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sonkitty · 4 months

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The Earthly Objects Game (Good Omens 2)

Find the newest Earthly Objects material here: The Earthly Objects Game ... "You can't just manifest and cause trouble, there are rules." -Crowley, Good Omens 2, Episode 5 (The Ball)

(Crowley was blurry from the back when he really said that so the above screenshot is from the lines right before)

This post was last updated 01/10/2024.

Much of this post is some heavily involved theorizing. However, the Threshold Tricks existing actually supports a lot of this theorizing. I make mistakes nonetheless. Please keep that in mind. I am still confident in the Threshold Tricks, if nothing else.

The Game

This story has rules or at least some notable patterns resembling an expected script from its characters. We're going to call them "rules" for now and acknowledge that rules can and most certainly will be broken.

Crowley and Aziraphale have a heightened awareness of these rules compared to everyone else, at least in the present day and in this story. I will be focusing my attention there since the minisodes are more difficult to follow for me. Who made the rules? It could be them or God or a book or game they've been put into. I refer to this thing as a game because that's more my understanding of it than what it actually is. Most characters aren't really playing. They follow the rules on instinct.

Even season 1 has certain resembling factors to this game that I found. God at least did use the phrase "ineffable game" herself.

Both Crowley and Aziraphale are experts, but Crowley is astoundingly impressive at how he plays this game.

I call the game Earthly Objects due to the use of that phrase in episode 1 and the touching even shown during that segment. Plus, of what the mechanics of this game seem to do. If this game has another name, it is The Rule of Three, or something like that. The number 3 is vital to this game.

Points

The way the game seems to work is that, for a great deal of the story, it wants 3 points to start a scene. Some scenes even get chains of three points, but such chains are quite hard to spot.

When two characters interact, the story usually wants each of them to earn one point of that given set.

When it comes to a solo scene, the story still wants 3 points from that one character.

Points are simplifying things, and even simplified, they are dependent on context, timing, and placement around thresholds.

Things grow ever more complex with more characters involved.

Earthly Objects

Earth has objects, often thought of by humans as tangible objects. In this story, earthly does not mean solid, and touch does not mean direct skin or clothing contact. They are the most easily evident and likely common methods. The touch depends on how it is done and the nature of the object in question. Checking a watch for the time is an earthly object touch because that is how you use a watch on Earth.

We see three earthly objects in the show's opening before Earth even exists. Those objects are a crank, a scroll, and a book. One of them, the book, is touched through a supernatural method but still touched.

One touched earthly object is equal to one point. It can be held during a character interaction and still count in many contexts.

These are basic earthly objects, for a few examples; see more at the end:

Chairs

Windows

Tables

Walls

Books

Mirrors

Cups

Doorknobs

Bodies of living natural beings (humans and goats for example)

Blurs

Blurs seem to indicate a possible pass or share when studying how windows work.

When a character is blurred, that seems to mean a pass or that the next clear view of them will confirm the results of their touch during the preceding blur.

Thresholds

Thresholds are largely understood to be doors.

Most characters in Good Omens 2 will not concern themselves with the intricacies of only the door part that serves as the door. They'll just use the doorknob, get their point, and move on—provided the camera saw it, that is.

This story has other non-door thresholds, such as the edge of the sidewalk.

Crowley, one of the show's two main characters, does concern himself with the above-mentioned intricacies. It goes well beyond anything we see other characters do in the entire season. For example, he is capable of doing what I have decided to call Multiplicative Threshold Tricks.

Here is a post I made on the subject:

Earthly Objects Study - Multiplicative Threshold Tricks (Good Omens 2).

These are an incredibly special type of set compared to how the usual points are earned on earthly objects themselves. If the points system really is as simple as 3 total for one set, then the Threshold Tricks require a minimum of 6 points due to their involvement with thresholds.

Aziraphale may not manipulate thresholds on the same level, but he is aware and involved in at least some of the Tricks. In fact, at the story's end, he actually has his own part to play after The Door Trick is complete. I believe it is supposed to be called The Door Catch.

To further clarify and return to other matters, characters can touch earthly objects on thresholds, such as doorknobs, door handles, push plates, shades, windows, mirrors, the astragal for double doors, and so on. The panel serving its function as mainly the door itself is different. It can be touched...but it's not an earthly object touch. It is the threshold itself or enough of the threshold itself to not be considered earthly.

Thresholds seem to require certain timing that I definitely haven't watched every scene to log as if the interaction happened properly or not. The main thing I can say is that a lot of "Hello" lines happen while a character is crossing a threshold (or maintaining place in one), before the sound effect of a door closing completes.

Windows have a remarkable threshold component different from doors and will have a link explaining such further down.

Vary Technique

The story does not want the characters to use the same exact technique twice on the same type of earthly object touch to earn a point, in a different later scene. It can be similar but should have some variation. An easy example is Shax knocks on the window using her knuckles at Crowley’s car, then later knocks on a window to the bookshop with just an index finger.

I most certainly have not verified this, just noticed subtle variations when looking for these things. Crowley's Threshold Tricks have a pattern that I do believe is intended to be, "Never do the same trick twice."

Awareness

I'm convinced Crowley and Aziraphale are aware of the rules and making choices about them, but that doesn't mean they know every move they are making that is following the rules.

When Crowley shoots out lightning in episode 1, the lightning itself still actually follows the rules with three different touches on the door to the coffee shop. I don't think Crowley did that on purpose or even knows it happened. But it did happen.

Still, his choices in most, or at least quite a bit, of his movement during the story do appear to be deliberate choices.

Earth

The surface upon which characters stand and walk is the Earth. They can touch the Earth to earn a point, but it requires a little more effort, such as hopping. The hopping might require the feet touch the ground at different times.

Let's check in with our experts.

Crowley hops in place in episode 1 before shooting out lightning. He also hops while talking to Muriel before the scene ends in episode 6. In both cases, the feet do not touch the ground at the same time.

Aziraphale deliberately avoids a point in episode 6 when he makes sure to step backwards off a rug onto the floor in episode 6. No points for stepping backwards onto Earth. Or at least he didn't earn a point for walking partly on a rug.

When Crowley is walking on the sidewalk and passing by the coffee shop in episode 1, he does the following to earn two points, not even in the same set believe it or not. The first thing he does is rotate his body, such that his left foot is fully on the ground, but his right foot isn't. Instead, only the heel touches the ground. As such, he gets the point because the heel is touching the ground. He's not just standing. After he fixes the power, the camera shows that his left foot is already off the sidewalk and moving to the road. He gets a point for the step because he's not just walking on the sidewalk, then the road. He's stepping from the sidewalk to the road. It might help that the edge of a sidewalk is a threshold. His second step after crossing the threshold has the foot conveniently cut off from the camera.

What about running? The only example I can think of is Crowley running as he enters the bookshop but then he seems to shift into a skip. The camera doesn't see both feet fully the whole time though. So, for that one, I'm not really sure.

Clothing and Accessories

Clothing is regarded as enough of a character's self that just wearing clothes is not enough. They can earn points for touching their clothes actively during a scene, such as Nina touching her clothes while talking to Crowley in episode 5 after he comments on the name of her coffee shop.

Not any touch will do. It seems it also must be done in specific ways.

Crowley has a special way that he uses his pants pockets for The Pocket Trick. That way is really, really hard to understand. I can't keep up. However, from what I do understand, the threshold-only touch is not during the entire cut. There is a puzzle to solve and find the actual threshold-only touch within a given frame or few frames.

As such, when he's not at that exact point, he seems regarded as touching his clothes as an earthly object touch based on two interactions he has in episode 2.

In episode 2, he is walking with his hand in his pocket and thumb out. As he moves, the back of his jacket is touching over his hand. Soon after, Nina initiates an interaction with him. Not long after that, he's walking again and encounters Aziraphale. Crowley himself speaks. At that point, the touch comes from behind the hand.

Aziraphale, I think, puts his hands in and out of his pockets in episode 1, not instantly, so not sure if in, out, or both would count.

Accessories probably also depend on how and when they are touched.

Crowley’s sunglasses are a special type of accessory, so here is a post with more extensive info:

Earthly Object Study - Crowley’s Sunglasses (Good Omens 2)

In short, sometimes the sunglasses can be used as an accessory for the game but not always.

Due to how the story ends, I suspect the clothing and accessory rules are not as simple as just letting two interacting characters to touch only such things with a scene as extensive as the bookshop scene between Crowley and Aziraphale at the end of episode 6. The story cares about context, and there is some big time context happening in that scene.

Humans

Humans are earthly objects. As such, they can do self-touches, such as clasping their hands. Again, not any touch will do. It probably has to be done in a specific way, not that many humans would have this issue.

Maggie is the show's prime example as she uses this method quite frequently. She might be a special type of human based on other things we observe in the show, but the story considers her human enough to allow this method nonetheless.

Supernatural Beings

If a supernatural being is actively touching an earthy object, they can, like humans, do self-touches. I am sometimes not sure if they already can, but Crowley's self-touches during the ball invitations in episode 5 strongly suggest this idea is true. For when it seems like they are not touching anything, there is probably something else specifically within the scene that's allowing it anyway.

Miracle touches onto earthly objects are allowed. Crowley changing three traffic lights from red to green at the same time? That's an earthly object touch.

Supernatural beings are allowed reciprocal touches between each other, such as a fist bump or holding hands. Kissing is probably allowed though the one kiss shown has exceptional circumstances with a lot of other touching deliberately not happening.

Windows

Windows are easy to overlook because once you do take the time to study them in their more complex use, they are by no means easy to understand.

Here's a messy post about mostly a few more complex scenes involving windows:

Earthly Objects Study - Windows

Here is another one focused on how The Window Trick is done:

Earthly Objects Study - Windows Part 2 (Good Omens 2)

I didn't know it was The Window Trick when I wrote it.

Chairs

Aziraphale has a mysterious vendetta against the backs of chairs ever since Gabriel interrupted Aziraphale from listening to music. The chair he sits in when talking to Crowley about wanting help looking after Gabriel seems to be the main exception.

Aziraphale's got no visible back of a chair in the coffee shop or the pub, maybe other places, and even in the bookshop, when he is sitting in a chair, his back is not in the back of the chair most or all of the time. I don’t care enough to confirm every scene. It's weird.

This mystery suggests there is a point for the back to the chair that he is simply adamant to not earn. I am not sure if and how this is related to Varying Technique mentioned above.

There are plenty of other ways to earn points from chairs. It mainly needs to make sense for how a chair would be touched, such as using an arm rest.

Knock

Knocking on a window probably earns a point, provided the camera sees it. When Gabriel knocks on the door in episode 1? Not sure. The camera saw it, but the eventual response takes awhile. A blur might make it a pass. It's hard to tell.

Hands

Hands are complex and apparently there might be rules about the number of digits used on certain types of touches. If the touch is standard for one index finger and one index finger and thumb, it's probably fine.

Otherwise, generally check for at least 3 digits for one hand, at least 6 for two hands. Watch how the fingers are extended, curled, or consistency with each other. If you like trying to figure out this game, it actually does help you to see how the instinctual players still play differently from each other. Michael is far more likely to extend their fingers and use them broadly than Uriel, for example.

Crowley messes with this rule a lot. It seems he cares which touch is credited how. It’s not enough to earn points. It goes something like the park bench should earn the point so the newspaper can act as his own personal threshold until he decides otherwise.

Thumb tips are particularly important when it comes to managing thresholds.

I don't know if I'll ever figure the hand mechanics out fully myself.

Dialogue Points

Most interactions will not have both characters touching something. Instead, the characters follow dialogue patterns for the other points.

They tend to go something like the following:

Hello

Questions

Names

Statement of Place (might just be an extended form of "Hello")

Foreign Language

Combinations of hello, names, and questions are common. Two questions might even be enough for two points.

Hello

When Aziraphale enters the record shop for the first time in episode 1, he touches the window of the door twice, and says "Hello Maggie," before the sound effect of the door closing completes.

When Maggie enters the coffee shop, using the doorknob, Nina says "Hello" while holding plates with cups and before the sound effect of the door closing completes.

Equivalents such as "Hi there," are allowed.

"Excuse me," the show's opening words, are probably also allowed.

Question

"Yes? Was that you?"

"Seats? Mr. Fell, where are the seats I dropped off for the meeting?"

"Who are you? Who sent you?"

"What are you doing?"

Names

Titles in place of names seem to be acceptable.

"I don't know why you invited me, Mr. Fell."

"Officer, I need to report a crime."

"Jim, I'll need eight battery-operated candles."

Statement of Place

“I’m here.”

“I’m back.”

“You’re back.”

“You’re in trouble.”

“Oh, we’re going to the pub! You never go to the pub!”

“We are at war! Finally.”

"I think you know why we're here."

Statements such as these seem to be regarded as a type of "Hello". "I'm here" is said by Gabriel once he's opened the doors to the bookshop and steps out. When Aziraphale says, "You came back," to Crowley in episode 6, the doors are still open and closed just after he says it. He is otherwise not touching anything, not saying a question, not saying a number, not saying a name, and not speaking in a foreign language.

When Shax says, "You're in trouble," the window is open.

The "We are at war!" line is after the doors are closed, but since Dagon is in the group with Beelzebub who enters with fire, that seems to be the acceptable form of an earthly object touch combined with this "Hello" from Hell.

Numbers

If characters can say numbers, and I am increasingly convinced they can, that's a lot they can get away with. Numbers are everywhere, just like names and questions.

Foreign Language

When watching the show in English, characters talking in a foreign language is, I think, touching an earthly object. It's significant enough that Mrs. Cheng never has to touch anything except a fan when she is at the ball and talking in English.

Groups

Blurs make this harder to understand now that I know blurs exist and seem to have some kind of pass or share effect.

The story's going to go by some level of context with who is in the scene.

For something like the scene in the bookshop with the powers of Heaven and Hell, those groups are of 3 or more characters.

For that it, seemed only one character from a group is required to initiate the interaction on a group’s behalf. In episode 6, Crowley represents himself and the four angels who came with him. He does a hello and a question through an open threshold. The touch will come soon but not yet. Aziraphale says, “You’re back,” and then gets to represent the group of him, Jim/Gabriel, Maggie, and Nina. Muriel, who was in the group with Crowley, closes the doors. Crowley touches Shax’s shoe while Shax is unconscious on the couch. As such, Crowley gets the earthly object touch on the couch through Shax or on the shoe thanks to Shax being on a couch. For all I know, he gets both.

Dagon, Furfur, and Beelzebub arrive. I think Beelzebub’s fire is supposed to be an earthly object touch for their group, and Dagon says, “We are at war!” If I’m right, this third group still needed an earthly object touch, possibly because the doors were closed by that point. Additionally, when Beelzebub awakens Shax with lightning, Shax ends up both touching the couch and having books fall on her, so she gets touches in as well.

Chains

Chains exist in this game, as already noted.

Sometimes you'll see the three points to start a scene, then you might actually see another immediate or at least relatively soon three points, and so on.

They are really hard to spot, so I'm skeptical it's a full-scale requirement for the game, but it's much more dominant than I realized. Or, the dialogue makes it hard to spot because some dialogue is allowed to carry on instead of the non-dialogue touches. I don't know why that happens for some scenes and not others.

The most obvious chain I've seen, that led me to believe they exist, is the scene between Crowley and Gabriel in episode 5 when Gabriel is fiddling with the lamp.

Upon first realizing there might be a chain there, I thought that might makes it one of the most real scenes to the story even if Crowley might have an underlying intent to draw out his own demonic energy there. That also came from observing some basic rule-breaking that I'll note further down.

Then again, maybe not. I believe the scene with Crowley shooting out lightning is part of a chain too, but it's far more complex because of the window. There are still some notably suspicious fake things happening in the background once Nina realizes she and Maggie are locked in.

Zoomed Touches

Do not trust these things at face value, even if they are mostly avoided in the latter half of episode 6. I think most of them are supposed to be valid, but there are at least two you should not trust before that point.

Don't trust the zoom on Crowley's sunglasses next to a plate of Eccles cakes, even if there are three fingers visibly and clearly picking them up. There was a fake Crowley before that, and even the real Crowley is only holding them with two digits initially upon exiting through the bookshop doors as he puts them on. After a human passes by, then he switches to holding the sunglasses with more digits. That human is the hint of where the fake sequence ends.

The other zoom to not trust is Crowley holding the box in episode 6. Once he turns that box over, his thumb is avoiding touching it on purpose. He has the index and middle fingers together with their tips. Meanwhile, the ring finger can be found on camera but is deliberately separate from the other two and not clearly showing its tip.

In both cases, I think touches likely happened, but those are supposed to be a way of the story telling on its own deception. Gabriel probably arrived with a cardboard box at least twice. In the first draft of the story, the message written on the box may have been different.

Illusionary Touches

These things are new to me since I only noticed them when studying pocket touches. In The Pocket Trick, Crowley can't just do an illusionary touch whenever or wherever. He has to meet certain requirements involving timing and framing.

Theoretically, if such things are allowed for earthly objects, they are not as strict. However, I don't have much to go on and never really noticed. I had assumed things you would know would be an illusion, would not actually count.

Crowley's Name

Crowley's name usage, or lack thereof, is just flat out odd in the whole story, but if there is a rule, it's something like neither Crowley nor Gabriel are ever allowed to say Crowley's name. No exceptions.

For Crowley, this theoretical rule applies to all time periods shown in the season 2 story.

For more on just how odd the usage is, please see my post here. Be sure to check my own reblogs to that post as well.

Players Section Link

Sideburns

I don't mention the sideburns much in this entire post since I have a whole other extensive post about them. However, they are relevant to this game in that whatever is going on with them uses the mechanics of Earthly Objects. Even so, it seems to be its own game with a scheme at work from both Crowley and Aziraphale. You can find more here: The Sideburns Scheme.

Rule Following

A fascinating example I've found of rule-following by Crowley and Aziraphale is when Muriel intrudes on them. I can’t fully explain the mechanics of the rules because like I said, I really do think Crowley is an expert at this game. Whatever is happening here is advanced stuff. I'm going to walk you through what he does to get this scene where it needs to go. He does it with style.

Before Muriel intrudes, Aziraphale had already made sure to have a cup of tea visibly touching his hands to start the scene in the room. Crowley poses to indicate he is touching a blurred stack of books in the room, even if Aziraphale's body obscures confirmation of that touch while Aziraphale closes the door. Crowley's left arm is shown as him placing a hand on his hip. During their conversation, Crowley's right arm keeps telling us he's still touching that stack and not moving away from it. Blurs, I believe at this point, allow a pass, and so this one seems to be allowing some kind of pass and then hold so long as Crowley keeps at it.

The story lets him without confirming that is the touch on camera. We are never going to see that confirmation. He displays his left arm and even says, "One fabulous kiss, and we're good," as if that's a clue he is allowed that one time to show that one arm until a certain thing is going to happen. That left arm returns to implying its previous touch as well.

Crowley has an earthly object prepared for the scene. He fully intends to give over those keys despite his grumbling. It might be very important that the car keys earn a specific point because they move the story along.

Ready for the pass, he has those keys in his left hand, skin contact and all, perhaps a little blurry on a camera from behind him, but still, he's got them.

Muriel opens the door, crosses past the threshold of this private conversation, and says, "All done?" No earthly objects. No hello. No knocking. We have an outright intrusion here! At least there was a question, but it might not have been enough due to what Crowley does.

Crowley pulls the keys back toward himself immediately. From the view behind Muriel, his pose is returned to match what it was when Aziraphale closed the door at the start of the scene even though Muriel's blocking the blurred stack of books.

Aziraphale's frustrated because of the rules. Crowley is going to do several things to handle this situation.

First, Crowley smiles and answers Muriel, then asks Muriel about being interested in humans being in love. That’s a question. Then he even stops Muriel from saying names. He's saying the names himself, so his implied hold with both arms might be allowing him to keep dragging out a lot of the dialogue until he gets what he wants. Assuredly, Aziraphale seeming to get quite turned on by this talk is about the love, but he's also watching the master of this game at work.

Eventually, Muriel brings out a notepad and pen. That's two earthly objects. Between both Muriel and Crowley, that interaction meets the requirements, regardless of the initiating question from the whole intrusion. Aziraphale has kept quiet the whole time though he at least smiles. Crowley's left arm readies itself for what comes next. His right arm is still implying the touch behind him.

Muriel's eyes move their attention from Crowley to the notepad. Spanning only a few frames after this shift, Crowley's blurred hand shows the keys for the touch and tosses the keys toward Aziraphale. Without checking frame by frame, it looks instant based on the notepad, not the eye movement from Muriel. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Aziraphale manages the catch, thankfully. You can tell he was nervous and is grateful. He winks. That gives one point to him for the keys in his hand and another point for the wink as a self-touch since he’s a supernatural being holding an earthly object. The pair need one last point.

Muriel's attention remains on their notepad for the entire toss.

Crowley's right arm maintains its implied touch throughout the entire scene, even after the toss is done. He does one last thing to close it all out. He gives a sour grimace to allow his cheeks an active touch on his new sunglasses. At least, I think that's how the sequence is intended to be.

So, my current guess is that the scene is three different interactions. The first is between Aziraphale and Crowley. They already had their points but the story doesn’t want just points (or, as noted, the implied touch may have allowed some kind of hold). Those keys needed a relevant pass between these two players. Muriel’s intrusion reset things, so that another interaction of three points between Crowley and Aziraphale was necessary.

Crowley takes over to be the one character to interact with Muriel, get them their own points without involving the keys in this intentionally isolated interaction. His precise timing is impressive. Then there’s the third sequence covered above (keys, wink, grimace). To help keep these interactions separate, Muriel should not see the pass.

Rule Breaking - Basic

Likely Fake Crowley, who is probably Aziraphale, passing a cardboard box and no dialogue is breaking the rules. Soon after is a blurry figure who I’m guessing is still a fake. The figure picks up sunglasses and avoids an obvious plate of Eccles cakes. These cuts are likely part of an edit. There are two earthly objects emphatically not touched. Gabriel is nowhere to be found, but the more clear fake had long sideburns. In the next bookshop scene, the plate has disappeared, and the cardboard box has been moved.

Crowley, Saraqael, and Muriel walking to the Heaven elevator is likely an edit because it also breaks the rules. There are no earthly object touches, no dialogue, and suddenly Michael and Uriel are in the elevator later. That one's probably obvious to others, but still. There were no touches is my point. Crowley didn't hop or run, and Saraqael never takes their finger off their joystick for their wheelchair. There were even avoided touches in the cut right before it. I have a gut feeling that Saraqael is not an expert but at least a little more attuned to these rules and would earn a touch point if they wanted. And Crowley certainly knows his way around on earning these points when he wants.

Rule Breaking and High Tier Play - The Final Fifteen

The rules of standard play and high tier play are contradictory, but I'm still going to say "rule-breaking" because I think it is important and fair in full context of what happens. There are touches, but things are still considerably different due to what is touched when. There is definitely a lack of touching on the number of earthly objects in the bookshop itself and even the street later.

Of the touches that do happen in the bookshop and street later, the kiss excluded, most of those are actually Crowley following the rules on the hidden higher tier of play on thresholds for his Threshold Tricks. You should read that link if you want to know more about what the tricks actually are.

The two main characters are the main ones breaking the rules though the Metatron is at least partially doing so as well. His play is completely off compared to everyone. Other characters will be shown, and they will be shown as still following the rules even though they have no further dialogue.

The rule-breaking seems to start when the Metatron looks toward the bookshop after talking to Muriel. If he's looking through a window, the story has decided we don't need a complex window scene then or during the entire conversation in the bookshop.

The first touch is a threshold-only one with Crowley removing his sunglasses. If my theory on the Sunglasses Trick is correct, that is actually the next-to-last touch Crowley is doing for the first of three Threshold Tricks that will complete by the end of the episode, after he completed two others before this latter half of episode 6.

However, the Sunglasses Trick is an extensive and questionable theory, even moreso than the tricks that follow it. What if it's wrong? Even if not wrong and partly for the trick to begin with, the nature of the touch is still notably different from the rest of the story and worth pointing out.

Threshold-only touches on the sunglasses have a general format that isn't like what is happening here. The sunglasses are usually detached from Crowley onto an earthly object if he removes them. If he does keep holding them or is not seen putting them on an earthly object, there are three preceding instances of a subtle demonic hiss to indicate he is using them as a demon addressing an angel, two of which happened in the present day with Gabriel.

Here, Crowley holds his sunglasses and will keep holding them until he puts them back on. There will be no demonic hiss. They are his door, and he is holding his door. They are emphatically not an earthly object or touching an earthly object by extension during his entire conversation with Aziraphale.

Both characters touch their clothes nervously but not in ways the rules seem to allow, such as how they manage their pockets.

Neither Crowley nor Aziraphale say hello or acknowledge that Aziraphale is back. Crowley skips straight ahead to having something to say that doesn't have the usual format. There is no name, no question, and so on. He even acknowledges they should be "talking about" and cuts himself off.

Aziraphale interrupts him, does include a question, but then actually answers it himself.

Most questions are given more care in allowing the other character a chance to respond.

Still, nothing they weren't already wearing is touched.

Soon after the usual initiating set of rules are broken, the cohesion of the story's narrative is broken. The present day has intentionally been moving the audience between one scene and the next to suggest events are following a given implied chronology and timeline of a few days. Gabriel arrived on Monday. Crowley looked exceptionally hot in a black turtleneck on Tuesday. Aziraphale went to Edinburgh on Wednesday. The ball was prepared for and happened on Thursday. They are currently experiencing things on this Friday.

We've had flashbacks since the start leading closer and closer to the present day, but not a single one of those flashbacks started in this manner of a present day narration to start the flashback. They've been memories playing out between the present day events. The other present day events have been mentioned in dialogue, not narrated. We go to a very recent scene that supposedly happened without us seeing it. Then Aziraphale chops it even more. "And I said, 'Me'? And then he said..." What kind of cut is that?! Broken I tell you. It's broken. Not with exact wording. I'm just pointing out the standard cohesion of the narrative before this point is emphatically broken here—maybe even on purpose. Even setting aside this game idea, we as the audience, are supposed to notice how jarring it is. It gives a heavy implication that Aziraphale is lying.

I question a lot of the dialogue throughout the scene, but it's too much for me and not really the focus with the touching and lacking touching.

Before the kiss happens, there is another threshold touch. Crowley puts his sunglasses back on. The thresholds to Crowley's sunglasses are the end pieces. He doesn't touch those as best can be managed but what he does touch is specifically the areas around them. Two fingers in front and back of each end piece with each hand. He is being protective of his door to the point he touched the thresholds of his own thresholds.

He could have chosen any number of other places to touch those sunglasses, but he chose there.

Additionally, this touch closes out the Sunglasses Trick, that started as far back as episode 1, if my theory on that trick has any merit. That is the first of his three Threshold Tricks for the end of the season. He started with opening both doors. Now he is closing both doors.

More dialogue is exchanged with no earthly object touches in between.

Finally, the kiss happens. By all appearances, it is an impulsive choice. Yet, that choice resembles a set if clothing touches were acceptable. Crowley grabs the lapels of Aziraphale's coat. That's touch #1. They kiss, and the kiss is reciprocated. That's touch #2. Aziraphale's hand touches Crowley's back with four fingers visible. That's touch #3. Aziraphale's nose might even be touching Crowley's sunglasses, but those things are a guarded door (so far as I'm concerned).

They make a connection with the kiss. This game is almost like a language they understand between each other. For me, the kiss is more about their love than rule-following or rule-breaking.

To remind themselves and/or us that rule-breaking is happening here, the scene immediately continues with an implied quick glance to the window by Aziraphale and continued rule-breaking in the dialogue ("I forgive you.";"Don't bother"). No further words are exchanged. Crowley leaves with a heavy implication of touching the door yet the doorknob is ever so carefully obscured from view as the sound effects inform us he left. Still, nothing they weren't already wearing was touched.

More happens. The Metatron returns, visibly using a doorknob, so there's an earthly object touch by him. However, everything's still a little off. Aziraphale happens to move his feet in specific ways around a small rug until there is a step backwards from it to the floor. He walks backwards onto a big rug, then does not move forward until the camera is no longer watching his feet.

The Metatron takes one hand out of a pocket to gesture toward a window, and the camera never shows when the hand goes back in. Muriel is shown through the window following rules, and while Aziraphale looks, the layout allows that he is not visibly behind the window pane where Muriel was either before or after the look.

Aziraphale manages to keep not touching earthly objects, mainly focus on his dialogue, make sure his feet move when they should move, and his arms and hands don't do too much. The Metatron isn't visibly touching or holding any earthly objects either. Both of them leave the bookshop without the camera actually showing the exit through the doors.

Crowley is shown standing at the door to his car, having positioned himself for his incoming trick.

Aziraphale and the Metatron talk some more. Then there is a miracle sound and a notable reaction from Aziraphale. He chances a look over toward Crowley.

When Crowley is shown in the third of three camera shots leading to that moment, he has completed The Door Trick. That is the second of his three tricks to finish in the episode.

Aziraphale has a follow-up chained in from that Trick that I call The Door Catch. I do believe the story intended to communicate that name due to how pocket touches work. They involve word play. The story had an extensive memory on The Bullet Catch in episode 4, so put the ideas together, and there you go.

Inside the elevator, there is one zoomed in touch of presumably the Metatron's finger on the button that could be the story meaning it is an earthly object touch. It's hard to trust with all the known deception in the story itself and how the touch doesn't happen with both his face and body on camera as is usually done with a doorknob for other characters. Such a thing was even shown earlier at the bookshop. Even if perfectly valid, the touch stands out. What is he, human? After studying pocket touches, which have a heavy human presence, I grow all the more suspicious he could be.

The Metatron was not shown crossing the threshold of entering the elevator, but Aziraphale is. The doors are not shown to close, but the implication from the music and sound effects is that they did. Aziraphale has successfully managed to still not touch any earthly objects himself. He is also framed in a specific way all-around that is related to pocket touch mechanics. I at least know what to look for, and I can tell you that his right arm is lined up with the Metatron's in a way that is significant because there is a vertex illusionary touch between them.

A little past that part being done, Crowley does The Window Trick. That is his third and final trick of the three of this latter half of episode 6.

Three Threshold Tricks for this part of the episode makes sense because of how much this game likes the number 3.

Once Crowley has those short sideburns again, something resembling earthly object touches starts. His blurred hand is shown gripping the steering wheel. Then the camera and frame he's in decide to hide it. Texture fades in over where he might be touching the passenger seat. A tiny bit of the driver's seat behind him is partly shown. The camera, lighting, and credits keep messing with the view.

Aziraphale just keeps standing and eventually smiles in a way that's not really encouraging, for me, when I'm sympathizing with Crowley. Admittedly, I do think Crowley has a strategy in motion, especially after examining his overall threshold manipulation during the story.

Whew.

Okay, time to move on.

Let's wrap up with some notes and a list. There is a bonus at the end saved for posterity. That was me starting to grasp at the first Multiplicative Threshold Trick.

Some Notes:

Skin contact is significant, both on earthly objects and on a threshold itself. It seems to have more power from Crowley when he has longest-length sideburns. In particular, I'm referring to three memory access points with Gabriel and The Door Trick. In the door trick, the skin contact touch is the one given a Triple with a Triple multiplier.

Gabriel has some skin contact in at least one of those same memory access points. Otherwise, I haven't figured out much besides Shax's notable avoidance in the present day storyline.

Rules are broken, and the season 2 story continues...until they're broken with great deliberation by two experts...who might be each on their way to Heaven and Hell respectively.

The one with the imagery of the Hell threshold has plants behind him, so some of Earth is still there.

Earthly Objects List

This list includes objects that may have had implied touches instead of actual touches because checking who touched what when, then realizing it's blurry or just presumed, is exhausting when I just want a list. I'm not going to specify every different type of paper that might have been touched...but you know...paper was touched.

Barrel

Bell

Bench

Blanket

Candle

Car seat

Cardboard box

Cards

Cart

Chair

Clipboard

Clothing

Counter

Cup

Feather duster

Hat

Human

Goat

Keys

Magnifying glass

Mail

Mirror

Newspaper

Paper

Pencil

Phone

Piano

Plastic bag

Plastic container

Plate

Rag

Record

Rock

Rug

Scroll

Steering wheel

Table

Towel

Wheelchair

Window

Wine bottle

Wooden box

Bonus Round: Me Bragging on Crowley

The below is saved for posterity because I had so much fun with it. I am quite convinced that this part was the first Multiplicative Threshold Trick and almost a tutorial because the others don't come, or at least finish, until much later and are far more difficult to recognize.

Look, I obsess over David Tennant being Crowley because he is so beautifully perfect for the role, so I am definitely super biased in everything here.

Allow me to attempt demonstrating to you how mind-blowing Crowley is at this game. We're not going to know if what I think happened, really happened, because I don't understand the rules the way he does. Here is what I think happened: He did three threshold-only touches while entering the coffee shop in episode 1. What does that accomplish? Why would he do that? I don't know! My current guess is maybe three in a row actually gives next-level supernatural points in the game, largely in part because of the season’s ending, which is too much to cover here.

Am I sure? Absolutely not, especially with how blurs seem to work between characters and the more standard earthly object touches.

The car arrives, and Crowley places only part of his shoe on the edge of the sidewalk. The heel doesn't touch the street, and the front tip doesn't touch the sidewalk. The movement is quick, so it's a little blurred. Theoretical threshold-only touch #1.

The camera pans up, and then you see his fingers on the side panel of his door that just so happen to only get maybe the window frame and not the window itself. It's blurry, but that's the best I can do. I also have to check frame by frame because it's too fast otherwise. So, if the window is the earthly object but not its frame, then we're good. He's touching both the door frame and the window frame so that could be a 2-in-1 touch. Theoretical threshold-only touch #2.

He closes the door, steps forward, does a spin, and then walks toward the coffee shop. When he gets to that door, his hand should be above the lock, and maybe it's a blurry gray thing, but it's so hard to tell. It's blurry. He's moving too fast. Even if he is touching it, he is covering it completely with his hand.

Since he covers it up fully with his palm, does it somehow not count? If so, then you can tell that his fingers are on the door panel only while his thumb is on the indentation of that panel connected to the window. The tip of his thumb is barely touching the window. The credit for the touch goes to the door panel instead of the window because the door panel has three of five digits from one hand on it whereas the window only has that one little thumb tip. Three digits on one panel could be a 3-in-1 touch. Theoretical threshold-only touch #3.

On entry, there is a fourth threshold that has no door, it’s just separating one section of the coffee shop to another. He passes through, passes Aziraphale, and sits down.

For some reason, he saves his starting two points for the arm on the back of the chair and the question, "Right., what's the problem?" Added in is an implied skin contact touch to the table, seen two cuts later.

The music and the camera work is really impressive in the whole thing, in my opinion. The story wants us to see that sequence in that way. What a beautiful entrance.

He's playing this game in tandem with his sideburns scheme, and there, he is definitely using thresholds to his advantage.

#crowley #good omens 2 #good omens s2 #david tennant #good omens #good omens season 2

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astrum-aetherium · 10 months

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What do you think Henry whispered in Camilla's ear at the end? It's a moment that really stuck with me somehow and I love hearing theories about it

what can possibly be more personal, more ponderous and intimate than i love you?

i'm sure this is something everyone who has read TSH has previously wondered about. i know i have. what i also know is that the most common theory is "live forever", and yes — it would make sense, given that henry is undeniably a devoted little teacher's pet to julian, but it does seem a little melodramatic to me (specifically because julian did abandon them all in the end as well, lol). henry going out with a bang (literally) wouldn't be defined by something as simple as that, however much meaning is attached to it in theory. besides, we've all heard that theory a million times over. i'll offer a new one.

he's goddamn pretentious. to the bone. he refused to take his SATs and thereby consciously denied himself the opportunity to attend any prestigious schools (which he would've certainly gotten into and dominated) for singularly aesthetic reasons. you simply can't get more pretentious than that. i always say that he's too intelligent for his own good — to the point it no longer benefits him at times. just too smart to possess any ability to reflect on himself. almost amusing in that way.

therefore, i believe it was something along the lines of a riddle — something that would keep camilla puzzling over it for a long time succeeding his death. and yes, you can say that his suicide was an impulsive decision and all that, but he had been (even verbally) entertaining suicidal ideology way before he actually went through with it. plus, he just seems like someone who would have something like that — his last words — memorized and ready to go at all times, specifically at a time as dangerous as toying with the possibility of being detained and thrown in jail for murder. just a thought.

i'm almost 100% sure it was also in any language other than english, according to his customs. i've already elaborated on how pretentious he is. he wouldn't make it easy for anyone to figure him out that quickly, not even camilla. the i love you was just a premise, nearly nothing compared to the whisper. and if it's not english, then it must be one of the languages that he does know. assuming that it's either latin or ancient greek, he would go out of his merry way to make it as complex and hardly translatable as he can. he would apply the most archaic of archaic versions of those languages, even with one simple phrase. as i said, he would've planned it out beforehand deliberately. it makes perfect sense.

what it would be, however, is a whole other conversation of its own. maybe that very "i love you" or previously mentioned "live forever", just in a different language. that is the simplest answer i can offer. i like to dig deeper when it comes to mysteries such as this one, though, so i've been gathering my thoughts all day today in order to predominantly satisfy myself with an obnoxiously pretentious answer. how about: "to the stars" (kitsch but fitting, obviously convoluted, and in a different language) or a translated version of "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" — just to deride religion and tradition one last time. or, perhaps, "permanence". something that perpetuates his convicted disbelief in vanitas. "never gone"; "the conclusion". and i know, all of these sound dumb as hell in english, but do remember — they would be uttered in a different language, and in a complex way, too. to be mulled over; wondered about for a long time, even as a scholar.

someone needs to hook me up with ms tartt's phone number so we can settle this once and for all, lol. but then again, i don't want to know. i don't want a simple answer to such a mystifying, ponderous question. i'm fine with eternally musing over it — it certainly keeps me entertained.

#astrum asks #henry winter #the secret history #donna tartt #camilla macaulay #tsh #tsh theory #live forever is a very good guess but it's simple #and i don't like simple answers to complex questions #especially when it comes to theorizing about books #i have an english major mind through and through

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hadeantaiga · 1 year

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feminists used to disagree on what exactly to base their feminism on -> different classes and races of women discuss what feminism needs to include to be considered intersectional -> so feminism needs to include men now?

you are missing massive chunks of history if you think that's how to summarize + dismiss the entirety of radical feminism.

You'll find that a hell of a lot of feminists who aren't radfems include men in their feminism. Not all branches of feminism are anti-male the way radical feminism is.

Like literally, intersectional feminism came about directly because of the white, middle-class narrow mindedness of radical feminism's origins. Did you know that? Don't lecture me on knowing the history if you don't know it. Women of color directly criticized the "all women have a universal experience" and anti-male rhetoric of radical feminists, which often included phrases like "kill all men", to which black women said "Actually, could you stop killing our men? We have more in common with black men than we do with white women".

Plus, all you have to do is look at the people who founded radical feminism to understand how anti-male they are. Almost all of them are transphobic. And look at the derivatives that came from radical feminism: political lesbianism, lesbian separatists, female separatists, trans-exclusionary radical feminists, and the gender critical feminists, all of which are violently anti-male.

If you're a radfem, you're in a branch of feminism that is, at its core, bioessentialist, believes in reinforcing the sex binary, and is inadvertently upholding the patriarchy by painting men and males as inherently violent and irredeemable.

And I'm sorry, but any political or social ideology that demonizes half the population of Earth is a garbage ideology.

That's not to say there were never good moments in radical feminist history - there were - but in my opinion as a trans feminist, the violent harm they have done since their start vastly outweighs any good they may have done.

#anon #anonymous #feminist history #intersectional feminism #anti radfem #feminism

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theconstitutionisgayculture · 7 months

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I’m trying to educate myself on the discussions that your blog has and wanted to ask about something regarding gender identity:

I’ve read about John Money and the experiments he performed on children, and that he came up with the phrase “gender identity.” Is gender identity part of just “nonbinary” people, or is it that and the trans movement? I never got the nonbinary term or the need for it, but I want to get your perspective on if it also applies to trans people, and would anyone transgender (with gender dysphoria, not trenders) be inadvertently supporting gender identity, and by association John Money’s definition, even if the person themselves says that they vehemently despise John Money, or if they don’t like TRAs and the trans movement/community? As an additional question, would you prefer a psychologist tell people diagnosed with dysphoria to wait until they’re at least 18 or older to consider if they’re ready to undergo permanent surgery, rather than just tell them they’re trans right away?

I’m not sending this as a “gotcha” or anything like it, I just want to understand if I’m missing anything. Plus, I find the idea of trans children to be weird, and I don’t like the idea of pushing gender identity onto them before they’re old enough to realistically think it through

So, what "non-binary" actually means is just being gender non conforming. And what that means is not adhering to gender roles. For example, a woman with short hair, or a man who wears a skirt.

What people who say they're non-binary thinks it means, though, is a real, actual third gender. They absolutely buy into "gender identity" as described by John Money; the idea that gender is different from sex and can be changed at any time.

There is no such thing as a third gender. There are men and women, and people with gender dysphoria have a mental illness where their brain is telling them their physical gender is wrong, and that they should have been born in the body of a member of the opposite gender. So, real, actual trans people are not non-binary. It's not a real thing. It's a trend.

As an additional question, would you prefer a psychologist tell people diagnosed with dysphoria to wait until they’re at least 18 or older to consider if they’re ready to undergo permanent surgery, rather than just tell them they’re trans right away?

Yes, 18 at the very least. 18 should be when the process to transition starts. And that means trying every other possible option first, followed by a long process of making sure the person who wants to transition is both mentally competent to make that decision and is well aware of the risks and complications and the impacts of living with the aftermath of that kind of surgery.

The facts are the vast majority of kids and teens who say they have "gender confusion" grow up to be perfectly comfortable with their birth gender; that puberty turns the brain into a soup of hormones; that one oft he most common experiences of puberty is feeling uncomfortable with your body and the way its developing; that there are multiple mental illnesses that we know can't be accurately diagnosed in children and teens because of how their brains and bodies are developing. Any one of these facts alone should be enough to have any reputable doctor putting a stop to transitioning minors. So yes, no one, especially a doctor, should ever be telling a child that they're trans.

Trans children do not exist.

Behind every "trans child" is an adult who is abusing that child. Full stop.

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skye-the-dragon · 11 days

Text

My Tav!!! :D

I thought I’d share how they look in-game, since drawing them can only do so much lol

If you want some additional info (+more how i see them) it’s under the cut lol

So, my Tav.

Their name is Zion, because they’re essentially a self insert and I’m very uncreative

They’re a sorcerer

They’re nonbinary (use they/them), aromantic (but still willing to be in a relationship when they find a person they feel comfy with), and asexual (sex positive tho)

(Let me explore my sexuality through fiction okay-)

They’re around 180 years old during the game’s events, which I’ve decided is more or less 25-30 human years

They’re a human-drow-dragonborn, but the human traces are very slight because their parents were pure dragonborn and a half-drow, but down a few generations of drow/drow relationships. Their most human parts are the slightly creamy colors to their cheeks and ears, as well as a small amount of almost-white hairs, mostly over their arms and legs

From more draconic features, they mainly have slitted pupils, like a cat, because it’s fun, and their teeth are sharper than average. Plus they have scales, other than on the face, on their biceps, and all over their chest area (no nipples lol). Plus sharper-than-usual nails :)

I’ve also decided they do have a draconic tail, despite that not being an option in in-game customization, because it’s my imagining of the world and I get to do what I want, I am the DM now >:3

On that note, big sucker for wings here, so… you know. They have “retractable” (part-magic) draconic wings. But, to make it less op, I’ve made it hurt like hell whenever they summon them, cause it’s essentially like speed-growing an additional body part with bone in it, then shedding it like a skinwalker on supernatural, so they don’t use that nearly at all, unless under really strong emotions, or under extreme circumstances. But, to make it more fun, their feet also turn draconic when they do that

(Ik people are probably gonna come at me for that one, but eh, I don’t really care. It’s my version of the world, after all. Besides, it doesn’t come up often so you can technically just ignore that)

They have the criminal background, and I don’t quite have their backstory fleshed out just yet, but I know they became a thief to survive after their family was killed due to debt (drow are brutal), then it became a sort of revenge thing, to steal from rich people and such

They got found out at one point, at around 150 years of age, and were hunted down, but escaped the town before they got caught and/or killed, which is pretty much like a banishment if you think about it lol

Since then they’ve just been living sorta on the run, stealing or foraging and hunting to survive, at first in the Underdark, then, later, on the surface

Twas on one of their heists for food the nautiloid got them

Now for some fun facts and other little things!

They actually dislike the sun, it makes their eyes hurt from how bright it is. Were very disappointed because everyone who’s seen it and been in the Underdark praised its beauty and shit, but when they saw it for the first time they were just like “I cannot see”

They still appreciate sunsets and sunrises though

They speak Common, Undercommon, Drowish, and know how to say a few basic phrases in Draconic/Glav (they can read the alphabet as well, just not out loud)

They’re very morally grey. Like, would sell your soul to a devil for a single corn chip with no remorse but would also immediately stand up to your abuser kind of morally grey

They can eat raw and rotten food without much consequence, because their draconic ancestry makes their stomach acid more… well, acidic, so it just melts all the bad stuff away. They don’t like rotten food tho, it tastes bad. Raw meat on the other hand…

Once they get attached to someone they will do anything for them

Despite Astarion’s lines being pretty much copy-pasted from a script, they find them endearing (until they learn about his past, then they want to hold him every time he falls back into that habit)

They have unreasonable amounts of charisma when they want (17), despite the fact they’re a total dumbass other times

Speaking of stats, STR is at 8, so they’re very lean

Their favorite animals are snakes, they just love the noodly babies

They make dirty jokes every chance they get (to the delight of Astarion and demise of literally everyone else)

They hate kids. Like, really. They let that tiefling child who stole the locket from that one guy get slapped lmao

Aside from the visible piercings, they have a belly button one as well

That’s it I think for now. If you’ve read this far, I hope you enjoyed me dumping all the info on you lmao <3

#bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #baldur’s gate 3 #baldurs gate iii #baldur's gate iii #baldurs gate tav #bg3 tav #tav #my tav

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willsolaceloml · 2 years

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Will Solace hcs cause he SOLOS!!!! Stay mad haters

(Both in the demigods world and in a mortal!au)

Hes a bisexual icon

He was short as a child. And i mean. Shorter than the common child. I mean short SHORT. He wasnt known as Will Solace he was known as The Blond Smurf. Shortest in the class type of beat. Everyone thought that he was going to be like 5'7" MAX as an adult.

Got a massive grown spurt when he was like 14 and now hes like 6'1" (people didnt reconize him anymore. Someone started a rumor that some big ass giant took him and pulled him from his head and his feets and that was why he had become so tall. Everyone was terrified.)

He uses guns as his weapon of choice against monsters!! He sucks with close combat and finds the bow somehow boring. Plus! His granddad taught him how to shot when he was younger (Naomi wasnt that happy to see her 10yo with a gun) so he had a sort of emotial bond to that type of weapon.

He specifically asked the Hephaestus cabin to build him a pair of semi automatics and hes this 🤏🏻 close to give them a name and tug their bedsheets for nighttime

He has plague powers. STOP BEING COWARDS YOU ALL KNOW HE DOES!!

He never uses them tho because hes really ashamed of them

Hes a dog dad. By which i mean that he has not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4 but 5 dogs ☺️ One Golden Retriever (named Shiro) that was the Solaces family dog, one light weiner (Burrito) that was gifted to Will by a friend, two pitbulls (Mila and Bee) adopted from the dog shelter and lastly one mutt (sandy) personally saved by Will from an abusive home.

He loves dogs guys he truly does

Hes actually very good as sports! Hes especially great at Volleyball and Basketball, and in his High School hes part of the basketball team.

Hes very close with Leo & Clarisse they are literally bffs

Nico taught him italian swears and hes able to say "testa di cazzo" and "pezzo di merda" as fluently as a native speaker

When he was young he always dressed up as young Anakin

Once he got older he dressed up as Luke, Han and older Anakin

Hes like. VERY protective with people he loves. Not in an oppressive way tho

Hes one FINE mf and i mean it that man Is ANGELIC

He doesnt really see it tho

He decided he wanted to be a doctor when in 5th grade the school organized an obligatory first aid course for the kids. It was very basic but Will instantly fell in love.

He eats. A lot. Like he can eat 2 large pizzas alone and still ask for a dessert. His friends use him as a sort of trashcan because of this. "Oh you cant finish whats in your plate? Just give it to Will! He'll eat everything"

Han Solo was his bi awakening

He likes to bake! Not as much as he loves to eat tho

He surfs (ofc....) and try to make Nico learn it (spoiler: he sucks)

He has tattoos. People lets accept the truth. He does. Hes FULL of them. Big ones, little ones, dumb things, phrases, animals... Everything. He loves them.

He has a... Weird fashion sense. By this i mean its horrible. Yes i know. Its an ugly truth, but its the truth. He couldnt be that level of flawless...

Drew tries to help, she really does, but Will just cant seem to comprehend whats wrong with his fashion sense. Sandals with socks, different prints together, 9374928392 colors together seems all reasonable to him

His average body temperature Is around 37°/38° C. Didnt have much fun during covid times. (Gonna post about this specific hc in the future hehe)

He loves tangled. He LOVES tangled.

Nico forces him to dress up as Rapunzel while he dresses up as Flynn Rider.

Hes also a big fan of Shrek. Watched those movies a ton of times

OK IM DONE IM DONE

#bisexual will solace #will solace #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #william solace #william andrew solace #will solace solos #solangelo #nico di angelo #nico x will #will x nico #pjo hoo toa #nico pjo #hoo #heros of olympus #trials of apollo #tangled

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cometrose · 1 month

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Exactly the only thing different is the genders, if they were reversed everyone would be on his side like you said we've seen this story a 100 times, not that there isn't a lot of misogyny in fandom spaces like all spaces and dramas still have room for improvement when it comes to female characters in general but the way fandom has changed these last few years is just crazy, no nuance no complexity nothing interesting just perfect characters or they will get eaten alive and when it comes to romance, all they want is endlessly devoted men the women and their actions don't even factor into it it's all omg he's such a green flag and she fell first he fell harder we've completely lost the ability to engage with media, everything becomes morality discourse for fake people. I don't remember how they phrased it but someone said the way these people engage with media is because the only activism they know is online they haven't done anything in real life which is why they think fictional characters and their actions are tantamount to what real people believe...

ooh this is such a good point and I agree truly.

Bullied by in-laws? Ignored by spouse? In any other story people would be rallying for HW to get on the quickest flight out of there (I mean I was lol)

There is still a lot of misogyny within fandoms and dramas themselves so I always try to be thoughtful when discussing female characters but god you're so right. We just want perfection from these characters all the time and some many people just want perfect tropes perfect characters and perfect stories all the time its exhausting.

I am repeating myself but I do like how they aren't hopelessly devoted to each other all the time. I've watched two dramas this year, Marry My Husband and Perfect Marriage Revenge, and both male leads are knee-on-the-ground, would do anything for their respective female leads and while i do like those boys I also don't mind a male lead that has contradictory emotions for his partner.

Like the biggest thing here is nuance, the truth is obvious from the beginning that Hyunwoo clearly loves Haein he has just buried that feeling under all this frustration and resentment that he can no longer recognize it. These people don't have perfectly good feelings or behaviors towards each other and I think that's fine.

Plus this is a story about an estranged married couple like how would there be drama if they were perfectly perfect partners to each other all the time? Even though they may love each other that love isn't enough to be a happy couple. Haein says that she did not write Hyunwoo in the will because she wished to marry him as soon as possible and had to get through her mother first essentially leaving him high and dry but they were so in love it didn't matter. Like noooo these complexities are interesting plus it is so common for spouses to grow to hate each other and seeing there relationship grounded in some aspect of reality is a fresh change. I welcome it.

Don't get me started on morality politics on social media, the first two eps dropped I went on twitter saw one discussion tweet and knew I couldn't stay there it would drive me crazy. People are always trying to idolize someone these days, to find some perfect thing or unproblematic item to worship unconditionally instead of just accepting some things are fundamentally flawed and discussing their strengths and weaknesses.

#queen of tears #like its so hard to talk about less than perfect characters when everyone defaults to extremes #oh hes not perfect? he must be abusive and you like abusive dynamics NOOOOOO NOOO NOOOOO STOPPPPPP #like i do wish to see if their love can overcome this situation #the situation in question being themselves #like im defending hw because this is hypocrisy! you guys would be on his side if you switched the pronouns around guys!!!#ive read too many webtoons #sheesh

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dusktarot · 1 year

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Hello I am curious about toki pona 👀

rubs my hands together evilly... teehee

ok so! the basics. toki pona is a constructed language made by Sonja Lang made up of around 120-150 words (depending on who you ask). the first book, known by toki pona speakers as lipu pu, which is a sort of an introduction to the language and basic reference document, has 120. the second book, lipu ku, which is a dictionary based off usage by toki pona speakers, adds 17 more words that are commonly used, bringing it up to about 137 "canonical" words. many low-use words exist, known as nimisins (literally "new words") or nimi ku lili (words that are in the second book but aren't part of those 17 common use ones), but these are often very situational and often not well regarded, because the point of toki pona is minimalism! i think linguistic minimalism's a lot more fun than most other kinds-- it forces you to really dissect what you're thinking about. but it also helps trim the fat! some people stick to the words in lipu pu only, which imo is a little wild. where would i be without kijetesantakalu..... (joke)

most words cover extremely broad meanings. soweli refers to most any animal, though generally it's referring to a mammal. something furry, beasty, something like that. waso refers to birds and perhaps other flying animals! i get into discussions about if a bat is a soweli or a waso-- my opinion is that if youre looking at its little mammalian face, or considering its other features rather than its flight, it's a soweli. if it's just something flying around at night, it can be a waso! or maybe even its a soweli waso, or a bird-like mammal.

toki pona's very context-sensitive, like i mentioned a bat can be either a soweli or a waso. what matters is what's important to the conversation. if im using a pencil to draw, it's an ilo, or tool. if i'm referring to the shape of it, it's a palisa, or stick-shaped object.

the name "toki pona" uses two of those very few words in the language-- toki, meaning talk, language, speech, etc., and pona, meaning good or simple. personally i think this conflation of good and simple raises some problems, but i've had this conversation with other toki pona speakers lol. ultimately, if you're speaking toki pona you should be able to see the good in simplicity, which is what makes the idea of pona work.

one of toki pona's selling points is that it's easy to learn. you could probably learn the vocab in a few weeks! but fluency takes more practice-- and one reason for that is that you're having to interpret each phrase and figure out what meaning's important... or you have to stretch your brain a bit to not care what kind of ilo someone is using, it's just important that theyre using some kind of ilo. if it was important what kind, they'd specify!

it makes for a really fun challenge and i call it sort of a "toy" language. it's not going to replace other languages or anything, but it's fun and makes the brain feel a bit better! not worrying about the specifics of things can really feel nice.

also one of the 137 main words is tonsi, meaning trans or nonbinary, so yaaaaay. mi tonsi. plus gender is completely optional in toki pona-- meli (female) and mije (male) are words that exist but quite frankly i rarely ever use them. there is one (1) third person pronoun. toki pona speakers may mix up their headnoun, though! basically all proper names in toki pona become adjectives instead of nouns-- for example, the US is ma Mewika, aka a place called Mewika (America). i use kili (fruit/vegetable) or jan (person, which is the standard/default for people), so im kili Temeke or jan Temeke!

as you can see words also get changed to fit into the acceptable sounds of toki pona, since it also has a very limited sound inventory and won't accept consonant clusters/consonants at the end of syllables except for n. this is also to make it more accessible to speakers of many languages, since all the sounds are quite common cross-linguistically!

#toki pona #long post #unleashes the autism.#babble #ty for asking!!

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jrwi-most-nd · 5 months

Text

Round 3 Poll:

Pictures and propaganda are under the cut!

Gillion Tidestrider (Riptide)

(Submitted for Autism, ADHD, OCD, PTSD, and Dyslexia)

do i really need to say anything. do i really. ~ Autism he has,,,,,,, an issue with textures and social interaction and just yknow gives off those v i b es ~ Autism He misses social cues, mostly black and white thinking, especially towards the beginning of the series, strong morals, has stated he doesn’t like/struggles with change, etc etc ~ Autism HE CANONICALLY DOESN’T LIKE VELVET HE CANONICALLY HAS TEXTURE/SENSORY ISSUES. His whole arc with the oversea is so autism coded (with not understanding things everybody else around him thinks is common knowledge even if it’s never been explained to him before). But ALSO HE TOTALLY HAS INTRUSIVE/IMPULISVE THOUGHTS he canonically has ‘blasphemous’ type thoughts (wanting to steal lemons with his friends even if it’s against his oath), plus there’s NO WAY he doesn’t have violent type intrusive thoughts about hurting his loved ones NO WAY. plus his overall stubbornness of not letting go of his oath and general struggles with change is so so so autism coded of him. ~ Autism and OCD Gillion is literally so autistic. He misses social cues and is easily deceived. He also hates lying and is overall a very honest guy! he repeats certain phrases like ‘it is my destiny!’ which are actually vocal stims cause i said so. Could all of this be explained by him not having a childhood and never learning anythning other than fight? yup! Am i saying all of this cause im like that? yeah! and im autistic :D also hes very cool and thats also a sign of autism ~ Autism being put through years of (training) torture can cause anxiety especially at the young age he was ive also seen him just do random shit which gives off the idea that he’s not reliant on social cues, for example; jumping out windows, kissing a man (chip), or just going off to do his own thing which is a thing i do alot,,not kissing men,,,or jumping out winows yet but hes not reliant on social cues, he also ties his hair up, and i know he didnt do it in the first design but sometimes my sensory issues go away and come back randomly like a vacation for those bastards anyway another thing with the anxiety autism and anxiety are both very common together like autism and adhd! thats all i got but i can go way more in depth ~ Autism and Anxiety Gillion fishman nuerospicy asf and I need ppl to share in my hc that he has ocd look at him. Insert cool character analysis I don’t do words. Fish. ~ Autism, ADHD, and OCD

Ashe Winters (Prime Defenders)

(Submitted for Autism, OCD, DID/Plurality, Psychosis, and Cotard’s Syndrome)

source: dude trust me (/system) ~ Plurality, Psychosis, and Cotard’s Syndrome look at her. Thanks. no but autism Obviously duh incarnate vocal tone constant allusions to games headphone warrior but also . she rly just spent a year in her brain (the array would be Shit if even Considered DID rep obviously but imagine a perfect world where everything is good and normal) ocd more tied to hcs like drumming her hands on certain things certain amounts of times and trying to reach for the book when its not there but theres a lot more i just cant remember off the top of my head ~ Autism, OCD, and DID

#jrwi most nd #jrwi most neurodivergent #jrwi #jrwi bracket #just roll with it bracket #jrwi nd swag #just roll with it #jrwi prime defenders #jrwi riptide #ashe winters #gillion tidestrider

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punmonster · 4 months

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Hong Lu is definitely suspicious. He talks of his family a lot, but except the mention of his grandma in ons of his IDs and Jia Huan who got like 3 lines, we know absolutely nothing.

His jade eye obviously has some effect, but I don't think we've seen it, unless it's a subconscious thing, is it like surveillance? I need to find a summary of his novel. Additionally, the out of touch way he acts is obviously odd - both by city standards and ours - and has only been really broken by seeing the whales if I'm remembering right.

His symbol contains his eye, his hairband and a cloud - possibly representing how he seems to be on cloud nine to those around him, or dies it represent blocking something out.

Hong Lu's emotional intelligence could also be seen as a break in his act, like with his portrayl of Young-ji of the Lo9 and how he lies to Saude about Effie.

Unrelated but apparently DoTRC contains characters known as 'the Twelve Beauties' and there are 12 other Sinners excluding him, which is funny to me for no particular reason.

Good Day!

-[⏰]

his granny likes to send him places in his ids. im wondering if he was planted here. plus hes so detached from everything.... and a great actor. hes so unthreatening that it loops back around to being sus. i imagine at least a conflict of choosing sides when it comes to his canto

tho, i do think betrayal would be difficult in a gacha and it cant last long, or it will need to be near the end. peeps will get mad if they whale out for some ids and then cant use them lol

i think the cloud isn't about being on cloud 9. im not sure how common that phrase is in china (origin of hong lu's book) or korea. i think its more to do with how his family is distant and above society. the eye with the cloud rings looks a bit like a planet to me, which pushes him further out of reach... and brings me back to hong lu moon theory :D

#limbus company

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insertsickusername13 · 1 year

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as a prompt: a richjake roadtrip after senior year

this took me so long.who knew road trips were so hard to write? wtf. like it's such a classic it should've been easy, but i started this weeks ago and only managed to finish it now bc i just refused to close the tab until i finished. and on that note i've been writing for the past hour and my brain has lost all ability to process the english language so i didn't edit it. if there's grammar mistakes or certain sentences are total nonsense then i'm very very sorry

uh, warnings? mentions of sex. mentions of drugs and alcohol.

word count: 5,437 (yes, it's longer than I wanted. its a roadtrip. how am i supposed to write that in a thousand words?)

On the second day, Rich told Jake he liked him. They were up in Maine, planning on getting all of New England before heading west. Jake had the passenger seat pushed back as far as it could go, eyes closed and legs almost straightened. It was early—7? Maybe 8?

When Jake had insisted they go on a road trip together, Rich had imagined late mornings in hotel rooms and late nights in clubs. (He also imagined Jake realizing just how terrible this would be for his legs within the first three hours, but it was hour eight and he still seemed determined.) Instead, he got a rigid schedule and a pre-made playlist. No bars or underground concerts—just Mount Rushmore and Chicago and art museums. Aquariums where there were ones, beaches when they could.

They’d only been through Massachusetts and Connecticut by the time Rich gave in. They were alone for the first time in ages—and not in their house, not with the promise of going to school and seeing their friends the next day. They were practically in the middle-of-no-where-New-Hampshire and Rich could pull over, stand on the roof of the car, and scream, “I love Jake Dillinger!!” and the only person who would hear would be the object of his affections. The urge to confess flurried within and around the car like an unshakable snowstorm.

He didn’t mean to say it. In all honesty, it was a misinterpreted phrase, a result of Rich’s excessive talking as Jake hummed from the passenger seat, half-asleep.

“But Interstellar just had more,” he said, only half paying attention to the empty highway, “Like yeah, okay, Tenet was weird as fuck and probably had a cooler concept if I was smart enough to figure it the fuck out, but the main character’s name was fucking protagonist. Who becomes emotionally attached to a dude named protagonist? It lacked the depth Interstellar had. Plus, Interstellar felt attainable. Like fuck yeah, I wanna go to space.”

“Mhm.”

“I’d take you with me. Maybe Michael, but I’m not sure how ventilation works on a spacecraft and his weed might stink up the whole thing.”

“Probably.”

“You’d be a menace, you can barely handle gas station food, let alone space food. You’d have a heart attack at not being able to have your weekly caviar.”

“You’d just throw me out in space,” Jake mumbled, not even bothering to deny the caviar jab.

“Nah, I like you too much,” Rich teased, poking at Jake’s exposed stomach. He expected a squawk, at least for Jake to shove him away, but there was only silence. Rich took his eyes off the road for just a split second, interest piqued, only to be met with Jake’s wide, terrified expression.

He’d said it a million times before and never overthought it, but maybe there was something different about this time. Maybe it was because they were alone rather than surrounded by friends, maybe it was because now they’d planned a life together—college, in Boston, Jake at Harvard and Rich at Emerson, still roommates. Maybe it was accursed Maine and all its forests, or the way Rich emphasized like. Love was a common word between them, said every sleepless night since the fire, but like meant so much more. Like implied a hesitance only present where romance was seeping into every word.

“No, you don’t," Jake seethed.

Rich scoffed. A restless apprehension crept its way up his spine and settled in his fingertips, which tapped against the steering wheel.

“Pretty sure I do, buddy. You’re—”

“I’m your best friend and you don’t like me.”

Oh. Oh fuck. Jake meant like that. He knew, he—fuck. Rich had to consciously stop himself from accidentally sending the car tumbling into the forest.

“Okay,” Rich forced out, “Okay. I don’t like you.”

Jake’s sigh of relief was similar to a comet colliding with Rich’s home. He squeezed the steering wheel and kept his mouth clamped shut, terrified that one wrong move would send them spiraling off the edge of the Earth.

As it turned out, though, Jake didn’t mind Rich’s confession. He didn’t directly acknowledge It afterward, glad to pretend he was still blissfully unaware of every icy undercurrent running under their feet.

Rich thought an explicit rejection would hurt. He’d imagined how it would go a million times over, a passive version of self-destruction. He lay awake next to Jake’s sleeping body and thought of every word he’d say, how he’d say it, the way he’d look away with guilt. Rich had all his responses planned, all his apologies already written. He was prepared for an, ‘I’m so sorry, I just don’t think of you that way—’

He was not prepared for Jake’s arm slung over his shoulder, lips close to his ear, and that quiet, breathy laugh Jake only let slip out around Rich.

They were in some local museum meant to educate passing tourists about some half-abandoned small town Stephen King would write about. It was reasonably entertaining, mostly a distraction from the storm of heartbreak he was trying to disassemble in his chest. Just one night—he needed one night alone in a hotel room to sob out every sorrow, then he’d bounce back. Just one night.

If only Jake would stop trying to kill him. Rich was satisfied reading about boats or whales or something (he’d forgotten, too busy thinking about Jake’s fingers clutching Rich’s t-shirt to keep his balance) with Jake a good two feet away, examining a painting. But Rich’s beautiful demolitionist decided his next target was Rich. He appeared to the right of him and practically draped himself over him, impossibly energetic for being in a place that reeked of desolation and dust.

“Fuckin’ Maine and their lobsters,” Jake grumbled into Rich’s ear, resting his chin in the crook of his shoulder.

Every possible witty response died before Rich even had the chance to think them up. His brain was too muddled with Jake and Jake knowing and Jake being so close. Where there would usually be a confession on the tip of Rich’s tongue, unspoken but overwhelming, there was only the bitter aftertaste of hope.

“Yeah,” Rich stated, simple and short. Jake’s cane knocked against Rich’s knee. It wasn’t even on the ground anymore, having been replaced by Rich.

Jake made a small sound of confusion before nuzzling a bit closer and said, “Do we wanna drive to Vermont for lunch? Or are we staying here?”

“It’s like a four-hour drive.”

“So we’re staying here?”

“If you want.”

Jake shifted away slightly, just far enough that Rich began reteaching himself how to breathe.

“You’re all red,” Jake stated, soft and oblivious.

Okay, so no breathing. Rich writhed in Jake’s hold until he was free and standing three feet away, face even redder than before, an instinctive reaction to Jake’s intense, unwavering gaze. Picking through the flood of panic in his mind, Rich only barely managed to get out, “Sorry.”

“Why would you be s—oh. No, that’s—I didn’t mean to—like, we’re—”

Rich was going to cry. In front of the boy he was in love with, he was going to cry. Jake sounded so panicked and apologetic that Rich could almost feel it gathering like snowflakes in his hair, coating the floor in pure white dust.

“Jake, stop. It’s fine.”

“Are you su—”

“Let’s just go to lunch. I saw a diner on the way here.”

Jake nodded rapidly, almost desperately, as he stormed from the room—almost as if he could escape Rich’s feelings merely by leaving this goddamn museum behind.

He almost succeeded. It took an awkward lunch and two hours of driving on an empty highway, but eventually, Rich’s one-word answers slipped back into enthusiastic ramblings and Jake learned not to flinch away whenever Rich’s hand got too close.

Rich still cried when they got to the hotel. It was his turn to pay and, despite repeatedly telling Jake that he was going to save as much money as possible, he bought two separate rooms for them. Jake didn’t so much as blink. Still, the next night they were in a shared room with separate beds, far enough that if Rich reached out he’d be met with only empty air, but close enough he could still hear Jake’s breathing.

It wasn’t until Illinois that Rich was once again faced with the consequences of his stupid, unintentional confession. Once again in different hotel rooms, Jake had to knock on Rich’s door at 2 am to get his attention.

Rich was half asleep, his phone in his hand still open to Michael’s text messages. At first, he was convinced Jake was a figment of the SQUIP—the knocks would get louder until Rich was on the floor, rocking back and forth with his hands over his ears waiting for the noises to stop.

But then he heard, “Richie?” and his panic evaporated as if it was never there.

“What the fuck?” he said, answering the door with a fabricated scowl. At Jake’s nighttime smile, it melted into reluctant contentment.

Jake held up a towel and a pair of swim trunks. “Hot tub? I saw they had one.”

“Well, it’s most definitely closed by now.”

Jake ducked his head with a bashful grin on his face and shrugged. Rich knew by now that Jake only followed the rules when adults were there to praise him for his obedience, and Jake knew Rich knew, but he always acted like a scolded child when he suggested something even vaguely rebellious.

“Could be fun,” he whispered, blushing at the floor.

“Oh my god, gimme those and stop acting like a five-year-old.”

Jake positively beamed, sunshine incarnated. Rich almost had a heart attack as he ripped the swim trunks from Jake’s grasp as quickly as he could, doing everything in his power to avoid brushing Jake’s hands against his own as he slammed the door shut to get changed.

By the time they got to the hot tub, Rich was sure he was going to die. He didn’t know he had a thing for boys picking locks, but seeing Jake on his knees in front of the glass door, his credit card in the slit between the door and the wall had done something to Rich.

And Jake, skin red from the hot water, eyes glazed over from the third beer he’d had (that someone Rich hadn’t noticed was in his hand)? Yeah. That was something else entirely. He was frozen despite the heat, paralyzed by Jake’s hands on his hips, tracing stars with his thumb.

“You’re so pretty like this,” Jake whispered, voice almost lost in the foggy steam filling the room. He wasn’t making eye contact, instead staring at the point of contact between them like he could see the pearly gates of heaven reflected in the water.

“Yep,” Rich squeaked. He didn’t want to say no, he would do anything to be able to enjoy it for what it was, but… but fuck. This was survival for him. He couldn’t wake up tomorrow in Jake’s hotel room and continue as if nothing had happened—it wasn’t a wouldn’t. There was no choice in this. Rich could not have sex with Jake and be forced to be friends with him afterward. He couldn’t have his feelings manipulated and abused, no matter how much he loved Jake.

Oblivious to Rich’s internal musings, Jake leaned down until he was so close Rich was almost convinced they were kissing.

“You want this?” he said. Just those three words, not the ones Rich was aching, breaking, longing to hear, were enough for their lips to brush together. Less than a second, barely a moment, and Rich thought he felt the moon shatter.

Rich would’ve responded if he could get air in his lungs, but Jake was so close he inhaled all the oxygen that would’ve been Rich’s. All he could do in the haze, the fire, the fear, was shake his head ‘no.’ Not when Jake was drunk. Not when he was looking at Rich like he used to look at Chloe.

Jake jerked back an inch, then two, brows furrowed with confusion.

“I thought—”

“I don’t like you, remember?”

Jake blinked. Rich could tell he was being too slow, his intelligence impacted by the alcohol. It shouldn't take this long for him to figure out what Rich was trying to say—usually, he’d be able to predict Rich’s next words before he even thought them up.

This time, though, Jake just whispered, so small his words could fit in the space between every molecule of air between them, “What?”

“I don’t like you. You told me I don’t like you.”

Another second passed, stretched far beyond what should have been physically possible. Only then did Jake’s eyes flash with recognition.

“Right,” he said, then smiled, “Right, but that was just—I was freaked out, but I’ve thought about it, so much Rich, it’s all I can fucking think about, and you’re—”

“You’re drunk.”

“I’m buzzed at best, Rich, listen to me—” he got closer again, eyes alight, and for a split second, the same amount of time it took for someone to realize they were about to die, Rich felt a flicker of hope. Innocent, buttercup hope. Jake in his arms. Waking up to Jake’s face pressed into his hair. Jake kissing him lovingly.

Rich’s face contorted to hide the blissful fantasy from Jake’s prying eyes.

Jake jerked back again, this time so far that he fell back into the water (gracefully, because everything Jake did was graceful), expression a crater of ash and fire.

“Do you… I don’t…”

“You’re hurting me, Jake.”

Jake scrambled farther away, fumbling through the water to the edge of the hot tub as if it was made of glass shards. His mouth was open, words spilling out in a desperate, violent waterfall.

“No, no, you’re not listening to me, Rich, I want you—”

“Yeah, when you’ve got me half naked.”

“What?! No, stop, I’m telling you I want you, all of you, not sex, or—”

“Jacob I can see your boner from here. Don’t try this. It hurts. You can’t—”

“I’m not trying to!”

Jake’s voice was getting loud, his face redder than before. His wet hair went from sexy to frazzled and threatening. His hands were pulling at the roots, tangling in the knots. Rich recognized the mosaic his fear created and could almost see Jake tumbling off cliffs of insanity and desperation. He knew Jake through the months he spent alone in that empty mansion after his parents left, either drunk on expensive liquor or high on the pills his mother left behind, he knew just how dangerous a desperate Jake could be. Not violent, but so goddamn broken it was impossible not to cut himself on the pieces as he gathered him up and reconstructed him back into a man.

“Then stop it!” Rich screamed, “You don’t fucking know, Jake. You’re fucking—the only relationships you’ve been in have been about sex and, and popularity, and you don’t understand this feeling.”

It was as easy as that. Rich knew he’d twisted the knife, knew that maybe he’d taken it a step too far, but he didn’t deserve this. After years of pining, Jake didn’t get to reject him and then try to bed him. That wasn’t allowed.

When Jake spoke again, it was emotionless. Monotonous. Devoid of all humanity. Words on a page, scripted and controlled. Rich had lost all access to Jake.

“What happened with Chloe doesn’t define me. You know that, I know you know that, so don’t even fucking try me. I don’t know what it’s like to hide and lie about my feelings for years, but you don’t know what it’s like to watch the only person you’ve ever loved—”

“Don’t say that.”

“To watch the only person you’ve ever loved,” Jake repeated, more determined this time, “flinch away whenever you so much as look his way because he’s so insecure he can’t accept that maybe you want to spend the rest of your life with him.”

Rich’s fists clenched. He wasn’t sure how he’d ended up out of the hot tub, but he was standing by the door, dripping and scowling and on the verge of tears.

“Fuck you.”

“Really? That’s it? Tell me what you want. Tell me you want me and it’s that simple. Tell me you know I want you.”

“You’re my best friend.”

Jake flinched at his own words thrown back at him. He kept his mouth clamped shut as Rich kept talking.

“You’re my best friend and I don’t know what the fuck is up with you tonight, but you told me yourself that we’re friends. I’m not going to let you ruin that with sex.”

“That’s not what—”

“I’m not going to let some half-hearted relationship ruin us, Jacob"

Jake stayed silent, seemingly waiting for more. Rich watched him realize there was nothing left to say, that this was the end of the conversation. His lips were trembling. Rich wished they weren’t.

“Fine,” Jake breathed. He sagged to the floor, knees pressed against the tile, hands clasped politely in front of him. “Fine. Friends. Best friends. If—if you really think being together would ruin us, then we’re just friends.”

“Good,” Rich said as if he couldn’t feel each cell within him bursting and bubbling with acidic heartbreak. “Friends.”

They stayed there for a moment, waiting for some finale to hit—some final blow to tattoo this night in black on their skin—but there was only burning silence.

“I’m going to bed,” Rich said finally.

Jake only nodded, still staring at the floor. Rich slipped from the room and screamed out sobs into his pillow until the sun forced light back into his life.

He stumbled through his morning routine, struggling to close his suitcase and stuff it into the trunk of their car. It wasn’t until he saw Jake, his smile bright but eyes tired, sitting alone in the dining room that the haze lifted just enough for him to realize friends ate breakfast together.

He sat down across from Jake without a word, and only once Jake looked up from his half-eaten breakfast did Rich force the skeleton of a smile onto his face. Jake mimicked it with much more success.

“Top of the morning to ya, buddy,” he said, the word buddy spat out like it hurt, “So, I was thinking, St. Louis is like an hour and a half away, maybe we stop there around noon, see the arch thingy, the move on. There’s a zoo like thirty minutes from there that we can stop at for a while. We can end the night in Wisconsin, see I don’t know, some small town, then tomorrow we can go to Minnesota?”

Rich nodded. He wasn’t sure if he could speak yet.

“Great! I’ve still gotta pack up, so just let me do that, then we can hit the road.”

Rich nodded again. Jake’s gaze lingered too long, flitting across his face, from his bloodshot eyes to his lips, before he finally looked away, his smile faltering. He cleared his throat.

“I’ll see ya in a bit, then.”

“Yeah! Can’t wait.”

Rich wished he could think of more to say, but the day seemed to be coated in an unbreakable silence. The car ride was awkward—Jake kept the radio off, choosing instead to prompt Rich with question after question as if they were kids meeting for the first time. Rich offered up every answer he had. He didn’t have many.

They stopped for ice cream sometime in the late afternoon, after a tense trip to the St. Louis arch during which Jake elbowed Rich after making a joke and Rich almost hyperventilated.

“What should I get?” Jake asked, surveying the menu.

“Whatever you want.”

“I want you.”

Rich whipped around to face him, every muscle in his body clenched and ready to fight.

“What?”

“Raspberry looks good.”

Rich didn’t push it., but the words echoed in his ribs until his lungs were bruised.

It happened again a week later. An art museum in Washington.

“It’s beautiful,” Rich said, staring in wonder at a painting of the ocean during a storm.

“So are you.”

Rich didn’t turn to look at him. He scrutinized the painting, looking at every color and brushstroke until three minutes later, Jake had to go to the bathroom.

In California: An aquarium gift shop.

“Do you like it?” Jake asked, watching Rich hold a penguin stuffed animal against his chest.

“I love it,” Rich said, his voice muffled by the fabric. He was hiding his face behind the wings so Jake wouldn’t see his eyes watering at the fact the cashier had called Jake such a good boyfriend for buying him the penguin.

“I love y—”

He had the decency to cut himself off.

“I’m glad you like it,” he amended, and it was left at that.

Until Texas. A hotel twenty minutes from the Space Center Houston only had one room. Of course.

It had two beds. Rich sat upright in one, phone in hand, Michael on the other end. Michael didn’t know what had happened between Rich and Jake, but he did know Jake was on the other side of the room, headphones on as he stared at his computer doing one thing or another. Rich watched him, still helplessly in love despite the repeated heartbreak he experienced every time they did so much as make eye contact.

“Las Vegas was so overhyped,” Rich complained, “Probably because Jake and I can’t legally gamble, but the hotel was so fucking cool. There was this giant fountain and so many lights. Almost had a panic attack because of the noise, but once I got over that it was sick.”

“Las Vegas or San Fransisco?”

“San Fransisco 100% buddy, not even a question. Food was great. I was a little scared we were gonna get devoured by a wildfire, but we ended up fine. East Coast is so much better, though. I can’t wait to get back. Jake said we can stop in the Everglades.”

“You want to got to the Everglades?!”

“Yes!! Snakes, Michael! I need to see a Burmese python and alligator fight to the death!”

“You’re crazy.”

“I’m well aware, but this is a childhood dream of mine that must be fulfilled before death takes me.”

Michael laughed. Jake made a strangled sound from across the room.

Rich froze up and instinctively forced an awkward smile on his face, tense and unsure of what exactly had prompted Jake’s reaction. He glanced at his pretty sunflower out of the corner of his eye—his hunched shoulders, a posture that was so unlike him, his face illuminated by the computer screen. Rich cleared his throat to rip himself from admiring him.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m hilarious,” he choked out, “Okay, it’s—it’s late, I better get going now.”

“It’s like 9—”

“Night!”

Rich hung up but stayed staring at his phone for far too long, terrified to do anything but.

“Are you okay?” Jake whispered. His computer was closed now and he was facing Rich, crisscrossed on his bed. Rich straightened and nodded.

“Yeah, yeah, just tired. Sorry.”

“Have you been tired for the last three weeks?“

Rich blinked at him, too focused on the blue of his eyes to comprehend his words.

“What?” he finally said. Jake just shook his head and turned off the lamp, deciding darkness was the best course of action.

Rich thought it would be him who’d be unable to sleep, haunted by blues and I love yous, but it was Jake who tossed and turned and writhed in his sheets, wrestling with some invisible enemy long after Rich fell asleep.

When Rich awoke the next morning, it was to Jake packing his suitcase. He stayed still for a moment, admiring Jake as he carefully folded each shirt, hands gentle and sure of themselves. Since Illinois, every look he’d given Rich was coated in a layer of lies Rich hadn’t been on the receiving end of since sophomore year.

He didn’t know Rich was watching him now. He looked sad, irrevocably so. The tip of his nose was red, the first sign of sadness. Then it was the parted lips—he was a snotty crier. Rich learned that after watching Bambi with him. He’d been crying, and now he couldn’t breathe through his nose. His chest was moving up and down in stuttery, unsure movements, and after every piece of folded laundry, he had to pause to press the heel of his hand against his mouth to stifle a sob.

“What’s wrong?” Rich rushed out, the usual sluggishness of his mornings completely eradicated by Jake—Jake crying.

Jake jumped at the sound of Rich’s voice and regained his composure within a split second. There was suddenly a smile, open body language, and eyes that remained just as dead as before.

“You’re awake! I have something for you.”

“I don’t care, what’s—”

“No, no, trust me, you’ll care, hold on.”

Still smiling beautifully, he turned to the desk and grabbed two pieces of paper. Then, movements peppy and face alight, he sat down in front of Rich and handed them to him.

“Okay…?” Rich said, looking down at the pieces of paper with little interest—Jake. Crying. Jake. Crying. That was all he was worried about.

Until he realized the papers were printed out plane tickets. One to Florida, the flight set to leave eight hours from then. Another three days later, from Florida to New Jersey. He reread the words. Then reread them. And again. And again.

All he could get out was, “What the fuck?”

“You can see the Everglades!” Jake said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Well—well yeah, but… we’re driving there? Together?”

Jake shook his head. “No, yeah, we were, but—I mean, after Illinois…”

He paused to clear his throat and look away. Rich was on the verge of screaming, but that could wait until Jake had finished whatever shitty explanation he was about to offer. The longer the silence lasted, the more Jake’s sunny demeanor faded out.

“After Illinois, I mean you don’t—you aren’t happy, Rich. Not around me. Last night, like, with Michael—” Rich had never heard Jake struggle with words this much. He was stuttering, tripping over his words, raising his volume too high then lowering it to the point Rich could barely hear him. “—you were talking to him, and you won’t do that with me anymore, and I want you to talk like that because it’s—fuck, it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, and if you can’t do that around me anymore—because I fucked up and apparently ruined the best thing to ever happen to me—then maybe some time apart would be good for us?”

Jake looked up at Rich hopefully. Rich wasn’t sure what he was hoping for and he didn’t have the energy to figure it out through the anger crawling inside his skin.

“You’re kicking me out?”

“No! No. I just think you should have the chance to be—no, I need the chance to—I want you to be happy—”

“I’m happy.”

“You won’t even look at me. You won’t talk to me. I’m hurting you.”

Rich suddenly understood why Jake had looked so heartbroken after hearing the phrase you’re my best friend. Having his words manipulated and turned against him hurt more than the flames ever had.

“That’s—no—”

“And I thought I could fix it by just being your friend, but we’re not even that anymore. I want us to be. So badly. I can’t lose you. I can’t go to Harvard without coming home to you every night. And I’ll do anything to save us, and right now that means you have to get away from me.”

“Stop—��

“So I got you tickets to go see the Everglades. I even booked you a boat tour. I’m not sure about seeing a Burmese python, but you can try. Then you can have the rest of summer in New Jersey with Michael and everyone else, and we can meet up in Boston, and everything will be okay.”

“Jake—”

“I can’t ruin another relationship. I know I have a bad track record, I know I can’t commit or be romantic, and you’re probably right to realize I’d destroy whatever beautiful thing we managed to create, but honestly, you’re more beautiful than anything I could ever make, and I can’t destroy that, I have to protect that, even if I’m not around to see it for a while.”

“No—”

“But I can move on while we’re apart, and hopefully you can too, then we can be best friends in Boston and roommates forever and you can get married and I can pretend I’m happy for y—”

Rich kissed him. Quick and sloppy and frantic. It was hypocritical, to say the least, self-destructive if Rich was being completely honest with himself. But the feeling of Jake falling into it, pressing closer and moving so his trembling hands could press against Rich’s waist and back, was intoxicating.

Rich kept it short, though the feeling of just Jake’s gentleness was enough for him to want more.

He pulled back, Jake trailing after him until he collapsed against Rich, forehead pressed to Rich’s shoulder and lips pressed to his neck and collarbone.

“I don’t understand,” he said between kisses. Rich promised himself he’d memorize the feeling before it was taken from him.

“I’d rather be heartbroken with you than happy with anyone else,” Rich explained softly, tangling his fingers in Jake’s hair and pulling his head back to look him in the eye. Jake breathed out a sound Rich chose not to identify and tried to lean up and kiss Rich again.

“You’re not ruinous,” Rich got out just before Jake gifted him kiss after kiss like offerings to a god, “You’re not destructive and Chloe doesn’t define you and I’m sorry I implied she did, I shouldn’t have, and I’m terrified I’m gonna lose you and terrified this is all a prank and terrified you’re going to leave—”

“Never,” Jake confessed, eyes closed and expression melted into pure bliss. “Never, ever, ever. It took me too long to realize how bad I want you. I can’t lose more time.”

“I want you too.”

“I want you to be happy.”

“I can be once I get my head out of my ass and realize you’re even more perfect than I thought.”

Jake laughed soundlessly and pulled Rich onto his lap. “Perfect?”

“You’re gorgeous. You’re kind. You’d never purposefully hurt me, and I was stupid to think you would. I just—it hurt. The car. You telling me—Jake, I was still in survival mode. I didn’t mean anything I said. I swear it. Please don’t make me leave.”

Jake shook his head.

“No, I won’t. I can’t. I’m sorry for what I said in the car. That wasn’t cool or okay, I just… panicked? Because I always knew—I didn’t want to say it, or think it, or acknowledge it, but I knew, and you saying it made it so real I couldn’t even pretend I could ever want anyone else and that was—I wasn’t ready for that to hit so suddenly.”

Rich felt so warm inside he was convinced he was going to overheat and collapse in on himself like a dying star. He kissed Jake like he was made of roses until he was convinced he’d erased every terrible thought he’d placed in Jake’s mind in Illinois.

“So we’re going to stop being cowards now,” Rich said, clear and determined, “And I’m going to be happy because the most beautiful boy in the world decided I’m worth his time and he’s going to be happy because now I’m here to tell him he’s the most beautiful boy in the world every single morning, and that he can’t kick me to the curb even if he tries.”

Jake laughs and nods and kisses him again.

“God,” he whispered, tracing stars on Rich’s hips, “I’ve never been so glad I wasted two thousand dollars in my life.”

“Yeah. Yeah, me too.”

There was a short, weighted pause. Then, “Wait, did you say two thousand? Jake, flights to Florida should not be two thousand dollars.”

“Well, not for economy.”

“Econ—you were planning on giving me first-class tickets to Florida to soften the blow of practically breaking up with me?”

Jake was too giddy to be offended. He wrapped himself around Rich and kissed him again.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time, shut up.”

“No, I am not shutting up, that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. We’re going to seriously work on your spending habits in Boston, buddy—baby—you’ve got the rest of the summer to be an idiot with your money, then we’re starting a retirement fund. For fuck's sake, you’re going to be broke by the time you’re thirty.”

#bmc #richjake #jake dillinger #rich goranski #i can't spell i'm so tired #help me #the ending was so rushed i'm so exhausted #sorry besties #i'll try harder next time i swear #i keep thinking tomorrow is saturday which is why i stayed up so late working on this but i literally have school tmrw #whoops #sparkly star fanfic

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omnomnomdomcaps · 1 year

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A Guide to Language Domming, Pt. II

The Seven Key Phrases of Language Play

Welcome back! In Part I of this guide, I talked about what language play was, how you can engage in it with your little, and why it’s such a fun and immersive experience. I may also have mentioned that it’s possible to learn to language dom without being fluent in your target language beforehand. And in this part, I’m going to explain how.

Below are seven key phrases to keep in mind when you’re learning a language for play. With all of these, though, it’s not about translating the exact phrase - it’s about understanding the kinds of words highlighted, and being aware of them. These are language elements that common learning apps might not cover, and I’ll be including some helpful places you can look to fill in the gaps.

Beyond these, if you haven’t studied your target language much before, you probably will need to spend a week or two with DuoLingo, Youtube guides, and the like to get comfortable with language basics. Yes, it’s work, but isn’t it worth it to give your little one such a special experience? Plus, if you’ve ever wanted a good reason to go study a new language, it doesn’t get better or more fun than this!

Oh, and even if you have studied your target language quite a bit, or even if you consider yourself fluent, these might not be words or phrases you’ve thought much about, or are very familiar with. So read on, friend, and get ready to expand your vocabulary.

Phrase #1: “Good morning, Princess.”(Terms of endearment)

To be clear, “good morning” is fairly basic - Duolingo and the like will be sure to cover that in an early lesson. It’s the second part that’s trickier, and that’s because translating “princess,” or whatever word you like to use in English, isn’t going to cut it.

Common terms of endearment vary wildly from language to language. From the Spanish changuita (“little monkey”), to the Polish laleczko (“little doll”), every language has a wide assortment of colorful favorites. The lists are pretty easy to find online, and you’ll have plenty of great options no matter what you plan to study.

So why is it so important? Because for the duration of your play, this is essentially going to be your little’s name. Other than possibly the word “no” (if they’re an especially naughty little), your chosen term of endearment is going to be the word that they hear the most, and that they will have the strongest emotional association with when you’re done.

Phrase #2: “Now now, behave.”(Imperatives)

An imperative is essentially a command phrase - do this, don’t do that, and so on. In many languages, this is its own grammatical form, and learning imperatives means learning a few rules for verbs and their conjugations.

Now, all that sounds like it should be in a normal language syllabus, and it usually is. But I mention it here because this is one grammar lesson that you have to have to have down pat. Commands should be given clearly and quickly, especially if your little one has decided to be a bit of a brat. In fact, this is probably the most common way you’re going to be using verbs in play - you can’t really have much of a conversation, after all.

Some of the variations aren’t obvious - even with something as simple as “no!” it’s worth noting that some languages prefer “can not!” and some just say “bad!” So be sure to spend a little extra time on these lessons, so you can be ready to give some lessons of your own.

One last note on this: imperatives are probably the single most important part of language domming if you’re using it in a petplay context, and “training” your pet to follow commands in your target tongue. Now, that’s not something I’m personally experienced with, but boy does it sound like fun!

Phrase #3: “Would you like your teddy bear in the playpen?”(Household items)

As with imperatives above, common nouns for household items are already a part of the normal language lessons you’re likely to find. The tricky part here is that everyone’s household is different, especially when we throw in a whole bunch of paraphernalia. You might have your Italian words for sofa (“divano”) and refrigerator (“frigofieri”) down pat, but how about teddy bear (“orsacchiotto”)? How about baby bottle (“biberon”)? And did you know that the term used for playpen is just box? I sure didn’t, before I made this guide.

Obviously, not all of these are going to be featured in your standard beginners’ lessons, and Google is your friend. If you do use the translation tool though, be sure to swap back and worth to make sure it’s got the right word (if you put in “seal” because your little one has a cute baby seal, you may end up with the word for stamp, etc.). Also be sure to press that sound button to actually hear the word - some of them aren’t what they look like, and accent is important for the immersive experience!

Phrase #4: “Uh oh, did somebody make a pee-pee?”(Potty euphemisms)

Okay, you probably saw this one coming. It’s for those moments that so many AB/DLs and their caregivers look forward to - when we discover that our little has had a little accident. Language domming is all about creating a deeply immersive experience, after all, and what could be more immersive than being talked down to for using your diaper, in a language you don’t understand, knowing full well you’re about to be laid down on the mat and changed, and that you’re too little - and know too few words - to have any say about the matter? Sounds fun, right?

For those unfamiliar with the term, a euphemism is a ‘nice’ way of putting something that might not be so nice to talk about. With ‘potty’ related words, these are important, since technical terms for urination, defecation, and even diapers can be clunky and awkward. Knowing the right words to use for pee, poo (if you want to include that), potty, diaper, change, accident, and so on can go a long way.

Of all of the words covered on this list, these might be the trickiest to actually look up, but you can find some useful discussions in forums online. Here’s a lovely Wikihow guide on talking about poop in Spanish, and here’s a Reddit thread covering “polite ways to talk about bodily functions in German.”

Now, in the future, I’d love to start a repository of these lovely terms for ageplayers around the world to fill in, but that’s going to require you sharing this out with all your kinky friends! But I digress.

Phrase #5: “Ummmm… uh…”(Filler words)

Huh? Yes, believe it or not, knowing how speakers of your target language handle those awkward pauses we all have is important. The “ehhhh”s and “ahhh”s of the world are different, and you’ll want to get used to your target’s.

Why does it matter? Because accent is important. You want to create an immersive experience for your little, and sounding like a high schooler trying to fill a foreign language credit is not the way to do that. Having a confident accent (doesn’t mean it’s great - you won’t be tested on that) is crucial, and being able to maintain that when you’re looking for the words to say is a big deal.

One of the best ways to pick up on these filler words and how they’re said in your target language is to watch candid videos. Reality clips, interviews, man-on-the-street type deals - all of them will have people looking for what to say, and you’ll be able to see what they look like when they do.

Phrase #6: “Awwww, does my widdle pwincess want her stuffy-wuffy?”

(Diminutives)

If you’re wondering how to really baby-talk your little in your target language, the key is here, and it might be a bit more technical than you think. Baby-talking in language play, as it turns out, comes down to a combination of confident accent, CG attitude, familiar terms of endearment, and a whole bunch of diminutives. I’ve covered all of those things except the last - and it’s a big one.

Technically speaking, a diminutive is a modification of a word, used to convey smallness, endearment, or both. Tommy is a diminutive form of Tom, doggie is a diminutive from dog, and so on. When encountering foreign examples, they usually end up getting translated as ‘little’ + whatever the original root word was.

For many foreign languages, there are actually pretty clear rules about how to create a diminutive, and a lot of them have to do with endings added on, such as the Portuguese -inho / -inha, or the Czech -ka and -ička/-ečka. Wikipedia has a colossal list here, though you may need to have some knowledge of your target language’s noun cases and word structures to process it.

If all that sounds complicated, well, it can be at first. But once you nail that condescending tone and make your little just burn up blushing, it’s all going to worth it.

Phrase #7: “Oh, goodness, did I forget to turn off the thingamajig?”(Placeholders)

Last but not least on the list are those words that we use when we know exactly what we're talking about, but we don't know how to say it. And while catchalls like the English thingamajig, whatchamacallit, and doohickey do exist in other languages (including, amusingly, the Spanish chimichanga), this topic is much bigger than that.

The key point here is that you don't want to interrupt the immersive experience you've worked so hard to create, just because you happened to forget the word for toaster or the like. You can use the word for thingamajig. You can use the word for that. Or - and this can be our little secret - you can even make something up!

Remember, this isn’t a test. You’re not being asked to master a foreign language. Just to use what you know - maybe you’re doing a Duolingo crash course from scratch, maybe you took it in high school or college, maybe you know some from family - to make for the best, most immersive play experience you can give your little one. And hopefully, these phrases can help with that.

Phew. Hope you all learned a bit today! If you have any questions, or any suggestions for what I can add above, feel free to shoot me a DM. And if you want to help me build my repository of foreign language vocab for AB/DLs, please do reach out!

In the next and final part of the trilogy, I’ll be going over some slightly more advanced tips and tricks for language players, including a deeper dive into activities and props for play, combining language domming with other kinks, and even my picks on which languages most and least lend themselves to all this fun wackiness. As always, my friends, keep it kinky. - ONND

Pt. III Can Be Found Here

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