#← ​(also Dr stone included in that!!)

[esosage]

Saw a post about a sonic venom au that inspired me to to post about my own stobotnik venom au, so here it is:

(Also fair warning, i dont know shit about venom, so if anything doesnt make sense for the venom cannon, blame that.)

So for the au, robotnik is going to be the symbiote, and stone is going to be the host. (Maybe like carnage and his host, but only for the fact that carnages host is a criminal.)

Stone is a serial killer in this au, but is very charasmatic. Allowing him to gain a a very die hard following of people who think he's innocent, despite being thrown in jail. (Something that will come in later.)

Maybe he got caught by sonic and shadow, which are bassically the eddie and venom of this universe. (Shadow being venom, and sonic being eddie) maybe he was a past government agent, or someone famous, doesnt matter. Hes in jail regardless.

Now this is where robotnik comes in, and where my lack of knowledge of venom might bite me in the ass. So, robotniks backstory is that he's sent down from the symbiote planet to terreform earth into something they can conquer. (The person that sent him being black doom, since robotnik and shadow are both symbiotes in this, and since black doom is already an alien.) Since he's sent down to terreform it ive come up with some symbiote abilities for him that i think fit into that nicely (and because i dont know shit about symbiotes, lol.) Since robotnik useses, well, robotics in the cannon universe, in this one he has kinda a similar ability. He can make his harden into a kind of crystal like substance, and sprout crystals out of himself. He can plant his crystals into other things to take them over, but he can only transform so many things, and, since hes a lot more solid than the other symbiotes, once he is in a host completly hes stuck in them. Meaning no leaving to posses other stuff. He has to use his crystals if he wants to posses something.

How he terriforms a planet, is by takeing off some of the crystals he sprouts and turning them into a fine dust. He sprinkles this dust around an area, and repeatedly does this until eventually the area has been completly transformed. Once its transformed, it will grow its own crystals and he can harvest those to make more dust. Which speeds up the terriforming process. So when he starts the process, he's easy to stop, since its so slow, but once hes gotten a solid foothold its a lot harder since hes much more quicker with it.

Im thinking how the symbiotes found earth is from humans takeing and reaserching symbiotes that they found in space. (Which is how i think they found them in the first venom movie, though i could be wrong.) Regardless, because of this, robotnik was sent down with a main host already in mind. Due to some shennanigens involving sonic, robotnik doesnt get that main host, and instead, posseses stone by accident.

The two bicker a bit at first, (with stone being reasonablly alarmed that some weird ah alien entered his body,) but, they eventually decide that they both could benefit from this. Stone thinking robotnik could help him get out of jail, and make killing people far easier. And robotnik thinking that stone's charisma could be put to good use in hiding his plans to terriform earth.

I think at first the two reluctently work together, planning to betray eachother by the end of their partnership, but eventually go attached to one another. Realising that they actually like eachother quite a bit.

For stone, this manifests as him slowly becomeing more devoted to robotnik as time goes on. Before he met robotnik, the only person be served was really himself. Yes, he followed orders and didnt go too out of line, but all of it really was for his own self interests.

But, now that stones met robotnik, he cant help but be ennamored by how brilliant the alien is. He is unlike anything stone has ever seen before, litterally. So naturally, his ennamourment and aw eventually turns into blind loyalty. Sure, he agreed with the alien that the world would be better teraformed so that robotnik would be none the wiser when he betrays him, but now he's genuinlly starting to concider it. And in the future, he genuinlly belives it.

Essentially, as he continues to work with robotnik over time, he goes from a self serving, charasmatic serial killer, to the stone we see in the movies. Loyal to a defult.

So, obviously, he doesnt like how robotniks home world treats him. He doesnt like how robotniks home world treats ivo like a tool, because in his mind, robotnik is far better than them. So this leads him to slowly start to convince robotnik to break off from his home world, saying that the doctor could do far better than them. Infact, he could probobly rule the world on his own. And while robotnik initially shuts stone down on it, the seeds are planted, and with the amount of attention and adoration stone is giving him, its hard not to belive.

On his symbiote planet, hes a weapon with a purpose, a cog in the machine.. but with stone? Oh with stone he feels like much, much more. And that feeling is intoxicating.

Leading the two to shift goals a bit.

But before i get to that, i wanna cover how they are in the beggining when they first team up.

So, stone and robotnik are obviously the villains in this story, but, where they differ is that their not viewed as villains. This is where stone's charisma comes in. Useing very adept trickery, stone manages to find a way to paint himself as the goodguy at the end of every fight with sonic and shadow. Wether thats by tricking them into harming civilians, saving people, pretending to be stopping them from hurting people in public, or doing all his dustruction away from watchfull eyes while leading sonic and shadow to destroy things while people are watching, he manages to convince people that he and robotnik are the good guys here regardless.

Robotnik hates it obviously, hates helping people, hates dealing with them in general, and would much rather eat them, but he puts up with it. Mainly, because it helps a LOT in disguising his plan to terreform the world. That, and stone does all the talking most of the time.

This creates a dynamic between the two of them where stone is the face, and robotniks the brains/brawn. The two of them collaborating to plan out their moves very carefully.

Obviously enlisting some fall back plans for themselves so they can eventually betray the other in the end, but on the surface their working together regardless.

I think they would go for as big of plans as they will later. Their mainly trying to throw suspition off of robotniks plan at this moment. And they dont enlist help from others too often, since they dont want other people to ruin the image they have carefully cultivated up until now, and because robotnik has trust issues.

But, things begin to shake up a bit when stone starts to slowly be ennamored by robotnik, with it really kicking in when they have their first area teraformed. Because thats when stone goes from useing robotniks plan as a temporary means to an end, to actually beliving in the plan and wanting to help.

This starts out with stone makeing connections, and renewing old ones. Leading him to gain more power outside of his subtle manipulation of sonic and shadows image in the public eye.

Hes expanding his roots into different industrys, so he can funnel more resources to robotnik, so the doctor can expand their plan.

Meanwhile, robotnik, while getting absolutely bored from things takeing so long, starts to look into more human customs. He deems most as dumb and stupid, until he stumbles upon robotics. He's absolutely taken by it, and his mind goes absolutely wild. He learns everything he can about it, whenever he can. Eventually, stone notices his obssession with it, and starts buying books about mechanics, mathmatics, and robotics in bulk. At first as little gifts, but eventually it becomes due to robotniks incesent demand for more. Though, since the symbiote soends every second he has learning about his new favorite subject, eventually, he runs out of things to read about, and turns to experimenting with things himself. Something stone also supports financially.

I feel like this change would make fights with stone and robotnik a lot more interesting, since not only do sonic and shadow have to deal with stones growing connections, but also the new weapons robotniks makeing and deploying. The weapons shakeing up fights a bit more, since there can be a new gimic weapon that either compliments robotniks powers, are inhibits sonic and shadow.

Plus, ontop of it all, robotnik can also use his crystals to possess the things he makes. Sure, he had a taste of possesing non-organic stuff when he put his crystals into cars and the like, but now hes fully delving into the concept. Though, in order to balance it out, id say that he stops possessing organic stuff all together. Not because he cant, but out of the sheer princible of the matter. After all, why would he posses a stupid, inferior, organic animal, when he could use his crystals to posses some cool giant robot? Plus, robotnik never really liked to possess organic things in the first place, only really useing it as a means to an end. (This is based on how he perfers his machines much more than humans in the first sonic movie.)

Anyhow, stone eventually convinces robotnik to sever ties with his home planet, leading the two to try and conquer the world for themselves. This new found ambition to conquer the world leads robotnik to take full advantage of the connections stone has firmly cemented, now going full super villain mode on sonic and shadow. This shift being very evident by the change in scale of their fights. Before, when the four first started fighting, it was mini brawls that stone used to make the hero's look evil, now, shadow and sonic are fighting up against giant robots that rival even skyscrapers in height, or have to deal with whole industries of manifacturing being infested by stones influence. And while yes, they have defeated them in the past and have shown the public a glimpses of what stone and robotnik are really like. By now its far too late, as while some people are rallying against the two, they have far more allies than enemys due to stone's efforts in makeing connections. Of course, they still experience major setbacks delt to them by sonic and shadow, but nothing that will stop them completly. Cementing them as the hero's main villains that they have to fight, among others.

Also, they becomes lovers at some point, because serial killer/the weird alien symbiote that posseses them goes hard.

Anyhow, i have more thoughts, but their not revolving around the main plot of this. So ill end it here. Sorry it was so long, feel free to expand on this if you want. Id absolutely love to hear other ideas.

[indigosabyss]

Throwback to my "Xeno and the American colony succeeded in taking over the world" fic idea. Gotta do something with that.

[billowingangel]

Hi my friends~

I've been obsessively reading manga the past few days. <3 like I've read over 15 now (most aren't finished but averaging a good amount of chapters)

I haven't been thinking about fandom stuff too much just consumed by the yuri manga I have been reading

I'm thinking of being a total loser

I'm thinking of making a blog about the manga I've read and giving reviews and blah blah, but not a tumblr blog.... but a website blog (·'╻'·)

Also I've been paranoid about my irl friends somehow finding out about this, my fanfiction, etc. Even though its very unlikely and none of this is even associated with my real name ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[najia-cooks]

[ID: A Moroccan teaglass with a bundle of sage, a saucer of dried sage, a deep blue-purple teapot, and a Palestinian vase in the background. End ID]

شاي المريمية / Shay al-maryamiyya (Palestinian sage tea)

Palestinian sage is a common after-dinner beverage and digestive aid made from black tea and three-lobed wild sage (Salvia fruticosa syn. Salvia triloba L.). In the Levant, this variety of sage is known as "مَرْيَمِيَّة" ("maryamīyya") or, more dialectically, "مَرْمَرِيَّة" ("marmariyya").

Terminology and etymology

The term "maryamīyya" likely derives from the Aramaic "מרייא" ("marvā"), meaning "common sage" (Salvia officinalis). The modern form of the word in Arabic—as well as in Persian, in which "مریم گلی" ("maryam goli") is “sage” or "garden sage"—was also influenced by a folkloric association between sage and the مَرْيَم (Maryam) of the Bible (Mary, mother of Jesus). Dr. Tawfiq Kanaan, for example, says that Mary sat on a stone to rest after a walk in the hot summer sun, and used a few leaves from a sage plant to dry her forehead: this is how the plant got its pleasant scent, and why it is still named after Mary. The dialectical pronunciation "marmariyya" then arises through an assimilation of the second syllable to the first.

"Maryamīyya" is perhaps also related to the obsolete Arabic مَرْو ("marw"), meaning "fragrant herbs" [1]. This Arabic term is derived from the Aramaic מַרְוָא / ܡܲܪܘܵܐ ("marwā"), which refers to wild marjoram or za'tar (Origanum syriacum; syn. Origanum maru) and is related to words for fragrant herbage, marjoram, and grass (Ciancaglini; see also Aramäische Pflanzennamen, p. 193). The Aramaic is itself a borrowing from the southwest Middle Persian "𐭬𐭫𐭥𐭠" (transliterated: mlw'; pronounced /⁠marw⁠/) [2], which survives in several New Persian words: see for example "مرغ" ("margh"), "a species of grass of which animals are exceedingly fond"; and "مرو" ("marv"), "a fragrant herb." (Interestingly, the related Sanskrit मरुव "maruva" ultimately gives the English "marjoram" by way of Latin and Old French.)

[1] The term may also refer to the genus Maerua (to which it gives its name), and in particular the species Maerua crassifolia.

[2] See also Müller-Kessler, p. 10, and note 41 on p. 29; MacKenzie, p. 55.

Sage and Palestinian Culture

Three-lobed sage is one of the "most deeply rooted plants in the Palestinian traditional culture and ethnobotany," being the second-most-mentioned of all foraged plants (after za'tar) in a survey conducted in 2008. The connection of three-lobed sage to Maryam leads to its use in creating protective blessings at various rituals from birth until death; in the Galilee, it is burned to guard against the evil eye and to expel demons at births, weddings, and at the graves of holy people. When consumed, it is believed to help with many ailments including stomach complaints, eye diseases, and insomnia, and is used to treat livestock as well as humans.

Maryamiyya is not commonly grown as a garden herb in Palestine; rather, it is foraged from its wild range across the mountains of the West Bank, where it scents the air. Like za'atar and labna, using maryamiyya for culinary purposes is connected to Palestinian identity throughout all regions, with some people asserting that every Palestinian household must have some in stock.

Tea made with the addition of sage is perhaps the most popular herbal tea in Palestine, especially in the winter: though mint, chamomile, and aniseed are also commonly infused in water and drunk. Other varieties of sage grow in Palestine and are produced and exported by Palestinian farmers [1], but Gustaf Dalman noted in the early 20th century that three-lobed sage was the most important variety:

Of the spicy-smelling labiate flowers, which assume a significant role in the flora of Palestine, numerous sage varieties bloom in the spring. Among these the Salvia triloba, with violet flower heads on a tall shrub, is not the most colorful but is the best known, called in the north 'ēzaqān [عِيزَقَانْ] and in the south miryamīye, mēramīye thus connecting it with the Virgin Mary. (trans. Nadia Abdulhadi Sukhtian)

During the spring, sage leaves are collected and air-dried for use in tea throughout the whole year. Tea may also be made from fresh leaves, but some people consider dried to be superior. Dried maryamiyya leaves are purchased by Palestinian refugees and expatriates wherever they are. Food is thus tied to locality, memory, resistance, and terroir—a groundedness in land that considers aspects as diverse and interconnected as soil, climate, and politics. A concept of terroir in agriculture and cooking brings out how products "register[] origin and provenance."

[1] Today, the vast majority of Palestinian herb exports are to the United States, but Palestinian farmers are not able to export goods themselves—they rely on Israeli distributors and exporters, which cuts into their profits and curtails their autonomy.

Criminalizing Foraging

Ali-Shtayeh et al. noted in 2008 that the gathering of wild edible plants had been in decline in the Palestinian territories throughout preceding decades, with many young people lacking the cultural knowledge to identify and prepare wild plants. They mention several possible reasons for the decline, including an increase in intensive agriculture, improvement in national networks of roads, and the fact that some middle-aged people associate foraging with times of poverty. But we should also consider the fines, arrests, and potential imprisonment that Palestinians risk when foraging wild plants for food as a likely cause for the decline in the practice.

There are two strains of law relevant to the criminalization of foraging in "Israel" and the occupied Palestinian territories (the West Bank and Gaza: henceforth "OPT"). The first consists of primary laws which establish the right of representatives of the Israeli government to declare a plant to be a protected "natural value" (ערכי טבע), and lay out the maximum penalties people can be charged with for causing "harm" ("פג'עה") to a protected plant; the second comprises secondary declarations in the form of lists of which plants are considered protected.

The 1963 Natural Parks and Nature Reserve Law (חוק גנים לאומיים ושמורות טבע, תשכ"ג - 1963) belongs to the first strain. It empowered the Minister of Agriculture to declare a plant to be protected within "Israel," subject to the approval of a government council (ch. 5, 40-42); and declared that harming a plant was an offence punishable by up to three months' imprisonment (chapter 6).

In the text of the law, "harm" is specifically defined to include "picking," "קטיפה," and "gathering," "נטילה." No systematic distinction is established based on how much of the plant was harvested, and whether the plant was foraged for personal or commercial purposes. Nor is there any qualification of what qualities a plant should have to be considered "protected," or any obligation for the government to pursue or present scientific evidence that a given plant is overharvested.

In 1969, The Decree on the Protection of Nature (צו בדבר הגנה על הטבע) (Military Order no. 363) gave similar authority to the occupying military, and criminalized foraging in the OPT. Military orders are enforced by military courts, whereas offenders in "Israel" go through civil courts.

Several plants were already on the list of protected natural values at this time, but they were not commonly foraged for food. 1977 proved a signal year in this regard: with the "Proclamation of National Parks and Nature Reserves" [אכרזת גנים לאומיים ושמורות טבע (ערבי טבע י מוגנים), תשל״ח -1977], Minister of Agriculture Ariel Sharon (אריאל שרון) added za’tar ("אזוב מצוי") and maryamiyya ("מרוה משולשת") to the list. The inclusion of these plants, and especially za'tar, was more disastrous and insulting than previous bans on foraging had been. Za'tar, besides being a source of food and income for many poor or disabled Palestinians, has immense cultural significance in Palestine.

Arab Palestinians—and only Arabs—were arrested, fined, and even imprisoned, with no clear correspondence between the amount they had foraged and their sentencing. Most of the recorded court cases in "Israel" deal with za'tar, though court cases in legal databases show that Palestinians were also fined and tried for foraging maryamiyya (FN 38). An atmosphere of intimidation prevailed, with many habitual foragers feeling newly afraid to leave their homes.

In 1998, a new National Parks, Natural Reserves, National Sites and Memorial Sites Law [חוק גנים לאומיים, שמורות טבע, אתרים לאומיים ואתרי הנצחה, תשנ"ח-1998] replaced the prior National Parks law (of 1992, which had itself replaced the aforementioned 1963 law). It removed the necessity for an ecological council to approve the Minister's declaration of a "protected" status, and increaed the maximum prison time for a violation of the law to three years. Throughout all periods, however, the penalty usually imposed has been a fine.

Since the imposition of the harsher law, two notable updates have been made to the list of protected plants: the 2005 list of Protected Natural Assets) [אכרזת גנים לאומיים, שמורות טבע, אתרים לאומיים ואתרי הנצחה (ערכי טבע מוגנים), התשס״ה–2005] replaced the 1979 list, and added عَكُوب ('akoub; "עכובית הגלגל"), a culturally important and commonly foraged thistle. [1] Za'tar and maryamiyya remained on the list. The 2005 declaration also specifies that the species on the list are protected if they are wild, but not if they are cultivated (section 3). This provision allows Israeli farmers to profit from the farming and sale of za'tar.

The second notable update came in 2019: the Nature and Parks Authority (שרשות הטבע והגנים) announced that it would redact the absolute ban on harvesting za'tar, maramiyya, and 'akoub, instead setting a maximum allowable amount for household consumption and cracking down on the sale of these plants, rather than on foraging itself.

Activists believe this partial measure to have occurred as a result of legal and public pressure instigated by an open letter which human rights lawyer Rabea Eghbariah sent the Israeli Attorney General and Environmental Protection Minister requesting that za'tar, 'akkoub, and maryamiyya be removed from the "protected" list in advance of their foraging seasons, noting the inconsistency in sentencing and the law's disproportionate criminalization of Palestinians. (The specific cultural importance of these three plants is attested by the fact that they, among the dozens of species considered "protected," form the basis of Eghbariah's complaint.) The Nature and Parks Authority (NPA), however, insisted that an independent assessment, and not public criticism, had led them to announce the change in policy. And fines levied at Palestinian foragers did continue despite the announced change in policy, at least through March 2020.

Nor is the change complete in scope, even if it were being upheld. Eghbariah notes that "It is not yet clear if the change will also apply [in the West Bank] - and there it is a parallel system, less transparent and much more predatory. The enforcement is much worse, including the confiscation of cars, and the judgment is in a military court. We will continue to monitor."

[1] Eghbariah writes that the "Protected Natural Values Declaration (Amendment No. 2) (Judea and Samaria), 1978" added za'tar and maramiyya to the list in the OPT, and the "Protected Natural Values Declaration (Amendment No. 2) (Judea and Samaria), 2004" added 'akoub. I have been unable to find or independently verify the text of either declaration. From a list of secondary legislation related to military orders, I believe the declaration being amended is "הכרזה בדבר ערכי טבע מוגנים (יהודה והשומרון), התשל"ג - 1973".

[ID: Light shone through a blue glass vase is cast over the bundle of sage and glass of tea. End ID]

"Preservation" and Green Colonialism

Of course, Palestinians and activists also suspect that the underlying purpose of the ban is to starve and intimidate Palestinians, rather than any real concern with nature. Israeli botanist Nativ Dudai points out that foraging causes much less harm to these plants than Israeli bulldozers do. Samir Naamneh, who sells foraged produce, also dismisses the environmentalist excuse for the ban on foraging:

We feel, and we know, and we’re sure, that the laws are made, on principle, against the Arab residents of the country, to hurt their livelihoods. It’s part of the pressure that Israel puts on us to starve us out.

The 1977 decision to add za'tar and maryamiyya to the protected plants list was ostensibly taken in accordance with a report submitted by a group of Israeli ecologists, which suggested that the species were in danger due to over-foraging. However, Israeli forager Yatir Sade (יתיר שדה) suggests that the converse may be true, and that the people who wrote the report might have taken their cues from the government.

On June 20, 1977, the inauguration of the Begin (בגין) Cabinet marked the first time that a right-wing party had held a majority in the Knesset; this dramatic change in Israeli politics would come to be called "המהפך" ("HaMahapakh"), "the revolution" or "the upheaval."

Sade's research reveals that, about a week later, on June 27, 1977, a team of ecologists at the NPA submitted a list of species to the Legal Bureau at the Ministry of Agriculture (משרד החקלאות), suggesting that they be declared protected. The list is accompanied by a letter of legal advice signed by a partner in the law firm Reva, Shein, Katz & Co. This initial suggested list did not include four species which would end up on the final 1977 list, all of them important culinary and medicinal herbs among Palestinians and Bedouin Arabs: babonj (בבונג / بابونج / golden chamomile), maryamiyya, za'tar, and ss'atr barriyy (صعتر بري / קורנית מקורקפת / Persian hyssop). [1]

But about four months later, on October 16, another letter was sent on behalf of the same law firm, requesting that these four species be added to the "protected" list, and that the standard procedure for adding them be expedited. Accordingly, on November 2, only a few days after receiving the letter, the Minister's office published the final declaration, with golden chamomile, maryamiyya, za'tar, and Persian hyssop newly added. The new Minister of Agriculture Ariel Sharon (אריאל שרון), part of the First Begin Cabinet and co-founder, with Menachem Begin, of the right-wing party HaLikud (הליכוד), signed the new declaration. It therefore seems likely that these plants were added to the list for political reasons and precisely because of their importance to Palestinian Arabs, rather than from any ecological concern.

It is also relevant that the 1963 and 1998 laws which criminalized foraging also laid out guidelines for the creation of national parks, nature reserves, and military and state memorial land. The text of the 1998 law, in particular, describes the goals behind creating these sites, and gives the council it establishes the authority to do anything necessary to promote those goals. These goals include to "protect natural and heritage sites" ("הגן על ערכי הטבע והמורשת"); to "maintain international scientific relations" in the field of nature conservation ("קיים קשרים מדעיים בין-לאומיים") ; to promote education about conservation among youth and students (7. (א)); and to promote travel and tourism (14. (א)).

Many discourses and strategies can here be seen operating together. The creation of nature reserves, state heritage sites, and military memorial land all within the text of the same law explicitly connects environmentalism to patriotism; creates special reasons for bringing land under state control, and imposing special codes of behavior on this land (i.e., natural and heritage sites); connects environmentalism to state ownership and control of land, and connects both to the education of youth and the creation of the ideal Israeli civic subject; uses environmentalism to promote Israel internationally as a scientific authority, a responsible steward of land (unlike the indigenous population), and thus a legitimate state; and sanitizes and 'advertizes' Israel internationally by associating sites of destruction, annexation, and ethnic cleansing with the concepts of environmental protection, natural beauty, preservation, and heritage.

Israel frequently declares land a "nature reserve" as a method of annexation, only to later build settlements on it (see Karimi-Schmidt p. 369 ff). Palestinians are forbidden from foraging certain plants within nature reserves (other plants are forbidden for foraging everywhere), and from constructing on them; they are thus alienated from this land, and dissociated from the ways in which they have long related to it. Yatir Sade points out that the four plants added to the original 1977 draft of the protected species list are typically harvested out in open areas, rather than within yards and villages; declaring these areas nature reserves, or arresting Arabs who enter them under suspicion of foraging, prevents Palestinians from moving freely, and from claiming any connection to the land. [3]

The "Green Patrol" (HaSayeret HaYeruka / הסיירת הירוקה), the enforcement unit for the NPA, was founded in 1976 by then-Minister of Agriculture Aharon Ozan and director of the Israel Land Administration Meir Zore, for the specific purpose of policing "open areas" (שטחים פתוחים) which had been declared state land, and preventing Palestinians from "tresspassing" ("הסגות גבול") or illegally building in these areas. [4] Through these strategies, land is appropriated for the state's and settlers' purposes under the guise of environmentalism.

In much the same way, the list of protected species is ultimately about using environmental science to cement state authority. Irus Braverman points out that endangered species lists function as a means of regulation, not least by being ostensibly objective: "their global power, mobility, and ubiquity derive from their configuration as scientific, technical, and quantitative, and therefore as neutral and apolitical." The protected species list thus joins other "environmental infrastructures," such as renewable energy and agricultural technologies, as a "mechanism[] for land appropriation and dispossession" of the indigenous population: together, these infrastructures make up a strategy that is alternately called greenwashing, green grabbing, and green colonialism.

[1] Letter regarding the declaration of national parks and nature reserves (protected natural values), 1977, from Ofir Katz to Tovi R. [מכתב בנושא אכרזת גנים לאומיים ושמורות טבע (ערכי טבע מוגנים) תשל"ז-1977, מאופיר כץ לטובי ר'], 6/27/1977. In: Proclamation of National Parks and Nature Reserves (Protected Natural Values), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development [אכרזת גנים לאומיים ושמורות טבע (ערכי טבע מוגנים), משרד החקלאות ופיתוח הכפר], January 1965–October 1982. State Archives, ISA-moag-moag-00119qy, pp. 164-175.

[2] Letter regarding a proposal to declare national parks and nature reserves (protected natural values), 1977, from Ofir Katz to Tovi R., [מכתב בנושא הצעה לאכרזת גנים לאומיים ושמורות טבע (ערכי טבע מוגנים) תשל"ז-1977] 10/24/1977. In: Proclamation of National Parks and Nature Reserves (Protected Natural Values), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, January 1965–October 1982. State Archives, ISA-moag-moag-00119qy, p. 160.

[3] Yatir Sade, Master's thesis, pp. 68-9. Personal communication.

[4] Sade points out that Yehuda Reva (יהודה רווה), another partner of the law firm that provided legal advice on the matter of the 1977 protected species list, was also prominent in helping the Green Patrol expropriate Palestinian land and property within the bounds of Israeli law (Master's thesis, p. 44, FN 34).

Foraging and Food Sovereignty

The disastrous effect of these strategies and regulations should not be understated—but nor should their power to control Palestinians' behavior be overstated. Palestinians reference specific plants in writing and in art (including ceramics and tatreez), bring dried herbs to family members abroad, purchase or grow important culinary plants wherever they live in the diaspora, and continue to forage plants despite harassment and the risk of fines and arrest. Plants are an important way of symbolizing, and of practicing, resistance, resilience, and rootedness in history and in the land.

Foraging can be a strategy of reconnection in defiance of dispossession. Rochelle Davis notes that Palestinians often visit the villages from which they were displaced in order to gather grape leaves and herbs, “ingesting the place by consuming the land’s produce” (p. 172). Through this practice, as Anne Meneley puts it, "[e]ating becomes an act of momentary repossession."

The message boards on PalestineRemembered.com attest to this practice. When Mouttaz Ammoura returned to الطيرة (Al-Tira), the village from which his family was displaced, he noted maramiyya as the one plant he brought back with him:

Now I live in Canada, but far-away from AL-TIRA. When I came back, I brought with me some sand, maramieh, few stones, & water from Tirat Haifa. Yes, I brought all of that to remember al-Tira & to have it close to my hart back in Canada.

In an interview conducted in a Palestinian refugee camp in 1998, women demonstrate this same association of plant life with place:

They spoke of the names of land plots around ~ Tjzim (Wadi al-Nahel, Durat al-Qamar, Shana), and the act of naming evoked an aura of magic for those who remembered the places [...]. They also related to the wild plants. The women, who felt we had shifted to familiar ground, called out the names — khubeize (mallow), ‘aqub (tumble thistle), maramiyyeh (sage), za’atar (thyme).

Mirna Bamieh's Palestine Hosting Society put on an Edible Wild Plants Table, which registered the connection of foraging to place, local knowledge, and temporality. The project, which focused on "identifying the names, forms, locations and availability of wild plants in Palestine’s nature," involved a menu created from foraging in the mountainous regions of Palestine during the blooming season "from mid-January until the end of February."

Foraging is also one strategy among many that Palestinians use—alongside instituting agricultural innovations, creating native seed banks, educating about Palestinian cuisine, and seeking out contracts with foreign markets—to attain food self-sufficiency and sovereignty. It is therefore both a symbolically defiant strategy, and a practical one. Palestinians illustrate a belief in the illegitimacy of Israel's laws and claims, and insist on the primacy of their relationship to the land, when they forage for food.

When asked whether he believed that 2020 would bring the promised relaxation in criminalization of foragers, Samir Naamneh, who has been repeatedly fined, arrested, and tried over the past decades, told Dror Foyer (דרור פויר):

"We'll live and see, but it won't change anything for me: whether it's allowed or not, I'm going to forage. I do the work I love, and I'm at peace with myself. The fact that I'm making a statement to the State of Israel and their law—that's enough for me."

Donate to an evacuation fund

Donate eSims

Palestinian heirloom seeds

Ingredients:

250g filtered water

2.5g (1 1/2 tsp) high-quality loose leaf black tea

4g (1 1/2 Tbsp) dried three-lobed sage, or substitute another variety of sage

Sugar, to taste (optional)

Dried three-lobed sage can be purchased from a Palestinian brand such as Al-'Ard or Yaffa (not "Jaffa").

Instructions:

1. Combine tea with just-boiled water and steep for two minutes.

2. Add sage and steep for another minute.

3. Pour into tea glasses and serve hot.

Times and quantities are geared towards producing a tea that is mild enough to be enjoyed without sugar. Adjust as per preference.

[fxirybun]

🔞🍇 PAC: what is your DR s/o's hidden thoughts about you ? [part I]

hi mystic babes and shifters ! i'll like to say thanks to the 2 anons that provided me an idea 🥰 i decided to hit two birds with one stone and ended up creating an 18+ PAC of your DR s/o's thoughts that are hidden from you.

i'm planning to make a continuation for this pac because of how lengthy it has gotten. the other half includes getting to know their ******* ********.

part II is right here.

this is a collective reading ! take what resonates and leave what doesn't. i cannot guarantee 100% accuracy. take the pac reading lightly ჱ̒ ｰ̀֊ｰ́ )

ෆ⸒⸒ pile one 🍒

your s/o perceives you as someone who can stimulate their mind and how they're quick to react from it due to how you show yourself as elusive to them , making their instincts run in all sorts of directions. they seem to be curious about you , pile one. it seems to me that they cannot get enough of your energy and how you made their thoughts go wild like an animal who's appetizer can't be filled up to the brim. they think that you're way of words and how your movements look magnetizing in their eyes and how alluring it is for them when you do those actions. they find your intelligence attractive and how it adds more to your charm.

at the same time , they were caught off guard by you intently observing them behind their back. they may pretend that they don't like how playful and calculated you are towards them but somehow this mere act is what increases their sexual drive more. the way you tease your s/o arouses them and they find pleasure in it but in just one snap you're acting all sober to them. even so , they'll do the means to brush those dirty thoughts off and would try to assume that you're someone who's just trying to act mysterious around them.

ෆ⸒⸒ pile two 🥛

your s/o thinks that you reignited something in them that they never felt before. they have this intense desire to experience a transformative sexual experience with you. they may be imagining moments that incredibly turn them on , perhaps they're aiming for something that goes beyond the normal standard of what sex is supposed to be like. your s/o sees you as someone they can have a passionate connection with since they think that being around you would bring them a new experience. I sensed that they’re fantasizing about performing sexual deeds with you that can further level up the closeness between you two.

i'm getting an energy of them being insecure about themselves , especially when it comes to giving pleasure to the person they’re about to sexually be engaged with. they think that they’re not good enough in bed and are kind of scared or afraid that they'll make you feel dumbfounded about their performance. nevertheless, their sexual thoughts influenced their desire to overcome their insecurities. they would do the means to meet your needs in order to satisfy you before, during, and after the session.

ෆ⸒⸒ pile three 🫐

your s/o thinks that you're assertive , strong , and the person who wears the pants within the relationship. your dominance over them turns them on and how your confident aura is making them change up their game. they have this dirty thought at the back of their head wherein they want to be fully in control over you and would do the means to prove who's the bold one in this dynamic. they want to take the lead and demonstrate you to how far they can get into bed. your s/o is someone who takes pleasure in performing an intense sexual activity. they also fantasize about you taking charge of them during the session.

they're the type of person who enjoys being rough in sex. i'm getting major daddy vibes from them pile three. there's some sort of power dynamic going on between you and them. they might be interested in engaging in roleplays like dom x sub , prof x student , master x slave , or anything that hints at forbidden love. your s/o would love to explore different types of submission and control and how it excited them by the thought of it. nevertheless , they'll make sure that it's consensual for both parties.

[beepboopkek]

— Practice makes perfect (F!Reader) [Part two]

Including: Dr.Ratio x AFAB!Reader

Part One is here

amab version has been posted on both ao3 and tumblr as well!

cw: ! NSFW ! , AFAB!Reader, established relationship, b0tt0m!sub!reader x d0m!t0p!ratio , fluff and smut, soft dr ratio, he's called veritas, oral F recieving, light cursing, hot spring freaking, aftercare, lmk if I missed anything

w/c: 2.8k

a/n: the long awaited part two to the dr ratio fic!! probably not what you guys are expecting but i like myself some soft ratio content too so ... also i apologise sincerely for any formatting mistakes, I decided I would post tonight, fell sick, still decided to go to my pc and post it and then . my pc stopped responding . so now I'm on phone rip,, anyway I hope you enjoy!

NSFW BELOW THE CUT

After your impromptu romp together, you somehow managed to get all the questions right—but not without significant struggle. Every wrong answer had earned you a “punishment” that left your cheeks burning and your body aching in ways that were both mortifying and thrilling. The aftermath of your study session was a blur of sore muscles, a tender lower half, and your boyfriend’s sheepish but endearing attempts to make amends with a parade of apologetic gifts. Which eventually led the two of you to decide to escape the chaos of your work lives for a while, booking a short trip to the Xianzhou Luofu.

Reaching there was easy enough, with Veritas’ connection to the IPC, a shuttle was already booked and the hotel reservations were made well in advance. The hotel was nestled in a quiet corner of Aurum Alley, the Luofu’s vibrant culinary street bustling with tantalizing aromas and lively chatter. It was Veritas’ first choice for a good reason—the hotel was renowned for its luxurious indoor hot springs, a favorite among tourists visiting the Luofu for the first time. Veritas, ever the planner, seemed thoroughly content ensuring everything was perfectly set for your stay.

On the day of your arrival, you were promptly escorted to your rooms, where the welcoming scent of fresh herbs and subtle incense greeted you. The two of you wasted no time settling in, quickly changing into swimsuits to prepare for the highlight of the trip—an exclusive session at the indoor hot spring that Veritas had, unsurprisingly, pre-booked well in advance. The thought of sinking into the warm, sparkling waters after a long journey made you feel a little more relaxed already. As you adjusted the straps of your swimsuit, you couldn’t help but notice Veritas’ smug smile, clearly proud of his meticulous planning.

As you stepped into the indoor hot spring area, the atmosphere immediately shifted to one of relaxation. The air was warm and thick with a gentle mist, carrying the soothing scent of eucalyptus and jasmine. The space was softly lit by lanterns with intricate designs, their golden glow reflecting off the rippling water below. The hot spring itself was a stunning centerpiece, its natural stone edges blending seamlessly with the room’s tranquil aesthetic. The water shimmered with a faint blue-green hue, its surface occasionally disturbed by the gentle flow from a carved stone spout. Surrounding the spring were polished wooden benches and plush white towels neatly folded, ready for use. You spotted a wooden tray with a different array of soaps placed on the stone, presumably for the people that enjoy bathing in the springs. The walls were adorned with elegant scrolls depicting scenes of the Luofu’s rich history. Overhead, bamboo slats covered the ceiling, allowing air to easily pass through the porous wood.

It was quiet, save for the soft trickle of water and the occasional hum of wind from vents designed to maintain the perfect balance of warmth and freshness. Veritas practically lit up as he stepped into the steamy room, his usual calm demeanor giving way to excitement. His sharp features, usually composed in a stoic expression, softened as his gaze darted to the shimmering surface of the hot spring. A smile spread across his face as his eyes met yours.

He shrugged off the towel draped over his shoulders, revealing the drool-worthy cords of muscle, well-defined shoulders flexing at the action. His movements were quick but unhurried, like someone who had been waiting for this moment and couldn’t hide his eagerness any longer.

He shot you a glance over his shoulder and without waiting for an answer, he stepped into the steaming water, his breath hitching slightly as the heat lapped at his skin. A contented sigh escaped his lips as he sank deeper and deeper until the water skimmed across the solid expanse of the middle of his torso, resting his back against the smooth stones of the spring.

“This,” he declared, his smile widening as he tilted his head back to enjoy the warmth, the tips of his violet curls getting soaked in the process, “was definitely worth the trip.” There was something infectious about his excitement—it was rare to see him so unguarded, and you couldn’t help but smile as he gestured for you to join him, splashing the water lightly in your direction.

You stepped cautiously to the edge of the hot spring making sure you didn't accidentally slip and make a fool of yourself, the warm mist curled around your skin as you adjusted the straps of your swimsuit one final time. The heat of the water brushed against your toes as you dipped them in, drawing a soft inhale from you. Slowly, you eased yourself into the spring, the silky warmth enveloping your body inch by inch.

As you sank into the water, your muscles immediately began to relax, the tension from the journey (and the ridiculous tutoring you had) melting away. You let out a quiet sigh of contentment, leaning back against the stone edge and letting the soothing heat seep into your skin. It was only then that you noticed Veritas’ gaze.

He was watching you intently, dark copper eyes trailing over the curves of your form as the water lapped gently around you. His expression was subtle but unmistakable—his lips curved in a small, appreciative smile, and there was a glimmer of something deeper in his eyes.

“Enjoying the view?” you teased, arching an eyebrow at him.

His eyes met yours, as if he were a deer caught in headlights, his ears turning a light shade of pink as he looked away.

“Always,” he replied, his voice low and smooth.

“But don’t let me distract you from relaxing... you’ve earned it.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, he wasn’t looking at you but you knew he could feel it.

“Oh, you bet I have.”

Casual conversation continued, drifting from shared jokes about the eccentricities of your trip to softer, more personal topics. Veritas’ voice was calm and steady, yet it carried a subtle warmth that made every word feel closer, more intimate. You found yourself mirroring his energy, your responses playful but tinged with sincerity.

With each passing minute, the distance between you seemed to vanish without either of you truly noticing—or maybe, neither of you wanted to admit you had. After a playful round of splashing water back and forth, the mood shifted. In a sudden, fluid motion, you found yourself in his lap with his palms holding your waist in a possessive grip.

“Comfortable?” he asked, his tone light but his gaze intense, the flicker of a teasing smile playing on his lips.

“Very,” you replied with a smile of your own, feeling emboldened. “Why? Are you nervous?”

His laugh was soft, almost too casual. “Not at all. Just making sure you’re not planning any sneak attacks.”

“Oh, please,” you scoffed, but you couldn’t help the way your smile lingered. At one point, you tilted your head back to laugh at something he said and he grabbed it as an opportunity to lay a kiss on the column of your throat.

“You know,” You began, flashing Veritas a charming smirk as an idea formed in your brain. Under the water, you placed your hands atop the ones already resting at your waist, pushing them lower and lower to the band of your underwear. Veritas’ eyes widened slightly in response as his eyes darted down to the water and back up to your eyes. His thumb twitched against your side, as if he was almost itching to peel off your clothes.

“You said that I should be grateful for this trip, right?”His eyes narrowed at your question, softly applying more pressure onto your hips as you shuddered.

“Not today,” Before you could blink, your body was met with the cold yet smooth surface of the stone behind you, Veritas had turned the two of you around and lifted you onto the rock so that only your calves stayed inside the water. The water sloshed around your heated bodies at the sudden motion, splashing your knees and his torso.

“Veritas!” Your reaction was instant, hands frantically gripping strong shoulders with goosebump-ridden arms. The man in question simply hooked his thumb under the band and teasingly rubbed circles on the wet skin as he observed your reactions.

“This trip is about you,” Veritas spoke in a hushed tone as he tugged lightly. Your ears burned in embarrassment as your swimsuit clung to your wet body. From this angle, you had to look down slightly to look into Veritas’ eyes, his face dusted with shades of red and you weren’t able to tell if he was blushing or if it was the heat from the hot spring. Another tug at your underwear had you snapping your legs shut in even more embarrassment.

“Veritas! Over here? Are you out of your mind?” Your voice is hushed as you frantically look around as if people were inside your very private room.

“Yes and no,” Another tug at your strap, “May I?”

Well, to be fair you had the room booked for another hour or so if you remember correctly. The door was also locked because you were the last one to enter and you didn’t want someone accidentally walking in while you were half naked and with your boyfriend. After weighing your options, you nodded your head shyly as you caved in to his request. “You are so lucky I love you.”

Veritas only smiled at you, finally tugging your underwear down to the middle of your thighs and slowly off the length of your legs, throwing it off to the side on the rocks as he knocked your knees apart with a firm, warm hand. He was in-between your legs before you could react, kissing you like a starved man. His left hand curled around the back of your waist as the right cupped your cheek to angle you downwards.

You gasped as his tongue swiped across the seam of your lips, the hand cupping your cheek slowly travelling down your torso. He stopped at the base of your chest, giving a gentle squeeze and a swipe over your nipple with his thumb and then moving lower until he reached your pussy. You shook as you felt a thick finger slide down from your clit to breach your entrance, pushing it in till it reached his knuckle before making shallow thrusts with it. You moaned softly at the sensation and Veritas took the opportunity to kiss you even more deeply.

Fuck.

All at once, his lips and his finger left you. A whine built at the back of your throat at the sudden loss of heat as you glared at Veritas.

“Oh, don’t give me that look.”

The doctor was back before you could voice your complaints, bending lower and hoisting your legs onto his corded shoulders. Veritas got to work immediately, like he had been waiting for an opportunity to present itself. His hands settled underneath the back of your thighs and his thumbs spread your lips open. He licked a long stripe upwards, dipping his tongue lightly inside you before bringing it up to your clit. Loud sounds of slurping filled the steam-filled room as your boyfriend lapped around your vulva. A loud moan was ripped from your throat as Veritas captured the nub of your clit into his mouth and sucked it gently. You grasped his hair at that, pushing his sweaty bangs back as the two of you made eye contact, you smirked, whispering as you spoke, “So, this is how you get the great Veritas, hah, Ratio to shut up, huh?”

Veritas took his mouth off your clit with a loud pop, licking his lips like he had a delectable meal as he challenged you right back, “Only for you.”

You could only gasp in surprise as he went right back to eating you out, some strands from his slicked back hair falling in front of his face as he gently bit down before kissing your clit, flicking the sensitive flesh with the tip of his tongue. Your orgasm was quick in approaching, you held onto his hair as you pushed your lower half into his face to ride it, the bridge of his nose bumping your clit as he moved lower to prod your entrance with his tongue.

“Veritas— I’m co—”

Your head fell back as you orgasmed, the prickling sensations rushing through your body as sweat rolled down your chest and forehead. The stones were cold, the water was hot and the room was heated which you realised, made for a wonderful sensory overload combined with Veritas’ ministrations. You rode out your orgasm as you ground your pussy on his face, tugging at purple strands as he swallowed everything you released.

Veritas finally let up when you released the grip on his hair, coming up from in-between your legs to gather your cum on his fingers, swiping it over his tongue as he swallowed all while making eye contact with you.

You were the first to speak, staring at his disheveled appearance as you spoke, “Holy shit.”

Veritas narrowed his eyes at you as he frowned. “Language.”

“Oh, don’t give me that after what you just did!”

Veritas moved his leg uncomfortably at that and you glanced down to note his half-hard dick in his trunks. Your gaze moved upwards as you caught your boyfriend blushing again. “Need help with that?” Your voice was a low, sultry purr as you moved to stand up but Veritas’ hands were on you in an instant, pushing you to sit back down.

“Not today. Let me take care of you.” Veritas sounded almost exasperated at your insistence so far.

“You already have! I doubt I can go again, Let me—”

“No. It’ll go away naturally. I want us to relax and enjoy this.” Veritas frowned at you this time and you knew you had lost. There was nothing harder than trying to talk to a stubborn scholar. Especially if it's your stubborn scholar.

“Fine, If you insist.”

Veritas chuckled softly at your reaction, turning to retrieve the herbal, non-toxic soaps neatly arranged on a wooden tray at the edge of the hot spring. With an easy grace, he returned, his movements steady and sure. Without a word, he leaned down and effortlessly scooped you up from where you were sitting on the rocks, cradling you as if you weighed nothing. His touch was firm but gentle as he carried you back into the warm embrace of the water, his lips curving into a soft smile as he watched you get settled back you down. You sighed as your cold body heated up once more, the now stiff muscles of your lower back unwinding and relaxing.

Veritas used the small pail left by the staff to take some water from the spring and gently rinse your hair. Then, he carefully poured a small amount of shampoo into his palm, the subtle aroma of lavender and eucalyptus filling the air as the steam enhanced the soothing scent. His fingers worked the shampoo into a rich lather, and he gestured for you to tilt your head back slightly. You complied, closing your eyes as the warm water swirled around you both.

His hands moved with a surprising tenderness, running through your hair in deliberate, gentle strokes. His fingertips brushed against your scalp with just the right amount of pressure, sending a wave of relaxation through your body. He took his time, working the shampoo into every strand, his touch both meticulous and unhurried.

“Looks like the hair oil I gave you has been working.” he murmured, his voice low and teasing and you could hear the faintest smile in his voice, even without opening your eyes.

“Only because someone insists on a strict self-care regime,” you replied with a quiet laugh, though you couldn’t deny how soothing his touch felt.

As he moved to massage your scalp, his thumbs pressed lightly against the base of your head, kneading away the tension you hadn’t even realized was there. His fingers traced slow, circular motions, and you couldn’t help but let out a contented sigh, the combination of the warm water and his careful attention melting away any lingering stress.

The intimacy of the moment wasn’t lost on either of you. His actions felt deliberate, as if he was pouring an unspoken affection into every gentle stroke and touch. When he finally rinsed your hair, cupping the water with his hands to ensure it didn’t get into your eyes, you opened them briefly to catch his expression.

His gaze was focused, softened by something unspoken, and when he caught you looking, he smiled. “Relax,” he said quietly, his voice carrying both a command and a reassurance. And after a long, long time, you let yourself do just that.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Impeccable 1965 mid century home in Coral Gables, FL has a pending sale. 5bds, 6ba, 5,381 sq ft, $4.6m.

Isn't this stunning? Talk about a sunken living room!

Soaring windows and fireplace wall. That floor is so shiny. Look at the little bench next to the fireplace.

There's a breakfront that separates the large dining room from the living room.

Look at the size of this kitchen. Professional chef appliances.

Open concept area includes a very large family room.

Nice shower room. I wonder if the flowers are decals or actually fired into the porcelain.

Then, down some stairs apart from the main living area, there's a large game room. The floors in this house!

The primary bedroom is humongous. The bed and nightstands are built in, it features an intricate beamed ceiling design and a large stone fireplace.

Plus, it has its own private covered patio.

It's also got a private home office off to the side.

A large walk-in closet.

And, a very large, meticulously maintained ensuite.

This secondary bedroom consists of a 2 room suite.

Plus, a small, but lovely 3 pc. bath.

Another nice bedroom with an attractive tile bath.

This bedroom is very large and also has an ensuite and doors to the patio.

The grounds look like a tropical paradise.

.96 acre lot.

https://www.zillow.com/homes/5005-Hammock-Park-Dr-Coral-Gables,-FL-33156_rb/43922106_zpid/

[blueiscoool]

4,000-Year-Old Tomb of Egyptian Royal Physician Found in Saqqara

Teti Neb Fu, a high-ranking physician during Pharaoh Pepi II's reign, held titles like Chief Dentist, Priest of Serket, and Director of Medicinal Plants.

In the southern region of the Saqqara archaeological site, a joint French-Swiss archaeological team made an important discovery uncovering the mastaba tomb of the royal physician Teti Neb Fu from the Old Kingdom, according to a statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

This tomb, unearthed in the southern region of the archaeological site of Saqqara, known to contain the tombs of high-ranking officials from the Egyptian Old Kingdom, shows that medicine and magic were once equally revered, and expertise in both earned a long-dead physician to the pharaohs a place of honor among the ancient world’s most esteemed.

Dating back over 4,000 years to the reign of King Pepi II, this important find features exquisite carvings and vibrant artwork, including a painted false door and elaborate scenes depicting funeral offerings.

The sarcophagus found inside the tomb was also inscribed with the name of its occupant and his titles, according to the post. Because of the burial location in Saqqara, researchers knew he was important, but Teti Neb Fu’s official titles named him as the chief palace physician.

Teti Neb Fu, who held prestigious titles such as Chief Palace Physician, Chief Dentist, and Director of Medicinal Plants, also had a unique role as a “Magician” of the Goddess Serket, specializing in the treatment of venomous bites.

Additionally, he was known as the “Great Physician of Teeth” and “Director of Medicinal Plants”, suggesting that he led research and practical applications in the fields of dentistry and the use of therapeutic herbs.

Even though it had been looted in the past, the mastaba still has many of its ornamental features. The director of the archaeological mission, Dr. Philippe Collombert, said the walls are decorated with remarkable reliefs and inscriptions, including a complex frieze that displays the owner’s name and titles.

Among the most remarkable elements is the red-painted ceiling, which is intended to resemble granite blocks, a material commonly found in imposing buildings. The titles and name of the doctor are also written in the middle of the ceiling. An additional noteworthy discovery within the mastaba is a stone sarcophagus, which has hieroglyphic decorations inside that offer more information about Teti Neb Fu and his accomplishments.

Mohamed Ismail Khaled, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, emphasized the importance of this discovery, stating that the texts and drawings on the tomb’s walls unveil new insights into the daily life of the Old Kingdom.

This discovery strengthens Saqqara’s position as one of Egypt’s most important historical sites and contributes to its rich archaeological legacy.

Excavations in this area of Saqarra began in 2022, to unearth the graves of state employees for King Pepi who are buried near him and his wives, officials said.

By Oguz Buyukyildirim.

[aretheyqueer]

List of Canonically Trans/gnc Characters

My own list in this post is anime, manga, games mostly but in the spreadsheet you can add anything.

Following my tierlist of them, I realized I should make a public list so theyre not just kept in my head, since I spent quite a while finding these characters. If you want to watch/play anything with trans or gnc characters, you can use this list.

They range from good rep to bad, characters viewed as "traps" or not taken seriously to ones that the whole fandom understands is trans. I've added trigger warnings to the characters and fandoms I know can be triggering. I've also put certain names in bold to show that they're a main character, but i've only watched a few on this list so some are missing.

I would add trigger warnings for "bury your gays" and similar tropes, but I want to avoid spoilers. Maybe you can look it up first if you're worried. I've tried to exclude characters that are referred to as hermaphrodites.

The "crossdressers" section obviously includes some spoilers.

Enjoy :D

Transfem

Alice Arisuin from Chivalry of a Failed Knight (Prefers feminine name and terms but doesn't care too much).

Arachne from Angel Sanctuary

Arashi Narukami from Ensemble Stars

Astolfo from the Fate/Grand series

Leonardo Da Vinci from the Fate/Grand series (unsure)

Cassandra Igarashi from The Wicked + The Divine

Dahlia Carpenter from Carole & Tuesday

Victoria October from Batman

Elendira the Crimsonnail from Trigun Stampede

Giselle Gewelle from Bleach (The fandom is very transphobic)

Grell from Black Butler (Unnecessarily debated)

Hana from Tokyo Godfathers

Okasan from Tokyo Godfathers (Could be a drag queen)

Hibari Oozora from Stop!! Hibari-kun!

Isabella Yamamoto from Paradise Kiss

Kanamori from Heaven's Design Team

Kano Ienaga from Golden Kamuy

Kaoru Anesagi from IDOLiSH7

Kaoru Hanase from Tamako Market (Speculated to be a trans woman)

Kenji Hikiishi from My Hero Academia

Kikinojo from One Piece

Mariandale/Marian from Ixion Saga DT

Mizuki Akiyama from Project Sekai (Heavily implied)

Momoko from Shangri-La

Kikyou Motoki from Itazura Na Kiss

Nao from Skip and Loafer

Nathan Seymour from Tiger & Bunny

Perfuma from She-Ra and the Princesses of power

Petrichor from Saga

Ruka Urushibara from Steins;Gate (Transphobic fandom)

Saber from the Fate/Grand series

Stephanie from Majutsushi Orphen

Ushiyama from All Worlds Alliance

Hiroyuki Yoshida from Wandering Son

Shuuichi Nitori from Wandering Son

Yuujirou Shiratori from The Highschool Life of a Fudanshi

Transmasc

Hachiro from Gintama

Kite from Japan Sinks: 2020

Kusuo Saiki from The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. (Turned himself into a boy when he was in the womb, otherwise never mentioned)

Ryo Watari from Boys Run the Riot

Shou Fujita from Stars Align (Very minor character)

Tooru Mutsuki from Tokyo Ghoul:re

Yamato from One Piece

Yawara Chatora from My Hero Academia

Yoshino Takatsuki from Wandering Son

Nonbinary

Anne Faulkner from Paradox Live

Asra from The Arcana

Alucard from Hellsing Ultimate (genderfluid)

Chaos from Hades

Berg Katze from Gatchaman Crowds (androgynous)

O. D. from Gatchaman Crowds

Daishikyou from Gintama

Chevalier D'Eon from Fate/Grand series

Enkidu/Lancer from Fate/Grand series (Inherently no gender/sex)

Double Trouble from She-Ra and the Princesses of power

Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist (can transform into any gender)

Francois from Dr. Stone

Halara Nightmare from Master Detective Archives: Rain Code

Hange from Attack on titan (Fandom mostly refers to them as female)

Ivankov Emporio from One Piece (i'm not sure what they identify as)

Juniper from Xenoblade Chronicles

Kaoruko Someya from Okane ga Nai (Okama)

Kimera from Kimera (nb or transfem)

Kyuubei Yagyuu (Born female, raised male so has an unconventional relationship with gender)

Vanitas of the Blue Moon from The Case Study of Vanitas

Milo Belladonna from Monster Prom

Mogumo from Love Me For Who I Am

Najimi Osana from Komi can't communicate (Unknown gender)

Nakuru Akizuki from Cardcaptor Sakura (Sexless, identifies as female)

Nico from Tokyo Ghoul (Okama)

Opera from Marimashita! Iruma-kun

Orochimaru from Naruto

Ryuuji Ayukawa from Blue Period (Unsure, can be gnc/transfem/nonbinary)

Satan from Devilman

Shion Zaiden from RWBY

Someone (yes thats their name) from Shimanami Tasogare

Xanthe Zhou from Prime Earth

Yuuta Asuka from Stars Align

Intersex

Asuka Ran from Devilman Lady

Luca Esposito from Asra Lost in Space (identifies as male)

Desmond from Carole & Tuesday (Became intersex due to universe stuff but is at peace with this)

Megumi Yoshikawa from Princess Princess (Raised male before she found out she was genetically female, decides to live as a girl)

Richard III from Requiem of the Rose King (Struggles with his intersexuality, feels his body and him are unloveable)

Yoite from Nabari no Ou (Lives as male but they're unsure of their gender)

Crossdressers

Aki from Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi

Azumi Agonoske from Gintama

Buzam A. Calessa from Vandread

Ferris from Re:Zero (I've heard that the novel version is transfem)

Haruhi Fujioka from Ouran high school host club (Nonbinary coded)

Ranka/Ryouji Fujioka from Ouran high school host club (Drag queen)

Hatsuka Suzushiro from Call of the Night

Hazumu Osaragi from Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl

Kurako from Kuragehime

Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4 (The reveal can be triggering)

Chihiro Fujisaki from Danganronpa (The reveal can be very triggering - I recommend looking it up first if you're worried.)

Nuriko from Fushigi Yuugi (Unsure)

Rui Ninomiya from Gatchaman (May be transfem)

Cis characters that are gnc

Haruka Tenou from Sailor Moon

Kaoru Orihara from Oniisama e... (not sure what gender)

Kashima Yuu from Monthly Girl's Nozaki-kun

Complicated

Angela from Black Butler (Changes form)

Berg Katse from Gatchaman (Changes form)

Fushi from To Your Eternity (Can change into female but presents masc)

Ginshu from Amatsuki (Raised male, turned genderless, dressed feminine. Idk their gender identity)

Inazuma from One Piece (Can present as both male and female, okama)

Izana Shinatose from Knights of Sidonia (Genderless to female due to universe rules)

Kou Seiya from Sailor Moon: Sailor Stars (Has a male and female form, I think)

Mahiro Oyama from Onimai: I'm Now Your Sister! (Was turned into a girl against his will)

Mermaid Sisters from Carole & Tuesday (I don't know, man...)

Natsuru Senou from Kämpfer (Transformed into a woman)

Shi Qingxuan from Heaven Officials Blessing (Can transform)

Ranma Saotome from Ranma (Changes between them)

Hinata Tachibana from Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout (Gets transformed into a girl, goes on a quest to get their original body back)

--------

If you see anyone missing, feel free to let me know if I should add them. Input on who is a main character, triggering themes and offensive characters can be commented or sent to me.

[nyaskitten]

EDIT: THIS POST IS INACCURATE !!!

I made the assumption Olive was editing the wiki articles, and while that's a very logical conclusion to reach, it was actually someone who shares the same viewpoints as them!!! Anything including the wiki articles and Olive's involvement is wrong and that's my bad!!!

Alright fellas, I guess we did it. We have reached the tipping point. I'm going to dedicate this post to calling out one specific person, @olivescales3, and their very toxic behavior. This post will be a bit messy, and I do apologize in advance, I'm writing this from the perspective of a Ninjago fan who also thinks beyond just the petty fandom stuff, what they're doing is just not cool.

I will clarify, I do not make this post for petty fandom drama, I make this to better spread awareness on some of the bullshit they're doing, so you can look out for and understand that they're bullshitting. Without further ado, I think we should just get into it.

So, what have they done?

Now, I should say while there is no 100000% concrete link between hyenabro and olivescales, I think based on their talking points (as well and the information I've recieved from friends in the Chima fandom, who have a bunch of prior experience with them,) it's safe to make this assumption!

So, what has olivescales DONE in this case? Simple, they've vandalized the Chima wiki on NUMEROUS occasions, even after several different people have revised their revisions, so as to discredit any conenctions between Dragons Rising and Chima.

(Green is their edits, red is the ones prior to theirs, I found this while going through their contributions section on their Fandom account, HyenaBro119)

As seen here, they have (under the username HyenaBro119) edited the pages for Chima AND the Forever Rock (I have two similar screenshots of essentially the same thing, one was from the Forever Rock article, the other was from Chima) and claimed Ninjago's lore to be some alternate universe. To further validate it, they write "Ras' visit to," but Ras NEVER claimed to have VISITED these locations, just that he knows them. They also claim the Forever Rock was destroyed, a blatant lie. Only a small section of rock on the Forever Rock was actually destroyed, not the whole thing.

Now, you're gonna ask "but Raine, how can you 100000% say it's them?" and I will cite common sense. While I cannot directly tie Olive to hyena, I CAN say their wording is SO very similar.

Both Hyena and Olive call DR "a parallel/alternate universe," and again, claim Forever Rock was destroyed, WHICH IS A FULL ON LIE. They're so adamant to protect "the sanctity of Chima's pre-established, set-in-stone lore" that they can't stop to think maybe, JUST MAYBE, sometimes a story can get new lore which can ALSO be canon!

I'd also love to share this HILARIOUS screenshot of one of their many posts, which not only backs up what I'm saying, but it's like damn they really set themself up huh!

Gee I wonder why you feel alone! Maybe it's because you are! Maybe it's because you're lying and making shit up to prove yourself right! No one is as big of a hater as you!

The also LOVE saying Ninjago cannot do anything with Chima unless they get express permission from the creator of Chima, some guy named John Derevlany, but oh man what's this I see before me?

CO-CREATOR? Oh but Olive, I thought he was the CREATOR of Chima, not CO-creator... ALSO Lego owns the rights to Chima, and Ninjago, and every other theme, as said by Doc himself! If anything he wasn't really dodging the question, just giving a vague answer, because he doesn't know much about the old contracts!

From what he said, it's clear that if they wanted to use anything from the other themes, they'd have to consult folks over at LEGO, not John Derevlany or Tommy A.!

Now here's the THING, I GET where they're coming from, it CAN be annoying to have people only care about a thing you like in relation to something else, but when you're going out of your way to argue that none of it can be canon and it's all an alternate universe it's like... god it's so sad and pathetic really.

Their lies and BS don't even end there with the wiki shit, because I have THIS glorious gem.

A) They bring up that the Ninjago folk do not know who the Phoenixes are which is like, okay??? Why the fuck are they gonna know about how another universe was created??? That's like if someone told me I don't exist in the same universe as my glasses because I have no clue who made them, that is to say, that's stupid as FUCK to say!

B) OH they say something REAAALLL funny ohohohho I am actually dying. Olive says the Phoenix icon "appeared in a Ninjago episode" and "Ninjago tends to reuse assets." Yep, NINJAGO is the one who reused the phoenix symbol, mhm. The symbol that was made in 2011 for NINJAGO, which cameoed in CHIMA in 2014, was actually just an asset reuse by Ninjago. I feel like this actually goes to show how desparate they are to feel right and validated, because this? This a lie! Ninjago made the symbol, and because Tommy A. is co-creator to both, he wanted to slip in a neat Ninjago reference, so he slipped in the Phoenix symbol Nya uses for the Phoenix tribe, not the other way around!

Another REALLY funny thing they did, aside from the wiki and Phoenix symbol shit, was this hilarious attempt at being right!

Yes, the compared the WOLF Masks to BATman's cowl, and did a horribly rough comparison illustration that very much does not make sense. If you actually compared them side by side, the only similarities would be they're both angry animal themed mask with pointy ears, which does NOT go very far in the long run. The foreheads they drew aren't even the same fucking shape lol.

OH ANS WE CANNOT FORGET THIS ONE! Their using a post about the Palestinian genocide and boycotting Lego in order to complain about Ninjago.

They claim Ninjago is produced by Lego, unlike other Lego shows, which is an EXTREMELY bullshit fucking claim. Just like Chima and Nexo Knights, Ninjago is produced by Lego, it's not JUST Ninjago produced by Lego, they are all Canadian-Danish CGI action shows, and they're all known to have Tommy Andreasen involved in the creation of them.

They're using a post about boycotting for the sake of innocent people DYING to complain about a lego ninja show for... killing evil people? It doesn't glorify war, the worst it does in regards to war is like not address how fucked up it can be in regards to the Serpentine War, but that's like it. I think it's so funny they want to single out Ninjago as if it's the only TV series where villains die for trying to conquer/destroy the world.

So, what do I want the takeaway from this post to be? What do I want you to get from it? I don't really know anymore, I just don't want Olive's horrendously toxic behaviors, and straight up lies to stop. If anything I think it's beautiful that Ninjago is making others interested in revisiting Chima again, stop being such a fucking hater dude. They act like Chima is some holy grail of Lego, the greatest thing since bread, but it, just like Ninjago, Dreamzzz, Hidden Side, and Nexo Knights, have Tommy in creative roles.

To act like Chima is somehow greater than is to place it on an unrealistic pedestal as if it's a godsend, when in reality it was co-created by Tommy Fucking Andreasen.

If you read through all of this, I do THOROUGHLY appreciate it, I didn't mean for this post to descend into an angry ramble but ehhh yk how it is. And Olive, if you see this, please, just stop with the bullshit.

[welcome-to-green-hills]

What do you think that Sonic 4 will be about?

Hi Sweetpea ❤️✨

I think that there will be a couple of messages that will be explored in Sonic 4: the concept of moving on and forgiveness.

Recently, Pat Casey and Josh Miller confirmed that Dr. Robotnik is 100% dead (until Jim changes his mind). The only one that survived that catastrophe, as of now, is Shadow. Also note, that this is the same interview that mentioned that they’d like to include Shadow in the fourth movie as well. If anything, we’ll have Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Amy Rose, and now antagonist Metal Sonic. Six Sonic-based characters is pretty good for now. Then all that’s left is Tom, Maddie, Wade, Walters, Rockswell, and Agent Stone.

I strongly feel that Stone will be the next villain. Stone is beloved enough by fans to where he can carry the title until Jim wants to come back as “Dr. Robotnik.” Rockswell could be a villain, but the most villainous thing that I can see her doing is locking the Fluffer Puppers up at G.U.N. HQ and arresting Tom and Maddie. I’m not saying that this isn’t evil. What I’m saying is that we don’t have enough information on her to k ow if she’s capable of doing evil. Stone is beloved by fans of the movies and games to create a story out of him. And that story can be about moving on. Make his character arc about how Stone struggles to accept that Dr. Robotnik is gone and have him carry out a heinous act of having the world pay for not respecting his brilliance. This would allow the army of Metal Sonics to come in and show to the world that Robotnik was fully capable of imprisoning the planet if he had enough of Sonic’s quills.

For the Wachowski boys (and Shadow), the concept of “forgiveness” can be utilized in how they’ve handled their last adventure. Neither of them know that the other has survived. Sonic thinks that Shadow died, Shadow thinks that Sonic fell into the vacuum of space. I’m in the belief that Shadow might have some emeralds at his disposal and does his best to search for Sonic in space. Sonic uses his share of the emeralds to search for Shadow if wreckage has been found. Whether the two like it or not, there’s still some luggage that they’re carrying around from their last adventure. They both feel responsible in some shape and form. This film could be used as a way to help the two find closure with each other.

So then what about Amy Rose? What could she do and contribute? The answer is self love.

Sometimes it’s hard to find ways for people to forgive their actions when they’re conducted. It’s an inner turmoil where an individual asks if they’re worthy of forgiving themselves for doing something wrong. Even if the rest of the world forgave and encourage actions of healing, there’s still a sliver of guilt and question of if one should be forgiven. Amy Rose can step in and encourage Sonic and Shadow that they are worthy of self-love and allow the love for themselves to heal from their mistakes. That is forgiveness.

If Amy Rose and Metal Sonic are the next characters introduced into the series, the story will more than likely adapt elements of Sonic CD. For those new to the franchise, this 90’s classic is a game that involves time travel. This would be a great opportunity to show Stone’s desperation of trying to revive his precious doctor. And the key to the ability of time travel has to do with Amy Rose. If Amy Rose won’t share that knowledge in time travel (and potentially connecting with loved ones), then Stone will conquer the world.

This is all that I’ve got so far in terms of what Sonic 4 could be about. It’s not a whole lot, but I can see it going in this direction.😁

[city-of-ladies]

"The individual SH-63 was found within the Sárrétudvari–Hízóföld cemetery, which is the largest 10th-century-CE cemetery in Hungary and contains a large number of burials containing weapons and horse-riding equipment. It was in use during the Hungarian Conquest period, in which many mounted archers conducted and fought battles across Europe.

Despite not having many particularly "wealthy" grave goods, the burial of SH-63 was unique for its grave goods composition, says Dr. Tihanyi. "Male burials often contained functional items, such as simple jewelry (e.g., penannular hair rings and bracelets), clothing fittings (e.g., belt buckles), and tools (e.g., fire-lighting kits and knives). Their most distinctive grave goods included weapons, usually archery equipment, with two graves containing sabers and one grave containing an axe.

"Horse-riding equipment and, in some cases, horse bones (e.g., skull and extremities) were also found. Female burials, in contrast, more frequently contained jewelry (e.g., hair rings, braid ornaments, bead necklaces, bracelets, and finger rings) and clothing fittings (e.g., bell buttons and metal ornaments). Tools, such as knives and awls, appeared less often.

"The grave goods found in the burial of SH-63 contained a mix of these characteristics. Compared to other graves in the cemetery, its inventory was relatively simple, including common jewelry and clothing fittings."

More specifically, SH-63 was found together with a silver penannular hair ring, three bell buttons, a string of stone and glass beads, an "armor-piercing" arrowhead, iron parts of a quiver, and an antler bow plate.

Meanwhile, the three major traumas identified in the upper limb bones were likely the result of a fall onto an outstretched arm or onto the shoulder. These injuries never fully healed and could have been caused in daily life.

However, one factor does speak to the woman perhaps having lived a more active life. Various joint and ethereal (where bones and muscles attach) changes were observed. These changes were most prominently observed in the upper right-hand side of the body, and similar changes have been found in other graves containing weapons and/or horse-riding equipment.

This suggests these individuals, including SH-63, were likely engaged in similar daily activities, which may, in turn, explain the high number of physical traumas seen throughout the Sárrétudvari-Hízóföld cemetery.

While the researchers cannot definitively conclude the female was a warrior, they were able to positively identify this as the first-known instance in which a female was buried together with weaponry in the Carpathian Basin during the 10th century."

[tikkunolamresistance]

3,000-year-old artifact inscribed with earliest mention of the House of King David found in Israel provides archaeological evidence for the foundational narratives of three monotheistic faiths.

The Tel Dan Stele, a 9th century BCE stone monument fragment, containing the earliest mention of the royal House of David outside of the Hebrew Bible, will be on view at the Jewish Museum for a limited time. On loan from The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, the stone slab's inscription lends archaeological evidence to the existence of the Biblical King David as a historical figure, in parallel with the narrative of the Bible. 

Discovered in northern Israel in the early 1990s, the Stele—an archaeological term for an upright monument used in ancient cultures to commemorate a person, place, or event—was once part of an inscription on a basalt victory Stele commemorating the military victories of King Hazael of Aram (a region in present-day Syria) between c. 842 and 806 BCE. Although Hazael’s name is not cited in the inscription, scholars believe him to be its author. 

In the inscription, the Aramaic king boasts that he defeated King Jehoram of Israel and King Ahaziahu of Judah, a reference to Israel’s two kingdoms at the time, Israel in the north and Judah in the south, the latter also commonly known as the House of David. The engraved inscription’s mention of a “king of the House of David,” is a direct reference to ancient Israel’s monarch and his royal dynasty, corresponding with the Bible’s historical narrative. 

The first fragment comprising the Stele was unearthed in July 1993, during excavations of an ancient stone wall in Tel Dan, Israel. The following year, two additional fragments were discovered at the same site and linked to the original fragment. 

Building on the archaeological evidence of King David’s reign in Israel, the Tel Dan Stele will be exhibited alongside five late 8th century BCE handles stamped with royal seals, once part of large clay storage jars, from the Jewish Museum’s archaeology collection. The seals on these fragments are inscribed “[Belonging] to the king” in ancient Hebrew, attesting to the existence of kingship in ancient Israel. The jars were likely part of a royal provisioning system. Three of the jar handles cite the city of Hebron in their royal seal impressions, and two mention the city of Socoh in the ancient kingdom of Judah.

The Tel Dan Stele is presented within Engaging with History: Works from the Collection, a selection of rarely exhibited objects from the Museum’s holdings of over 30,000 works including new acquisitions by Carrie Mae Weens, William Kentridge, and others on view for the first time in dialogue with Museum treasures reflecting millenia of global Jewish culture.

The presentation of the Tel Dan Stele was initiated by James S. Snyder, Helen Goldsmith Menschel Director, in collaboration with Dr. Haim Gitler, Tamar and Teddy Kollek Chief Curator of Archaeology at The Israel Museum, Jerusalem.  

This installation is made possible with generous support from the Armstrong International Cultural Foundation, in collaboration with the Jerusalem-based Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology, The Israel Museum, and the Israel Antiquities Authority.

[onceuponaneverafter]

Let's Talk About Jacks's Apples

...and especially their COLORS. I wanted to figure out what they could mean, so I made a spreadsheet!

part two

First, DISCLAIMERS:

MAJOR spoilers for OUABH and TBONA + the Caraval series!

This post was written BEFORE ACFTL and does not contain information or spoilers from it.

This post is based on my interpretations and observations, all of them may not be perfectly accurate. The conclusions I make are my theories, not necessarily canon information.

When I reference page numbers, they're from my OUABH UK paperback and TBONA UK hardcover - it's possible they're a bit off for you if you have different editions of the books.

This is a long post, so grab a snack and get comfortable!

I hope you enjoy reading! 🍎

Table Of Contents

Introduction

Why Apples?

A Detailed Look Into The Apples (= explaining everything I say I'll explain later)

The Colors

Where Do The Apples Come From

Conclusions/TL;DR

This is a long post, so here you can see what's coming and skip over to what interests you most :)

Introduction

Throughout the OUABH series, there are 14 scenes in total where Jacks is holding an apple in his hand (sometimes eating them, sometimes not) while Evangeline is there to witness it. All of those apples are unnaturally colored. To look for connections between them, I made a spreadsheet:

For sake of clarity, I will be discussing 13 total apples instead of 14 - I believe the "undescribed" apple (its color is not explicitly stated in the scene) is the same as White Apple #5, but it appears in two separate scenes, so both are included here. I will get into this later.

The spreadsheet contains various details about the apples, such as what Jacks does while holding them, when he picks them up (or if he's already holding them when they're described), what happens to them (dropped somewhere etc.), how he feels during the scene, etc. I will discuss these later in this post.

Then I realized he also has some apples in Legendary and Finale, so I made another list of the ones he has while Tella is present:

Here's a summary of all the apples:

That would make 20 apples in total, half of them being white.

Now let's go over some relevant context! Then I will get to analyzing what these colors mean and what kind of connections I found between the apples, I promise.

Why Apples?

Before we do a deep dive into the details, let's go over the basics on why Jacks keeps eating the apples. The most popular theory (if it can even be called a theory, it's basically canon) is based on what LaLa tells Evangeline in OUABH:

"When we [Fates] feel, it's intense and consuming. It devours us and drives us. And the strongest of our feelings is always the urge to be that which we were made to be." –OUABH page 270

She proceeds to explain that when she sews wedding dresses, it helps her with that urge, and to say that for Jacks it's similar – he has the desire to find his true love, and supposedly that's the one person his kiss doesn't kill. So, according to LaLa's logic, the apples help him with that. It makes a lot of sense, and everything he physically does with the apples makes more sense in light of it.

When Jacks is first introduced to the Caraval series, he is described eating an apple. While I believe the theory above is true, it was also interesting to notice that he seems to already be holding the apple when he meets Tella practically by chance. In fact, there are only four times he ever picks up an apple during a scene, and they are all during the OUABH series. I will get more into it later.

In OUABH, Jacks is described to have countless apples and apple cores in his rooms and offices, so we don't know how many he eats and why when Evangeline isn't around him. However, I found that he almost never touches Evangeline while holding an apple. (With sort of the exception of the silver apple, where he touches his dagger to her lips, and the blue apple, which he was holding before stopping Evangeline from taking the luck stone back from Chaos.)

Now, this could just be for practical reasons, but he touches Evangeline in about 21 of the 25 (I focused on the apples so this may not be the exact count) scenes where he doesn't have an apple and only in 6 of the 14 scenes where he has an apple, and in 2 of them the touch is barely there or brief and initiated by Evangeline.

An interesting comparison is how he does touch Tella while holding an apple (like Blue Apple #1 and White Caraval Apple #2), so it definitely isn't purely about logistics. Maybe it's related to him thinking she's his true love, that's the greatest difference I can think of. It is also noteworthy that he doesn't eat any apples while in the Hollow, which Evangeline also notices (TBONA 284).

With the theory above in mind, the way Jacks touches his apples is pretty straightforward:

He tosses them when he's in a good mood or needs to distract himself

Him biting them is practically his version of self-control

He drops them when things aren't so fun anymore or there's a clear mood shift (I will discuss this a bit more later).

He stabs two apples in total: the Silver Apple and White OUABH Apple #4. the first time he tells Evangeline how Apollo would be eternally heartbroken if she called off the engagement, the second time he tells Evangeline that the Archer ends up killing the Fox. And what unites these? Great heartbreak.

A Detailed Look Into The Apples

Or in other words, let's get into everything I said I would discuss later. After this, we'll look more into the apple colors.

The Undescribed Apple

I believe that White Apple #5, the apple Jacks holds in his hand before he and Evangeline leave to LaLa's engagement party, is the same as the apple that he picks up in the next scene, in the carriage as they travel - its color is not described, but the narration leads to the assumption that this apple is already familiar to the reader:

"Jacks leaned back in his seat and picked up his apple" –TBONA page 184

13 is also a more meaningful number than 14 (and the total count of all apples would be 20 instead of 21), so even though the total number might be purely coincidental, it also could be a fun intentional detail.

Caraval vs. OUABH

There are some very interesting parallels between apples in Legendary/Finale and apples in OUABH/TBONA.

First, we have the blue apple (in Legendary) that Jacks ends up dropping into a fireplace (see chart below). The only other apple that he specifically drops into fire is the very last white apple in TBONA. Before he drops the blue apple, Tella says that nothing could make her fall in love with him. Before he drops the white apple, Evangeline suggests that maybe Jacks could find another true love.

Second, every apple is either last seen still in his hand or dropped on the floor/ground (or fire), except for two: the sparkling white one in Finale (in Tella's dream again) and the pink one in OUABH, which he tosses to Tella and Evangeline. He directly encourages Tella to taste the white apple, and he tells Evangeline that she might need a snack. In terms of color, the sparkling white apple is especially interesting – I will look into the sparkling later along with the colors.

"Jacks picked up his apple"

The main difference between the Caraval and OUABH apples - and the one thing that keeps messing up my theories - is that during the Caraval series, Jacks never picks up an apple during a scene, he is always already holding one when the scene begins (see chart above). However, during OUABH and TBONA, he picks up four apples in total. And they are all white.

White Apple #1: Meeting Evangeline for the first time

White Apple #3: Evangeline says she'd stab Jacks if she got the chance to

White Apple #5: Evangeline forbids Jacks from killing people at LaLa's party

White Apple #7: Jacks lets go of Evangeline and shuts off from her, he's about to tell her the truth about planning to go back in time

All of them are different in terms of why exactly he picks up the apple, but there is more or less a shift in tone/topic of their conversation during all of these scenes.

The Colors

White Apples

I think that white apples are the "default" color, and/or they represent focusing on what's important.

They make up half of the apples Jacks has, and all of the apples he spontaneously picks up are white. So, if something like his emotions or circumstances affect the apple colors (which I think is at least somewhat the case), it makes sense for white to be the basic color – and what would be a better "default" apple than the one who reminds him not to get distracted.

Even though the apple he tosses to Tella is sparkling white, I don't think the color represents her because he was holding a white apple before he met Tella. He couldn't have been thinking of her, but he most likely had plans that he was thinking over as he was hoping to take the throne from Elantine.

Black Apples

I originally thought the black color could mean bad intentions or regret, but I'm now quite sure it represents doing whatever it takes to get what he wants. The context surrounding the black apples highlights this:

Black Apple #1: Jacks offers his help in exchange for controlling Tella's emotions. He wants to find true love more than anything, and this is his last attempt to make Tella fall for him.

Black Apple #2: He's controlling Apollo in order to make him propose to Evangeline. He needs it, again, in order to reach his goal – only this time he's planning to go back in time. Still to find true love, though.

Black Apple #3: This one stands out a bit from the other two. Jacks brings Evangeline to Chaos' castle so she can be healed after Apollo shot her. Here the black apple might symbolize doing anything to keep Evangeline alive (he also needs her alive, so that checks out, but at this point I don't think it's just that), and possibly his reluctance to either ask Chaos for help or put Evangeline through being infected with vampire venom.

Blue Apples

Blue apples seem to represent happiness and success, because we tend to see them after something went just like Jacks wanted. This could also be connected to his eye color.

Blue Apple #1: It's the first apple we see after Tella didn't die of his kiss, and he's obviously more than happy about that.

Blue Apple #2. He got into Tella's dream, for the second time, and he had successfully tricked her into the "marriage thing" before.

Blue Apple #3. He is holding this one right after Evangeline agreed to open the Valory Arch, while the apple he held in the previous scene (only five pages earlier) was white.

The Golden Apple

The apples that there are just one of are the trickiest because there's less context to go by, but I think the golden apple represents Tella. It's the first one we see in his hand after the events of Finale, and Tella's hair color is close enough to it. She is also a princess now, which the color gold could also represent.

It's worth mentioning that it could also be tied to failure, heartbreak, or Jacks's own hair color (as it is often described as golden). He also lives in the North now, known as Lord Jacks, and he's "friends" (?) with Apollo, a prince, so it could be related to that as well.

The Silver Apple

I think the silver apple is like a "milder" version of the blue apple, in which case the apple representing happiness would definitely be intentionally the same color as his eyes: The Caraval Wiki describes his eye color as "silver-blue".

When Jacks has the silver apple, Evangeline has got married to Apollo just like he wanted, but everything isn't perfect yet. He's quite content, but it isn't quite as big satisfaction as when he has a blue apple. However, because Evangeline asked him to meet, the apple's color could also represent for example curiosity.

The Pink Apple

Because of Evangeline's hair color, the pink apple seems to intuitively represent her. Not only that, he's just spent the night holding her before he appears with the pink apple in hand, so it just makes a lot of sense to me. This is also the apple he tossed to her.

The Purple Apple

I've had the most trouble with the purple apple. It being the apple he holds after talking with Scarlett and the scene leading to Tella's discovery that his heart beats, and the only purple apple during any book and scene, I don't even know where to start.

While basic color symbolism is connected to the apple colors loosely at most, purple as a symbol for royalty, nobility, and power could make sense if he wanted to emphasize those qualities while talking to Scarlett. Purple is also associated with mystery, and with us and Tella not finding out immediately why he met with Scarlett, it could also be a storytelling element.

Bonus: Sparkling/shimmering Apples

There are some apples that deserve a special mention, and that's the ones that are described as sparkling or shimmering.

White Caraval Apple #3, "sparkling white": This is the apple that Jacks gives to Tella (in her dream), urging her to taste it.

Black Apple #3, "shimmering black": And this apple is in TBONA, when Jacks brings Evangeline to Chaos' castle to be healed.

The only similarity between them that I've found so far is that they both stand out from the other white and blue apples: the sparkling white apple is the only white apple that Jacks gives to someone else, and the shimmering black apple is the third one that stands out to me (see "Black Apples" above).

Where Do The Apples Come From

A very good and for now unanswered question is where Jacks gets the apples from. Does he pick them from a tree? What tree? What color are they, do they start off as natural apples or maybe white? What makes an apple something other than their default color? For these questions, I don't have solid theories yet, only speculation.

We're all obsessed with how intensely Fates feel when they do feel something (*cough* the end of TBONA *cough*), but I also think that it could have something to do with the apples, at least some of them. When Jacks feels something or spends a lot of time thinking of something, maybe it could somehow affect the apples' colors? Some of the apples seem to be connected to his emotions, such as the blue ones. No apples are seen changing colors and some apples seem to not have a direct connection to his emotions, though, so there is little evidence to support this.

Conclusions

To summarize everything I went over above,

There are 20 apples in total that Jacks is seen holding throughout every scene he is in, seven of them during the Caraval series and 13 during OUABH and TBONA.

What Jacks does with his apples (tossing, biting, picking up, dropping) is connected to his emotions.

The apples have different colors that I believe represent different things: white (10 of 20, focusing on what's important), black (3 of 20, doing whatever it takes), blue (3 of 20, happiness), gold (1 of 20, possibly Tella? multiple possibilities), silver (1 of 20, possibly happiness mixed with something else), pink (1 of 20, Evangeline?), and purple (1 of 20, power? nobility? mystery?).

The origin of the apples is for now unknown, as is the reason for each color (both the colors' meanings and how they take on the different colors).

With all that said, there is quite much room for interpretation, especially in terms of the apple colors. My theories aren't the only correct ones, and I do not wish to present them that way. As I stated in the beginning, I might have overlooked details or noted some down inaccurately. The purpose of this post was to share my findings and to have fun theorizing!

Let's hope that we get some actual answers for these in ACFTL and that the books treat us kindly &lt;3 Please do not give me any spoilers, not on the topic of apples or anything else, I'm actively trying to avoid them!

If you read this far, THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I poured my heart into this research and this analysis, and I'm so happy if at least one person besides myself enjoys looking at my little findings. <3 Here, have an apple as a reward: 🍎

[ironunderstands]

Here’s my comparison of Acheron, Aventurine and Ratio that I made in 2.1 which I forgot to upload here lol, I would like you to know my thoughts then because OH BOY HAS THIS AGED WELL

Aventurine, Acheron, Ratio and what the Nihility means to them

(Inspired by a convo I had with @aoxizu on Tumblr!)

The ending scene of the 2.1 update (the one featuring the black hole) is perhaps one of my favorite in all of fiction. I genuinely adore the way it was done and what it says about both the characters and life itself. This game has THEMES and by god did they come through then. So, I want to go over why I love it so much, and why it’s such a vital moment for Acheron, Aventurine and Ratios characters.

First, some context. Prior to Aventurine’s and Acheron’s conversation, Aventurine was taking the riskiest gamble of his life. Prior to the confrontation between him, Acheron and the Astral Express, Aventurine set up a plan to try and get to the secret at the heart of Penacony, as well as provide a ruse for Topaz and Jade to do, well whatever they planned on doing, the ending scene says they came there to “harvest”, so in 2.2 I assume we will find out what exactly that entails.

In order for this plan to work, Aventurine needed his cornerstone and to trick Sunday, so pre-2.0 he went to Dr. Ratio to include him in this plan, and set up a fake betrayal to fool Sunday and allow him to keep the Aventurine stone, with the Jade and Topaz stones also being acquired pre-Penacony. We know this because of Aventurine’s conversation with Topaz post 1.4 Belabog mission in which he requests her help in Penacony, something which we didn’t get confirmation on whether or not she accepted until 2.1, in which it’s revealed that one of the Cornerstones in the box is Topaz, meaning when they got confiscated in 2.0 she had already accepted his offer (we can assume a similar situation for Jade). 

Essentially, everything had been going according to plan for IPC (even if Aventurine was absolutely not having a fun time during it), Ratio even says as much, stating that the IPC is pleased to hear of his death sentence, so that part of the confrontation was already predetermined. This leaves Aventurine with one final gamble, hoping the Astral Express and Acheron take the bait, and that they will try and stop him from destroying the entire dreamscape, which if Acheron acts on it, he could entire the true dreamscape to find the truth, as only an emanator could break through the power of the harmony. 

Luckily for Aventurine, the gamble pays off and Aventurine does indeed draw her blade, both stopping him and sending them both into another plane entirely, it’s there in which one if my favorite scenes in fiction ever occurs. 

You see, even if Aventurine planned this all from the start, he hasn’t exactly been having a fun time while doing it. Being sentenced to death and then slowly hallucinating on Harmony sh1t until the manifestations of your past self and your present doubt and insecurities come to haunt you isn’t exactly fun for anyone, especially Aventurine. 1) Because his backstory is horrifically tragic and being faced with a reminder that you will never feel secure or valued or truly happy would be enough to erode away the psyche of anyone 2) A version of himself which claims to be his future, but is more like a personification of how much Aventurine doubts and hates himself. It’s even more telling that this isn’t the first time he has talked to this version of him, in fact it saved his life several times, meaning one of Aventurine’s driving motivations is his own self loathing. 

A trait that on the surface you don’t think he would have, Aventurine plays the role of the confident, unflappable gambler who always wins, when in reality his other hand is under the table, clutching his chips for dear life (something I quite literally paraphrased from the game). 

Therefore, going into this conversation, Aventurine is more relieved than anything, yet another one of his gambles paid off, but now he will have to see how to go from there, and that’s when Acheron’s advice comes in. She’s not stupid, and immediately recognizes that he won (or at least got what she wanted), and that killing him is meaningless, it’s not his time yet. However, what Aventurine is really focused on is the fact that out of all the emanators he could have come across, the one he faces now is an emanator of nihility.

And well, in the face of overwhelming nihility, one’s own value comes into question yet again, and that’s something Aventurine doesn’t even need the aeon for to ask. So, he talks to Acheron, as IX isn’t exactly going to answer, but she might know. Now, I’m just going to lay out the dialogue (then explain it obviously) because it’s genuinely amazing. 

Aventurine starts out by asking Acheron if she is an emanator of nihility, and I find her response to be really interesting. She doesn’t view herself as someone chosen by IX, as nihilism (the feeling of meaningless) envelops everyone equally, but she has simply walked in their shadow longer, tainted on the feeling. This leads Aventurine to question if this is the end, as if life has lost all meaning, in the face of overwhelming nihility, would that mean he’s dead?

Luckily Acheron immediately disagrees, stating that this is merely a manifestation of IX, not the end (he’s not dead guys idk how anyone can think that). However Aventurine still questions if his death has been determined, but Acheron doesn’t promise it. She mulls over his plan and and Aventurine asks her why she thinks he did it, and Acheron believes it was to find a secret deeper than the dream “deaths: the Real Penacony. He wonders how she found out, and Acheron says it’s the trailblazer’s identity which allowed her (and Aventurine) to come to this conclusion (we don’t yet know how this happened for either of them yet, but 2.2 should give answers).

They continue, Aventurine reveals that he believes the barrier the family built using the power of the harmony was not just to keep death out but the nightmare that is the real dreamscape. That the Memory Zone is simply a vast island built atop a violent ocean with the barrier keeping whatever nightmarish secrets from washing ashore. In order to break through this barrier and find the real dreamscape, which is why he kept killing himself earlier in the dream, but to no  avail. When Sparkle gave him the hint, he realized it was referring to Firefly, someone who had seen the other side and survived it, even if she was unable to let others know if it. It wasn’t proof of the families wrongdoing, but it was suspicious enough for him to try and get Acheron to kill him, rather than try and find the Meme to recreate Firefly’s death. 

Acheron points out just how insane this plan was, that if he hadn’t gotten lucky and crossed path with her, it wouldn’t have succeeded. Then, she commends him for playing it perfectly, pitting her perfectly against him and creating a plan that would be beneficial for the IPC no matter what happened, as even if he dies that would be great leverage. However, Aventurine disagrees with that last point, he truly can’t guarantee the IPCs success or even his own survival, that if she hadn’t drawn her blade it would have all be pointless. 

She’s doesn’t let him continue along this line of thought, what-ifs are pointless and he earned his ticket to the dreamscape. What matters now is what happens next, and Acheron asks him if he can return from the abyss (Childe reference?), but more importantly, she questioned if he has ever wavered, as even a gamble as seemingly insane as the one Aventurine just did seems to have not shaken him (from her POV, we know how terrified Aven was but everyone else minus maybe Ratio does). 

Aventurine tells her perhaps the most fundamental aspect of his character; he gambles simply because he has no other choice, betting on everything because he has nothing else to lose. Acheron tells him to wake up from this “dream” (aka find the true dreamscape), and she presumably goes to leave.

However (and this is my favorite part of the scene), he asks her one more question before she leaves, thinking she might know the answer as a pathstrider of nihility, “Why are we born in this world if it’s just to die?”

Her response is the best possible way you could answer this question. Acheron is an emanator of nihility, but she doesn’t think life is meaningless. The feeling of emptiness and pointlessness envelops everyone equally and that’s exactly why the nihility is pointless. It doesn’t matter that nothing matters, and we aren’t born into this world just to die. 

Aventurine still worries though, after all if the dice of fate will always roll to the same conclusion, then destiny is predetermined, so why struggle? Why does it matter?

Her answer again is not one he would expect, but one that absolutely makes sense. Acheron says the answer has been with Aventurine throughout his entire life and journey on Penacony, and that he’s already somewhat realized it. Aventurine said himself that sleep is a rehearsal of death, but people aren’t ready to welcome death, which is why they sleep to get a taste of it. Sleep is much like death, a realm of unreality in which anything might be possible within the dreams that define its existence. Death itself is an unreality, and nobody truly knows what it’s like to die, but dreams are the closest we might ever get before the end. Like Acheron says, in a way, dreams are just a preparation for death, a practice before it can be welcomed. 

However, much like how dreams can contain anything, even if we cannot choose to experience them or not, life itself is full of choices, regardless of if the ending is determined or not. Acheron understands that there are an infinite amount of things people cannot change before the end, but there are choices you can make up until it. Death is inevitable, but the life you live before it isn’t. This is what the words in red mean, both here and in my opinion, in general. 

Acheron reminds the trailblazer to make the right choice when time comes for it, in our first meeting with her. However, I don’t think the path we choose matters, but rather the the fact that we chose at all. Now the next paragraph will include a minor discussion of 2.2 leaks, so skip to the next slide if you don’t want to hear it. 

Sunday is getting a bossfight in 2.2, and it’s highly theorized that he works/believes in Ena the Order, especially because it looks like it’s their hand he’s touching in that one animation of the bossfight. Now here’s the thing, Order as a concept Chooses For You. I think the trailblazer making a decision is the thing that will save them and the rest of the gang, as within the face of an entity defined by limiting choice and free will, choosing to well, choose will save them (us?) and perhaps be the thing that gets the trailblazer acknowledged by the Harmony, a concept greater than Order. 

Anyways, after she says that, Acheron leaves Aventurine, saying the answer to his question was from his friend.

And Aventurine pulls out the vial from Dr. Ratio

The vial telling him that the only impossible thing in the dreamscape is dormancy (meaning the secrets from before are destined to rise and destroy the “island” that is Penacony.

The vial telling him to stay alive and wishing him the best of luck, which in the Chinese version is: 

Ratio answered both of Aventurine’s questions. The physical one, the one that pertains to Aventurines goals in Penacony, informing him of a vital aspect of the dreamscape that will help him win his gamble. But more importantly, he also answered Aventurine’s emotional one. What is the point of living? There is no real deeper meaning but to stay alive, survive and keep on living, because at the end of the day, that’s the only choice Aventurine can make, and that’s the one Ratio wants him to make.

Ratio Gives Aventurine A Reason To Live. 

Aventurine says that he has nothing left, his family is gone and he has nobody and nothing to fall back on which is why he gambles. But Acheron proves him wrong, he isn’t alone, she calls Ratio his “friend”, says that he’s the solution to his doubt. Someone caring about Aventurine is what saves his life, he walks into the massive black hole unafraid not because he holds some secret power or technique or trick, but because someone cares about him, and that someone taught him that caring about himself is enough. Aventurine didn’t need the power of an emanator to survive the true dreamscape, he only needed a friend, and the will to keep going that he realized from them. 

This is the true meaning of nihility, not that  Aventurine says that he has nothing left, his family is gone and he has nobody and nothing to fall back on which is why he gambles. But Acheron proves him wrong, he isn’t alone, she calls Ratio his “friend”, says that he’s the solution to his doubt. Someone caring about Aventurine is what saves his life, he walks into the massive black hole unafraid not because he holds some secret power or technique or trick, but because someone cares about him, and that someone taught him that caring about himself is enough. Aventurine didn’t need the power of an emanator to survive the true dreamscape, he only needed a friend, and the will to keep going that he realized from them. the universe is meaningless, but that regardless of if it has one or not, it doesn’t matter. It’s this realization that saves Acheron from losing herself like other emanators, it’s this realization that allows Aventurine to cross the event horizon of that manifestation of IX, and it’s this realization that I believe is why Dr. Ratio was never acknowledged by Nous: he was already treading the path of nihility without even realizing it. 

Now this is where my conversation with @aoxizu comes in, and I’m just gonna paste directly what they said because I think it’s amazing and everyone should read it, more importantly it’s what inspired this slideshow in the first place.

Ratio tells Aventurine to live despite everything because that’s the only thing he can do. It doesn’t matter how absurd life is, or how meaningless it all seems, choose to live anyways, because all you have are choices, and it doesn’t matter if they lead to some grand outcome or future or whatnot. To Ratio, life doesn’t, and shouldn’t care about that. Existence doesn’t need to make sense to be worth it, and that’s a sentiment both me, the characters and the og poster share.

Acheron is a lot like Ratio, she chooses to live despite having discovered the meaninglessness of the universe. In an existence seemingly black and white she chooses to paint the world red with her choices, accepting its reality and choosing to forge her own path rather than succumb to the madness. That’s why she says in her trailer, “there is no other choice but to move forward” and that’s because there really is no other choice, the universe doesn’t have some grand plan for anyone and you can’t turn back time to change anything, so all you can do is move forward.

My contribution! I’ve already kinda started but I do want to talk about how Ratio could be treading the path of nihility, but I’ll let this amazing post finish.

So yeah, amazing post, and I don’t think I could reword what they said in a better way than they did. Bringing up the philosophical aspects of this scene makes me really happy because they are so prominent, but most people aren’t really aware enough to notice. Absurdism is one of the driving inspirations behind the dreamscape, and it’s nice to see someone else besides you (see: my slideshow about Penacony and its American influences for an elaboration on this) bring it up. Honestly I think that philosophy fits Ratio far better than any of the Ancient Greek stuff you try to slap on him. Sure he obviously has the inspirations, but he’s closer in spirit to philosophers from the 1700s to now than them, a reinterpretation of Greek scholars rather than a copy of them. 

And this is where my idea that Ratio is a pathstrider of nihility (and he doesn’t even know it yet) comes in. He doesn’t view knowledge in the same way that pathstriders of Erudition do; knowledge for knowledges sake has never been something Ratio has cared about. Knowledge means something to Ratio because it allows people to better themselves, not because it has some sort of inherent value. That’s why he’s so determined to spread it, he wants everyone to reach their fullest potential, and dedicates his life to doing so. Regardless of if the universe has meaning or not, that doesn’t mean people can’t try and live their best lives, and that’s the philosophy Ratio truly believes in.

Moreover, this is why it’s so meaningful that Ratio is the one to help Aventurine, he’s teaching him something Ratio himself learned long ago when he got rejected by the Genius Society. Despite all of Ratio’s intellect and qualifications, he will never be good enough for them because he simply doesn’t view knowledge in the way they do. But instead of this meaninglessness (nihility) consuming him, Ratio dedicated his life to doing what brought him meaning and validation rather than searching for some hidden answers from the universe (specifically Nous).

And it’s not like he just accepted it happily. Ratio still wants their acknowledgement, and it still hurt (and hurts) him a lot to not have it, which is why I think he unknowingly strides the path of nihility. To Ratio, his view on knowledge is simply how knowledge is, and the fact that Nous will never perceive it in that way because his philosophy is more nihilistic than it is erudite is something Ratio might never come to terms with. But that’s ok. The point is that it’s ok, Ratio doesn’t need to be acknowledged or to understand the truth of the universe to be happy or do well for himself. Our universe might mean nothing and yeah that can and will suck, but existence is more valuable than some grand cosmic plan, and even if you don’t realize it, choosing to live is enough.

Continually, this reminds me of the conversation Aventurine had with his hallucination self, in which he told real Aventurine that him and Ratio are very similar. In a way, they are, both struggling to find meaning in their lives, and Ratio helps Aventurine find meaning in his without really even knowing how. Sure the note was meant to keep Aventurine going, but Ratio caused Aventurine to come to a conclusion that probably won’t find Ratio for a while. He helped Aventurine overcome nihility without even knowing it, without Ratio even realizing that THAT is the thing he has been struggling with, and the path he has been walking the whole time.

I really hope we get to see Ratio again, and at the very least I want a story quest for him because I want to analyze his brain under a microscope. Him and Acheron need to meet asap I want more Ratio content idc if everyone else in the fandom hates him I love him and he’s my pookie bear and I will write 3039493494 things about him when it comes to me UGHHHH. Anyways I didn’t know how end this so this is the ending yaaayyy! I hope you liked it and if you have any thoughts let me know! 

_________________________________________

Og post over! That was a long ass read and past me was absolutely cooking up a storm, oh god did this age well and I was right about or close to right about a lot of shit haha. Anyways I really do hope you enjoyed reading this, and this will hopefully provide some needed context for my next posts on this subject. Also feel free to repost this onto other sites I’m very proud of it

[narrators-journal]

Yandere!Senku headcanons

While I’m on a little writing roll tonight, feast! Feast my long-starved fanbase! Not sure if I’ve written these before, but to celebrate the fourth season, I’m gonna try to put out some more Dr. stone content. Probably nothing super lengthy, but some fun headcanons, at least, to feed you all. Which, yes! Includes Stano content once more! I might not be stuck on Dr. Stone, but I still love those two lol. And Senku, Senku is still my all-time favorite anime character so far, so he gets content first. Also, I personally think of Senku as somewhere on the asexual spectrum. So, you can read these headcanons as romantic or platonic as you wish. I left it a bit vague and open ended lol.

Senku is not very much of a fighter, let’s be so real.

He’s very much the brains of any group. Physical fights are off of his table.

So, when it comes to him as a yandere, he relies more on drugs and maybe a bit of psychology to keep you under control.

This, in turn, makes him one of the hardest yanderes out of the dr. stone cast to escape.

Not because you can’t outrun him, a fucking sloth has more stamina than this man. But, because of the fact that you either won’t have the mental capacity to think of escape, or the willpower to break the toxic cycle.

A more belligerent or intimidating yandere like, say, Stanley Snyder, is easier to pinpoint as toxic. If someone hits you, or is scary, you can easily draw a line and cut the cord when you get the chance.

With someone who’s more emotionally aggressive, who doesn’t hurt nor scare you, it’s harder to realize the malice they bring to your life. And, it’s harder to keep emotions out of it and cut all ties.

And that second type is where Senku excels.

Backhanded insults to break down your self-esteem, drugs to addle your brain and fog your thoughts. That’s Senku’s realm of mastery.

And, if he’s connected to Gen at all, it’s all the worse for you.

Because, once he has that magician on his side, the psychological threat is worsened.

Of course, that’s if we ignore the fact that this motherfucker surely knows how to cook up chemical ways to control you.

The second stone age means nothing to his aspect. Modern or post-medusa era, Senku can still whip up anything he needs.

Lord knows Senku’s patient enough to do that shit.

Aphrodisiacs, medicines, anything scientific, Senku knows how to use against you.

All of this to say! If you are Senku’s darling, godspeed to you. It’s gonna be hell to escape.