#I'm trying to come up with something clever to add but this travel back home has killed me

[lilliesthings]

Merry Christmas.

Here's some fraternization in the workplace.

[drama--universe]

Falcon S/O

Requested by anonymous: Hello! It's me again, Xichen Maniac XDD, I'm back! So the request for Xichen (can you add Guangyao too please?): the reader (a female cultivator from another clan) was cursed by an evil witch and turned into a falcon. The reader travels like a falcon looking for help. She then runs into Xichen (and Guangyao) as they fights the demons. The reader tries to help, but is subsequently injured. Neither Xichen nor Guangyao recognize that it is no ordinary falcon. Nevertheless, they will help the Falcon with an injury. Falcon is attracted by his Xichen's kindness, generosity and sincerity, and Guangyao by his smile, cleverness and intelligence. She fell in love with them, so now she refuses to leave them and follows them everywhere. And she's still trying to somehow hint that she's not actually a falcon. A few months pass and reader slowly loses hope of her deliverance. The falcon usually stays with Xichen, but now there was a meeting of all the clans in Lanling. Xichen walked there, the falcon perched on his shoulder. The falcon immediately flies past Guangyao, happy to see him. Of course, the leader of the cursed reader also came to the meeting. And he recognizes that the falcon is not really a falcon. The leader returns the reader to her original appearance. This surprises everyone present, especially Xichen and Guangyao. I'll leave the rest up to you, but please let it have a happy ending for all three :-)))

Pairing: Lan Xichen x fem!reader x Jin Guangyao (platonically)

Word Count: 0.7k words

you had been flying for days now, looking around for anyone

your new form was still new, making you clumsy as you tried to stay upright while flying

when you hear shouting, you look down to see two people fighting demons

you fly down, albeit clumsily, and ready yourself

you claw at the demons' eyes, chirping softly as you did so

you get hit and slung against a tree

when you awake, you're in a warm room

your wings hurt as you try to stand, but you stand up anyway

Xichen is the first to spot you moving

gently lifts you in his hands to inspect your injuries

Guangyao feeds you some bread (a/n don't do this at home, people)

you felt very taken care of over the next few days

because these men are very loving and caring

Xichen is the one to take care of your injuries

Guangyao is the one to feed you and cuddle with you

he's very careful since you're much smaller than him

you can't talk, so it's a bit awkward to be around the two men

especially because they actively change in front of you, since to them you're just a bird

you have seen everything at this point

but you really like them

over time your wing heals and you can fly

you stay with them anyway

because no way you were going to the wild, you had no clue what to do there anyway

over the next few weeks, you hint at being a human

and although the men are very intelligent, they do not pick up clues

when you do something they ask or mention, they think you just happen to understand them

when you write, they think you're just copying what they do

it came to the point that you just wanted to slam your head against the wall, but they'd probably think you were being cute or something

so yes, they're surprisingly dumb when it comes to getting your clues

when they travel, you often go with them

most of the time with Xichen, perched on his shoulder as he went to meetings and such

since Guangyao was still being treated a bit rough and he did not want you to get hurt

besides, you would peck anyone who even as much whispered something bad about either men

after a few months, you and the two men go to a meeting in Lanling

you're perched on Xichen's shoulder

many people look at you weirdly

you like to pretend it's due to the little necklace that Guangyao made for you to identify you from a distance

It's not, people just are wondering how in the hell that Xichen has a giant falcon on his shoulder (imagen like a peregrine falcon)

and possibly also wondering why Xichen and Guangyao are not even bothered by that

As the meeting starts, Guangyao sits on the opposite side of the room, alone

so you fly over and perch on his little table to keep him company since Xichen had his disciplines with him

Guangyao pets your head during the meeting

after the meeting, you spot someone

your clan leader, who also noticed you

he approaches Guangyao and Xichen

in a second, you feel a large pain in your body before your, now human, body with a cloak

well, it is very awkward once you look at Xichen and Guangyao

who now realize they practically lived with a woman for awhile

and undressed in front of you

Xichen is just flustered

Guangyao might be a bit annoyed, because he probably talked about his secret stuff to your bird form

in the end though, it is cool

now that you can talk, you can actually be friends with the two

teasing them on how they could possibly think that a bird could write or understand them

you remain friends with them

everyone asks them where the falcon went

Xichen will just say it went back to the wild

Guangyao will be a little gremlin and point at you

overall, they learn to live with the fact that you were in fact a human being

surprisingly, Guangyao will find out who cursed you and make them disappear

neither you or Xichen have to know that :)

[mdwatchestv]

Everything I'm Going To Watch In October (Oh God We're All Already Irreparably Behind)

Hi best friend!

I thought doing this was really fun, and brought me closer to you - my core audience. It also helped me organize my TV life (whereas I actually referred to my own blog like an asshole in order to make sure I was watching everything I said I was.  Because this is the brutal honesty hour, here is a quick recap of how I did with September:

American Horror Story: Cult - I've watched three of this so far! Boy golly does this season not know what it wants to be.

Top of the Lake: China Girl - I didn't start this yet in hopes my boyfriend would catch up and watch the first season. Yes, I know he never will, and I'm lying both to you and myself.

Broad City S4- Watched it alllll, because I'm just a relationship girl.

Better Things S2 - Jumping back into this was the best choice I made last month. Thank you employees of FX for pressuring me.

The Emmys - Yeah I wrote a whole blog about it, and i was MORE THAN HALF RIGHT.

Channel Zero: No End House - Actually fun and legit creepy (Scarier than AHS...all tea all shade)

The Good Place Season 2 - No biting.

Gaga: Five Foot Two - You guys I'm worried about Gaga.

Transparent: Season 4- Haven't started, don't @ me. God it's depressing to be a whole season behind on something in 24 hours.

KUWTK 20th Anniversary: KYLIE IS PREGNANT, KHLOE IS PREGNANT, WHAT A WORLD!!!!!

The Good Doctor - Haven't mustered the strength.

Law & Order - Did people not like this? LA + bong bong + 1989 + true crime + Dr. Daddy = good.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Yas queen.

Great News - Briggggaaaaa

Will and Grace - So similar to the original series it's eery. For you to decide if that's good or bad.

But now October has come! And with it the arrival of new network shows that I'm not going to watch, programming about ghosts that I'm not going to watch, and Keeping Up With The Kardashians!

Sunday, October 1st-

Ghosted (8:30pm on Fox) -

The title and promos for this show have made me as skeptical as Scully in a cornfield at midnight looking at chupacabra bite marks, but I owe it to Adam Scott and Craig Robinson to at least give it a try. Fox has shown they are able to provide worthwhile comedy (talkin bout chu Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and paranormal investigation seems like a sturdy enough basis for comedy.... Let's just say I'm willing to consider the extreme possibility that there is comedy in the unknown. Maybe the laughs are out there.

Keeping Up With The Kardashians (9:00pm on E!)

 DID YOU NOT HEAR ME SAY KYLIE. IS. PREGNANT.

Monday, October 2nd - The Halcyon (10:00PM on Ovation) 

I barely understand what Ovation is, but this is a British series about a fancy hotel in London during World War II starring fresh-faced youths and Olivia Williams created by a woman. I have bolded all my trigger words in the previous sentence.  Even if this is bad, it will still be amazing. How do you suspect one watches Ovation?

Tuesday, October 3rd - The Mayor (9:30pm on ABC)

 The Mayor is a half hour about a young rapper who semi-accidentally becomes the mayor of his hometown. I thought the promo for this was genuinely funny, and Brandon Micheal (not a typo) Hall was horribly delightful as Dory's ex on last year's Search Party (don't even get me STARTED on my love of Search Party). With a lovable lead, and the even more lovable Daveed Diggs producing, I'm hoping this show will be able to inject some much-needed optimism and levity into political comedy.

Wednesday, October 11th - Riverdale (8:00pm on CW) 

If you are feeling any sort of judgement stirring over this entry it is only because you have NOT YET WATCHED RIVERDALE. Riverdale is Twin Peaks for teenagers, Riverdale is whip-smart dialogue and rock-hard abs, Riverdale is the best cast show on television. I'm not even kidding, this show has my very favorite casting work of any other show. Golden-boy, ginger-haired Archie's parents are Luke Perry and Molly Ringwald. Pretty boy from the wrong side of the tracks? His dad is Skeet Ulrich!!! It is just 100% pure enjoyable. Also did I mention the abs? Archie's abs are crazy.

Friday, October 13th -

Lore (Amazon) 

This anthology series from Amazon is based on the podcast of the same name written and narrated by Aaron Mahnke. The podcast consists of creepy short stories that range from mass murderers, to why tunnels make people uneasy. Each episode is beautifully written and delightfully unnerving and if the series is able to capture even a little of the fairytale magic of the podcast it will definitely be worth a watch.

Mindhunter (Netflix)

 If I could choose any career to have that is not my career, it would be FBI criminal profiler. Sadly, I recently googled how to have this job and you need do a lot of stuff I don't want to do first, and there are literally only like five of them in the FBI. Feels like a very similar skillset to casting though tbh. This is directed by David Fincher, it is about the BIRTH of serial killer profiling in the FBI, and it stars beautiful cinnamon roll Jonathan Groff. I have watched the trailer almost every day. I want it so bad. SO BAD.

Saturday, October 14th-

 Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Season 2 (9:00pm on BBC America) 

Feel what you will (and validly so) about Max Landis, the first season of this show was quirky, clever and funny without feeling overwrought or precious. It handled time travel with mastery, and boasted a host of charming performances. It also had a corgi. And a kitten. I wrote about the first season when I started this blog last year (if you are interested you can read those entries HERE, be warned it may not help you recap the show in any meaningful way). I plan to tackle season two as well, so mark your calendars and the place in your heart that you have carved out for me. Everything is connected.

Sunday, October 22nd - 

The Walking Dead Season 8 (9:00pm on AMC) 

I am locked too deeply in a hateful, but passionate embrace with The Walking Dead to stop watching now. Whether I can summon the force of spirit to write about this season remains to be seen. (If you would like to re-live the agony and ecstasy of season 7, you can read everything I wrote about it HERE)

Monday, October 23rd - 

Scared Famous (9:00pm on VH1)

This is a VH1 reality program starring Tiffany "New York" Pollard, Alaska Thunderfuck and Eva the Diva. Need I say more? I needn't.

Friday, October 27th - 

Stranger Things Season 2 (Netflix)

 Doo doo doo doo doo do do do

As a disclaimer to my ‘why are you not watching’ section, I don’t watch most network dramas being a) I am tired, b) I try and expose myself to as many new shows as possible, c) I am tired. Besides I am already woefully behind on my September shows, and it’s ALREADY October (and I’m behind). I can’t add 22 more hours of TV into this mix. When will I have time to watch Scared Famous!

But before you ask-

Curb Your Enthusiasm - This show is obviously legendary and I enjoyed it in the past, but it also makes me deeply upset and gives me anxiety. I can’t deal with those vibes right now.

The Gifted - The promos for this show claim it is one of the best Marvel series. If it is truly as good as Legion or Jessica Jones you let me know and I will watch it.

Scandal - I loved this show deeply for many years, but ultimately had to consciously uncouple from it. 

Mr Robot- I tried. I couldn’t

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - I have no excuse for this beyond laziness.

Jane the Virgin - Same.

I don’t know about you but it feels really good and cleansing to confess all of my television sins to you. I hope it’s just as soul-purifying for all of you viewers at home as well. If you think I missed something let me know, and I will tell you more specifically why I’m not watching it. I will see you all back here soon to talk about DIRK GENTLY! You can catch up! First season only 8 eps!

XO MD

[izzyovercoffee]

Is there anything you can tell me about Mando colour symbolism that isn't already on that "armour colour" post? I'm planning out a Sabine POV story where it would be relevant.

Well, yes and no. I went over the “facts” of colors and mandalorian color theory. What I can do now is kind of dig deeper into the actual mando’a words for colors, and maybe extrapolate more on the etymology of each word as they’re relevant to colors. If anything, it’ll give you an idea of how to break down the colors and maybe play with the meanings, or even the construction of the words themselves. Hopefully that helps?

I got a little carried away (again?) so I apologize for the length and time it took to put this together … and also you can take everything I say with a grain of salt as I’m trying to make sense of the etymology of these words. I’m also skipping orange as there’s no word for in the dictionary as of yet, and including violet since it is.

So, let’s go in the order that I went in the original post. Forewarning that black is going to be the longest section as I’ve thought about it maybe way too much.

ne’tra — black 

Ne’ is traditionally one of the negative prefixes of mando’a. It’s meant to indicate the opposite of what it’s attached to, or the not-thing. Tra means space, void … but it also translates to starfield, or field of stars. 

So. Black. Justice. Not the void of space, or, alternatively, Without stars, a starless night. 

However way you want to interpret that is up to you, but to me? From what I understand of mandalorian history? They were once a truly nomadic people, who voyaged across the stars. They were, arguably, wayfinders. More than just warriors, or conquerors, or however most would like to put it.

I originally wasn’t going to do this, but because you mentioned (elsewhere) that you’re focusing on dusk, I want to take a moment to extrapolate on this thought. The reason I say this is because of how they view stars. 

Mandalorians are generally not considered to be religious. But the language they speak is still very deeply steeped in poetic concepts — grasping at the enormous and unthinkable with words as clever and broad as a people can attempt to embody them. Stars is my personal favorite.

Ka’ra — stars, ruling council of fallen leaders. Mandalorians still speak of those who pass as not being dead, but marching far far away. The origin of the word stars is the belief that the Mand’alore ascend to the stars, to watch over the people and to guide them.

The word for breath is kar’am. Hyperdrive is karbakar (star to star). Kar’ta is heart. Kar’taylir is awareness, knowledge, lit. to hold in the heart. Karyai is the main communal living room of a communal home, where a family convenes to spend time together — and often the last bastion against an invasion.

Jate’kara, luck, destiny, literally good stars, a course to steer by. 

All of these words stem from stars.

Black, the color, is literally a starless night. But, while the impulse is to go for something negative, I would actually pull away from that. Mandalorians, in general, also view adversity (something difficult, something terrible, something terrifying) as something to challenge and overcome as a way of life. A starless night is not to be feared but to be met. 

A starless night may also be indicative, poetically, of a place or a people or an event without justice. And that void, that emptiness, that lack? Must be filled. Whomsoever wears black has taken it upon themselves to fill a void and reinstate justice in whatever manner that may mean.

But also consider: a night without stars evokes a specific sort of image and feeling … which may also be completely different depending on the person in question. Someone who lives in a bright city and experiences light pollution would be used to a night without stars, versus someone living out in the wild (like Krownest) or who is dependent on the stars to travel, would be used to a night full of stars and may find it distressing or strange.

ve’vut — gold

This one is a little less straightforward. Vut, or vutyc, indicates special. Unique, precious. Ve’ (pronounced vay or veh) is unclear as to what it’s meant to indicate, but often when we see ve’ as a prefix, it’s usually from ven (future tense), but in this case it may be from vheh, earth, soil, dirt. 

Gold. Vengeance. A precious future, or, precious metal.

Maybe evocative of the sun rising after a long and difficult night. The gold of the sun rising is a promise of a future — or at the very least, the feeling of surviving to tomorrow. This might be too poetic though lmao, and tbh … I really like the simplicity and the directness of precious metal (lit. special dirt, lmao).

The funny thing here is that though I have gold and yellow listed together for meaning (as they are, generally, considered under the same banner of Vengeance), the word for yellow is different.

shi'yayc — yellow

So. I’m not really a fan of this word, to be perfectly honest with you. I’m of the opinion this is less an actual color and more an adjective meant to describe something else. But regardless, here it is.

From shi, just/only, and yayc, which may be from oyayc, meaning alive (or oya! which carries many meanings and generally overwhelmingly positive). Generally though, with the yc added to the end, it’s less a noun and more an adjective, so it might actually be meant to be a descriptor (ie. yellowing of skin or eyes etc). 

Yellow. Vengeance. Only just alive, or barely dead.

Maybe comparison to, say, a recently deceased person — but that only really works if one assumed that all dead persons are pale and turn yellow when they die, and that’s a weird assumption to make in the context of mandalorians.

Also consider: yellow is dull compared to the shine of a metallic gold. Less intense in that way. My question is what becomes of a person after they’ve enacted vengeance? What becomes of a life devoid of a perpetual motivating force like that? What happens when gold loses its sheen and fades, dulls? 

Am I just taking this too far, to the next level it doesn’t need to go? maybe

EDIT:: w/ points from anon through a later ask, I’d like to also add what they said: 

you pondered about the connotations of yellow regarding ‘just/barely alive’ and its comparison to gold. I thought maybe it’s about flames/light - like a bright vivid flame is a bright gold, while the flame, when it’s only small and ->barely alive

I hadn’t even consider that it might have been referencing intensity of light/fire? But the way you put it, that may actually make more sense than the direction I was going in. I was definitely perplexed somewhat, like I was missing something. This sounds like what I was missing.

That could also apply for the heat of a flame, too. Like, referring to the intensity of the light, or the intensity of the heat, or both, depending entirely on context, and related to the below.

Lust for life

So, there’s no word for orange in mando’a at this time.

Consider: Yellow is sometimes indicated to also mean lust for life, depending on who you ask and what source material you’re comparing it to.

It’s entirely possible that mandalorians don’t have a way to differentiate between yellow and orange. Some cultures do display a limitation in language, seeing what we would consider a range (yellow to orange) as all one spectrum under the same banner.

So while Yellow may mean barely alive/barely dead, yellow may also mean nothing but life.

Something to think about.

genet — gray

Gray/Silver. Mourning lost love.

Ge’ for almost, by proximity (literally or metaphorically). Net, we can assume, comes from the word for black, ne’tra. So, in this case, gray is literally almost black, but not quite. Reaching towards it, maybe, but not quite there.

I’ve used overcast before to describe gray, or the feeling of a loss, of grief, and it still applies here. Almost, not quite, as a starless night sky. Duller, paler, than a starfield. That kind of thing—perpetually in comparison to black.

Also consider that it may infer obscuring the target, instead of almost reaching black, it may act like a filter, a translucent overlay to take away or obscure intensity of (in this case from black, or night sky). Mandalorians, who are (or once was) so used to navigating by/the stars, suddenly having to deal with their guidance obscured? There’s loss, there, too.

kebiin — blue

This one’s a little … less straightforward. Ke’ is used as an imperative prefix, usually to indicate that this word/sentence is a command, but keb may also come from kebbur, meaning to try or make an attempt. Biin, or bii, may come from abiik, air (interestingly, kebii’tra indicates sky, so it’s literally blue starfield, blue space).

What is reliable? What is faithful? Following through, or making the attempt again and again—someone consistent, trustworthy. To stretch the meaning, as trustworthy as the air. 

Blue. Reliability. Faithful. As consistent, or trustworthy, as the air.

I wonder if that was ever a phrase in use. “As trustworthy as the air” might ring true on a planet where they can breathe without their helmets … but what if they so happen to land on a planet that they cannot?

In hindsight, that sounds like a very mando joke to make. B’)

“Who ever is reliable all the time?” Both a joke and a very serious question.

ge’tal — red

Ge shows up again. Almost. Tal, blood. Almost blood, or nearly / like blood. 

From what I understand, the Taung did bleed red, and since they were the original mandalorians, it makes sense for them to make the simplest association for the color.

Red. Honoring a parent. 

This is kind of a call back, imo, to the saying “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,” as chosen family ties are stronger than that of biological ones, and consider that mandalorians are expected to shed blood for their chosen family if it ever came to it.

But also consider pointing at a rose and, quite literally, calling it like blood. 

vorpan — green

Vor, figuratively, is to thank. Literally, it’s to accept. Pan… is a little difficult to discover what it might indicate, or where it may come from, but from the two other words it’s a part of (epan, for guts, entrails, and sapan for electromagnet) we can kind of infer that it’s meant to indicate core, or insides, the interior of a thing.

Metaphorically, vorpan can be understood to be accepting a task to fulfill with one’s whole being. For context, vorpan’oy is the word for vegetation, as in bringing life to green.

Green. Duty. To embody one’s accepted task. 

Not really sure why, but let’s go with that.

saviin — violet

This word is actually very close to Sabine’s name — they’re pronounced the same, just with a v instead of b. In some dialects or accent, one might say they are the same. I would argue they are.

So. Violet. Saviin. Sa’ most likely comes from sarad, meaning flower, bloom. Viin is from viinir, for run. 

Running flower. Wild violets are considered weeds in some places, and so instead of run as in flee, run may lean more towards running wild, an overgrowth — or a plant that can live, even thrive, anywhere, in spite of adversity and outside forces attempting to eradicate them. 

Survival in adversity.

And, maybe unintentionally maybe not, given the above I would argue it’s a perfect name for Sabine under the circumstances. 

EDIT:: referring again to points brought up by anon in a later ask:

saviin sounds a lot like Sabine, which seems very very likely to me, considering the long i (or rather e - from an anglophone perspective) and that [v] and [b] are very similar sounds, so maybe Sabine is like a basic transcription or a dialect form of Saviin. Regarding the meaning of the colour/name

My etymology for it would be the following: “viin”/“bine” being a degenerated/shortened form (or even the root?) of kebiin - blue connected with “sa” - as, like, it gives “sa viin” - “like blue”, what is kind of a good description for purple/violet, implying the standard shade in mandalorian perception would be a darker bluish purple ALSO implying that the concept of purple cam up comparably late in the language, similar of the color orange getting it’s name rather late in germanic languages 

I was going color by color so I missed the connection in the effort to complete the post, which was an oversight by me sadly. 

It might also then directly connect the connotations of blue (reliability) with purple (adaptability, survival in adversity). They who are reliable can be depended on to adapt and survive adversity, or so on, kind of like orange (lust for life) from yellow, as thought about from above (the intensity of the flame).

Definitely some interesting things to think about.