#and then burn the remains

[shirtlessradfahrer]

So what do you do when your favourite rapper makes a catchy song about the hardships of life that you want to love but upon release can’t connect with at all and after a few listens almost outright dislike because none of the pain and hardship life has put you through has ever made you a better person or given you the energy/motivation to do better and it actually just did the complete opposite and you’ve lost out on precious years of your life and so many opportunities while trying to process the trauma and undo the damage

But everyone else seems to love the song to the point that you start to wonder if maybe you’re just a fucking idiot for not being able to make something good out of said trauma and hardship instead of just being filled with crippling anxiety and depression and bitterness and grief and rage

#käärijä #yes this is about ruoska #the mental health tanked again this week #sorry to put my ramblings in the main tag but I need someone to tell me I’m not insane for being so uncomfortable with the song #I’ve been nervous to say my full thoughts because people loved it so much and I didn’t want to rain on their parade #and the umk performance and mv were genuinely well done #but it just really hurts #if the metaphorical whip that hurt me was a tangible item I’d fucking shred the thing to pieces #and then burn the remains #so that no one else could ever suffer the same way again #it didn’t push me through life #it made me want to give up on it completely #I’ve been at my happiest and most driven and most fulfilled when I finally got a fucking break from it #one of the opening lines about sitting at the gas station actually triggered a really fucking bad memory I would have loved to forget #it fucking sucks because his songs have brought me so much happiness #a kind I haven’t felt in a long time #and then there’s….this #if nothing else I wanted to love it for Erika’s sake #but I just can’t #am I just misinterpreting the lyrics? #or projecting too much #I probably am #because god I am NOT looking forward to hearing it all though Kä summer camp #and i hate that

[inky-axolotl]

In my opinion, it was a missed opportunity to spend episode 4 watching Obi Wan recover post- Vader fight.

(Also a bit of a headcanon- hurt or lost arms and hands of course doesn’t stop you from using the force, but it takes a bit of retraining)

#my art #I just feel like episode had a lot of lost opportunities #I also didn’t like how quickly Obi wan recovered after being dipped in a Bacta tank. #I feel it would’ve been better if the tank lessened his more severe burns but not completely heal them all #I’m not just saying this because I like angst #I just think it would’ve been cool to see another trait of Obi wan’s in full view which is perseverance #while Anakin/Vader allowed his pain to consume him to the point where he turns it outward and tries to pull Obi wan in with him #Obi Wan reacts the opposite and refuses to allow his pain to pull him into the dark and remains kind. #really Obi wan’s story is all about perseverance #“it takes strength to resist the dark side. only the weak embrace it. #I could talk about Obi Wan and him embodying perseverance but I’m running out of tag space probably no one will read #star wars #Kenobi #obi wan star wars #obi wan kenobi #Obi wan art #Star Wars art #Disney #Disney art #gffa #sw #sw art

[marcobodtlives]

STOP REMINDING ME THAT ARMIN KNEW WHAT HANGE FELT AS THEY BURNED ALIVE I DON’T NEED THE REMINDER

#IM ALREADY CRYING #YOU WANT MORE TEARS #I could flood the remaining 20% of the population and finish what Eren started with my tears alone #attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #armin arlert #hange zoë #hange zoe #tw character death #spoilers #aot spoilers #tw burns

[starry-bi-sky]

I'm so annoyed. @kingcrow01 tumblr ate your ask about Danny's opinion on the League. tumblr i pressed 'save draft' why didn't you sAVE DRAFT.

ANyways I'm making a post instead. For everyone else, the ask was in summary:

What was Danny's opinion on the League now that he's left it? If he missed the familiarity of it, if he recognized the cult-like behavior inside it, and if he now detested his grandfather.

And to answer (again, grrr): It's complicated! We love complicated <3. Yeah, Danny does miss the familiarity of the League, it was still his home for the first ten years of his life and he has a lot of memories there. Plenty of good along with the bad, and while he's less homesick than he was when he was 10, it still hits him like a truck at random intervals.

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz are great, and he likes the Drs. Fentons enough that he's contemplated murdering Vlad for his meddling, but if he wants to eat the same food his mother used to make him and Damian, he has to do it himself and he can't get the taste right. No one knows arabic so he speaks it to himself because he doesn't want to forget his mother tongue, and he has a few books too. Frankly? He genuinely misses training.

Getting to use Sam's gym helps with his restlessness, same with training with Maddie, but he has no one on or above his level to go against other than his mother. And he only sees her twice a year at most. He knows that he's getting stagnant and he fucking despises it like a bad itch he can't scratch.

He feels conflicted about missing the League, however, since by now he recognizes the flaws and what was wrong with it, and he recognizes that it was cult-like. But even that is kinda, hrm, complicated? If this was a fic I would be able to go better into depth about what he has and hasn't unlearned because cult deprogramming is hard and Danny's doing most of this on his own.

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz have helped with the more obvious stuff: like the ecofascism, the disregard for human life, his emotional constipation; the more obvious stuff that shows in his behavior and personality. But none of them are professionals nor do they actually know the full extent of what Danny's life in the League was like. They only have snapshots since Danyal is very tight lipped about it. So they can only help with what they see themselves through Danny's behavior or word of mouth.

But in summary: He sees, for the most part, what's wrong with the League and disagrees with some of the stuff they do now. But he's very conflicted, and trying to dissect his feelings on the League confuses him. His protests about it whenever Sam and Tucker joke about it have at this point become mostly empty (altho it still causes him some discomfort), and its an inside joke between them three.

As for Ra's? Despises him. If only because Ra's wanted him to kill his little brother -- thinking about his motives with the League confuses Danny, cognitive dissonance and stuff, -- a lot of his hatred stems from "He wanted me to fight my baby brother to the death. I destroyed my relationship with Damian because of him, I had to fake my death and leave my home, and I will never meet my father or see my brother again because of him. Fuck that guy."

#dpxdc #dp x dc #dp x dc crossover #dpxdc crossover #dpdc #danny fenton is not the ghost king #danyal al ghul au #starry asks #demon siblings au #danny's opinions on the league is rather complicated but he knows that some of the stuff that happened inside was wrong. and while he's #always known that his upbringing wasn't normal -- and he took pride in that -- its only in recent years that he's learned that #this was a *bad* thing. that his upbringing was wrong. he's still kinda grappling with that. #danny's homesickness hits the worst when he's patching himself up from a ghost fight alone. stitching up his throat in his ghost form when #he gets hit with a deep child-like grief and the unwitting 'i wanna go home'. he's exhausted and sad and hurting and fucking *tired* #good mom talia al ghul supremacy. she's trying her best. #but yeah sam and tucker did a lot of good for Danny by becoming his friend. he's a lot better off than he would've been if he remained alon #'a child not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth' type of stuff. danny's aware of this and is incredibly grateful #for sam and tucker. and as a result can and will get violently protective. his moral code on killing can be summed up as: i dont kill bc i #value human life and it's inconvenient. but i will do it without remorse if i must. #vlad is only still alive because he's incompetent. but the ice is thin #catch me about to make an incorrect quotes post about this au. i am so close.

[grumpyghostdoodles]

Some grown-up Dreemurrs fashion!

#Frisk is 17 and Ree and Chara 21 #had to check my references bc for the like of my i cant never remember their ages #I think my favorite outfit is frisks! #is the more simple of the three #but i had fun using the magenta. I dont usualy use strong colors so i enjoyed it! #and im in LOVE with thier shoes #theyre platforms btw an if i could grab them for m yself id do it instantly #Charas bag is literally nicknamed trashbag #bc it so busted #but my god they refuse to give it up #patched with ducktape on the inside. multiple patches tp fix the outside. the zipper has been changed 5 times #Toriel wants to burn that bag so badly #but nay it shall remain XD #myart #frisk undertale #undertale #ut #chara dreemurr #chara undertale #chara ut #asriel dreemurr #frisk dreemurr #frisk ut #had a couple of very rough days #and playing dress up with dolls always cheered me up #no longer have my dolls #but i can draw characters in all the silly outfits instead!

[violetreminder]

Re: Palworld and AI, pretty sure the designs were finalized before generative AI took off anyway. First trailer was years ago

See this is a really good point. The announcement trailer released in 2021 with most if not all the designs intact and while generative AI existed it wouldn't be very useful for making all the Pal designs.

Semi related I've looked into people's claims about the CEO being gung-ho on AI and NFTs and while their Jackbox-esque game about telling AI art from peoples drawings does raise my eyebrow a bit, from what I can tell it's all standard CEO speak where he's just talking about Popular (and possibly profitable) Thing and trend chasing in an attempt to follow hypothetical money. NFTs have since been cast as a pariah and any attempt at adding them in games has been shown to be an impossible task on a conceptual level so I'm not too concerned about Pocketpair adding them to Palworld

If anything I'm more concerned that they'll just abandon the game without refining anything but there's a lot more eyes and wallets on this than there were on Craftopia so I have hope.

tl;dr: yeah we should be critical of what the Pocketpair CEO says but in the same way we should be critical of anything that ANY CEO says.

#palworld #took a break from the game today to not get burned out but i still like it and hope it grows into something bigger #i remain cautiously optimistic #ai art

[alicent-archive]

Alicent slept 🙁 in the 🙁 same bed 🙁 that Aemma 🙁 was slaughtered upon 🙁

#I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE #imagine sleeping where someone had drawn their last breath #sure they must’ve burned the mattress #but the imprint of horror still remains #imagine Alicent having these strange nightmares #where her bed feels wet and warm and where she can taste iron in her mouth #but she always wakes up to a clean white bed #unsure and unsettled for the rest of the day #just…the haunting of Aemma Arryn man #Aemma haunts Viserys #she haunts Rhaenyra’s fears around childbirth and motherhood #she haunts Alicent’s chambers and her entire marriage #the end of that family started with a bloody birthing bed #hotd #house of the dragon #alicent hightower #aemma arryn #text #my own

[dog-woman]

sorry but why has no one done a house edit to no children. house and cuddy and wilson and their stupid fucked up entanglement.

'and i hope i never get sober'

#hatecrimes md #house md #greg house #lisa cuddy #james wilson #I hope that our few remaining friends give up on trying to save us??? the ducklings leaving him #Fall down beneath their own weight - the car park collapse #the junkyard burning down do i need to spell it out #you are coming down with me

[ilynpilled]

why must everything that the text clearly states atp be misconstrued like i really dont get it he has plenty of flaws in that relationship but we, and cersei, know that he was ready to kill robert for just the disrespect of the cheating if cersei said the word. he doesnt concern himself with the personal consequences, he is reckless, detached from a lot of things, and can close his eyes at the future if he doesn’t want to acknowledge it. also the concern over the “shame” and ned type judgement feels so overestimated to me atp. he never regrets aerys, he is mad at how he is perceived (but again, notably doesnt try to rectify it by telling the truth for a lot of complex reasons), but he would never take it back. if he believes its the right thing to do, and is not overdosing on copium trying to juggle vows he cares about, he will do it, reputation be damned. though he has selfish concerns regarding being viewed as good, the internal matters so much more than the external: see weirwood dream: who actually shows up? what makes the fire go out? “it was not him. it was never him”, see the trebuchet fiasco, see the choice in adwd. why shouldnt we take cersei at face value when she implies that if jaime knew about the physical abuse he would have killed him? he loves and cares about cersei to an insane degree, even if he can be selfish toxic and unhealthy too. i really find it very very difficult to imagine that he wouldnt have killed him based on almost every single part of his characterization.

#ik its better to reply than to do this but i dont use my twitter for fandom and i keep seeing this general sentiment over and over again #like it makes him so inconsistent and nonsensical #i don’t understand this whole jaime was never there for cersei prehandloss he was at her disposal for almost everything he would have maimed #a child just bc she asked like what??? #u think that wouldnt have shamed him?? #he gave up almost everything for her at 15 #and im gonna be real if u r frustrated by jaime burning the letter being framed as this grand triumphant redemptive choice #by people #which i get i dont think its framed like that either #its just as unfair to treat it as the opposite #it is the end of a certain delusion #which is why the joanna dream is the focal point #and #he can divorce himself he has no obligation to die to try save her atp #and remain her sword #i dont see him as the literal devil for that sorry #i feel like some of u feel the need to misconstrue his character to make some of these choices out to be as bad as possible

[p4nishers]

thinking about the relationship between mightily oats' "the worthwhile [words] don't burn" and constable dorfl's "the words in the heart cannot be taken"

#especially the journey both of them had to go through to get to the point of saying that. like the whole of carpe jugulum oats was so TORN #and before that too about what words could you believe and who could you really trust on their word about om and the prophets and he went #out of his way to look up records disproving what the book of om said bc he KNEW nothing they said could be believed and just all the pain #and all that doubt he went thru and the part where he questioned om's 'infinite compassion' as he prayed bc really what compassion? #how many people prayed at the stake just like he was doing in that moment? how many people had to live with the silence of their god just #like he did? but still when his book of om – that he clung to the whole book for reassurance – burned he said the worthily words don't burn #the worthily words are in the heart and in the mind and not feed into his mouth by old man who just #made things up to justify their actions. he had all the words he needded the whole time and holiness was always all around him. he just had #to look #and dorfl being created with words in his head that dictated his every move . words that chained him. then he and the other golems created #'king' for themselves in the hope he'd lead them to freedom but they put too many words in his head and he failed and carrot gave dorfl his #own freedom and his own words and that lead to dorfl destroying his well child basically and destroying himself in the process but the word #in his heart his OWN words remained and they were able to rebuilt him and vimes give him a voice and his words and belief remained in him b #they were always his #god. sorry for the ramble im severally unwell about them #mightily oats #constable dorfl #carpe jugulum #feet of clay #gnu terry pratchett #discworld

[budgiegryphon]

This year's r/place really fucking sucked, terribly run and an obvious(failed) distraction, but we did get some nice stuff done

Another bench! 45 communities! Here's the fully planned piece, Quote sadly got added last minute and wasn't visible before blackout.

Full character list below the cut.

Batter from OFF, Beheaded from Dead Cells, Ori from Ori and the blind forest, Bugs from APICO above Ori, Moon from Outer Wilds next to bugs, Purple guy from FnAF, Mae from Night in the woods, Omori from Omori, Commando from Risk of Rain, Madeline from Celeste above Commando, Engi, Bosco and Lootbug from Deep Rock Galactic, Soul Knight logo below Engi, Tiny Niko on top of Bosco, Sprite Companion from Hyperlight Drifter next to Tiny Niko, Isaac from Binding of Isaac, Chompy from Bug Fables underneath Isaac, Engineer from Factorio, Strabby on Engineer's shoulder, a penguin from Starbound, Junimo from Stardew Valley, Oneshot bulb above Stardew Valley's apple, A router from Mindustry, Keg from sea of thieves, Lamb from Cult of the Lamb sitting on the keg, Monika from DDLC above Lamb, Fishbowl from FSSH, Spooky from Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion, Whiteface and flower from IMSCARED above Spooky, V1 from Ultrakill, The Conductor from Final Station in front of V1's legs, Moth from Sky: Children of the Light above V1, Apollo from Ace Attorney bottom right of V1, Gnome from Everhood, Rivulet on Looks to the Moon from Rain World, Gail from Phoenotopia above Rivulet, Captain Viridian from VVVVVV above Gail, Flowey from Undertale below Looks to the Moon, Grimm from Hollow Knight, Paprika from Them's Fighting Herds above Grimm, Deltarune red heart above Strabby, King Slime in front of Grimm, The Spiral Heart from Grime next to Grimm, Carp from Lisa, Richard Mask from Hotline Miami above The Spiral Heart

#despite being horribly stressful there was also a lot of fun #shoutout to purple guy batter and richard for just appearing out of the ether #and the fssh people for successfully gaslighting everyone afterward about whether the game actually existed #and that one streamer who got so fucking mad that he couldn't successfully take over our spot #we had people saying the bench might be full at 16 characters and I think that got taken as a challenge #it went a whole DAY longer than it was supposed to and we all got burned out lmao #I coordinated this thing and was dreaming about bench negotiations the night after #conclusion reddit is a terrible place but the indie game people remain cool #sigh. tagwall time. #r/place #ultrakill #hollow knight #rain world #off #ori #dead cells #apico #night in the woods #omori #risk of rain #deep rock galactic #cult of the lamb #oneshot #spooky's jumpscare mansion #stardew valley #sky children of the light #bugsnax #hotline miami #grime game what is yalls tag #everhood

[wonderfull-star]

I have a question. How many of you BELIEVE in Glammike theory? To be honest, when I returned to the fandom, this became my favorite theory. Imagine what the plot twist would be if it turned out that all this time Glamrock Freddy was possessed by Michael, who was the protagonist in many parts of fnaf! And the most interesting thing is that this theory may well be true given the fact that the Mega Pizzaplex was built over a Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place. It just dawned on me that by the words "my friends are here" Freddy most likely meant not glamrocks but animatronics from fnaf 6! And his phrase "I am not me" still leads me to confuse me...

Referring to this theory, I now all the time think that one of the reasons why Freddy helps Gregory is because he reminds him of his younger brother. I even had a theory that Gregory is the reincarnation of C.C.. (But that sounds a bit dumb to be honest. Or maybe not.Idk)

#fnaf #fnaf sb #fnaf security breach #fnaf 6 #fnaf 6 pizza simulator #glamrock freddy #freddy #michael afton #glammike #glammike theory #fnaf gregory #gregory #fnaf crying child #fnaf theory #Now I'm even more sorry for Michael #after all judging by this theory his soul remained in the burned-out pizzeria for YEARS until a new one was built under it #updated #ok guys #please STOP writing me facts from the book #I haven't been able to read them yet. #And yes I know that there is A LOT of additional information about the game #but I hope you understand that unfortunately not everyone has the opportunity to read all the books #if you DO NOT believe in this theory then please do not write out a whole lecture about why you DO NOT believe in it #Since initially I asked in my post only those who BELIEVE in this theory #I hope you understand me 😭

[ineed-to-sleep]

Well. He wasted no time

#IT'S JUST REALLY FUNNY TO ME. OKAY #in my first playthrough he took his fuckign time #bc ok. I was playing as the same character. but also it was the 1rst playthrough #so I ended up juggling between playing the character and doing whatever I wanted to do bc. well I wanted to be niceys #but now that I'm roleplaying her consistently he's going bananas dlkfhdlf #like 4 long rests in #I haven't even made it to the goblin camp yet #and hes like oohh I know you've felt it I felt it too 💅🏻 #and like in my first playthrough I had the impression they had this like slow burn sort of romance #like butting heads a lot at the start but then slowly growing on each other #but it's not like that at all now. they actually like. get along like a house on fire #this woman used to date nwn2 bishop back in the day tho this shouldn't have come as a surprise #I've changed her quite a bit since that game yk. but still. the parts of her that attract toxic men remain <3 #oc.nawen #bg3 #sleep.txt #you should've seen it I started a durge playthrough with pepper on impulse just for funsies #he fucking hated her #just like. not on board. calling her hard headed and boring #it was brutal #PEPPER IS LOVELY OK you don't deserve her #I wasn't happy w how she ended up looking tho 😔 gotta get some better face/hair mods and try again sometime #ship: narion

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

old pic of Sepultura in the studio during the production of the album with Scott Burns back in 1989...

#Sepultura #beneath the remains era #beneath the remains #metal #scott burns #producter #max cavalera #paulo jr. #igor cavalera #andreas kisser #brazil #thrash metal #thrash metal era

[fedoraspooky]

I haven’t been here long. What irritating changes have been made?

Credit where it's due, some changes have been good, like polls and stuff! But the big recent changes thus far that I would classify as irritating are:

- The UI change. This one may be less irritating for newcomers because it's basically the same layout as twitter and instagram, but for a lot of folks who've been here a long time, it feels cramped and like a loss of identity for the site. For many, the appeal of tumblr is that it ISN'T an algorithm hell like twitter or insta. Also, there's the annoyance of having to relearn where everything is, because it all got moved around.

- The users being lab rats for various tests the devs wanna pull out of nowhere without consenting to beta testing new site features- like the one that took away user icons on the dash for like half the site. They finally put them back after getting enough feedback that said NO, but users were so used to their feedback being disregarded that they were half expecting the change to be pushed through anyway.

- The Netflix tie-in advertising being pushed even to people who had PAID tumblr for a no-ads experience. Complete with them somehow thinking it would be a good idea to put an unescapable-by-scrolling spooky clown on peoples' dashboards that u had to use ublock to get rid of. While I'm not scared of clowns and often find them quite charming, it sucks that staff didn't take coulrophobia being a common fear into account.

- A wave of fully sfw trans posts being wrongfully marked Mature and staff doing little to nothing about it. Not sure if this is still ongoing, but it destroyed a lot of trust and good will. (LGBT+ users have been having to fight a constant war against censorship ever since the adult content ban on tumblr, so yeah... Nevar 4get the list of banned search words that would bring back no results, like 'girl')

- The site gradually moving away from customization. Tumblr is a BLOGGING site. But it seems to have lost sight of that fact, because most new users don't even know you can fully customize your blogs with css and stuff (an option that is now off by default for new accounts!), because of the in-dash viewer giving you only how blogs look on mobile, which is a lot more uniform. There, it's more like every other site- you get a banner and icon. Oh, but you can change colors and fonts from a drop-down list too, that's cool I guess. Though they recently took away custom color schemes on Message windows, just another little bit of personalization taken away.

- TUMBLR. LIVE. Basically tumblr teamed up with a skeevy dating app partner to allow for livestreams- but not the cool kinda livestreams like on twitch where you can draw or play games, no- to a site full of people who value anonymity, they decided to push phone cam only livestreams. Not only that but by agreeing to the terms, you're giving out tons of personal data including your location to said skeevy dating app partner and all of THEIR third-party ad partners. Needless to say, most people didn't wanna use it, so instead of users it's flooded by p*rn bots (which is ANOTHER issue we've been dealing with for a long time and have been getting an even bigger influx of FROM tumblr live) and scammers. And thus, since tumblr likes to put a carousel of current streams on people's dashes, you often get softcore p*rn thumbnails from the bot streams with no way to avoid it except for toggling off tumblr live entirely.

- Oh wait. That's right. You CAN'T toggle it off. Because you can only snooze it for a while until BAM, you're jumpscared by a carousel of ladies licking your screen again! But hey, at least they made the snooze 30 days instead of the 7 it used to be, right? Yeah, except for the fact that you can't get rid of the tumblr live button itself on the app anymore, and now it's front and center with a NEW notification tag on it, overlapping your dash and cramming useful stuff like the search button out of the way.

NOW- A lot of this stuff CAN be at least mostly fixed on desktop by installing ublock and xkit and tampermonkey + dashboard unfucker... But that's a lot of stuff just to make the site usable, you know?

#this isn't even a comprehensive list but hopefully that covers all the big ones #anyway i get tumblr has to make money and it's currently not doing that #but burning through the remaining good will of the people who stuck around through earlier bs doesn't seem like a great idea either #ah well... i'm still here regardless #i've already had to leave deviantart behind because it became an ai cesspit... and it sucked. I had a lot of good memories there. #it sucks to uproot everything and move. so unless something equally bad happens here i'll probs be going down with the ship lol #also there's like nowhere else to go right now which is a huge problem; #i've been trying to look for other places to post too but none really have the same laid-back feeling tumblr does. #also i love the asks system too much. more sites need that honestly #anyway i rambled enough hope this helps u get an idea of why people are angy #asks

[molagboop]

Mawkin children undergo several maturity rites before they're granted full tribal citizenship. The first occurs around eight years old, involving a basic academic evaluation and the child's choice between a physical fitness test or a dream-walk.

The evals are simple: how much has the child learned, what do they know, where can we supplement their education, etc. How can we stimulate their curiosity and foster a lifelong love of learning? Have they displayed any skills or passion for any particular subject? How can we encourage their hobbies and interests? Those are the kinds of questions the adults involved in carrying out the evaluation are asking themselves.

The evaluations help parents figure out (or reaffirm what they already know) ways to engage their childrens' interests in a fun or productive way, and how to help their child along the path to success, academic or otherwise. Every child is different: they have their own needs, and while 8 years old isn't old enough for anyone to ascertain exactly what they wanna be when they grow up, the evaluation is a good starting point for the rest of their academic track until their next formative rites.

The next part of the rites is a branching path. The fitness test is typically favored by more outdoorsy or athletic types, as well as children who are afraid of specters or arent very interested in the old ways. That's fine: old people stuff can be boring! The priests go on and on about the ancestors during holidays, but you're eight years-old and you've never seen the ancestors show up before, so big whoop. You've got toys to play and things to learn.

Another general assumption is that children who are likely to grow into steadfast warriors or athletes may pick the fitness test enthusiastically and without thinking about it, but again, this is an evaluation, and the kids are like, eight. Nothing is set in stone. Eight year olds also typically love playing outside.

A number of kids, hearing about all the cool things their elders know and are capable of, or just being curious about what their ancestors might have to teach them, opt for the dream-walk.

The dream-walk involves exposure to psychoactive fumes, but is nonetheless completely safe: the kid is monitored and made as comfortable as possible.

The dream-walk is overseen by priests and doctors. The burners are lit and the trial-goer falls asleep, entering a state similar to lucid dreaming.

Everyone's experience is different. Some kids have profound surreal experiences: others spend the entire time sitting at a table with a long-dead ancestor having a meal. Some kids are shown events from the past by an old ghost: some even experience said event from the perspective of someone who was there when it happened.

For others, the dream is of an old-fashioned hunt, typically guided by a departed grandparent or neighbor. It's not unusual for Mawkin kids to have experienced the act of hunting for food or sport by this point in their lives: many who hunt take their babies out with them on their backs. The quarry during the dream-walk, however, is typically more than your mundane game beast.

Tribal scholars and doctors of psychology have posited that the dream walk largely reflects the experiences of those involved. Formative memories and strong feelings, they believe, greatly affect the appearance of conjured apparitions in the dream. If a kid is fighting any demons at eight years old or harbor any powerful fears, they may very well be forced to face them head-on during this trial.

Therein lies the value of the dream-walk: it's not just a curiosity to get the kids to engage with cultural practices of yore, it has utility in teaching children valuable lessons through experience without actually making them fight the six-eyed serpent of a hundred and seventeen mouths. And they're usually not facing it alone: the ancestors quite literally walk with plenty of kids during these trials.

There are some truths a given child must face alone, and plenty do. But when they wake, they will find themselves among familiar company, the sweet smell of wood smoke permeating the air and a feast awaiting back home to celebrate their first milestone towards becoming an adult.

Some kids don't fight any major bosses or experience the heat death of the universe through the eyes of a slug, instead deriving value from the dream-walk in the form of sensory-guided introspection. The lesson they learn may not even be apparent to them until six years down the line. It doesn't have to be deep: it can just be an experience that gives then a new perspective on the world.

The senses are heightened supremely during the dream-walk, allowing the dreamer to experience the world in a whole new way. Tasting color, feeling the vibration of every sound beneath one's skin, perceiving the shape of every smell. Even if the kid walks away thinking "huh, I've never experienced the world that way before", the trial will have been a success. In the very least, a child should come out of that dark room with a unique memory for them to examine later on.

Several minor rituals and evaluations occur around twelve and fifteen years, but the foremost citizenship rites occur around seventeen, when an individual's stomach is strong enough to handle sap wine in greater quantities without suffering catastrophic liver failure. The dream-walk is a requirement this time around, as well as a combat test. The combat test is the actual rite that determines one's status as an adult: the mandatory dream-walk occurs beforehand as a way to shed all doubts about the strength of one's resolve if they have any insecurities, and perhaps gain some personal insight in the process. Introspection assisted by psychoactive substances.

You may be wondering how those with varying degrees of disability come of age if they can't engage in the rite of combat. There are alternatives to the combat test if the participant doesn't feel able enough to fight, or otherwise can't exert themselves without experiencing undue pain and discomfort.

There are alternative rites for individuals of every combination of physical and cognitive impairment, and all are treated with the same gravity and dignity afforded to the typical rites. Poetry recitals, music, research projects, an oath of maturity: these are a few examples of things disabled Mawkin have done to establish their claim to adulthood in place of the rite of combat. An individual doesn't have to be "good" at something: they just have to show that they accept the responsibility that comes with being an adult, or are otherwise committed to their community and the tribe at large.

For some people, that commitment comes in the form of thriving to the best of their ability. Surviving to the next day, striving for tomorrow to hurt a little less than yesterday. It doesn't matter whether they can "contribute" or be a "productive member of society": all are one, and one serves all. The Mawkin take community very seriously. There's an age-old adage that says something to the effect of "if one is suffering, all are injured", and "when one is deprived of dignity, we are all cast naked face-down into the mud".

Anyways, that's how juvenile Mawkin are granted all the rights, responsibilities and privileges that come saddled with being an adult. It's worth noting that most of these rites line up with a typical Chozo's molting cycle, with the final rites occurring just as young warriors are shaking off the last loose feathers of their old coat and displaying their first (clear) adult patterns.

#mawkin #chozo #headcanons #txt #the dream-walk not only gives children a stronger bond with the honored dead #it gives them a window into the lives of the priesthood #some are intrigued by what they experience and eventually dedicate themselves to learning about and preservong the old #traditions while ushering in new waves of progress and advancement #preserving the old while welcoming the new. #i put emphasis on the old and the new bevause using drugs to see ghosts specifically is a very very old practice #some traditions evolved with technology and the Mawkin's migration to ZDR: others remained relatively untouched #most people keep some sort of house shrine or curio to honor their ancestors: only the priests and people who need advice #are getting zonked off their gourd to talk to ghosts #and most normal people aren't even given the chance to commune with the dead outside of the maturity rites #some of the blends these priests are burning would knock a grown unaccustomed warrior flat on their back #straight into concussion territory #they are not for the faint of heart. #to clarify inhaling fumes to see ghosts isn't all the priests do. but it's part of the job for a specific subset of them #the dead walk among the mawkin ans their wisdom is appreciated #priests are historicans lorekeepers and storytellers as well as dead-talkers #they're librarians and funeral directors and community hermits and warrior monks