#ALSO ALSO metis lives there now :3

[doctorsiren]

Part 13

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[sleep-deprived-night-owl]

Genderbend Athena and Nike??? Will it be different?

Mhm, very interesting take for sure!

My personal opinion on this would be that there would eventually be a relationship, but I also think there would be an unlikely bromance first.

I see it like this (human au?):

Nike would be the ripped athlete. Loves sports and going to the gym, flexing his muscles, but at the end of the day he would also be adorable and would only be showing off to try and impress you and see you smile. Obviously all Nike sportswear because it's his name... Duh-

Athena, would be the quiet guy in your class that you're kind of afraid of because you're not entirely sure what he does with his time. He probably knows 3 different forms of martial arts and is planning your demise in the background, yet on the surface is totally calm and collected. He can curse you in seven different languages and has more solutions than there are problems. I imagine some type of dark academia vibe.

Now, I think they'd come together through some strange circumstances and end up forming an unlikely bond. Athena ends up getting attached to the idiot that never really seems to lose, whereas Nike is obsessed with the dork that Athena hides inside.

Gender bending them in their god forms also opens up some interesting paths. For example, if we follow mythology they would make Athena a son of Zeus and Metis. There was a prophecy that the son of Metis would overthrow Zeus. Would Zeus allow Athena to live? Could he even stop this prophecy if he tried? If he couldn't, would Athena then be the new king of Olympus? And would Nike crown him victor?

Honestly, you tell me...

But that's just my wild take XD

- Athena

[theoneprecioustome]

Makoto's Soul, Aikoto & "Eternity"

I've been talking about this since at least 2015, but I just realized I've never made a thread to tie everything together.

TL;DR I think that once Makoto's soul is freed from the seal, his soul will move onto "Eternity". I also think Atlus has foreshadowed that his soul and Aigis' will eventually reunite there.

This post will have spoilers from all of the games involving Persona 3. So, here we go!

The Background

We all know that after the events of P3, Liz set out on a mission to "save" Makoto. There has been a lot of theorizing about whether this involves bringing Makoto back to life or not, but to me it's pretty clear that it doesn't. After all, The Answer outright told us that Makoto had a funeral, which means he does not have a physical body to return to anymore.

I think... I'm finally at peace with losing him... Odd... for some reason, the tears are only now coming... I should have attended his farewell... I was so foolish, locking myself away. Looking back, I remember that Metis would cry... To think I had discarded such a basic emotion...

When Liz says that she wants to save him, she means that she wants to save his soul from the fate of being The Great Seal. The reason for this is obvious, as The Answer shows us that in its efforts to get to Nyx, Erebus tries to tear Makoto away from the door.

It goes without saying that Erebus breaking the Seal equals Erebus breaking Makoto's very soul, thus making him disappear forever.

[...] the soul can still be harmed

As such, this is the fate Liz is trying to save him from.

The How

How Liz will attain this wish of hers is anyone's guess. However, one thing is for certain: this miracle can only be attained by joining forces with the rest of the cast.

Pretty much every game that has addressed Liz's journey has set-up this very fact. My personal theory is that once Atlus is ready to retire the "Neo" Persona cast, they will likely reunite the main players in a game where one of the objectives will be to free Makoto's soul from the seal. This way, we will see a fitting conclusion where the bonds forged between each cast will bring forth the miracle that sets Makoto free. But I digress!

Going back to my main point, Liz has been set up to request help from the rest of the cast. However, there is one person Atlus has outright set-up to join Liz in her quest, and that person is Aigis.

This is once again foreshadowed in P3D, where Liz happens to mention her dream right as she is talking to Aigis and Makoto.

So we can be certain that — unless their plans change — Aigis will be one of the main players involved in freeing Makoto's soul from the seal.

Which finally brings me to my actual theory!

Eternity (永遠)

I believe that once Makoto is freed from the seal, his soul will finally be able to move onto the afterlife. As per Persona Q, this is called Eternity.

"Where all life is born and returns to..."

My theory is that Atlus have been setting this up since Persona Q, which was also directed by Hashino — just like Persona 3.

And to give things an Aikoto spin... Aigis just so happens to be the one to ask what "Eternity" is all about. Which is very fitting, because Zen and Rei parallel Aigis' and Makoto to an uncanny degree.

Zen is an otherworldly being (aka, non-human) whose duty brings him to Rei (a human) in order to ferry her to the afterlife. However, one thing leads to another and they lose their memories. They then go on living together, nonethewiser to the truth, and we get things like these:

Zen essentially goes through Aigis' entire character arc, including slowly coming to realize that he has changed and what keeps him by Rei's side isn't duty, but his desire to be there.

The parallels are so strong that (as you can see above) some of their lines are pretty much the same.

Which leads me to this:

Through his bond with Rei, Zen develops an actual soul capable of parting with her to Eternity. And that's what they do at the end of the game.

So this very long parenthesis has been to say: I think we may one day see the same thing for Aikoto.

After all, we have been told multiple times that Aigis is alive now:

It's only natural that once she passes on, her soul will also join the place where all life returns to.

Now, there are a couple of ways in which this could play. If Liz' mission were to take "eons" of time and Aigis' soul is only hanging onto her worn-down body by a thread, then it's likely that she will rest only after Makoto has been saved from his fate, which could lead us to something like this.

If their journey actually takes place only a few years from now, then Aigis will likely stick around until the last of SEES are gone.

Whatever the case, unless Atlus plans change (which is indeed possible, specially considering Makoto's popularity), it seems safe to assume that Aikoto will be eventually reunited there.

[pluralmedia]

Ok! Here's some possible suggestions then: Persona 3 - Pharos and Minato/Makoto (or Hamuko/Kotone if playing Persona 3 Portable): Pharos was placed inside of Minato/Makoto's mind as a means of containment and both lived and spoke to him both there and in the setting of the dark hour which is more metaphysical, it's more explicit in the movies but fairly explicit overall. He eventually has to leave. (information based on the original Persona 3 games and Persona 3 movies, we haven't played Reload)

Putting all your other asks together;

Persona 3: The Answer - Metis and Aegis: Metis is Aegis' headmate who is implied to have split in the aftermath of the death of someone close to her. She also has her own persona. She appears physically to her, but that's also in a metaphysical environment. She is described as the embodiment of Aigis' emotional side. Their fate in terms of if they remain a system is unknown, she mentally speaks to Aigis once after they return to the physical word but she's only been referenced ambiguously since. Persona 4: Arena and Persona 4: Arena Ultimax - Labrys and Shadow Labrys: Shadow Labrys and Labrys have their own personas and share a body. Shadow Labrys exists in a separate subnetwork to Labrys within their shared body, and they don't share memories. I'm not sure why the wiki is phrased as it is-we don't recall her being mentioned to disappear at all, and there's nothing that would have caused her to based on how she exists. Maybe we're forgetting something, we'll update if we find out.

Protagonist&Pharos - theyve been added, thanks!

Metis&Aegis - According to a quick eyeballing of the wikis and tvtropes its unclear if they share a body or not so they are going in Maybe for now. This is probably just us not getting a game mechanic or something from the quick skim of their character profile page so if there is a reason they can act separately during the plot but still have the same body then they can move.

OH WHOOPS EDIT: you said in your ask just forgot by the time we came back to the ask tab from the wiki run X-X, yeah theyve been added, thanks!

P4: Labrys&Shadow Labrys - Theyve been added, thanks!

[luci-j]

Headcannons and Behind the Scenes -- Princess Linx!

Our favorite Felisian princess! Some headcannons, facts, and other behind-the-scenes goodies

* She's actually a canon character! She appeared in a free comic book day comic. Her name was spelled "Lynx" here, though, and she was.... Quite different:

Yeahhhh. She had good bones! And I figured she could be fun to play around with. She isn't so much a "warrior princess" as a princess who knows she has a good life, and wants to make other lives good as a result.

* Who's the baby? That's something for later, let's focus on the present yeah?

* Her voice was always Natasha Lyonne. The was no shuffling on that. It helped the rest of her personality come into play.

* Why the name change? I liked it better.

* She's s STEM gal at heart. Loves science, math, engineering. She doesn't get to play around with it much though because she's first in line for the throne. So she grew up being trained in politics, communication, and conflict resolution.

* Her culture is polyamorous! She grew up with eight mothers and her father. Her biological mother died in childbirth. Her favorite of her stepmoms is a nuclear physicist.

* All of her moms are brilliant in their own rights, from lawyers, to doctors, to educators.

* The birth rate on Felis is fairly low, so she doesn't have as many siblings as you'd expect

* Mimosas are an all the time food <3

* She's yellow-blue colorblind!

* Loves partying, clubs, and dancing

* All the same she can turn on the socialite charm. This duality is based on my, no lie, very real respect for Paris Hilton.

* She also fell for Rocket at first sight. She still loves him to this day, but understands he's happy. So she loves having him as a friend!

* How's he feel about her? Well... 👀

* Meti is basically one of her best friends now. After the initial envy, they see her as someone with impeccable taste. They have phone calls several times a week.

* I included her as another catlike alien because a lot of times you see ONE species of aliens meant to represent cats, ONE for sharks, etc.. She's meant to show that there's more than one way to draw a cat!

* Her dad loves her but worries for her. He's a LOT more chill after his heart attack.

* Does she ever find love for herself? Well. 👀

* She went on several dates with Peter, who introduced her to things like Waffle House and off-roading. He couldn't make the distance work and also she scared him a smidgen. They still consider one another close friends.

* Is she into girls? Not really. Would she kiss Mantis since she's also kissed Meti and Peter at this point? She wouldn't say *no*.

* She keeps a very, very messy room and ship.

* A bit bored at the current moment. Maybe there's a career change in the air in her future.

[pugs-cats-bb-8]

The Answer-P3R Part. 1

If you read my original write up, you'll know I have no love lost for The Answer (Or 3 as a whole).

Was the opening in the og?

Once again, Fuuka hits the nail on the head within 10 mins.

Giant ass key thing.

Why does the wall look like glass?

How do we already know Metis's name? She didn't introduce herself yet.

Butterfly wings.

Ken's ass should be through that wall.

Igor's still fucking creepy.

Yukari, ever the bitch. 😡😡

That armour still looks like shit.

Groundhog Day.

😔😔Yukari you were never the leader. You've always had to take orders.

Fuuka goes straight to "we're going to starve". 🤣🤣

The Time Abyss music reminds me of PMD. Also a bit of Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology.

I forget how many good parts Junpei gets.

Why do they have so much armour?

Did they take away some of Aigis's spoken lines?

Makoto's door is glowing.

That's not a shadow, that's a pile of molten lava.

Pinch encounter? Why are they using the JP term?

The shadows have ears?

So does the bullets bank off stuff?

Did Aigis always Nauoto run? Let's jump into that giant pit of boiling lava.

The whole sister thing has to be written by an only child. Most siblings aren't like that.

Why does it look like they're in Okamura's palace?

Koromaru's vest has a little heart on the back. ❤❤

I forgot how many battles there are.

I like the new scenes.

Why do they do that weird jumping thing when they smash a statue?

I like how it says indeterminate for the date. The game gives you the exact day, month and year that Ken's mom died. Which begs the question, who the fuck is Ken living with? Seeing as he was 8 when his mom died.

Also, Shinji lost control right in front of their house?

That sword is bigger than Junpei.

Speaking of Junpei, when did he get so big and tall? I thought Akihiko was bigger and taller.

No, Yukari don't antagonize the shadow while we're escaping.

I hate Treasure Hand.

Give me a Treasure Demon any day of the week. At least I can beat Treasure Demons easily.

Mossy castle.

What are those purple bubbly things?

What is that thing that looks like a pottery wheel?

Why do they look like they're 12?

Damn, girl he asked you if you want to watch a DVD. Not take a dip in a vat of acid.

Why does the item icon look like a carton of milk?

Aigis has a sniper rifle on her arm.

I hate insta kill spells.

I always wondered if Aigis's hair was real or not.

The Abyss Of Time has random stuff in it. I wonder where it comes from. Like why is it there? Do the shadows get bored and need something to read? Do they even have TVs and cable there?

Yukari has a cute nose.

Elizabeth powers up your Therergy?

That run though objects power works well.

Now if only we had Ryuji's R. 7/8 ability.

I like how Junpei counts the floors

When you run through enemies, shadow guts should go everywhere. I love Junpei's panic? face. 🤣🤣

Metis has no weaknesses?

I like how they toned down how shiny Horus is.

"Junpei smash". 🤣🤣

[antiloreolympus]

11 Anti LO Asks

1. I'm all for people wanting to embrace Greek culture, but there's something so off about Rachel posting about her drinking Greek wine and (claiming) she's learning the language when LO is nothing like Greece, its culture, and she refuses to listen to actual Greeks who want to help her salvage it to something a little accurate. Even her main "sources" are Romans and British people over the actual Greeks. No amount of eating their food makes her an expert, but it seems she thinks that's good enough

2. Hera, Hestia, and Demeter look more similar to each other with a "creator" who also shares a stark similar look to them yet aren't sisters, meanwhile we're supposed to buy a black and white and dark mageneta couple created brothers who are purple, green, and blue? like seriously? i get not every family member will end up the same color and all, but shouldn't there be some similarities? like even hephaestus has the same color at metis, yet hera isnt her daughter?? cmon.

3. I would have killed for LO to have actually been the romcom it was set out to be but also Hades was a single dad to Makaria (who seems to be his only actual myth canon kid) and he has to go parent with idk Leuce and her girlfriend Minthe but NOOOO that would just be too good of an idea.

4. I don't even get why the "modern" aspect of LO is just them being business owners, and not even specific ones? Like what goods do they sell? What services? Because i've seen other modern retelling where Hades is a funeral director, Hera is a marriage counselor, Demeter runs a farm, etc etc, so why isn't the modern aspect that? Because as it stands right now the world makes no sense and Hades run what, an dead version of Amazon with actual slave labor?

5. LMAO Hades in myth is more of a fertility goddess by LO's logic than Persephone is. According to Hesiod and Plato Hades "releasing" Persephone back to the land of the living and Demeter is what causes spring to happen and for plants to come alive again, not actually Persephone. IDK why Rachel had to gender something as universal as fertility (which she can't even pin down what that means in LO) but Hades and other gods like Zeus and Hermes are more fertility based than even most goddesses.

6. Technically having Persephone connected to Elysium isn't wrong, but this cultural worship was via ... Demeter, and a ton of other deities. It was Demeter's cult in Eleusis (Eleusinian Mysteries) that gave it's cult members access to it, though later poets made it more accessible to other great souls. Regardless, it was always seen as an ancient place, long before even Hades began ruling the Underworld. The fact LO is claiming it's actually Persephone's recent invention is wrong on many levels.

7. LO isn't the only one who does this but it does it most prominently in framing the Olympians as overrated, weak, fickle beings while the Underworld is ~cool~ and has the REAL power in it and HxP are actually are the real powerful ones and the Underworld is so much better. It's a "Not like the Other Girls" take but it's comparing the Underworld/HxP  to Olympus/Olympians. It's a super immature & juvenile look at mythology and I'm shocked RS being someone in her mid/late 30s buys right into it.

8. What I find so frustrating is with RS herself whining on Twitter about how she wishes she could write LO with "less drama and more simple" like?? Then do that?? No one forced her to overcomplicate the comic, that was entirely herself and it's now biting her back because she didn't plan ahead and the task is too daunting for her to handle. She acts as if she's being forced to do it when we know that's not the case. Seriously, RS, take some responsibility for yourself and stop blaming others.

9. LO Persephone can never be yass-ified bc that would require her to actually look somewhat like an adult and Rachel would never allow that.

10. i still do NOT get why the heads in LO have just massive chins jutting out while the backs of their heads are so small? even accounting for their necks the skull still juts out a lot from where the neck meets and its just?? not in the LO designs at all?? like do they not have brains? which actually now that i say that that explains why they all act so stupid 🤔

11. How can LO be feminist when it makes so much big deal of fertility than actual Greek myths do? What's up with RS with fertility mindset? Why does she make so much big deal about Hades can't making babies? Why does RS keep saying adoption is not family? Hera, Hestia, Demeter are "friends" despite raised together by same mother. The fact that RS changed sisters to friends is so insulting. What exactly is Thanatos to Hades even though Hades "took care" of him since he was young? Longtime Employee?

[littlegodzilla]

Howl TWD AU. Daryl Dixon x OFC 8/15

Hi!

Here I come again" Next chapter! They spent the night together but now is a new day so... What will happen? Everything will be the same? Maybe they'll change their relationship? Also we have a surprise... But It doesn't mean it's a good surprise...

Just come and read!

I hope you like it!!

Howl

Daryl Dixon x OFC.

Warnings(For the all series); AU. M, Smut, +18, hurt/comfrot, blood, violence, bad language, war plans, ABO references, Knot thing, a lot of references about werewolves mixed with my own imagination.

Warnings chapter: Bad language. Threats. War plans. Awkward situations.

Outside Narrator.

Words: 5200.

N/A: Yes, I know, I use Woodbury a lot in my stories, but Seasons 2 and 3 are my favorites and they can’t live in a prison…. Woodbury is the closest thing… and yes, Rick and Michonne are together because I love them and I miss them a lot, sorry if someone is unhappy about this.

N/A: The story will be published every Friday

Taglist: @phoenixblack89 @browneyes528 @pncnsc @purple-serenity @lilythemadqueen @twdeadfanfic @ruinedbythehobbit

Part 8.

He opens his eyes, he doesn't know exactly how long it's been, but the sun is already quite high and movement can be heard down the city street. Daryl grunts needing a moment to locate where he is and get his brain in order. Ixeia beside him sleeps peacefully, at some point they have rolled over and he finds himself hugging her waist. Careful not to wake her up, he sits up in the nest, sitting on the pile of cushions and sheets. The atmosphere is no longer so dull, but the scent of the young woman still lingers, announcing that her heat is near, he watches her sleep biting his lip repeatedly and rubs the hair on his chin. She has called him Alpha, but that is impossible, not with his condition. Metis are born sterile, there have never been exceptions, that he knows of, and it isn’t just that, an Alpha implies more than being able to have a litter, he's a leader, he's from a pure blood lineage, Daryl highly doubts his family has any of that, that his generation hasn't been mixed with other werewolves over the years. Nonetheless she was drawn to him, he has always picked up on her scent, he has always felt it calling to him, at first he thought it was normal, she was a female and in heat, but now there are many things, her heat only happens twice a year and in the months they have spent together, he has always felt a strong need to take care of her, to keep an eye on her.

An Alpha. It's impossible.

He tenses in his seat when he hears a knock at the door, looks to his side, but the young woman doesn't move. He gets up from the floor, grabbing his pants, gets dressed and walks to the door. He opens it and in front of him he discovers one of the men from town, he doesn't know what his name is, but he won't be much older than Shane or Rick. He frowns as he sees him nervous because he clearly wasn't expecting him there. He takes a few steps back on instinct and rubs the back of her neck.

"Excuse me... Are you at Ixeia's house?"

"Yeah, so what?" he grunts feeling his hair stand on end, squares his shoulders instinctively to look bigger.

"No, it's just... Is she home?" He hesitates to ask, but frowns at the other man's defiant tone, Daryl feels a new growl form in his throat.

"No, and ya'd better not show yer face around here again."

"Why not?" he tries to intimidate him but Daryl doesn't flinch.

"She's mine." He huffs and slams the door in his face leaving the man shocked.

He runs a hand through his hair tossing the strands of his bangs back. He is suddenly frustrated, why did he say that to him? She isn't his. The asshole had gone there with the intention of hitting on her? really? Right under his nose? Since when did the people of Woodbury take such an interest in her? He shakes his head wanting to shake off those thoughts. He is no one to stop her from making a life for herself. He breaks away from the door and returns to the dining room discovering that the young woman is awake, re-wearing last night's dress and smiling happy, her cheeks flushed. Daryl feels his own cheeks burning as well.

"Who was that?" She asks shyly even though she knows perfectly well who it was.

"No one, got the wrong house." He answers quickly and gestures with his shoulders, Ixeia laughs softly and nods. "I'm gonna get dressed, I have to go to work. I've neglected the cabin enough this mornin’."

"Okay..." The young woman's smile weakens a little, but Daryl doesn't say anything. He goes up to the room the young woman had prepared for him and gathers his clothes.

When he comes back down she waits for him on the side of the stairs, nervously playing with her hands. All of her smells of him and her own scent, it's a mixture that chokes his nose for a few seconds, but he doesn't dislike it at all.

"Take a shower." He tells her when he reaches her. "Ya smell too strong and that could be a problem." The wolf lowers her head and nods slightly.

"Sorry..." she whispers barely audible.

"Just take a shower, ya'll be more comfortable... see ya later." He says goodbye and leaves the house without another word.

The young woman stands there for a moment watching the front door. She feels that the first signs of her heat have subsided because Daryl has managed to calm her down, but she knows that when her heat is in full swing she will have trouble controlling herself and she doesn't want to upset the wolf, because he has clearly done her a favor, but he is still not interested in her as his mate. It's just been sex. She sighs at length feeling her skin itch and decides to take a shower as the hunter has recommended. Sex, maybe that's enough, if Daryl wants that from her, she can give it to him.

After showering she puts on clean clothes, cleans the dress Maggie has lent her and when it is clean returns to the farm to give it back to the young woman. On the way to the farm she again meets the man who has come to her house to see her. She smiles in a kindly way and stops until he reaches her height. The man looks around as if looking for someone and she can't help but laugh.

"He isn't here." She jokes and sees the man scratch the back of his neck.

"He was at your house, I thought..."

"We work together, but we don't..." she tries to explain although she doesn't know if it sounds believable since Daryl had opened the door shirtless. "Did you need something?"

"No! Nothing important, I mean... I wanted to talk to you, I felt like... well if you don't have plans of course, I felt like inviting you to dinner tonight." He shrugs and Ixeia looks at him in surprise.

"To dinner...?"

"Yes... we could have dinner and then maybe go to the cinema or for a walk..."

"Yeah, sure... I'd like that, sounds like fun." She smiles and the man smiles as well nodding.

"Okay, I'll swing by your place for dinner, okay?"

"Great, see you tonight." She waves goodbye to him and walks away again in the direction of the Greene's farm.

When she arrives at the farm the smile on her face is so wide she can't hide it. Maggie and Beth want to know what has happened to her, she doesn't know if she should tell them, but she feels that her stomach is clenching and the giggling is impossible to control, she is excited, so she ends up telling it to the Greene sisters, who can’t suppress a gesture of surprise and are happy for her, they offer to help her to get ready for that night, she nods her head and thanks them since she herself doesn’t know very well what to do for that dinner.

They aren’t the only ones to find out, after going to see the Greenes, she also stops by Carol's house as she needs some advice, she doesn't know how to treat other humans besides them, and they know what she is. Carol is surprised to know about her date, but even more surprised to know that she and Daryl have been together. She asks a lot, but doesn't look for too many details, she just wants to know exactly how it happened and if she's okay. Ixeia shrugs because she knows that's the way things are, she's content with that. Carol doesn't seem to agree with the latter, but doesn't say anything, the young woman is going on a date with another boy in town, maybe that's a good thing.

In the afternoon, Maggie, Beth, Carol and Michonne are at the she-wolf's house to help her get ready. Ixeia isn't quite sure how Michonne found out about her date but she's pretty sure it was Carol who tipped her off. After taking a bath again, the she-wolf starts to freak out and isn't sure if having the women there was a good idea; Beth has started to do her hair, pulling her hair, making it into a nice but simple, she has pulled her hair into a ponytail, she has curled her hair into nice ringlets that fall over her shoulders, she has several loose strands around her face, Maggie is showing her several different dresses to choose from, Carol is explaining how she should act that night, she reminds her of the manners at mealtime and to have fun and Michonne keeps asking questions about everything that happened when they left her house, she is a little embarrassed but she tells again what happened getting everyone to shut up and listen to it again, apparently it is a very peculiar event.

The door rings, they all get nervous and even the she-wolf feels her body shaking wanting to hide in her nest. The dress is pretty, with long puffed sleeves, with the cuff tight at the wrist, slightly tight to the knees, she is wearing black stockings and high boots. They have tried to put make-up on her but she has refused, remembering her bad experience.

"Come on, open up." She gives Ixeia a little push and Maggie walks to the door, her fingers trembling as she opens it and she smiles nervously at the man waiting for her on the other side.

"Wow, you look beautiful." He compliments her and she blushes.

"Thank you..."

"Shall we go?" he offers and she nods looking at her friends who give her a thumbs up gesture, laughs and waves goodbye to them walking out of the house.

The women stay a little longer to pick up everything they have used while fixing up the house, it's not bad, they don't know if the she-wolf will bring her date home that night either, but they prefer to close the living room door so she can't see the nest she has built. When they leave everything ready they decide to leave there feeling curious about how the date will go.

How would Daryl take it?

"What?" the Ranger raises his head from his paperwork when Carol shows up that morning, too soon, telling him the town gossip.

"That Ixeia had a date yesterday." Repeats the gray-haired woman and has to stifle a chuckle when she sees Daryl make a confused gesture.

"A date? What did she tell ya?" He suddenly tenses up remembering the morning they had spent together, maybe the she-wolf had told Carol about their little moment. At the thought, he feels his cheeks flush.

"Nothing yet, they went to dinner so I haven't had a chance to talk to her yet." She comments with a shrug and Daryl's confusion grows by the minute.

"To dinner? With who?"

"Oh, Derek, it's a neighbor boy of hers; he's kind of cute." She dares to add and sees him frown because he remembers who he is; the same asshole who showed up in the morning asking about her. He clenches his jaw and shakes his shoulders.

"Well, I guess she's settlin’ in..."

"Yeah, it looks that way. I think they'd make a good couple..."

"Yeah, if he doesn't mind fleas." He mumbles annoyed realizing he isn’t able to concentrate on what he's doing.

"They didn't seem to bother you." He hears her friend say again and his gaze shoots to her, Carol just shrugs. "You've been working together since her pack left her, you tolerate her more or at least it seemed that way."

"What do ya want, Carol?" He huffs jadedly looking at her friend, leaning his head on his hand in boredom.

"Nothing, I just wanted you to know." She smiles with mock innocence and bids him farewell to return to her own chores.

Daryl spends the rest of the morning pondering. He doesn't have much to do because in winter the woods aren't as busy, which allows him to think more, maybe too much. What does he care if that guy asked her out? He's no one to stop him, in fact he feels stupid for telling him she was his, even though the guy hadn't stopped him from insisting...which didn't say something very good about him. At least in Daryl's eyes. If he tried it with someone who was supposedly with someone else, who wasn't to say he'd end up cheating on her? He stirs in his chair shaking his leg as he nervously. Before he's conscious, he gets up and slams the door of the cabin.

He's carrying a big grudge on his back.

Ixeia likes talking to Derek, he's funny and always has something new to tell, which for her isn't unusual since she's still learning about humans. Dinner was nice, he invited her to a nice restaurant at the end of Woodbury's main street, there weren't many people there that night, but those who were there didn't take their eyes off them. Although everyone was accepting of the young lady, it was evident that there was still some reticence with her and to see him with one of the young men in town, was quite a novelty. She had always moved more with the group of teenagers, Henry, Carl, Enid, even Lydia, with the Greene family or at the Grimes' house, she didn't have a very wide social relationship with anyone else, Shane and Andrea had sometimes shown some interest after discovering what she was, but after what happened at the farm they seemed not to want to know anything more about their new friend, maybe too scared of what could happen, none of them knew that in fact it had been Daryl who had caused all that.

Still, she had a good time, Derek was chatty but funny, he always stopped to ask her something and when she told him something, even if it sounded ridiculous he smiled and laughed with her, comfortable with the situation. Ixeya doesn't know much about human courtship, all the couples she knows were already together when she came to town, so she doesn't know how they act, but Maggie gave her some clues to defend herself and she is sure that the attention the man is putting on her is partly because he wants to try to impress her, maybe some of what she is telling him might sound curious to him, but there is also self interest in seeming excited by his words.

However, the she-wolf didn't feel that way about him, not just because he didn't have any lycanthropic ties in his blood, the man was attractive; strong build, developed and exercised muscles, beautiful blue eyes and tall, no doubt if she had pups with him they would born strong and healthy, but Ixeia highly doubts she will ever trust him enough to accept her and tell him what she is, besides that, how would he react once he knew? She can't put them all at risk just because the man is curious about her. On the other hand, if he really wanted to continue to bond with her in some way, maybe she could appease her heat with him, leave Daryl alone and calm down with what the human could offer her.

She feels wrong to think about that, using the man only for her own gain is cruel, she doesn't want to hurt him. Carol has explained to her that sometime humans are simpler than they seem at first, that sex without commitment comes very naturally to them, but she still doesn't feel comfortable with it, however with Daryl she hadn't been able to put up any resistance and she could consider it sex without commitment as well. She is confused, she hasn't been human for too long and there are many things she still has a hard time understanding and assimilating, for her a sexual partner is also her mate for life, yes, in her pack she had been used as a band-aid for all the males in her pack, her and her sisters, but it was the role she had to play, in her pack she was never going to form her own litter and now that she had the chance, she felt she didn't want to be with just any man who came near her. She knew what she wanted, even though it was impossible.

"Ixeia!" she hears Derek's voice call out to her and she startles looking up looking for the man. She is walking home after talking to Carol, when she arrived at the woman's house all the others were there waiting to hear about her date, she had been a little overwhelmed, but they all seemed glad to hear she had fun. She smiles and greets Derek with a gentle nod.

"Good morning..." She whispers as the man reaches her position.

"Good morning, can I help you with that?" he offers as he sees the young woman loaded down with several boxes and bags, Carol had made him food for the rest of the week and Maggie had given him some of the dresses she no longer wore.

"Thank you." She can handle it all, but again she remembers her friends' words, that sometimes you have to let men feel useful so you don't lose their attention. She hands him one of the bags of clothes and a box with some lunch boxes and they walk home.

"I had fun at the cinema last night." The man comments with some hesitation in his voice, he clearly doesn't know how to make conversation.

"Me too, thank you so much for inviting me, I've never gone to the cinema before." She confesses to him and seeing him surprised face she clears her throat looking for a lie in her mind. "Here, in Woodbury..."

"Yeah, sure, it isn’t a very big, flashy cinema, but at least we can say we have a cinema." He jokes and she laughs with him a little forced. "Do you want to meet up for the weekend? We could go out and take a walk, I know a nice clearing to camp in the woods..." He offers and she looks at him with surprise and laughs a little.

"In the woods? What about the animals?"

"Do they scare you? I thought you worked with Dixon doing patrols sometimes…"

"And I help him, sometimes..." Talking about Daryl brings a small knot to her stomach and she feels her cheeks redden. "But yes, you're right, I like the idea."

"Okay, perfect... The truth is I didn't know if I could ask you." He comments looking at her a little hurriedly, she frowns in confusion and Derek shrugs. "In case you had to work or something."

"Oh no, it's fine...Daryl doesn't need me." she whispers the latter averting his gaze.

They arrive at the she-wolf's house and Derek insists on helping her set things up in the kitchen, the conversation in pleasant and enjoyable, the man is really trying hard to get her attention somehow. She walks him to the door and the brunet leans in giving her a kiss on the cheek as a goodbye. Ixeia gets stuck in the door frame, her eyes wide open. She blushes and lowers her head with a small smile. Derek says goodbye, promising to pick her up early Saturday morning, although she knows they will continue to see each other throughout the week since they are neighbors and regularly coincide, but Saturday is a date.

They stop at the edge of the forest, the scent of a male wolf is intense from where they are, however it comes mixed with other smells more, humans, a whole town, the wolf seems to be hiding among them, or at least it did before, because if scent is intense in that area. The wolves look at each other, growling low, waiting for orders of what to do. They should howl and report that they are there, let the adult male know that they are going to enter his territory, but with his permission or without it, they are going to cross, however none of them moves. One of them takes on his human form, a man with tan skin, not very tall and short black hair, he is only a soldier but he has taken control of that small patrol as his pack. He remains silent for a few seconds listening to the sound of the forest, everything is quiet, but the soft scent of a young Omega reaches his nose. He half smiles and nods his head.

"Looks to me like we've found her trail, come on boys, we have a mission to accomplish."

The rest of the wolves growl and follow his wolf form, not far behind, somewhat slower, a three legged wolf follows him limping, a strange gleam glint glinting in his eyes.

Daryl arrives at the cabin leaving his bike parked to the side of the cabin, his brow still furrowed from this morning, he hates having to turn his head so much, he doesn't like to think things over, he knows it's not his fault, or at least he thinks it isn't, Carol has put her finger in the wound and he can't stop scratching around making the wound deeper. He huffs pissed off heading for his front door when he sees them. He is blocked in his path, or rather he is blocked by a man surrounded by several wolves looking at him menacingly, head down, baring his teeth. How had he not noticed their presence before? Instinctively his hands go to the crossbow he always carries with him, no matter if he goes to town or to the forest, when he puts on the uniform, the crossbow is part of him. The man raises his arms in a sign of peace and the wolves seem to relax a bit, but Daryl doesn't let his guard down.

"This is amazing." Smiles the man advancing a few steps. "I thought I'd seen rare and genuine things, but the world certainly never ceases to amaze me." He says with a crooked, mocking smile. Daryl snorts through his nose.

"I don't think I've given ya permission to enter in my territory; if yer just passin’ through ya can leave now, ya ain’t welcome."

"How rude, man, I was just flattering you, because you see... What are the chances of finding a fertile, Alpha-conditioned Metis? I thought one, but no, now I've got another one in front of me and this is fucking awesome." The man laughs and Daryl's body tenses visibly, he doesn't know what he's talking about.

"Seems to me yer wrong, man..."

"Yeah? Whoa... Hey, Merle! Isn't this your brother?" He calls out in a bark to one of his own and Daryl's eyes widen.

His whole body jerks violently and his face pales as, among the wolves, a man clearly older than him appears, his intense blue gaze bores into him, he doesn't look very good, the years have not been kind to him, but it's him, he would recognize his scent, his scent anywhere. The man smirks raising his arm with his hand missing and Daryl steps back a few paces, still in shock.

"Hey little brother, is that the welcome yer gonna give me?"

"Merle?" he gasps in confusion, "But... I thought ya were dead..."

"I'm immortal, lil' brother, it'll take a lot more to finish me off." Jokes the man, he steps towards his brother, but he backs away again, raises his crossbow and the wolves behind Merle stand on guard. "Whoa, what's the matter, man, ain't ya gonna give yer brother a hug?"

"Sorry, but ya disappeared almost over a hundred years ago, I ain’t quite sure what kind of brother ya’re..."

"Ya know I had to leave, that herd was makin’ our lives miserable, they drove our mother and father crazy."

"They were already like that, it was no one's fault but their own." He growls low. "What are ya all doin’ here? I doubt it's a reconciliation visit."

"I see your brother is as smart as you are." Jokes the other man and steps up to Merle's height. "We're looking for the Omega, we know she got lost around here." He shrugs and Daryl tenses his jaw biting the insides of his cheeks, his mind working at full speed to think of what he could say to that. He shakes himself and lowers the crossbow for a second.

"Yes, she was here, but she left." He lies decisively, not taking his eyes off both men. "Her people tried to attack the humans in this village and suffered the consequences... After that she left too." He lies again, wishing his words sounded believable enough for them to leave as well.

"Really? That's a shame... We needed to recruit her, but if she's out there, I don't think it'll take us long to find her." Merle says looking at his partner, he nods absentmindedly.

"It's possible, would you let us rest here for a few days?"

"No." He answers crisply and he laughs.

"We've been on the road for many days, man, plus you've just been reunited with your brother."

"I said no; ya have entered my territory without my permission, ya dare to come to me and threaten me with yer fuckin' lap dogs, sorry, but no. Get the fuck out of here, ya can stay at the edge of the territory if ya wanna, that's no longer up to me, but if ya stay here ya'll meet the same fate as the fellow Omega's ya seek." He growls with clear threat in his voice, the man is about to reply, but Merle stops him, his brother has seen what Daryl is capable of when he's in Berserker mode, he saw it in his own pack, it's best not to underestimate him.

"Let's go, we'll do as he tells us, we'll look for the Omega around the territory, maybe it isn’t too far yet." He insists pushing his companion.

"Very well, but first let me make you an offer, Dixon." He lets go of Merle. "Join us, we are in war times, we need good soldiers and you seem to be one of them, even your brother seems to be afraid of you."

"Wartime? I've been here for years and no one has bothered me before than yer damned subjects and ya, who is mobilizin' this war and against whom?"

"Against the Elders." Daryl's eyebrows shoot up in a gesture of complete surprise. "Those decrepit old men are killing the bloodline of our people, there are fewer and fewer of us, more and more wolves are mating with human females and we are slowly dying out through the compliments of ignorance and hatred of the unknown."

"That's bullshit, ya won't be able to touch the Elders, they’re protected by the Council, they’re the most powerful wolves of all the races left standin’, ya will never reach them."

"That's why they need us, brother." Merle then speaks and a snort of derision escapes his little brother's mouth. "We can make new soldiers, we are head of the pack, we are leaders, it has never happened before, why now Gaia has given us this power? She wants things to change."

"She doesn't want shit, the war decisions between us are only a product of the desire for more power, we were born this way by a fluke, Gaia hasn't chosen us for anythin’." He shakes his head, feeling anger stir inside him. "Get out of here, ya ain’t welcome." He insists once more.

"Ya’re sorely mistaken, brother, and soon it will be yer turn to choose sides, I hope ya choose well." Merle tells him before slowly walking away with the group of wolves they have come with.

He stands there watching them go, his fingers twitching nervously on the crossbow, there are five wolves plus the man and his brother, not a very large pack, possibly a scouting and tracking group. He doesn't know if what his brother has told him is true or not, but they are clearly making some move against the Elders and he doesn't like it. When they are far enough away to let his guard down, he goes into the cabin to call his companions and warn them, however as he enters the office, he sees movement and raises his crossbow again. Rick comes out of hiding with one hand raised and another on his own weapon. There are a few seconds of tension and the wolf is the first to relax.

"Fuck, what are ya doin’ here?"

"I was coming to bring you some permits, but those guys showed up and... Was that guy really your brother?" Daryl nods his head uncomfortably. "Didn't you say he was dead?"

"And I thought he was dead. It's been over a hundred years without seeing him, what did ya think I thought?" He snorts in annoyance at the question and the sheriff raises his hands in peace.

"Okay, calm down, do we have to worry?"

"Yes, I've told them to get the hell out of here, but I don't think they'll listen to me, so... we'll have to prepare, I wanted to call ya so you'll be alert and not let Ixeya come to the forest."

"Why don't you talk to her?"

"Because I told them she isn’t here, I can't risk them sniffing her out."

"Okay, I guess you're right, I thought you were avoiding her." He shrugs and Daryl looks at him with a frown.

"Why would I be avoidin’ her?"

"Well... Michonne's been telling me things..." The sheriff looks sideways at him and feels his cheeks turn red.

"I didn't think she was gonna tell it out there..."

"And what did you expect? They're her friends, she's had a crush on you since she showed up in town and you finally paid attention to her, it was obvious she had to tell someone." Rick jokes and Daryl shrugs shaking his head.

"I heard she had a date with another guy in town, I dun think she has that much of a 'crush' on me." He curses mentally because his voice has sounded more pissed than he intended. Rick smiles and opens his mouth wanting to respond to that, but is muted when he realizes they're not alone.

"Daryl... I think we have company..." He whispers without taking his eyes off the cabin door.

The wolf tenses, he hasn't sensed their presence, but now a familiar scent comes to his nose. He gestures to the sheriff to be quiet but the sheriff doesn't take his hand off his holster either. Daryl slowly turns to face whoever is at the door. He is surprised to discover three men on the other side, looking serious but seeming impatient for the Ranger to open up. He frowns as he recognizes the scent the three give off. He knows who they are.

They belonged to Ixeia's pack.

To be Continued...

Next Chapter Previous chapter

See you in the next chapter!!

[ladyimaginarium]

NAME: Angel / אנג'ל / Aanzhenii / ᐋᓐᔐᓃ.

PRONOUNS: any pronouns ; preferably he/him, she/her, they/them, it/its ( unless if you're white or I& will destroy you ), fae/faer, wiiya/wiiyawow & indigenous & plural pronouns & neopronouns.

AGE: 22 / XXII ( Biological & Chronological Age ) ; 4-8 ( Little Age ) ; 19 ( Traumastuck Chronosian Age ) ; True Age varies from infancy to infinity.

BIRTHDAY: july 13th.

ETHNICITY: indigenous "canadian" / mixed white, native ( mi'kmaq, wolastoqiyik, abenaki, metis & huron-wendat ) & ashkenazi jewish. ( however due to staying inside so much & my& white seeming appearance, i’ve been assumed / mistaken as white or a vampire - person. lmao )

TIME ZONE: EST.

STAR SIGN: cancer sun ; sagittarius moon ; libra rising ; leo venus.

MBTI: INFP.

MORAL ALIGNMENT: a bit of a neutral good & true neutral ( dont test me& bitch )

HOGWARTS HOUSE: ravenpuff. not that it matters bc fuck jkr.

[ EXPERIENCE ]

HOW LONG (MONTHS/YEARS?): 14 yrs. ( considering last year & this one, usually on discord, will soon be 15 years by the end of the year & into 2023 )

PLATFORMS YOU’VE USED: used to rp back in forums. also used to rp in-game on impressive title servers like royal skies & last moon & feralheart then moved into tumblr & here i& am, usually on discord these days.

BEST EXPERIENCE:  meeting peeps i& would always gush & pterodactyl screeching about various fandoms we’re both into ; also making friends that’ll last a lifetime <3

[ WRITING PREFERENCES ]

FLUFF, ANGST OR SMUT?: fluff & angst. smut? i& can definitely do but that comes w/ chemistry & not to mention im& arospec & acespec so its like. not smth i& do all the time at all.

PLOTS OR MEMES: BOTH!!!!

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES: it depends on my writing mood, i& don’t mind both tho.

BEST TIME TO WRITE: mostly night in my& case. sometimes morning. depends on writing mood again or if im& not easily distracted.

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S): it depends on the muses but understand that my& muses are my& introjects now & are part of our& system & for the most part quite frankly always have been before my& syscovery; they were either just pretending to be muses or they developed a mind of their own. they're& all living, breathing individuals who all have their own goals, dreams, passions, ambitions, hobbies & fears & are dynamic individuals capable of reasoning & thought process, they tend to experience ideas & qualities of myself& from time to time, intentionally or not because when you share a brain that's what tends to happen, so basically don't be surprised if you see repeating behaviors in many of them or they stray from their personalities somewhat. all of them are dynamic, not stagnant, and they will not always remain the same, just like you & me&.

tagged by: nobody lmfao

tagging: @dethqveen @phantasmagcrical & whoever else wants to :V

[stirdrawsandreblaws]

omg psykarion has the coolest name, PLEASE tell me about them

!!! :D Psykarion is one of my ttrpg characters; the game is Werewolf: the Apocalypse, but in a historical setting (specifically centered in Roman-occupied Britannia during the Hadrian era 130 CE). Psykarion is a mokolé, which is basically a were-lizard/dragon. The mokole are basically living cloud servers because they have access to Mnesis, which is a combination of the memories of every other mokole that ever lived, as well as the "memory" of old places with high spiritual impact, which is how he is a 20 year old that also basically lived through the sacking of Carthage. Lots of emotional issues from that and other things, haha

His name means "little breath" or "little soul" in Greek. He has several aliases though, and spends a lot of time crossdressing and changing identities while traveling from place to place. One of the (now-dead) npcs called him a word that basically meant gender-witch lmao, and he loved it, much to her dismay

I've posted art of him before in my draws tag but fuck it here's a comp of Game Doodles i did ages ago

I can't go into too much detail about his past because some of the other players might see his Backstory Secrets but: he is a freedman who used to be an actor, and believes he might be the last were-dragon left in the world after the Wars of Rage (basically the werewolves attempted genocide of all the other shapeshifters and succeeded at wiping out a few, like were-bats)

So he's been searching for others like him to confirm whether or not that's true; for a while he would shift into his suchid form (which is a long-extinct Greek monitor lizard, abt 3 ft long, unlike his 20ft archid "were-dragon" form which is actually still smallish for a mokolé) and hide in semi-hibernation amid boat cargo to avoid paying for transport, but he got discovered after leaving Gaul while in Lizard Torpor and was captured by these dudes who thought he was a land crocodile and tried to sell him as a cure for blindness (he went along with this because hey free travel and food, even if it's just raw rats and eggs or whatever, and he could go unnoticed by other turnskins...though that does mean he had his eyes gouged out a few times, he healed, which just cemented their belief in his value and got him better food for a while...which he decided was worth it, oof). So yeah. This was fine until he found out these new people who were buying him outright were werewolves planning to burn him alive in the hopes of restoring sight to a metis werewolf baby (that was born blind) for Sacrificial Curse reasons

Which means he was already plotting his escape when he overheard the other player characters investigating, and recognized the voice of someone he knew from his acting days (another actor named Pallas)...then escaped and went to find him and beg him for help before the horrible british winter killed his cold-blooded and mediterranean-born ass lmao

Which he got, after an interrogation by their kindly pack-totem, Mammoth (and oh how he wept for joy at that meeting!! Both of these creatures who have witnessed ages long past, now alone in a world moving on without them, but trying to endure all the same...!!!) Then he ended up going with these werewolves and their were-raven packmate (that he affectionately refers to as sun-sister) to stop the curse... and also to escape all the other werewolves who decided they were honor-bound to kill and dissect him lol. They managed to save the metis baby (though it still probably won't have a good end) and escaped to Cyrenaica because he was able to help their totem make a moon-bridge there via mnesis.

He and Pallas had a sort of weird mutual obsession at the time they met, and it turns out they still do, though their relationship is pretty fraught now since he found out Pallas is a Fancy Boy werewolf (high-purebreed silver fang, though he rejected his heritage and got cut the fuck up as a result)

Every other pic ive drawn of them together is a violation of tumblr tos so:

He's also short and full of rage, which means he fits right in with the werewolves for the most part, and that galls him a little. Still, they saved his life, and he theirs, and despite everything he sorta loves them all...

Alas he's going to say goodbye soon, and live basically a hermit life in what remains of the garden of the hesperides (which in our game is an ancient mokole wallow), and sometimes work with a small pack of sympathetic werewolves and a were-lion in Cyrene...also probably trying to hunt down kinfolk to breed more mokole with lol

Gonna just end this with more old shitpost doodles:

I love a him

[theslightestwords]

[Image description:

7 Images created by @leadingincolour (on instagram). Each of them have a red background with a tan circle in the middle. The bottom left shows their logo: two arrows in the shape of an "L" with the words "in colour" along the bottom line of the "L." The bottom left shows their username, "@leadingincolor," in black text.

Inside these 7 circles it states:

1. “ANTI-INDIGENEITY IN RACIALIZED COMMUNITIES & WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT" with a small maple leaf above it.

2. "Our racialized* families came to Canada either to seek new opportunities or because they were fleeing for their lives. We can honour these histories while also recognizing that in either case, the reason why we were able to do so is explicitly because of the on-going genocide against First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities by the Canadian state." Below this it states "*this excludes the Black communites whose histories are with enslaved peoples in Canada"

3. "The 'eternal debt' we are taught to repay to the state to prove our worth as Canadians and validate citizenship is misplaced. This debt is owned to Indigenous peoples whose lands we have inhabited without consent, benefiting from their oppression and defending the oppressor for our gain."

4. "CHALLENGE THESE NARRATIVES"

5. -""It's not our fault" - we inherently benefit from Canadian systems of oppression and actively participate in them for our benefit, as such we need to be held responsible for our roles.

-"Canada took me in" - and now Canada uses this as leverage to continue to oppressing Indigenous communities for your benefit, pitting BIPOC communities against one another is not a new tactic.

-"We didn't know" - use this as an educational moment and teach those in your community who don't have the same access to information that you do."

6. -""We can't do anything" - this is an excuse, Indigenous communities have been mobilizing for ages - there is *always* something we can actively do to participate, financially support, demand justice or demonstrate solidarity.

-"We came here for better" - while this may hold validity, what does it mean for us to actively choose (after learning the truth) our own prosperity and that of our communities over the survival and livelihood of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit communities? In Canada, do we see ourselves closer to the oppressor than the oppressed? How is this different than how we see ourselves in our ancestral lands?"

7. "Some racialized communities are hesistant to participate in efforts of resistance and criticism for fear of retribution from the state, based on their own lived experiences, particularly our elders. This is an opportunity for racialized youth to step up and take the lead. Those of us who were born in colonial Canada benefit beyond just citizenship statusm we often claim identity of being Canadians and as such, much reconcile with what that identity meeans, who it benefits and how vs. who is oppressed and how."]

@allthecanadianpolitics​

[bio-nerds-corner]

Ooooo I wanna know about blue!

:D!! ok ok ok ill talk a lil bit about the environment that it takes place in.

I set this story in a.. somewhat distant future where asteroid mining is common, and a large amount of humanity now lives in space stations of various kinds throughout the solar system. asteroid mines are least expensive when you have an army of robots mining it and many one or two people there to keep an eye on the robots. its also ridiculously lonely :(

wilbur accepted a job as an asteroid mining technician because it gives really good money, and well paying job prospects on crowded space stations tend to be far and few in between.

heres what he gets to live in for three entire years

(edited with a larger picture)

(apologies for the splotch, i accidentally put the edge of it on a piece of wood i swear wasnt that oily!)

its a bit of a mess, but basically theres 3 layers to it - a living quarters where the heating also resides, the main area that contains the space suits, food supplies, and other air-reliant storage, and the bottom area which is a giant garage made up of an air-tight area, and a spaced area. the entire place is entirely zero-g (makes it rough to write body language ill tell you that ;P) because the asteroid, 9-metis, isnt nearly massive enough to generate enough for him to feel it. thus, things are strapped to ceilings and walls and theres no ladders, all you have to do is climb up the wall to get to the upper areas.

at least hes not entirely alone.................

[sirenspells]

Dude pls tell me about ur aus I'm curious as heck wjdjjdnwjdje

Oh god this is such a broad question I have a million AUs nfjfnfjfg, you have no idea of the floodgates you’ve just opened. I’ll try to list them off with a summary of what each ones about. This is going to get so long please beware

P3 Chariot/Fool Swap AU: Pretty standard “Aigis and the Arisatos switch roles” AU. Aigis is a human girl named Aiko who’s the leader of SEES. Minato and Hamuko are two anti shadow weapons who were built around the same time and both join SEES together. Metis and Ryoji also switch roles (and by extension, Thanatos and Psyche as well). Minato is the one who inherits Aiko’s wildcard power during the answer and Hamuko is...not happy about that since she believe her and Aiko were closer.

Pokemon Ultra Moon/Persona Crossover: This is an AU I haven’t posted about in a long time, but it’s basically Pokemon Ultra Moon but with Persona characters. The overall plot stays relatively the same, but little changes are made here and there. Akira can be considered the main protagonist, but Yu, Hamuko, and Minato are also main characters. Yu basically takes Hau’s role, Hamuko takes Lillie’s, and Minato takes Gladion’s. Ikutsuki takes Lusamine’s role so he’s basically the main villain. This AU also has a “sequel story” of sorts that’s based on Pokemon Platinum, where Sunako and Azami (my fanmade femcs) are the main characters.

P5 Robot AU: Akira and Goro are anti shadow weapons. In this AU, Wakaba is part of the Kirijo Group and Shido forced her and some other people to create two personal humanoid weapons for him in secret. Basically, both Akira and Goro were conducting mental shutdowns on Shido’s orders, but Akira slowly realizes how wrong it is and tries to rebel, but Goro puts him in his place and trashes him. By the time he’s discovered in the main story, he’s lost all of his memories and has reverted back to having no emotions, though like Aigis, he slowly becomes more human as the story progresses. Also, Ryuji’s the wildcard and the phantom thieves’ leader.

My Persona rewrite/Frisky’s Persona rewrite: The name isn’t really accurate, it’s the best I could think of and it may as well be true lol. Persona but lots of characters who died get to live (Shinjiro, Ryoji, the Arisatos, Chidori, Zen and Rei), some characters are now Persona users (Shiho, Yuuki), and other random stuff like the water element existing now cause I just want them to use it again atlus please. Also big part of this AU and the biggest reason I hesitate to call it a “rewrite” is cause some of the p3 characters are now the (adopted) parents of some p5 characters. This was the AU’s original point then other stuff got added as it went on lmao.

Shadow Protag Adventures: During PQ2, all of the wildcard’s Shadows decide they are going to work together and cause problems on purpose. They all create their own movie (it’s not really a movie like the other ones but for the sake of the theatre they’re in then yeah) and kidnap the leaders so that the rest of the Persona users have to traverse through their dungeon without their “precious leaders”. The Shadows have the ability to shapeshift and use it to hide their true identities until the very end, using their teammates forms instead to toy with them.

Robot Revival AU: 6 years after Persona 3′s ending, Minato, Hamuko, and Ryoji are freed from being the seal/being sealed and revived into robot bodies. They attend Shujin Academy with Ken and Labrys, and get caught up in the goings on of the Metaverse. They end up sort of becoming a second set of phantom thieves that just explore Mementos (I call them the Shadow Executives but that name might change, it’s more of a placeholder if anything atm), but they do end up meeting the actual Phantom Thieves and joining up with them. Also, Akira’s hometown is Tatsumi Port Island, and he was friends with Minato and Hamuko when they were alive, so the first time he sees them at Shujin he’s like “what the fuck what the fu”

P3 Monster AU: All of SEES are mythical creatures. In this AU, there’s no Personas, and monsters exist, but most humans aren’t aware of their existence. I plan to reveal what monster each member of SEES is as I draw them, but right now they are:

Minato - gargoyle/phoenix (I’m indecisive and I like both of these choices so this AU kinda has two versions. The gargoyle version is probably the one I focus more on, though)

Hamuko - siren

Junpei - demon

Yukari - faerie

Akihiko - dragon

Mitsuru - vampire

Shinjiro - werewolf

And today I casually revealed that Ryoji’s an angel in the tags of a post but is anyone really surprised by that

P4 FEMC/P5 FEMC: Putting these in the same slot cause they’re basically the same concept. Persona 4 and Persona 5, but if they had a female protagonist. P4′s is Azami Narukami, she’s edgy and it takes a bit for her to open up at first, preferring to stay quiet and serious. P5′s is Sunako Kurusu, starts out very shy and quiet but around people she likes she’s very bubbly and cheery. I love them both so much.

Minato is Death: This is kind of like a Minato/Ryoji swap, but with a twist. It’s Arisato twins, but Minato dies in the car crash with their parents, and Aigis seals Death within Hamuko. Due to Hamuko’s grief about her brother dying and wanting to see him again, she subconsciously shapes Death’s human form so that it looks like Minato and how she’d imagined he’d be like if he’d gotten a chance to grow up. Ryoji is human in this AU and was childhood friends with the twins, and his family raises Hamuko after the accident.

Devil Survivor Shadows/Personas AU: A devil survivor au where the Shadows and Personas from the persona series are incorporated into it. Demons are still a thing, and those without a Persona could still potentially fight through COMPs/cellphones, but Shadows are explicitly creatures born from the collective unconscious, and accepting your Shadow gives you a Persona.

Plume of Dusk Minato AU: Similarly to Sho Minazuki from p4 arena ultimax, Minato is experimented on by the Kirijo Group and a Plume of Dusk is implanted into his brain, causing a second soul to be born within him, that being Ryoji. Long after they’ve escaped from the lab, Minato/Ryoji joins Strega, but midway through p3′s story they leave and join SEES.

[mythologyfolklore]

101 Greek Mythology head-canons that have little to nothing to do with the “canon”

(These headcanons merely involve my own interpretation of G.M. and the way it’s depicted in my story. It’s okay, if you don’t like them, but please do refrain from nagging into my ears about it, because these are headcanons!)

1. Ares is both Zeus’ oldest and his only legitimate son (Hephaistos is Hera’s son alone, so he doesn’t count). Sometimes he rubs it into his half-siblings’ faces out of spite. The only ones excluded are the Horai (Eunomia, Dike and Eirene) and Athena, because they're (kind of) older and have been born (or conceived) in wedlock.

2. Ares and Zeus have kind of a parental love-hate relationship. Because ... well, it’s Zeus.

3. Athena has a bitter rivalry with both Ares and Poseidon going on. But they do get along sometimes.

4. The Kronides (Hestia, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera and Zeus) have a feeling of reverence towards Athena’s mother Metis. It’s one of the reasons why she’s Zeus’ favourite child.

5. I went with Hesiod’s Theogony on their family tree, so Aphrodite is the sole daughter of the sky Ouranos (or more specifically of his privy parts). That makes her the half-sister of the Titanes and aunt to the 1st-generation-Olympians. Thus she’s the oldest member of the Olympian Twelve (the Dodekatheoi).

6. Aphrodite dresses in pink or red most of the time, but her favourite colour is actually blue. Only Ares, Hephaistos and Athena know this.

7. Every time a god/dess is born, the Moirai (the Fates) and the Protogenoi (primordial gods) come to attend the birth, determine their later life and tasks and grant them the powers required. Most of the Protogenoi typically attend births invisibly, so that only Zeus, Hades and Hekatê can see them.

8. Hera and Zeus have a cold love for each other. They’re still married, because he needs a queen and no one else wants to be. And Hera can watch over the family better this way.

9. Hera is in retirement from being a jealous psycho wife. Now she just gives hell to Zeus, as annoying him is fun, if you can get away with it. Nowadays she’s a bitch for other reasons.

10. Poseidon isn’t the wisest of the three brothers, but he often mediates between Hades and Zeus, when things get bad between them. Over time he has gotten really good at it.

11. The Olympians have three collective no-goes: violation of the laws of hospitality, family murder and cannibalism. For obvious reasons.

12. Hephaistos, Ares and Aphrodite have long moved on from the golden net incident. Hephaistos has divorced Aphrodite and remarried. The three have a platonic affection for each other and joke about the shipwreck that’s Hephaistos’ and Aphrodite’s failed marriage.

13. Aphrodite is secretly a badass. She also has a more of her father in her than anyone could imagine. She keeps it from everyone, because she’s too afraid of what Zeus might do, if he finds out. The only ones who have a hunch are Hephaistos, Ares and Athena.

14. Ares was actually supposed to become a god of vegetation and fertility, when he was born. But no thanks to a curse from Gaia, he got bound to become a god of war instead. He does have green fingers though and secretly likes gardening.

15. Aphrodite had no serious relationship with any other than Ares, but Adonis came pretty close. Ares killed the poor guy out of jealousy, which obviously made Aphrodite upset.

16. Metis still exists. She lives on inside Zeus’ subconsciousness and has born the prophesied son that is destined to surpass Zeus. But they can’t get out, because Zeus placed a seal on his mind, after Athena broke out of his head.

17. Demeter wasn’t actually upset about Persephone marrying Hades. She was angry that it happened without her consent; she’s Persephone’s mother after all. But since things have been cleared up, she gets along with Hades comparatively well.

18. If you make Hestia, Hebe or Harmonia upset, the Olympians will collectively hunt you down and fuck you up.

19. The Greek pantheon is in contact with other panthea. Zeus does most of the international politics.

20. Dionysos once wanted to make it rain wine during Athena’s birthday party. But he messed up the spell and it rained pineapples instead.

21. Ares is possessed by a demon. To be specific by Polemos, the personification and spirit of war itself. It’s one of the reasons why he’s so crazy, but he has learned to deal with it. To him, Polemos is mostly that annoying voice in his head. He can allow the Daimon to take over, but rarely does, because he doesn’t want anyone to know about him and because he fears, that Polemos might harm his loved ones.

22. Hephaistos likes to set people’s hair on fire, if they piss him off.

23. Hermes is a kleptomaniac. Nobody likes this.

24. Ares and Demeter had a one-night-stand once. Their offspring was two serpentine dragons and a warrior, because that’s how hardcore they are. Ares loved his monster babies and was very upset, when they got killed.

25. Hades and Persephone have one of the most functional marriages in the pantheon. Persephone is the boss.

26. Ares’ daughter Harmonia is the only goddess, who has given up her immortality for a mortal husband. She was cursed by Hephaistos, who wanted to get back at Aphrodite, and lived a miserable life, before she and her husband were turned into snakes (in my version it was Ares, who transformed them both). They were sent to the Elysion after finally passing on. Hades allows Ares and Aphrodite to visit their daughter from time to time.

27. Despite being brash and loud, Ares is one of the few gods, who actually get along with Hades. He earned a few points with the King of the Underworld by getting along famously with Kerberos and by increasing his number of subjects more quickly.

28. Artemis is asexual, but in a romantic relationship with Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth and oldest daughter of Hera. Hera only tolerates it for Elileithyia’s sake, as she and Artemis really dislike each other.

29. Apollon used to have a one-sided crush on his twin. It was nothing sexual (he takes her virginity very seriously), but more than brotherly. Artemis knows and was really freaked out at first, but forgave him after learning, that he didn’t want to get creepy. When Zeus found out, he helped him to get rid of that love, and his affection for Artemis returned to being healthy brotherly love.

30. Hermes and Dionysos once tried to prank Hephaistos. His wife Aglaia caught them. They never tried again afterwards.

31. Zeus' mental state alone can affect the atmosphere and weather. If he’s calm or composed, so is the weather. If he’s furious, it’s like a hurricane, even if he tries to keep his temper - the weather just gives away, what he’s feeling. Zeus finds this really damn annoying.

32. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades didn’t draw lots to get their domains. They didn’t even choose them. Their domains chose them.

33. The Protogenoi, aka the Primordials, are to the gods, what the gods are to the humans, although the gods don’t worship the Protogenoi. However, the gods respect some more than others. Like the gods, each Protogenos has epithets given to them by the gods.

34. Each race of deities (Protogenoi, Titanes, gods, Daimones, Nymphai, etc.), has their own language. Only a few of the gods are fluent in all of them. Especially the language of the Protogenoi is often hard to decipher.

35. Aphrodite really hates her father Ouranos. Then again, everyone does.

36. Each one of the Olympians has their own mental issues.

37. Hephaistos was born with one deformed leg, but otherwise would have been able to walk. But after falling off Olympos, his left leg was hopelessly damaged and he needed a crutch. Then Zeus threw him off the mountain in a fit and he’s needed a wheelchair ever since, as crashing into an island has left him paraplegic.

38. Dionysos often gets called “baby of the family”, as he’s the youngest Olympian by far. It irritates him a lot.

39. Persephone wasn’t kidnapped. She went into the underworld by herself, because she was sick of everything and wanted to be alone. And as the underworld is really huge, Hades only found her months later by accident. She stayed with him for a while, they fell for each other and got impulse-married. But when Hermes showed up and explained what was going on in the upperworld, Hades decided, that she had to go back at least for a while. They had a dispute with Demeter and Zeus, arrangements were made, they got officially married and ever since then Persephone spent half the year up and half the year down-under.

40. As the goddess of spring, Persephone brings it wherever she goes. So when she leaves the upperworld, she brings spring to the underworld. However, as the queen of the dead, she also has the tendency of taking the influence of the underworld to wherever she goes in the upperworld. Persephone tans easily and is therefore very dark, when she goes down to the underworld. But the lack of sunlight in the underworld makes her grow pale quickly. Then she goes back up and the cycle starts again.

41. Persephone wears her hair short, because she liked it on Ares, when they first met. When she found out, that mortal women had the custom of shearing their hair as a sign of mourning, she was like: Huh ... what a coincidence. Demeter needed a while to get used to her new hair style.

42. Ares remembers the birthdays of all of his (half-)siblings, even those he hates. It’s one of the few nice things he does for them.

43. Aphrodite usually appears to someone as the type of person they find most desirable (x1000). That applies to mortals and used to apply to the Olympians too, until Athena asked her to choose a fixed shape for the gods, because she and the other virgin goddesses couldn’t see her. Aphrodite found this hilarious, but complied.

44. Hephaistos once grew a beard, hoping he’d would look less boyish and less like his mother Hera, but shaved it off again, because he was sick of it catching fire and sparks.

45. Out of all marriages in the Greek pantheon, Zeus’ and Hera’s marriage is only the third most dysfunctional; it’s surpassed by that of Kronos and Rheia and that of Ouranos and Gaia. Most other divine couples have more or less functional relationships.

46. At some point Aphrodite asked Ares to marry her, but he only knew the disaster that is his parents’ marriage and refused.

47. Poseidon has a tendency to make sexist jokes. Athena finds it really unfunny (so do the other goddesses, but they’re not subject of his bad jokes often, so they grin and bear it). Ares also takes offense at sexist jokes, which pleasantly surprised Athena and Artemis, when they found out.

48. Literally every member of the Olympians is LGBTQ+ in some way (even Ares; he’s heterosexual, but demiromantic).

49. Aphrodite loves pinching Hephaistos’ cheeks. He finds this really annoying, but tolerates it, because resistance is futile.

50. Hekatê is powerful and knowledgeable even for a Titan. The Protogenoi blessed her even before she was born. The premature blessing, plus her father being the Titan of destruction caused a mutation. Her eyes are not on her face, but she has several dozens of them magically floating around her head, like an ever-shifting halo. She also ages throughout the night (she’s a child in the evening and an old woman in the morning) and regresses during the day.

61. It doesn’t matter how much at odds the Olympians are, they will stand up for each other and stick together, when push comes to shove.

62. Apart from the 3 top tier taboos (violation of hospitality, cannibalism & family murder), each Olympian has at least one thing they would never do. Be it because they have suffered it first hand or just because they think it’s wrong and it’s below their standards.

63. Zeus is an early bird. The only others on Olympos are Apollon, Ares and Hermes. The others are either night owls or just constantly sleep-deprived/hungover.

64. Ares has a twin sister named Enyo. She’s been banished from Olympos after the Gigantomakhia for remaining neutral instead of supporting her kin. She’s crashing at his home in Thrace and mostly accompanies him into battle, together with Eris.

65. If Hephaistos was able to stand up, he’d be as tall as Artemis (she’s the third tallest goddess).

66. Hera couldn’t handle Ares, when he was a baby and asked Eris to be his nurse. Eris agreed and became his nurse under the fake identity of Thero. A few years later , he was kidnapped by Titanes at the age of seven. Hera gave him back to Eris to protect him, appointing the goddess of strife to be Ares’ guardian. When he was ten, he heard, that he had now a little sister (Eileithyia) and wanted to go back to Olympos. By that time the war was over, so Eris allowed it.

67. Eris sees the bonds between people as golden strings. She carries a sickle on herself. To damage a bond, she grazes it with the sickle, to destroy it completely, she cuts it. The stronger the string, the harder it is to cut.

68. The duty of Harmonia (Eris’ opposite) is to repair the bonds Eris has cut or damaged. She performs that duty even in Elysion.

69. Hera and Aphrodite have one thing in common: They both look like Japanese horror movie ghosts, before their morning coffee. Zeus and Ares both make sure that it’s ready, when they get up. Zeus because his wife creeps him out like that, Ares because he loves his girlfriend.

70. The Moirai, or the Fates, are daughters of Nyx. Klotho (Spinner) has a childlike appearance, Lakhesis (Alotter) is a matron and Atropos (Inevitable) is an old hag. Atropos is mute and speaks sign language, while her sisters translate what she says. Klotho is paraplegic and wheelchair-bound. Lakhesis is the caretaker of both. They’re usually incorruptible and pitiless in doing their duty, but sometimes a god manages to elicit a favour from them (for a price, of course). The thread of life of each living being is a glowing string coming from Klotho’s white hair. A mortal’s life thread is white, a semi-divine thread is silvery, a divine thread is golden.

71. Zeus never really cheated fate, when he absorbed Metis. He’s fully aware, that one day his reign will end and has everything planned out. He simply doesn’t want to step down just yet. Not even he can go against the Moirai and they never spared him his fate - they only accommodated him by giving him more time.

72. Only the Protogenoi have the power to really alter someone else’s fate, but it comes at a hefty price. For example, Gaia changed the fate of Ares, when she sealed Polemos inside of him and cursed him to become the destructive god of terrible war. This led to the child being captured and tortured by Kronos, who hoped to make the personification of war bend to his will (because he’s evil!). The irate Moirai retaliated by granting the original Olympians and their allies a devastating victory over Kronos and sentenced him and his allies to everlasting torment in Tartaros.

73. The Titanomakhia lasted for ten Olympian years, which by mortal standards is a century. By the time it began, Zeus was already married to Metis, so his siblings got to meet both of their saviors. But when he found out that she was pregnant, he panicked and absorbed her. Shortly after the war began, he married Thémis, the Titanis of divine justice and heavenly order, who had joined his side immediately. Together they had the Horai, but broke up, when she learned of Metis’ fate (i.e. Thémis got outta there, while she still could). Afterwards Zeus married Hera, so their first child Ares was born a few mortal decades before the end of the war.

74. Zeus and Hera are a complicated set of parents: one day they don’t give a crap about their children and the next day they would tear the universe apart to keep them save. The feeling is mutual.

75. Apollon isn’t actually that unlucky in love. His failed attempts at romance are just more well-known.

76. Ares is actually quite intelligent. The problem is, that he’s extremely emotional and volatile, has no impulse control and is really hostile as a result of his unpopularity and the things he has gone through.

77. The four virgin goddesses (Athena, Artemis, Hestia and Hekatê) are all asexual, but Athena and Artemis are demiromantic, while Hestia and Hekatê are aromantic.

78. Although Athena is demiromantic, she has never been in love as in she has never formed an emotional attachment other than Storge (familiar love) or Philia (deep friendship). She would, however be capable of Agape (unconditional, selfless love) or Pragma (enduring, grounded love). What she isn’t capable of is Eros (passionate, physical love), Ludus (playful love) and Mania (obsessive love).

88. The incident with Medusa getting raped by Poseidon inside Athena’s temple never happened. I went with the version in Hesiod’s Theogony: Medusa was a Gorgon from birth and together with her sisters a daughter of Phorkys and Keto, two ancient marine deities. She was the only mortal Gorgon, probably because of a mutation. Her affair with Poseidon was consensual. The rape account is a late one and comes from Ovid, a Roman writer, who wrote his Metamorphoses as a jab against the authorities (the Metamorphoses portrait all mortals as hapless victims and the gods as bigger dicks than the Greeks themselves saw their gods).

89. Most of the gods have lived for ten thousands of years. So even though to us it looks like they have one tryst after another, for them there can be centuries between each affair and the next. Of course, a century is almost nothing to them, but you get the idea.

90. The Olympians are very hypocritical. Nothing new here.

91. Hermes is closer to humans than all of the other Olympians. He is also the fondest of them.

92. Ares on the other hand is extremely misanthropic. Which is unsurprising, because he presides over the darker aspects of war and gets to see the worst side of humanity all the time. He considers it a kindness to make them kill each other.

93. Since Ares is Zeus’ only legitimate son and therefore his heir, he has to perform a lot of duties outside of his function as god of terrible war. The duty he hates most is going through his father’s mail, because nobody likes paper stuff. The upside is the confidential information he gets out of it. The other gods are unaware, how much he knows about his father or how much Zeus actually trusts his son with.

94. Zeus threatens his family to send them to Tartaros every time they piss him off too much. But he would never actually do it, because that would mean locking them up together with the defeated Titanes. And despite everything, he loves his family too much to do this and he hasn’t forgot, what they did to his son.

95. Though he has no qualms doing this with his demigod children, if they murder their sons and serve them to the gods for dinner (you know who I mean), or with trouble-makers, who kill their guests and capture Death itself, or people who harass his wife and children.

96. Aphrodite is fiercely protective of her boyfriend and children.

97. Once Aphrodite and Athena had a yelling contest. It was so terrifying, that the others (except for Zeus, who does this with Hera all the time) hid under the table and huddled together in fear. The two women only stopped screaming at each other, when Zeus told them to calm down.

98. Persephone and Hades have no children, mostly because she only likes children, if they’re dead (because they’re quiet). The only reason she agreed to raise Adonis together with Hades was that she doesn’t trust Aphrodite as far as she can throw her.

99. The scythe Demeter uses to reap her corn is the very same one Kronos used to castrate Ouranos. But the only thing that would prompt Demeter to use it as a weapon is, if her family was threatened (like in the Gigantomakhia).

100. Hera and Herakles buried their strife years before Herakles’ deification; when he helped the gods against the Gigantes and saved her from being assaulted by one of them. This is why she agreed to let him marry her daughter Hebe, after he became a god himself.

101. There is one deity the gods hold more sacred than all the others: Kháos, the Primordial Mist. Ze is the most hallowed of the Protogenoi, the Void that predates creation itself. Zir presence is felt in the invisible air we breathe and seen in the gloom of fog and mist. Ze is the atmosphere encircling the earth.

[fatehbaz]

why are you against the use of the term anthropocene

Well, I’m not totally against its use; I think it can be useful, especially in discussions in popular mediums outside of academia. But I do think that academic discussion of and much of the popular discourse around and involving that term, especially among Euro-American scholars, is Eurocentric and pedantic. Eurocentric, in the sense that the discourse ignores Indigenous criticisms while simultaneously appropriating Indigenous cosmologies and accepting funding/concessions from (neo)colonial institutions. Pedantic, in the sense that the discourse is too focused on finding a specific start-date; too focused on fossil fuels and not enough attention is given to the arguably more-influential role of industrial-scale agriculture throughout human history; and not enough discussion of the human institutions (social hierarchies built to facilitate empires and resource extraction) that inflict social and ecological destruction. I do sometimes like the term as a rhetorical device, but prefer terms like “Plantationocene” which are more specific about which institutions and imperial cosmologies are most influential in provoking both violence against humans and ecological change and apocalypse.

You have probably heard of alternate proposed names for the same era of human influence: Plantationocene, Capitalocene, Cthuluscene. I agree that the distinction matters, and many people (especially Indigenous people and others from Latin America and the Global South) have written about the importance of this name. Indigenous writers and scholars have, in my opinion and not surprisingly, offered the most biting criticisms of Anthropocene discourse. From the perspective of North America, I enjoyed the writing of Dwayne Donald (Papaschase Cree); Zoe Todd (Metis); Kali Simmons (Lakota); and Kyle Whyte (Potawatomi); all of whom write explicitly about the Anthropocene, the ethics of ascribing a name to this era, its Eurocentric discourse, and alternative Indigenous interpretations of global environmental history. And if my rambling is annoying and if this post seems too absurdly long to read, then I would recommend reading what Zoe Todd has written about the importance of how the name of the era influences narratives told about human social and ecological stories; she also addresses other shortcomings and Eurocentric aspects of the Anthropocene concept: Heather Davis and Zoe Todd. “On the Importance of a Date, or Decolonizing the Anthropocene.” December 2017. 

—–

Here’s how I feel about the term “Anthropocene”:

Assuming we agree that the intertwined forces of colonialism, imperialism, industrial-scale agriculture, resource extraction generally, and the hierarchical social institutions which support them (including forced labor, severance of community connection to ecosystems through closure of the commons, racial and gender hierarchies, and Indigenous dispossession) are basically the major influences on global ecological change now and over the past few centuries or millennia (including the present-day, the era of overt European colonization across the globe, and earlier manifestations in historical “classic” state-building and early ancient hydraulic civilizations): Instead of looking for a specific date sometime around 1822 in Europe when fossil fuel emissions scarred the soil, like a technical geologist might, I instead try to ask at which point industrial-scale resource extraction (especially including agriculture and deliberate devegetation campaigns even in its ancient manifestations), supported by and to the benefit of social hierarchies and imperial worldviews, begin to alter soils at vast continent-wide scales enough to be the planet’s leading driver of change in soils, vegetation, oceans, and atmosphere?

Did it begin with the advent of industrial specialist guilds in Mesopotamia, when kings would bribe irrigation engineers not to help a farmer water their fields until the farmer had paid tribute or rent? Did it begin in Zhou-era or Warring States period China when deliberate devegetation campaigns, large forest-clearing projects, and flood-prevention dam infrastructure installation led to local extinction of tiger, rhinos, and elephants? Rome? The Columbian Exchange, institutionalized slavery, and plantations in seventeenth-century European colonies in the Americas?

Is an Isconahua community in Amazonia’s forests equally as responsible for global ecological change as a multi-billion-dollar American mining corporation?

This is an example of what might be the most common criticism of the term: The Anthropocene term, by invoking “anthropos,” is imprecise because rather than identifying the actual source of global ecological change (certain systems, institutions, and practices) it implies that blame be ascribed to humans-as-a-species for provoking this global ecological apocalypse. This criticism (”Anthropocene obscures responsibility”) is just one of many.

These are probably my major issues with Anthropocene: (1) According to Indigenous scholars and many writers from the Global South and especially Latin America, the name obscures responsibility and doesn’t adequately imply which human systems and institutions are responsible for global ecological catastrophe, erasing and obscuring the ongoing violence which those same institutions continue to enact, both upon ecosystems and human lives. (2) And given geologists’ common focus on fossil fuels as the key indicators of Anthropocene start-date and human influence on environment, I think that this distracts from the arguably more influential and more important role of agriculture (and associated devegetation for purposes of settlement, rangeland, etc.) as perhaps the more dramatic human influence on global ecological history. Fossil fuels didn’t kill the bison and change the entirety of the Great Plains from boreal climates to the subtropics. Empires seeking resource extraction, accomplished through violence and dispossession, killed the bison and changed the continent. (3) The concept is the result of Euro-American academic discourse and does not adequately incorporate Indigenous and non-Western criticisms. And while paying superficial lip-service to “decolonization, the same academic departments maintain relationships with (neo)colonial nonprofits and government agencies while the discourse also simultaneously engages in continued appropriation of Indigenous concepts. (4) Finally, if we agree that industrial-scale resource extraction (including agriculture) and its associated social institutions are (or at least were, for most of the past) the major human influence on altering ecology, then assigning a specific start-date is extremely difficult and probably just an exercise or thought experiment, because at what point in history did these extractivist cosmologies reach “critical mass” and become the leading worldview through which (some) humans disproportionately exercised so much power over altering landscapes?

—–

I’ll recycle something I’ve previously said:

“Did the Anthropocene begin in 1821, or 1822? Did the year 1821 mark the definitive shift into a global expansion of urbanization and monoculture plantation crops, or was it the year 1822?” These are, to some degree, technicalities. This is not, or should not, be the point of “Anthropocene.” I mean, it is often important to know some specific dates; like the specific date that Russian settlers first encountered Steller’s sea cow; the specific date that English authorities issued permits for corporate monopolies on guano trade in Peru; the specific date that deliberate fire-setting dispossessed Indigenous people in Borneo and signaled arrival of palm oil plantations; the specific dates that certain agricultural, colonial, and imperial institutions invaded, expanded, or consolidated their power. But “the single date when imperial cosmologies achieved critical mass as the dominant ecological force”? I think that’s more ambiguous.

I appreciate that some popular venues or forums like academia, occasionally, are at least attempting to openly discuss a 12,000-year-old trend towards imperial power consolidation which relies on social hierarchy, disconnecting communities from local native species and landscapes, Indigenous dispossession, and the commodification of ecological systems. Glad it’s being discussed. But the discourse has issues and I think we can do better than “Anthropocene” as a term. Even if we treat Anthropocene more like an informal thought experiment, and improve it by renaming it “Plantationocene” or something, I still don’t think formally defining a specific date or “Day 1 of the Anthropocene” is as important as clearly identifying which systems and institutions actually provoked centuries of dramatic ecological change and the current ecological collapse. I think that identifying a technical start-date for a geological epoch is comparably a distraction from the discussion of ecological degradation and extinction; a distraction from the concept’s implied-but-inadequate criticism of imperial cosmologies; and a distraction from how global ecological collapse and crisis is closely related to and deeply intertwined with social hierarchies, institutions, and violence against other humans. 

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Thank you for the question :)

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

1. No cap but Persephone's hair, when it's short and flat, really does look like Rachel Smythe.  

2. honestly i feel like if rachel kept her original style more serious aspect like the kronos stuff would actually carry some weight, because the current style is so cartoony looking with such oversaturated colors and goofy expressions  at every turn that i just cant take any of it seriously. i dont get how she had a style made so much better for young adults and older readers while still being stylized but now it looks like a lazy knock off of the steven universe style.

3. There's a really good theory that LO Zeus swallowed Metis because she's a fertility goddess, which would in turn give him enough power they needed to take out Kronos, so it'd be a tragic circumstance and desperate choice over just Zeus being awful. It gives him so much more nuance and shows what tough choices he made to win and earn the respect to be king and I can't wait for Rachel to NOT use it because Zeus is a meanie who is against Persephone and the fans would NEVER accept it. Yaaaay. 😒

From OP: To clarify, Demeter does say in the story that Zeus swallowed Metis because she’s a fertility goddess so it’s not a theory.(Episode 145)

4. “Persephone speaks her truth” is what Webtoon sent as an notification…. She basically didn’t. 

5. the UnO creator is finally coming back after over half a year off and you can tell just off their social media they're so much happier after a real break. I would so like to see RS do that but I just don't see it happening.

6. im not at all suprised Rachel went with the "hades finds out by accident" route. does anybody remember why hepheaestus is there???? was there any alluding to his presence???

7. i swear, no one in lo even talk like actual people. i know some writer friends who work out their dialogue by saying it outloud and taking out whatever sounds unnatural to the human ear, but rachel just goes guns blazing into weird cringey dialogue, esp when its trying to sell how into each other hxp is (why would demeter say hades looks like a man dying fo thirst and that her DAUGHTER looks like a sparkling river?? like who talks like this, esp about their own child??)

8. theres this one webtoon artist on featured who does nothing but suck up to rachel any chance she can get, meanwhile im p sure rachel doesnt even follow them? and theyre constantly kissing up to her and webtoons and dont see anything wrong with how they overwork themselves as a single artist while the actual company doesnt even promote their comic and theyre still living off commissions to survive. like girl, focus on yourself over hoping rachel might one day help you. she wont.

From OP: Tbf, they may be friends on discord or something else.

9. i feel like a big problem with the writing too is it wants us to go off a modern value system, yet at the same time wants to use the "its ancient times" excuse for how hades and co. act very badly, especially by modern standards (he owns slaves!!), but also wants to weave "good and bad" together but cant show the shades of gray because bot rachel and her fans do not want the characters to be complex, they can only be wholly good or bad. under a real writer this would work, bot it cant under RS.

-----FP Spoilers/Mention-----

10. I don't even know where to start. What was that filler chapter? An attempt to give P any character development? Why making her naked additionally? It's just repetitive attempt to fix what should have been fixed long ago and I'm not buying any of it. And P again doesn't care how awful person H is (wanting for his slaves to suffer eternally) cause I guess he looks "cute" holding a hen lol. She brushes it off like it's nothing. I'm sorry where is Helios?