#(somehow combined with Aladdin)

[jinxthejubilee]

I don't know why the fandom is having such a hard time picturing Azul having a little brother based on Morgana from the second Little Mermaid movie. It could totally work in canon!

Let's break this down for a second:

Azul's parents are divorced. He was raised by his bio mom and his step-dad.

Azul says himself that his step-father is "the father he respects," which could mean that he has absolutely no contact with his bio-dad. He wouldn't know what he was up to or if he had other children.

Azul's bio-dad could've also been a cecaelian (octo-mermaid) and had another child, or he could've been a normal mermaid who got with another octo-mer after he divorced Azul's mother.

Heck, maybe that was the cause for the divorce in the first place. Maybe he had an affair and destroyed his marriage himself. Or if you want to go a bit deeper, after their marriage fell apart for whatever reason, Azul's bio-dad wanted to recreate the family he lost and got with another cecaelian woman and had his little brother.

This point, in particular, could be a reference to the popular theory that Morgana was Ursula's half-sister. Same mother, different fathers.

The theory goes that Ursula was the result of an affair Triton's father, the former king, had with an octo-mermaid. Such a scandal would bring shame upon the royal family, hence why Ursula lived with her mother away from the prying eyes of the court, but it would also make sense why, in her youth, Ursula still had ties to the castle and lived there from time to time (according to the movie).

A few years later, Ursula's mother had another baby girl with a normal mermaid. He wasn't anyone special like the king, with no royal lineage or special magic of his own, making Morgana "unremarkable" in her mother's eyes. Or maybe their mother truly loved this man, and the relationship didn't work out, so she takes her anger and insecurities out on Morgana.

With all of this in mind, it's possible that Azul's bio-dad could resent Azul's little brother in some way, giving him an inferiority complex a mile wide, just like Morgana. He wouldn't stop talking about Azul and how great he's become, how his brother should strive to be more like him.

It was always: Azul this, or Azul that, or (INSERT NAME), why can't you be more like your brother Azul?

He would grow to despise Azul, his own brother, who he's never even MET. That's perfect angst potential right there. To add fuel to the fire, maybe little bro tried to reach out to Azul and connect with him, but their father sabotaged that somehow and made him think that Azul just didn't care.

Now you might be asking, how would Azul's bio-dad even know about Azul's accomplishments? Glad you asked!

Either A): Azul's mother is the only one in contact with him and updates him on how Azul's doing from time to time.

Or B): His bio-dad enrolled the Morgana stand-in in Azul's school by chance and heard through the grape vine that Azul became the deal maker non-technical crime boss he is now.

Or both. Honestly, both of these combined would push little male Morgana over the edge. His classmates hear the rumors about an octo-mer who granted devious wishes a few years back and are either scared of or really unimpressed by the little bro's lack of magical prowess.

The bullying and self-hatred haven't skipped a generation, and neither has the body issues. Instead of being insecure about being overweight, Azul's little bro is insecure about being way too skinny.

This went on way longer than I thought, but to wrap up: All this to say, if we got Jamil's sister, who is a reference to Jafar's twin sister from that obscure Aladdin game, I think it's plausible for Azul to have a brother.

Thank you, and goodnight!

[princesssarisa]

I've seen a lot of complaints lately about the lack of romance in recent Disney movies. Do you think Disney's next princess movie should give the heroine a love interest? (not counting Moana 2 because I seriously doubt they'll give Moana a LI in the sequel)

I think it would be nice to see Disney bring back romance.

They've certainly made enough romance-free movies to drive home the point that girls don't need romantic love to be complete. And for many of us, the love stories are some of the best parts of Disney's animated movies of yesteryear.

That said, if they do give the next Princess a love interest, I hope they don't fall back into the same formula of "bickering to friends to lovers" that they kept repeating for a while. Tiana and Naveen, Rapunzel and Flynn, Anna and Kristoff, Judy and Nick if you ship them... while each of those pairings do have unique qualities and appeal, it's still a little bit formulaic. Disney almost seemed to have forgotten that a romance arc doesn't need to be either "bickering to friends to lovers" or old-school Love at First Sight.

As far as I'm concerned, the Disney Renaissance was the golden age of Disney love stories, because each couple had a unique relationship arc and dynamic. Ariel and Eric's gentle, fun-loving teenage romance – closer than the others to old-school Love at First Sight, but handled in a fresh, modern-feeling way. Belle and the Beast's blend of a rom com-style "bickering to friends to lovers" arc with sweeping Gothic Romanticism, which somehow works beautifully despite the difference between those two genres. Aladdin and Jasmine's bonding of kindred spirits and shared longings, and the conflict caused by their class gap and Aladdin's self-doubt. Simba and Nala's bantering childhood friendship that grows into adult love. Pocahontas and John Smith's Romeo and Juliet-style forbidden passion. Quasimodo, Esmeralda and Phoebus's love triangle that ends in happy romance for the latter two and warm friendship that both share with Quasi. Hercules and Meg's arc of "innocent, kind-hearted boy teaches hardened, cynical girl to love again," combined with Meg's redemption arc as she breaks free from Hades. Mulan and Shang's comradeship-in-arms that ends with a hint at future romance. Tarzan and Jane's bonding through exploring each other's worlds and then each having to choose between their own world and the other's.

Each of these love stories is unique and special in its own way. I hope that when Disney finally decides to do romance again, they'll break away from all earlier formulas and make it just as fresh and unique as those past examples.

[thetimelordbatgirl]

Y’know, Rise of Red is nothing more than a rushed cash grab in an attempt to bank off a pretty much a dead franchise. They’ve scored so poorly on rotten tomatoes with both audience and critics hating on it. 44% for the audience score and 50%. It’s way lower than the ALL three movies combined, and it’s definitely a retcon of all three movies. Plus, if I’m being honest, RoR doesn’t even feel like a descendants movie at all, it felt more like a TikTok/K-pop style movie with mediocre versions of the Disney characters. Case in point, Aladdin and Jasmine.

In addition, I’m worried because RoR has created some stans where they’re hating on the og fans and calling them nostalgia fan and such.Descendants subreddit is more cringy with RoR than fans on TikTok.

First off, don't insult tiktok/K-Pop like that: both of those have better music then whatever the fuck you call Rise of Red's music, let alone both understand fashion better then Mattel/the designers for Rise of Red. Second of all, I mean, your just saying what we all been knowing. There's no reason to keep going with Descendants after the third movie UNLESS its just to milk it for money, and trying to do a soft reboot of the prior three movies and what they established while killing off a character whose actor is sadly no longer with us, just makes it clear as day this is to keep a franchise going for money and that's it. I mean, it's been literally said Mattel helped design the characters just for DOLLS, if that isn't clear where the minds were when it came to this movie. (And fun fact: they cost the same price as a MH G3 doll over here in UK, aka £30....I'll leave it up to anyone reading to decide if they worth that much in comparison to MH G3 which manages to make itself worth that much). But also like, I mean....yeah, it doesn't feel like a Descendants movie...even the third movie, also a shit show, is more of a Descendants movie then this...this just feels like Disney WANTED to do their own take on insert-thing-but-they-in-high-school, but couldn't be bothered to risk doing its own franchise and shoved it into Descendants. And the fact that I've only seen I dunno, ONE goodish review on this movie on Youtube but it still had criticism's brought up and even a channel who liked Descendants hated it....yeah that should be saying a-lot.

But honestly....that was expected. Even before the movie came out, hating on it was considered just being too nostalgia obsessed and its for a new generation so leave it alone and such. So it's not surprising it got worser once it came out. Honestly, I'm speaking for myself, I don't care if Rise of Red fans hate me, its fine. They got enjoyment somehow out of a hour and half...meanwhile I (and my friend since we watched it together) felt like I did with Frozen 2: could have spent time watching something else. Like, enjoy Rise of Red? Fine. But don't get mad if other's didn't like it and are expressing that. The block button is right there. Curate your fandom experience.

[dailycupofcreativitea]

AHHHHH you're playing kingdom hearts? Please report back with your thoughts when you feel up to it it's my special interest 👀

Okay here are some thoughts I've spammed to my friends in the last few days! (BTW I read the manga already for the first game so I basically spoiled it but I was still equally as shocked when these things happened in the game lol)

By the way, spoilers below for anyone who hasn't played!

General thoughts:

SORA IS SOOOOOOOOOO CUTE 🥺 The voice actor voiced him PERFECTLY, he's exactly the perfect combination of hopeful, friendship, little kid, strong heart, over confident at times, stubborn, sweet. 😭💖

Told a friend I love Sora in a different way than I love Gohan, here were my thoughts: Gohan is more quiet, sweet, gentle, burdened with a lot of power that he seems hesitant to use and slowly builds his confidence throughout the show, I relate to Gohan a lot, sweet cinnamon roll that must be protecc, but forced to protecc others, etc etc Sora is sweet and gentle but loud, has a HUGE heart and he uses it to protect his friends with 100% confidence (he's more like Goku in that way), his heart is just unwavering and he doesn't seem to doubt himself often (at least in KH1), funny and goofy and his stubbornness can get him into trouble sometimes but his bonds with his friends give him strength, I don't relate to him but I would love to draw inspiration from him

"Shonen protagonist done by Disney" vibes (as put aptly by @genisflyingkites)

Riku is so insanely jealous of Sora it's hilarious, he's overall kind of a jerk and even Kairi said she wanted to leave the island without him, but also Riku is 15 and hormonal and Maleficent got to him so I don't really blame him for it

Donald and Goofy are way less annoying than I assumed they would be, I like that they seem refreshingly mature?? Donald is stubborn and beefs with Sora a lot and Goofy seems like he has a good head on his shoulders and is a deep thinker

Also I keep seeing memes of Donald constantly getting knocked out in game and being useless but for me Donald ALWAYS comes in clutch with the elixirs and ethers

That scene where Maleficent tells Riku that Sora replaced him and Kairi with Donald and Goofy was sad in both the manga and the game but what REALLY made my jaw drop was that SORA LOWKEY FELT THE SAME:

(Yes he was fighting with Donald at the time too but LOOK AT HIS FACE!!! 😭🙏)

If Riku talked to Sora for more than 10 seconds at a time literally all of this would be resolved XD LIKE!! Sora is literally trying to find them! Riku please!

This scene had my sister and I's JAWS ON THE FLOOR:

It was low blow after low blow! I read this in the manga too but somehow it hit harder in the game!

Hollow Bastion is a great OST and I've been listening to it on repeat. The map is also pretty nice but I wish I could explore more without heartless appearing every 5 seconds

Actually I also liked the OST "A Day in Agrabah"

I beat Riku's ass in 10 seconds and it was glorious (Ansem is a whole other story...still working on it)

DID I MENTION SORA HAS SUCH A KIND AND SWEET AND STRONG HEART!?

Every single cutscene had the words "light" "darkness" "friendship" "heart" "memories" repeated over and over again to form a cutscene (I saw this in a Youtube video and thought it was incredibly accurate XD)

My sister and I were CRACKING UP during this cutscene because it made NO SENSE

It just kept getting more and more non-sensical XD

I think Aladdin was my favourite world so far but tbh they were all pretty cool (Sora's Halloween Town fit was so cute! Also I loved flying around by Big Ben, and then getting the glide feature)

The Maleficent Dragon boss was really hard, cool, and fun; Tinker Bell really came in clutch

Also I gotta say this game is really hard to play because the control are so annoying, the jump function is annoying (I keep falling off and misjudging his jump), it keep glitching cause it's connected to the cloud or something, the directions are too vague so I have to follow a walkthrough while playing, and I have to keep stopping between plays because I get motion sickness from the wildly spinning camera really easily -- despite all that I am indeed having a blast

I think that's all my thoughts for now :3

[starsfic]

Now being tired and having never heard of this prompt before my silly brain thought you were somehow combining these au’s together. The aus in question are based on the immortal dragon Mei comic by @winterpower98, @vegalocity’s White Bone Amnesia AU, @purble-turble’s Dad Macaque idea, @animemoonprincess‘s Giggle Glow AU, @kai-keda Aladdin inspired animatic and the adorable Valentine’s Day drawing by @nonbinarybabies.

I was so hyped before I realized what it actually was lol, However I actually do think this concept would work!

I was going to type out a rough draft of what I think this au could be like but it gotten longer than I would feel comfortable with initially sending you. I doubt I would do this au on my own since I am not full confident in my writing skills, but I would be happy to share it with you, to see if you think it any good?

Ps you don’t have to reply to this, just wanted to let you know what you have unintentionally inspired lol.

I would more than love to see anything my writing inspired! I just love seeing people be creative!

[telomeke]

POLL TAG – FIVE FAVORITE CHARACTERS

I was tagged by @lurkingshan (at this post linked here) and @pickletrip (at this post linked here). Thanks dearies! 🥰

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Challenge: make a poll with five of your all time favorite characters, and then tag five people to do the same. See which character is everyone's favorite.

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I'm sticking to BLs as well, because the field would be far too wide otherwise (can you imagine a poll with Dolly Levi, Buffy Summers, Joe Rossi from Lou Grant, Lady Deathstrike from X-Men 2, any one of the Golden Girls, Erik Killmonger from Black Panther the movie, the Beastmaster and cartoon Aladdin? 🤣).

Anyway, I don't watch all that much BL (not compared to the majority of people here on BL Tumblr, who have watchlists longer than Babe's wig when he was Wansarat in The Sign). So that narrows the field considerably for me – and my list has some likely suspects, including an unbreakable pairing, and also one highly unusual choice. But I'll explain my choices after the poll itself:

Why these characters? Here's my spiel:

PatPran (Bad Buddy)  I've combined these two as a single choice, because obviously they go together (and so well too). But really, I would have loved to have listed them separately, because I have different reasons for loving them. Pat is just an all-round good guy, hopelessly optimistic, generous and so giving; he thinks of others before himself (and if both partners in a couple do that, well, you then have a mutually-reinforcing relationship). Pran I love because I can see so much of myself in him, from his tics and foibles, his interests, to his struggles finding his courage and growing into his own identity.

Li Ming (Moonlight Chicken)  In a lot of ways, what Li Ming was going through in MLC paralleled some of my own experiences when I was a teen his age. If only they'd had MLC or something similar for teenage me to have watched growing up! Li Ming was somehow able to navigate the pressures of becoming someone true to himself (something that Pran, and I too in my teens, struggled with) while dealing with real world issues at the same time (economic hardship in Li Ming's case, while in mine it was general teen angst and family stress). He didn't let life get to him, and he stayed the course, knowing his own self-worth even when others were telling him to scale back his expectations (Uncle Jim and Heart's parents). Lessons in there for all LGBTQ+ teens, and Khun Noppharnach's socially-conscious BLs should be given more credit for the positive role models they portray and how they help the younger set. Plus Fourth did an excellent job bringing Li Ming to life (thanks in part I think to Director Aof's guidance; Fourth's Atom in My Love Mix-Up Thailand is a lot less grounded and authentic, at least from what I've seen in the first couple of episodes).

Porsche (KinnPorsche)  This entry is just for fun. KinnPorsche was a wild ride, whacking us with whiplash at every turn, and Porsche was emblematic of that experience. Cool, sexy martial arts fighter in one episode, total buffoon at the mercy of sprinklers, piss-allergic carp and mermaid costumes in others. Apo gamely played along, and he can do both slick action and slapstick comedy well, so watching Porsche always brought a smile to my face. Whether it was seducing Kinn with pappy supermarket bread, or warding off ghosts with a penis amulet, you never knew what craziness was in store next with this character. Pure entertainment.

Adachi (Cherry Magic)  Adachi charmed the briefs off me the moment the lift doors went CLANG!!! on him while he was distracted with whatever it was that was speedrunning through his head again. Such a lovable doofus, always surprised by whatever situation he managed to stumble into. Eiji Akaso is really good-looking, but he didn't care about image and happily took all the pratfalls in his stride. He somehow managed to imbue Adachi's clumsy clownery with a strange sense of dignity (helped along, I suppose, by the fact that we could also hear Adachi's inner monologue, allowing us to see the innocent good-heartedness within).

Dissaya (Bad Buddy)  This is the odd one out. Pran's mom was hated by so many fans during Bad Buddy's run, who blamed her for ruining Pran's life in many ways. And it's true her own hang-ups wrought havoc on Pran's relationship with the world outside. But for someone with so few scenes, I think she's actually one of the more complex characters in Bad Buddy, with a turbulent backstory that explains how her own relationship with the world got so warped. My read is that everything she did, including sending Pran away in high school, was done out of love for her beloved only son and motivated by a desire to protect him at all costs. She was a smothering, over-protective mother to be sure, but I think the lady just didn't know any better, and the last two episodes of Bad Buddy really do invite us to rethink our earlier appraisals of her. It wasn't easy doing Dissaya's character study based on the fairly scant details we got (write-ups linked here and here), but they were enough for me to glean an understanding of who I think she is. And I think in the end she is someone worthy of respect, so I do tip my hat out of respect for her. It's also obvious Pran loves her dearly, as much as she loves him back. And I think I trust Pran's judgement of character on this one. 😍

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Onward tagging:

@neuroticbookworm, @colourme-feral, @airenyah, @wen-kexing-apologist, @solitaryandwandering

I really want to tag more, but this game limits us to five so these are just five people tagged at random. If I haven't tagged you but you'd like to play, please do so (knowing that I want to tag everyone and then some)! And please tag me if you play, so that I can read and vote on your poll too. 😍

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[brighterdaysarebeforeus]

I, apparently, get some validation in the form of likes and I go all gung-ho about writing stuff.

Anyway, Part 1 on Aladdin!AU punkflower.

Miles Morales…was bored.

He was sat next to his dad, at the head of the table, because for the past three months his father had decided that Miles was old enough to start listening in on the financials of their kingdom. Miles had been excited, at first, ready to help his kingdom and start thinking of ways to present himself as someone to be taken seriously; until he actually sat through four or five meetings and realized what they usually ended up being: a group of people, sitting around a table once a week, discussing what to do with money the kingdom barely had and how to generate more money for it, and all he was supposed to do was sit down and listen. Every so often his dad would interject, throwing out this idea or that one, and the table would devolved into a debate about how it would work.

The group consisted of Jeff Morales, the king, and Miles, the prince. Wilson Fisk, the royal advisor, was sitting on the left of his father, two seats down so that he was visible to both king and prince. Miguel O’Hara, the captain of the guards, was on Miles’s right, directly across from Wilson. They had their respective seconds next to them, Olivia for Wilson and Jessica (or Jess) for Miguel. The seat next to Jess was taken up by Pavitr Prabhakar, who was representing the Prabhakar family as a whole as the son of the earl; across from him was the Watson family representative, the countess Mary Jane (or MJ). On Pavitr’s other side was Peter Benjamin Parker, who usually went by Noir and theoretically wasn’t part of the meeting per say, but was sent to watch over Pavitr due to the teen being the Prabhakar’s only child. Rounding out the last of the people in the meeting were William Baker, and Adrian Toomes, both of whom were fairly new additions to the table, according to his dad.

The meeting today was sort of dragging on, and where he sat next to his dad meant that he was just out of reach of the sun, but there was still a lot of heat coming in through the window to make him sleepy. Combined with the late night he’d had the night before and the fact that while his clothes were elegant, they were thin and very comfortable meant that Miles was kind of ready to doze off and take a nap. He was slouched as much as he could be, staring blankly at Wilson as the man droned on and on about…taxes, he thought? Or the guards training. One of the two, Wilson always seemed weirdly focused on those two things. Miles had known the man for years, he’d held his position since before Miles had been born. Outside of the meetings he was usually fairly quiet, a startling trait for someone as big as Wilson was, and was good at somehow moving money around so that his dad could continue running the kingdom the way he needed to without worrying too much. He was smart, Miles could give him that, and definitely was the kind of man that had brute strength on his side; he made Miguel look tiny in comparison, and Miguel was also a fairly big guy, so…

His dad rapped his knuckles on the arm rest, making Miles sit up straighter and blink rapidly to cover the fact that he was zoning out a bit. From a bit further down, Pavitr leaned onto his palms, covering his mouth in a way that made him look like he was deeply invested in what Wilson was saying; Miles could tell was just to hide the grin on his face from Miles getting caught out.

Miles couldn’t even glare back at him, not from his position at the head of the table, and especially not with his dad right next to him, nodding sharply at whatever Miguel started with next. Captain of the guard and all, it was definitely about the guards this time and Miles sort of wanted to slam his head into the back of his chair.

He wouldn’t mind it so much if he could actually participate; hell, Pavitr could throw in ideas and join the debates going around the table, and so could Mary Jane, and even his dad could jump in when he wanted, but Miles couldn’t say anything. The first time he offered an idea, four meetings in, the entire table save for Pavitr and his dad laughed at him and when he tried to defend his idea, his dad shut it down.

Afterwards, his dad had told him “listen, son, I know you want to help, but you need to learn what’s going on in the kingdom before you can start participating in running it.”

So here he was. Learning, though Miles thought that the meetings always ended up going round in circles without ever changing anything. Clearly nothing was working, because these meetings were held every week without fail and sometimes it felt like the same four ideas thrown around all the time: open the kingdom gates more often for travelers, raise taxes, raise rents, funnel less money into the upkeep of the kingdom. Nothing about the actual people in the kingdom, how this affects their day to day living, and at the end of the meeting nothing is decided. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Until…

“The prince is fifteen now, right? What if Miles marries?” The sound of his name jolted him into attention, and Miles’s eyes locked onto Wilson’s as the man looked him over. “We can start searching for eligible candidates, maybe have him married by this time next year.”

Wait.

“What does Miles getting married have to do with the kingdom’s financials?” Pavitr asked. His eyes were narrowed at Wilson, though he was approximately the same size as Miles so it kind of looked like a month old puppy glaring down a husky. Still, he seemed to be the only one who wasn’t seriously considering it; even Mary Jane was looking thoughtful, hands crossed in front of her mouth delicately.

“Look at it this way,” Miguel told Pavitr, whose gaze didn’t shift even though Wilson wasn’t talking anymore. “If Miles marries, especially someone from a neighboring kingdom, then we can start working towards helping the population here. New food, new traffic, money coming into the kingdom instead of out of it.”

“He’s only fifteen.” Mary Jane said musingly, drawing attention to her while she looked to the king, “Doesn’t he have to wait until he’s matured enough to make decisions like that on his own, according to the law?”

“Hey, I can make decisions like that on my own!” Miles interjected, and Pavitr shot him a look that read shut up, shut up now, stop talking. Miles gulped, especially when all the eyes turned to him. “I-I mean, like, in the right — ”

“He is too young to start looking at marriage.” His dad said, and Miles breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Nobody liked to go against the king, so if his dad thought he was too young —

“I understand that his age is an issue,” Wilson said, “but the marriage wouldn’t necessarily have to happen right away in order to be beneficial to the kingdom.” Jeff leaned forward, and Miles felt his heart sink. It was basically a sign saying ‘continue’, and that meant his father had gone from being against the idea to seriously considering it now. Wilson knew this, too; a small smirk tilted his mouth. “We can set up an arrangement with a neighboring kingdom, have a long engagement, and marry them when they’re of age. Gives them plenty of time to get to know each other, all that stuff.”

“I don’t want to get married, though!” Miles said, and he was ignored as his dad leaned back in his chair. He looked thoughtful, which spelled bad things for Miles, he could tell.

And then, sure enough, his dad ran his hand over his face, shifting his glasses just slightly, and said “let me talk it over with his mother.”

[thenightling]

Someone asked for "Thoughts" while sharing a "think piece" that was nothing more than asking for agreement. What was it? The annoying new trend of bashing "Chosen one" fantasy as somehow being fascist.

I'm tired, I'm cranky, and this "hot take" bashing of classic fantasy by so-called fantasy fans gets under my skin. That's my "Thoughts."

Percy Jackson didn't invent the "Chosen one" trope, nor is it tied to "wanting to be part of the elite.

The Chosen one trope dates back to Greek mythology with heroes like Theseus and Hercules (Herakles). The trope was used in Once Upon a Time, Harry Potter, and before that Buffy The vampire Slayer. They aren't great examples but they pre-date Percy Jackson. (Except Once Upon a Time, that was 2010).

It's not a new "sign of rising fascism." It comes from a childhood fantasy that you are secretly something more than you seem, that you are somehow important and just don't realize it yet. And it's not about secretly being "born to wealth and status."

No, it's about secretly having the potential to make things better when you feel helpless.

Ever since The Lego Movie people have bashed the chosen one trope like it's somehow wrong, fascist, and even offensive. This cynicism depresses me.

And I'm kind of sick of the weird new interpretation that it's wrong to have that kind of fantasy or that it's a "Sign of rising fascism." I'm sick of the self-righteous bullsh-t shaming people for harmless wish fulfilment fantasy.

It's not about being "born to elites." (Most "Chosen one") fantasies are humble origins.) It's about wanting to be important to the world, to have some innate ability to make things better for others because you otherwise felt helpless.

In Anne Rice's The Vampire Lestat (Published in 1985), Lestat was chosen to be a vampire partly for the shallow aesthetic of his looks and partly because had had been brave enough to take on a pack of wolves that were terrorizing his village, all by himself. This is a type of chosen one fantasy (dark though it may be).

Even the kids in Captain Planet are chosen ones. Gaia chooses them. Sometimes you're "Chosen" because you are extraordinarily kind, or brave, compassionate, thoughtful, or selfless.

The Girls in W.I.T.C.H are chosen ones.

Power Rangers are chosen ones. Remember? Zordon chose them.

Peter Parker (who is in perpetual poverty in Marvel comics) was a chosen one. The comics suggest cosmic forces chose him to be bitten by that spider because of his potential for heroism, compassion, and kindness combined with cleverness and ingenuity.

None of them were of an elite class but someone saw good in them, that's still a form of chosen one.

And I'm sick of the weird trend of acting like this is a bad thing to want to be a chosen one.

Sometimes it's as simple as wanting someone or something to see your own potential for goodness. It's not snobbery. It's not wanting to be "the dominant Race". It's not secret nazism. It's just wanting someone to see something good and of worth in you.

Aladdin is a chosen one for f--k's sake! "Seek thee out, the diamond in the rough."

[magicalgames]

What would you change if you were to work with Descendants?

This would be way to long if I elaborated, so sticking with an outline:

First - I would make descendants a tv series for more time. And would try to combine this new series & the books into one canon, and would also change or remove things from the majority of each book.

Unlike what I'm going with in my isle lore, I would probably have Jay be Jafar's only child and give him magic powers. Jade would also be included & possibly have magic. I would probably include at least some of my oc's though too somehow.

I would include more heroes & their children and them interacting with isle kids. More Auradon kids, and would also probably mention at least one sibling for each royal kid, even if they weren't shown at all throughout the series. I also would really have liked a scene of Aladdin & Jasmine meeting Jay, so I would put that in, as well as some of the other VK's meeting the heroes of their parent's stories.

I would remove D2 completely and put the whole queen of mean situation in its place instead probably 3-4 months after D1. Maybe D3 happens like in canon, but when they go back to get the Ember, somehow the sea three convince the c4 to let them come with them. I would still want Uma and her crew to sing 'What's my name' at some point, so I would need to fit that in somewhere lol.

Also, more isle kids would be named & have lines (or at least mentioned) - like CJ, Freddie, Hadie, Claudine, Jade, and maybe more. Jordan, Ally, and other AK's would still be there too, I just don't know specifically what I would change about their role in the movies or series. Except Audrey and Ben's roles.

[weareyour4]

Experience Disney’s The Lion King - ElmQuill1617

Currently, over at the Lyceum Theatre in London’s West End, you will find Disney’s The Lion King. This musical has been there since 1999 and is one of the longest-running West End shows. Somehow, despite me being an avid theatregoer, The Lion King had passed me by, so I decided to go along and see what I’d been missing.

To be completely honest, despite it being a popular long-running show, I was sceptical about how much I would enjoy The Lion King. In the past, I have seen other Disney West End productions, which I haven’t connected to. I felt that, in some ways, they were making a show which pleased the audience, rather than choosing to take the essence of the film and take it above and beyond for the stage adaptation. This is one of the things I loved about The Lion King – it seemed to really utilise the art of live theatre and make not just a show to watch, but, rather, a show to experience.

The ambience is set as soon as you enter the auditorium, with the sounds of animals subtly in the background. The actors can be seen both on-stage and in the auditorium at points during the show, which makes for an immersive and exciting atmosphere and even as I sat up in the Grand Circle, I felt fully involved in the action. The cast was phenomenal, with every performer contributing equally as an ensemble, though I have to give a special mention to Gary Jordan, who plays the role of Zazu. The combination of the brilliant blue and white costume to represent the sky, the incredible Zazu puppet and Gary’s performance, bringing the character to life, really left a big impression on me. I hadn’t anticipated leaving the theatre feeling so fond of such a sarcastic African red-billed hornbill, but here we are!

One of the reasons that I hadn’t liked previous Disney West End productions was due to audience behaviour. In particular, I had gone to see Aladdin a few years back with my mum as a birthday present and the tickets were not cheap. Neither of us were really into the show as a whole and we found that there were problems with the sound, which meant that we often couldn’t hear the lyrics certain actors were singing. Aside from that, though, the two of us were almost surrounded by a large group of school children. They, and many other audience members, spent much of the performance singing along, chatting, leaving the auditorium, coming back in, leaving again and coming back in again. The teachers had decided to sit next to each other, rather than spreading out to watch the children and the fact that they were singing along and chatting, too, suggests that they would have done nothing about it, even if they had been sat apart. Thankfully, at The Lion King, I didn’t have any problems at all.

It’s great for people to visit the theatre, especially when they’ve never been before - it opens up a whole new world and can inspire people in many, many positive ways. The more people who go to the theatre, the more audience members are buying tickets, merchandise, drinks from the bar and ultimately, keeping shows running and theatres open. The trouble, is that when people haven’t been to the theatre before, they may not be familiar with theatre etiquette, which is ultimately to be respectful of everyone else in the theatre. When theatre-goers have paid around £50 of their hard-earned money to go and support the arts, they don’t expect to be sitting next to someone screaming song lyrics in their ear or lighting up the room, as they check their phone every three minutes (the latter of which happened to me at both Hamilton and In the Heights – sorry, Lin-Manuel Miranda).

Of course, many people would love to go to the West End, but they might be thinking that tickets are out of their price range. Have no fear, there are many ways that you can get tickets at a reasonable price and here’s how:

Ticket lotteries are available for shows such as Hamilton, which are free to enter and if you win, you get one or two heavily discounted tickets, depending on how many you requested.

If you are interested in seeing The Book of Mormon, they have a ticket lottery in-person at The Prince of Wales Theatre, London. If successful, you win either one or two tickets for the best seats in the stalls section, paying only £20 each.

A limited number of tickets for same-day theatre performances are available, mostly from the TodayTix app. Those will come at a discounted price, but sell out fast, so get in there quick!

Also on TodayTix, there is the option to search for theatre tickets which cost £20 or less.

Seat Plan is a website where members of the public can leave reviews of the theatre seat which they sat in, stating what the view was like from the seat, along with an accompanying photo. When you have reached a certain number of seat reviews, you get rewarded with either a Seat Plan gift card, to get theatre tickets from their website, or a Theatre Tokens gift card.

I would recommend considering buying theatre tickets which say that they are “restricted view.” If you search for those seats on Seat Plan, you will be able to see a photo of what the view is like and read what people thought about sitting there. In my experience, restricted view seats often aren’t that restricted at all and are worth paying the £25 less than the person who will be sitting in the seat next to you!

Treat yourself to a trip to the theatre and have a great day!

[riddlerosehearts]

finished watching shark tale. and that is not an experience i intend to go through ever again. every character was insufferable except, i guess, for lenny the gay-coded shark who i still think the movie should've been about. because the main character oscar was literally just the absolute worst, and even though aladdin also had a protagonist who got himself caught in a massive lie because of his own insecurity about his poor background, and who had to learn to accept himself for who he was and that social status wasn't the most important thing in the world, aladdin was overall a better character than oscar in so many ways and had an arc that actually made sense. you could root for him because you saw how selfless he could truly be, how he genuinely had no one but a monkey in his corner. oscar had someone who cared about him, but he seemed to only care about himself. the romance in aladdin also wasn't paper thin and brought down by a love triangle involving a generic girl next door and a sexyfied fish who obviously only "loves" oscar for being famous. and also aladdin is visually beautiful and well-animated. shark tale is. ugh. it's hideous CGI even for the year 2004.

ngl i think the only reason i didn't stop watching this movie partway through was because i was playing dreamlight valley on my switch at the same time to push through my boredom, and because while the character designs are incredibly ugly they're not actively difficult for me to look at. when i was making my pixar movie tier list i stopped a bug's life after 30 minutes (out of a combination of boredom + having too much trouble looking at giant CGI bugs. sorry, i know that movie has its fans) and i suspect i won't be able to get through dreamworks antz either unless that movie somehow has a really good story.

[disneydancepants]

I'm terribly sorry, but I HAVE to know more about the convergence of spheres and the "don't put Cedric on the isle, fleebag" story. Ur an amazing writer and very complex w with your storytelling! Yoh absolute genius!

I'm so sorry I didn't answer this sooner! I feel terrible... So, the "Convergence of the Spheres" concept comes from The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski. I'm suuure you've heard of it, lol. I think the whole "Mandela Effect" thing is based on the same concept too. Basically, the idea is that multiple worlds/dimensions get merged together into one. My theory is that a similar thing happened in Descendants when the United States of Auradon is formed. All of the Disney Kingdoms are transported through space-time to merge into this new world.

Throughout Sofia the First, we see that Sofia is able to contact other Princesses across space-time using the Amulet of Avalor. She gets visited by Aurora (Prince Phillip reveals in Sleeping Beauty that they're in the 14th century) along with Tiana (20th century). Sofia even travels back in time HERSELF when she is called to help Princess Charlotte of Isleworth, who had the Amulet of Avalor before Sofia got it.

Sofia has a connection to all the Disney Princesses and their realms, and her series shows her to have a lot of magical potential. My idea is that a group of powerful magic beings got together and combined their magic to bring all the Disney Kingdoms together, across space-time, to form the continent of Auradon. Main contenders for this group are Sofia the First, Genie, Fairy Godmother, and Merlin: they're all shown to have knowledge of space-time travel.

I think Beast would have been elected King after the formation of the Auradon supercontinent... All the kingdoms would need to be together to vote. So that begs the question: why did this Magical Council decide to create the Convergence? Was it an accident? An attempt to stop some kind of major threat? I haven't figured that mystery out yet. I lean towards the latter: if Beast somehow acted as a hero during this crisis, it would definitely explain why everyone would be so willing to elect him as the King of Auradon. ------------------------------------------------------------------

Now for the Cedric issue. King Beast goes HARD on all the Villains. And not just the Villains either: other media shows that all the minions get sent to the Isle of the Lost too. Even minions who reformed (notably Iago, who reforms in Aladdin 2: Return of Jafar). Everyone is getting punished for their crimes. You know who that flies in the face of? Sofia. She makes a big point of forgiving Cedric the Sorcerer and allowing him the chance to change. She is NOT going to let him be thrown onto the Isle for crimes of which she already exonerated Cedric (More specifically, her step-dad exonerated Cedric at Sofia's insistence).

Neither King Beast nor Sofia back down, so Sofia leads Enchancia in seceding from Auradon. I imagine several other kingdoms go with them. Maybe Kuzcotopia (Kuzco wouldn't let Kronk, former minion of Yzma, get thrown onto the Isle) and Avalor? This would explain why these kingdoms aren't on the map of the Auradon continent.

Anyway, that's the gist of it. Sorry if this was long-winded. >.<

[ciaossu-imagines]

And for the last of the fandom prompts, it still stays with the same wonderful, music based prompt! This fandom is not at all popular...but somehow, I still love it and I love writing about it and dissecting the characters and the manga remains one of my all time favourites despite the slow start! So I couldn't leave Kekkaishi out of this creativity spree!

Put any character in my ask and I’ll try to find a song in my music that I think goes with them.

Yoshimori – When thinking about this, it was a really hard decision honestly! There were a lot of songs I could think of that would fit Yoshimori but I eventually decided on one that might seem an unpopular or weird decision – Garth Brooks’ Standing Outside the Fire. I thought it really fit how Yoshimori lives his life in general, how he interacts with and accepts all these different kinds of people, and the amazing amount of courage he displays in so much throughout the series.

Tokine – Tokine is a warrior princess. Tough, strong, intelligent, she is a force to be reckoned with. Her combination of sweetness, of savagery, of duty and the fact that she comes from a long line of really, magical warriors all led me to decide on Savage Daughter by Sarah Hester Ross.

Masamori – I knew this one right away. To me, it’s always Schubert’s Moments Musicaux, Op. 94 D.780, No. 4 in C Sharp Minor (Moderate). It’s got a balance of driving, almost foreboding sounds mixed with some light, happy music. For Masamori, who blends some light-hearted and carefree moments and personality traits with ambition, drive, and determination, along with some rather frightening personality traits, I think the song suits him perfectly!

Gen – It’s cheesy and probably, to most, too childish to fit Gen. But I just kept returning to One Jump Ahead (Reprise) from Aladdin. Gen seems hard and rough and brutal on the outside in some ways. At surface level, that’s all people see, that tough, aloof shell. That’s all they believe and it is partially because that is all he allows them to see, out of fear of letting people in and being abandoned. But there’s so much more to Gen than that, something the song really is about. It’s perception versus the reality of someone in the song and it is with Gen as well!

[morimakesfanart]

Sindria's Prophet #14

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]

[AO3]

~POV Mori~

I woke up when it was still dark out. Only the faintest light came in my windows.

I hadn't done anything yesterday. Just laid down and rested for the first time in a long time. The doctor's were convinced I needed one more day of rest, but I knew I was already better. When was the last time I had just let my body rest like that when I wasn't sick? I couldn't remember. This peace was nice.

The quiet of sunrise was only broken by the faint sound of bird calls in the distance. I sat up and closed my eyes. I focused everything on my other senses. I couldn't hear the ocean easily from here. I had wanted to use the sounds of the waves to meditate, but I would just have to do without.

It had been a few days since I last checked in with myself and really focused inward. I could still feel them, all of the Black Rukh that had merged with me back in Balbadd. They were much calmer than before. And they felt like a part of me now, like I might be incomplete if they were suddenly gone. I knew each one from the dreams too. Their lives were mine and each also now knew my life as their own.

Going through all of their lives on the ship would have been painful even without being sick. These were angry souls and they did not welcome the inner peace I was offering easily, but a person's Rukh doesn't lie. After reading this world's truth through my memories they all calmed.

All of us lived lives of loss and poverty and trauma. That must have been another part of why we were able to fully merge in such a short time.

As Black Rukh they couldn't return to the Great Flow where the rest of their loved ones were, but they at least had each other within me.

It was a very strange feeling.

And along with their lives and Rukh, their magoi was also now mine. What had felt like a small pool now felt like a large lake. I had a lot more magoi at my disposal now that they were fully integrated with me.

The Great Bell range and I grounded myself in the present.

Only then did it occur to me that I was probably sick, and suffering from the influx of Rukh separately at the same time. It had been both all along. Whatever illness I had was worsened by my situation with the Rukh. I hadn't lost my magoi manipulation during it, but it was probably learning it ahead of time that had saved me. There's no way such a large amount of Rukh entering me wouldn't have made my body unstable.

Would the doctors understand if I explained it to them? I should ask Sinbad before saying something unnecessary.

The dim light from my windows called to me. I got out of my bed, put on my glasses, and sat on the sill of one them at the encouragement of the waves.

Like this, I could look down and see the Palace court yard. On the other side of the court yard were the Silver Scorpio (martial arts training), and Black Libra (libraries & schools) Towers, behind them to the left was the Red Cancer Tower (military) and fully to the left was the Purple Leo Tower where Sinbad lived. Since I was on a high floor I could easily see all of the towers of the Palace from my windows -all except the White Capricorn Tower where Ja'far does most of his work since that building was on the other side of this one.

It was so strange. Looking at all this made it real that I was really here. How many times had I reread or rewatched scenes wondering what it would feel like to be here?

I rested my head on the window frame as I watched the growing light from the sunrise.

The guards changed.

The sun was fully risen. Ja'far would be waking up Sinbad soon if he hadn't already.

Two people walked out of the Purple Leo Tower -a guard and a woman. She wasn't wearing a uniform. In fact she was wearing less than the citizens I saw the other day.

"Oh, right."

Sinbad has a call girl see to him after Ja'far wakes him up.

I had the 3rd fan book for the anime which contains a day-in-the-life for a bunch of the main characters. It was only in Japanese, but I had learned enough (and could look up what I didn't know) to at least read his schedule.

The direct translation was for a "temporary woman" which from what I've found is the Japanese term for a fem sex worker. I've seen some translations for Magi's extra material refer to them as "call girls" so that was the term I chose to use.

The franchise used the word "harem" in a bunch of places, but purposely didn't use it here. That combined with an omake of Sinbad having a nightmare about being married and having a harem made it clear that Sinbad did not have a harem; he had the whole red-light district of his country to choose from.

Hold on... That book wasn't supposed to reach my house until after I had Isekaied so how did I know it's contents? There were barely any scans or photos of pages online-

*Knock knock*

My thoughts

were cut off when breakfast arrived -with more medicine of course.

---

~POV Sinbad~

Nearly a week had passed since King Sinbad had arrived home. There was a lot to catch up on. As much as he wanted to finally relax after everything that happened in Balbadd he didn't really have the time for it. Even after catching up he would still have to prepare for his trip to the Kou Empire. And Ja'far wasn't letting him forget either responsibility.

None of this stopped him from having his slow mornings. He at least gave himself that little slice of heaven.

This was business as usual -at least it was supposed to be- but Sinbad couldn't shake a growing feeling that he couldn't name. It was making him unsettled. The waves didn't give him any answers and drinking hadn't made it go away. It felt similar to missing important.

He wasn't missing any paperwork. There had been an issue with one of their supply ships going missing, and another being delayed, but he had already decided how to proceed. He was definitely interested in the progress the Black Libra Tower was making with testing Mori's theories, but the experiments would take time and they had already scheduled a meeting for an update. The new guests were still settling in. Alibaba was a mess and Aladdin was only marginally better the last time he had visited, but Morgiana was fine and already training with Masrur regularly. According to the doctors reports, Mori would be better in another day or so, and the reports he got from the maids said she was resting every day after giving that partial scroll.

Maybe this was impatience. Aside from his paperwork, everything interesting was either done or waiting for the next step.

Sinbad often walked his country in the evening, but there was no reason he couldn't check on things now. He didn't have time to go for a walk at that moment, but he could spare the magoi needed to use Zepar and fly around the country using the bird he had possessed with the Djinn's power. This wouldn't be the first time he'd done this while working on paperwork.

The bird was sitting on a railing in the city center when Sinbad took over. From this spot he could make some quick rounds in the city and then maybe make a stop in the Black Libra Tower to get a sneak peak at what they had found out so far.

The same old gossip filled most of the streets. Some price complaints, who just had a child, how work was going...

"You're serious? A prophet?”

"My husband saw the scrolls she made from her visions with his own two eyes."

Now that was new gossip.

Sinbad had the bird land near by the two women.

"Oh? What was in them?"

"He said it was like reading secrets of the world."

"Really???"

"Mhmm." She nodded. "Not everyone believes it though so they are all working to test her writing."

"Didn't you just say she was brought in by our King? Do they really think he'd be fooled by some false prophet?"

"I said the same thing! And you know what my husband said? He said that they need to find proof even if they believe the Prophet because otherwise we won't be able to prove it to our allied countries."

"I guess that makes sense..."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Oh! I think I might know what she looks like!”

"What? How? You only learned about her just now."

"When King Sinbad came home, there was a girl on some magical flying cloth, remember? That has to have been the Prophet!"

"I think you're right!"

To two moved on to some other gossip and King had the bird fly towards the Palace. Listening to talk about his Beautiful Prophet reminded him of his mission to peek at what was happening in the Black Libra Tower. Being able to bypass the stairs and the gates made the journey much faster.

The Sun was already in the western side of the sky. Shadows were cast onto the court yard from the Black Libra Tower. The stone of the Green Sagittarius Tower was nearly blinding white from the direct light. Color flashed in the corner of his eye as the bird flew past the upper levels of the guest tower. Before his thoughts had fully registered the familiar shade of nearly black indigo, Sinbad was guiding the bird to investigate. He landed on the railing of one of the windows and looked at the young woman resting against that same window's frame.

Mori looked just as surprised to see a bird land right in front of her as he was to be there. Sinbad had purposely been avoiding using Zepar to spy on Mori since she somehow knew that he had eavesdropped on her before. It had been days since he last saw her, so when she was suddenly an option-

"Heh hehe"

Mori's chuckle and smile took his full attention. He didn't know what had made her laugh, but he hoped she'd do it again.

"Sir, are you aware you are a bird?” After the words passed her lips she was struck by a giggle fit.

Sinbad had no idea what she was thinking or why she had said that to a bird, but he was hearing her voice for the first time in nearly a week so he'd worry about figuring it out later.

When Mori finished laughing at her own joke she leaned her head to the side and watched him. Her hair shifted and another lock spilled over her shoulder. The sight brought attention to the low neckline of the dress she was wearing. If Sinbad was there in person he would have brushed her hair out of the way just to have an excuse to touch her.

"Did you miss me that much?" Her voice was soft and a bit playful. "You didn't have to use Zepar to visit me."

Mori knew it was him! Sinbad jolted and his head hit the back of his chair in his office. How could she tell? Only magicians could see magoi and Rukh to see the spell active on the bird.

"Sin, is something wrong?-” Ja'far had just entered the room to give his afternoon report.

King Sinbad raised a hand for him to be quiet and tapped Zepar's ring to explain the situation. He didn't want to talk and miss something Mori said or did.

The General's expression turned serious and nodded as he went quiet.

When Mori didn't get a response from the bird she added, "Are you surprised that I knew it was you?" Her smile was warm as the sun. "I have read your Fate many times, so I will always recognize you, my King."

Normally, the idea that someone could see through Zepar's magic would concern him, but this didn't. It strengthened his belief that Fate had guided Mori to him.

And the affectionate way she said "my King" at the end made him smile. The waves had moved like this a few times like the last time he had seen her in person, and when he learned she could also feel the waves. The Great Flow of the Rukh was guiding them to the Fate he could see, the one where she lived the rest of her life by his side.

Ja'far sighed. "Just let me know when I can give you my report."

Mori whipped her head towards the door to her room. "They're here early."

There were the sounds of people walking in the hallway, but no voices to denounce who, or their destination. All the same, Mori got up and walked to the door. She opened it before the doctors had a chance to knock.

"How did you...?" One of the doctors asked.

"I recognized the sound of your footsteps," was her answer.

"I see.... And how are you feeling today?"

Mori walked into her room, and spared a glance at the bird still watching her from the window. "I feel fine. Just like yesterday." She turned back towards the door and sat on the edge of her bed. "So can I finally leave this room?"

The doctors were understanding but they still were going to do a full check up first.

Even without the waves it was obvious that Mori was going to be marked as full health. Sinbad would prefer to go see her immediately and give her a tour of the Palace personally, but he was still a King with responsibilities. "Ja'far, Mori has just been declared healthy. What do you think of everyone having dinner together to get everyone better aquatinted?"

"I didn't hear anything about-” Ja'far started and then cut himself when he realized. "Were you just using Zepar to spy on her??"

"Of course not." Sinbad said with all of the confidence of the King he was. "I flew directly to her and she recognized me instantly. I wasn't spying at all."

"She recognized you??" Of course he'd be shocked.

King Sinbad laughed. "She did. Though she was surprised to see me."

"I bet she was surprised to suddenly see a bird in her room. What made you think to use Zepar instead of visiting her in person? You're already getting regular reports on her condition." Ja'far always acted as a buzz kill.

It didn't stop Sinbad from laughing at the situation before finally asking for that report he postponed earlier -conveniently avoiding answering Ja'far's question.

The magician in Mori's room was talking. "Would you be interested in visiting the Black Libra Tower with us? We can show you how the experiments are going. And if possible, would you be willing to answer some questions?"

That was an understandable request, but it could wear her out.

The Prophet was facing away from the windows so Sinbad couldn't see her expression. "I'd really like that actually." But he could hear the excitement growing in her voice.

"Let me get changed real quick." Mori disappeared behind her folding wall and emerged in the outfit he met her in.

Sinbad did not drop control of the bird, but he also didn't follow Mori out of her room. Instead he waited in the window sill until he saw her enter the courtyard and then had the bird fly to the Black Libra Tower.

---

As soon as he finished whatever last minute things Ja'far was about to add to his pile, Sinbad would go to the Black Libra Tower and surprise his Beautiful Prophet in person.

~POV Mori~

In the manga and in the anime the only areas shown of the Black Libra Tower were Yamuraiha's office/lab and one of the libraries. I was more than curious about the rest of the facilities.

The first room seemed to be a reception area and had a map of the tower. I only got to glance at the separations between the libraries, offices and class rooms before a tall and lanky magician walked up to us.

"Is this her??” Her short ponytail bounced as she looked between me and my guides.

Isa, the magician who had been taking care of me the past few days, introduced me. "This is Lady Mori, the Prophet!” He acted like he was showing off the coolest toy on the playground.

The tall woman got right up in my face. "I knew she had to be the Prophet! The Rukh don't normally move this way around people."

Before I got to respond she started rambling comments and questions that covered everything in maroon and peacock blue getting sponged across a cream canvas. I stepped back and Isa cut her off. "Lady Mori will be answering everyone's questions in time. We were just on our way to see Yamuraiha so I can show her how everything has been coming along. You are welcome to join us."

She definitely joined us. As did many others who spotted us or were called over by others in our procession.

We walked through a few library areas, and up a few flights of stairs. As we passed various rooms and areas I was told what or who would be inside, but I wouldn't remember any of the specifics until I had a chance to use the space and explore on my own. What did stick was that most of the classrooms were next to the libraries and the labs were near the offices.

Yamuraiha must have heard our group from down the hall because her head popped out from one of the rooms ahead of us. "What is going on out here??” Then she made eye contact with me. "It's you!!"

That made me smile. I fought back responding 'it's me!' like I would with my friends. "I'm Mori. I'm glad I'm finally getting the chance to meet you, Yamuraiha!” I stopped walking when I got 3 yards/meters away.

She immediately pulled her staff against her chest with both hands. Her shoulders tensed but she had an enthusiastic smile. "The pleasure is all mine!"

Yamuraiha was amazing, smart, and endearing. I really wanted to be friends with her.

I out stretched my hand to shake hers. "I'm really excited to work with you, and learn more about magic even though I'm not a magician."

"The feeling is mutual!” She took my hand more than matching my excitement. And when she released it said, "Since you're here, would you like to see what we've been working on from the scrolls you gave us?"

"Yes please!”

---

The lab she lead us to was a little down the hall. All of my scrolls were spread out on one table and a bunch of notes and different materials were on an other.

Yamuraiha pulled out parchment that had a complicated magic circle written on it. "We can't do much yet, and it still takes a catalyst and many magicians at once to control the amount of magoi safely but our alchemy magic has made a breakthrough from your writing."

She asked a few of the magicians that came with me to join her. They pointed their staffs and wands at the magic cycle. A large crystal in the room started glowing, and the Rukh lit up the space from within the circle. Specks were pulled out of the pile of ingredients nearby -dirt, scraps paper, a small potted plant- and gathered at the center of the circle. The light got too bright for me to look straight at it and when it faded there was a small dark grey cube in the middle of the circle. It looked like a die with no markings.

Yam explained. "After reading about 'atoms' and 'bonds' in your scrolls it was like finding the missing piece. It will still be a long time before we can perfect the process, and we still can't make anything bigger than this yet, but soon we will be able to make anything we want!"

((In the future I intend to: reference more old memes, describe more of my experience with synesthesia, and explain more basic history and science. SO you all have been warned lol))

I had to respond; I couldn't just continue staring in awe. When I tried to answer I ended up gasping since had forgotten to breathe. I chuckled at my own shock as well as the situation. I looked up at them. "You're all amazing to be able to develop this already from the little I wrote!" I looked back at the stone. "I knew I wrote the keys to Yunan's signature alchemy magic in those scrolls, but to think you've already gotten this far with it -its amazing."

With this -when developed farther- we could make certain materials without having to worry about the pollution, and break things down easily so we won't have to worry about garbage piling up everywhere.

"Did you say Yunan? The Magi, Yunan?" Yamuraiha looked at me with wide eyes.

"Yes." It was my turn to explain. "Yunan is able to use alchemy magic like this on a grand scale. In the Fates I read he will have reason to visit Sindria in about 2 years. He creates a cabin and food in the middle of the Palace court yard so he has somewhere comfortable to stay."

The bird in the window ruffled it's feathers.

"Yunan explains the basic concept of how that magic works when asked, and since I know the science of the physical world I know the details to what he was talking about." My smile widened. "I hope my notes were easy to understand. Please let me know if you have any questions."

[blackfilmmakers]

Does “coded” talk about fantasy characters ever annoy you? I once explained to someone talking about a Japanese fantasy game series not known for racial diversity, that the people from a desert nation weren’t coded as Egyptian as only the evil wizard and his brainwashed slave were depicted without a pale skin tone and that it was just a very colorist trope in Japanese media that using evil darkens a characters skintone.

Even showing that the brainwashed character was white before she was brainwashed and that every other character from desert nation was a pale white person. They got really mad at me and said I was wrong.

Did I do anything wrong by simply pointing out a colorist trope in the game?

While discussing about the racial coding of nonhuman or fantasy characters is important, there are times when the discussion can be frustrating

Particularly when people insist a character is "poc-coded" when they are played by a White person, and the character is a colonizer that does oppress an actual group of marginalized people. Or when people claim a nonhuman character is "poc-coded" because they are aggressive, dumb.......you get the gist

With that said-

I don't know what game you are referring to, but Japanese media(as most media in other countries do) participates in colorist AND oriental depictions of MENA cultures

If the group of people in this story live in a desert region, then there is a good chance they are supposed to represent a group of Brown people somehow

It's like the anime series, Magi. While the world is fictional it's obvious the main characters reside in this MENA Arabian-like inspired region. I'm using these words loosely because part of the problem with the oriental depictions of these cultures is that they are all mashed together. Sometimes Southeast Asian cultures are thrown into the mix too. It's messy

Anyways you know how in Aladdin, the people are at least Brown-skinned? Most of the characters in Magi are very pale. Like shouldn't go out in the sun much less in a desert sun pale. And like I said that's a combination of colorism (because the heroes NEED to be lightskinned in the series) and orientalism

So definitely what you described is indeed colorist

But even if the people are lightskinned, they can still be Egyptian-coded. We know they whitewash and lightwash Egyptians all the time. Gods of Egypt and most Bible stories shows us this

I can't say for sure if the other person is right or not. I don't know what type of clothing the people in this game wear or what their lifestyles are like. But if it's a type of a culture you can see Egyptian elements or something in that regard, this person might also be right. I would just ask them what aspects of these people make them Egyptian-coded other than "live in desert". It could also be just an ambiguous MENA stereotype

[sayakxmi]

Cooking headcanond nobody asked for, but I felt like screaming about them into the void and my friend's inbox

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Aladdin: he's quite good! I like to imagine he'd learnt some stuff from Hakuryuu during the Kina days.

Alibaba: decent enough. his meals are filling, but usually bland (spices are too expensive). if he had the opportunity and will to learn, I can imagine he could be quite good, though definitely better at following recipies than creating something new.

Morgians: decent! I like to think she'd also learnt some stuff from Hakuryuu during the Kina days. her fatal flaw is that she's really into experimenting, and you never know how it's gonna come out

Hakuryuu: he'll make you a sandwich that's like a slice of bread with some meat on it, and it's gonna be the best thing you've ever had in your mouth. his meals are usually quite fancy but with just enough homey vibe to them. absolutely delicious.

Kougyoku: can't cook to save her life. she'd never learnt. she could probably get into baking, and become quite good at it, though.

Judar: barely edible, but edible. he had no choice but to learn during the Dark Continent days.

Kouen: unexpectedly, something between decent and good, though he has a tendency to burn his food, and makes everything too spicy

Hakuei: completely unedible. it's so bad it's actually quite impressive. not many can actually survive.

Koumei: decent, especially with fish (ah, Samon Island days)

Kouha: good, he can add the strangest combination of seasonings, and somehow it works

Sinbad: good at some simple, usually stew-like dishes, but he's really out of practice

Ja'far: very good, Rurumu made sure of that. his food has such a nice, homey vibe.

Masrur: good, as long as you want your food roasted.

Sharrkan: lmao, nope. he'd probably destroy the entire kitchen while trying to boil water

Yamraiha: she'd be good if not for her tendency to lose attention/forgetting that she was cooking something in the first place... that, and she's way into mixing cooking and magic, and the results are always unexpected.

Titus: tries very hard, but he just can’t cook. you’d think that 200+ years of wisdom would help him out, but nope.

Sphintus: very good with that one (1) dish he can make. I like to think that after moving to Reim he’d learnt something more, with how easy he can access so many various ingredients now