#- zeki‚ but more explorative

[artemis-moonsilver]

Opinions No One Asked For™️: Palia OC Edition

Name: Athelyna Silverspell

Personality: Water type

Starstone: TBD 👀

Likes: Foraging, hunting, and mining--exploring is her favourite thing to do!

Dislikes: Bug catching and fishing--they require too much patience

Love interest(s): Jel

Best friends: Reth, Tish, Elouisa, Jina, Kenyatta, Auni, and Tau

She wishes they were her parents: Ashura and Badruu

She wishes she knew them better: Sifuu, Caleri, Delaila, Hassian, Zeki, and Najuma

She dislikes them: Tamala; she feels like Tamala's forward flirting is disingenuous and a ploy to use Athelyna to her advantage.

Shepp: Undecided, but she wishes she could pick Eshe, for pure entertainment purposes

Occupation: She's not sure--somewhere between alchemist, apothecary, plague doctor, soothsayer, and/or purveyor of magical goods (Is there a profession that does all of this??)

Pets: Nocturnal palcat Nyx (the other three hang out at her house; she's a cat person 🐈‍⬛️)

Athelyna is introverted and observant. She has grand ambitions and goals. She is also kind and willing to give everyone a chance; however, she does not forgive and forget easily when someone crosses her.

She seems nonchalant about the fact that she doesn't remember anything before appearing in Kilima Valley, but it deeply bothers her. She will only share that with the people closest to her.

She is curious and always willing to learn. She is (somewhat secretly) desperate to know how she got here and why. She misses family and friends she can't remember.

To be honest, she's part OC and part self-insert. There's a healthy combo of both 😅

My HeroForge version is featured in my profile pic (though a redesign may be imminent 👀)

~~~

Please tell me about your OCs and ask me more about Athelyna! I'd love to be more engaged in the community!

[madame-mongoose]

if youre still interested can you maybe talk a bit more about your main ocs story in general ?

Yes yes of course!!

So The story starts off with our main character, Zekira. Zekira was born an orphan, adopted by a pirate captain at a young age. Growing up, she became an efficient swashbuckler and fearsome first mate of her adoptive father. She is charismatic and slick. Loving to tease and banter with her enemies. Their ship is raided by the terrifying pirate assassin Cassia (known by most as The Leviathan). She slaughters the crew, including Zeki and her father. Setting the ship alight in flames. Cassia sets off to continue her mission to kill every man, woman, being who calls themselves a pirate. Blinded by her past she seeks nothing but vengeance.

Zeki awakens in a strange place. She's dead, she's sure of it. Yet she feels so alive. In front of her is shelves and shelves of books that seem to go on for miles. In the middle of it a desk with a giant... Ball of fire. A library. The Librarian greets her, informing her that he was the one that brought her here and that he can offer her anything she desires, as long as she helps him in return. He promised her immortality for his freedom and she accepts. He tells her that the keys to free him are scattered around the globe, and that all of them are needed for his escape. From now on, each time she is killed on earth, she awakes here in the library until her body is healed enough for her soul to return. Each time she dies, she feels a little different, a little more powerful. Soon discovering she gained powers of the celestials.

The Librarian is not as happy with this deal as he appears to be. As a star/celestial body he is not one for company. Nor working with others. In fact he dislikes terrestrial life, seeing them as primitive and lesser. He is imprisoned in this library to teach him the opposite, but it makes him hate them more. Wishing he destroyed the whole planet when he threw that meteor at those lizards. He's stuck up and has a bit of a god complex, but uses a front of politeness and good manners to get his way.

After Zekira gains immortality, she awakes a small explorer ship. Being rescued from the thrashing ocean waves and assumed drowned, the crew is shocked to find her breathing. The captain of this ship is a woman, Margot. Margot is kind and curious of this mysterious woman. Enraptured by her, Zeki is able to convince this explorer to allow her to stay on the ship. She soon becomes somewhat of a co captain. Zekira spearheading the journeys they take to feed into Margot's want for adventure and danger while also helping her complete her mission.

Meanwhile, Cassia learns of this pirate who arose from the dead. She makes it her sworn mission to find a way to kill Zekira for good

[emystic-old]

Zeki Call

340 of K'xa called Zeki

Species: Baxteark (alien)

Age: 26

Pronouns: She/Her

Nationality: Kxadi

Ethnicity: Vedah and Azula

Occupation: Lead guard

Location: Oxford, England

Romantic Orientation: Grey-aromantic

Sexual Orientation: Grey-asexual

Interests: Training, martial arts, sports, exploring, nature, animals, sweets, learning new things

Is a member of survey project on a new planet scheduled for colonization plans as their leading guard. In truth, she feels as if her actual role is unneeded and the personal drama of this mission keeps her actions reserved. Have a quiet, though straight forward and blunt nature, though seems very curious by nature; surprisingly casual, though awkward once known . She found herself more interested in this new planet than expected.

Character Notes / Open Starters

Like/reply this post for a starter with Zeki!

[dysiver]

IT'S NARAH! that's the one! Wanna know more about her!

uwu Narah is Isiah's first true friend and she stays his friends even after their whole timeline faces a reset.

She has a brother and funny enough before Noah came to be, her brother was going to be Noah, but then I took the name and gave it to the goat instead. So her brother's name is now Ezekiel or Zeki for short.

She is from a world that was destroyed roughly 250 years ago and basically made Albert's world her new home. She met Albert before he was possessed by Baal and the two of them were best friends even though Narah considers Albert's religion a cult.

The reason for this is that Narah has sworn her loyalty to the elements of the worlds, meaning that she is in contact with all the elements no matter what world she travels to. She is basically a combination of Forest Elves and The Avatar (from the animated series). She can control all magic that revolves around the elements but isn't very good at Light and Dark magic.

The people who swear their loyalty to the elements discard all Gods and the religions founded around them, which is why they are constantly being targeted by Gods and that's how her planet faced destruction.

Because her world was destroyed, she has plenty of knowledge of other worlds as she is usually traveling in between them to find bounties or help with odd jobs.

She is a massive extrovert and loves meeting new people and exploring new planets. She is well known around different worlds and is actually very expensive to hire, especially when you hire her and her brother. Since the two have no world to come back to, they usually stick together for safety, the only reason why Zeki isn't there with her during her mission with Albert was because the two trusted Albert a lot, not knowing that by now Baal was possessing him.

Narah is actually a soul Baal specifically harvested to feed to Isiah, just like Iseul and Tae, he did this to make Isiah's body stronger for his father. He was planning to feed Zeki to him as well but he didn't show up so that's why later on Albert is forced to get more souls to replace him.

This also means that Baal is the reason why Narah's world was destroyed, as he only needed her and her brother, and elemental worlds are seen as a threat to them.

Once Narah is consumed by Isiah during the Lucifer ritual, she is turned into a curse instead. Isiah was able to stop the hellions and his friends from being used as fodder for Baal's ritual by turning them into curses which he later releases and in return they are turned into hellions.

Hellion Narah has no memories but gradually starts to remember things while Isiah keeps traveling worlds trying to bring her back to life with her original memories and body.

uwu there's a lot more info but I think this should feed y'all for a bit

[emystic-a]

Zeki or Muli Call

Like this post for a starter with either Zeki or Muli! (If a multimuse please reply who it’s for).

Zeki of K’xa - A reserved guard of a mission to examine a new planet for possible colonization. Feels unfulfilled in her duties, thus uses her time to explore the new planet. Is straight forward and honest, but surprisingly more laid back than some assume. Developed new hobbies since on new planet such as eating their food, admiring nature, and studying their martial arts.

Reply with a ☢️ for Zeki!

Muli of Z’la - A bright and bubbly alien girl sent from her homeland for research purposes. Incredibly curious of everything around her, despite her personality is lot more analytic than one might think. Is considered brilliant for her age in her homeland. Developed a strong love for sugary sweets on this new planet.

Reply with a 🍬 for Muli!

[ilikelookingatthings]

Dear Vampire knight community

I think the weirdest thing is that none of you have considering a what if timeline at all where kaname lived. just imagine if kaname had lived, yuki was still with him and raising their daughter Ai.

Zero is still the hunter. We can assume he has some closure at least about him still having feelings for yuki but how he acts can really depend on where you lean for him. I’m just sayig he basically didn’t have him memory back til he mentally forced them back...and yuki wasthe one who stole those memories of his. He’d still have a right to be pissed. 

so guys...what if yuki and kaname raise their daughter...but then that daughter ends up falling for the mysterious hunter leader Zero?

I’m going to assume Zero wouldn’t actively try to be around them that often and there would probably still be some weird tention still...but there wold be a interesting parallel with Zero seemingly echo’s kain cross. only WE know kaname knows yuki does loves zero and that kaname does deep down hardcore ships it(kaname is a zeki shipper confirmed already) despite himself but his plan to kill himself was thwarted.

Can anyone just IMAGINE the odd drama if yuki and kaname’s daughter ended up falling for Zero like in memories in this hypothetical timeline? if she had to try to discover and piece together that weird dynamic with minimum clues? 

Kaname is literally responsible hardcore for the death’s of zero’s family members and tried to use him as a pawn to protect yuki while also trying to dismiss zerio’s importance because kaname sensed his importance. and we knwo yuki DOES love zero but that everytime kaname tried to get her to act on it she doubled down on kaname out of stubborness due to love but also a sense she owes him and wants kaname to not suffer. She literally brainwashed zero so she would have less temptation by erasing his memories where we saw kaname kept trying to goad out those memories.

and zero IS a good guy to kids...can you imagine you just slowly getting to meet zero at different points in her life and eventaully falling for him..just IMAGINE Kuran’s FACE. can you imagine YUKI’S FACE?

I’m just saying...unlike in vamplire knight memories where it was clear zero and yuki were a couple even before they were officially dating... where the only opening that lead to Ai’s feelings blooming to romance was the lack of full concrete clarity to put Zero in the dad zone. 

In this scenerio, no matter about feelings and options not explored....Ai would have every right to choose to not put her mom’s feelings into account as Yuki had chosen to back off zero even if she loved him. 

Just IMAGINE Ai getting a crush but not symapthizing at all with her parents.

the jealousy and possessiveness on Yuki’s end even though she has no right to meddle since she isn’t dating Zero. the worry for her daughter having a unrequited love. the fact Ai could be so open in her affections. god...and just IMAGINE the drama of Ai fining out all the bad stuff kaname did in regards to Zero and his family. her irritated on zero’s behalf because why would yuki chose kaname over zero? the tragedy that teen girls not being impressed by their dad, hitting kaname square in the face. Kaname’s mixed feelings of his daughter fallig for someone let alone zero who loved/loves yuki.

Thats not even getting into Ai’s looks working both for and against her from different angles in this scenerio.

and he hurdle that Zero was born with human sensabilities so gettng past those with the age difference even if with vampires aging can be odd.

I’m just saying....why aren’t their more people wanting to explore this what if in the Vampire knight community?

Though I’m preference is still Zero loves Yuki...but I’m just saying...the drama of the new generation finding out some of this messed up stuff in reverse after the fact would be really interesting...especially considering the manga’s tendency with certain patterns and forbidden or complicated love. heck the manga had even implied Zero had a uncanny resemblance to Kaname’s Lover in the furnace.

Zero resisting just making zero more worthy of that crush on him. Do I think she could win his heart romantically? probably no....but the drama alone to be explored! especially since it wouldn’t have the ghost of kaname which could be hard to beat but the complicated real one as a dad.

I’m just saying..I’ve read her other work...its not like its NOT up her alley.

just imagine Zero saving Ai from a kidnapping or level E vampire withhis grump self taking her to safty. ruffling her hair unlike kaname’s petting. 

[jujujitsu]

Jujuuuuuuuu I had a question for ya. Zeki and I were talking about it a bit in the Reiner Discord channel, I wanted to hear your thoughts! Got any headcanons for Reiner and flirting?

Like, maybe he’s good at laying it on. What if his crush was the one flirting with him though? Would he take it in stride? Get super flustered?

Oh, we want some Reiner Flirting HCs??? Say No more!

Gonna explore a couple of settings involving Reiner. Let's talk Cadet! Reiner while he is Paradis and Vice Chief! Reiner when he is in Marley. I'll keep it Gender Neutral so everyone can enjoy.

Warning: NSFW themes. Minors DNI. Mentions of planning suicide. Masterbation.

Cadet! Reiner

Cadet! Reiner is going to be kinda awkward because he's never DONE this before and honestly, relationships aren't on his mind. You have to initiate everything.

Cadet! Reiner is totally a virgin because he's never thought about THAT. Warrior training and now this? The man's sexual needs were pushed far back for the sake of his mission.

Cadet! Reiner is everyone's big brother. He's helpful and everyone's cheerleader, but you notice something when it comes to you.

His eyes linger a little longer. His cheeks flush slightly and he avoids your gaze because he doesn't want to be so damn obvious like Bertholdt.

Honestly, Cadet! Reiner doesn't understand what he's feeling at first so he'll brush it off and focus on being a good soldier. Duty first, right? Part of him is disgusted by the idea of finding you attractive because you are an Island Devil, but this also presents an opportunity to be more convincing.

Cadet! Reiner decides a fake relationship would be beneficial to the cause.

One day, you aren't watching where you're going and you bump into him. How the hell could you not see him? The man is tall and huge! You were running to find someone because someone played a terrible prank on Jean and he was raging. Someone dyed all his underwear PINK.

Cadet! Reiner's hands spring out to steady you after you literally face plant into his massive tits. It's comfortable and he smells so good. He's fresh out of the shower after a hard day of training. You are shocked and so is he.

Cadet! Reiner's mouth parts stupidly. His cheeks are flaming at this point. Even his ears are red. You are embarrassed but I promise, having this interaction is affect him so much more. He immediately starts to get hard and that makes him panic so he distances you from him immediately.

Cadet! Reiner swallows hard and asks something cheesy like, "Hey, Y/N, where's the fire?"

You are blushing and stuttering when you apologize and try to explain the situation. Cadet! Reiner's trying to play it cool but his heart is racing in his chest.

Cadet! Reiner gets serious immediately when he hears Eren shouting. Like he switches into big bro mode and goes with you to fix the problem.

From that point forward, Cadet! Reiner pays more attention to you and his acts and services love language comes out strong. You got a problem? He's there. Heavy lifting? He's there. Need something on the top shelf? He's got you.

If someone is trying to get into your pants? Cadet! Reiner doesn't let you out of his sight now, so someone flirting with you is gonna feel daggers and see him PISSED and daring them to continue. They scurry away like rats and you're left wondering why.

That's when you feel Cadet! Reiner's hand clasp your shoulder and he's looking smug as shit. "You alright, Y/N? Come on, walk with me for a bit. Let's get you where you need to go."

Cadet! Reiner loses sight of his initial plan involving you because he actually feels something he's never felt before. It scares him but he wants to explore it more.

Cadet! Reiner's also half hard most of the time around you and don't get me started about all the fantasizing he's starting to do in the shower or at night when he's laying in bed. He'll face the wall and stroke his dick to the thought of you.

Think of this big, burly man just cupping his mouth to quiet himself while he's all tense and fisting his dick to the lewd things he wants to do to you.

Cadet! Reiner starts smooth talking you like it's something he's done his entire life. He'll start getting closer to you because he realizes, he likes seeing you get flustered. He likes watching you squirm and he wonders if you think about him at night like he thinks about you.

Now, if you are a straightforward person who likes to take charge? All confidence will go immediately out the door.

If you initiate flirting, Cadet! Reiner will be bashful or shy away. Tell him he's handsome and he'll tell you you're blind or dismiss you somehow.

Cadet! Reiner doesn't know how to compliments your looks so he compliments your abilities, achievements, and characteristics.

"Y/N, you did great in today's training. Better than me. I think maybe we should have a one on one, yeah? If you're up to it, I mean."

Spoiler: Your one on one sparring session turned into something else entirely.

Vice Chief! Reiner

Now, this is all going to depend on who you are. If you are Eldian from Marley, a Marleyan, someone from an entirely different country, or a Scout from Paradis.

Over all, Vice Chief! Reiner isn't thinking about relationships because who in the hell would want to be with a monster like him?

Vice Chief! Reiner is fighting for Marley to prove his loyalty and usefulness in the Mideast War so they don't feed him to someone else.

Vice Chief! Reiner's mind isn't at peace when the war ends. Despite how awful it was, he prefer the battlefield because it kept his attention elsewhere. The war in his mind keeps going.

You will have to initiate everything once again and he isn't going to pick up on subtlety in this stage of his life.

If you do something nice for him, he doesn't know how to handle it because he believes he doesn't deserve that sort of gesture.

Maybe you noticed a tear in his uniform one day when you pass him. "Reiner, I can fix that for you. I know they won't give you a new one. Let me take care of it."

Acts of service on your part is the way in. Vice Chief! Reiner's going to say that it's alright and he'll figure something out. You've got to be firm and eventually, he'll hand it over.

You might bring him food once because it's obvious he isn't eating. "Reiner, I made this last night. It's soup and I had so much left over. I wanted to bring you some to try. I'm worried you aren't eating. This is light but still enough to keep you nourished."

That will catch Vice Chief! Reiner off guard. Why are you worried about someone like him? You might get a blush out of him because no one has done that before. "Thank you, Y/N. I promise to eat all of it."

You bring Vice Chief! Reiner food every few days and he gets use to this. At first he eats in front of you so you don't worry about him like you have been. He's the last person you need to be thinking about.

Eventually it's something Vice Chief! Reiner looks forward to because everything you make tastes so good. He's eating his entire plate rather than picking at it.

Vice Chief! Reiner starts coming to you and asks your advice on little day to day problems. "Y/N, do you have an extra pen for this meeting? Galliard stole mine." "Y/N, how do you get stains out of a white shirt?" "Y/N, will you come with me to pick out a gift for Gabi's birthday?"

Vice Chief! Reiner starts giving you this little tired half smile when you meet his gaze and it's so adorable.

He might bring you something he saw in a store front while walking to work that made him think of you. Just a little trinket or a bar of chocolate.

If Vice Chief! Reiner gets to HQ before you, he will wait outside to make sure you get in safe. He is a protector first and foremost.

You make his coffee for him one day and it's the best start of his morning. He tells you it just tastes better than anything he's made on his own.

So you get to work before him the next day and make it for him.

You notice the time and realize Vice Chief! Reiner isn't in his office so you walk outside and he's standing at the entrance looking down at his wrist watch. You see the concern embedded deeply on his face.

When he glances over and sees you, he looks so relieved. You swear he wanted to rush over and wrap his arms around you but he refrains because he doesn't want to get you in trouble.

One day, you stayed late and noticed Vice Chief! Reiner's office door closed. The light was still on and it wasn't like Reiner to stay behind on a Friday.

You gently knock on the door and hear a huge comotion. Something is knocked on the floor. Papers go everywhere and it was obvious Reiner thought he was alone.

"Reiner, are you alright?"

There's a pause and Vice Chief! Reiner meekly says your name. "Y/N, is that you?"

You go in there and even though you don't see the rifle, you notice the box of ammo and your heart breaks. The sound had to be him hiding the weapon he was planning on using to end his life.

Vice Chief! Reiner's distraught and goes to speak but no sound comes from his mouth. You rush over and wrap your arms around him. He's stunned and once that wears off he realizes you are sobbing into his shoulder.

Shaking hands find their way around you and Vice Chief! Reiner's holding you tightly against him. He's crying with you and apologizing profusely.

You tell him you love him and that you fell for him when he saved you life during the War. Didn't matter if he was Eldian and you were Marylean.

"Y/N, why me? There's someone out there who's better suited for you. It's illegal for us to-"

You cut Vice Chief! Reiner off. "Fuck the laws."

In that dark and terrible moment, you kiss him and for the first time in years his face has actual color.

[eternalpassions]

How much do you think would change about Vampire Knight if Juuri didn't sacrifice herself to turn Yuuki human?

Hey anon,

I think a lot would change tbh

I believe I answered this before but I’ll try to give a short answer.

Basically, yuki would be aware of her powers and identity. Therefore, she wouldn’t be as stupid and immature as she is now

I imagine if she was never turned into a human she would have a more independent, calm and strong personality. Because she would be trained on how things work for vampires, how things are like in the real world

Pretty sure as seeing how she’d have a more secure personality and she’d know how to take care of herself, this could take away a huge load off the burden for Kaname. I imagine he’d be less protective of her then

I don’t really get why she had to be turned into a human even tho Rido was flicked away by Kaname for a while lol. Rido would have ended up coming back and she’d still have to fight him lol. I’m so sick of all these stories going for the cheesy “humanity” is better

Like, Juri and Haruka lived happily and they weren’t human lol. It’s possible. But you know, plot convienence for a stupid love triangle. As much as twilight gets hate, I like how they explored vampirism and immortal life as being a good thing

Anyway, I imagine yuuki never being turned into a human means she’d have no reason to be around zero. And even if they did cross paths, nothing would happen since they’d have nothing in common. He’d have no reason to get feelings for a pureblood since he hates them. And she wouldn’t have to be around him to grow pity and dependency on him

So there would be no zeki if yuuki was never turned into human. That ship is basically a product of the circumstances being forced on you. I could talk about this later lol

So yuuki never turning into a human means no zeki. And you know what that means? A not insufferable yuuki. A more decisive woman with conviction! The heroine we were asking for Hino!!

Who knows, maybe Kaname would want her to live as a normal student so he’d sign her up to the night class. Which leaves us at the cross academy scene where the story starts except it’s much better. Because yuuki isn’t annoying, isn’t useless and isn’t a two timer lol.

So basically yuuki never turning into a human would have made a much better heroine. A stronger, more independent woman, a less stupid woman, and a more decisive woman above all. A less depressing story lol

Edit: you know what anon, you know what answers your question also? Just look at Juri Haruka and Kaien! Lol. Juri didn’t grow up as a human yet still went to school normally, was still happy and still fell in love with Haruka. Except yuuki would always love Kaname. And yume marry, live happily. And later they would run into zero. Yuuki would tell him off and zero would develop a one sided love at most lol. And he’d prolly stay single bc he’s thirsty for yuuki while Kaname and yuuki love happily and have Ai 😍

And Juri is a way better character than yuuki will ever be lol. Maybe she’d grow up with a similar personality as juri. It seems her never turning human is better lol..

This ended up being not short. Idk whether to tag this or not 🤣

[solnishcow]

about VKM

I don’t talk about this too much recently because VKM’s recent chapter is just not my cuppa. I’m here to see Kaname, but the Memories part really took too long. Well, from it’s already stated on its title ... what do you expect, self?!

If I want to make a short summary about this sequel:

VKM is the way Matsuri Hino exploring her side character which doesn’t get much spotlights in VK, world building, and human/society perspective.

It’s not that I don’t like VK’s universe. I like it. It’s interesting. I even make an alternate one (If anyone interested, I’m gonna translate it in english later; I even make a map of it). But I ... I wanna see Kaname. I wanna see him living as human, explore more about his character. I know. He lives long enough. But he doesn’t rly has any character development beside after meeting Yuuki and we rarely get to see his expression and his thoughts. His relationship with Yuuki is too vague, it still lacking. Reader needs to guess, assuming things which not directly told in narration or dialog in VK (I know there’re hints, but maaan ... want to see something more direct). At least, I got to see some direct confession in VKM from all my favorite couple (ofc, I like ZeKi too; I’m happy for Zero, he suffers too long, let him feel happiness and has a family).

My consents is ... if VKM is only 30-40 chapter, with this slow pace, is it possible to get what I want in this sequel? Kaname’s PoV? Can I see it? They seems gonna have pre-war, war, and post-war arc between human who support vampire and who’s not. Yuuki’s literally build a real Kuran Kingdom, where vampire and human lives together, where Kaname can rest in piece until he die for real. To reach war arc, it took 24 chapter. I’m afraid Sensei will fast forward everything. I don’t want to. I also think that VK’s last arc is too hasty. Pls don’t make a 2nd mistake. If this sequel ends in 80-90 chapters, I feel assured. At least, we got to see full of present timeline at least 10-15 chapters. 

My last comment ... about being vague on explaining things, I don’t know if it’s the mangaka style or bcs of bad writing. I can’t tell it’s a bad writing because it has so many good background and some crucial events/timeline which is I think it’s really well prepared. But this not delivers well. As a self-claim observant reader, I consume bunch of story in different media which loves to tease the audience with hints, so it let’s the audience guess what happened. But that doesn’t mean the creator let the audience guess without any proper explanation. I can connect the dots from the clues given, but that doesn’t satisfy me. 

I’ll stop here, if not I won't stop writing my love-hate relationship with this series. 

[scifigeneration]

Why a computer will never be truly conscious

by Subhash Kak

What makes a brain tick is very different from how computers operate. Yurchanka Siarhei/Shutterstock.com

Many advanced artificial intelligence projects say they are working toward building a conscious machine, based on the idea that brain functions merely encode and process multisensory information. The assumption goes, then, that once brain functions are properly understood, it should be possible to program them into a computer. Microsoft recently announced that it would spend US$1 billion on a project to do just that.

So far, though, attempts to build supercomputer brains have not even come close. A multi-billion-dollar European project that began in 2013 is now largely understood to have failed. That effort has shifted to look more like a similar but less ambitious project in the U.S., developing new software tools for researchers to study brain data, rather than simulating a brain.

Some researchers continue to insist that simulating neuroscience with computers is the way to go. Others, like me, view these efforts as doomed to failure because we do not believe consciousness is computable. Our basic argument is that brains integrate and compress multiple components of an experience, including sight and smell – which simply can’t be handled in the way today’s computers sense, process and store data.

Brains don’t operate like computers

Living organisms store experiences in their brains by adapting neural connections in an active process between the subject and the environment. By contrast, a computer records data in short-term and long-term memory blocks. That difference means the brain’s information handling must also be different from how computers work.

The mind actively explores the environment to find elements that guide the performance of one action or another. Perception is not directly related to the sensory data: A person can identify a table from many different angles, without having to consciously interpret the data and then ask its memory if that pattern could be created by alternate views of an item identified some time earlier.

Could you identify all of these as a table right away? A computer would likely have real trouble. L to R: pashminu/Pixabay; FDR Presidential Library/Flickr; David Mellis/Flickr, CC BY

Another perspective on this is that the most mundane memory tasks are associated with multiple areas of the brain – some of which are quite large. Skill learning and expertise involve reorganization and physical changes, such as changing the strengths of connections between neurons. Those transformations cannot be replicated fully in a computer with a fixed architecture.

Computation and awareness

In my own recent work, I’ve highlighted some additional reasons that consciousness is not computable.

Werner Heisenberg. Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R57262/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Erwin Schrödinger. Nobel Foundation/Wikimedia Commons

Alan Turing. Wikimedia Commons

A conscious person is aware of what they’re thinking, and has the ability to stop thinking about one thing and start thinking about another – no matter where they were in the initial train of thought. But that’s impossible for a computer to do. More than 80 years ago, pioneering British computer scientist Alan Turing showed that there was no way ever to prove that any particular computer program could stop on its own – and yet that ability is central to consciousness.

His argument is based on a trick of logic in which he creates an inherent contradiction: Imagine there were a general process that could determine whether any program it analyzed would stop. The output of that process would be either “yes, it will stop” or “no, it won’t stop.” That’s pretty straightforward. But then Turing imagined that a crafty engineer wrote a program that included the stop-checking process, with one crucial element: an instruction to keep the program running if the stop-checker’s answer was “yes, it will stop.”

Running the stop-checking process on this new program would necessarily make the stop-checker wrong: If it determined that the program would stop, the program’s instructions would tell it not to stop. On the other hand, if the stop-checker determined that the program would not stop, the program’s instructions would halt everything immediately. That makes no sense – and the nonsense gave Turing his conclusion, that there can be no way to analyze a program and be entirely absolutely certain that it can stop. So it’s impossible to be certain that any computer can emulate a system that can definitely stop its train of thought and change to another line of thinking – yet certainty about that capability is an inherent part of being conscious.

Even before Turing’s work, German quantum physicist Werner Heisenberg showed that there was a distinct difference in the nature of the physical event and an observer’s conscious knowledge of it. This was interpreted by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger to mean that consciousness cannot come from a physical process, like a computer’s, that reduces all operations to basic logic arguments.

These ideas are confirmed by medical research findings that there are no unique structures in the brain that exclusively handle consciousness. Rather, functional MRI imaging shows that different cognitive tasks happen in different areas of the brain. This has led neuroscientist Semir Zeki to conclude that “consciousness is not a unity, and that there are instead many consciousnesses that are distributed in time and space.” That type of limitless brain capacity isn’t the sort of challenge a finite computer can ever handle.

About The Author:

Subhash Kak is a Regents Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Oklahoma State University

This article is republished from our content partners over at The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

[basically-rainbow-aus]

Welcome to the stage the next pair! Sorrel and Jade are romantic partners as well as teammates in the Ace Naxa program.

Their inboxes are OPEN for questions!

(Bios under the cut:)

Jade Ebi (Ironwood formally, Branwen informally, Ebi in public or on missions) (Based on Lancelot of the Round Table)

Name Inspiration: Jade trees or Jade Green

Nickname(s): ‘Jay’ by family, ‘Lucky’ and ‘Unlucky’ by the Ace Naxas and Ace Ops

Iolite-isms: Flux, Captain Atlas, Striker, Batter

Languages: Atlesian, Mantlan, Valean

Gender: Female

Species: Human

Aura Colour: Bright Green

Schools and Team: Eiskappe Academy (combat school), Atlas Academy (Academy)/Leader of the Ace Naxas, Future Leader of Team TSSV (Jasper)

Bestie Better Than The Restie: None

Homeplace: Atlas

Orientation: Heterosexual Heteromantic

Semblance: Lucky Charms, a Semblance that is constantly active in coordinance with the status of Jade’s Aura levels and fluxates her luck constantly. She is unable to control this at all, so she has to consistently transition her fighting style in accordance to the luck her Semblance grants her, that being a sliding scale between good luck like her Dad or bad luck like her other Dad even though it tends to lean towards the latter in her everyday life. 

Weapon: Strike Out, a baseball bat constructed from elm bark, elm wood, and hardened copper for a ring shell. It can extend out from the copper ring shell in order to hit harder or reach further, and the shell also doubles as a compartment to store chunks of Dust crystals in missions. 

Voiced by: Jill Harris

Trivia:

Jade, right off the bat, has always had trouble controlling and regulating her Semblance’s fluxuations since she was born with it. Anything bad, regardless of whether it was her fault or not, can and will be blamed on herself while anything fortunate resultant of her Semblance will be brushed off or ignored. Self-deprication and self-hatred are commonplace in her words and mannerisms.

Sorrel is her safe zone. With him, the fluxuations seem to stop.

She lives with her three fathers (Clover, Qrow, and James) and little brother Darnarian with her older sister Alutori living with her wife. For the first four years of her life, Clover and Elm raised her as a married couple, but they divorced on mutual terms, and Clover and Jade joined the Branwen-Ironwood family. Jade still doesn’t completely understand the whole procress or history, but so long as her father is happy and she sees her mother, everything is fine in her mind.

Her favoruite food would have to be a winter crunch salad. She is not big on sweets.

If she draws -- which she rarely does since joining the Ace Naxa program -- she uses charcoal sticks. According to her, they give the work a “clouded and crowded sense that can only be captured with the dust of darkness”. Darnarian calls her an edgelord for this.

Jade and Carolina Robin do not get along in the slighest. They run into each other at least every week with one of Carolina Robin’s hare-brained schemes that Jade has to clean up.

There’s no greater pleasure she takes than in caring for the lucky charm badge Clover gave her when she was 12.

Sorrel Chamaero

Name Inspiration: Sorrel is a green plant

Nickname(s): ‘Sorr’ by the Ace Naxas and Ace Ops

Iolite-isms: Sail Away, Fly Trap, Hawkeye, Haystack

Languages: Valean, Atlesian, Mantlan

Gender: Male

Species: Human

Aura Colour: Dark Green

Schools and Team: Eiskappe Academy (combat school), Atlas Academy (Academy)/Member of the Ace Naxas, Future Member of Team JSSV (Jasper)

Bestie Better Than The Restie: Veloheria Amin-Bree

Homeplace: Eastern Solitas, now Atlas

Orientation: Heterosexual Heteromantic

Semblance:  Carnivore, a Semblance that allows Sorrel to produce carnivorous plants that can surge and be controlled from his hand and foot movements. These plants cannot be detached from the source of where they are being produced – ie anywhere on his body – unless Sorrel detaches them himself, wherein he can still control them accordingly, but if not they will wither and collapse into dust within seconds. 

Weapon: He’s his own weapon.

Voiced by: Ian Sinclair

Trivia: 

He used to live in a small rural area in the East of Solitas, where more afforable technology and varied Dust applications allowed people to create a few settlements to explore the areas. Sorrel is -- or was -- the son of two of those explorers, Lucius Chamaero and Ivy (nee Zeki) Chamaero. Unfortunately for the settlement the Chamaero family called home, they wouldn’t stay safe for long. When Sorrel was 9, a large pack of Solitas Beowolves ravaged the area and all the panic attracted Goliaths, with the two breeds of Grimm together thoroughly destroyed the infrastructure and murdered the populace. Sorrel was the only survivor.

Since being recovered by Elm and Vine two days after the incident, he has resided with his uncle Vine in Atlas. He is acutely aware of his uncle’s struggle to raise him even without Sorrel’s trauma and understandable angst, but finds that any attempts to elevate the pressure would only make things worse for those around him.

Jade is a safe zone. She makes him feels safe and will gladly hold him or listen to him if he needs it.

Sorrel has been told many times by Kade Chrysolite that he should consider rapping sometime. According to the raver, Sorrel has “that rockin’ voice that grabs people by the throat and makes them listen”.

He finds Veloheria tolerable and thus very much worthy of his friendship. Even at the times that she can be annoying, he tolerates it to the most extreme extent with the patience of his mother and uncle.

Favourite foods are something mundane he doesn’t care about. If eating, he’ll eat whatever Jade has. He trusts her with his life and knows she would never harm him.

The two most prominent features of Sorrel are his large scar extending from his neck to cover almost the right half of his face and the winding vines around his body. The vines are a result of his Semblance manifesting to protect him in the Grimm incident in his old home, though he has found no way of making them leave for more than a moment. The scar is from a mission from the second year of the Ace Naxa program being in full swing; Jade had lost her lucky charm badge and had resorted to panic, which only made the bad luck fluxuation worse. Sorrel managed to reach her and hold her until she calmed down enough for everyone else to get out, but a falling building had other plans for his face. When he woke up, Jade was at his bedside furiously apologising and blaming herself for how damaged the accident made him until he told her to stop and never blame herself for what he chose to do.

[emystic-old]

Mobile Muse List!

This post will be regularly updated to reflect what muses are available! Click on their name for their full bios!

Lost

Igna - 17 years old, huldra. On a journey to find her older sister, formerly a beast keeper for a royal fae family.

Mika - 3 years old, huldra (children called huldrebarn). Magically whisked away from his mother, trying to find her.

Ninná - 15 years old, huldrekarl (male huldra). A alternate version of Mika. Magically escaped something he cannot remembered as he lost a lot memories.

Extra

Lucy - 15 years old, Magical Human and Divine Beast hybrid. A popular cheerleader and teen model, trying to learn her abilities to end a family curse.

Joaquina - 20 years old, Magical Human/Divine Beast. A upcoming model and acting student, trying to end a curse while protecting her siblings.

Paye - 15 years old, Magical Human and Divine Beast hybdrid. A school athlete and errand runner, trying to become stronger to cease a family curse.

Talent

Shanice - 25 years old, Livun. Well known celebrity that secretly a top agent for a supernatural agency.

Alasie - 15 years old, Half Human and Half Livun. A budding teen idol that secretly works for a supernatural agency. Related to a known celeb.

Invasion

Zeki - 26 years old, alien (Baxteark). Guard for a research group that secretly seems dissatisfied with her duties and wishes to do more.

Null - 13 years old, alien (Baxteark). Born unwanted in their alien home land, chooses to neglect studies to have fun on new planet.

Yela - 16 years old, alien (Baxteark). Assigned to work on research group's head doctor, seems only invested for her family's sake.

Robotics

Elliot - 16 years old, Super Human. Adopted son for a wealthy family with super intelligence and electromagnetic powers.

Aleck, Looks in 20s, built as a guard for his lonely inventor but acts a replacement for his brother. Naturally protective and charming android

Shrine

Ayano - Looks 15, Shinigami. Was sent to investigate the lack of souls and rise of malicious yokai attacks in a specific area.

Yue - Looks 5, Spirit. Assists a shinigami that she calls her older sister, gives cryptic messages on tragedies through drawings.

Mogami - Looks 15, Oni. The youngest son to local oni gods and the only left preserving his family's name, desperately trying to bring back believers.

Marco - 17 years old, Divinely Blessed Human. A foreign student that ran away from a heated fight with his brother. Agreed to help a demon preserve his shrine for a place to stay.

Exploration

Muli - 10 years old, alien (Baxteark). Curious, alien girl that was apparently sent to study on a new planet. However, her ship and teaching unit crashed.

Rell - 10 years old, alien (Baxteark). Lively alien boy that was training to be guard and to study on a new planet. The ship crashed so decided to explore.

Dreamland

Custard - 13 years old, Fairy. Younger twin princess of the Land of Sweets, followed her more adventurous twin sister who's determined to find their older sister.

[ineedglasses]

Yikes...

Wow, I scrolled through the VK tag today and the discussion is getting heated with accusations being thrown around.

I saw some posts that I wanted to respond to but I decided to just state my thoughts in one big post. 

**Warning: I know not everyone will agree with my opinions, but lets keep the discussion civil. most of us are adults after all. 

Some members of this fandom have expressed their doubts that Ren and Ai are lesbians that are in love with each other and maintain that they are just very close siblings. That is what I would hope, that they are simply close siblings. However, Hino is making it very hard to not suspect their relationship. The way she portrays them makes them seem more like a couple than regular siblings.

(Btw: Thanks a lot to zekiship for providing raws, I really appreciate you taking the time and $ to do this)

The shojo ai vibes are very strong in these images. Let’s be real, how many of us hold our siblings like that, gaze at them like that, and bring our lips so close like that?

 If we showed these images to random people that don’t read the manga, I’m sure most of them would guess they are a romantic couple instead of siblings. Also Hino keeps talking about “desire”, which in the context of this manga mostly refers to a romantic and/or sexual desire. Obviously, Hino has not explicitly stated that Ren and Ai are a yuri couple, but she definitely seems to be implying that. TBH, if she is gonna be dancing around the edges like this, she might as well just be straightforward and explicitly state they are a yuri couple. I would applaud her for having the balls to do that in a mainstream shojo manga.

Another post stated that people in this fandom ship guys together but flip out when its a lesbian couple and basically insinuated that people who disapprove of RenAi are lesbophobes. I am gonna proceed on the assumption its in response to my prev. post speaking out against RenAi. 

The first part of that statement certainly does not apply to me, I don’t particularly ship any couple, hetero or yaoi or yuri in this series. I think there are many potential shojo ai couples Hino could have explored that I would have found more interesting, like Yori x Yuki or Yuki x Maria etc. Even if RenAi was a hetero couple, I would still find their relationship problematic. In conclusion, this has NOTHING to do with them being lesbians or not, and its honestly quite offensive to accuse people of being homophobic without any sound basis. I mean, there might be ppl out there that are against RenAi b/c they homophobic, but I think the majority of ppl against RenAi feel that way b/c of other reasons, and not anything to do with their sexual orientation.

There are MANY reasons why I don’t like RenAi that other ppl have already stated. My biggest one is that Ai literally raised Ren from the time she was a baby - she was basically a second mom b/c Yuki was too busy. How do you go from burping a baby to lusting after her when she grows up? That boggles my mind...Also, Ai was already like 70 years old when Ren was born, it seems like she never bothered making any meaningful connections with people before Ren came along. That’s kinda weird and very sad, her whole world just revolves around Ren. IMO, in any romantic relationship, you cannot let your life be consumed by your partner, you need to have a life of your own. I don’t like how she literally stalks Ren around all day and spying on her with binoculars. Like girl, you need to get a life of your own. Go meet some eligible bachelors or bachelorettes or go on a vacation or go help Yuki and Zero out with work. And this goes both ways!!! Ren, Ai literally raised you and changed your diapers! It seems like in the world of VK, only the Kurans and Zero are “good” so if Ren and Ai look for romantic partners or friends they can only look within their family b/c apparently everyone else in the world (ex. the other purebloods and lesser vampires) are “evil” and not worth interacting with. 

Then there were replies to that post discussing the incest component of RenAi and how ppl are being hypocritical by supporting Yume but being against RenAi. Let me get this out of the way: I DON’T support Yume or HarukaxJuri etc. (sorry Yume shippers, incest just isn’t my cup of tea, but on the other hand I am not a Zeki either; I’m one of the few ppl in this fandom that simply doesn’t care for either of the main couples) In my prev. post I simply stated Hino’s justification for the incest among the Kurans (its to keep the lineage clean etc.), just stating the author’s explanation does not mean I support it. My main issue is that she keeps harping on the incest factor at the expense of the plot. Someone said that VK is supposed to be a dark manga so that’s why the incest is there...TBH I’ve read manga with much darker themes so if Hino is doing this to explore the darkness of the human/vampire soul or whatever, its not working so well. If she wanted to talk about dark stuff, there are themes other than incest that she can expound on, such as the hierarchical nature of vampire society and the predation of young children for their blood etc. 

As others have commented, it seems Hino is just trying to force the original love triangle to some conclusion through Ren and Ai. I think Hino needs to stop spending so many pages on Ren and Ai’s relationship, whether it be platonic or not, and actually work on her plot. Like what will happen to Kaname as he lives out the rest of his life as a human? Did Yuki and Zero ever come to some peace agreement with the other purebloods? etc.

Anyway, for ppl reading this, if there are things I said that you don’t agree with, don’t take it too personally and get all upset. I’m sure we all got bigger fish to fry like paying bills and taking finals  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  I’m only still reading VKM b/c I started VK in middle school and I like getting closure lol. Also, I know its too much to expect, but I want to see if Rukain or Shima had any kids and what happened to Takuma etc.

[msowinski01-blog]

Why Do We Value Education?

Education. We hear the term quite frequently, but have you ever stopped to think about what all education really entails? Parents talk about the importance of their children getting a “good education” and the school system encourages its students to go on to continue to pursue their education at a university...but why? If we really dig deep we can find the various ways that education can be defined and why we put so much value on it as a society. 

Students through their caps in the air at graduation as a completion of one of their forms of education (Vasily Koloda, Unsplash.com)

There is a concept constructed by Deborah Brandt, a renowned author and former professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, that really encapsulates the whole idea of the word “education”. Brandt has focused the majority of her career studying literacy learning and the forces that shape one’s access to learning. With this research, Brandt created the idea of a literacy sponsor. In her scholarly article called “Sponsors of Literacy”, Brandt states that "sponsors... are any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy-and gain advantage of it in some way”(Brandt, 72). After looking at a variety of examples, I have concluded that education is the most important literacy sponsor because it fosters positive opportunities and an improved quality of life.

Representation in the Media

With our technology evolving faster than ever, we must consider how representation can be expanded (Charles Deluvio, unsplash.com)

One of the most beneficial aspects of education is that it results in better representation in the media. When people have the ability to be educated about culture, they learn about others’ experiences, identities, and ideas which helps eliminate prejudice and stereotypes and instead facilitates a place for understanding. By eradicating certain prejudices, more opportunities will arise for people who might not have necessarily had them in the past. Education in this sense can occur in the traditional school setting, but it does not necessarily have to. The media has often neglected to focus on minority groups, and when they do they often only portray negative stereotypes. This experience was demonstrated in the story Grassroots Literacies: Lesbian and Gay Activism and the Internet in Turkey by Sercan Gorkmli. Gorkmli writes about the experiences of his friend Unal- a young gay man growing up in Turkey. Unal’s parents had negative views about his sexuality because they were uninformed about homosexuality due to the lack of representation of the LGBTQ+ community in the media at that time. Gorkmli describes how “Unal emphasized the influence of mass media, specifically television, on his parents’ misconceptions about homosexuality: To put it simply, they had never seen it before….There were only two examples...Bülent Ersoy [a male-to-female transsexual] and Zeki Müren [a queer male singer]” (Gorkmli, 2).   As we have seen in the United States , representation of the LGBTQ+ community has drastically increased as education in schools, in communities, and online has increased over the past 50 years. In turn, the greater representation across media platforms can act as a form of education for others generating a positive cycle. This kind of effect can really help change the way that groups of people are treated and viewed in a positive way. 

Learning Styles

Students learning from the traditional lecture style of teaching (Shubham Sharan, unsplash.com)

Just as education can help us understand each other, education can help us understand ourselves. Education is a process of self discovery, including determining one’s learning style.Understanding how you learn can drastically improve your quality of life. Amy Vidali, a current writing professor at the University of California, Santa-Cruz, explained in a video titled Being a Barrier: Thoughts on literacy and access the way that she observes different learning styles in her classroom and the way that her teaching style has changed as a result of this. Vidali explains how everyone learns differently and that many people don’t know the way that they learn best. She tells the story of a young man and his journey of discovering his learning style. “[H]e was a junior or a senior in college, probably 19 or 20, and had never been exposed to the fact that he was an auditory learner. He was excited that he had this information and could use it for the rest of his life, but I always thought about what kind of literacy opportunities did he miss and what kind of assumptions did he make about himself based on the fact that it took him until college until to realize and be able to learn how it was that he learned” (Vidali, 1). This anecdote struck me because it shows how we can perceive ourselves just because we haven’t discovered what works best for us yet. Understanding how you learn can aid you across all disciplines of life and help you make the most out of the opportunities that come your way. An understanding of ourselves increases our quality of life because we can be more efficient and confident in the ways we learn and process information. We can then go on to help others with what we have learned.

Helping Others with Education 

Malcolm X, famous activist during the civil rights movement who self educated himself (Truman Moore, nydailynews.com)

Becoming educated on a subject can provide you the opportunity to help others with what you have learned and promote change in our world. I mentioned earlier how education comes in many forms and this next narrative is a prime example of that.  In The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X, Malcolm X tells the story of his self education in prison he received by reading all the material he could get his hands on.  His self education while he was imprisoned allowed him to become deeply informed on African American history and that inspired him to make change in the world. Once he was released from prison he became a prominent figure in the civil rights movement. Using his acquired knowledge, he worked to improve his quality of life and the quality of life of millions of black Americans. This story teaches us two very important lessons; the first is that we need to be supportive of all forms of education and not try to suppress any kind of it. Secondly, this story shows the exponential positive effect that an education can provide. Malcolm X took his knowledge and spread it with the world therefore encapsulating the cycle of learning.

Are There Limits to Education?

Certain kinds of education can be a financial burden on an individual and/or their family (Josh Appel, unsplash.com)

There can be limiting factors to education however. A college degree comes at a cost that is unimaginable to many people. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average cost for a 4-year undergraduate degree during the 2016-2017 year $26,593 per year. This can be an extreme financial barrier that can be the end of the road for many people’s formal education. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that school is not the only form of education. Education can be learning other skills that are not taught in school. There are also forms of self-education like Malcolm X experienced in his life. Cost should not be a barrier in education in one’s life, you just need to seek out the opportunities that fit your situation best. 

What Do We Do now?

We’ve explored how education functions as a necessary literacy sponsor, but what are the next steps? Education is often a personal matter so I want you to apply what you’ve learned in the ways that make the most sense to your life. However, I will suggest a few things. First, take ownership of your education and seek out ways to continue your learning; you never know what doors might open. Additionally, have respect for those who had a different path of education than yours. Finally, be an advocate for the education of others; help them pursue their dreams. An education may just be the thing that helps one find their place of belonging and help their social mobility. You never know so you may as well try.

[vampireknightmusings]

Responses: True Love (Why Zeki Has It And Yume Doesn’t)

“This whole ship war wouldn't even be a thing if you guys didn't deny Yuuki's eternal and romantic love for Kaname. You make all these posts trying to negate her feelings for Kaname...”

Full post here.

Romantic love is a subjective thing. Every person has an individual notion of what is, and what is not, acceptable within a “true love” scenario. Some people believe in the existence of love at first sight, while others need some time to pass for the couple’s feelings to be considered love as opposed to a crush. In this post, I will explain my own views on what constitutes a genuine romantic love.

The first thing I find to be necessary is for the two partners to know each other. By this, I mean that the two know each other well enough to accurately predict their partners responses to certain stimuli, and even if their partner acts unpredictable, they must understand the motivating factors behind their actions. his knowledge of each other leads directly into their ability to trust each other. 

Zero and Yuuki spend the first arc getting to know each other, flaws and all. The more time they spend with each other, the more they come to understand the others motivations and feelings. Zero knows that Yuuki's selfless nature hides the fear that she was unwanted as a child, while Yuuki knows that Zero has always wished for her happiness above all else, even to his own detriment. The pair trust each others judgement even when the two of them are acting as “enemies”, neither getting in the other’s way. 

On the other hand, Kaname and Yuuki spend very little time together. Before Zero came into the picture, Kaname was actively putting distance between himself and Yuuki, only coming to see her when he was tricked into doing so. This distance was never bridged and a solid bond of friendship was never truly formed between them. Kaname continues to treat sixteen year old Yuuki as a child, despite claiming to be in love with her, which shows that his image of her hasn’t grown up with her. He still views her as the Yuuki he knew before Juuri sealed her memories. Yuuki puts Kaname on a pedestal, much like the other love struck day class students. 

So what does Yuuki know about Kaname? Well, she “knows” that:

1. Kaname is a pacifistic vampire who wishes for co-existence as much as Kaien Cross does. Except that he goes on to indiscriminately murder vampires who work for the senate regardless of whether that individual vampire is corrupt and puts humans on a pedestal of his own, granting them a right to exist that he doesn’t grant purebloods.

2. Kaname saved her as a helpless human girl, a stranger to him, when he didn’t need to. Except that he was her brother and was the reason that she was there in the first place, having temporarily abandoned her to remove the vampire threat behind them.

3. Kaname is her brother. Except that he actually isn’t her brother, but the progenitor of the Kurans and her direct ancestor.

4. Kaname views Cross Academy as his home as much as she views it as hers, and that he will protect the people he cares about as she wishes to. Except that he attempts to have her abandon her friends at the height of the danger in order to escape themselves.

How is Yuuki supposed to form a genuine love based on the person that Kaname is if everything she thought she knew about him was incorrect?

The second important thing for a love to be true is the ability to make each other happy, and beyond that, to be able to put their loved ones happiness above their own. This theme in Vampire Knight is explored through smiling from the heart. Yuuki states, in response to Zero’s asking how she can keep smiling, that she wants Zero to smile also. She has sacrificed her life’s blood for Zero in order to give him a reason to live and to give him some happiness, without knowing that she is already providing it for him. 

Zero confronts the vampire that he hates the most to get the answers that Yuuki is desperately seeking, resulting in his neck being torn apart in an effort to make him drink from said vampire. He endures a lot of abuse from Kaname  that he would not experience if not for Yuuki. He keeps his own feelings for her under wraps out of respect for Yuuki’s feelings for Kaname. He pushes Yuuki away from himself and the academy in order to be with Kaname, as he believes that Kaname can provide her with all she needs to be happy. He also actively protects her both before and after the reveal of her pureblood heritage.

Kaname is unable to make Yuuki happy, openly admitting that she doesn’t smile when she’s with him towards the end of Vampire Knight, and Yuuki is unable to make Kaname happy in turn. Kaname’s greatest mistake in this regard is craving the bond that Yuuki has with Zero rather than cherishing his own unique bond with her. He admits to wanting the Yuuki who had cut her hair as a symbolic gesture regarding letting her feelings for him go. In this way, he sets up his own misery in his relationship with Yuuki.

As for Yuuki, once she is in a relationship with Kaname, she is unable to see the friends she cherishes, is unable to dress as she wishes and is unable to leave the house at all. The demands that Kaname puts on her strip her of the things that make her who she is. Rima comments on the fact that Yuuki is wearing pinheels rather than the comfortable shoes that are easy to run in that she prefers. This all contributes to Yuuki’s feelings of insecurity. The more Kaname asks things of her that are not natural to her, the more he changes her, the more she is going to feel that she is not good enough. This, in turn, leads to her unhappiness and misery with Kaname. Furthermore, Kaname burdens her with his suicidal feelings when she attempts to stand up to him, making her feel even worse about herself. He claimed to love her for who she is, so why does he try to change her so much?

Another important component in a true love scenario is the partner’s ability to provide comfort for the other. Their presence is often enough to provide the comfort their loved one needs. We can see this with Zero, who finds comfort in Yuuki’s arms, and with Yuuki, who is able to reveal her true emotions to Zero without fear of rejection. Instead of distracting her in this instance, he offers her a solution to her. Both are able to talk to each other and understand each other. The pair are comfortable in each others presence.

When Yuuki attempts to talk to Kaname and seek comfort with him, he often tries to distract her rather than dealing with the cause of her discomfort. When Yuuki is having nightmares because she can’t remember what happened before she awoke on the mountain, he brings her attention back to him instead of comforting her or listening to her concerns. He fails to listen to her when she tries to ask about pureblood families later on as well. 

From Kaname’s end, Yuuki is unable to provide the comfort he wants. He reveals snippets of his past to keep her with him and gets hugs from her, but he doesn’t get reaffirmation of Yuuki’s love for him, and she remains unspontaneous with her affection. When he asks her what she truly thinks of him, he is hoping for something positive from Yuuki. Instead, she lists negative character traits alongside superficial traits such as his appearance. She even questions if he loves her, which can’t feel good.

A fourth necessity is the ability to bring out the best in their partner. More specifically, a partner wants to better themselves not only for themselves, but for the one they love. Yuuki often finds her strength through Zero, and many of the actions she takes are, in part at least, because of him. He encourages her to be the kind-hearted, loving woman that she is without demanding anything or taking anything from her. He encourages her to live her life for herself, and to find happiness in the little things. Yuuki provides Zero a reason to continue living once Shizuka is gone, and is able to convince him that co-existence is a goal that should be striven for. She also helps to bring out his kind-hearted side, which he later expands to others. 

As much as Yuuki tries with Kaname, she is unable to bring out his best. Though she tries her best to give him a reason to continue living, she can’t help him escape his despair. Due to the feelings she cannot control, she brings out Kaname’s jealous, needy side. Due to these same feelings, he ends up attempting to control her in order to keep her by his side. Eventually, instead of acting with Yuuki to provide an acceptable out for purebloods who have lived too long and fighting for co-existence between humans and vampires, he decides to eradicate pureblood vampires entirely.  

Kaname brings out Yuuki’s insecurity and inferiority complex. By placing on her the blame of “leaving him alone” as a child and using that fear and her empathy against her, he causes her to question herself and see herself as the child she is often treated as. He puts so much of a burden on her that she cannot bring herself to stand up to him when she thinks he’s wrong. Yuuki herself states that if she stops doing what she thinks is right, then she will no longer be herself. This is foreshadowing to the Yuuki she will become with Kaname. She no longer shines as she once did, and Kaname doesn’t give her a reason to shine.

Most of the things I think are necessary for a true romantic love have been covered in these points. I hope this provides enough of an explanation for why what you may consider to be “negating” Yuuki’s romantic love for Kaname is actually just Yuuki misdiagnosing what those feelings were in my view. I strongly believe that true romantic love is born from a deep friendship, and is an incredibly powerful emotion that is difficult to shift. That Yuuki was able to put those feelings to bed fairly quickly once she was awakened as a vampire tells me that they were just not what Yuuki thought they were.

I’d be interested to hear what others consider necessary to true love, however. I’m sure there are many different views to mine! And I’d just like to say that I am speaking for myself, and cannot speak for any other Zeki shippers. This also isn’t meant to incite any further ship wars, it was simply meant to explain my point of view when it comes to the topic at hand. 

Thank you for reading!

[eb-byestelle]

Ship game

Tagged by @fuzzykiddreamer (Thank you 💖 !!)

Shipping and Fandom Ask

Embrace your inner shipper!  Answer questions about your favorite ships or fandoms. Reblog to participate and let your ship flag fly!

1.What are your top 10 manga/anime ships of all time?

Top 10 anime/manga:

Yuuki x Kaname - Vampire Knight

Victor x Yuri – Yuri !!! on ice

Mirai x Akihito - Kyoukai no Kanata

Izumi x Ryouma - Love Stage!!

Shiomi x Orina - Psychic Academy (very unpopular but really sweet ship ;3) 

Emeraude x Zagato - Magic Knight Rayearth

Okabe x Kurisu - Steins;Gate

Edgar x Lydia - Hakushaku to Yousei

Yori x Iku - Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru

Valentino x Ranmaru - Ikoku Irokoi Romantan

I’m not very “shipper type”, but from anime/manga I guess these ten ships are sth I will always remember 💕 💖 💕 💖

2.What gif or screenshot most sums up your ship?

Yume

https://www.deviantart.com/jams-yy/art/Kaname-X-Yuuki-295424796

http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/vampire-knight/images/34332617/title/vampire-knight-fanart

(I add the links because for some reasons these gifs make that post is not able to be saved)

3. Describe your favorite ship in seven words or less. 

Yume - Passionate, complicated, eternal love, above everything.

Victuuri - Harmonious, colorful, eros, agape, perfect duo,

Mirai x Akihito - Sacrifice, understanding, monsters in love.

Izumi x Ryouma - I love each part of you.

Shiomi x Orina - Innocent, lust, slow exploration.

Emeraude x Zagato - Protect your freedom - everything else can die.

Okabe x Makise - Time and space don’t matter.

Edgar x Lydia - Secrets, courtship, caramel hair.

Yori x Iku - Pure love, dirty love, love forever.

Valentino x Ranmaru - Opposites attract.

When I think which details connect all these ships, I’m gonna say: Romantic, unconventional, imperishable, full of mutual love and acceptation.

4.What’s your go-to episode or scene when you need ship feels?

Generally In this kind of situation I want to watch some moments when the love between couple is the most visible, usually when between the couple there is some intensive moment full of love.

Yume:

From manga VK: the whole vol 19 (including the cover 💖) - My heart melts when I look at each chapter T_T 💖

From anime VK: VKG - ep 2, 8 (I’ve always been in love with my own brother ;3) and 13 (this last scene T_T 💖 ..........)

Victuuri: the whole ep 10 - I.LOVE.WHOLE.THIS.EP !

Mirai x Akihito ; Shiomi x Orina ; Okabe x Kurisu: first kiss scenes (there is sth really moving in first kiss scenes ;3)

Izumi x Ryouma ; Yori x Iku: first time (both are just amazing...)

Lydia x Edgar: 

Ep 1 and some peculiary scene in ep 9 (bishounen + whiskey Jack Daniels + loved one = have fun! 💀🔥)

Emeraude x Zagato:

Two last eps of season 1 (romantic and horribly tragic at the same time...)

5.What song or songs remind you of your favorite fandom, character or ship?

Seal - Kiss from the rose 💕

It was a song when, while listening to it I read VK for the first time in 2010. In that moment I read first volume and I said: “Wow - This is great!” Later, after many years, after deeper listening, It turned out that the words of this song perfectly suit to the yume ship. From then on, I associate this song with both the first time when I was charmed by this series and with yume pair.

6. If the creators of your favorite fandom asked you to write the ship canon-confirmation episode, what will you write/how will it happen?

VK / Yume: A lot of things have already been said and done. However, I would doubtless make Yuuki and Kaname be together again (in the normal sense, not like now xp) and that Yuuki would say straight what we see while the whole series, but what hasn't been said directly - that Kaname is the love of her life and that she have never loved anyone so much as she loves Kaname. Such an expressions of feelings and the connection of these two after all these things they have survived (like in the case of Okabe x Kurisu or Mirai x Akihito) would be just a wonderful last chapter. In the case of anime series, I admit that I like the ending. And as for the continuation, we both know well how I would do it ^^

7.Do you prefer to indulge in (consume or create) fanart or fanfic of your favorite ship? 

I prefer to indulge in create fanarts and fanfic but usually not related to my favorite ships.

8.Smut or fluff? (VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION xD) 

I like both eqally ;3 Or remix 👀!!

9.What ship are you embarrassed to admit you like?

I guess none.

10.What task are you most likely to procrastinate so you can indulge in your ship or fandom?

Sometimes I’m able to not sleep all night because to the morning I’m talking with fans of sth I love, I’m watching my favorite serieses or watching/reading sth depends on it, don’t mentioning about when I’m writing sth by my own. Then the time doesn’t matter 💀 then anything doesn’t matter. It remind sth like a state of trance. - I recommend! 🔥🔥🔥

11.How many hours of the day do you spend reading fanfic or looking at fanart or other media? 

In case of fanfics and fanarts, none. I choose to look for some nice edits or news about real series. I can spend from few minutes to few hours, but not everyday, only sometimes.

12.How many memorabilia’s do you own of your favorite fandom or ship (clothes, plushies, etc.)? 

VK: The uniform of night class which I was sewing every day for two weeks so it’s really important to me 💖 I also have all 19 volumes, all DVDs, postcards, posters and badges. I will have soon also a fanbook ^^

Death Note: postcards, posters, badges and ofc. death note ;33

I have also a lot of some little details from various another serieses like all volumes of Love Stage. But mostly I focus on VK.

13.If you could own one authentic item from your favorite fandom world, what would it be?

All dragon balls xD or at least Goku’s four-star ball 💖

And the Kaname’s bed - with Kaname in the set! 🥂💕🔥

14.What fandom have you found to be too toxic to deal with?  

Since I have been on Tumblr, I got involved in only one fandom, so tbh, I can't answer it, because I have no comparison with another fandoms. I also don't have an intend to get too involved in other fandoms, at most superficially.

Nevertheless, withouth doubt the continuous ships-war is tiring and ridiculous. I've always wondered, why among zekis the some of them are still such stubborn, that they can't just get over it and admit that Yuuki's first choice was always Kaname, and Zero on the end turned out to be only the "consolation prize". This is a sad truth, but these are the facts. I think that the only way to real, honest coexistence is to accept this truth on the both sides. Just like when yume accepted that zeki is also a canon and Zero to a degree was also loved by Yuuki in a romantic way, though by not as strong love as Kaname.

It's all simple and transparent, it's enough to notice it. 

The answer: "She loves both equally." is no solution ... "She loves one the most." - this is the only acceptable solution in every LT. Even in Arabic harems there is a division on the "first wife" and "next wives". So it's a natural state of things - one the biggest choise. I think that this is the point of attachment and the right, healthy way to resolve this conflict.

It's interesting that when the VK manga was still published, among my native fandom there was also a clear division between yume and zeki. There was no hatred in this. It was just something like a gulf. Then I saw the same for MAL and here. It inspired me to create a theory that this division is not only a division into ships, but also a division based on a systems of views. And in such a situation it's quite difficult to blur the boundaries... That's why I think that determining ONE plot is the most reasonable way. Later we can at most see, how much my theory works in practice, and in how many cases it's jusr an ordinary, superficial choice of a "more cool ship in someone's taste".

15.Do you have or would you consider getting a tattoo depicting your favorite ship or fandom?

I don't think so I would ever have a tattoo, but I for sure wouldn't walk past indifferently next to earrings or necklace with the symbol of Cross Academy ;3 - I love this symbol, it's so beautiful !!

16.What is the strangest thing you’ve done to honor your favorite fandom, ship or character?

It’s hard tbh... One time I created with my friend some dumb “event” which looked like “A night with Kaname” xD She prefered Kain, but she also liked Kaname so it was no problem to do it with her. All night we created a funny or pervert memes, edits, posts, games, and we came up with that we would print the posters of our fave. As a result we didn’t do it but... when I think about it right now, this wish is still “alive” xD ...

It was also one night, when I wrote some poem about sth like “how it would be, if I would kiss someone like Kaname”. I mean, although I know he’s not real, it can’t be denied that It’s sth really pleasant to imagine that in our world there might exist someone such amazing like Kaname. This poem was sth like a vision of kiss with the potential, “real” Kaname. It’s a bit embarrasing, when I think about it because this erotic was incredibly personal and intimate, showing not just a kiss but some feelings accompanying to kiss the real love. So yeah, it was very personal and some kind of mix my deep symphaty and love to Kaname character + the description of my feelings while a real passionate kiss with someone, when my knees are bending, face is burning etc + the showing an experience of romantic moment with someone I love. So it was about Kaname and not about Kaname, sth between in other words xD

I also love to say about VK and Kaname in some serious discussion on studies. I think it’s nothing weird or embarassing to mentioned about some aspects from mangas on such an discussions. I think this manga are not just vampire and dumb LT thread but there is sth really deep and interesting, forcing as to think and reflect about what is love, sin, desire, death, will of life, etc... I love this in VK.

I’m tagging @eternalyumelove, @astharoshebarvon, @aphrodytevalentine

I know you guys love ships so have fun ! ;3 (If u want ;3)