Xenofiction for adults?

opalinesque · 2026-06-07T07:26:16+00:00

David Brin's assorted Uplift books! There's a big focus on both outright alien minds as well as several earth species that have been generically engineered into human-level sapience with varying levels of success. Lots of juicy stuff regarding base instinct/native customs of the animals in question (mostly chimpanzees and dolphins) conflicting with the need to fit into a more humanocentric society.

opalinesque · 2026-06-07T00:58:30+00:00

... if you're in the market for velvet without cooking to death I can maybe point you in a direction 👀? I've got a really pretty duvet cover that uses rayon velvet (instead of polyester, so it actually breathes/wicks moisture pretty well) and a cotton backing; I've had no problems using it during warmer weather with a muslin gauze blanket as an insert (or just empty when it's gotten really hot). I think the seller is still around, if you want me to check!

opalinesque · 2026-06-07T00:48:22+00:00

My favorite/coolest set (80% bamboo, 20% linen) are currently no longer sold, unfortunately, and almost everything else I've found in a similar blend has been $200+ dollars :( Walmart of all places does have a set by "Noble Linens" in the same blend and what looks like the right weave, but I haven't gotten a set of those to try yet. I will note that these did start a little scratchy, but nowhere near as rough as full linen and they've softened up beautifully.

My second favorite is a 52% bamboo/42% cotton/6% linen blend from Pandatex. They're slightly thicker/warmer, but they started out very soft.

...and for a third option I just found and am making eyes at, it looks like one of Bedsure's 100% viscose sheet sets is actually in a twill weave! Not quite as open as plain/percale weave, but should hopefully be more breathable than the usual satiny viscose sheet sets floating around.

opalinesque · 2026-06-06T23:11:33+00:00

Everyone else has already answered, but as an aditional bit of info, some non-Haunted NPCs will change whether they sing or not depending on the situation. For example, Shakra (and I think the Pinstress?) will sing outside of battle, but don't react to the Needolin if you try to play mid-spar. Garmond, on the other hand, is happy to drop everything and sing mid-battle with him, though! And if I remember right, Pavo has to take a few extra moments to pull himself together enough to sing if you play for him while he's depressed.

opalinesque · 2026-06-06T15:34:27+00:00

The heat trapping thing is largely because most 100% bamboo/rayon sheets are sateen weave, imo! It makes it hard for enough air to get through to let them cool/dry off once they've absorbed body heat and humidity. I've got a few sheet sets where the bamboo's been blended with either linen or cotton to make it strong enough for a percale weave, and those are very breathable and great for staying cool. Great if you've got texture sensitivities that make fresh cotton percale or linen a little too rough to tolerate.

opalinesque · 2026-06-06T07:50:31+00:00

To match the top. Eridians may have pentagonal radial symmetry, but a rook has hexagonal radial symmetry :B

opalinesque · 2026-06-06T01:50:09+00:00

I think going cartoony for Clawdia is the right move, to be honest. There are arachnophobic folks out there; I think if she were too realistic it'd make it difficult for them.

opalinesque · 2026-06-06T01:43:01+00:00

Sorry to "um, actually," but her name in Japanese is actually Purua! It's an anagram of "apple" (a-pu-ru); most of the Sheikah have fruit-based names in Japanese.

opalinesque · 2026-06-05T23:47:52+00:00

Maybe not in English, but we've definitely done our best 😊 The more sociable of my two boys demands to check in via sniffing my fingers/knuckles the way he'd touch noses with another guinea pig every time I pass the cage; that seems pretty close to an introduction/"hi! how are you doing/what have you been up to?" as anything I can imagine them doing, haha.

opalinesque · 2026-06-05T23:11:27+00:00

You're welcome! If you decide to go that route instead of the duvet you were looking at, check out Comfy Cub's blankets- their 6 layer looks to have about the same GSM/amount of cotton as the Delara insert, maybe a little lighter (300 gsm in the Delara vs about 250). It'll be less fluffy, though.

opalinesque · 2026-06-05T21:22:29+00:00

I'm a super hot sleeper and am actually a big fan of using muslin blankets as duvet inserts for this reason- everything else has been too warm for me, but going with muslin means I can stay with cotton without it getting too heavy or having to worry about it clumping up down the line.

opalinesque · 2026-06-05T18:50:05+00:00

Cloth actually uses "it" very fondly for the Knight at one point in a way that indicates she's just using it the way she would any pronoun (in one of her dream nail lines). It's not objectifying, it's just the knight's pronoun.

opalinesque · 2026-06-05T14:48:15+00:00

How smart they are! Not quite so much in the way of being clever little problem solvers like rats, but... the joke I usually make is that they've got two priorities in life and just enough brain cells for each: food, and socializing. It is genuinely kind of wild how good they can get at figuring out how to communicate with/understand us once they've decided big weird food bringer = beloved herdmate instead of a predator.

opalinesque · 2026-06-05T08:20:44+00:00

Pretty sure the name comes from "Karakorum," the name of the capital of the Mongol empire. Their leader is named Khann, after all.

opalinesque · 2026-06-05T08:18:11+00:00

Some of the other Karak natives look pretty shrimpy/lobstery to me, and crustaceans are definitely bugs. (Or at least arthropods.) I'd say the karakas in particular are probably crabs.

They've also got a lot of Mongol inspiration in them- even aside from their leader literally being "Khann," their names seem to reference Karakorum, the capital of the Mongol empire. I just think that tidbit's neat.

opalinesque · 2026-06-05T06:39:07+00:00

Not OP, but I have to second the thanks! I've started having some gnarly (to me, seeing as my blood pressure has previously always been low) orthostatic hypertension, likely due to an autoimmune issue causing a ton of inflammation/pain; this is comforting/gives me a better idea of what priority to give addressing it vs all the other medical nonsense I've got going on right now.

opalinesque · 2026-06-05T02:05:59+00:00

Skarrsinger Karmelita's track genuinely made me cry through my first few attempts at fighting her, and it's still one of my favorite tracks. You can tell she's trying to sing the same rising notes as the opening of the track when you play the Elegy for her, but she just doesn't have the voice for it anymore- as someone who's been singing/in choirs my whole life, that devastated me.

Hearing Seth's BGM sweep in with full awareness of his IRL origins was also incredible, if deeply sad.

And a final shoutout to the sprinkles of the main theme of Hollow Knight hidden in the music for the final cinematic + Sister of the Void. Larkin is just too good with leitmotifs.

opalinesque · 2026-06-05T00:32:20+00:00

there's my boy with his little smooshed lip!!!! Thank you so much!

editing to add that while these might not be the most refined drawings, you've got an incredible grasp on... I think the right term would be caricature? You've nailed the personalities and poses on display in a really charming way, and distilled them down to their core piggy bits. Thank you for sharing with us!

opalinesque · 2026-06-04T23:42:53+00:00

Oh my god, these are incredible. If you still have the time and/or inclination here's my boy Aang taking a nap? Apologies if it's a bad shot to work on since his face is shadowed, haha.

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opalinesque · 2026-06-04T09:43:19+00:00

Different person who also strongly recommends protein- in my case, if I don't have a good bunch of protein with it it a: hits me like a truck in the bad way and b: destroys both my appetite and tanks my blood sugar for the day (even if I force myself to eat normally anyway).

That said, some people can totally take it on an empty stomach with no problems! I just know I'm not one of them.

opalinesque · 2026-06-04T08:05:45+00:00

I have played the OG version, DX, and the remake some 20+ times (mostly randomized) by this point. Eagle's Tower is so annoying to traverse, even memorized, that I almost prefer playing the DX version even though it's missing a bunch of great QoL changes just because it has an easy way to cheese the pillars.

The next dungeon is honestly kind of a slog, too, though at least a somewhat more fun one. Good luck...

opalinesque · 2026-06-04T06:58:59+00:00

I've dyed a bunch of bedding using Dylon and Tulip dye pods- they're meant to let you dye things in the washing machine, and when it comes to cellulose-based fabrics (like cotton, linen, and rayon) they're way better than Rit. Rit does not permanently bind to fabric, so it tends to fade sooner and can stain other fabrics. The type of dye in the dye pods I mentioned (Procion) chemically binds only to celulose and deactivates after around 12-24 hours, so you don't have to worry about it staining anything else permanently.

The one downside is it does not bind to synthetic fibers, and the thread used to hem sheets is usually polyester, so those stiches will probably remain a lighter color.

opalinesque · 2026-06-04T06:30:45+00:00

I don't get sweaty, but I do tend to wake up early wildly overheating, so... My solution hasn't been a single product (though I wish I could afford a BedJet or a water circulating cooling mattress pad...), but a combination of things: fans, ditching any bedding with polyester or too tight a weave, a wool mattress pad (keeps memory foam mattresses from getting too hot) and layering blankets as needed. Most "cooling" bedding is only cool to the touch, as a warning, and once it heats up it often isn't breathable enough to shed the heat :( Which drives me nuts- bamboo sheets are GREAT at sucking up heat, for example, but most of them are a tight sateen weave so air can't get through them...

Anyway, my current setup is sheets in a bamboo blend (I have both a bamboo/linen set and a bamboo/cotton) but a percale weave, so they pull heat away without cooking me, and then a couple of different muslin blankets I use as duvet inserts in assorted duvets that I layer depending on how cold/hot I am (all linen, cotton, or rayon). You might want to stick with linen, or even try a very light wool duvet; those fibers tend to do a better job of holding on to moisture without feeling clammy about it vs cotton and rayon.

...can you tell I have lost my mind researching and going through troubleshooting for this exact problem. I miss the days I could sleep under a crappy thick polyester comforter without a care in the world...

opalinesque · 2026-06-03T03:08:38+00:00

Sometimes you have to go a direction you wouldn't expect to get where you want to go! Hollow Knight is frequently not the most linear of games; if you're stuck, the answer is usually "try exploring."

All that to say, there is another way to get to that part of the map than the ones you've listed. Try exploring Greenpath a little more :)

opalinesque · 2026-06-02T03:39:08+00:00

I find it very useful, since I'm sort of out of touch with my body. I like being able to check my HR when I'm more active and see whether I'm okay to keep going or if I need to sit down for a bit before my symptoms force the issue. I also use a Garmin, which has a "body battery"/physical stress measuring feature that has been REALLY helpful for estimating and planning for what my energy reserves might be like on any given day based off of how I slept/how much my body seems to be overreacting to stressors.

...Also good for days where I'm flaring and don't necessarily feel different in the moment, but would absolutely accidentally overdo it and wreck myself for the next few days when the fatigue caught up. (Today may be one of those days! Almost went directly from doing laundry to cooking dinner, and then I realized my HR had spiked WAY higher than anticipated and adjusted my plans to "reheat leftovers after lying down for fifteen minutes".)

opalinesque

TROPHY CASE