A Lot Of Pop Psychology Gets Thrown Around And Since I Already Have A Headache, Here's Preventing You

A lot of pop psychology gets thrown around and since I already have a headache, here's preventing you lot from making it worse.

Love-bombing: A manipulation tactic of increasing affection and grand gestures before or after doing something abusive, specifically to weasel one's way out of consequences.

What it is not: A streak of affection and generosity towards friends/loved ones.

Trauma-bonding: Knowingly traumatizing someone to take advantage of their vulnerable state, to then act like the "hero" or the one who cheers them up.

What it is not: Bonding over similar traumas.

Gaslighting: *Knowingly* convincing someone they cannot trust their own perception of a situation in pursuit of one's own narrative.

What it is not: Misaligned perception of events.

Narcissist: Someone afflicted with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, a traumagenic cluster B disorder, that struggles with self-obsession, paranoia, craving validity from the public, delusions of grandeur, and social disconnection.

It is not: Your rubbish ex that cheated on you.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

-Xanthe

A note to all creatives:

Right now, you have to be a team player. You cannot complain about AI being used to fuck over your industry and then turn around and use it on somebody else’s industry.

No AI book covers. No making funny little videos using deepfakes to make an actor say stuff they never did. No AI translation of your book. No AI audiobooks. No AI generated moodboards or fancasts or any of that shit. No feeding someone else’s unfinished work into Chat GPT “because you just want to know how it ends*” (what the fuck is wrong with you?). No playing around with AI generated 3D assets you can’t ascertain the origin of. None of it. And stop using AI filters on your selfies or ESPECIALLY using AI on somebody else’s photo or artwork.

We are at a crossroad and at a time of historically shitty conditions for working artists across ALL creative fields, and we gotta stick together. And you know what? Not only is standing up for other artists against exploitation and theft the morally correct thing to do, it’s also the professionally smartest thing to do, too. Because the corporations will fuck you over too, and then they do it’s your peers that will hold you up. And we have a long memory.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking “your peers” are only the people in your own industry. Writers can’t succeed without artists, editors, translators, etc making their books a reality. Illustrators depend on writers and editors for work. Video creators co-exist with voice actors and animators and people who do 3D rendering etc. If you piss off everyone else but the ones who do the exact same job you do, congratulations! You’ve just sunk your career.

Always remember: the artists who succeed in this career path, the ones who get hired or are sought after for commissions or collaboration, they aren’t the super talented “fuck you I got mine” types. They’re the one who show up to do the work and are easy to get along with.

And they especially are not scabs.

*that’s not even how it ends that’s a statistically likely and creatively boring way for it to end. Why would you even want to read that.

🥤🐇 A special drink

a study i did because i realized idk how to draw environments at all LMAO

A Field of Spider Lilies - TCF

So uh- Does anyone remember for like Nov last year where I mentioned a Twin AU for Trash of the Count's Family? Yeah, I was thinking about it again because it got buried in my notes and I recently uncovered it.

It took me FOREVER to think of a name for this AU but I wanted to give it one because I actually really do want to write this and would love to talk about it while I do so :D

Under the cut is gonna be just some info about the au as it stands and MAAAYYYBBBEEEEE a mini clip of what I had written/a plan I have for it.

First and foremost, bada dum! The title "Field of Spider Lilies" has been decided! It literally took me so many things to get to this lol- I was tempted to do "It Takes Two to Terrorize" as a play on "It Takes Two to Tango" but felt this was a bit better in general. I know many people will instantly think of red spider lilies, which is what I want!!! They are a dangerous and ill-thought flower, however, their meaning isn't always so dark.

Using this, since it is closest to my own interpretations of spider liles and their colors, I think each of them fits the twins. There is no specific color I will EVER assign to the lilies of the title, so you can imagine as you will with each part what coloring best fits the story at the time. If they're scamming they could be yellow. Injured? Red. Surrounded by those they love? White. Within a battle or something? Orange. It's all about the perception of the reader for the color, so you may all have fun with this :D

Also, Death would absolutely love if his children were represented by a flower that represented him so you know I'm going to fully use this to my advantage. No one will stop me and my bundle of flower meanings I've been holding onto since I learned they were a thing as a young child-

Kim Rok Soo has been named as well! He has now been dubbed our good boy Arlen! I always find the fact that Cale's name means dog as well as wholehearted fits both Og!Cale and KRS!Cale very well, so I wanted to find a name that also fit Twin!KRS as well. Then I found Arlen. Which means "hare land" (in a direct sense) but also if spelled with an "i" instead of an "e" it means "pledge/oath" which is also very fitting for our boy.

Also. Hare and the Hound. I couldn't not take the opportunity to have the twins be a reference to something. Let alone the fact that it's a story whose moral is essentially; "life is the most precious thing". I COULDN'T NOT DO IT ALRIGHT-

So their names are both a reference to a child's story that fits them as well as a name that fits our good boy KRS in general.

NOW ONTO SOME OF THE ACTUAL INFO ABOUT THE FIC TO BE!(I will be referring to KRS as Arlen, however, fear not, his middle name is Roksu, in reference to the more official translation, and he will be referred to by that as well since he's embarrassed that his name basically means bunny lol.)

ヾ( ○´ ･▿･ )ﾉﾞ

Arlen and Cale are telepathic. Not because of the typical 'time to have creepy telepathic twin time' because let's be real these two can and will learn how to communicate with nothing but staring at one another even if they weren't. They are telepathic though because the GoD felt a little bit bad about making them children again and wanted to give them a way to communicate early on. At least he only turned them into toddlers!

Jour, since her ancient power lets her see time, knows very well that something happened. She doesn't know what it is because even her power has its limits, but she knows she was only meant to have one child, but loves both her boys equally. The day they 'awaken' into their new bodies, she is also very aware that their time has yet again changed. She's worried, but still never tells anyone her plan.

Cale is an emotional mess but hides it. Arlen is an emotional mess but ignores it. Ron is about at his wit's end at this point between the two of them. And he's an assassin. He should have more patience than this-

They also cannot completely suppress their child-like instincts, which is both funny as if one cries the other probably will as well, but also horrible for when they're a bit older because oh y'know...trauma response from Arlen when he was Kim Rok Soo.

Cale is ever so slightly older and has decided despite their plan to stick close to the early plot up until Choi Han since nothing big happens before then(that they are aware of because Cale barely remembers half of what happened after his family died, he was kind of too numb to), that he is going to not let anyone hurt Arlen. Cause y'know. Telepathy. And Record. In a child's body.

I am very much not letting anyone forget Rok Soo grew up with that curse and if he ever had to be a younger child closer to the time he was around his uncle he probably wouldn't be able to help his instincts. Since even in canon he notes how trauma for a child is so scary for that very reason- Okay y'all get it I'll stop u-u

Anyway, Cale has seen some of the 'nightmares' his brother has and is wondering if after they ensure they can live peacefully even with the war that happens (Cale doesn't know they would have lost the war- he was too distracted and numb to truly care for much else than fighting those who wronged him!) if there is a way to get some petty revenge against those from another world.

In regards to Ancient Powers, I do have a plan, but if I share this, it t will be some major spoilers soooo maybe you'll have to wait for now >:3c

Finally, in this long tirade I've been on- I have a little snippet from when the first day they awoke!

I do have plans to do a bit of stuff pre-TCF plot with the twins since it will help build the dynamic I want as well as just give some fun interactions I believe we all deserve. Of course, there will be some serious, some fun, and some embarrassing childhood memories to be shown that Cale would will definitely get chased over if he told them.

Please feel free to ask/suggest/or just comment about this au!!!! I would love to talk about it more in general since I'm still fleshing out quite a bit of it :D

on "today's twitter shenanigans"