#when i say they're his most valuable tool i don't just mean because they can identify the proper equipment in the lab and bring it to him

[doctorbrown]

You once said that Doc's dog is his most important tool. How did Doc get his dog? Is there a special story behind their meeting? Or his naming of his dog?

So!!

It's late 1949 and Doc is still not only working through the aftermath of '45, but he's trying to once again find his footing in the world after having spent the last several years working on the bomb at Los Alamos.

Circa '46, he and a few other scientists are recruited to work on a classified project straight after the war's end and Doc, cautious but hopeful, accepts, desperately in need of money, a change of environment, and a new creative outlet.

The job, unfortunately, does not pan out, doing more harm than good to Doc overall. He gets fired. In the interim, he decides that he's better off trying to work on his own and sort things out. Doc starts the first iteration of what will eventually become E. Brown Enterprises, 24-hour scientific services (more or less a front by '85, but he has actually gotten the odd job throughout the years) and works freelance as a mechanic, repairman, and fledgling engineer. He makes house calls, repairs faulty equipment, and even improves on some already existing designs to make the lives of the people who call upon him just a little bit better.

It works, for a time, but Doc is incredibly lonely, still dealing with the pangs of guilt. He has always wanted a dog—his father didn't allow pets growing up because they were noisy and messy; a hassle, really—and what with his young acceptance to university and his job as a professor straight after graduation which eventually led to his being snapped up for the Manhattan Project, the window simply was never there to allow him to get a dog.

But as he's reading the paper one night, there are ads from the local shelter listing various dogs up for adoption and he decides, finally, that this could be good for him. So Doc goes down there and adopts his very first dog, a Norfolk Terrier that he's named Copernicus. Copernicus is energetic, friendly, and took an almost immediate liking to Doc. There was simply no better choice.

He's always been partial to the idea of adopting a dog; whenever he got the chance to, he always told himself that he'd go to a shelter and pick out one of the lonely, abandoned dogs that were in need of good, loving homes. That, coupled with the fact that it was much more cost-effective to adopt a dog considering in '49, his father's fortune had not yet come to him, so he had only the money he earned up until that point working at CalTech and on the Manhattan Project, made it the obvious choice.

Doc's first dog, Copernicus, was adopted out of a need for a very specific kind of companionship at that point in his life. He needed a friend, the unconditional love and affection that a dog would give without judgment, as well as someone that would keep him going and remind him that things got better. Copernicus was someone Doc could focus his attentions on in a positive way and who kept Doc on a schedule, reminding him that it was time to eat, to go for walks, to just get up and out and about.

Two lonely, down on their luck souls. Yeah, there's a little bit of poetry in their meeting.

It just so happened that his canine companion(s) would prove invaluable help with his scientific endeavours as well, aiding him in the lab.

Regarding Doc's naming conventions for his dogs, since science and the brilliant scientific minds of the past (and present) have been big inspirations/role-models for Doc, it made sense to him that he name his dear companions after such incredible figures in history. At the time, he chose Copernicus because not only was Copernicus a very, for his time, out of the box thinker, so to speak, challenging the accepted view of the cosmos with his heliocentric theory that so branded him a heretic, but it was for this theory, the planets revolving around the sun, that there's also a deeper layer of meaning to the name, as now that Doc had a dog to care for, his life would essentially revolve around his canine companion, making sure he was well and happy.

Sun and planets, anyone?

Anyway, that trend just continued with all the dogs he'd rescue over the years. Edison was next, named so for the light that he would bring to Doc's life. He was also the first dog adopted in the Hill Valley area, as Copernicus was still alive at the time of Doc's father's passing and his return to Hill Valley to move into the Brown mansion. Following Edison was Einstein, aptly named for his breed and his long white hair. Sheepdogs are incredibly intelligent, as was one of his greatest heroes, Einstein, and so the name was perfect.

[caineinthecorner]

Languages (The Others)

★ Based on my language general hcs + the brothers' hcs.

Hi I am sleep deprived. Behold part two of my shitty hc delusions wooooo.

"Caine you missed some" yeah I'm lazy (+ don't know their characterization well enough). If you want to add hcs for the guys I skipped you can but in the meantime I'll go with the basic bitch options

Gentle reminder I make shit up. (⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠)

★ Solomon.

Okay so like I said with Asmo he knows french (and they're both nasty with it)

Basically he rizzed up Asmo in french

Using the dude he was in based out of he also knows English (native probably), Welsh, German, full-ass Demon Tongue and like some latin for magic bs. Idk

(bcs the guy lived nearby those countries in ye old Europe(tm) and something something immortal so why tf not learn languages while at it)

(also of course he learned demon tongue. He wants to rizz up demons and what better way to do that)

He learned demon tongue from random demons and a lot of trial and error

Plus he knows japanese if we are under the pretense that mc is japanese.

So like Solomon tries to use language rizz to get close to you as the other human student in Devildom. So basically using the Asmo trick with you.

... He's kinda painfully obvious with it

(how tf did Asmodeus fall for this shit?)

If you don't speak any of the languages he is fluent in his ass will ABSOLUTELY pick 'em up and be like "hey I want to learn:)"

He uses language as a tool to get what he wants basically

No wonder him and Asmo get along

If you know a language that is not loquar-translatable and he speaks it as well prepare to get secret-talk'd a lot.

Not having people spying your convos is a incredibly valuable asset in Devildom

Especially since you're around the brothers almost 24/7 and they're fucking VIGILANT

Oh also he 100% knows that Asmo fakes being shit at English.

But he's a simp so 乁⁠(⁠ ⁠•⁠_⁠•⁠  ⁠)⁠ㄏ

★ Luke.

FUNNILY ENOUGH. Two things:

Yes he doesn't need Loquar to communicate with you since he's an angel BUT

For some reason (cough your heritage cough) he keeps messing up in which language speak to you with.

Angel instincts are telling him to just use whatever language with you but the thing is that You Don't Know Whatever Language

Which is odd because that's something he only does with fellow angels????

But you are human so

He doesn't think much of it. He's probably just confused because he's around mean demons! >:T

(His basic subconscious instincts are harder to control since he's low ranking and his Angel brain is going "You = angel = language doesn't matter")

But since he keeps somewhat messing up around you he decides to gesture to hell when talking to you just in case

so you get the gist through his mannerisms in case his words get fucky

His least favorite language ever is Demon Tongue. Even outside of Not Liking Demons he doesn't like how throat-y and intensive it is.

↑ that is a popular Angel opinion btw. Demon Tongue in general is just annoying to use for them and barely any Angels use it outside of in-the-moment communication with Devildom natives.

If you ask him his preferred language he'll say some form of Latin since it's the preferred language of most high ranked angels, as well as Michael's.

But it's actually English.

★ Simeon.

Since he is was a high rank angel, he doesn't mess up what language speak to you with. He has real good control of stuff like that that comes with experience and age.

(in fact he's very confused why Luke keeps messing up so bad around you but doesn't think much of it since Luke is technically still a fledgling)

I already said this but yeah his preferred language is Archaic Latin (shared it with Lucifer pre-fall).

Ever since Lucifer's fall he switched to plain English and that's the answer he'll give you if you ask.

Only Angel that isn't bothered speaking demon tongue and will do so at his own leisure.

If you try to learn the demon language he is unironically so helpful because he isn't a spiteful bitch like Lucifer and actually teaches you shit without throwing you into the wolves

In fact Simeon is amused as hell over the fact that Lucifer is making you learn the hard stuff first. That is so him.

He's like the good cop of the learning dynamic. Cool substitute teacher vibes

Simeon finds accents to be the cutest thing ever since it is an inherently odd concept for someone fluent in Everything Ever

He has (jokingly) cooed over Luci's accent when he speaks Latin nowadays. Lucifer is not at all amused.

★ Barbatos.

He knows every language.

... Yeah that's it that's the list

Look at me dead in the eyes and tell me this motherfucker does not speak Sumerian

Ofc he knows every human language ever. And Devildom's. He knows™.

Funniest thing is that he doesn't even need Loquar to talk to you. He just deadass speaks your language with full fluency and you Never Notice

You only notice one day while having a normal convo with him and then Diavolo walks in speaking full deadass gibberish somehow and you're like ????? and Barbatos says "oh apologies I forgot to apply Loquar to you here you go"

Like deadass he would fuck with you so hard when it comes to languages.

Do not go to this man for language advice he will teach you proper stuff in the most incorrect way possible

(Probably! Or probably not! It depends! On what? Who the fuck knows™!)

He's deadass a roulette of proper, legitimate advice or literal shitposting

He wrote the Voynich manuscript. It was a housekeeping journal he was keeping in a dead Devildom idiom that ended up in the human realm by accident

He didn't retrieve it solely because seeing humans go insane over it was funny as hell and he has a secondary copy anyway. That book has nothing relevant in it besides like two recipes.

He did go to check back on it once to write down a meat pie recipe Diavolo's father liked bcs he didn't have on the copy

Barbatos is the definition of "wtf what language was that" "yes."

He and Lucifer have random days where they just pick a language to speak to each other. It helps to maintain fluency.

Barbatos jumpscared Satan once by going, full ass unprompted mid convo, "Oh right you speak Tagalog."

He knows what languages everyone speaks like a white girl knows zodiac charts

★ Diavolo.

Ok so he probably knows English since it is Solomon's native and humanity's current universal(ish) language

Like of course he wants to communicate with humans! Of course he'll learn their language!!!

Unlike Barbatos and Lucifer who are very impressive Polyglots he's realistic in his language stuff. The more down-to-earth of the three

His English is hilarious

Not particularly because he says things wrong but his accent and tone just makes it sound incredibly funny

He sounds exactly like a dubbed-over superhero doing a friendship monologue At All Times

He is so earnest with it that you don't have the heart to explain why you're laughing

Anyhow fun fact:

Loquar for some reason translates what he says in Demon Tongue the most literal ass sense possible for literally no reason

Which is odd(tm) but mostly just funny as all hell

Everyone has been troubleshooting whatever the fuck happens to Loquar Ad Vos with Diavolo but no idea so far.

The phrase "have you tried unpapplying it and applying it again" has been uttered more than once unironically

The working theory is that since Diavolo is royalty and Loquar Ad Vos was created with the sampling of normal demons it works wrong on him since there's something different(tm)

Reverse engineering the Loquar spell to work on him has been in the works for a while. Loquar is drafted like shit since it is an old human-oriented spell (Basically like spaghetti code needing to be rewritten), so it proves a bit troublesome.

You later find that Diavolo speaks in a very uniquely pronounced manner

↑ Think of it like Devildom royalty has a very distinctive Way Of Speaking. Like an accent but also not. Probably magic related in some way(?)

"do you want to consume nourishment" ← Diavolo's ass getting mistranslated

So yeah Barbatos or Lucifer kinda have to lend a hand when you two communicate.

If you're English speaking then you two kinda communicate that way sometimes. You reassure him on his accent and help him along if he gets anything wrong.

(he's fluent-ish in Japanese as well if we are running in the assumption that the reason why MC's canonically japanese is because they needed someone who A) speaks a language translatable by Loquar Ad Vos B) is also a language Diavolo knows and C) is not of the same social background as Solomon)

He will get so unapologetically excited when you start learning demon tongue. You two can!!! Communicate even more!!!!!

Demons will be genuinely mortified if you gain Diavolo's accent while speaking demon tongue. Why does this random ass human speak like royalty ತ⁠_⁠ತ

Very (un)subtle way to tell everyone that you're besties/partner/whatever of the literal prince of Devildom.

Something something dragon being possessive something

[hypnoneghoul]

Gear talk/headcanon ask.

The ghouls have several guitars and instruments, sure, but do you headcanon that they have specific instruments that are special to them and that they treasure more than others?

Which ghoul do you think is a collector who wants one of everything or collects just versions of one specific model? Who sees their instruments as just that, instruments to be used for a specific purpose?

-@ghouletteanon

okay i thought more than i should've about this ahvahsbha

Dewdrop - He is sentimental and does collect, for emotional reasons. He has a few different types of strats because "everyone does something different, it sound different" and tbh it mostly does, lmao. He likes the variety and freedom of choice in case of playing live. His collection at home, though, is a bit different. There's Ifrit's first Fantomen, the first Fantomen that was customized for Dew specifically, the first customised strat, the strat with one sticker, another one with another sticker, etc. There's a story to each one.

Rain - I think they're not exactly emotional about his basses in the typical way, but i think its... uhm, their autism lets say, lmao. I think he just has to have separate basses for specific songs and everything has to be perfectly planned and taken care of and nothing can mix up, if that makes sense. If you'd find Rain crying over a bass it would be only because something ruined some specific practices, routines. I think he'd be the "collector" one but not in the usual meaning? With them it would be like "I have to have so many basses because I cant use this one for this song and I don't wanna ever change this one's tuning and this and that bla bla bla."

Aether - He is sentimental but it doesn't extend to guitars. He went through too many to really care about them. Doesn't really collect them, he doesn't see any sense in doing so. He's got a random one in his room that he can pick up and play when he's bored.

Phantom - Is very proud of and deeply cherishes one specific guitar, the one that Aether put into his hands, the one he was first taught everything by him on. The other Fantomens are just... tools, yeah, for him, but that one he got from Aether himself? IMPORTANT!

Swiss - Swiss has a few guitars, both acoustic and his baritone but there are two that are special. One of his baritones is his babygirl. its the one he humps on stage. He loves it so much because it was basically the first thing ever that he truly felt was his and his alone. There was no ghoul before him to play baritone, all his guitars were fresh out of the factory. BUT, the first one, specifically, that he got even before the decision it was going to be brought up on stage was made, the one he got to just test out, it was his. There's also one acoustic, it's always in his room next to his babygirl if they're not touring, that's also his. Not as symbolic as the baritone but also very important. He always brings it to play and sing to other ghouls, etc, there's a lot of memories with it. Most importantly, it's the one Rain was borrowing from him for their little acoustic sets, and anything Rain touches immediately becomes 10000 times more valuable for Swiss.

Mountain - My boy most certainly is a collector. He goes for the looks and functionality, always begging Papa to let him add something more because "I can make that song sound so much better with this drum/cymbal". He likes the freedom, that he can have control over something like that. He is a bit... possessive of his kit but he won't rip your head off unless you actually fuck something up.

Cirrus - Similar to Phantom, all the keys and everything are just tools except for one. The keytar, because it's Zephyrs. Only one person apart from he can touch it and it's... Dewdrop. Not even her fellow ghoulettes and Satan forbid some tech or Swiss. Only Cirrus and Dew.

Cumulus - Kinda likes to collect but isn't really emotionally tied to anything. She just likes the variety and she likes to switch gear out with Cirrus.

Sunshine and Aurora - they don't really have what to collect if we're talking about everyone's stage instruments, but Sunshine's adhd really loved the rainshakers, to her pack's misery...

@ghouletteanon

[palant1r]

Week 2: The Right is Right about "Brave New World"

Every so often, some right-wing talking head will state that our current world is just like 1984 or Fahrenheight 451 or Brave New World, the most recent example being Elon Musk. This inevitably results in rightful mockery from Tumblr and Twitter, pointing out that the figure in question likely has not read the books, or if they had, did not understand them. This is, in all cases, likely true. However, I feel like there's an implied corollary in this response: that the reason we can tell that Elon Musk or Ben Shapiro or whoever didn't understand these books is that these books do not actually align with their politics, and they're simply using the surface-level signifiers of dystopia without actually comprehending the actual societal issues the author was taking aim at.

In the case of Brave New World, this is false. Aldous Huxley would be horrified at today's world, and would likely see his dystopian creation mirrored in it. This is because Brave New World is incredibly reactionary.

Dystopia is a very powerful tool for social critique in literature, because it exaggerates the problems the author wishes to highlight to the degree that they cannot be ignored or excused, forcing the reader to confront the true implications of processes or norms they may have come to take for granted. However, this also makes it harder to immediately disagree with the politics compared with a dystopian work, and makes it important to isolate what issues a dystopia is actually taking aim at, and what anxieties such writing stems from.

Brave New World is a progressive dystopia — unlike, say, the Handmaid's Tale, the world Huxley depicts was ruined by progress and new ideas. It's a book that longs for the old world. Its thesis can be summed up by "Reject modernity, embrace tradition," which is an automatic red flag.

I won't go fully into detail as to how I've derived what Brave New World is taking aim at, given that this is just a blog post about my book of the week and not an essay. I shall instead give a numbered list of the things that Aldous Huxley is trying to say that I don't like.

The nuclear, heterosexual, monogamous family is an essential facet of a good and just civilization. Any deviation from that is a modern perversion.

New art is not valuable, and it is dangerous in its valuelessness. The old works of the broader Western canon must be the basis by which we judge the aesthetic and moral value of art.

Conflict and struggle is necessary to form the moral core and solidarity of a nation, and should be elevated to a place of glory. (Yes, this is fascist as hell)

A society cannot be moral and individuals cannot be grounded without God. Modernity leaves no room for God. (The Native Americans in this story worship Jesus, which helps John become Enlightened. It's fucking weird and racist.)

Contraception is a direct agent in the degradation of important sexual norms, and these strict sexual norms are essential for humanity to experience its fullest potential. It's also bad because it deprives women of their natural need for motherhood.

Globalism Bad because World Too Big

Eugenics is bad, not because of any of the actual reasons that eugenics is bad, but because it is New Science and results in the undermining of what is natural

What is natural is good.

The arrival of radio and other new forms of storytelling represents the dearth of societal intellectual development

When the masses are given control, they will clamor for happiness instead of fulfillment

There's absolutely more wild reactionary stuff in Brave New World, but I'm not in the mood to fully analyze it. My point is, I'm starting to realize how much I've internalized the idea that classic dystopias are taking aim at the modern realizations of the things they criticize, rather than contemporary anxieties about modernity. It's important to remember that just because an author wrote a popular social critique doesn't mean they have a monopoly on what is Bad in society.

And when conservatives cite Brave New World as proof of modern society's degeneracy, yeah sure, it's fun to dunk on them for not reading it. But I need to make sure I don't fall into the trap of arguing that they're wrong because they didn't read the book — even if they read and totally understand the book, I do not want the direction of society to be shaped by Aldous Huxley. Modern conservatives are not misinterpreting Huxley's work. They are the modern custodians of the worldview it represents.

[killmebutneverinsultme]

If you could give rping advice to an amateur, what would be the most valuable?

// You know, I've seen some fabulous tips and guides rolling around this website and can I blimmin' find any of them I thought I'd reblogged? Can I bugger. Let's see what I can think of off the top of my head!

First things first, your blog: This is the first thing people are going to look at to make a decision if you're suited to them. Doesn't have to be anything fancy. Ensure you have an icon so we don't assume you're a spam bot. Have a bio and/or a rules page so people know what you expect and note if you're 18+/21+ as many adults aren't comfortable role-playing with people under this age for safety reasons. If you're writing a canon character, a bio page can just be a brief summary of who they are and what they're about. If you're writing an OC, a reasonably detailed bio is practically essential. You might know why your muse is awesome, but your prospective partners don't so give everyone the goss on who they are, what makes them interesting, what their backstory is etc.

Next is both the most difficult and probably the next most essential: Have no fear. What I mean by this is not to let insecurity get the best of you. If you love writing, have that be your anchor. Not everyone is going to say yes and that's ok. Not everything works out. Starting out is often the most difficult time because it's easy to feel like no one is interested and that you're doing all the work. I promise you, it will get better if you keep plugging away, but you have to reach out and brave things for a bit. Be kind, be open about what you want, and enjoy every little thing until you get more opportunities.

Good ways of finding partners are to search tags for 'rp masterlists' in fandoms you are interested in e.g. 'marvel rp' or 'potc rp' or even 'open rp'. Scroll down people's blogs and have a look at who else they're playing with, read their rules and pages etc. and see if they have preferences on how to be contacted. Some people will do open starters, some will greet you if you follow them, some accept memes from anyone. If someone mentions you need to be mutuals this means that you have to wait for them to follow you back before they will be open to writing with you. Once they do, check their rules how they like to be contacted. If it's not clear, brave an ask, send a meme, or a private message.

Private messages - best advice for these are not to start off with 'wanna rp?'. I recommend dropping in, saying hi, expressing that you'd be interested in writing and leaving an idea for something you'd be keen on doing should they be interested too. If they're not, thank them and move on. If they are, hooray, make friends and have fun plotting!

An extremely valuable RP tool is the New X-kit and X-kit Rewritten browser extensions. Tumblr is not built to be friendly for role-playing and I couldn't manage without these. Rewritten lets you trim posts so you can get rid of the pesky top post that would otherwise stay when using tumblr's new beta post formats. It helps us keep posts looking neater on our blogs and dashboard, although thankfully tumblr introduced the 'shorten posts' feature to save everyone's eyeballs from super long threads.

General etiquette: Lots of role-players have preferences on how long they prefer replies to be and how often they are active. Trial and error until you find partners that suit you. Ideally check your spelling and grammar if it's not something you're adept at. A big thing not to do is godmodding, which is when you might be tempted to write someone else's character doing something on their behalf. Even if this might mean your post is shorter, do not do this. You must let your partner write all of their own muse's actions. If your muse attempts to do something to their muse, they should be given permission to dictate what happens on their end. It's a give and take relationship to make the best possible fun for both of you.

Other big ones: don't let jealousy get the better of you. There might be duplicates of your muse or you might like someone who gives lots of attention to someone else. It's very easy to get wrapped up in your muses' feelings and get obsessed with gratification. Be gentle with each other, we've all got our own stuff going on, and we all need different things. Be gentle with yourself, too, that's most important!

Hopefully these are some of the basics and are of help! If anyone would like advice on something more specific, please ask, or ask one of these other lovelies for their opinion also.