#absolutely-flabbergasted

[phoenixyfriend]

Will you share what makes you ship Anakin/Cody? It's a pairing I'd never have considered, so I'm really curious what makes you interested in it!

This is an interesting question for a few reasons, but I think I should link this post first.

One of the ship dynamics I gravitate towards, especially for Anakin, is 'incredibly powerful/skilled person who is desperate to please, and the person who is largely unimpressed with their baseline level of skill and power, but will genuinely and meaningfully praise/acknowledge the thing they put a real effort into.'

I think Cody is really, really unimpressed with Anakin's shenanigans, and he shows it. He's a walking raised eyebrow with "and?" hanging in the air. He knows Anakin is powerful and great with droids, but can he hold his temper? Can he remember and implement the battle plan that Rex drew up? Can he [redacted horny challenge]?

Anakin wants to impress Cody, and Cody wants Anakin to behave, but also Cody wants to see what makes Anakin tick. He's a very strange and emotional man, and that's a bit of a challenge to figure out and settle, and Cody imo likes a challenge.

In my mind, they didn't love or hate each other on first sight, they were just... wary. Cody had just spent a few weeks getting to know his new boss, and said new boss had mentioned his brother-son at least twice an hour. Cody goes in knowing that Anakin is reckless, but a genius, and lacking in common sense. He's emotional and forgets to sleep when he dedicates himself to a task, and is still getting used to his new arm because he tried to fight a Sith Lord 1v1.

Anakin comes into this situation knowing that Cody is competent, and that Obi-Wan describes him as a good man, and that the two seem to get along pretty well. Being Anakin, he's a little worried about getting replaced, but this is someone Obi-Wan has to work with, and it seems to be on the up and up, but they've had a few weeks to get to know each other without him there, so he's anxious, because in Anakin's mind he is the only person that should ever be Obi-Wan's SiC, but also, Obi-Wan likes this guy alright and the guy in question has managed to keep Obi-Wan and a bunch of soldiers alive so far, so he can't be that bad, so Anakin should try to get along with him, or Obi-Wan will be disappointed, or even upset, and Anakin can't deal with that right now.

So they meet and it's awkward and they try to settle into a working relationship of some kind, and it mostly is... okay. Anakin snaps and gets aggressive sometimes, but Cody is just a wall to it. This isn't great for Anakin, personally, who's used to 'not taking this shit, will wait silently for you to stop being a dick with obvious judgement' from people like Windu, but it works. Cody doesn't enjoy Anakin's behavior, nobody does, but he can deal with it and he's seen a couple brothers come through injury-and-prosthesis with a short temper, so like. Sure. Whatever.

But then Anakin starts coming to Cody for help with tactics and strategy, because Obi-Wan is busy, but Cody is basically Anakin's peer, right? And Cody was super trained in this? And that determination from Anakin to get good at war--whether it's for the sake of Anakin's own ego and need to excel at everything, or for the sake of keeping Cody's own brothers alive--sparks some interest from Cody. Anakin is trying. He's not good at it, not yet, but he's sharp and he asks good questions, and he doesn't doubt Cody's expertise... at least, not too often.

But Anakin does that to Obi-Wan, too, so Cody doesn't take it personally. This is just Anakin's personality. It's a flaw.

It helps that Anakin is pretty. Cody knows everyone can tell. He's not the only one that's noticed.

Then Anakin gets promoted, they split for a few months of Anakin leading his own legion across the galaxy, and the legions come back together for Christophsis or something, and Cody gets to see that Anakin is more confident now, rather than just bluster and arrogance, that it's in his walk, in how comfortable he is with the arm, in the fact that he grasps Rex's battle plans with an ease that takes even some brothers a while to learn.

And Anakin still, the second they are in proximity, wants approval. Some of it from Obi-Wan, obviously, but some of it from Cody, too.

Cody likes that. He likes that this incredibly powerful, widely respected Jedi (who happens to be very pretty and basically the same age as Cody himself) wants his approval. Wants his attention. Wants to know that he's doing a good job.

Wants a firm hand to tell him when he's wrong, and to praise him when he's right, and to force him to still and settle when he's about to jitter out of his skin.

I think Cody finds Anakin fascinating before he finds him charming or forms an emotional bond with him, but it's a solid place to start from.

(And Anakin just... latched onto a person that was Good At Thing that paid him attention and then gave him positive feedback.)

(That's like half my Anakin ships, though. It is very easy to make this boy fall in love. The real challenge is figuring out how the other person reacts to Anakin being... Intense.)

[ozmodai]

Is Pyrroh's droopy eye a birth defect or the result of some injury?

it's a result of injury! it's a result of blunt force trauma from a subjuggulator that was overseeing the teal's first graduating trial.

i've still yet to make a short comic on it but it's in my list. the notches in his ears are also a result of this as a punishment for intercepting in the sentencing. as intended, it has a lasting effect on pyrroh internally as well as externally and he's the passive, secretive, riskily-coping voidy mess that he is in present

this trial is also a major event for the others like valtra and rorzak changing how they all interact with each other and within their roles in alternian society and is also the start of where pyrroh meets marsya

[clanborn]

"Here is where the domestic cats of the clans can return to their roots" Does that mean Stoneclan has daylight-warriors of a kind?

Stoneclan does occasionally take housecats into their ranks, and also frequently interacts with the ones living in the town, but it’s not really a daylight warrior situation. Usually if outsiders are taken in, they’re expected to commit fully, but then again Stoneclan is usually flexible regarding rules and expectations.

That line was specifically referring to the fact that the clans are literally Felis domesticus and their existence is inherently intertwined with humans. The fact that they are domestic cats is looked down upon by their wildcat kin (Eg. Lynxes and bobcats), and this condescension is significant regarding the clans’ origins (which will be addressed in part 2 of the origins post I made).

[faindri]

hey i just found you thru your kitty alien!vash art and i NEED to ask you to elaborate on the psychic link vash and meryl have in that au pls i crave more

DKJAFHDKJFH HELLO WELCOME

I talked about this on my twitter but i'll elaborate here too!

people been asking how the bond works and to summarize it's like

can hear each other in their heads

can feel each other's emotions to some degree (including pain)

can put up "walls" if they need privacy but they're never 100% cut off

the bond is smth only the angels can initiate and was originally a biological development from a more hivemind period is their evolution maybe???????? idk we're getting into fantastical territory dfsglkfjg

they're normally born in pairs and bond to each other?? (the bond is not automatically romantic or sexual in nature!! it's purpose is for survival methinks)

the bond usually forms in infancy but can be formed in later life

Vash and Nai are "princes" and were bonded super early to their respective humans for political reasons that im working out still

nai's bond is with legato lmao

all subject to change but thanks for indulging me in this AU *sobs*

[hyperboreanhapocanthosaurus]

"#but i have met europeans who absolutely Loathe that we consider ourselves funny" They?? Dislike that we think we're funny? Or that other countries think we're funny?? why???

man i had this girl (Eastern European/Baltic iirc) in my German class many years ago who got very adamant about how unfunny Canadians are when we were brainstorming Canadian stereotypes to the point she wanted it removed from the whiteboard - I was being very good and quiet because I tried really hard not to speak English in class and I just did not have the vocabulary to explain that there are internal stereotypes and external stereotypes and neither of them necessarily have to be true.

I think she was of the opinion that our internal stereotype that we're funny is Very Wrong, but humour obviously varies a lot just in the anglosphere alone and I have no idea what kinds of things she found funny if anything or where she got this impression from. It's also, I figure, because many of our stereotypes come from our own myopia and comparing ourselves to the States only, we don't always perceive ourselves in relation to the international community because, well, they either distinguish us from Americans or more often they don't anyway. I felt that trying to have that conversation with her would have been a waste of time (and part of me recognized that she was probably just homesick because I've seen that adamant refusal to understand in myself before, haha)

[centuryberry]

hello centuryberry that last chapter is making me FERAL, WHY WOULD YOU HURT MK LIKE THIS AAAAAA

My fics tend to follow a theme of starting out all hopeful and fluffy before I add in something that completely changes the genre (mostly angst). Haha, it’s a bad habit, I know.

Sorry (not sorry) MK. You’re the collateral damage this time because I was in a silly mood.

[jayrockin]

Question about Ghillie! Is the harassment she experiences from humans and avians due to "off-model" GMHs being seen as ugly, or is there another reason? For that matter, why do avians harass her?

True for both fiction and real life, sapients looking to be assholes will pick targets who are more likely to be vulnerable. Someone who is visibly from a marginalized class, outside your social bubble, or culturally deemed “ugly” or “imperfect” is an easier target. People who are less openly rude but still bigoted will also treat you less favorably and won’t offer you the same opportunities they afford the people they prefer. By concealing the fact she is an “off-model” GMH outside of personal life, Gillie can dodge a lot of overt and covert aggression from these types.

Most of the bigots Gillie is avoiding are other humans. But, skimmer avians are more likely than any of the other aliens to harass GMHs, and not just “off-model” ones (as many cannot recognize the difference).

The reason is a little esoteric: There’s a cluster of old skimmer religions that states in doctrine that there was originally one avian species, and then after a fall from grace they were split into multiple imperfect species (the current lineup: skimmer, polar, pygmy, flightless, and diver). The story varies but usually the original avian was a skimmer or strongly resembled one, and the other avians are “pieces that came off of them.” This myth was used a lot on their planet to justify colonialism and treatment of the other members of their genus as lesser beings. Though avians in general have secularized during their space age, the story still has a lot of cultural power. For example, one of their biggest scientific controversies is whether or not skimmer avians “evolved first,” which on an ocean planet is very hard to find fossil evidence for one way or another.

WHAT does this have to do with GMHs? Well, in the eyes of a lot of avians, humans are falling from grace in real time-- enacting the beginning of a mythic history that has created a lot of strife on their planet. Non-skimmers tend to be sympathetic to GMHs, some feeling as though they have a shared victimhood; and skimmers tend to see GMHs either as a Big Mistake that is going to result in major conflict (an opinion which they share with a fair amount of humans), and/or a place to project their racist anger at other avians that won’t get them in trouble (with other avians). It’s a mess!

[spikedru]

Angel complains that Spike copies him but like who wore a leather duster first?? Not Mr. hanging in the sewer eating rats for decades bc hes brooding, me thinks

angel complains abt spike but like dude you made him like that. ur the reason why hes like That