#And that concludes my essay.

[the-gateway-to-madness]

Akiridion Courtship

I've seen a bunch of takes on this, so given what little we know of Akiridion culture, what I've seen in the fandom, and what ideas I've picked up from other shows, I'm going to slap together some of my own thoughts.

Starting a Romance on Akiridion:

I think there would be some manner of tradition regarding this. Akiridions being as long-lived as they are, I think the basic, more commonly accepted idea would be that Akiridion relationships are started with eternity in mind, with shorter, more passionate relationships being more of a product of active rebellion than a common thing like they are on Earth. Akiridions are built to last, and I think their love and marriages would be too.

So, how would Akiridions begin a relationship, is the obvious question?

They're a culture with a very particular concept of honor, as we can see from Varvatos and from the way other warriors behave. They're also an immensely creative people, as we know from Krel and how advanced their technology is. The little shrine to the Royals we see in one of the episodes has its own sort of artistic beauty.

And so, I think hand-crafted or self-designed gifts would be a way to begin an Akiridion courtship. I also think secret courtship wouldn't be considered shameful on Akiridion like it sometimes is on Earth, especially for royals; I think it'd be considered a perfectly reasonable act of protecting personal privacy.

Anyway, I think that a series of three gifts, from the person initiating the courtship to their romantic interest, is customary. The first is to express interest (called a "muryt"), the second to express intent of building a solid relationship (called a "dibir"), and the third to ask the romantic interest to accept them (called a "kveca"). The romantic interest is free to reject any of the gifts, whereupon the gifter is expected to back off. This has a certain influence over the dynamic of the more traditional aspects of the relationship moving forward.

Process of Courtship:

In an effort to build a lasting relationship, Akiridion dates, I think, would be more practical than not. I think they'd be focused on cooking and creating things together, learning about each other and learning new things together. They'd be to facilitate interpersonal connection and to figure out what the couple has in common. Of course, these are the focus, but romantic gestures are welcome and encouraged, too.

Akiridion Dancing:

I don't think Akiridions dance to music. I think they have very precise, fluid dance forms that facilitate closeness and conversation. Circular steps and a lot of mirroring movements and hand touches.

Breakups:

There's a couple ways for Akiridions to break up. One is for the receiver of the courtship initiation gifts to return the kveca. One is for the gifts-receiver's House to compensate the gifter's House in some way. One can also just break it off verbally, but it's considered more impolite.

Preparing for Marriage:

This one is a modified version of a Minbari tradition from Babylon 5. If an Akiridion couple decides to consider marriage, the gift-receiver and gifter spend three nights together, wherein the latter sleeps, and the former watches. The belief is that, at some point during those three nights, the gifter's "true face" or true self is revealed to the gift-receiver while they sleep. If the gift-receiver likes what they see, they get married. If they don't like it, they get to decide the future of the relationship.

Proposal and Marriage:

For the proposal, the initial gift-receiver creates three gifts to give to the initial gifter, symbolizing promising themself to them like the initial gifter did at the start of the relationship.

The marriage is an occasion that's taken seriously to a degree, but treated with lightheartness. Mostly it just finalizes if one member of the couple or other is going to choose to join the other's House, or if they'll choose to create a new House together.

Variation for Royals or Nobles:

Not that different, really. Nobles or commoners marrying royals become part of the royal House. Commoners marrying nobles join that noble's House. If royals marry each other, as in the case of Aja and Krel's parents, a new House is formed.

Here's a compilation of all the posts I've done analyzing Akiridions:

[catboydan]

my very specific prediction for the upcoming AITA video: he'll open by explaining that last week on the gaming channel he had an 'AITA' moment himself [insert clips from the dan eye incident here]

then he'll lead into the vid by saying something like "and that inspired me to ask you all for your 'am I the hole' moments", and only then will he bring up that this time, he asked for specifically dating/love-related stories, leaving us to piece together that the intro is a dating/love related story via the maxim of relevance

[kumquatran]

i've been rereading nightwing 1996 and even though i'm >100 issues past it i am still thinking about issue 14

dick doesn't think bruce trusts him to watch bludhaven. he thinks he's over trying to live up to batman's expectations (he isn't over it) and he's pissed that after deciding that bludhaven was his city, bruce is coming in and taking over.

[ALT: text of dick grayson saying "i know why you're here. you don't want bludhaven's problems spreading up to your precious gotham. and you don't trust me to contain this."]

because bruce just shows up and kicks ass after dick said no when he asked if he needed help.

and later on in the issue he mentions that it relates to how bruce chose jean-paul over him to become batman, because he thinks that bruce thinks that he still isn't good enough for him, because he's still trying to prove himself to bruce.

(also this screenshot that makes me wacko crazy because they are so much like each other. but that's a post for another time.)

[ALT: dick grayson saying "even after everything we've been through.. why can't we connect? why are we always like this?"]

and then bruce shows back up in bludhaven using matches malone and says THIS

[ALT: bruce wayne saying "he doesn't really need my help but i like to look out for him. y'know?"]

AFTER ALL OF THAT

BRUCE WAS JUST CHECKING UP ON HIS SON

he just wanted to make sure he was ok... he wanted to make sure he was safe but because he Cannot Fucking Communicate dick thought he just didn't believe in him

they make me so upset i love them so much they know everything about the other but when it comes down to it they don't understand each other they are so similar and yet so different in some ways and at the end of the day they both know more about the other than anyone

(and dick is still scared of ending up exactly like bruce and sees more of bruce in himself than he'd like to see)

[zinnie-zoloft]

Modern AU Charles would be into nu metal because it’s essentially the 21st century equivalent of ska

No no no, hear me out: it’s a fusion of genres from different cultures and racial backgrounds, it’s subculture is incredibly diverse even when compared to associated subcultures of the time, and there’s a strong focus on themes of emotion, alienation, authority, etc.

Charles would end up getting into nu metal in the 2010s for the same reasons he got into ska in the 80s, because it was something that gave kids like him a sense of community and belonging that mainstream media never did

[sainteclectic]

What is Whole, Exactly?

Part 1 - Calamity

Disclaimer: This series of posts are meant to be my own personal interpretation of the album! I'm just one person, and the beauty of this album is that there's so many interpretations. I don't want to come off like I'm stating facts about the story here- it's all my personal thoughts, you're free to have your own!

that said, let's get into it!

Time Machine Reprise

(Soul)

Oh, live the dream in a time machine I've been waiting forever But I can't seem to find my footing back on one What's the time? Where's it gone? When's beat one?

This is the very first mention of Whole, or at least the concept of Whole. Here, “one” refers both to Whole and the first beat of the song. This sets up the idea that Whole is the end goal of this loop (whether it be a literal or metaphorical loop), and that the splitting of Whole is what causes this loop to continue. Soul has been waiting forever for the harmony to last, but he can't find his footing (i.e. ending the cycle). This segues into the next song nicely.

Dream

(Soul)

There’s still another sunset to be found inside this tangent, so I will try again. And perhaps when we become whole, it’ll hold.

Soul’s determination here defines this song. The first half of this song is chaotic and frantic, the middle half bitter and mournful. Here though, he finds his resolve. He knows that being Whole isn’t permanent, implying Soul knows something about the loop. This is further supported by the fact he says he “can’t go another round of cacophony.” It puts a lot more weight into his words: He knows that this is pointless. He knows that it won’t hold. Whole is an unattainable goal that Soul knows won’t last. But he still tries. This devotion in the face of futility is what defines his character.

Perhaps we’ll meet at Tycho, or somewhere more solar, yet colder. This world’s hard to shoulder. But when Harmonia shines, Atlas beholds her, so bathed in serenity; beauty, in synchronicity; blissfully entwined. Divine. So I will try one more time...

This is the reference most people think of when they think of Whole. Obviously, Atlas refers to Soul in this metaphor. People think of Atlas as holding up the earth, but he actually holds up the sky. He keeps the sky from crushing the world below. Now, what characters are represented as the sun and moon, the two main things you see when you look at the sky? This metaphor is even evoked in this very segment: Tycho is a crater on the moon, and the “solar, yet colder” is a clear reference to Mind, who’s directly referred to as cold despite being the sun. Soul holds up Heart and Mind, keeping them from crushing Whole—his world, the thing that he’s shouldering this burden for despite knowing it’s fruitless.

Now, Harmonia. Harmonia is the goddess of concord and harmony. In fact, she's also called Concordia—which could be the inspiration for Concord as a name. It's unclear here whether Harmonia represents Whole in this line, or she's the abstract concept of being Whole. Either way, Atlas seeing Harmonia is Soul clinging to the image of Whole as a beautiful, serene, divine thing. The perfection of Harmonia is what keeps him going. Becoming Whole is also referred to as “harmonizing” several times in the album, furthering the connection that being Whole is seen as a harmonious and beautiful thing.

{I had an entire paragraph interpreting the mythos around Harmonia before realizing it's probably not that deep, but I digress.}

My point is, our first descriptions of Whole come entirely through Soul and his determination to make it through Cacophony again. It's not until Cacophony that we hear Heart and Mind's thoughts on what Whole means. Next time... we hear those! I was originally going to make this all one big post, but I'm already at 2k words and I haven't even finished my analysis of Cacophony yet. So... no, we aren't doing that.

...I have no idea how to end this post. Ok bye

[brown-little-robin]

ok I'm not subjecting my poor ceramics blog followers to 2 JoJo sculptures in a row, so for once I'm putting a ceramics post only on main. hi friends :] I am OBSESSED with the pose potential of sculpting a guy as a wolf and his soul as a wolf that's twice as big and fancier and has no sense of personal space

[nagitosstolenhand]

im having. thoughts

[claratyler]

KIERKENGARD MENTIONED OMG I AM LITERALLY READING HIS WORK RIGHT NOW book club please

YEAAAA BOOK CLUB!!!

what work are you reading?

This is what made me think about Kierkegaard just now on that one post. He really said: "I'm going to make things difficult". And, if your experience reading his writings has been anything like mine, then you'll be inclined to agree that he achieved his goal lol

[realmikedirnt]

i have a condition called terminal geek voice and it's incurable apparently

[im-still-watching-anime]

i am officially, FINALLY all caught up again in both the manga and the anime for bsd and OH BOY there are thoughts and opinions but also WHO CARES because my tags are finally FREE to be unfiltered

[idjits-areus]

I can see why Dean's the way he is.

He probably thinks it's a lot easier to bottle up his feelings than to share them with others. That way he doesn't have to burden them or even acknowledge it. Because vocalizing his feelings makes them real and if Dean doesn't vocalize it then they couldn't possibly be real. Then it's all just in his head and heart.

This is also a reason why he doesn't like therapy. If he doesn't talk about it then it never happened. And if it never happened then he's good.

John's the one to blame for this to be honest. Dragging them across the United States in search of Azazel, leaving Dean alone with Sam in motel room with him for days with limited money and no clear return date. Dean essentially became both parents to Sam. He had to appear strong for Sam who was so little at the time. And, like, the whole reason Dean became this "perfect little soldier" was because A: he didn't have a choice, B: he learned young to just push down and ignore his feelings, and C: it was a way for him to feel useful and to do something good. A way for him to put all his attention on something that wasn't his mess of a life.

He puts on this brave "macho man" persona all the time because he wants people to see him as okay. That he isn't hurting on the inside. That all the deaths of the people he cared about over the years doesn't affect him. That Hell didn't affect him. Or Purgatory. Or Apocalypse Micheal. Or Mary. Or Amara. Or every single apocolyptic event that happened because if them. And, like, those are just a few things. There's so much more. He rarely lets anyone in through the cracks he has. He doesn't like to let himself be vulnerable. Probably thinks that someone would use it against him, knowing Dean. That's why he has the "no chick-flick" rule. It's not because it's girly. It's because he'd rather not acknowledge his feelings.

That's also why he never truly allowed himself into a relationship after Cassie. Once she left because of what he did for a job, he just didn't have it in him to go through that rejection again with others. Lisa is different. She knew and didn't leave him when Sam got caged. It was actually Dean that left her because he put her in danger. All because he stayed. And to him? That feeling was probably worse than the rejection from Cassie. And I think that's why when Cas truly starts becoming a part of the group that he starts to let himself feel something. Cas was already in and he wasn't going anywhere so Dean could've seen it as safe. I'm not trying to make this a destiel post. I'm just trying to state a point. That the only way he'd feel safe starting anything that wasn't going to be a one night stand was with someone who was already in.

And there's a lot more I could say. Could probably even write an essay lol. I'm leaving it here though. I think that, just maybe, you see and can get my point. That understanding why Dean is who he is isn't hard. You just have to piece some things together for it to make sense.

[chipsonthemenu]

fnc aro4aro send post

[absent-o-minded]

The emotional whiplash I am experiencing over YR S3 being wrapped is so nauseating and so joyous and so heartbreaking and so exciting

[succliberation]

The thing that no one ever tells you about writing video essays is how much shit you need to talk about before you can talk about the thing you want to talk about.

Like, even if I say something simple like 'there's too many pointless collectibles in totk', I have to sit down and really think about what that means. Are all optional collectibles in video games pointless, because they don't advance the main plot? Should every collectible be made non-optional in order to give them meaning? Is there such a thing as 'too many collectibles' in an open world game, because the player can guide their own experience and choose not to collect them if they don't want them? Is adding a side quest to collect non-optional collectibles good game design, or bad game design, or does it depend? Is it good that some collectibles have side-quests, and some don't? Going back to my critique, is it just something that's my subjective opinion? Or is it something that I can use 'facts and logic' to talk about what causes my feelings?

Idk, it feels like I could make a whole short video about the point of collectibles in video games before I even start making ONE SINGLE POINT in talking about totk lmao.

[paperconsumption]

oooh i havent opened the achievements thing yet heres to hoping i get lots of diamonds

[tedwinisconfused]

passed all my exams!!! officially never have to do a chemistry module again and can finally focus on classes that are properly related to my degree