enjoymyatelier | 009 [VIDEO]

[So Kayneth is in a rather unexpected situation this go around; that is to say he is currently in a kitchen that has various objects of cultural significance strewn about.

Judging by the ingredients, it appears as though he is attempting to make Mom's Favorite Chocolate-Covered Pretzels. One would think this was an accidental post, but... no.

That would probably be less of a clusterfuck, honestly.]

I am never really sure how many parallels there are between this world and my own, particularly in terms of holidays-even when it makes very little sense for them to be there for apparent historical reasons. With even recent news broadcasts by the natives dropping hints that Valentine's Day-or something like it-is around the corner, I'm finding myself rather curious about what sort of holidays naturally exist in this world.

I suppose that whatever the natives are celebrating could be some sort of equivalent that came about naturally... or it could be something that they picked up on from people from other worlds and decided to exploit in a fairly typical fashion. After all, why would the companies of this world miss out on an opportunity to use relationship-based guilt in their marketing strategies at some point in the year?

[you... you sound bitter, bro]

My general displeasure with the overcommercialization of this holiday aside, it is regrettably very effective in getting people to want copious amounts of sweets, but if I'm going to have anything like that this season it's going to be made by my own hands. Has anyone attempted the recipe that was brought up in Friday's news broadcast and found it to be less than satisfactory? If not... well, it should be obvious that I'm considering trying to make them.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's funny... Most people here don't really understand the whole concept of sarcasm.

That honestly doesn't surprise me much, given how many people I've met prior to coming here who were incapable of understanding it. I would expect at least some people to get it, though, particularly if they weren't natives.

You'd be surprised hoe many of mine don't understand the concept.

[...he won't bring up his traveling companions

he won't]

No, I rather doubt I would. I generally expect the sorts of people I associate with on a regular basis to get it, but... unfortunately, that isn't usually the case.

...

I don't know if I should laugh with my prongs pointed to be sympathetic.

...

I... believe you lost me. I'll confess, I'm not particularly confident with troll linguistics yet...

Fingers. Prongs are fingers.

...I... see. Given that I'm told you all have horns under normal circumstances, I had assumed it might actually be those, but that makes a bit more sense.

That's because we normally do have horns. We have different life cycles, akin to Earth insects. Hence prongs.

...I did know about the horns, but I didn't know about the rest of that. Do you... start out as grubs, then?

Yeah, we do. Once we actually make it to the top of the subterranean caves, we make a pupa.

And when you emerge you're humanoids, then? Well, I suppose I've heard stranger.

Close enough, yes. But hey... I think giving BIRTH to your own young is strange. Having a name for same gendered couples is mind blowingly stupid too.

...Well, yes. I would imagine that would be strange on both counts, given both the different biological and cultural mores, but having a different name for same gendered couples is at least socially functional.

Not really. It's just another form of labeling and thus giving it a sort of connotation that's really not needed. Who the fuck cares what you're choosing to pail? Some people like really big horns, others like warmer blood hues, and then a few like one gender more than the other. It's just a preference.

Do I need slap a label on the fact I enjoy maple syrup over powdered sugar to eat my pancakes? No. So why have one for what you're going to date?

If we have any intention of reproducing biologically with than it does, yes. It doesn't actually guarantee it will happen, of course, but that at least puts the chances of it happening over zero percent.

Of course, if someone has no intention of doing that, I'll concede that you have a point.

Yeah, see... Once again it goes back to that whole difference in reproducing. Humans are entirely inefficient at it.

...what do you mean?

Humans are restricted by gender if they want to copulate and conceive. That's not true for we Trolls. Since we do not lay the eggs that hatch grubs, gender really is more of a preference than a need.

Also humans, for the most part, can only have one at a time and the female is generally incapacitated for months. Then the human parents get stuck rearing said offspring instead of going off and being productive. Since the Mother Grub lays an untold amount of eggs, no Troll has to essentially be nonfunctional for any period of time. Adults also do not raise young grubs at all, and thus their energies are better spent in the Fleet.

Well, if you all have the same physical sex, that's certainly understandable... but really, childrearing is not nearly as incapacitating as you seem to think it is. We are capable of multitasking, you know, and between there being more than one guardian and the fact that we can employ people verified to be good with handling children if we need to be away from them for any reason, there's very little that gets in the way of being productive.

[...says a man who has never had children and is from a society that has infamously fucked up views of family responsibility and parenting]

Edited 2013-02-27 00:46 (UTC)

...Ah huh.

[ not convinced. ]

I'm certain we would know this far better than you would.

009 [VIDEO]

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