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outofangband · 5 months

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“Beleriand is wide and houseless for exiles...”

Morwen, The House of Bëor and the Trauma of Dagor Bragollach

updated post with more meta on the House of Bëor in general and links to other relevant posts.

Actually has been updated to read like a real post and not just rambling!

Related post on Morwen and Rían and the survival of traditions

My general tag for Bëorian cultural trauma is houseless for exiles where I have a lot more rambling like this

So Morwen is obviously one of my very favorite characters in Tolkien’s world, in general and she is in my opinion one of the most interesting figures in The Children of Húrin, though as she is separated from Túrin for so long there are long periods of her life we have only summaries on. I find these fascinating to speculate on and read/write about

I wrote this post while very tired so I hope this makes sense and is ok, I’ve definitely seen more eloquent meta on the subject, I just wanted to throw out some thoughts and I wanted to write more about the trauma her people went through during Dagor Bragollach

I want to make two posts on this, this one which is an introduction and some general thoughts then a second one that will go into more specific headcanons about how the trauma of the Bragollach manifests for Morwen.

The Battle of the Sudden Flame and the aftermath is such an important part of Morwen’s life that likely plays a significant part in shaping her character though it happens before the events of the book and is mentioned only briefly, much information needing to be found through inference and connecting details

The House of Bëor lived in Ladros in Eastern Dorthonion where Aegnor and Angrod, sons of Finarfin, lived and lead a defense of the Watchful Peace, maintaining a friendship with their Edain allies. Ladros was a cool land of pine forests and steep, craggily slopes that lay South of the great green fields of Ard-Galen and then of Angband and the regions of Morgoth.

On a cold winter night in the year 455 of the First Age, rivers of flames, many choked in poisonous fumes, were sent down from the Thangorodrim. These utterly devastated Ard-Galen turning it from the fertile, green lands to a desert made uninhabitable by the lingering clouds of toxic air. Next came a legion of balrogs with Glaurung leading them and a massive army of orcs that quickly invaded Dorthonion, killing countless elves and humans including Aegnor and Angrod, taking a large number captive and occupying and/or displacing the rest of the Bëorians. Barahir, the father of Beren led a group of outlaws including the fathers of Morwen and Rían. Their group was killed in a massacre by the lake Tarn Aeulin several years later after

(It’s likely Morwen knew nothing of this until she came to Doriath, if even then)

During the chaos of the invasion of Ladros, Emeldir, the mother of Beren fought to protect the children of the Bëorians, many if not most of whom had been orphaned. She managed to lead a group of refugees Southwest to Brethil where the Halidan took them in. Later, though there is not much said in the text about this, a small group of the surviving Bëorians would come to Dor-Lómin in Hithlum where the Hadorians lived. (Note: I have two posts speculating on their route, here and here)

Morwen was elven or twelve when Dagor Bragollach broke out, depending on when in the year her birthday is*. She was likely orphaned during the invasion though we know only that she was separated from her father who was later killed. She was among the Bëorian refugees who would come to Hithlum though her age at the time is unknown. There is so much that is unknown about her life before the events of the Narn.

I also spoke about this on a few different posts, but I’ve oft wondered if Morwen’s time in Brethil as a child was not a good one. Our glimpse into how some of the Haladin treat those who are mentally ill, neurodivergent or traumatized in The Wanderings of Húrin is a very bleak one and although this is certainly not representative of all the people of Brethil, this combined with parts of Morwen’s conversation with Húrin prior to the Nírnaeth leads me to believe she does not look at her time there with good feelings

Both the text of the Narn and Morwen herself describe her as an exile; one who has not only been forced to leave their home but who is forbidden from returning.

The word diaspora obviously comes to mind as well.

There is a bitter shame that bubbles beneath her cloak of pride, an unearned shame but one that has left its mark on her nonetheless (another thing I've mde way too many posts on tbh; her grief and pride are completley inextricable from each other, almost every line in the Narn mentioning her pride or her more severe qualities comes with the addendum that as much as it is directed at others, it is also directed at herself; "for Morwen was as stern with others as with herself", "she did not seek to comfort him any more than herself, etc")

That Morwen is a refugee in Dor-lómin is an important aspect of her character as is her likely trauma from Dagor Bragollach, how flames and armies drove her and her people from their home, killed so many of them, destroying their families and way of life.

It’s not difficult to speculate on the extent of violence that she witnessed and the horrific trauma she was barely old enough to understand. Eleven or twelve is such an age, just starting to understand your own identity and place in your family and community and culture and then to have that so brutally torn apart…

(I personally headcanon that she was injured in the Bragollach and had burn scars but that’s a different post)

I think her pride is very much tied to the fact that she is one of the only remaining members of the House of Bëor, a people who Morwen herself considers all but gone as she says to her husband in the first chapter.

I’m thinking about how this impacts her choice to remain in Dor-lómin after Nirnaeth, thinking that perhaps this time nothing short of another fiery inferno will drive her from her home. How she will not flee again (even as Rían, another of the few survivors, runs again and runs until she cannot get up).

And what’s on her mind when she speaks with Húrin before he leaves for Nirnaeth, how she believes her House to be fallen and fears Húrin’s following suit. The destruction of Hithlum would mean another home taken from her.

I’m also wondering about her significantly less optimistic view of the elves. While Húrin is heartened by the knowledge that the lords of the Noldor have known Valinor and the Valar themselves, Morwen thinks quietly of the exile of the Noldor from Valinor. Which also makes her being labeled elffriend (derogatory) and accused of power akin to theirs

“Húrin Thalion, this I judge truer to say: that you look high, but I fear to fall low.”

That Morwen lives in her own home under occupation for so long adds yet another painful irony to that quote.

“Beleriand is wide and houseless for exiles” is also just one of my very favorite spoken lines by Morwen. I just always feel so strongly that Morwen is not just talking about her hypothetical future there but also her here and now. Even in the safety of her own home and room (I always pictured that conversation as in their bedroom?) she is acutely aware that she will never return to where she grew up, that the place of her and her people in the world has been irrevocably changed. She is contemplating this ordeal being repeated and likely becoming more convinced that it will be. The sheer exhaustion alone of having to reckon with that…

I don’t think the parallels between Morwen and Túrin with regard to fleeing and being hunted or trapped and the ways these and the fear of them shape their lives are discussed enough

A lot of Túrin’s story is about exile. He is forced to flee his home and spends most of the story away from it, deprived of news of his loved ones and people for years at a time. When he does return it is temporary and he finds it unrecognizable.

Even his memories of home, of any home he makes, are clouded.

But his home is not Morwen’s, at least not in the same way. What he loses in Dor-lómin, Morwen has lost more than a decade before the events of the Narn.

Morwen escapes Glaurung twice and ends up in Brethil both times afterwards. Like not to put too fine a point on it but she has always been running and trying to escape the horrors of the past and also she lives in fear, a very real fear, of being forced out, forced to run, or else trapped and imprisoned. When she fears Thingol means to keep her in Doriath against her will, she tells him this fear is part of what made her delay going and I don’t think she is exaggerating in the slightest.

I am just never not obsessed with the themes of diaspora, exile, and persecution in The Children of Húrin.

Anyways I hope this is coherent and all. Hopefully I’ll say something more meaningful on this later. I love Morwen very much.

*as the year of her birth is from The Shaping of Middle Earth it is not considered strictly canon however it does match up with other timelines and events.

#the silmarillion #the children of húrin #morwen #musing and meta #houseless for exiles #mentioned #Túrin #Rían

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frary-us · 6 months

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“i’ve never done a ghost story before...”

Till death do us part: Matt and Lisa are torn apart – but why?

3 MIN READ

PLATFORM 7 | ITVX THURSDAY

This supernatural thriller – based on Louise Doughty’s 2019 novel of the same name – follows Lisa Evans, a young woman who frequents platform seven of a railway station. After witnessing a tragic event at the depot, Lisa’s blurred memories come into focus, unearthing a connection between that moment and her own life – and death. The four-parter stars Jasmine Jobson (Top Boy) as Lisa; Toby Regbo (A Discovery Of Witches) as her boyfriend Matt; Rhiannon Clements (Hollyoaks’ Summer Ranger) as Lisa’s best friend Izzy, and telly veteran Phil Davis as Edward – a man with an unearthly connection to Lisa. Here, Jasmine, and Toby tell Inside TV more…

Hi, both! What appealed to you about this series?

Jasmine It has to be the supernatural thing. There’s something about being a spirit and being around people without their knowledge, and playing about with them when they’ve irritated you! And I hadn’t played anybody like Lisa before, so it was also about trying something new.

Toby This is the first modern piece I’ve done in ages. I seem to just do period dramas! So to make the switch towards psychological realism, I feel as though you can get away with more. And I’ve never done a ghost story before.

The doctor will see you now: Matt and Lisa feel the chemistry

It must feel strange not acknowledging that the other actor is there?

Jasmine Yeah, it definitely felt weird being in scenes yet not really being involved. I had to get used to not having anything to say!

Toby Trying to pretend that somebody isn’t there is surprisingly difficult. It’s interesting how your body just responds to somebody being there, like trying to pass right beside someone without making any little movements that you naturally do to accommodate another human being.

How was it playing those moments where Lisa walks through walls?

Jasmine So that took a while to figure out. I’d walk through open doors, and I accidentally pushed a door open once! But once we knew what we were doing, it was wicked.

Toby, do you think that Matt believes in ghosts?

Toby No – I think, as a doctor, he’s a man of science. I don’t think he has any inkling that Lisa is standing behind him, nor that he has a sense thatt there’s life after death. Which is interesting in terms of where the story goes…

There’s also an important relationship between Edward and Lisa – Jasmine, what was it like working with Phil Davis?

Jasmine Oh, Phil was absolutely amazing. He’s such a phenomenal actor. Our scenes together were very special. It was a delight to have him at the station playing Edward – who has quite an interesting secret of his own…

Do you believe in ghosts?

Jasmine I sometimes see spirits and I can tell if there’s a presence around me. One thing that I’ve always been aware of is you must never say hello to them if they’re in your home. You need sage and frankincense, and you need to bless your house.

Toby I haven’t had any first-hand experiences with the supernatural and I’ve always tended to err on the side of the material. However, that doesn’t mean to say that when I’m staying at my friend’s place in the Dorset countryside, when the moon’s out and there are owls, that I don’t sprint across the lawn to get back inside the house!

CHIEF in-spectre

RHIANNON CLEMENTS TELLS US HOW HER ALTER EGO TURNS AMATEUR SLEUTH…

When it comes to her best friend’s untimely passing, Rhiannon’s character is fixed on finding the truth…

“The big thing for Izzy is that she doesn’t believe Lisa’s death was suicide,” she says. “She thinks that there’s something else to be uncovered – and won’t let it lie till she knows what.”

As for believing in the supernatural, making the series led to a spooky coincidence for the star...

“Phil’s character has a dog, and in some scenes, it barks at what’s seemingly an empty space,” shares Rhiannon. “I recently moved into a Victorian house, and my dog has now started barking at empty spaces. It does leave me with chills!”

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transmascwillbyers · 2 years

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Why Mike and Will are perfect together- an MBTI Analysis (1/2)

So interestingly, I haven't really seen a lot of people talk about MBTI in the context of why byler works so well (which is fair- I mean, we already have a crapload of evidence lol) but it's actually really interesting to me as someone who's interested in MBTI (I'm an ENFP), so I figured I'd bring it up. This ended up being super long, so I'm also splitting it into two posts- one is just discussing Mike and Will individually, whereas the other specifically analyzes their relationship and why it works so well, from an MBTI lens. Note that you might want some background info on MBTI/cognitive functions before you read this, in case I don't explain everything super well, but you can just take like five minutes to google it lol.

Okay, so, first, let's take a quick look at Will's MBTI type. Will Byers is an INFP, meaning that his function stack looks like this: Fi -> Ne -> Si -> Te. Let's break this down real quick. Will's dominant function is Introverted Feeling- or, Fi. This function is mainly concerned with looking inward to determine morals, process feelings, and make sense of the Fi users own emotions about a particular idea or situation. This often causes Fi users to be somewhat sensitive and intuitively connected with their own emotions- however, due to how their sense of morality is turned inward, not outward, they often don't feel quite the pressure to conform that Extroverted Feeling, or Fe users do, and often times their own moral compass will be the thing that directs their interactions with other people.

Next, Will's auxiliary function is Extroverted Intuition, or Ne. Ne users see the world as a sort of kaleidoscope of possibilities, and they're very good at sensing patterns in the world around them and connecting those patterns with the hypothetical to create ideas. This is Will's second function, so he doesn't use it as much as his Fi, but we still see it frequently come out when he interacts with the world around him. Next is Will's tertiary function, Si, or Introverted Sensing. This function is mainly concerned with tradition, and looking into the past for information on how things should work in the present. Tertiary functions generally aren't as well-developed as the first two, and we often see them coming out in times of stress- for example, Will starts using Si a lot in s3, when he basically wants to go back into the past and just play D&D with his friends like they used to as a coping mechanism for dealing with his sexuality.

Finally, Will's inferior function is Te, or extraverted thinking. Inferior functions are, bluntly, ones that you technically have but also kinda suck at using. Extraverted Thinking mainly revolves around solving problems with logic, and looking at already established patterns of authority in the world and using those as a framework to think critically. Inferior functions can also come out in times of stress. We don't really see Will's Te come out often, but his other three functions are so obvious that we don't really need proof for this one- we can just kind of assume it doesn't come out as often, and leave it at that.

Next is Mike Wheeler, an ENFJ, whose function stack looks like Fe -> Ni -> Se -> Ti. First, Mike's dominant function is Extraverted Feeling, a function that's mainly concerned with making sure that everyone else around him is happy, and tuning into other's emotions as opposed to his own. We can clearly see this in how much he cares for Will in S1-2, as well as how much his relationship issues with El really do seem to trouble him in S3-4, even if, at the end of the day, she isn't a romantic interest for him, per se.

Next is Mike's Ni. Ni revolves around being about to recognize patterns and use them to predict future events- sort of like Ne, but with more of a clear goal in mind instead of just thinking of possibilities. We definitely see this with Mike more in S1-2, when he uses this function to see patterns in what's happening to Will, and theorize about how he could help him the most effectively. Like I said earlier, this functions, being the second in his stack, supports Mike's Fe, as he typically uses it to help him help others. However... remember what I also said about the bottom two functions being used more in times of stress? Yeah. Yeah, we're getting to that, and if you're also an MBTI nerd, you probably know where I'm going here.

Mike's tertiary function is Se, or Extraverted Sensing. This function is all about experiencing the present moment, and using the sensory details that you take in from the world to react spontaneously, and make things up as you go along. However, when this function is less developed, it can often cause people to act impulsively and not really consider anything they're doing, like how we see Mike act in s3-4. In fact, we actually see Mike using this function the most when he's with El, in my opinion. Whenever he's trying to solve a relationship problem with her, or he's arguing with her, he's not really thinking anything through. Instead, he's acting defensive and using any justification he can for his actions, even when it doesn't make sense or make him look any better in the situation. Whenever he's around El, Mike is literally just using his Se so he can turn off his brain and fly by the seat of his pants, not having to think about anything he's doing.

Finally, Mike's inferior function- the one he isn't great at using even in day-to-day life, is Ti, or introverted thinking. Introverted Thinkers use logic as an internal framework- they'll often be thinking of unconventional ways to solve problems, going over theories in their head, and thinking critically about and analyzing everything they see. Now, this is where things get interesting. I think a lot of people on here would argue that, at first glance, Mike doesn't use this function. I mean, we're constantly joking about how he has no thoughts, why would he? However, I disagree. I think instead, we see him badly using and deliberately suppressing this function for one critical reason- how it relates to his sexuality.

I mean, think about it. If Mike thought critically for one second about how he's acted with Will his entire life, he'd also figure out that he's gay. The evidence is there. I mean, look at us- we're analyzing everything all the time, and yet it barely took us scratching the surface to figure out, uh... this is not a heterosexual man. So, my theory is that Mike has been deliberately ignoring his Ti, an already poorly developed function of his, so he can ignore the way he'd obviously be using it to work through his sexuality. However, by ignoring an important element of his function stack, Mike is actually becoming less healthy mentally, and his suppression of his Ti also leads to him becoming even more impulsive, and not thinking through his actions and how they might affect others like he did in s1-2.

So, TL;DR, Will is an INFP, Mike is an unhealthy ENFJ who's been suppressing his Ti in order to ignore his sexuality, and I will have a second post up very soon explaining why those two types are... probably more compatible than this post made them seen. Anyway, sorry if I got anything wrong- I definitely know some stuff about MBTI, but I'm definitely not an expert, and I really just think it can be interesting to use frameworks like this to dig deeper into the psychology of characters, especially Mike in this case. Anyway, I'll update soon, and for now, I'm signing off!

#byler #will byers #mike wheeler #mbti #mbti analysis #will byers is gay #mike wheeler is gay #stranger things #mike wheeler i know what you are

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orchidelegance · 1 year

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review - ghost trick: phantom detective

app store, nintendo store; first chapters free, full game $10 playtime: ~4-5hrs rating: 8/10 replayability: 7/10

crazy characters. insane plot. twistier and turnier than a maze. character design happened while on acid probably. such an excellent game.

ghost trick: phantom detective by capcom is a game of "how many" - how many times you're willing to replay a scene before you go look up a guide, how many times sissel has to help other people in his quest to find himself, how many times you take screenshots of missile saying something only a dog would say. every chapter took me tantalizingly closer to the answer only for the ending to completely blow me away with how incomprehensible and perfectly sensible it was. there's an explanation for everything, and there are so many things that need explaining that at the very end, the explanations come in a barrage of satisfaction that leaves me wanting to replay and see where i missed the clues.

every single character is interesting and lovable, all with their own stories and motivations, from the dancing guard to the simpering henchman to the chicken chef and the waitress on rollerskates. even characters you only see in one scene have an important role to play and a life that you get a glimpse into. each design is so incredibly fun, colorful, and silly, and it echoes the game's message - that everyone is connected, and we are all a part of each other's story.

though i used a guide for most of the game (sue me - there's a great one here by fukuyasu), it's definitely not impossible to do on your own with a little more patience and brainpower. the puzzles were fun, though they can become tedious if you're committed to figuring it out on your own. for me, this game was character driven, and i wanted to complete each stage as fast as i could to see a little more of the story. honestly even with how frustrating i found some of the stages, i would still replay it if i had a few hours on my own and see if i can untangle the threads from the beginning - and to see sissel, kamila, lynne, missile, jowd, cabanela, and the others again.

spoilers below

damn! that ending! sissel-cat is too cute. and the yomiel-creature made up of junk and a cone was hilarious. i didn't like that we went back in time to erase everything, and then suddenly it happened in a way i was surprisingly very satisfied with. sissel being yomiel's cat is an ending only ghost trick could have and could make sense of. i wish we got a little more explanation about the blue people, but i did like the insights in the credits into the other characters' lives in the new future.

that gay little family photo at the end was so funny because jowd's wife is fully alive here but instead he's taking a photo with his daughter (kamila) and his adopted not-daughter (lynne) with his work husband (cabanela) who is also lynne's work dad. and their two pets...

one thing i don't understand is why there's no meetup or anything since yomiel said they would all retain the memory of the past events even if those technically didn't exist in this reality, which i liked as a continuity mechanism to deal with fuzzy time travel mechanics. technically they would all remember what had happened right? or at least jowd, yomiel, sissel, and missile would since they were the ones who went back to yomiel's death. i did like that yomiel was fully prepared to die over and over for baby lynne to atone for his crime of holding her hostage, and that we all thought he died before they revealed he was still alive. it makes him a sympathetic "antagonist" in the perfect way, and opens the road to reconciliation.

what a fun game! i love cat sissel so much.

#ghost trick #ghost trick phantom detective #game review #capcom

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ey-there-little-guy · 1 year

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hi again! came across your size shifter c!tubbo post! i think that concept is amazing! sizeshifters are always a really fun thing to tamper! for some angst, i can imagine tubbo just shrinking down after the events at the festival and trying to hide away. for some fluff, totally can see tubbo going tiny and playing some pranks on tommy or others on the server! i remember tubbo made that thing in tommy's house where when he stepped in a certain area he fell to his death. i imagine that, but that's only in tubbo's mind; in reality it's just a tripwire lol

revengers stream would also be much easier, he could just grow and trap sam until they reached the prison.

if you ever plan to take that idea any further, is tubbo able to grow/shrink other objects? what about people? and if so, is it something that can happen by a simple subconscious thought or does he need to work hard to achieve it?

sorry if this is a lot lol, c!tubbo is one of my favorite canonical dream smp members :D

— 🕶️

Thank you! :D cTubbo is also one of my favorites, I love that guy!

And oh I love that, Tubbo being able to shrink only after the festival and hiding, and him just being a quite literal little menace to the server at other times, just a little guy planning your downfall.

Revengers stream, oh I could see him being giant or mini-giant sized there definitely, lol Sam doesn't stand a chance. and then getting Michael back and holding him close, shrinking back down to more normal sizes when safe so by the time he is they're properly hugging, aww.

tbh, sizeshifter!tubbo is one of my ideas with less inspiration to fuel it so i'm more likely to come back to it as only concepts, but it's a concept i very much love which is why i decided to share it. :D

I hadn't thought of him being able to do that but oooh!! Tubbo being able to grow/shrink others or things sounds cool. He'd probably have to work to achieve it I think.

If that's the case, sizeshifting in this starts to remind me more of how block/inventory mechanics are sometimes portrayed, with blocks and other items getting shrunk to fit in whatever the inventory is and going back to normal once the player has taken them out or put them down.

so then maybe sizeshifting is kinda like if a player had those mechanics applied to themself, with more variation in size than 'inventory size' and 'normal'. they're just more connected than others to whatever bit of reality makes that kind of shrink/growth possible. I imagine it could still be done with some magic or potions, but sizeshifters do it so much more naturally, it's basically its own type of magic.

So, there's a bit of worldbuilding for sizeshifter!tubbo i guess! I really like that idea that one day he figures out he can shrink/grow others, probably through vicinity.

just like, Michael riding around in Tubbo's shirt pocket and taking an afternoon nap so snugly, or Tommy convincing Tubbo to make him taller than Ranboo for a day, or Ranboo shorter than him, both at the same time, maybe it's all Tubbo's idea for a prank, and if Tubbo ever gets good enough at it he can just shrink anyone that tries to attack him while they're still rushing to attack and pluck them up LOL.

But I think it'd be very slow growing/shrinking of others before he gets good enough to do it that quickly. Wrangling whatever he does to make himself grow and shrink so it works on others sounds like a challenge, but one Tubbo would try to do. :D

thank you for the ask!! i'm happy to hear you liked the sizeshifter cTubbo! and no need to apologize, i don't mind long rambles at all lol they're fun. ^_^

#asks #🕶️anon #sizeshifter!tubbo #dsmp g/t

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emily-mooon · 1 year

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In the The First Shadow, George and Betty Are New Characters and Not Characters we Already Know

I have seen a lot of theories go around as to who George and Betty might be, But one thing about those theories always makes me think one thing. Why would they hide names of characters we already know and can assume that are in it due to other characters?

Let me start of with saying that there is nothing wrong with liking the theories. Some of them are cool and do make sense in some way. To me they don’t make sense due to that question I put forward and age discrepancies between the characters put forward and George and Betty.

Now let’s get into the first part. The character ideas.

1.1 George is either Henry or Lonnie

Out of the two, Henry is the most common answer I have seen so we will start with him. A lot of people assume that George Smith is an alias for Henry Creel. A cover up. This does make a bit of sense as in the recently released audition tapes, George has some connection to flickering lights as Betty was able to sense him and also was hiding something during confessional. But there are two things wrong with this theory: age and appearance.

On the casting call, it says that George is 14.

But Henry’s age in the show is stated as being 12 (in the newspaper article). The Duffers are known for not being the best at continuity with little details for characters so this could easily mean nothing but season 4 and this play were probably written at the same time because as stated before, the play will be apart of the series canon. They do not want anything about it to not make sense with anything we have seen already.

This is where we now move onto Lonnie. It has been pointed out that the possible(?) actor for George looks a lot like Lonnie and nothing like Henry (source henrysglock).

This is a more underrated theory. It is a really good one as well but again the issue with age comes up. If George is fourteen, how would he interact with Joyce, a high school senior?

Now it has been hinted at that Lonnie will be in the play by the writers, but not in the place of George. Here’s my theory:

In the synopsis that was released on the day the play was revealed, it states two things about Joyce an Hopper (sorry for bad image quality)

Hopper’s car won’t start and Joyce wants to leave Hawkins. I think that Lonnie is a bit older than Joyce (he’s around 19-20). He makes these promises to her while Hopper is figuring out what’s wrong with his car that he is her way out of Hawkins and tells lies about Hopper. In the process, Joyce falls in love with Lonnie and the same goes for him as well.

Now this does not mean that it’s still possible. Lonnie could be fourteen at the time of events. It would be weird considering the fact that Joyce is around eighteen at the time and I’m a bit weirded out by that idea. But these theories bring me back to the question from the start. Why would they need to hide Lonnie and Henry’s names in a casting call when we already know that they are going to be in it?

By proxy, we know that Lonnie will be in it because Joyce is in it. We know that Henry is in it because he is on the promotional material. We already know these characters. We have seen them already in the show. This means that George is a new character we have never met.

Let’s move on to Betty.

1.2 Betty is Ms. Kelley

I have seen this idea once. Like the other ones it’s good, but go back to the discrepancies. I also have some of my own personal issues with Ms. Kelley theories. I personally think that she is a red herring. Everything about her seems too obvious. The clock key necklace, the clocks everywhere, and many more feel too on the nose.

If you don’t know what a red herring is, here is the definition (look at the highlighted text or #2):

In mysteries, the most obvious suspicious person is never the killer, it always the one you least suspect. The clock stuff is meant to distract you from what is actually going to happen and who is actually responsible.

Also the way I saw this theory gets tied in with how Henry is actually George but since we can disprove it with two things, I think her role if she is in the play could be different. I will explain it after this next section on who George and Betty actually are.

2. Who They Are

Now that we have gone through the theories, who could Betty and George actually be? They aren’t characters we have seen before so who are they? Let me tell you.

The descriptions of Betty and George remind me of two characters: Nancy and Jonathan.

Pale and moody outcast? That’s Jonathan.

Goody two shoes falling for said pale and moody outcast? Sounds like Nancy.

Obviously they cannot be in it since they are not actually alive yet, but the role of Betty and George is like theirs.

Betty is going to be the first person who notices that weird things are going on. Eventually, George gets sucked in and the two work together to figure out what's happening and come to a conclusion. The conclusion being that Henry is behind it. Just like Jonathan and Nancy, a bit of a romance is going to spark between them as it states in Betty's description that she is falling for George.

Now where does Ms. Kelley fit into all this? Well I think that the key-clock necklace she wears around her neck is important. Betty gives it to her for safe keeping and the way that they know each other is through church as Betty would help out I assume. Unwillingly, Ms. Kelley is used by Vecna to find people he can curse as the necklace she wears is connected to the grandfather clock we see used a lot by him.

But what about the stuff with George having powers and being able to see into the mindscape? Well this post from a Twitter thread I saw through my lurking (I don’t have twitter) sums up what I’m thinking:

George could be a target of Henry’s because if George has similarities to Jonathan, he could be the only person who sees Henry’s true character and Henry may or may not like that because it would ruin his plans.

Another idea is that Henry uses George as a human test subject with his powers because so far we have only seen him use them on animals. Henry is not stupid to jump into a plan he wants to work. In the process George gets cursed somehow.

I don’t know exactly how these two ideas would work with what we currently know about the upside down but anything is possible I guess.

Feel free to expand upon my ideas. All input is welcome. I guess I hope you all have a good day tomorrow!

#placing my thoughts into some kind of analysis #these ideas probably are stupid #this is technically my first analysis but i have one in my drafts for stncy being like a stereotypical rom com and how that is conformity #love how i manged to tie jancy in here #emily analyses shit #stranger things #the first shadow #st the first shadow

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benjaminthewolf · 2 years

Text

Sweet, Evil Dreams (Vore Story)

Welp.

I did it.

I’ve finally reached the end of my self-indulgent list of vore story ideas to get to someday.

The experience I had writing this was quite literally the most downright insane experience I have ever had writing anything ever. And as a result of that, a little while after this story releases, I will be releasing as a complementary story, the, as it is labeled in google docs, “Shitpost edition” of this same piece.

****

Nights in the Skylander Academy dorms were barely any different from each date to the next. The area was extremely well protected not only by a complex web of security cameras and alert systems, but also by constantly patrolling specially trained security guards, ever at the ready to strike upon any unforeseen intruder should the situation arise. As a result, if one were predisposed to launch an attack on any amount of the slumbering residents within, the most promising method of doing so would seem to be by pouncing upon them internally, rather than externally. Or, stated another way, deep within their dreams.

Thus, on this particular, otherwise unassuming night, a dream-bound battle of victims seemingly chosen by random promptly appeared inside the other reality, and a sequence of events destined to be remembered only by one at last commenced upon a call.

“Tread Head!” a voice called to the relatively unknown tech trap team core whom was rather unfortunately overshadowed by his elemental counterpart of Chopper back when the series was in its prime. The lightly shifting body of the Skylander told the voice on the outside that the little guy was conscious, but still needed to be coaxed a little more in order to open his eyes.

“Hey come on, wake up! Something’s very wrong here!”

Now that the odd, murmuring tech core was considerably more aware, he was able to subconsciously pair the voice he was hearing to that of a face. He definitely recognized it. It wasn’t something he could’ve known on the spot, but upon flickering open his big light blue eyes, he finally figured it out.

“Wham-Shell?” he sputtered out with a gasp as he swiftly sat up.

****

Now, taking the moment to interject, I must of course preface that the following duo of characters, as well as the actions that they are about to take, were not made by conscious decision in any stretch of the imagination. If the little introductory section at the start didn’t already tip you off, this story is going to be very hard to write. Not because of length, nor any technical roadblocks. No. In reality, this entire scene was chosen by my subconscious brain, and my subconscious brain alone, to play out amongst my slumber well over a year ago. There is a very good reason I saved this story for last on my list of self-indulgent ideas to get to. It is because the concept was not, in truth, made by me. I have of course, invented details here and there and added on description in order to make the narrative flow better. But the fact of the matter is that the only reason I am sitting here now writing this story is because my concept was practically forced upon my being using the will of the dream. Had that dream not happened, this entire concept would be entirely nil.

I do indeed have my thoughts on why my brain might have chosen these two characters in particular. I have a soft spot for Tread Head, if only for how underappreciated he is in the Skylander community. Wham-Shell, though he was never on my list of favorites, not by a long shot, was still held in somewhat high regard if only because he is indeed a part of a character group so near and dear to my heart, that of course being the Skylanders as a whole. I am unfortunately not able to make any discernible connection between the two of them other than that they are of the same fighting group. That being said, if you are one of those readers that almost immediately looks up a character’s design upon the author not providing significant description right away, then congratulations. You might have already figured it out.

Yes, it is indeed my belief that the only reason my brain chose these two in particular to be put through what is going to happen to them next is that fact that their designs have but a few superficial similarities, though only superficial, of course. A color palette of reds and browns upon the body, whilst possessing blue eyes, a body that is more circular in nature than most of the others, now, at last, there is an established connection.

I do intend to utilize this story to do quite more than just write down the contents of the dream, though that, of course, will be the first and foremost priority. Either way, I believe I have said my piece. You have, of course, come here in search of vore, and that is exactly what I intend to provide you all with. Thus, without further ado, please, sit back, relax, grab a snack, and enjoy this utterly bizarre experience I had in my sleep many many many moons ago.

****

“Yeah, yeah it’s me. Listen. Do you have absolutely any idea at all why we might have ended up stranded in the middle of a desert?” Wham-Shell proceeded to ask his still waking fellow Skylander, with a bit of hasty panic in his voice.

“...the desert? I-huh?” Tread Head awkwardly replied as he attempted to survey the area. He did know through his peripheral vision in those first few seconds that wherever the two of them were, there sure was a lot of open space with a ground that was a weird shade of golden-orange. Yet prior to actually being told it was a desert, the possibility that such a biome could be the explanation for this area’s oddly specific traits had never actually consciously crossed the little guy’s mind.

Sure enough, however, just as Wham-Shell had said, upon but a simple, few-second long inspection, Tread Head had it all but confirmed within his mind that it was, indeed, a desert. The open, seemingly infinite fields of the previously described golden-orange sands did not lie.

The sun appeared to be right above the two Skylanders’ heads at the moment, with not a single cloud to speak of tampering with its shine, and the only other thing around the area that could be seen aside from themselves and the blinding orange and blue was an old, worn-down stone brick fort of some kind, secluded nicely south of the two, relative to their current position, thus giving them but one single option of where to go if the option of retreat became necessary.

Yes, there was absolutely no denying that they were currently in a desert. But that was just it. That was all they knew about where they were. No other hints, signals, or clues as to who, what, where, when, or how they had gotten here. Nothing. Nothing, zip, nada. Nothing.

It was only a little while after this fact had set in that Tread Head noticed that his iconic tread bike that gave him his name was indeed with him, too. So was Wham-Shell’s arguably more iconic mace that also gave him his name. This meant that the two of them were able to defend themselves if the situation called for it, but regardless, the presence of their weapons was only to give the poor confused Skylanders far more questions about their current situation than answers.

“...Wham-Shell.” Tread Head eventually ended up saying. “I have just as much of a clue as you do as to what’s going on.”

Wham-Shell let out a sigh. “Well…….” his voice began to thoughtfully trail off in rather deep inquiry before finally piping up again. “I mean-”

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!”

“...*sigh*.....” Wham-Shell rather reluctantly heaved out, whilst forcing himself to shelve for the moment his previous train of thought. “Forget I said anything at all…”

It was only now that the two of them finally had some sort of clue as to what was going on. And yet, as was to be expected at this point by members of a group who were trained to thwart at least three of this guy’s evil plans all before lunch, they really, really, really wished that they didn’t.

“Lord…if I had to count the amount of times I’ve had to deal with that laugh…” Wham-Shell irritatedly grumbled to himself through clenched teeth. “The academy would probably have to build another library!”

A sudden puff of black smoke was instantaneously blown into the unexpecting man’s face before the deep, roaring noises that could only be indicative of an engine suddenly revved up.

“Nevermind about that right now, Wham-Shell, we’ve gotta get to that fort over there, fast! He’s probably going to make mincemeat out of us if he catches us out in the open!” Tread Head piped up as he continued with starting up his tread bike. “Get on!”

As he understood implicitly that, indeed, getting to the fort was currently their only option, Wham-Shell didn’t protest, swiftly getting himself situated onto what was left of the seating space on the thing, holding his mace sideways in his hands as he sat, before a huge cloud of sand and dust was rapidly kicked up around the duo of Skylanders, causing the poor crustacean to choke a little, until at last the tread bike gave a screech whilst it peeled out away from the thing, roaring viciously as it effortlessly grinded across the fine, desert grounds.

Wham-Shell wasn’t really sure how many seconds, exactly, had passed until they were at the fort, (he was so lost in thought at for the time being that he could barely even discern that there was sand around him anymore), but regardless, once the tread bike screeched to a halt in front of the thing, he was forced to take a moment to regain his bearings before he swiftly clammored off. Though, his little mental reorientation, plus the fact he had to maneuver his mace so that it didn’t accidentally hook onto the bike as he dismounted, and the fact that the little tech Skylander naturally had more experience quickly getting off the thing, Tread Head was up and at the small, wooden door of the fort far before Wham-Shell was.

Grasping ahold of the handle (the door was scaled so that the handle could be reached by him in spite of his height for whatever reason), he attempted to fling the thing open in an instant, only to find, instead, that the door was firmly locked. Tread Head was just about ready to call out this information to his current partner, until, completely unbeknownst to him, the unexpected booming crash that was something heavy suddenly hitting the door instantaneously graced his ears.

Instinctively scrambling away from the scene as such, thus discovering that Wham-Shell had indeed made use of his mace to complete the, upon retrospective, relatively easy feat of breaking down the door, Tread Head didn’t really have the need in the end to actually say anything at all.

Swiftly getting back on his bike, for he knew that a battle at this point was pretty much inevitable, plus dragging the thing in by hand was rather inconvenient, Tread Head was thus into the fort and up the first set of stairs he took note of along with Wham-Shell in nothing short of a flash, ending up on the roof of the thing soon after completing the ascension. He was barely even able to get a fleeting glimpse of the internal layout of the fort's first floor as a result of this, but right now, that barely mattered. All that mattered was pinpointing the source of that iconic evil laugh, so that the two Skylanders would be able to track the midget villain down, and-

“Boo.”

Once again, for a diversely humongous number of reasons, not the least of which was their current internal shock, neither Skylander at hand knew any minute sliver about the whos, whats, wheres, whens, whys, or hows of the current circumstances, and yet, once again, they knew deep down that it barely even mattered anymore.

The decidedly NOT midget form that was the one taken on by the infamous portal master at the ending boss fight of Swap Force, a form only known as Super Evil Kaos, stood right there in front of them with a rather smug grin on his face, his arms o’ so casually folded over the edge of the fort, as both of the two, comparatively miniscule Skylanders merely stood there in silent disbelief.

Neither Wham-Shell nor Tread Head were really expecting anything in the way of an explanation anymore, partially because they weren’t really sure if they even wanted to have one in the first place, and seemingly, Super Evil Kaos recognized this; as all the crystalline, purple giant gave to the now significantly more composed and therefore battle ready Skylanders below, was a simple act that apparently, via Netflix subtitles, I learned is formally referred to as “blowing a raspberry”, before the fight began.

“Super Evil Kaos.” the announcer boomed from…somewhere around the area, as Wham-Shell gently leaned into the ear of his fellow bike-riding Skylander, in order to try and give him some tips.

“I’ve fought this form of Kaos before. I know how all his phases go. First, he’s going to slam down his feet in front of us and create shockwaves. We’ll have to destroy the crystals on his toenails in order to complete the phase. Then, after that, he-”

“Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait- hold your goddam horses right there, Wham-Shell!” Tread Head, in a decidedly uncharacteristic fashion, swore back to his teammate.

Wham-Shell was silent in an instant.

“Did you just say HIS FEET?”

Wham-Shell couldn’t help but grow a little embarrassed. “Err…well…umm…yes, you see…he…”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! SORRY SKY-LOSERS, NO TWENTY MINUTE LONG VIDEO FEATURING MY FEET FOR YOU THIS TIME!”

Neither Skylander was in any sort of position nor mental state to be able to respond.

“*Tsc* Just…just prepare to fight him, okay?” Wham-Shell finally concluded with a sigh whilst readying his mace for a strike.

Tread Head…would…have opened his mouth to respond. Would. If only the ground beneath them hadn’t vigorously rocked itself apart in a compounding multiplicity of furious, crackling vibrations as both of the Skylanders were instantly knocked to the floor.

“WHAT IN THE-” Wham-Shell cried out, as yet another bout of these shockwaves physically forced them to stay down whilst the foundations upon the fort rapidly began to fail.

Once again, although the length of time that was expected to happen between the event and its consequences was much, much longer than the amount of time said consequences actually took, the end result, just as always, ensured it barely mattered.

Buried deep underneath a giant heap of bricks and rubble, both fragile Skylanders lay still and limp within their fully, undeniably, unconsciousness, therefore prompting Super Evil Kaos to cheekily give a bit of a preemptive victory pump, before at last he crouched down, and thus, began to wait patiently for one of the two to wake up, in order to initiate stage two.

****

Tread Head gave many consecutive sputters and wheezes in an attempt to void all the dust from his lungs, before at last he felt himself able to breathe properly once more. Letting out a pained grunt as he slowly dragged himself off the floor, the little, bike riding tech Skylander wasn’t exactly sure what to expect upon groggily flickering open his eyes. Subconsciously, he was holding the expectation that Wham-Shell, the decidedly more experienced one between them, had managed to wake up first. That was why, precisely, it came as such a shock to the poor man when he inevitably realized that, in reality, the opposite of that was true.

“WHAM-SHELL!” he searingly screeched out, making a B-line over to the unconscious crustacean’s form.

Tread Head had indeed learned from his training as a Skylander how to check someone’s pulse, however due to Wham-Shell’s exoskeleton, this was almost instantly ruled out as a possibility of making sure he was okay.

“Oh by the love of Master Eon, THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!”

“Pray to your precious Master Eon all you want, you literal bean with legs…” a voice suddenly piped up, forcing the tech Skylander to freeze up all his movements. “...none of that will do anything to save you from your fate by my hands…”

Tread Head could practically feel the shivers as they sequentially rattled down his spine.

“Since when in the heck did Kaos actually learn to be intimidating?” he silently questioned to himself.

“...or, perhaps more accurately….” Super Evil Kaos towering above the poor man only continued on. “...my stomach.” he at last concluded with a crystalline grin and a swift pat over his midsection.

You could practically hear the one final ounce of composure that Tread Head had left inside of him crackling apart into particles just as fine as the sands beneath him as he practically leaped forth amongst the rubble.

“WHERE’S MY BIKE WHERE’S MY BIKE WHERE’S MY BIKE?” he frantically yet frivolously repeated to himself ad nauseum whilst he fiercely dug through the rubble.

“Oh…so that’s what you’re all riled up about right now, hmm?” Super Evil Kaos sneered in absolutely nothing but preemptive joy down at the struggling Skylander below. “Yes…your bike and ol’ Whammy’s mace is indeed the only chance you two have of making it out of here alive!”

Tread Head was barely even able to hear what the gigantic purple monster thundering above him was saying, nor did he really have it anywhere in him to care. His current state of fixation on attempting to find the weapons was just far too important to get distracted from at the moment. Rather unfortunately for the poor little tech Skylander, however, per Super Evil Kaos’ creepily increasing grin, that there mental state was not exactly destined to last for much longer.

“...oh, yes, yes! Where oh where in the world could those precious little objects be, hmmm?” Super Evil Kaos chortled heartily whilst Tread Head continued scrambling around down at the rubble. “Maybe, perhaps, HERE?”

It was only at that point in time, after the passing of many, many others, did Tread Head finally look up. And, upon at last doing so, once more froze on the spot.

“Wha-I…how did you-” was all he could muster to sputter out.

Super Evil Kaos silently swung in a slight, teasing manner, the two Skyladners’ weapons, right there above their tiny little heads.

“Heh. You want a chance to be able to defend yourself and your snoozing sleepyhead buddy over there, eh?” Super Evil Kaos chuckled out. “WELL TOO BAD FOR YOU! Aaaaaaaaaa…”

Swiftly unhinging his jaws from their current position of being locked in an evil grin, Super Evil Kaos’ slimy, dark purple tongue leisurely extended outward from the warm, sticky chamber that was his depthened maw, now prompt and at the ready to accept the two weapons upon its wide, squishy surface.

Before poor Tread Head even had the chance to say anything, Super Evil Kaos let go, and both his bike and Wham-Shell’s mace consequently splat down onto the great, thickened muscle, right before the thing popped itself back into resting position, deep within the maw. Super Evil Kaos maneuvered the objects around towards the entrance of his throat for a while, before at last, he teasingly tilted his head back, and, passing a glance down at Tread Head, swallowed.

Able as a result to view plain as day the, due to the head’s tilt, somewhat accentuated bulge that the weapons made in the giant man’s throat, Tread Head instinctually jostled with a shudder, for he knew with a near-certain confidence, that both he and the still unconscious Wham-Shell were all but destined to be next.

Super Evil Kaos promptly followed up this display with a smirk whilst admiring his victim’s terror, before a sudden echoing gurgle could be heard coming from his middle, seemingly due to the two weapons’ arrival. Rather than react with embarrassment from the suddenty of the action, however, he instead decided to give his stomach a couple of light pats, before cruelly throwing upon the poor tech Skylander below him a good, searing glare.

“...It’s almost as if it's just begging me for more…” Super Evil Kaos added onto the moment whilst he began to reach down, giving a saliva-soaked lick across his chops.

As it had been all but solidified within the poor man’s mind what his fate was to be at this point, Tread Head was not even able to resist as Super Evil Kaos’ gigantic, incoming hand confidently swooped in and snatched him all the way up, coming down with his other hand in order to get Wham-Shell but a few seconds later.

Tread Head’s breath, though it had already been rather short and ragged up until this moment, began in an unexpectedly erratic manner to grow into that of a rather strained pant, as he was at last placed face-to-face with the monstrous portal master who was destined to consume him whole.

Super Evil Kaos simply took a few moments to merely revel in the circumstances, before at last, it became time for the main show to commence.

First, the humongous evilized man moved his miniscule prey downwards, before he slowly squished the tiny Skylander into the thin layer of his body that lay in between the outside world, and his gurgling stomach within. Tread Head knew for a fact that pretty soon, he and Wham-Shell were indeed going to breach this barrier. At this point, it was only a matter of time.

Sensing that he had indeed shut down his still conscious prey’s being down to a degree where gulping him down wouldn’t be a significant issue, Super Evil Kaos at last felt satisfied. Bringing the tech Skylander back up to his face as such, the grotesque, crystalline portal master proceeded to say nothing, as he once again stuck out the tip of his tongue from between his lips, made a little fart sound with it, and then extended it just a little so he may give poor Tread Head a preparatory lick across his body.

Sputtering and coughing just a little as he did what little he could to try and shake all the saliva from his form, Tread Head was soon enough graced full force with the reality that, it didn’t matter how hard he shook, he was still going to end up positively smothered in the stuff when all was said and done.

This, of course, was only the case, simply because it was finally time, in the mind of Super Evil Kaos, to fully unveil his maw.

The slick, cavernous, dark purple depths the poor little tech Skylander viewed before him constantly heaved upon him front after front of damp, heated air, thus reminding him once more of how slimy he was going to get.

Super Evil Kaos knew very, very well just how paralyzed his singular conscious prey was for the moment being. His body positively flooding with joy knowing he quite literally possessed a life in his hands, a pleased shiver proceeded to casually tingle its way down the center of the evil man’s spine. Eventually, upon a long, long wait of practically uncountable moments, Super Evil Kaos backed the poor Skylander, as well as his unconscious ally, a little ways away from his maw, before, in nothing but a quick flinging motion and a simultaneous release of grip, both of them were quite literally flung all the way inside, one slightly after the other, Tread Head naturally coming in first as, right behind the arrival of his poor crustaceous friend, Super Evil Kaos’ jaws came began to come crashing down around them. Snapping his maw firmly shut with a bit of a reverberating Echo, now at last, for all intents and purposes, it was all over. There was absolutely zero method that either Skylander still had available to them that would allow them to successfully escape. Now, it was all in the hands of Super Evil Kaos.

Super Evil Kaos gently lifted up his tongue. Raising the hot, cushiony muscle almost to the roof of his maw, Tread Head was thus forced to lie down on it in order to not scrape his head against the rough ridges up there. Folding the downwards sloping portion of his tongue upwards, thus curling back the entire muscle towards his gullet whilst wrapping up the tech Skylander and his unconscious water elemental friend, Super Evil Kaos slowly squished the heavy layers of force that was the longingly salivating tongue upon his victims’ beings, holding their bodies downwards as he sensually swished the folded muscle between his cheeks.

A little bit of rouge drool trailed down the man’s chin as he continued on with this motion, the squishy, flexible tip of the tongue dragging itself back and forth across the unresisting Skyladnders’ bodies, swirling itself around within their flavors. Naturally, being a crab, Wham-Shell tasted like fresh, out-of-the-ocean seafood, his rough, hardened exoskeleton positively glistening from just how many times Super Evil Kaos had dragged the tip of his tongue around its surface.

Tread Head on the other hand, was, in fact, someone who’s attack style left him regularly covered in dust, muck, and other kinds of filth. And yet, seemingly by some unspoken miracle, he instead emulated the rather peculiar flavor of…out of every conceivable food in the world…cheesecake. Super Evil Kaos had absolutely no idea why this was the case, but nonetheless, it barely even mattered at this point.

Of course, cheesecake and seafood didn’t exactly go together very well, so Super Evil Kaos simply ended up taking many many minutes of his own precious time in thoroughly examining each Skylander individually, knowing quite well that neither had it anywhere within them to be able to resist.

After having taken all the necessary time in order to enjoy his food, however, Super Evil Kaos at last knew it was time to escort them on down to his stomach, and as a result, carefully returned his tongue back to its resting position.

Lifting up the purple muscle once more, though this time, sloping the back portion of the muscle downwards, Wham-Shell and Tread Head were thus forced to slide down the slippery, wet surface, whilst the as of yet unnoted plump, dangling uvula began gently swaying above their two heads.

Now, having come from a small, relatively secluded village in the dizzying dunes, Tread Head wasn’t exactly an expert, per say, on anatomical structures, much less any of their functions. However, upon taking note of the floppy, wide sack of dark purple flesh leisurely hanging above him, something…strange…started happening within his mind. Of course, Tread Head couldn’t exactly tell you why, exactly, his brain suddenly perked right back up into survival mode after probably more than five minutes of being shut down, but regardless, the result was all the same. Super Evil Kaos was expecting to feel the two round-ish bodies of the ultimately doomed Skylanders fitting cleanly into his upper esophageal sphincter, finally at the ready for the swallow. Instead, however, what the evilized portal master got, was a sudden lurch forwards as was dictated by his subconscious, whilst he fiercely suppressed a powerful gag.

Firmly grasping onto one of Wham-Shell’s claws with one hand, and wrapping the other all the way around the uvula, Tread Head hung silently, the only noise escaping from his throat consisting of his rather erratic gasping, therefore locking him out of the ability to speak, whilst his body subsequently hyper fixated in on but the single most intense game of keping grip the little tech Skylander had ever experienced in all of his years of fighting. He had never ever been more thankful in his life that he wore gloves.

Super Evil Kaos, able to feel in great detail each and every minute swing that the dangling appendage took as his only conscious prey desperately clung on, viciously gnashed his teeth as he allowed a low growl to escape up from his throat. The furious cry of rage boomed itself around the enclosed space of the maw as Tread Head risked a glance downwards. He was able to take a glimpse as such into the giant portal master’s throat, which was also dark purple in color, praying relentlessly that someway, somehow ANYHOW, he and Wham-Shell were to make it out of his situation alive.

Swallowing hard in order to try and get the little tech Skylander to let go of his uvula, Super Evil Kaos could feel the appendage stretching downwards as his tiny prey only continued to maintain his grasp. Swallowing once again, Super Evil Kaos could feel the rather strained sack of flesh stretching out as Tread Head’s arm consequently slid downwards, locking itself around the rounded bit at the bottom, as poor, poor Wham-Shell was mere centimeters away from reaching the gullet, causing his currently conscious partner to start positively hyperventilating as he began losing his hold on both his fellow Skylander and the uvula.

Super Evil Kaos could feel the crab’s claw gently scraping the muscles around his gullet, thus telling him that he was only one more gulp away from the ultimate, certain victory that he so viciously craved.

Placing a couple of fingers against his throat as he prepared himself to swallow once again, Super Evil Kaos’s epiglottis covered the entrance to his windpipe as, at last, his uvula was flung all the way back up into its natural position, and a great, squishy bulge proceeded to form itself in his throat. Swiftly swallowing one final time just to ensure that both of his prey were, indeed, trapped helplessly inside of his esophagus, Super Evil Kaos was thus soon able to confirm that the two Skylanders were there, not the least of which was because of Tread Head’s incessant, yet in the end futile resistance that was him shoving and punching against the squelching walls of the throat.

The poor man on the inside, now that he had lost his grip on the uvula, was rapidly losing his grip on reality, and vainly struggled against the constant downward pulses around him as a result whilst the slight weight of Super Evil Kaos’ fingers pushed down onto him from the outside. The sleek, tight muscle walls shoved in and out in an almost rhythmic pattern as, at last, he was able to pick up the faint pounding emulating from within Kaos’ heart.

Now that both of his prey had disappeared behind his collarbone, Super Evil Kaos proceeded to heave forth one gigantic sigh, before taking a second to glance down at the pile of rubble beneath him. Eventually deciding to heap together a pile that he could lay his back against, the humongous purple villain proceeded to do just that, casually ploping himself down against the grainy, desert floor once he was done, whilst placing a hand against his midsection.

Cris-crossing his legs over each other and setting them against the sands whilst his currently uncovered feet lay open and free against the scorching desert atmosphere, Super Evil Kaos couldn’t help but start back up a searing, victorious bout of his iconic evil laughter.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

He positively howled out into the dunes as the maniacally echoing screeches of his own final victoriousness were positively overshadowed back on the inside with the melodic backup of rumbling gurgles and growls that told Tread Head he was finally reaching the end.

In spite of his efforts to cling himself onto the muscle rim around the lower esophageal sphincter as said structure effortlessly squeezed him out into the awaiting chamber below, Tread Head was indeed able to pick up the inevitable splash that sloshed all around his being as he finally landed in the stomach.

The poor little Tech Skylander had lost so much of his sanity at this point that he was barely even able to recognize the shifting, dark purple walls casually squeezing in around him as the gastric acids around him began to sizzle at his clothes.

Super Evil Kaos on the outside was able to feel the organ churning and glorping around as he hazily pat over his guts in his current state of euphoria. Rubbing his hand all the way around the sloshy section of his body, he could tell that the stomach walls were just about right up to his prey at this point, leaving him able as such to feel the relentless resistance of mainly squirming and shoving that Tread Head was exuding upon him.

The poor Tech Skylander on the inside was only able to make out a few things around him by this stage. The still unconscious body of Wham-Shell, the bubbling acid pool, the thick, goopy walls squeezing in closer around him, Wham-Shell’s mace, and-wait a second…the mace? Tread Head’s eyes immediately diverted downwards, almost immediately causing him to suddenly remember the rather important detail that their weapons were, in fact, down here, too. Suddenly feeling just a fleeting flicker of what could barely be described as hope sparking itself in his chest, the tiny man on the inside was just about to reach forwards and grab hold of the mace, before all of a sudden, seemingly completely out of the blue, the lower esophageal sphincter opened itself back up, snatching ahold of poor Tread Head’s attention for just long enough to deny him escape once more, as a considerable front of air suddenly breezed past.

Super Evil Kaos on the outside was indeed able to feel the objects rising back up in his throat, a feeling which ultimately culminated in a deep, echoing belch which positively chimed its booming melody out across the sky. As the objects had landed right next to his right thigh, Super Evil Kaos was able to casually reach over and grasp onto the mace, placing one hand behind his head before he made use of the thing in order to cheekily pick at his teeth. Eventually just flinging the thing off to the side, Super Evil Kaos now knew for certain that there was absolutely nothing that poor little Tread Head could do in order to save his and Wham-Shell’s lives. As a result, he once again decided to break the formerly held silence by snorting an exceedingly teasing:

“HEH, YOU SKY-LOSERS ARE A REAL PAIN TO DIGEST!” out at the quivering Tread Head within, whilst giving a couple pokes at his belly. Proceeding to just place both hands behind his back and allow his stomach to do the rest, Super Evil Kaos was, at this point, excessively well prepared to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the results of his victory.

However, as was the reason he wasn’t able to feel Tread Head struggling against his stomach walls anymore, not as though that detail currently mattered to him, deep down within the dark, cavernous mind inside of the dark purple, cavernous guts inside of the equally dark purple man who had swallowed him whole, the poor little tech Skylander that was only known as Tread Head, had finally reached an epiphany. He did not know how to fight without his bike, nor did he have access to Wham-Shell’s mace. He bore no claws, spikes, or any other biological weaponry that could allow him to escape. He was not physically strong enough to be able to punch his way out. It was true. Tread Head was, indeed, completely and utterly lacking on every single one of those listed fronts, and yet, in direct spite of all that, he still knew, as a simple matter of fact, that he still had one option left.

At first, Super Evil Kaos was only able to feel a slight pain inside of his guts, causing him to swiftly sit up. Before the confused, crystalline portal master could even muster out an “Eh?”, however, seemingly instantaneously, he had vomited all the way up, straight onto the now darkly stained desert grounds, a deathly amount of blood.

Tread Head viciously sank his teeth all the way into the walls of the stomach. He knew quite well that they were, indeed, not specialized to be able to cut and tear through flesh, and yet, despite that fact, they still completed the job just as well. Savagely tearing off yet another chunk of flesh, even more blood proceeded to gush its way into the wound as the chamber painfully growled.

Super Evil Kaos had fallen over onto his front at this point, flailing around in agony and clutching his stomach in positively tormenting pain. Tread Head was completely unable to make out any of the poor portal master’s screams, however, as both the world around his being and the world inside his brain swiftly faded to black as the color drained from his eyes. Subsequently crashing down right next to his fellow, highly respected Skylander Wham-Shell, Super Evil Kaos’ stomach contracted once more, and, riding along with the blood, both unconscious Skylanders were finally set free.

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kamreadsandrecs · 1 year

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Title: Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (Mo Dao Zu Shi) Vol. 3 Author: Mo Xiang Tong Xiu Genre/s: danmei, xianxia, historical, fantasy, mystery, queer romance, romance Content/Trigger Warnings: death, violence, body horror, emotional abuse, death of parents, forced marriage, arranged marriage Summary (from publisher website): The bloody war against the Wen Clan once led Wei Wuxian to seek power in demonic cultivation, and the dark acts he committed drove a wedge between him and Lan Wangji. Now, those old sins come back to haunt him as his reincarnated identity is revealed to the cultivation world. But even as the other clans call for Wei Wuxian’s death, Lan Wangji stands by him, making Wei Wuxian realize what he took for disapproval in the past might have been a much deeper emotion. Buy Here: https://sevenseasentertainment.com/books/grandmaster-of-demonic-cultivation-mo-dao-zu-shi-novel-vol-3/ Spoiler-Free Review: BOY WAS THIS A READ! So the previous volumes have had a tendency to jump between the past and present quite easily and casually (which, kudos to the translators, they were able to handle quite deftly, and kudos too to the author for managing to make things coherent despite the frequent jumps between timelines) but this volume DEFINITELY focuses more on the past than the last two volumes, with huge swathes of the volume being devoted to moments pre-, during, and post-Sunshot Campaign. The emphasis is mostly on Wei Wuxian’s relationship with his adopted siblings Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli, which is complicated by the relationship between his adopted father Jiang Fengmian and his wife Madam Yu. It’s a very sad, tragic story that I won’t elaborate on due to spoilers, but I’ve been informed that if I feel the need to bawl my eyes out, I should watch how the drama adaptation of this series portrays certain specific events in this volume. Given how I feel about those events WITHOUT having seen the drama version yet, I can only imagine just how heartwrenching they’d be when acted out. Speaking of drama (of a different sort), this volume also REALLY expands on the romantic connection between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji - mostly by playing up the fact that Lan Wangji is a VERY poor communicator (his own brother admits to this!) and Wei Wuxian is SO VERY BAD at reading the room. I joked with my friend that the real heroes here are the people around them who have to watch their romance (such as it is) unfold - mostly Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng, who have front-row seats to the two-person circus that their siblings are in. But that being said, my friend and I also got to discussing a crucial theme that runs throughout the course of the series, but which really gets highlighted here: the idea of a “right” path versus a “wrong” or “deviant” path. This is often associated with cultivation in the series (with most people saying Wei Wuxian’s cultivation is “demonic” and therefore “wrong”), but also applies to how one lives one’s life in general. Said friend remarked that this was associated with Confucian ideals and values, with the “right” path aligning with those values and ideals, and “wrong” paths being anything that didn’t align with those ideals and values. I don’t think I can speak to how true or accurate this is, given how I have minimal cultural connection to the Filipino-Chinese community and Chinese culture as a whole, but given a quick (and likely woefully insufficient) google research spree, I think this aligns quite well with what I’ve read so far. This aligns very well with another thing she pointed out: how we, as westernized readers, tend to view Wei Wuxian in a positive light, thinking his tendency to innovate is something laudable. This runs contrary with the Lans’ point of view, and the point of view of many of the cultivators in this series: innovation is questionable at best, and dangerous at worst. While someone with a more westernized perspective would view Wei Wuxian as a positive figure, others with less western views might see him as heroic, but tragic: an example of what happens when someone takes power by any means possible, no matter the cost. With this in mind it’s becoming easy to see why Wei Wuxian’s trajectory around the time of the Sunshot Campaign and beyond is one of meteoric heights, followed by a sharp and catastrophic fall: a fall which is considered entirely justified, if one chooses to see it from a certain perspective. Still, despite this framing, the author does not always frame adherence to tradition as a positive thing, especially in interpersonal relationships. Adherence to tradition, after all, is what led to the unhappy marriages portrayed in this volume (including one I didn’t expect). Given that the romance between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji doesn’t quite adhere to tradition, does that mean they stand a better chance at happiness? Gonna have to read the rest of this series to find out I guess - and I am honestly looking forward to that. Rating: five lotus blossoms (for Reasons) Thoughts (spoilers under the cut):

- While I was messaging my friend she commented how the Jiangs had such a tragic marriage, and how it did an awful number on Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian. I later remarked how the Lans probably had a better marriage, given how Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji turned out - and my friend, bless her, DID NOT tell me the awful awful truth until I got to it. Not gonna explain any further because it is GENUINELY WTF, but that whole thing has convinced me that there are NO happy marriages in this series. AT ALL.

#book review #book reviews #Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation #Mo Dao Zu Shi #Mo Xiang Tong Xiu #mdzs #danmei #xianxia #historical #mystery #horror #fantasy #romance #queer romance #books #lgbtqia

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meili-sheep · 2 years

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Just saw this post while definitely not procrastinating my work and immediately had the urge-- to make-- dOMESTIC BULLY THE FATUI HCS GIHDNSHFKSJF

Because yes chaos, but sometimes chaos needs some chill too :))

I feel like diluc would be really good at baking. Specifically cookies and bread. Just those two things. I imagine bread since its just rlly easy to make it, just slap some flour and water together, put it somewhere hot, wait and boom you got something edible. He probably had to learn in his 4 year angst fest since i do imagine him being lost in the wilderness or at least away from civilization for long periods of time and the easiest thing to make was bread made of just water and flour. Mans couldnt flavor it, so the next best thing he could do was make sure its cooked properly, using his pyro vision to keep the fire stable for long amounts of time. I imagine that over time his control over the heat gets so precise that he strategically toasts it for more flavor. The cookies part i imagine would be when he finally got back to mond, and that was the first real sweet thing he had back in mond. Sprinkle in some "i love adelinde, she is my surrogate mom", some past memories of late night cookies when he was a child, and a bit of the crippling realization that adelinde wont stay young forever oh god mORTALITY-- and hed be immediately learning the "family recipe".

I imagine yelan would be really good at sewing. Specifically, anything that had to do with string or yarn, and not the making clothes kind of sewing. Cats cradle, crochet, knitting, making tiny charms made of line and twine and string, etc. I legitimately forgot that her entire thing has to deal with string but im too far deep so wERE JUST GONNA KEEP GOING. I imagine she first got into it as a small child via the cats cradle game. She had and still has extremely dexterous fingers and hands, very useful for gambling and cats cradle. She did grow up kind of lonely though, so there werent a lot of people she could play with or just properly interact with like a child. So she just started learning and playing all by her lonesome. After she mastered single person cats cradle, she moved on to other things like the one handed rubber band game (i never figured out how to make the star and i am still sO PISSED ABOUT THAT after all these years), ayatori (hehe ayato), rainbow loom (war flashbacks), and so on. But as time went on, people slowly started to notice the rapidly declining supply of string they had so she had to quickly change her string thievery and games. Meaning, she learned how to sew. She started knitting little squares and shapes, she started embroidering blobs of colors on spare cloth, crocheting lines upon lines of thread on handkerchiefs as practice and so on. She kept the hobby up since apparently knowing how to sew cloth helps with sewing wounds shut. Its also very calming, helps with keeping her sticky fingers sticky.

Ayato i can see being an expert at paper folding-- paper games and origami. As the head of the yashiro commission, he has to have encyclopedic knowledge on his countrys culture and history to properly prepare, celebrate and respect the festivals and events it has. I imagine hed come across it while personally overseeing preparations for a festival or doing personal research. Maybe he sees the people putting up homemade paper decor like paper lamps, kites, the weird star thing they always require us to make during christmas, maybe he comes across a short snippet talking about its importance. Eitherway, hes alerted to its existence and is intrigued. His rich boi self is amazed at the ingenuity of the not as well off people, and sets off to learn to ensure that the next years festivals and events are a little more connected to the people and showcase a little more of their rich culture and history. He starts off learning how to make paper decor, expertly folded and made stars and squares and paper lamps and slowly but surely snowballs from there. He starts making more than shapes, little paper airplanes and cranes and fortune tellers. He was actually caught by thoma once playing paper football surrounded by folded pieces of paper. He said he was "doing research on the "commonfolk" and their games". Hes not exactly wrong but hes not exactly right either. It got to the point where thoma had to drag him away from the paper walls since he wanted to replace them with his own paper. His totally normal interest and definitely not weird kind of obsession does have its high points though, as he personally made and painted the paper fan his dearest sister ayaka uses. He got it right after 50 tries.

Idk just-- fisbdbdsfhksdkkd domestic bully the fatui ganggggg

Also hhhhhh i am seeing a trend with the length of my asks-- AHAHA sorry if its too much :,))

Don't worry about length! I have a tts reader just for such a reason. (I mean it's because i have dyslexia and reading is hard but I love the ideas)

I will refute bread being easy to make though. I'm a hobbyist baker and bread is one of those sneaky recipes. Simple ingredients but knowing the right texture and how long to leave it out rise. How many times it needs to rise and what is the best temperature for rising at. And then of course baking itself. I've yet to get a good bread out. It's yet to raise enough but I now I have a bread hook so I might try again. Ah but I sidetrack. I'm sure diluc might would be able to get an edible version out for himself.

But I like to think when he was young like before he started training with the knights he really hung around Adelinde and he baked with her. Which he took up once again when he returned home. He also gardens to get fresh ingredients for baking with Adelinde. It really is the closest he gets to feeling like he actually has a mother and a family.

I do love Yelan sewing, knitting and crocheting. I think it's what she does when She actually gets to go home. It's super relaxing but keeps her hands busy. I also like the idea of her knitting this for Diluc and Ayato.

I also think Ayato well good with paper folding and calligraphy. He actually also good with hair. Having helped Ayaka with her hair for years. So he'd happily braid Diluc's hair or help trim Yelan's

But domestic bullies are so sweet man I just want them to have a little house and just take a nice vacation together.

#Bully the Fatui Brigade #diluc ragnvindr #diluc #kamisato ayato #ayato #yelan #yelan genshin impact

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ja0-s-blank-canvas-fic · 10 months

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Part 3 - Chapter 30 - No Feeling Is Final

Blank Canvas Part 3

AO3 - here

Fanfiction.net - here

Iiiiiit's update time again! :D Got an update on the hero side of things of a sort and then we get to find out the identity of Izuku's visitor! :P

Let's get to it!

Linktree to all the things!

End notes for the chapter are under the line.

So the heroes are worried. Shouta is not so good with the communicating emotions thingy. But at least he's got Hizashi to help him through it. I just ship them so much. Polar opposites that still just strangely seem to work. A sun and moon of a power couple. Both worried about their numerous kids.

The visitor is Toga! Kudos to those who guessed it. :) I couldn't resist the temptation for more villain bonding. How it will affect future events we shall see. The story is forming as we go.

I see Toga as a very touchy feely kind of girl. Mainly because of the mask she was forced to wear not able to express herself freely. But with the League she can be how she wants to and do as she pleases. No more holding back. Also very flirty. I know in canon she falls for Izuku because he was so beat up during the training camp but he also looks very similar to her first love. So I went with that. :P

More talk of Stain and Izuku's connection to Chizome. Other that Spinner, Toga would be the most interested. Which turned into a look into her past. More of a glimpse for now. I did my best with their conversation. I more wanted to look at personal desires versus the boundaries of others. Yes, Toga has her wants and needs that were denied to her and she taking it now as she pleases. But there's also the other side of that if she does that against another's will then she is doing the same to them. Denying them a choice based on her own actions. Idk. Toga is a complicated character but she also so deserves some love.

Smart pants Izuku rises again! The blood craving has got to be because of her quirk. I don't know if that got brought up or concerned in the manga yet but that's my theory and I'm sticking with it. And I have an idea for how to help her in the future.

I do kind of want some redemption for some of the villains. Depending on how the story goes will determine who gets that or not. Dabi is definitely one I'm looking at and now with this chapter is Toga too. We'll have to see about the others. Future stuff that I'll figure out later.

Okay, that's all for now. I've got a camping trip next weekend which I'm excited about! :D Anyway, more HimiIzu bonding next time and League shenanigans. And if you've been with me this far, you know it's all a slow burn because my brain wants it that way. :P I just have so many ideas I want to play around with! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks for your readership! I appreciate you! ;3 Bye bye 'til next time!

Count down to Dad For One reveal: 3 chapters

#mha #bnha #quirkless au #fanfic #blankcanvasfic #blankcanvasheritage #aizawa shouta #yamada hizashi #shinsou hitoshi #midoriya izuku #toga himiko #league of villains

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albertjamie · 2 years

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The Most Effective Method to Continue Dating While Social Removing

How does social removing sway our dating lives and what would we be able to do to continue meeting new individuals from victoriahearts.com in these uncommon occasions?

There are numerous new difficulties we face considering the ongoing guidance from the legislature. Social removing has been turned out to help battle the mind blowing speed in which Covid-19 has spread around the nation and the globe. These proportions of dodging pointless social contact, telecommute where conceivable and stay away from movement, are affecting our lives in many ways, which can be overpowering, best case scenario however in the expressions of Bear Grylls 'Ad lib. Adjust. Survive'.

Ad lib.

You may be asking yourself 'How am I going to meet somebody in lockdown?' Or saying 'allows simply put dating on pause till this has all blown over' however for what reason do we have to quit dating – sure, you can't get along to Friday Night Speed Dating yet in the event that you've been to one of our occasions before why not connect with a past match that flamed out. Jump on to the First Dating errand person from victoriahearts.com and re-light those past associations, you coordinated which is as it should be. Possibly work was insane or you had a ton of social things disrupting the general flow and it didn't exactly work out around then – however let's face it, the one thing we have right now – is TIME. How about we utilize this to further our potential benefit and take advantage of our self-segregation by proceeding with discussions.

Adjust.

OK, so how would we adjust to dating in a period of social separating and self-segregation? We've bounced on the First Dating delegate and we've hit up a convo with a past love interest, it's working out in a good way, you're figuring 'for what reason didn't I do this first time round?' and here's your additional opportunity. Be that as it may, getting them a Nando's is impossible. You must the regular point where you have to change gears and get off the writings to meeting face to face.

Sorry to break it to you yet that can't occur. Or on the other hand can it? We're as of now living later on, so exploit the fantastic innovation we as of now have available to us. Approach them for a face time date from victoriahearts.com, you heard me, orchestrate a period and meet eye to eye. There are likewise huge amounts of clever applications like Zoom, Local Gathering, and Skype just as most advanced mobile phones having a face time highlight.

This is the place the great beginnings, get innovative. Have a beverage, send them cash to purchase their preferred jug of wine, request each other a delivered, play a drinking game like 'I have never'. Fundamentally treat it like you're out on a first date. The main contrast is - you're in the solace of your own home. Still get spruced up, light a few candles and fly on your preferred playlist.

Survive.

Because we can't get making the rounds equivalent to typical doesn't mean we need to quit living our lives and living it up. At the point when this all finished, you will have developed a solid association and in spite of the present circumstance you will have figured out how to beat the difficulties that have emerged from social removing and self-disconnection. You'll be allowed to take them to their preferred eatery and you'll definitely realize what jug of wine to arrange.

So there you have it, a few plans to keep you proactive in these uncommon occasions we wind up in. The conceivable outcomes are huge and fun from victoriahearts.com. Ideally this has given you some consolation, all things considered, as one entryway shuts another opens and on the off chance that you end up at a remaining detail today around evening time give somebody a small book. Who comprehends what could occur, envision telling this 'How we met story' to your grandkids.

#victoriahearts.com

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sepublic · 2 years

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STRAIGHT OUT OF LUZ’S FANTASIES SHE GOT TO PLAY THEM OUT! She earned and WON them as Eda said she still could, even if it wasn’t automatic as a ‘chosen one’ or whatever! Luz is freaking Prince Charming or Romeo, asking Rapunzel to let down her hair. Flowery and romantic like her Azura books, Luz is finally a classic fairy tale hero! Amity as a silhouette is like a princess getting ready for the ball, and/or her prince!

Subversions are fun but I appreciate how this show also recognizes the validity of a good old-fashioned, straightforward take on things! It’s cliche for hets but queers definitely deserve it as a treat because they’ve never gotten it to begin with, and that DOES make a difference! They’re a forbidden love and don’t care, especially not when testing that bond against Odalia!

Luz looked so excited and relieved... She was prepping and psyching herself up like she was planning a kiss to begin with, with that perfect romantic entrance! With those rising plants Luz was like a prince rescuing her princess from the evil lord/stepmother from the tower and I wonder if she noticed the resemblance? Either way Amity IS her dream princess to Luz! HER PRINCESS IS IN A CASTLE BUT NOT FOR LONG!

And on Amity’s end that was a stunning appearance, I can’t blame her for taking that kiss when it’s almost the end of the world anyway; Like Luz she doesn’t need to notice the fantasy to see her girlfriend as her beloved prince! Her savior, literally now but figuratively, as Luz opened Amity’s eyes and saved her from the unhappy path she was bound for; She owes it all to her and is ready to be sweeped away by the rescuer she wished for! I love this entire scene so much...

God... The Plant Glyph really is THE Lumity spell, huh??? Learned during Enchanting Grom Fright and all that. Hell even Willow, who embodies plants, acted as a connecting point between Luz and Amity that upon her resolution, led directly into the events of Grom! And it makes sense too with all of the flowers, nurturing, and growth associated... Raine and Eda would know, wouldn’t they?

Luz wanted to be a hero, and Amity wanted someone who would save her... They both got it and the girl!

#the owl house #lumity #luz noceda #amity blight #raeda #meta

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missmentelle · 3 years

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Why Smart People Believe Stupid Things

If you’ve been paying attention for the last couple of years, you might have noticed that the world has a bit of a misinformation problem.

The problem isn’t just with the recent election conspiracies, either. The last couple of years has brought us the rise (and occasionally fall) of misinformation-based movements like:

Sandy Hook conspiracies

Gamergate

Pizzagate

The MRA/incel/MGTOW movements

anti-vaxxers

flat-earthers

the birther movement

the Illuminati

climate change denial

Spygate

Holocaust denial

COVID-19 denial

5G panic

QAnon

But why do people believe this stuff?

It would be easy - too easy - to say that people fall for this stuff because they’re stupid. We all want to believe that smart people like us are immune from being taken in by deranged conspiracies. But it’s just not that simple. People from all walks of life are going down these rabbit holes - people with degrees and professional careers and rich lives have fallen for these theories, leaving their loved ones baffled. Decades-long relationships have splintered this year, as the number of people flocking to these conspiracies out of nowhere reaches a fever pitch.

So why do smart people start believing some incredibly stupid things? It’s because:

Our brains are built to identify patterns.

Our brains fucking love puzzles and patterns. This is a well-known phenomenon called apophenia, and at one point, it was probably helpful for our survival - the prehistoric human who noticed patterns in things like animal migration, plant life cycles and the movement of the stars was probably a lot more likely to survive than the human who couldn’t figure out how to use natural clues to navigate or find food.

The problem, though, is that we can’t really turn this off. Even when we’re presented with completely random data, we’ll see patterns. We see patterns in everything, even when there’s no pattern there. This is why people see Jesus in a burnt piece of toast or get superstitious about hockey playoffs or insist on always playing at a certain slot machine - our brains look for patterns in the constant barrage of random information in our daily lives, and insist that those patterns are really there, even when they’re completely imagined.

A lot of conspiracy theories have their roots in people making connections between things that aren’t really connected. The belief that “vaccines cause autism” was bolstered by the fact that the first recognizable symptoms of autism happen to appear at roughly the same time that children receive one of their rounds of childhood immunizations - the two things are completely unconnected, but our brains have a hard time letting go of the pattern they see there. Likewise, many people were quick to latch on to the fact that early maps of COVID infections were extremely similar to maps of 5G coverage - the fact that there’s a reasonable explanation for this (major cities are more likely to have both high COVID cases AND 5G networks) doesn’t change the fact that our brains just really, really want to see a connection there.

Our brains love proportionality.

Specifically, our brains like effects to be directly proportional to their causes - in other words, we like it when big events have big causes, and small causes only lead to small events. It’s uncomfortable for us when the reverse is true. And so anytime we feel like a “big” event (celebrity death, global pandemic, your precious child is diagnosed with autism) has a small or unsatisfying cause (car accident, pandemics just sort of happen every few decades, people just get autism sometimes), we sometimes feel the need to start looking around for the bigger, more sinister, “true” cause of that event.

Consider, for instance, the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. In 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot four times by a Turkish member of a known Italian paramilitary secret society who’d recently escaped from prison - on the surface, it seems like the sort of thing conspiracy theorists salivate over, seeing how it was an actual multinational conspiracy. But they never had much interest in the assassination attempt. Why? Because the Pope didn’t die. He recovered from his injuries and went right back to Pope-ing. The event didn’t have a serious outcome, and so people are content with the idea that one extremist carried it out. The death of Princess Diana, however, has been fertile ground for conspiracy theories; even though a woman dying in a car accident is less weird than a man being shot four times by a paid political assassin, her death has attracted more conspiracy theories because it had a bigger outcome. A princess dying in a car accident doesn’t feel big enough. It’s unsatisfying. We want such a monumentous moment in history to have a bigger, more interesting cause.

These theories prey on pre-existing fear and anger.

Are you a terrified new parent who wants the best for their child and feels anxious about having them injected with a substance you don’t totally understand? Congrats, you’re a prime target for the anti-vaccine movement. Are you a young white male who doesn’t like seeing more and more games aimed at women and minorities, and is worried that “your” gaming culture is being stolen from you? You might have been very interested in something called Gamergate. Are you a right-wing white person who worries that “your” country and way of life is being stolen by immigrants, non-Christians and coastal liberals? You’re going to love the “all left-wingers are Satantic pedo baby-eaters” messaging of QAnon.

Misinformation and conspiracy theories are often aimed strategically at the anxieties and fears that people are already experiencing. No one likes being told that their fears are insane or irrational; it’s not hard to see why people gravitate towards communities that say “yes, you were right all along, and everyone who told you that you were nuts to be worried about this is just a dumb sheep. We believe you, and we have evidence that you were right along, right here.” Fear is a powerful motivator, and you can make people believe and do some pretty extreme things if you just keep telling them “yes, that thing you’re afraid of is true, but also it’s way worse than you could have ever imagined.”

Real information is often complicated, hard to understand, and inherently unsatisfying.

The information that comes from the scientific community is often very frustrating for a layperson; we want science to have hard-and-fast answers, but it doesn’t. The closest you get to a straight answer is often “it depends” or “we don’t know, but we think X might be likely”. Understanding the results of a scientific study with any confidence requires knowing about sampling practices, error types, effect sizes, confidence intervals and publishing biases. Even asking a simple question like “is X bad for my child” will usually get you a complicated, uncertain answer - in most cases, it really just depends. Not understanding complex topics makes people afraid - it makes it hard to trust that they’re being given the right information, and that they’re making the right choices.

Conspiracy theories and misinformation, on the other hand, are often simple, and they are certain. Vaccines bad. Natural things good. 5G bad. Organic food good. The reason girls won’t date you isn’t a complex combination of your social skills, hygiene, appearance, projected values, personal circumstances, degree of extroversion, luck and life phase - girls won’t date you because feminism is bad, and if we got rid of feminism you’d have a girlfriend. The reason Donald Trump was an unpopular president wasn’t a complex combination of his public bigotry, lack of decorum, lack of qualifications, open incompetence, nepotism, corruption, loss of soft power, refusal to uphold the basic responsibilities of his position or his constant lying - they hated him because he was fighting a secret sex cult and they’re all in it.

Instead of making you feel stupid because you’re overwhelmed with complex information, expert opinions and uncertain advice, conspiracy theories make you feel smart - smarter, in fact, than everyone who doesn’t believe in them. And that’s a powerful thing for people living in a credential-heavy world.

Many conspiracy theories are unfalsifiable.

It is very difficult to prove a negative. If I tell you, for instance, that there’s no such thing as a purple swan, it would be very difficult for me to actually prove that to you - I could spend the rest of my life photographing swans and looking for swans and talking to people who know a lot about swans, and yet the slim possibility would still exist that there was a purple swan out there somewhere that I just hadn’t found yet. That’s why, in most circumstances, the burden of proof lies with the person making the extraordinary claim - if you tell me that purple swans exist, we should continue to assume that they don’t until you actually produce a purple swan.

Conspiracy theories, however, are built so that it’s nearly impossible to “prove” them wrong. Is there any proof that the world’s top-ranking politicians and celebrities are all in a giant child sex trafficking cult? No. But can you prove that they aren’t in a child sex-trafficking cult? No, not really. Even if I, again, spent the rest of my life investigating celebrities and following celebrities and talking to people who know celebrities, I still couldn’t definitely prove that this cult doesn’t exist - there’s always a chance that the specific celebrities I’ve investigated just aren’t in the cult (but other ones are!) or that they’re hiding evidence of the cult even better than we think. Lack of evidence for a conspiracy theory is always treated as more evidence for the theory - we can’t find anything because this goes even higher up than we think! They’re even more sophisticated at hiding this than we thought! People deeply entrenched in these theories don’t even realize that they are stuck in a circular loop where everything seems to prove their theory right - they just see a mountain of “evidence” for their side.

Our brains are very attached to information that we “learned” by ourselves.

Learning accurate information is not a particularly interactive or exciting experience. An expert or reliable source just presents the information to you in its entirety, you read or watch the information, and that’s the end of it. You can look for more information or look for clarification of something, but it’s a one-way street - the information is just laid out for you, you take what you need, end of story.

Conspiracy theories, on the other hand, almost never show their hand all at once. They drop little breadcrumbs of information that slowly lead you where they want you to go. This is why conspiracy theorists are forever telling you to “do your research” - they know that if they tell you everything at once, you won’t believe them. Instead, they want you to indoctrinate yourself slowly over time, by taking the little hints they give you and running off to find or invent evidence that matches that clue. If I tell you that celebrities often wear symbols that identify them as part of a cult and that you should “do your research” about it, you can absolutely find evidence that substantiates my claim - there are literally millions of photos of celebrities out there, and anyone who looks hard enough is guaranteed to find common shapes, poses and themes that might just mean something (they don’t - eyes and triangles are incredibly common design elements, and if I took enough pictures of you, I could also “prove” that you also clearly display symbols that signal you’re in the cult).

The fact that you “found” the evidence on your own, however, makes it more meaningful to you. We trust ourselves, and we trust that the patterns we uncover by ourselves are true. It doesn’t feel like you’re being fed misinformation - it feels like you’ve discovered an important truth that “they” didn’t want you to find, and you’ll hang onto that for dear life.

Older people have not learned to be media-literate in a digital world.

Fifty years ago, not just anyone could access popular media. All of this stuff had a huge barrier to entry - if you wanted to be on TV or be in the papers or have a radio show, you had to be a professional affiliated with a major media brand. Consumers didn’t have easy access to niche communities or alternative information - your sources of information were basically your local paper, the nightly news, and your morning radio show, and they all more or less agreed on the same set of facts. For decades, if it looked official and it appeared in print, you could probably trust that it was true.

Of course, we live in a very different world today - today, any asshole can accumulate an audience of millions, even if they have no credentials and nothing they say is actually true (like “The Food Babe”, a blogger with no credentials in medicine, nutrition, health sciences, biology or chemistry who peddles health misinformation to the 3 million people who visit her blog every month). It’s very tough for older people (and some younger people) to get their heads around the fact that it’s very easy to create an “official-looking” news source, and that they can’t necessarily trust everything they find on the internet. When you combine that with a tendency toward “clickbait headlines” that often misrepresent the information in the article, you have a generation struggling to determine who they can trust in a media landscape that doesn’t at all resemble the media landscape they once knew.

These beliefs become a part of someone’s identity.

A person doesn’t tell you that they believe in anti-vaxx information - they tell you that they ARE an anti-vaxxer. Likewise, people will tell you that they ARE a flat-earther, a birther, or a Gamergater. By design, these beliefs are not meant to be something you have a casual relationship with, like your opinion of pizza toppings or how much you trust local weather forecasts - they are meant to form a core part of your identity.

And once something becomes a core part of your identity, trying to make you stop believing it becomes almost impossible. Once we’ve formed an initial impression of something, facts just don’t change our minds. If you identify as an antivaxxer and I present evidence that disproves your beliefs, in your mind, I’m not correcting inaccurate information - I am launching a very personal attack against a core part of who you are. In fact, the more evidence I present, the more you will burrow down into your antivaxx beliefs, more confident than ever that you are right. Admitting that you are wrong about something that is important to you is painful, and your brain would prefer to simply deflect conflicting information rather than subject you to that pain.

We can see this at work with something called the confirmation bias. Simply put, once we believe something, our brains hold on to all evidence that that belief is true, and ignore evidence that it’s false. If I show you 100 articles that disprove your pet theory and 3 articles that confirm it, you’ll cling to those 3 articles and forget about the rest. Even if I show you nothing but articles that disprove your theory, you’ll likely go through them and pick out any ambiguous or conflicting information as evidence for “your side”, even if the conclusion of the article shows that you are wrong - our brains simply care about feeling right more than they care about what is actually true.

There is a strong community aspect to these theories.

There is no one quite as supportive or as understanding as a conspiracy theorist - provided, of course, that you believe in the same conspiracy theories that they do. People who start looking into these conspiracy theories are told that they aren’t crazy, and that their fears are totally valid. They’re told that the people in their lives who doubted them were just brainwashed sheep, but that they’ve finally found a community of people who get where they’re coming from. Whenever they report back to the group with the “evidence” they’ve found or the new elaborations on the conspiracy theory that they’ve been thinking of (“what if it’s even worse than we thought??”), they are given praise for their valuable contributions. These conspiracy groups often become important parts of people’s social networks - they can spend hours every day talking with like-minded people from these communities and sharing their ideas.

Of course, the flipside of this is that anyone who starts to doubt or move away from the conspiracy immediately loses that community and social support. People who have broken away from antivaxx and QAnon often say that the hardest part of leaving was losing the community and friendships they’d built - not necessarily giving up on the theory itself. Many people are rejected by their real-life friends and family once they start to get entrenched in conspiracy theories; the friendships they build online in the course of researching these theories often become the only social supports they have left, and losing those supports means having no one to turn to at all. This is by design - the threat of losing your community has kept people trapped in abusive religious sects and cults for as long as those things have existed.

#missmentelle #askmissmentelle #conspiracy theories #cults #psychology #science #neuroscience

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