the American psyche and how that’s impacted our media, but that’s not what this post is about). But what Huntokar says in describing this moment is fascinating: “ The people of Night Vale huddled, waiting for the end to their story.” The use of the word “story” here is so poignant and poetic. This was her town, a narrative she had lovingly followed since its inception, with an ever rotating cast of characters, finally seeming as though it would come to an end. And yet she managed to continue their story. The people of Night Vale, of every alternate universe Night Vale, are kept alive because Huntokar wanted to keep the narrative going. It is a town kept alive-- inverted and shattered and bizarre, but alive-- because someone saw the tale coming to an end and wasn’t satisfied with that. Night Vale is a place of stories.

And Cecil. Cecil Gershwin-Palmer is such a wonderful enigma. He’s a deeply troubled man, he’s the town’s beloved radio host, he is the voice of Night Vale. As the town’s only (?) regular source of news, he carries incredible weight in shaping the public’s perception of reality. It is his radio show that keeps the people informed through all of these earth-shattering events-- it is Cecil who, for as goofy and cringefail (thank you @bigcommunist for that phrase) as he can be, has been responsible for keeping his citizens safe. In “227: A Word With Dr. Jones,” Dr. Janet Lubelle notes that one of his traits is “town leadership.” When Cecil speaks, things happen. He rallies the people, against Strexcorp or the Beagle Puppy or Steve Carlsberg and his dry, dry scones. Hell, he says “weather” and everyone stops, or sometimes (Like in “204: Audition”) it literally saves his life. @lostboywriting raises a fascinating theory about Cecil having inadvertently brought the Faceless Old Woman into existence through his repression of his complicated relationship with his mother-- and while this contradicts with the backstory presented in "The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives Inside Your Home," who’s to say that both origins can’t be true, with how splintered and fractured Night Vale’s existence (and especially relation to time) is? Perhaps Cecil, as the Voice Of Night Vale, is capable of changing the world more than he knows.

Either way, this is why Dr. Lubelle’s Explaining of the town has so much of a tangible effect on it-- because she’s coming in and using something “empirical” to change the narrative. That is why she’s so threatening-- because how do you argue with the facts? How do you argue with science? She is using logic to insist that her reality is right, that these stories and poetics used to keep the town alive are meaningless. That it would be better for them to not exist than to exist outside her narrative. She said it herself-- she cannot imagine that anyone thinks differently to herself about anything, and she is all to happy to provide any who disagrees with an Explanation. No matter the cost.

In 227, Cecil remarks that “Science is not good or bad, as language is not good or bad, as religion is not good or bad, because humans are not inherently good or bad.” This sets up a fascinating play between science, language, and religion that I think is perfectly encapsulated by Dr. Lubelle, representing science, Cecil, representing language, and Huntokar, representing religion. Whether she knows it or not, Dr. Lubelle is directly undoing all of the hard work of Huntokar, and attempting to use Cecil as the most powerful tool at her disposal.

And this works in conjunction with my distinction of the What vs. the Why. We can take the incursion point of November 7th, 1983, and view it through both lenses. From Huntokar’s perspective, we get the Why: Night Vale was in danger, and it needed saving, so she saved it. But from Dr Lubelle’s perspective, we just get the What: Night Vale was the target of a nuclear missile. Nuclear missiles are unstoppable by any force known to science. This is a town that should have been empty for 40 years.

I posit a world in which Dr. Lubelle reduces Night Vale to what it “should be:” A town ruined by nuclear destruction. The empirical facts, the anchors that held Night Vale down to reality, the threads that Huntokar broke-- Dr. Lubelle is seeking to tie them back together. And with the Voice of Night Vale on her side, Explained and ready to share the Truth, of course she can make that happen. Perhaps Huntokar takes center stage again to show that science is not the end-all-be-all. Perhaps Carlos steps in to replace Dr. Lubelle as the Scientist in this equation, to provide a good alternative to her callous methods. 

Or I could be totally off-base with that prediction. I imagine the bodies being dug up in the sand wastes and the murals of flesh will play a major role in the finale. Maybe she’ll uncover the splintered realities of Night Vale and won’t know how to explain them away. Hell, people keep hyping up a Desert Bluffs return, what with the Sandstorm tapes and the talk of doubles-- Maybe Kevin and Lauren will be the “religion” in the triumvirate, and drive Dr. Lubelle mad with their unrelenting fervor. Who knows? I have my theories, but I’m just excited to see where this all goes.

.

Also from a meta perspective, this is 100% harkening back to all those early-days fan theories that “Night Vale is a normal town and Cecil is just off his rocker” (Thanks @maxgicalgirl for that one!). Welcome To Night Vale is a show that has never been about continuity and tight lore-- it’s about spinning a fun narrative, it’s about the poetry, the music, the aesthetics; it’s about everything that Dr. Lubelle HATES. From a meta perspective, Dr. Lubelle is every theorist who tries to ruin the magic of a story, who nitpicks it endlessly because it doesn’t adhere to how the “real world” functions. She doesn’t care about why story elements are included, she just needs what’s included to adhere to her worldview. And I can’t wait to see her get taken down, no matter how it happens.

Thanks again to @maxgicalgirl, @lostboywriting, @eclipse-song​, and everyone who’s been sharing their thoughts about the latest arc on tumblr. I would not be writing this without y’all!!

[yavin42]

some people love to pit black sails and ofmd against each other for a weird and unfounded battle over pirate show supremacy. but apart from the tonal differences and totally different perspectives of their main themes, and the fact that it doesn’t diminish either shows to recognise the other, it seems to me that in ofmd there are numerous quotes and appreciative nods to black sails in both dramaturgy and minor details (despite their differing genres) that make clear that it’s not the intention to be the “better queer pirate show” that some fans seem to read from it as an act of insolence but a recognition of the great work that at least in some way paved the road for their show. ofmd is in itself a transformative work both in it being in a way like fan fiction and its consistent commitment to giving tropes of incredibly popular genres of fiction (both the adventure/pirate story and the rom com - genres that come with a whole force of normative power) a different spin and a new reading.

[threehuskiesinatrenchcoat]

sometimes it's a little too easy to forget that it's not real

[dullahandyke]

rlly disappointing that life (reprise) isnt on the soundtrack bcos i might actually like it a little bit more than the original. you are that someone you are my chance at having life lead me by the hands you are the one the moment i've been waiting for and i'm gonna hold on and not think twice i'll stay with you no matter the price february i am ready for a brand new day so take me away

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

Okay. I'm going to talk a little bit about what my experience of psychosis is like for a bit. Because I opened that can of worms in another post already, and it really DOESN'T get discussed because realistically (and reasonably) most of us who experience psychosis are too afraid to speak openly about it lest people decide we're the wrong type of crazy.

But when I first started working in mental health I had a boss who sat down with us in our inaugural staff meeting and introduced himself by talking about his experience of being committed for psychosis, and that was.....life changing? For me because I had never met anyone else like me in my career path. Maybe I can be that for someone else. Maybe I can just be a comfort. Maybe I just start a conversation. Whatever happens, I'm ready.

When I was little, I called them the whispers. The sounds that spilled under doorways and creeped along the hallways of my family home like fog, low to the ground, surface tension vibrating with the sound of a million voices trapped and muffled inside like a bubble waiting for me to burst it and free them. They were easy to ignore as long as I wasn't alone in stillness. I compressed them in my mind, shoving them farther and farther into the back nooks and crannies like a hated birthday present from an aunt you loved and didn't want to offend. Sometimes I pushed too hard and they all came pouring out like the rush of a white water rapid. But when I was alone, the rapids caught an eddy, spiraling around and around in a vortex that drowned out thoughts, feelings, hopes, and fears like so many twigs or leaves floating downriver.

I learned quickly not to tell people about the whispers. People did not like hearing about the whispers. It made them.....uncomfortable. but they had been there my whole life. As far as I knew, I came into this world crying in the hospital, was gently placed into a cradle with the first of the pinchie pillows I would have for life, and there were the whispers right along with it. I had never been afraid of them because there had never been a reason to be. Others clearly disagreed. The whispers became my secret.

What was easier to get away with was being "daydreamy". As a child, no one was surprised that I spent most of my time lost in my own little world. No one thought it odd (well, odd perhaps, but not the kind of odd you worry about) that my presence in their world seemed loose, tenuous at best. I wrote poetry about my senses and they called it deep and meaningful and encouraged me to read it at contests and performances. It didn't occur to me that describing the world through the lens of my own perception was artistic. To me, it was descriptive. Laughter sounds like the tinkling of broken glass and hangs in the air like a cloud of mineral dust. Winter in my hometown smelled like fog and decay and felt like the weightless apex of the jump off the balance beam. Thoughts came, not in language that could be spoken, or pictures to be described, but in the twist and dance of colored smoke as it curls and blooms around the tip of a stick of incense. Sometimes, if I focus, I can taste the scent of the stick's perfume on my tongue when I try to speak it into a reality I share with others.

Once I admitted to a therapist that I "didn't feel real" which was the closest I could come to describing the experience of being able to feel a body that didn't exist, and unable to feel a body that did, while the threads that connected MeAsIAm to MeAsIAppearAndExist floated in the breeze of unreality, barely tethering the two together. I was told this is depersonalization and dissociation, and that I needed to learn how to ground myself in my present body and time. I was not told that grounding was supposed to batten down the hatches of my body-mind and lock the two together again "as they should be". Which is probably why it never bothered me that it didn't. That it couldn't. That my body-mind was never connected in that way to begin with. The grounding tools did make it much easier to function in a world designed for a unified front, however, and I appreciated that. When I needed to be present, I could Turn On The Gravity and when I no longer needed it, off went the switch, and off I drifted into the orbit of my physicality again. Content and at peace. I did learn that the more "reality" rejected the shape of me, the harder the Gravity needed to work. The more room was left for my Strangeness, the less energy grounding strategies required. This is, I suspect, in part because I was allowed to be disjointed or scattered, at least a little, and so the extent to which I needed to be "grounded" in order to interact with others varied from context to context.

I don't think my perceptions are "real" in the sense that others could sense them too if they were a little more open minded. But I do think that they're "real" in that they are mine. My reality includes them. And I know that many others....simply don't. I think that's probably fine. It might be nice not to have to concentrate so hard on Being A Person In A Society. But I found treatment and support protocols that helped me. I moved out of my parents' home, got a couple of degrees, and I work in mental health now where I have often spoken to others who have similarly varied realities. I can sometimes see, when lucidity allows a more tightly tethered connection for them, clients realize I have asked a question that they've never been asked before. One that seems. Perhaps a little too specific and accurate to be coming from a textbook. But mostly I think they don't realize. This is also probably fine. I don't think I would have felt differently about my providers growing up had I known they shared my experiences of psychosis. I have had providers who were terrible at supporting me through it, and others who were very helpful. For me what mattered was knowing I could acknowledge my reality in care without it becoming an automatic hospitalization. This is something providers can do regardless of whether or not they also struggle to connect MeAsIAm and MeAsIAppearAndExist. It requires compassion and recognition of my autonomy. Not embodied understanding.

Besides there are many different ways to experience psychosis. Who's to say that because two people both have it, they both share an understanding of it?

It does sometimes help communication though. I've found that it can be hard for those without phychosis to follow my thoughts as I say them in orders and intonations and patterning that is comfortable for me. I speak 2 languages, but I also communicate in a language that is not a language. It is a rhythm, a melody, a song in my head that lilts and crescendos and....whispers. I find that this is often confusing to those who speak only languages. Perhaps less so depending on which language, but that undercurrent of rhythm appears meaningful in ways I do not care to dissect. So I speak carefully. Precisely. In deliberate orders. I prefer to write than to speak because it better accommodates this and decreases the amount of translation that I forget to do in attempting to communicate with others.

These things are difficult. Not everyone who has psychosis as part of their experience will share my strengths, limitations, contexts, or decisions. This is probably fine. Or it would be if the workd had space for us as we are. It rarely seems to. This is probably less fine.

[nhaneh]

funny thing is I don't really have any interest in hoarding knowledge or resources for myself in any way, I'm just bad at publishing stuff because I feel like that'd require a bit more stringent quality control than what I might expect of something made largely for my own use.

sometimes I think maybe I should set up something like a google drive or a git or something to just throw my personal- and work-in-progress stuff for people who are interested, but I dunno what limits for space or bandwidth or anything are like.

like I'm sure some people would possibly find the ColorSet unpacker python script useful?? It kinda sucks through and I want to make a better version of it and maybe one that could work as a standalone executable instead? and possibly a packer counterpart to the unpacker?? But also I keep thinking like "would this even be useful to anyone lmao??"

in theory you could probably make some kind of art program plugin that does all of this for you - even the bit with loading actual colorset information into layered colorset pairs, but I mean that's a lot of effort and I still largely use a 20+ year old version of Paint Shop Pro myself so...

[paintpanic]

Hi there! I'm going around the Kirby community here on Tumblr, trying to share some positivity wherever I can! I haven't followed your art for very long, but it truly is some of the most stylistic and expressive work I've seen in a long time and I'm excited to see more from you. I hope Kirbtober has been treating you well; keep up the awesome work! Please take care, and have a beautiful day!

Anon!! Thank you so much!!!

I'm not great with words but I'd like to say that this made me really happy and gave me the warm fuzzies.

I hope you're well!

[commsroom]

Ok along with the Eiffel regaining his memories with music, as like a “what happens in the future” thing the power of music relating to memory is also something that could work with the dear listeners.

Like music is not only something they haven’t conquered yet, but it is also potentially a new discovery for them about the connection music has to memory? Cause they obviously have a lot of knowledge about memory (lovelace’s memories, getting into Eiffel mind, etc.) but since they don’t understand music it’s a whole new facet to the memory thing!

Lol anyways I’m mostly rambling, but dear listeners and musical memory!

you know, that's got me thinking... the dear listeners can clearly reconstruct memory, they can access eiffel's memories, they can alter the mental infrastructure of other beings, lovelace's blood protects her and the others from pryce's mind control, etc. but how would they actually conceptualize memory? memory is in so many ways about how an individual person perceives the world around them - about bias, and change, and growth... self-perception, and the way we relate to others as singular beings trying to communicate our own experiences.

memory is clearly part of the "template" for the duplicates; they all show up like they were preserved exactly at the moment they were copied. the tiamat crew observed emerging differences between them, but i think that's mostly situational + perspective. at the moment they show up, they're the same, but everything that happens to them from that point on is going to be unique to them, and will shape them differently, even in little ways.

the dear listeners have a collective memory, awareness of concepts and knowledge like they implanted in eiffel's mind, but they don't have a concept of personal identity. would they even understand that connection between memory and music, or the significance of eiffel regaining his memory at all? is the understanding of memory as the part where "you" come in - the idea of a "you" in that sense at all - also a human concept within the context of the show?

i don't really have an answer to this, but i think i like what it suggests. if music is the hallmark of humanity, then that connection between music and some very human sense of self, things that have to be understood on a personal level... that the songs that resonate with eiffel can only resonate with him the way they do because he's eiffel. the soundtrack of his life isn't interchangeable with anyone else's.

[rendevok]

ok i gotta scream about your latest comic update its so beautiful. your linework is so soft and really perfectly draws the eye to the details in the expressions, I'm Weeping. i can HEAR the tenderness in Edgeworths voice saying "ridiculous man" i owe you my life. (im also in love with Phoenixs "Phh" face, it killed me)

god… my bones turn to jelly every time one of you says you can feel the emotions in their expressions. I put so much of my heart into those parts especially, so i can’t thank you enough for seeing it and appreciating it :,^) <3

Also fun fact, i almost didn’t include the “ridiculous man” line. It wasn’t something i had scripted but something about his expression begged to have more words put to it. I second guessed it right at the end (like literally minutes before posting lol), but i’m pleased to hear it hit the mark ^w^

[earl-grey-crow]

so. coyle.

[atomicengineerdetective]

No one talk to me I just came back from a family vacation to find out my favorite youtuber ever is leaving the platform.

I am devastated.

(I am actually happy for him, he has given me so much happiness for like 8 years. He deserves to let the channel go an enjoy his life. It just hurts, but I'll get over it

I'm so thankful for MatPat and Steph. I Hope every future endeavour or project they take on is successful and that over all they have a happy and fulfilling life with Ollie.💚❤️💛💙)

[spearxwind]

In CD is being a shifter something inherited from one's parents? If so does that mean one or both of Talas parents would have been of similar size to him?

Also with such distinct features on mers, would kids being raised communally ever recognize an adult in the community who had similar physical traits and make any sort of connection with that to themselves, or would they just be like "eh" and go about their life?

Nope, being a shapeshifter is random chance for every Mer. No one knows why it happens. You don't need to have a shifter in your family to be one, and a family of shifters could have a normal kid

Funny thing about Talas' parents though....... lets say they're very unconventional. So that rule does not apply to him.

And yeah, they could potentially recognize em, but since the whole community raises them its not super relevant. If the parents have a hand raising them then yeah swag, they are part of the 'family unit', if they don't have a hand in raising them then that's also fine and accepted, and will just not be regarded close (though this is fairly rare)