guildofscribes - Tumblr blog

[guildofscribes]

Making a new thread for this because it was neat! Thanks so much for tagging me 💕 @sleketon666

Go to THIS QUIZ!

Tagging: @rax-writes @drizztdohurtin @kimberbohwrites @darkurgetrash and anyone else who might want to join!

[guildofscribes]

Legacy Theories:

So, recently I introduced myself to Hogwarts Legacy, having very little understanding of anything in the wizarding world… and I have a question for the Learned Ones:

In theory, would mud-bloods be sorted more often into Hufflepuff? Since that’s apparently the most friendly and accepting house?

[guildofscribes]

Humans and Fighting.

Okay, so Humans are definitely Weird. We all know this, we all own it. There's no use in trying to deny it at this point.

But the amount of "fight me" spirit that is written into the bones of every human is just so interesting to think about.

Think of the most peaceful, mild-mannered person you know. And then think of the one or very, very few times they got heated over something. Yeah, maybe it was funny in the moment or something, like a baby kitten trying to be fierce but they're tiny and cute, so it doesn't really feel threatening... but think of the fight that rose up.

Even a worm will turn. Maybe humans can't win every fight, and maybe they know this when they go in, but humans will 100% go down fighting. Every. Step. Of. The. Way. There comes a point in every human where they'll throw hands. Some it takes longer to get there, others require very specific situations to reach it, but every human has the threshold and reason for "I'll fight for this." Humans aren't the strongest or fiercest creatures that live on earth, they can't compete with most of the creatures they meet, or even most other humans. But they'll still put up a fight. Even if it's just to say that they fought. Even when they lose.

[guildofscribes]

The Botosphere fics on the Transformers story took over my brain for a while, and so far I’ve read everything they have to date at least twice, some of them three times, and the holographic images they’d use sparked this image in my head as I was reading.

It’s a bad doodle, but remarkably close to what my imagination conjured up from the description of Optimus Prime’s holo-human form thing, but the younger version he made for Reasons.

Meet Tim Furst, as my brain insists he possibly looks.

But yeah. The Botosphere fics on Ao3 and ff.net are truly delightful and y’all should go read them.

-Emparra

[guildofscribes]

I couldn't not reblog!!! Okay, this, but we do it to our children too! I cannot count the number of times I or a peer in caretaking would get down on all fours and stalk a small child, or many of them together. "To what end?" You ask? To intimidate? To frighten? To punish or abuse them? None of these! We do it to play! The unbridled delight that visibly washes over a small child when a caretaker suddenly drops down on all fours and begins to stalk them like a cat is truly infectious! The slow, intense buildup as you get closer, closer, closer! And then the pounce! The leap forward, the speedy chase! The resolve of all the building of suspense when they are caught; it is full of laughter and high emotion and "Again! Do it again!" And so the game begins anew! Humans are not the strongest, fastest, most gifted hunters on their native planet. However, they are hunters nonetheless, and they are tenacious. And if they have no need to hunt, they will do it to each other for fun!

I feel like any aliens that were prey at some point in evolution would have an odd fear of humans. Mostly cause they look like predators, act a bit like predators, and ARE predators. One perfect example is when we're focused on something like a mosquito that's been bugging us for a long time and we are just done.

Alien: "What. What..?"

Human: *HUNTING down a mosquito it saw*

Alien: ".... yeah I am really uncomfortable...."

Human: *quiet footsteps, pupils dialated, intense focus,*

Alien: *WAR FLASHBACKS*

Human: "Found you." *absolutely desimates the mosquito, squashing it into a million pieces as it's guts and various body parts liquidize into blood of the bloodthirsty, now stained on the palm of the human. A living being now reduced to a useless corpse as the human wipes the remains on their pants*

Alien: "I feel like I've just gained trauma."

[guildofscribes]

Horticulture in Space... or Humans are Plant Hoarders.

Okay, so Humans in space; it's a thing, we all love it, it's fun and weird and so, so silly. But! I posit to you all the Plant People of Earth! Imagine the plant people of Earth that go out into space with either approved or contraband plants, "Yes, Human Jane, you may have this feel-oh-denn-drawn in your quarters for mental health reasons. That is a logical decision to bring tools to maintain sanity in the long periods of galactic travel." But really Jane is addicted to her houseplants, and there's no stopping her now. It has begun.

Permission has been given, and Human Jane will populate her quarters and all common areas with all varieties of plant life that will survive in recycled air in a spaceship, all manner of crawling, vibrant, trailing, flowering plants from any planet that will survive transplanting into a pot. Air quality on the Farishind has never been better, the crew never more confused, but the botany department has never been happier. Human Jane has now written three journals on the survival of houseplants in climate-controlled spaceships.

[guildofscribes]

Okay, so I randomly had a Star Wars Thought and it has Overtaken my brain…

So in the last episodes of the Clone Wars, we all know how the galaxy is in chaos, Mandalore is in chaos, everything is in chaos, and somehow in all this Bo Katan has “seen the light” and wants to fix stuff.

So she appeals to the Jedi. Who are busy with a war they got conscripted into. But that’s all fine, really.

But when she doesn’t get the answer she wants, she tries guilt-tripping Obi-wan into helping using Satine. Her sister.

AS IF SHE HADN’T SPENT YEARS WORKING DIRECTLY WITH PEOPLE WHO WERE TRYING TO ASSASSINATE HER SISTER!!!

Like, woman!

The gall!

Obi-wan was the one who dropped everything to save Satine all those other times where you were trying to kill your sister! And now she’s dead! Because of your actions!

There are consequences for your decisions, my dear! Them’s the breaks!

You stripped the power out of your sister’s much wiser hands, and plopped it into the hands of insane wackos! What did you think was gonna’ happen? And it was Obi-wan who gave the best effort to save your sister from your bad choices!

Sorry, but that ship done sailed and sank, and you don’t get to trip any more guilt on that man, even on the (likely) chance he’d want to help your sorry carcass out of this mess you made.

But he can’t.

He can’t help you this time, so maybe you better pull on your Big Girl britches and figure it out yourself!

You made this mess, so maybe you get to clean it up too. I don’t know.

What you don’t get to do is drag the man through it on the one time he can’t drop everything and help you “for Satine’s sake”.

I don’t know.

That just seemed wrong to me.

Maybe I’m just sappy and tired.

Just a thought though, and I needed it out of my brain.

[guildofscribes]

Why has it taken this many years to learn this knowledge? Other than the fact that Google has failed me... YET AGAIN!!! Reddit, I shall begin my searching of your depths in specific parameters quite shortly! My cache of Random Knowledge shall be overflowing!! It shall be Glorious!!!

[guildofscribes]

Avatar: The Last Airbender Headcanons…

Okay, so Zuko being wildly strong for a teenage boy is already established (see all the tables and doors and crap he broke over the course of the show), and just imagining that scaling up as he grows is a truly delectable thought.

Imagine it! The dignified Firelord picks up pieces of furniture because he dropped something, or maybe casually kicks something Very Heavy out of his way and confuses everyone, …or people just catch on that he breaks a lot of stuff he Shouldn't Be Able to Break.

[guildofscribes]

I don’t think people get Steve Rogers.

I don’t think they get his responses to what happens in the story told over the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I especially think that they don’t understand loss.

Let’s take a look at a few of the losses Steve suffered in his life, shall we?

1. Never had a father, never had the chance to have a relationship there, lived through the aftermath.

2. Lost his mother to a horrible illness just as he became an adult in an age where the young aged fast and the chronically infirm were castigated for existing.

3. Lost a highly respected friend he’d found in a most unlikely place with Dr. Erskine.

4. Lost his best friend (brother), in a war that claimed so many friends he’d have made in the bonds of battle, in a terrible and traumatizing way.

5. Then (big kick in the head) he lost the whole world he knew, all of the people, places, daily culture, points of reference, and belongings he could claim.

6. A few years later, he looses so many new friends he’d made in the strange time and place he woke up in, and regains (sort of) one very old, very good friend.

7. A few years later, he loses half of his world, and his best friend again.

8. A few years later, he gets a few friends back, only to lose some of them again.

And this is by no means a complete list. These are just main points.

So tell me, please explain to me, just how his actions in light of all these losses can be so easily downgraded?

This is a man who had been emotionally eviscerated, more than once. His story is overwritten by so much loss.

A sensible reaction to that much continual loss would be to withdraw, to protect the self from losing even more.

Imagine losing so dam much, and then being told that you hadn’t lost enough.

So, will you say again that “how dare he leave and go to Peggy” after all of this wounding?

How dare this man attempt to find solace and healing?

How dare this man try to leave this unending war behind?

How dare this man leave all of his friends behind?

How dare he, indeed.

How dare he attempt to control his own pain?

How dare he seek healing in the way that seems best to him?

How dare he try to make that life he dreamed of “after the war”?

Because when you read what many American soldiers wrote in the time they spent fighting, many of them wrote about what they would do when they got home, how all they wanted was to accomplish the goal and go home, how their focus was getting through each day with the brother at their side and get home, how they missed being home in the place they loved with the people they loved, how the point of their existence was to finish the fight and go home.

How dare a man so hurt, so broken, so brave, try to heal himself?

Maybe I don’t agree with every single thing they did with the character throughout his arc, but really?

You wouldn’t believe the numbers of soldiers that go home after exemplary service in times of war who just want to rest. After everything.

How dare he go home?

[guildofscribes]

Humans are Weird: Caution and Lack Thereof.

Humans are not incredibly “tough” insofar as physical makeup goes in this universe, but humans ARE known for stubbornness/tenacity/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, and general acceptance of their bad decision-making abilities, which calls for measures to keep their unwieldy meat-sacks mostly alive and generally functioning.  When any of another species boards Human transports, they are always blown away by the safety precautions posted everywhere, the failsafes, the evacuation maps tucked everywhere, the plethora of escape pods and emergency buoys, life support systems and backup life support systems... not that the rest of the galaxies don't have safety measures and emergency failsafes, but they don't have as many as Humanity seems to have agreed on putting literally everywhere. Which is a bit odd when one takes into consideration that their vessels are literally pressurized vessels propelled by controlled explosions, the destruction of matter, or literal world-killing substances that are pressurized and used for fuel. Humans will hurl themselves into space using some of the most dangerous methods logged in the history of the universe, to the great endangerment of their lives and those in proximity of their craft if some system fails...

...but they have also planned for and created multiple options for continued survival should any thing indeed go wrong, along a wide variety of potential catastrophes.

To every science-oriented, non-Terran species in the galaxy, this “will to live” and “radiation of dumbass” is an ongoing study. Mainly because the humans keep spreading, and nobody knows just what to do with them. 

[guildofscribes]

Sometimes I Think of Insults I Can't Use.

"You're such a non-player... I'm not even sure you count as a whole character, just that weird dude you see but can't interact with who says weird stuff."

[guildofscribes]

Okay, so about the Wrong Jedi Clone Wars story...

If anyone was going to understand leaving the Order, it would be Obi-wan. 

If anyone was going to understand wanting to leave because he’d fallen in love, it would be Obi-wan. 

If anyone was going to understand what it was like to be put under the microscope of the High Council, have every action he’d ever made inspected, every word he’d said scrutinized… it would be Obi-wan. 

If anyone was going to understand mistrusting the orders of the Council, it would be Obi-wan. 

Obi-wan who:

Actually left the Order once because he saw people who needed help, and orders went against everything he’d ever been taught about being a Jedi. 

Had to beg for help after leaving the Order to help a bunch of kids try to survive a civil war, and then had to beg to be allowed back into the Order, and to be taken again as someone’s padawan. 

Had fallen in love (and never really faded out of love) with a woman was was literally one word away (“Stay?”) from leaving the Order again for, but ended up staying because both he and the woman he’d fallen in love with were too bound up in duty to serve themselves. 

Had been ordered by the Council to do things he doubted the wisdom in (Rako Hardeen), and was blasted for trying to do the right thing for the greater good, not just serve his own comfort. 

It would have been Obi-wan who understood what it was like to be one of the people who needed greater help, who needed the help of a Jedi to solve their problems. 

It would be Kenobi who knew what it was like to hold lives in his hands. (It was Kenobi who knew exactly how heavy the souls of children sent to fight wars were in his hands.)

If someone was going to understand not trusting ones’ own judgement, and still having to make choices anyway, it would be Obi-wan. 

[guildofscribes]

Okay, but hear me out...

A twice-baked idea; cooked to death beyond all recognition.

[guildofscribes]

Why the Good Ones?

Okay, so I've been watching the fandom culture for a while now, and I have a question; why are they breaking the good characters? Like, the characters that were built to be not so dark, to be more upright, morally accountable, who have it in their character makeup to just always try to do the right thing because that's what they believe in from the deepest parts of their being... why are they being broken down? There are already very awesome characters that we love who struggle with morally upright decisions, who struggle to make the right choices for some reason or another, and we mostly can all agree to respect and enjoy those characters and their arcs. They're characters created to struggle, and so many of us can get behind that because we struggle to make good choices all the time too. But why are the "model" characters being broken down into something base and detestable? Why can't we have Superman who chooses to do the right thing because it's the right thing to do, who is Clark Kent and chooses to be kind and give chances and hope for the better? Why does he have to be broken from the ideal we're supposed to strive for? He's an alien who saw the best of humanity and said, "Yes! I want to be this! They're so worthy, they have so much potential to be amazing, and I want to be all of that because I choose to! Because there's worth in that decision, and I'm free to make it because of these amazing creatures on this planet." Why can't we have morally upright characters who just try to treat people right and make good choices? I thought that was the point. I thought we were supposed to strive to be better than our faults, not just sit in the wreckage of our own bad choices. What happened to stories that inspire people to be better than their current state, to treat people the way you'd want to be treated, to do everything to the best of your ability because it's building you up as a person and not just doing a banal task? I understand the use for catharsis, writing tragedies that don't have an easy out, writing grim and dark realities... I get it. I really, really do. But where are the hopeful stories? Where are the Actually Good characters that are still engaging? What happened to defining our faults, but then working very hard to overcome them? It seems like those stories aren't being put out there anymore, and it's depressing.

It's not cool to be good anymore. It's not popular to try to be selfless, to make difficult decisions because they're right and because you wouldn't be able to live with yourself if you didn't. It's not fun to believe in Good and Evil, that maybe the shades of grey aren't so overreaching that you can't try to do the right thing all the time.

What happened to just, deciding to be a better person? For the sake of just being a better person? I don't know. Maybe holding oneself accountable to a higher standard is silly. But it gives me hope.

[guildofscribes]

Humans are Weird: Indomitable Spirit Addition.

Okay, so I've been following these sort of posts on the internet for a while now, but now I have a Tumblr and the ability to add my two cents! Humans are stubborn. They're obnoxious and juvenile and too curious for their own good. And they break. So. Much. Stuff! "I just wanted to see how it worked, I'll put it back together, promise!" Humans are incorrigible. There is no changing them into something slightly more sane, on the galactic scale.

Humans don't ever know when to quit. Ahn-skletch (well, that's as close as galactic standard characters could get to the approximation of his name) had been assigned to an away party, to go take samples and verify the habitability bracket on some Nowhere moon close enough to the human's Sol system that they picked up one of those capricious creatures for "diversity within the crew". Convenient. Humans were only ever trouble, but oh well. Maybe it would be funny to watch them. Ahn-skletch had the misfortune to be partnered with the gee-awl-uh-gyst human they'd picked up... the kind that studied rocks. Close enough to Ahn-skletch's field of ecology that they got paired up because those two fields of study were the same thing, right? Beings of the Vlistant species were not known for strict logic alongside their high intelligence rating, and the waves of mild irritation that swept over when that erroneous point had been made were truly immense. Rocks and eco systems.

Perhaps the human had been annoyed as well, but they did not show it. The human stepped over and introduced itself as "Gene, nice to meet ya'."

The human Gene did not stick out its hand, as Ahn-skletch had heard humans greet each other with touching of hands or wrapping appendages around each other, but the aborted movement was there. Which was a relief, for the reason that Vlistants did not generally greatly enjoy unnecessary contact. Humans called the phenomenon "electric shock", but that seemed to be the closest description to the sensation they received upon physical contact with other living creatures, having a slightly greater dormant charge to their organic systems. Contact = discomfort. Why bother? But that did nothing for him on the surface of the moon, where the air was breathable, though not for extended periods. That could be treated for specific species easily enough for colonizing. The ground seemed rich enough, though soft and somewhat crumbly, which likely meant the soil would be easy to work and cultivate the native edible flora. Little pools dotted the landscape with regularity, the liquid inside tested positive for consumption for 73.25% of the galaxy's sentient inhabitants, and recent signs of fauna signaled it to be a thriving system. Very encouraging signs. Until the human Gene insisted on getting a closer look at a large cliff face nearby, one with a convenient shelf to look out over the land below. Ahn-skletch followed. Humans shouldn't be left alone, after all. Too many stories circulated the galaxy for that. While the human Gene touched, tapped, made little scrapings into bottles... did they just lick the cliff wall? Well, humans were weird, after all. Ahn-skletch stepped along toward the edge of the shelf, carefully examining the organic life that stretched out and up towards the atmosphere, taking note of the smaller life forms crawling along the ground and in the flora, glancing back to human Gene now and then, taking peace from the calm and quiet. The oddest sensation came up through Ahn-skletch's pods, and then the ground seemed to rise up before their eyes!

Survival reflexes honed by many training courses were all that allowed Ahn-skeltch to close their hands around a large root exposed in the ground as they began to fell with the collapsed shelf. A singular root, sticking out of the same crumbly soil that had just fallen out from underfoot. Almost immediately, as soon as Ahn-skletch looked from the root upward to gauge how far they had fallen, Human Gene's face appeared over the edge, along with an arm that just barely reached far enough to possibly reach. "Sleechh! Grab my hand!" Human Gene, "The electric transfer will shock your system! You must find something to lower down to me!" What terrible fortune to be paired with a human! So delicate a body system, the energy transfer would surely cause the muscles to spasm and drop Ahn-skletch! What terrible odds! "There's nothing in my pack! We didn't get the climbing cord! Grab my hand! I won't drop you! Hurry!" Human Gene scooted further forward on his belly. "The ground might crumble more, and you don't want to go down with that plant, do you?" By all the low gods of the Vlistants... "There is no way! You cannot abide the electric transfer long enough to pull me up!" Desperation for survival won out. Ahn-skletch let the root go with one per and reached up, grabbed that pale human hand, expected to feel the spasm and release and the short fallback to the root... ...but it never came. That human hand clamped like a vice around it, and with a great shout, human Gene pulled upward. Ahn-skletch could not look away from the human's face as they moved up, slowly inching up the face of the outcrop that seemed to be threatening to crumble again with every particle that bounced downward over an eternity that stretched forever. Then the moment came where Ahn-skletch had to let go of the root.

It took much effort to let go, to move that grip to human Gene's arm, which brought another loud, strained noise. But human Gene's grip did not waver, and only ever kept pulling upward. Human Gene groaned, little drops appeared on their skin in the effort to keep pulling upward. Further, further, a little more... Human Gene still did not let go. Particles came loose and tumbled by Ahn-skletch, down into the great distance to the ground far, far below. The energy currant cycling through their bodies became uncomfortable for even Ahn-skletch, who was better developed to handle it. Still, human Gene did not falter, pulled a little further, and a little more...

...Then the top! And they scrambled backward to more sturdy ground. Human Gene had to pry their fingers away from Ahn-skletch's appendage, they had so tightly clenched to keep their grip as their body had spasmed with the extra electric energy.

Human Gene just flexed and rolled the joints and panted, "I guess we'll pack a rope next time, yeah?" in a most underwhelming tone. Ahn-skletch could only stare in shock. But they agreed. Always pack a rope. And privately, Ahn-skletch noted to go with a human whenever possible. Humans would not give up. To their own detriment, they would not give up. Human Gene ("For goodness' sake, call me Gene! I don't call you 'Vlistant Sleechh, do I?") suffered muscular strain and subluxation of four joints through the ordeal to pull up Ahn-scletch. Even when it brought them harm to do so, Humans did not quit. Over many cycle, Ahn-skletch would collect many more stories of humans doing similar things to save crew-mates. So many stories ended telling of much damage to the humans for their determination to keep going. Humans are strange. They are illogical, silly, crass, and troublesome. They cannot control their curiosity or their strangeness. They will adopt tiny, dangerous creatures as "pets", and will spend many hours training harmful behaviors out of their wild creatures. Humans do not know when to quit. Perhaps that is why they have spread so fast through the galaxy. They are delicate, but they are not afraid to be wounded. Either they will heal, or they will not, but the risk is worth it. It is their spirit that makes them so. Humans are not the strongest in the universe, nor will they ever be, but they are indomitable.

[guildofscribes]

“Not a perfect soldier, but a good man.”

A good man.

Not perfection, but the effort to do good. To be a better person because it’s good and kind, both to oneself and to others.

I’ve seen articles that condemn Steve for trying over and over to join the military when the war was brought to America, that he was foolish and selfish, that he wanted power and to fight… however, I cannot see that in what was portrayed.

Steve was a man who knew what it was to take a beating, he knew what it was to need a buddy to help him, he understood the cost of a war at least through the loss of his father in the Great War, and he understood that men must be there to fight the battles to protect the people who can’t fight. He wanted to be there and give all he had so people could be free from bullies who pick fights on the grand scale.

Steve Rogers was just a human who wanted to do the right thing. To do the same as all the other men he knew. He had the sense of value that his life was worth no more and no less than anyone else, and he had no right to do less than the next guy on the street.

That’s not selfishness. That’s aspiration to live up to a higher standard, from a man who had likely been told that he was indeed worth less by society because he was ill.

Maybe he did think he was worth less as a human, I don’t know, but he at least was not jaded and bitter about it, and he resolved to put his life to good use.

Steve knew how to look for the good in people, to see worthiness in individuals, because a few people saw worthiness in him when the majority didn’t. He knew what it was like to be judged as lacking by most people, and also to have someone judge him as worthwhile, he lived through both. He’s just a guy trying to do the right thing by the people around him.

Steve is a man who works to be kind in a world that isn’t.

Kindness has led him through many different doors, and his strength or character has made him reliable. When people or circumstances are not kind to him, he doesn’t throw in the towel and become bitter and vindictive, he just tries to do the next right thing.

That’s why I like him. He’s just trying to do the right thing, under whatever ability he has, which varies over his story. Sometimes he can effect a lot, sometimes not so much. But his decisions remain the same.

I think one of the reasons I'm utterly in love with Steve as a character is -and I say this a lot- his kindness, and his willingness to put people before himself.

It was such a nice thing to see, a character who isn't 'asshole with a heart of gold', or 'tortured soul' or any dark, edgy, morally gray character type. Steve is good by nature, he is kind to be kind, willing to help people because it's the right thing to do, not because he's waiting for something in return.

And even then, with Steve being the way he is, he's not portrayed as naive, or an idiot who's always being tricked into something or taken advantage of because of his kindness. Steve stands his ground, doesn't take bullshit from anyone. His kindness is one of his strengths, it makes everything about him 10x better.

His first reaction upon meeting Bruce for instance, is assuring him that it's Bruce and his work that matters, not the Hulk, which was a very big insecurity of Bruce.

When Sam presented him the file on the falcon subject, his first instinct is to ask about Riley, and letting a moment of silence pass to let Sam know that he understands that type of loss, that Sam isn't alone.

He sympathised with the Maximoff twins, knowing that they were young and being tricked, and wanting to help them.

We see Steve comfort both Natasha and Wanda at different times, reassuring them in the ways that he knew worked best for them. He gives Natasha his trust, something that wasn't readily given to her before, and he lets Wanda know that sometimes there are things that she cannot control, and it's not entirely her fault.

Even though Steve hardens over the years, even when he's faced with the worst sides of people, his kindness does not fade. He doesn't close off, never stops comforting those in need, and it's one of the best things about him.

It's also why so many people are attracted to him. Kindness draws people in.